Sorry been busy

Been to Hanoi the last few days.
Took tons of pictures about 8gb worth!
I still have a project on hand to complete. So the Hanoi Pictures will have to wait.

Will post them once I finish editting.
Behind in lots of things.
Photo Editing.....Photoshop Tutorials..and other pictures which I want to edit...zzzzz


Shy@n

Photography In General

After having started photography not too long ago, I must say my impression of photography has changed quite a bit.

I used to think what's so difficult of taking a few pictures. Point and shoot. The layman's point of view.

But having started reading and physically trying out photography, I realise taking a picture is easy, but capturing the moment and feeling and emotion is the greatest challenge.
The technical details of handling a camera, everyone can do it with enough time, but the art of taking a picture is one that come with one's creativity and experiences.

Digital age now has made photograph so much cheaper. We can take tons of pictures and delete them later on. I cannot imagine in the old days where those photographers who had to use film with no way of previewing their picture and only to know the results in the darkroom ( like a student waiting for the result of an important exams) These days with so many software around, a badly taken picture can be made into one that could make it to a magazine cover.

So do photographer and a photoshopper(as I call it) both consider artists in their own right?
I would like to think so.

By the way, I got my EF-S 55-250mm IS. Pretty decent lens at a rather affordable price. =)
I would test it out in Hanoi.

Next 2 items on my wishlist for my camere is the Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Super Wide Lens w/EOS Mount as well as the Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Lens. Seems to be rather decent and at a reasonable price too. Those would have to wait....Limited Budget.

Busy editing pictures these days. So will post as soon as they are done. =)

Shy@n

The Wonders of Photoshop

Have not posted any pictures these days as I am experiment with photoshop.
I am currently just trying to go through some of the basic techniques and understand some of the functions.

The good thing is that now on the net, there are many resources which can help enlighten you about each aspects of photoshop.

There are a whole lot of video tutorials available online, which provides a very good introduction to all the various techniques these days. Texturing is one of the new technique which I just learnt today. It is amazing how a little texturing makes your picture look.

I am currently photoshopping some pictures which I took for a very good friend. Pretty happy with some of the results. I will have to show the characters in the picture first before I can release here.

I am thinking of getting 2 lens. One Fish-Eye Lens and a Canon EF 55-250mm IS lens.
That I guess will have to wait...

Watch this Space for new pictures!

Shy@n

Chimes as you know it....

Before & After

Went through some tutorials on photoshop and decide to apply some methods which I have learnt. This was a picture of Chimes which I took one afternoon as I was passing through.

The orginal picture was unimpressive so I decide to do some editing.
Chimes being a place of joy and happiness for many wedding dinners.
So I decide to give Chimes an eerie and gothic feel.

Basically, I did some toning on the clouds.
Burn the shadows and Dodge the Highlights to increase the contrast
Then I apply the glow effect to give it that eerie feel

Shy@n

Fireworks!

Took Fireworks at the NE Show yesterday.
Did some research about taking fireworks so that I have some clue on how to start.
Basically, from my research and my experiment. This is what I think is required for a start
Camera Settings
1) Manual Mode
2) Used the BULB setting to try different exposure time
3) Max Aperture to capture the fireworks
4) A Cord Shutter release button to prevent any shaking. Physically placing your finger at the shuuter release button on the camera might results in some shaking and blurred pictures
5) Tripod ( A big MUST HAVE)
Surroundings
1) A Location which is dark with no bright lights
2) Away from people as much as possible to prevent accidental kicking of your tripod or spoiling your shots by their camera flashes or heads appear in your shots
I am relatively happy with the results. The fireworks display was relatively long, but in my opinion it could be longer so I could have more shots and more practice.
Here are the results =)

Shy@n

Trying motion shots......

Had 2 sessions of tennis the last week. One was at night and the other was in the afternoon.
So it was a good opportunity to try motion capture photography.

Tried using long exposure to capture motion shots to depict movement in the courts.
However, I can't seem to get the effect that I wanted.

Firstly, long exposure results in ghostly images. The subjects playing tennis is almost invisible, I guess it is due the fact that lighting is low and the subject moves so fast that the amount of light that the camera capture is too little to result in a more pronounce image.

Secondly, using short exposure, it like a freeze shot. Anything in between does not give me a good effect. I will investigate it further. To the get effect I wanted, I might need to take a few shots and moderate exposure and combine them in photoshop. Only then, I think I think the picture will have a sense of movement around the tennis court. So the trick could be just photoshop.

Shy@n

The Homeless Man

Night Shots at Lower Pierce

I was at Lower Pierce tonight.

The reservoir was empty and the water and the air was cool and calm, just like how it should be after the rain. There was still remanents of cumulus clouds and occasionally flashes of lightning.

The only thing that really caught my eye was the pavillion situated near the water edge.

Initially, I selected Tv (shutter priority) mode. And select 30". The exposure wasn't as ideal. So i reverted to the manual mode. I max my aperture to the widest setting, reduce my ISO to 100 and selected the BULB mode. I held intially for about 30 secs. And after a few trial and errors I got the ideal exposure and colours which I think was the best. The yellow halon lamp that was behind me , help create a redish tint to the bridge leading to the pavillion which I taught was pretty nice.

BEST PICTURE OF THE NIGHT

Shy@n

Photoshop photoshop....

Still trying to make heads and tails of photoshop.....

My weak attempt here...Played with a few layers..namely the sharpening, the Hue and Saturation and the exposure layers....

Give me time..

Night Shots Long Shutter

Tried my hand at some night shots using long shutters.



I was using a mono tripod so it tends to be a little shakey so the background is a little blur.



The street lightings also play a part in downplaying the effect of the long shutter.

The First Picture is taken at different exposure and using photoshop to merge the images together.

The second picture is blur but somehow I like the final effect

Next Project to try using a tripod and a place where is less lit.

Macro Photography

Took these using the macro lens EF 100mm 1:2.8 USM

Subject matter was just the orchid that my sister planted at her place

I was quite happy with the results.

Introduction

I bought my very first SLR Camera during the PC Show 2008.
I got the Canon 450D.

Before I got it I did my research and I was pretty happy with the specs and the price and the additonal push factor was the fact that my bro-in-law owns a Canon and he has already a couple of lens.

An excellent place to start to compare future digital cameras or SLR purchase is this site
http://www.dpreview.com/

As for me, the first thing I did was to read the instruction manual. It gives you all functions of your camera, the menu functions and the accessories which are compatiable with your camera.

Next was to understand the Canon EOS Camera. The site which i thought was most useful to me was this one. http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

And of course forums. So far the ones I have been visiting for tips and price lists are
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/index.php
http://forum.canongraphers.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=b5af83r3p16af3crb3it02vbs5&

Initially for a start to get a feel of the camera, what i actually did was just use the AUTO function. So it is a literally point and shoot process. Overall, I think the pictures turn out pretty good.

Next was to start playing with the the various functions of the camera. As they always say, Practice make perfect!