As I write this, the clock reads 1:46AM. Even though I’m exhausted, I wanted to post a quick entry since I recently finished uploading photos from our little hanabi session in the park. (See my Flickr in the sidebar.) Here are the things that I learned from this shoot using my new camera, the Fujifilm X-T2 with the 56mm f/1.2:

• I compose shots better when I look through the EVF (electronic view finder)
• Fireworks are tricky to shoot since 1) the environment is dark, 2) the autofocus has a habit of focusing on the smoke, 3) the various lights from the fireworks reflect on skin, thereby presenting a bit more work post-edit
• Having continuous auto-focus ON comes in handy, especially when working with children
• It’s good to scope the surroundings so that when you’re shooting, you avoid bumping/tripping/falling into things 😛
• Fuji has damn good dynamic range! Even though I experimented a bit with different ISOs and shutter speeds, I noticed that in general, I was able to recover lots of shadows before the photo became grainy
• I feel that face detection in the dark wasn’t that great in general compared to daytime conditions
• Holding a vlogging cam and a mirrorless cam at the same time is rough!

I haven’t gone through the video footage yet, but when I have time tomorrow, I hope I can edit something decent. I think what I’m going to do is create a compilation of the entire year into one single movie.