Interesting set of photos of ethnic Chinese

More than Han....

in reference to: http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200911/news-big5-952715.html (view on Google Sidewiki)

Merry Christmas and a Properous New Year

After doing the annual carpet shampooing (should do this more often) and the lawn mowing, finally got time to wish y’all a Merry Christmas and a Glorious New Year.

This is my first Christmas on Facebook and it sure is nice to have my old friends so near with wishes and greetings.

A fascinating use of flickr photos

You get some really weird photo-words combinations

in reference to: http://www.storiesinflight.com/flickrpoet/index.php (view on Google Sidewiki)

Four Weddings and a Third

Martin Frost alerted us on DPR to this Flickr Stream

in reference to: http://flickriver.com/groups/43weddings/pool/interesting/ (view on Google Sidewiki)

Interactive Learning Tools for Newbies

del.icio.us Tags: newbie,photography,f/no,iso,shutterspeed,aperture,PASM,auto,manual

People who are new to photography or exercising control over their cameras (e.g. new DSLR owners) find that it’s not as easy as it seems. And they think it should be, after all, this is 2009. It’s not like they were Lartigue in 1900.

Sometimes, they don’t want to read dry text, so I point them to interactive tutorials or visuals on the web.

Tamron offers a Focal Length gadget

Tamron offers a Depth of Field gadget

Craig Hickman offers Camera Demo, a gadget that lets you play with ISO, Shutter Speed, f/no, Light Level, Exposure Compensation and different modes – P A S M and full Auto

PhotonHead has some simple pages showing tables of Shutter Speed, f/no and what a “stop” means

Related articles by Zemanta

• 10 Extreme Cameras for Taking Impossible Shots [Cameras] (gizmodo.com)
• Bokeh Filter Turns Blurry Lights Into Distinct Shapes [Photography] (gizmodo.com)

Looking Wide

del.icio.us Tags: uwa,Zuiko,Olympus,FourThirds,wideangle,macro

I’ve had my 7-14mm ultra wide Olympus Zuiko for a while now. The fervour to use it as a general walkabout lens has subsided. The mollycoddling of the bulbous front element has subsided. The fervour to shoot at 7mm (14mm equivalent to film) has subsided.

Now comes a more relaxed, patient and hopefully longer lasting relationship with that lens. One of the happenings that lured me away from the frenzy of all-wide was a return to 24mm equiv for the NILCs (Non Interchangeable Lens Cameras), otherwise known as the Point and Shoots. I got myself a second hand Kodak V705 and it taught me that even an NILC can provide good wide angle shots. Maybe not the technical image quality of a larger sensor, more expensive Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILC), but a shot nevertheless, when the ILC is not with you. And often, in your daily life, the ILC is not with you.

I also learnt that learning about aesthetics, perspective, wide-angle-ness is a journey and the more experience, the better my eye for composition and spotting a scene becomes.

With that eye, one can even finesse a wide angle perspective from a non wide angle lens – it’s the old adage of “it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it”

Related articles by Zemanta

• Olympus announces E-P2 digital camera (macworld.com)
• Panasonic's New MFT GF1 (mexiledphotos.blogspot.com)

Can a Llama outrun a car?

I'm munching on leftover re-heated pizza as I overhear Kim Possible. "Can a Llama outrun a car?" Well, rephrasing that, can a fixed focal length shoot better photos than a zoom? I'm not talking about the eternal quest for image quality. I'm talking about shooting satisfying photos.

And certainly, the answer is Yes. Certainly, a zoom is much faster to frame without moving your legs. And modern zooms are sharp enough - we take them so for granted that we don't even blink when standard walkabout lenses we pick for an Interchangeable Lens Camera are zooms.

So what do you lose with a zoom?

• a large enough aperture / small enough f/no. For light gathering goodness and subject isolation.
• the nudge to move your body and walk your legs - you're not discovering the alternative framing angles, perspectives in composition. Yes, you could use a zoom like a fixed focal length prime and refuse to zoom. If you can resist the temptation, you're a better person than I, Mbutu.

Now, that off my chest, one day, I'll gather enough motivation to write about what you lose when you have an Auto Focus lens.

