Pre-event photo..

These are some photo I took during the journey to the Chinese Musical Instrument Performance near Setapak. Just some photos that I've longed in taking it, taking a photo of the view at the back of an LRT. Its nothing much interesting about the photos, just wanna post it on as a memory. You can skip this post by not clicking the "read more" below...


This post is quite related to shutter speed. When I first have a real conscious about photography, I visited a photography forum in chinese.cari.com.my, and fascinated by a photo taken at the back of LRT. Since then I have been longing to take such shot and today I tried so..

Here's a dull photo, did not show any motion.

Shutter speed too fast, freezing every movement.. Some more the level is tilted. The left side is higher than the right side.

Then I tried several other shots. These are some of the interesting ones..

Overexposure(photo too bright), without any details from background. Yet I like de sense of movement inside.


Moving into a tunnel. With a curve, the photo becomes more attracting.


Inside the tunnel. Too bad reflection of view inside the train was taken too on the window.


This one, I like the curve too. And the feel of expansion. But hand-shake blurry is clearly observable.. The train is too shaky.. haih..

Hope you enjoyed de photos!

Read more...

Motion blur, camera shaking and out of focus

Sorry for this late post about photography knowledge. Been busy lately… Just FYI, I will be going to an event shooting this Sunday at Setapak. It’s about a musical festival, but the details I am not very sure for now. Feeling exciting about it as it’s my 1st paid shooting… Hehe…

Ok, lesson for today is blurriness in photo.

I know I know, most of u know how to take photo and u know about blurriness, if the photo is blurred, then it means something wrong and then u re-take de photo again. Then it blurred again. Then u shoot again until u get something u satisfy when u check in the little LCD screen of your camera. But then when u view it in your computer, the photo is blurred!

Why is this happening? Well, because u didn’t trouble shoot correctly. Do u know what’s wrong in the photo? And how can u improve the quality of the photo?

Other than during outing, most of the people take photos during low light situation, for example, in door party. When u’re shooting using digital compact (or even higher level camera), there r some limitation of the camera, your technique, or a combination of both. Blurriness in photo can be due to three main reasons, which is object’s motion blur, camera shaking and out of focusing.


Obviously, motion blur are referring to the motion of the object causing the blurriness in the photo. This may be due to fast movement of the object or long shutter time. In long shutter time, even the slightest movement of the object can cause an obvious blurriness in the photo. Camera shaking will also cause blurriness in a photo. It is common than human’s hand would shakes and normally when the shutter speed is longer than 1/30 we tends to shake when we r holding the camera. It also happens when we r pressing the shutter too hard.

How do we differentiate motion blur and camera shaking? Look at the photo below:



A drummer is hitting his drum rapidly and both photos were taken under low light condition. In the left photo, the drum and other stagnant objects are clearly seen, sharp, without any blurriness but the drummer is blurred. U can’t even c his face clearly. As for the right photo, the whole photo is blurred and u can notice that the blurriness of all objects has a same direction.
Well I think u might have guessed it now, the blurriness in the left photo is motion blur, while the right is due to camera shaking.

Now we knew what caused the blurriness, how can we reduce such blurriness?

For motion blur, use a higher ISO/shorter shutter speed or simply ask the object to stop moving (if situation allows… T.T)
For camera shaking, use a higher ISO/shorter shutter speed/switch on the image stabilizer or similar function on your lens if u r using Prosumer or DSLR/hold the camera the correct way/use a tripod/lean against a stable support if without tripod/ask someone with a steady hand!
One more common tip, USE YOUR FLASH!!! Although I normally don't like the effect of using flash. It spoils de mood and ambience of the photo.

For more details, u can refer to previous entries about ISO and shutter speed.

Let’s compare the next two photos and c if u can notice which kind of blurriness it is.



The left photo is blurred due to out of focus. Although almost all cameras have a function known as auto-focus, but in situations where the contrast between the object and background is not big (due to low light situation/complex colour/object is not outstanding compare to background) the function might not be working properly. Some users also never check the focus point of the shots or do not even let the camera having the time to focus.

