testmeat photoblog

when i mentioned last week that i struggled with taking good photos in april, my trip to tanarandy was in mind. it was my first proper trip outside of asuncion in almost three weeks - and it should have been perfect for taking photos. however i think a combination of being a bit rusty, along with low light and a lens that i still struggle to focus with, meant that a lot of the photos that i saw in my head didn't transfer to my camera screen. if i were to look for excuses, then i'd say my camera is partly responsible. i shot this at an iso of 800, which i think just about gives acceptable results. however when pushed up to 1600 and hi 1 (which i assume is 3200) the noise and grain is overwhelming. i found balancing the iso, aperture and shutter speed problematic and ended up with far too many shots that were either too dark or too blurry. i remember at work last year working on gig photos someone else had taken with a canon 40d and being really impressed with the results taken at a high iso. is it too late to ask for a camera upgrade for my birthday?

here's the original