Photography is a journey. Enjoy your journey

Which is the best entry level DSLR? The Canon or Nikon?

We often see questions like this in the DPR forum(s). Often, even more specific like "Which is better, Canon model A or Nikon model B?". And each new poster wishes a personal dialogue, so asking them to search and read previous posts is fruitless. It's such a common question that here's my answer.

Answer 1:
They are both good. Each Model and each Make has it's distinctive personality (of course, how would you sell competing products that look the same and act the same). All of the DSLRs are capable cameras and will give you the opportunity to shoot satisfying shots. The shots become better and better the more skilled you are and the more you spend on gear. Actually, you could buy a Pentax, Sony or Olympus DSLR and still get satisfying shots.

Answer 2:
They're both useless. What you need is a top of the line, full pro model D something with full pro, premium priced lenses. Wait a minute, even those pale if you go Leica shopping. Why don't you buy one of those?

"Ok", then they ask further - "But which one is best?"

Well, there can't be a best. For several reasons.

• As already said, both are competent in general and both have a personality. (Often the personality of these tools can only be felt by hands-on use and experience). There is a difference in which in where each model's strengths and the weaknesses are placed.
  
• There is a Better For Me, and this may be different to Better For You. Really we may have different portability expectations, different image quality expectations, how much we want bragging rights / swank value, how we shoot, what we shoot.

"Yes", they say. "But why doesn't this model have better high ISO performance, flipping LCD, spot metering, weather proofing and a 20x zoom?"

Well, yes, there is such a model. It's a CaNikOlyTaxSon. Look here - I just made a mockup using Photoshop from bits and pieces of all the cameras. Why aren't the makers smart enough to make a real one?

Body based sensor image stabilisation

del.icio.us Tags: ImageStabilisation,Sensor Size,Body,OIS

There’s an age old tussle amongst proponents of the sensor-based image stabilisation built into the body (Olympus, Pentax, Sony DSLRs) vs the lens-based stabilisation favoured by Nikon, Canon, Panasonic DSLRs. Sensor based IS works on the sensor so you don’t get steadying of the view when you are sighting the shot before you click. Then Bluetrain048 talks about a procedure where you hold in the IS button of the Olympus E-510 and it stabilises the image and keeps it steady for a couple of seconds. Well, I never knew it was there…..

DIYPhotography’s Portrait Lighting Cheat Sheet

I thought this was fun – you see instructions on how to use your studio lighting, DIYPhotography has taken the time to make a Cheat Sheet.

Inexpensive Wide Angles in your pocket

I like wide angle perspectives. So much so, I bought the widest ultra wide available for my DSLR – the Olympus Zuiko 7-14mm. It wasn’t cheap and I would normally not go out and spend money like that, but I just had too, it was a special birthday and all.

I still like wide angle combinations which are more pocketable though. Pocketable wide angles are not easy to get – the small sensors in pocket, compact cameras mean that a “normal” angle of view lens for these cameras is already 4mm optical focal length. Making a wide angle forces the optics to go 2mm, 3mm which is really small.

I was happy to come across a second hand Kodak V705.

There are two lenses on it. The equivalent 23mm wide angle is a good lens but doesn’t focus (I think it’s a fixed focus) so it can’t go macro. The second lens – a zoom, does focus but either the exact camera I have is not good or the camera does not have a very good mechanism in that one. Ready-to-shoot time for the camera is fast, right after the sliding lens cover unhides the lenses, the 23mm is about ready to shoot and there is little or no shutter lag because the 23mm does not need to focus.

The camera is chunky though, it is small but not slim.

Looking around for other cameras (do you call it window shopping if you use Microsoft Windows?), there are a few wide angle compacts – but I like low cost because I expect the camera to be tossed around, sometimes with keys in my pants pocket.

What else is there that is wide angle and inexpensive?

There’s the Olympus FE-4000 Magenta. This has a 26mm equivalent wide angle lens, 4x optical zoom.

It’s about AUD 240 It has a 24mm equivalent lens with zoom to 120mm. It’s about AUD 199. I can’t yet find a review but there’s one for the FE-5020. PhotographyBLOG carried out a review.

The Panasonic DMC-FX40 is another inexpensive model with a 25-125mm equivalent zoom. Photography BLOG has a review. It’s about AUD 199 too.