For DC/Prosumer users, most models now will focus when u half press the shutter. Normally u would hear a beep/deed sound when the camera locks its focus and a box showing the focus point will appear on the screen. Check if the camera had got what u want to focus on. Release the shutter and half-press again to focus again until the focusing is correct then only fully press the shutter.
As for Prosumer/DSLR, when the camera is in auto-focus mode, the focus point focused will blink in your view finder. U can switch the focusing to the nearest focus point to guide the camera. If u are using live-preview mode, some additional controls might be required for auto-focusing and it is best to read the camera’s manual for guidance. During manual focus, a tip to achieve better focusing is the zoom to the object and adjusts the focusing. With more practice, manual focusing can be far better and faster than auto-focusing.

It is advised that u check the shot straight after u’ve taken your shots. Magnify a few times onto the object of interest and check whether the image is sharp or not. If not, re-take the shot.

Thank you for your time. I hope u learn something today and take better shots next time!

P/s: would like u all to take some time to leave comments so that I can improve my blog. Critics and suggestions are welcomed. And it would be a pleasure if u can help to answer the survey on the sidebar..





Read more...

Photography Contest Around

The post for tis week has'nt been written yet. It will probably writing about 'blurness' in photo. How do blurness occur? Stay tuned for tat! Hehe.. Meanwhile, I wil post about some photography competitions tat i discovered lately..

De biggest photography contest i noe for now is the KL Photo Awards.
Prize money is good, $2500 for 1st prize, n de photo entries last year, was'nt tat impressing to me after all. Top 50 entries selected will be printed and exhibited in Annexe Gallery, and the best thing is, u get to take back de printed photo (which i suppose is in BIG size!!!).
There r two categories in the competition, the 1st being single portrait photo, and the 2nd wil be story portrait(meaning submit a group of photos to tell a story). However, there is a price to pay. For individual portrait, each entry is charged $10(max 8 entries), whereas for story, each entry is charged $50. All $ is in USD...
Note: All entries must be received by 2400 hrs GMT on Wednesday, 31st March 2010.


Then i found tat Western Digital, a company reknown for producing hard disc drive(HDD) are also organizing a contest involving photo or digital art. The details can be found here. 1st prize is an Apple MacBook, and there are weekly prizes to be won too. The competition requires u to find the best way the concept of BGB (wat it means? refer to the website). Entries posted are also being uploaded in the website too.
Note: Closing date on 28th Feb 2010.

WWF pula organize a contest tat call for entries. The best thing about this competition is de winner gets to publish his photo in WWF's magazine cover/ used in calendar publishing. Rules and regulations are written here.
Note: The final date for submitting photos is 31st January 2010, 11:59 pm Malaysia Time.

Some of u might even noticed in my advertisement powered by Nuffnang, Milo r also helding the "Milo Fuze Jam-Packed" Contest. Snap ur photo wit ur Milo! Its juz tat easy, then ask ur fren to vote for u, u'l win I-Phone +RM1000 for 1st prize.. hehe..
Note: The Contest will run from 30/12/2009 at "00:00:01" to 26/04/2010 at "23:59:59"

Well, the last one being the one on Facebook, by Canon Malaysia. EOS FACEbulous photography contest, coming out wit 20 themes are open for all fans of Canon Malaysia group on Facebook. 20 themes are available to choose from. Join as a fan of Canon Malaysia, submit ur photo in the theme ur choosed, then ask ur fren to become a fan n ask ur fren to vote for u. Photo wit highest rating wins. (erm, vote for me too, Ong Guang Han in theme TODDLERS)(thanks.. :-P)
Note: Competition closes on 15 Feb, 2010

This is the photo i posted for de facebook competition. A baby sleeping on his mommy's shoulder in a wedding dinner, Kulai, Johor.


One of the main reasons tat I wanted to participate in photography contest, I mean other than the prize money is, these kind of contests drive me to think, to take photo, and to be creative in taking it. As u may haf seen in the entries of some of the contests, almoz all photo wit the same theme wil end up in the same idea/perspective of photo. So in order to win, u muz be extraordinary. And, I wanna WIN!!! So, i participate and i use my brain. Then oni my photography skills wil improve. I hope u would do so!





Read more...

Compact? Prosumer? DSLR? Wat is tat?

In my very 1st blog entry i mentioned about having a camera, upgrading a camera into prosumer camera, and finally a DSLR (Digital single lense reflex camera)(or more commonly, the PRO-camera by many commoners... hehe). OK, but wat is all these things?

