Some people hate using flash due to the horrible harsh look on the subjects. But using flash can be such a joy and give great results.
When to use flash?
1. When there's not enough light to lid the subject.
2. To "Fill", in harsh day light condition, eliminating shadows.
3. To stop motion on the fast movement subjects.
4. Want some creativity artificial light.
How to use flash to get good results.
A. When you have only Pop up flash (SLR)
1. To fill-in for daylight the pop up flash can do the work just fine. Unless you are very far from the subjects. Fill in flash will eliminate the nasty shadows and make the pictures look more flattering. Make sure you set the Flash to TTL (Through the lens)
2. At night or indoor: This is the difficult part. There are 2 hidden techniques that you could use to improve your shots.
2.1 Using the Foil. That's right, go right to your kitchen and grab a piece of foil. Use it as a bouncer attached it to the bottom of the flash. And have it block the front part of the flash. So, the light will be be re-directed up to the ceiling.
2.2 Using the Film case. Pick the white film case only, cut it in the middle (the Longer side) and stick your flash in Horizontally. It should defuse your pop up flash nicely.
to be continued.......
Shooting Sydney Mardi Gras Parade is not easy as it looks. You'll facing with low light, changing type of lights, Moving Subjects and all the crazy staffs that love to block your view.
So, this is my tips for preparation.
1. Get there Early. It's important that you are in the position 5:30pm the latest!! (The parade start around 7:45pm)
2. Location location location. I love to be at Oxford Street. If you can, pick the side where they have The Columbian Bar, Stone wall.
3. Pack up your gear with "Fast" in mind. Speed light and diffuser is very crucial. Forget about Tripod as you will not have any space to put it. For lens I would recommend 50mm F1.4-F1.8. Tamron 28-75 F2.8 is quite handy too.
4. Spare Battery and Spare SD/CF cards are a must. I shoot raw so, 5 GB in total will give me no worries about having to go thru pictures and delete them to free some space and lose the opportunity to shoot.
5. Also put water in your bag, as this will be a very long shoot. And it's hard for you to go anywhere as a LOT of people is behind you.
Shooting Tips.
1. It's the tradition that Mardi Gras will start with big bikes. All the lesbians and Bears will ride their bikes past you and sometimes they stop. If they're riding past you, you can either do Panning, or using Flash. If you are new with Panning, by all mean use flash and aim for the closest Bike. Put on diffuser helps, also tilt the flash up about 60 degree. Do not aim for the further one as your flash will be able to reach them. I'd say 2-3 metre from you. The setting for aperture will need to be under F3.0, better around F2.0 and ISO 400-800.
2. Now the walking part of the parade begins. The front part after the bike usually very bright as they'll have their own spot lights to shine on the show boys and girls. I think it's better to switch off the flash and shoot without flash. For those show girls/boys who are close to the lights you can even getaway with Shutter speed of 1/200 - 1/250 of a sec. which will be enough to freeze the movement. For those that do not have their lights then, turn on the flash again and pick only the ones that are in 2-3 metre range. Aperture under F2.0 and ISO800.
3. It helps if you reach out your hands and screaming and waving to attract people in the parade. They'll come very close to you even give you hugs or kisses. They'll pose for you nicely too.
4. You have to experiment a little bit before you get it right. Do not worry about the first 10-20 pics. But you have to learn it fast. Do not panic and experiment which setting will be the best combination.
5. And the last tip from me. Please keep things clean do not leave the junks or garbage behind. :)
Happy Mardi Gras,
Gun
This is s very dilemma situation for me. Recently I've downloaded Adobe Lightroom 1.0 and tried it out. It's such a wonderful program. And as it advertised, it's the program created by photographers for photographers.
The interface looks very easy to use. You can find any things in just a few clicks. And with those very easy to understand tutorials, I can get use to this program in a matter of hours. And the work flow of it will cut your Post processing time in half.
HOWEVER!! it got one very very big flaw. It ignores all the in-camera settings such as Saturation, colour moodes or Sharpening. Which make colour of the picture so dulllllllllll and occasionally make the picture very noisy. (Only happen on RAW file though, still perfect on JPEG files. But I shoot only raw nowadays. :S)
Nikon Capture NX, on the other hand is soooo clumsy. Take ages to make modification in RAW. All the user interface and work flow is just well, how can I put it nicely... "Suck".
But NX got the U-point technology that can adjust the area on the picture in seconds. IE, add brightness to the shadowed face which will not affect the other area at all. And all in all, it's got the pictures right colour and contrast. It also remove those ugly Chromatic Abberation (CA) automatically. You can add a nice punch to the pictures in a short time (if you have fast computer). You can click on the picture below to see the differences.
If I really want to use LR then, I guess I just have to convert all the NEF files to JPEG in NX and then import to LR. That is soooo inconvenient.
My only advise now for you guys is that, if you shoot JPEG then move to Lightroom. It's a very good and cool program. But if you're Nikon RAW shooter then, stick with NX.
Adobe, you are a very big company. Please get this right.
Many people do not have a clue on shooting fireworks. I was that many people until recently. Just want to share some tips with you guys on how to achieve the nice results.
Equipment requires;
1. a DSLR camera.
2. a tripod (the heavier the better)
3. Remote Release (Optional)
Other requirements;
1. Good location
2. Or good friends to book a very good location for you (I prefer this one :) )
Pre settings
1. change to manual focus mode.
2. put the lens focus to infinity
(with these two done, you will not loose time from camera searching for focus)
3. put on Manual Exposure mode.
4. with ISO 100, I recommend Shutter speed = 6-8 seconds and Aperture = F6-F8
5. mount your camera to the tripod and make sure it's steady.