Finally, the little known Kodak M420 with a review here – It’s not available in Australia – well, I did say it was little known.

Caring Tuppen for Precious Rocks

See how loving wrapped the rocks are? They must be fragile art pieces.

APR – AnandaSim’s Photo Rating System

Ananda's Photo Rating System Edition 1.1

Note: Updated 22nd April 2013
See also Edition 2: Ananda’s 10

With increasing awareness brought by the accelerated learning that digital photography and the internet brings, I’ve sometimes thought of a rating system to assess my own as well as other photos I see.

Subject Choice	Max 2 out of 10 aggregate points
Wow Factor (includes Story Telling)	Max 2 out of 10 aggregate points
Visualisation – Covers Scene Lighting, Composition, Specific and explicit choice of exposure and other elements of rendering, presentational aspects	Max 3 out of 10 aggregate points
Execution – the Technical Image Quality – Exposure, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness/Sharpening incorporating in-camera processing as well as post processing	Max 3 out of 10 aggregate points

Observations:

1. The maximum possible score in each category is largely subjective. That’s intended. You preference for a Subject may be quite different from mine.
2. The subjective parameters outweigh the technical parameters. That’s intended. Glorify art and life not gear.

S:2 W:2 V:3 E:2 Agg:9

del.icio.us Tags: photography,assessment,rating,appreciation,imagequality

The old KB 18

For a few years, I gave up on carrying the film SLR. My Minolta XE-1 had run into shedding its flock and the silvering of the mirror was disintegrating, my X-700 was fine but I could not bring myself to completing a roll of film, even if it was 12 exposures. There didn’t seem enough to shoot at and the SLR was cumbersome and expensive to carry around. For that interim period, I got a near disposable Kodak KB-18. Kodak has a weird sense of balance – for such a cheap camera, Kodak has a support page just like its more expensive cameras. The pdf manual is online. It even has a FAQ article on Premature Rewind – is that as embarrassing to you as it is for me to discuss?

The KB 18 is no more, it broke a few years ago. But what nostalgia.

Taking photos of kids

Over at the DPR forums, we routinely see beginners or rather new parents who want to take photos of their young kids all the time. They have this "I wanna take a photo of them anytime, everytime, anywhere, everywhere" urge that, after a few years, I'll bet becomes "oh, maybe we should take a photo of junior, Hon, where's the camera, did you see it last, did we ever buy batteries for it?"

Regardless, it's nice to have the family moment and to treasure each other, so we still want to take a photo or two. Only, we can't have every shot we want, at any time and at any place - when the kids transition into a mid phase, they'll even cover their faces when you raise your camera.

Taking photos of kids has to be a case of social engineering and management - as the adult and the parent, you HAVE TO manage the situation. Not the other way around. You'll go nuts with any camera chasing after them - you have to stage the situation, set up the shot.

I just came across a Tamron video, I think some points are really funny, but it does reinforce the idea that you have to manage the situation.



Candice says that the Tamron she is using is "lighter and more compact" than the other lenses. I guess that's a relative statement - it is an f/2.8 lens (which explains it's bulk) but it sure doesn't look compact or light. Additionally, she's shooting in bright daylight and shadows on a DSLR, so the f/2.8 isn't vital for getting a high shutter speed, it's more for a shallow DOF. Which is not easy to work with, even in this staged environment when you have kids moving actively.

The other point is she's shooting in a high dynamic range scene. This means she has to sacrifice the highlights - many newbies don't yet understand this and insist that the photo is flawed when the highlights are burnt out.

Here's one from expertvillage:

And she talks about forcing the flash on or "fill in flash"

Carson hosts a demo for Nikon, baby photos, again in studio environment

Here is another one

The shallow Depth of Field thing

It's not often I take my Olympus E-330 out for family lunch. But I didn't feel like driving and being the responsible adult, so off we go, E-330 with the manual focus alien Tamron 28mm f/2.8 Adaptall II mounted on a jinfinance Four Thirds lens mount adapter.

There's a restored Austin A40 outside the local church at Kingsway - what a lovely oppurtunity.

I got in as close as I could, I used to think the lens wasn't that sharp but the photo above is at full aperture open. Bokeh is quite pleasing too.