Most camera-users like to categorize digital cameras into three:

1. normal compact (or point-and-shoot camera)(i prefer the chinese name, silly's camera, more cute.. haha..) (acronymed as DC below)
2. prosumer camera or semi-pro camera
3. DSLR camera or pro-camera

Each type of camera has their own advantage and disadvantage. Althou i am not very clear about it, i wil try my best to explain it.

In simple words:


For details or complete post, click the 'read more' below...


Normal digital compact(DC) are the common camera v normally use or saw ppl using. For example, my family's 1st ever DC is Nikon's Coolpix S3.

photo from http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05090101nikon_coolpixs3.asp

Ofcoz the obvious advantage of DC is its relatively easy to use. The fully automatic control of the camera ease the user. All u need to do is juz look into the screen, half-press shutter for the camera to auto-focus onto object, full press to take photo and checking ur photo. Not satisfy then u can delete and re-snap. Tats all. Then, the small size of DCs made them easy to be carried evywhere witout the worry of camera weight and size .

Summore now-a-days DC price ranges from 200+ to 1k+, evy1 can buy a camera based on their abilities and requirement. In order to compensate the lack of photography skills among the users, cameras have also been equiped wit several useful semi-auto function, for example the Macro-mode(to take close-ups of small things), Night mode, Portrait mode, In-Door mode.. (if u wanna noe bout diff btw each mode, leave ur comments to tel me bout it..) The higher end of DC also come wit manual mode, where it enables the user to haf more controls on shooting. As far as i noe, some Canon models provide 'long shutter' mode where u can choose shutter speed from 1-15 seconds! Snap, snap and snap.. There comes most of the photo in FB album...

This is one of my better photo snapped using Canon IXUS 850:










Well, the downside of DC is ofcoz the image quality taken is not as good as Prosumer and DSLR in terms of exposure and noise performance. But if u cannot differentiate the quality/not so particular about the quality then its find. Inability in changin lens of coz would be de biggest limitation of DC.


Prosumer camera, or commonly known as semi-profesional camera. The word "ProSumer" suggest that it's used by Professional Consumer. Erm.. to me a professional is professional, but not a consumer anymore.. haha.. so oni those who has a higher requirements towards image quality than those DC rookies, but stil not PRO enough..

Prosumer lies between DC and DLSR. It has some advantages from the two, and also disadvantages of both. It offers more manual controls which is not available on DC, like aperture-priority, shutter-priority, depth of field priority. The image quality is better than DC as the lens has larger aperture and better sensor. The size of prosumer cam r generally smaller than DSLR, slightly bigger than DC.

Canon G11, the ultimate prosumer cam:

image from: http://www.dcviews.com/press/canon-g11.htm

The downside is, the mounted lens cannot be change like DSLR. There is no manual focus for prosumer cam too, which is an important property for producing better image. The lower price is more expensive than most DC, and the expensive ones can easily by-pass entry level DSLR. Conclusion is, its not supreme in function wise, but the mobility and pricing are also not an advantage over DC. It'd be hard for some to choose prosumer, as the lower priced prosumer r not worth buyin compare to high-end DC wit similar function and price, then the higher level prosumer r not comparable with entry level DSLR.


Then the DSLR. A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. (from wiki)

Too complicated?
In simple, DSLR is a digital cam that looks more pro than the others... haha.. Tats wat you're telling others when u're holding tis kind of cam. Hahahaha..

Well, the advantages of DSLR had also been mentioned above. Better image quality (as better sensor provided), more manual controls to gif better image, ability to change lens, look professional.. Actually the advantage of DSLR is due to its sensor and lens. I wont explain on sensor as i m not clear of it myself too. For lens wise, i can tell u tat many lens r specifically designed for specific use. There are lens specifically for taking portrait(the prime lens), sports photography(zoom lens), macro/micro(wide lens) etc.. U can suite urself to take better photo wit a proper lens of ur choice. Ability to manually focus the image is also a big advantage, as u can blur out background to extrude ur object/ focus on things which are hard to the camera to autofocus.