6. if you know where the fireworks are going to be then, aim at that location.
Shooting
1. your ears will be your eyes. once you hear the shooting noise press the shutter release or use your remote. If you are further away then, you might need to time your shoots
2. leave your camera until it's done expose. (6-8 sec as you program it). For the first few shots you might need to re-adjust your position quickly, also quickly check the results and adjust the aperture value.
3. if there are a lot of big fireworks in the middle of your shots, you might need to use your lens cap to close the lens for awhile, the picture might turn up Over exposed.
4. again, hope for the best.
Hope all these tips help.
Happy snappy,
Gun
I've been walking past this beer place many times and see those hanging beer glasses and Know these will make a good shot.
Well, it does (I think). And I'm very happy that I start shooting before drinking. :)
Happy Snappy,
Gun
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier.
I know that the clubs are weapons of war.
I know that diamonds mean money for this art.
But thats not the shape of my heart.
What is it?
It's a photography way to describe the Tiny discs of light that happend in the out of focus area of the picture. They can be in Circle or Polygon shape. For the long and full description please go to Ken Rockwell
Why do I need to know?
Coz they are beautiful and in many cases bokeh really help pleasing the eyes. And to get away the boring normal photograph.
What do I need?
1. A camera. Doesn't have to be DSLR, but you'll achieve an easier and nicer result from SLR type camera. (I think)
2. Look for those points of light. During day time, look for the trees that have the light come thru the leaf, like in this picture. You can see that those lights that came thru the leafs became bokeh.
At night, look for the something like this or like this
3. Going for the smallest F number that you're allowed. For those who got DSLR, I would recommend the Fast Prime lenses, so you can go for F2.8 or lower which will make it easier. Focus on the subject and frame those background that I mentioned earlier behide the sujects.
4. shoot and hope for the best.
What's the best lens for bokeh?
In my opinion, Nikkor 85mm F1.4 got very smooth and nice bokeh. But it'll dry up your saving account really fast like its speed. So, the next best thing will come down to 50mm F1.4 or more economical 50mm F1.8.
More Bokeh pictures, please visit More Bokeh
Have fun shooting people,
Gun
If you are in the dark pubs try it out. It works quite well. All of the DSLR will have this function. The way it works is combining Flash and Slow shutter speed together. The results, you'll have the bright background and lit up the subject.
There are 2 types of Slow Sync Flash, the Front Curtain and Rear Curtain. It's just the Front one will fire the flash a the very first moment you press the shutter. It means that it will freeze the moment you press the shutter and then slow shutter speed continue to lit up the backgroud. To make it clear, just imagine a car driving past you at night with their lights on, the front curtain will make the light trail in front of the car, coz it freezes the first moment.
The Rear Curtain will not fire until the very last moment before the shutter close. So, it freezes the last moment. With the same scenario of the car, the picture will come out with the light trail behide the car.
For more pictures of the Slow sync, please visit,
More Slow sync
Happy snappy.
Gun
Her first album was “great”, I’m still listening to those songs (this morning in fact). Her second one is “OK”. And her latest one? I really want a refund but HMV got no refund policy. Goodbye to my $22.00 sob sob.
Norah my dear, we know that you are talented already. Why you have to try to prove yourself writing those songs? The melody is boring the lyrics are not really catchy it’s like you mumble them not singing them. I’m really disappointed with this album.
In the matter of facts, all my favorite singers seemed to try too hard for their new albums and messed them up real bad. Josh Groban is another example. Awake? Well, I would say the opposite.
You guys can call me old or old-fashion but those hip-hop craps will not get my money. I like the songs that can be sing-along with or can be relaxed listening to them not just the heavy beats and catchy rhythm.
My first love for electrical device was the video games. The first machine I’ve ever owned was Famicom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom (Nintendo in US and Europe). I think it was in 1985 that my father bought it for me after millions of hours spent at the game shop.
With (only) 8 bit, during that time it was a revolution compare to the other machine like Atari. The games got more play times and a lot more sophisticate. Mario Bros was a big smash hit, followed by many classics such as Dragon Quest series, Final Fantasy series or Contras. The machines sold over 60 millions worldwide and Nintendo was a household name. (I just realised that spell check will not correct the word Nintendo)
During that time I was playing games like a mad kid. I can go on and on for a very long time without foods or drinks. I lost 10 kg in the process and my mother was not happy!!
Warp to 2007, and Nintendo has done it again. New console name Wii (a what?) is very refreshing and very fun to play with. And it’s ATM the only source of exercise I get (the boxing game from Wii Sports is really good for cardio).
Many claimed that Wii is not for the real gamers but only for general public. I am really wondering what kind of gamers they are (the ones who’ll buy PS3 I guess)? Since when the only things that we the gamers concern is graphic and the horse power of the console? I always think that Gameplay is everything for gamers. It’s cool to have nice graphics but if the gameplay sucks then what’s the point of playing at all (unless you’re pervs who love DOA beach volley ball). Secondly, it’s the games that define the target audience. Of course Wii sport will target for all general audience, but for gamers Zelda Twilight Princess will do the work just fine. And it’s not that Wii’s graphic is bad. It’s actually good, and it’s not even reached its full potential yet.
Only time will tell that who will win the wars for this generation of consoles. But atm, Wii’s future is getting brighter and brighter.
PS: If anyones want to add my wii to their list, here's my wii number, 4285 8934 1940 5135.
I have finally put up my blog. I am still thinking what is this blog going to be. Since my main interests are computer, gadget and photography, you guys will see a lot of those.
You'll also see a lot of miss-spelling words and weird grammars in all of the post in the future as I originally came from Thailand.
Hope you guys will enjoy this blog.
Cheers,
Gun