Of course, I took a look inside at the quaint speedometer.

Been distracted....

I've been distracted from blogging - a lot of fun interacting with the folks at the DP Review Forums and in my work life. I would write that I picked up a second hand Kodak V705 - always wanted the 23mm wide angle and in-camera-pano-stitch in the dual lens pocket. There's the old saying of "be careful for what you wish for, you might get it and it's not what you want".

Well, for the second hand price, it has given me much joy - as much I suppose as those Olympus PEN EP-1 owners are getting. This small camera lets you let your hair down - you don't have to be so ultra formal and ego centric with a big DSLR and big lens, you just stretch out your arms, point and shoot, and oh, well, if it doesn't work, next time, you did try.

There are serious deficiencies with this Kodak V705. The JPEG compression is really aggresive - the Kodak P880 which I also have has selectable compression but the V705 does not - it's a V series, not an el cheapo C series - why did they make it compress JPEGs so much? Buyers of the camera when it was new would have had enough money to buy more SD cards for sure, so card capacity isn't an issue. Maybe it's the camera busy time during file save.....

The second lens, the 3x zoom is poky to autofocus despite the impressive looking illuminated AF points on the LCD screen (the P880, even more expensive does not have that) and having an AF LED (that you can't switch off). And sometimes, it just loses focus trying too hard - maybe my second hand sample is faulty.

But the 23mm equivalent angle of view that I bought it for? That's a barrel of fun.

The V705 is now my in-pocket-always-with-me camera.

Looks like Rome? No, it's the Box Hill Town Hall.

I call this, Pierre as he goes home after a long day....

Kenny Rankin - Rest in Peace

I had a wave of Nostalgia when I played Kenny Rankin's old album on cassette tape from the late 1970s. Found out he passed away June 7th 2009. Thanks Kenny for all those emotional warmth and comfort you gave through your songs and unique vocal style.

Melbourne at the boatsheds

Southbank, up close and personal

My companion photographers on the bridge

Travel Pictures

Lots of people wonder what gear to take when they are on a tour or travelling. I do too. At home, I’ve some gear and I can always return home and get more gear. When I am overseas or on a tour, I can’t do that. And therein lies the issue – if you seldom or have never been to a magical place, you do want all your gear. But unless this trip is a professional photography trip or a purpose planned amateur photography tour, you just can’t carry all your gear.

So what do you carry? Well, it depends on type of photo you want to shoot.

Portrait Videocasts

ProphotoLife's YouTube Series

Studio Portraits

Quality of Light

One Light

Three Lights

Outdoor Portraits

Outdoor Portraits #1 here

 

Outdoor Portraits #3 here

Peachpit Within the Frame videocasts

Photographer’s Insights

Following a forum discussion, I came across these YouTube videocasts.

Joe McNally for Authors@Google

Joe McNally

Chris Orwig

Rich Harrington

Kevin Ames

Scott Kelby


Matt Kloskowski

When you have trouble visualising a scene.....

Bring a frame to help you. And if the frame is not big enough, bring a bigger one.....

Retro

I’ve had scanners and I’ve had scanners. I remember I had a 5R type scanner, not pro quality, where I would sandwich the film or paper between transparent polycarbonate sheets. It was hooked to LPT port (remember those?) and the scans were not really good for print much less 35mm film. Then I had a flatbed scanner, Genius, I think, and that didn’t do much for film either. In 2008, I got a Plustek Optic Pro 7200 for my birthday. I processed a batch of slides and negs of 30 plus years ago – they weren’t again pro quality as of current technology, but they allowed me to see my old images again. I didn’t want to want a long time between each scan frame so didn’t use 3600 dpi even.

After sitting idle, I took out the Optic Pro and carried out some scans of new 35mm film. I asked the neighbourhood photo store to C-41 process Fuji Superia 100. The result? Nothing like the digital stuff we shoot nowadays. If not for the romance of the film dyes and the Lomo – Henri Cartier Bresson look, one would just hit the delete button on them (well, not really, you can’t delete film, you have to walk to the bin).