Canon EOS 1000D, my 1st and oni DSLR..

image from www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/06/canon-announces/

Ofcoz, better quality=higher price, DSLR is more expensive than the two categories. It can ranges from RM1.8k to more than RM30k!!(as far as i noe la..) (i bet there r some cam which is more expensive!) The size of DSLR is also bigger. Manual control meaning more difficulties in balancing various factors to produce good photo. The biggest downside is, once u r into it, u wil be spending more on lens, external flash, battery grip, filters, hood, then better camera, lens.. the vicious cycle nv ends.. haha..

Below r some links to the official webpage of digital camera companies in m'sia. If u r interested, u can read the specification of each camera there! Enjoy!

Canon Malaysia
Nikon Malaysia
Sony Malaysia-DC
Sony Malaysia-DSLR
Olympus Malaysia-DC
Olympus Malaysia-DSLR
Panasonic Lumix
Pentax-DC
Pentax-DSLR

Read more...

About ISO

I am a very practical person, so all my blog entries wil oni touch lightly of the theory, but more into making ppl understand the very basic of photography. All the words/terms/jargons wil be as simple as possible in order for all to understand. (the truth is, me myself oni noes about the simple things too.. :-P)

Wat is ISO in photography?
In photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity of film/camera sensor to light. In the 'ancient' time, photographers used films of various ISO in different condition. In simple, during a sunny day film wit ISO 100 will be used while taking photo indoor needs film wit ISO 400 and above. The cumbersome of changing films in different situation has been made easier as ISO can be switched within a few touches on the camera. However in both cases, higher sensitivity (higher ISO) leads to reduced image quality. A photo taken using high ISO wil haf increase noise/film grain.

The two photos below were taken using P mode (camera decides both shutter and aperture to achieve proper exposure, the normal brightness).


ISO 100


ISO1600


Direct comparison of magnified area. Left: ISO 100; right: ISO 1600

Try to observe the magnified area in both photo. Photo wit ISO 1600 looks more grainy/wit more noise than ISO 100. If u observe clearly, u would see spots in the magnified ISO 1600 but it is more smooth in ISO 100. In normal cases, image quality in ISO 100 would most certainly be preferred by all (except for Lomography).

If the image quality of photo taken wit ISO 100 is better than ISO 1600, then why is ISO 1600(or high ISO) invented?
Well, u had probably noticed in the exif of the photo, ISO 100 had a slower shutter speed (1.3s) then ISO 1600 (1/15s). In low-light situation, ISO 100 requires a slower shutter speed as the light sensitivity is low. Longer shutter time leads to hand-shake(witout the use of tripod) or motion-blur. Higher ISO can be used to increase shutter speed and hence reducing hand-shake/motion-blur.

Conclusion:
low ISO>>>>slower shutter speed + high image quality
high ISO>>> faster shutter speed + lower image quality

Balance between ISO and image quality muz be achieved and tis normally depends on the requirement of photographer and the purpose of the image is taken.

Tats all for today lo! Any question?
Read more...

Shutter and Aperture

Well, it seems like i received some favourable comments towards my blog about the basic knowledge of photography written in chinese. Some even suggested me to write in English as some of the terms/jargons are easier to understand in english. And so this blog was wrote..

Why suddenly i started writing tis kind of blog?
One day i was playing wit my DSLR while my gal gal chatting wit her frens. I played played played then suddenly had the gush of writin tis kind of basic photography knowledge in my blog so tat all my frens can learn bout it. So, if u dun haf a camera, go n buy 1.. if u ady own a point n shoot camera, upgrade it into a prosumer cam.. if u do haf a prosumer cam, upgrade it to DLSR!!! And canon better! As i can share ur lens, flash and evything.. hehe..

In this post, i wil be introducing shutter and aperture.

Wat is shutter?
Shutter acts like a gate that controls the passage of light into the camera. By controlling shutter speed, u can control how long the shutter is opened or closed, thus controlling the amount of light entering the camera. The slower the shutter speed, more light wil be permitted into the camera, and as a result the photo taken wil also be brighter. Other than using shutter speed to control the exposure of a photo(brighter or darker), shutter speed can either be used to freeze movement or creating dynamics in a shot. Erm, i think it can be explain better in photo than words, lets look at some examples below.

The photos below was taken using TV mode(a mode that allows u to control the shutter speed where the camera wil accomodate the aperture):


As shown in the exif(exif shows the info of the photo, ie. model of the camera, lens, aperture, shutter and ISO) of the photo, the photo was taken wit shutter 1/320(shutter opened for 1/320 second). U can notice tat the movement of the mocing fan blades were frozen. The shape of the blades can be seen quite clearly.


S/P: 1/80s


S/P: 1/40s


S/P: 1/20s


S/P: 1s

Noticed the diff between the photos?
Yup, the fan blades became blur, but the dynamics increase, letting u noe tat the blades are moving fast.
Can think of any use for long shutter?

For example, tis photo, wit a long shutter, the light of car passing thru became a line of interesting light.
use ur creativity! ur imagination! Many stunning photo can be produce wit tis effect!

Next, aperture.
An aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. It controls depth of field, sharpness of the image and working together with shutter to control exposure.
Complicated?
Again, observe the photos below which were taken using AV mode(controls aperture). My camera focus in on the water bottle, but try to observe about the sharpness of the purse and the fluorescent light behind.


Aperture: F3.5 (the smaller the digit, the larger the aperture opening)


Aperture: F7.1


Aperture: F13


Aperture: F22

The fluorescent light and purse looked sharper when the aperture is smaller(big F value). Normally if u like to take scenaries, the aperture is best at F8 and above, then all the scenes wil be sharper.
In the case of portrait, photographers prefer bigger aperture(small F value, normally
Tats all for today! Class dismisses!!!

p/s: sorry tat my english and photos sucked..

Read more...

快门与光圈

今天突然心血来潮想玩玩看摄影教学，就从最基本的快门和光圈开始。各位好朋友，今天小弟塞钱进你口袋，有用的话学了快点去升级你的相机，没有相机的快点去 买一台，有傻瓜相机的就升级去prosumer，有prosumer的就升级去单眼DSLR……最好就是买佳能，然后买镜头外闪什么的，这样我就可以借镜 头来用了……哇哈哈哈……

快门是什么？
基本上，快门就是英文里面的shuttle。控制快门的速度就可以控制光线进入相机的长短（还有数量），快门的速度越满，光线能进入相机的时间就越长，光线也就越多（在其他因素相同下，照片也就较亮）。
除了控制曝光率（照片会太亮或太暗），快门还可以用来凝固动作，又或者产生动感。单单用嘴巴来说应该很难明白，就来放照片说明。

以下的照片我是用TV mode，也就是以控制快门速度为主拍摄。
快门时间短：

如图里的exif(exif既是照片的资料，会有写下相机的机种、型号、镜头、光圈、快门速度还有ISO），这张是使用1/320秒的快门拍摄的风扇，扇叶的移动被凝固了，可以看到一片片的扇叶。


快门时间：1/80


快门时间：1/40


快门时间：1/20


快门时间：1秒

看得出分别吗？
对，扇叶变得模糊了，但是动感却增加了……
有什么用处吗？



看见道路上的光芒？
使用较慢的快门速度就能产生这样的效果。
当然还有拍鬼照也可以……
怎样？发挥自己的想象力咯！哈哈……

然后，光圈是什么？
光圈（aperture)是照相机上用來控制镜头孔径大小的部件，以控制景深、镜头成像素质、以及和快門协同控制进光量。（维基百科）
这样说好像很复杂哦？
简单来说，它也是用来控制进光量的。还有，最重要的控制景深（depth of field)还有照片的清晰度（sharpness)。

景深是什么？
看照片才能明白……
以下的照片，使用AV mode（控制光圈大小）拍摄的。这张主要的焦距（focus)在水瓶，注意看后面那盏荧光灯还有离水瓶不远的钱包的清晰度。


光圈：F3.5（F越小表示光圈的孔径越大）


光圈：F7.1


光圈：F13


光圈：F22

荧光灯和钱包是不是慢慢变得比较清楚了？
通常拍风景就会用比较大的F值（F8或以上），就可以把远方的风景都拍摄清楚。
小F（大概F5.6以下）的话，背景会变得比较不清楚，所以适合用来突出主体，通常用在人像。

好了，今天的课就到此为止。最基本的快门和光圈，就这么简单咯！嘻嘻……


p/s:
不好意思，照片很普通，只是突然间想到要玩玩相机所以拍的，然后真的是突然间想要写下这个简介的，因为身边玩相机的朋友突然多了起来……
Read more...