All kinds of technical issues – longitudinal scratches, film grain, weird film dyes (the Silverfast software colour corrects that orange base of the colour negative but the colours still look like they’re painted on), poor dMax causing blocked out shadows and burnt highlights. Retro? They sure are.

But, but, but – could you get something in digital this romantic without post processing? Really?

From Retro

The Fallen Acorns photo

Click on the widget to display full screen or pannable full screen for effect.

Watching the ANZAC parade 2009 (Part 1)

This was my second watching the ANZACs as they marched through St. Kilda Road, to the Shrine of Remembrance. It’s a parade which represents a mix of emotions – solemnity, a remembrance of those fallen, an affirmation of those who came back.
We see the drummer boys and girls

children and grandchildren accompanying the marchers

and waving the flag

Of course, the March Marshalls have their hands full coordinating movements. Some have to actively point out where to stand

In the end, you get some incongruous combinations

Watch out for Part 2…

My first Closr Widget

Closr is an interesting photo hosting service. You can upload a large JPEG and it will absorb it and create an Adobe Flash widget. This widget shows you a thumbnail - you can see it bigger or even full screen - it's zoomable and it drip feeds to your browser. Have a look at my first try.

Remember, my additional photo blog

Come over here to look or set up your RSS feed.

My first camera

Mischa Konig has a photo of my first camera. A Starlet that my Dad gave me after he got his Pax Ruby. I think my bro used it too.

Choosing a DSLR (Quick Answers? Not really)

Image by penmachine via Flickr

In the DPR Beginners Forum, we often get beginners asking about which DSLR to buy. Invariably, although they think they are being unique and try to sound unique, their question goes like this:

1. Which is The Best DSLR?
2. Which is the DSLR with The Best Image Quality?
3. Which is the DLR with The Most Bang for Buck?
4. I’m buying my first DSLR, Which One Would You Buy?
del.icio.us Tags: DSLR

One might think, they should first read other posts before they pose the question. Because there are many posts around the same topic. No. That’s not a goer for them. For several reasons.

1. Previous posts seem too tailored to individual queries
2. Previous threads are too long and often spiraled by conflicting pontifications
3. They really can’t make sense of the language being used
4. They really believe there is a Best – why is everyone so clueless?
5. They want to settle the matter there and then, what’s the point of going to a shop and holding the thing?
6. They’re looking for some camraderie.
7. They’re looking to be served at the counter, ring, ring!

Let me try to address the questions as best I can, in broad terms.

Q: Which is the Best DSLR

ANS: There is no “Best” DSLR – there is no Best Car, there is no Best Wife, there is no Best House. There is a car you would rather drive, there is a wife that would suit you to bits but might not suit everyone, ditto for a house. What makes you think there is a Best DSLR? There are DSLRs that are so robust, strong, long lasting, solid, reliable, produce good images that they are chosen by the Professionals Who Earn A Living from photography. That may not be the one for you – as an amateur, you may not have the budget, you may not have the dedication or have an assistant to carry all the gear, and so on. So essentially, you’re asking, “What is the Best DSLR for me?” – to which we answer, we don’t know, we are not you. You can tell us who you are, what you want to shoot (and some beginners say anything and everything) but we may still get the choice wrong – we don’t have your size hands, we don’t at all empathise with your eyesight or lack of……

Q: Which is the DSLR with The Best Image Quality?

ANS: There would be one or two DSLRs with extremely good image quality. And the contender for the crown might be knocked off every other year. Take for example, that Leica S-System – it might be the best Image Quality DSLR one day, but would YOU buy it? Really? So, we might say a Nikon D3 or a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III. Would you buy those? Money no problem? Are you going to buy at least one lens with that body, sir? Ok, you may think I’m over the top? So you’re into the more plebian entry level DSLRs? That each brand has? Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax? Which entry level camera has the Best Image Quality? Are you serious? If they are all entry level models, none of them can be The Best Image Quality. There will be one that does better than another technically, but economically, the higher model of a couple of years ago that is still on sale might be the same price but punching much better because it was a higher model. So you can’t even compare within one category – there are wildcards from previous years, higher end models, second hands and so on….

Q: Which is the DLR with The Most Bang for Buck?

ANS: Same as above - economically, the higher model of a couple of years ago that is still on sale might be the same price but punching much better because it was a higher model. So you can’t even compare within one category – there are wildcards from previous years, higher end models, second hands and so on…. Would you buy an older model? Would you buy a refurbished one? Would you buy a second hand?

But what does “Bang for Buck” mean? That you buy a firecracker that goes “boom” louder? But we’re not buying firecrackers. We’re buying cameras to take photos. A photo is a combination of lighting, subject selection, composition, where you stand, how quick you and the camera are to take the oppurtunity, whether that oppurtunity is well within the camera’s ability and your skill. A camera with more features to tick off in a product matrix may not necessarily be the better tool for you. Because for that oppurtunity or scene, it may not have the right strengths in the right areas.

Q: I’m buying my first DSLR, Which One Would You Buy?

ANS: Really, this is a howling classic. I can tell you why I would buy something. That does not make me, you. I might be dual faceted. I might want you to buy what I buy and persuasively say so. To vindicate my choice. Bring one more to the fold. Or I might so detest my choice I want the whole world to not to buy that in revenge and retribution. Really, you don’t want to buy the camera that I bought. Really.

In later postings, I hope to come up with some affirmative points….

Related articles by Zemanta

• Olympus E-30 DSLR reviewed: distinctly different, but that's a good thing (engadget.com)
• Learn Digital Photography - the Basics of Digital Photography (articlesbase.com)
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 Micro Four Thirds Sequel Shoots Full 1080p Video [Cameras] (i.gizmodo.com)
• The D3x Price Tag (duncandavidson.com)
• Nikon D700 beats $32,000+ Cameras (itsjustjustin.com)
• Nikon D3x reviewed: unmatched image quality, steep price tag (engadget.com)
• Full Frame versus Cropped Digital SLR Cameras (digital-photography.suite101.com)
• Nikon D3X FX Format Digital SLR (photography.suite101.com)

The Kuala Lumpur set

del.icio.us Tags: Malaysia,Kuala Lumpur

A recent poster in the DPR forums was asking about places to shoot in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. I replied that different people shoot different things and there’s lots to shoot. Then I thought, since I started up this blog, I haven’t posted any Kuala Lumpur or Selangor shots. Here are some that stick in my mind.

This is a view of the Corus Hotel, dwarfed by the Petronas Twin Towers and the other skyscrapers. Taken from the Malayan Flour Offices on Jalan Ampang.

I remember this Ampang Taoist / Buddhist Temple – for many years, Mum and Dad would go there with me, especially during Chinese New Year. There was a courtyard there, with a wishing well – not actually, more a wishing pond with small figurines, bonsai – a magical place for the young at heart. Now, I think that atmosphere isn’t there anymore. No over powering smoke, no dark corners, not wall hangings depicting lost souls in hell.

From the top:

and inside:

This is the handsome messenger of the gods

The fearsome looking Laohans are now perched high and lit up

Related articles by Zemanta

• Landslide Kills 4 In Malaysia, 1 Missing (cbsnews.com)
• Police break up Malaysia protest (news.bbc.co.uk)

12MP is enough (or was that 640k?)

del.icio.us Tags: Olympus,DSLR,FourThirds

Image via Wikipedia

The forums at DPR are going a bit ga-ga over the CNET PMA interview with Akira Watanabe, manager of the SLR planning department. He said - "We have no intention to compete in the megapixel wars for E-System".

It is quite common in conversations with self appointed gurus, to moan about how the small sensors in cameras keep being pushed into higher Megapixels whenever a new model is released. These people say that manufacturers of cameras should voluntarily step back from the Megapixel race. And now, when one manufacturer says so, the same people or other doomsayers step forward and say that staying at a plateau of 12MP for the Four Thirds sensor signifies the beginning of the end.

What people choose to skip, is the following remark by Watanabe-san - “Instead, Olympus will focus on other characteristics such as dynamic range, color reproduction, and a better ISO range for low-light shooting”.

It is also well espoused by reviewers and by the anti-Four Thirds opinionists, that the weak points in the Four Thirds cameras is about a stop of dynamic range and earlier onset of digital image noise (graniness). So Watanabe-san is simply stating that the company does recognise the challenges in this sensor size and they want to improve the performance of these aspects on a higher priority.

Certainly, if Panasonic (or less likely, Kodak) comes to the table and brings an even denser Megapixel sensor, it would not be logical to sweep such a gift into the rubbish bin.

Much is also made of Watanabe-san’s statement: "We don't think 20 megapixels is necessary for everybody. If a customer wants more than 20 megapixels, he should go to the full-frame models”.

Again, nothing surprising in that. Lots of people don’t need the 20MP. Look at the long sales life and service life of the redoubtable Nikon D40 – a 6MP camera. And routinely still recommended as a useful camera – with punchy colours, low image noise. Many people, including myself, seldom print now (again there are aged, veteran photographers who frown on this and insist that the object of photography IS PRINTING) – and certainly web images or screen images, as a output result, uses less than 2MP.

So, why the angst? Why the neurotic chest thumping? It’s because someone practical and pragmatic stood up and announced that there is a finite limit to real sensors and real optics and the Four Thirds design as at the time of the interview.

Will there be electronic and optical improvements? Sure. By how much and how soon?

Should aspiring pros and pro-like fans abandon Four Thirds as of now so that they can fill their bag with CaNikZeiss lenses? Maybe. If you must have the huge Megapixel, the wafer thin DOF, the super creamy bokeh that an 85mm f/1.2 lens will deliver, the ISO 2500 without digital image noise, then they should have left the station like, oh, a year ago.

For the rest of us, the practical niceties of the Four Thirds system daily proves it’s worth. And when the time comes, when the legendary 24x36mm “full frame” sensor DSLR sells at today’s entry level price, we’ll take our options then. Until then, Carpe Diem – don’t burden yourself with the perceived loss of assets that aren’t.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Daily deal - Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera + 18-55mm lens + 4GB memory card for $392 (gadling.com)
• Tests show ups and downs of Four Thirds cameras (news.cnet.com)
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 12Mp Micro Four Thirds camera (reghardware.co.uk)
• Leica's S2 Is What You Get When You Crossbreed a Tank With a 37-Megapixel Pro Camera [Tomorrow's Cameras] (i.gizmodo.com)
• Nikon breaks the D3x's cover (crunchgear.com)
• Olympus Unveils Non-working Concept Model At PMA (ubergizmo.com)

What is Correct Exposure Part 2

del.icio.us Tags: exposure,dof,shutterspeed,f/no,photography

The Perfect Picture’s Creatively Correct Exposure video tutorial is interesting to watch, but it encourages newbies to link two different facets, “technically correct exposure” and “creative choice of f/no for depth of field” without a seam. Sure, a veteran photographer juggles both these facets intuitively.

The newbie though, does need to pause and think that these are two facets – they overlap in the fact that the f/no is present in both facets but that’s the only thing they overlap in. Otherwise the spiral of confusion, that winds into equivalence of every facet (f/no, shutter speed, ISO, sensor size, focal length) perpetuates.

In truth, Bryan is demonstrating exposure (the permutations of shutter speed and f/no). He’s not speaking of twiddling the ISO dial (because in the film days, you could not easily change ISO in mid roll) nor is he talking about the effect of different digital sensor sizes and focal length.

Bryan Peterson explains this slightly better in this second video – emphasising choice of shutter speed:

and another video, emphasising f/no

In truth, Bryan's videos and the title of this very blog post should be more aptly changed to "Choosing an aperture and shutter speed permutation to effect creative control of the visual aspects of the photo" rather than "Understanding Creative Correct Exposure". Because we have not yet begun to discuss whether we should underexpose or overexpose a scene (in modern parlance on a digital camera, twiddling the Exposure Value compensation dial, to creatively darken or lighten the whole photo so that we can target the face of a person as the most important element in the photo.

What is Correct Exposure Part 1

his is an oft repeated question by newbies to photography. An oft repeated reply by people who have “seen the light” is that the “correct” exposure for a scene is what you want it to be.

Huh?

We often point to the exposure meter in the camera (classic film SLRs) or histograms in the DSLRs. and we tend to say, you must try not to “burn” highlists (overexposure) by avoiding histograms peaks pushed flush against the right edge. And you must not push histogram peaks against the left edge otherwise you get inky dark shadows that have no detail (underexposure). Heck, even some photo competitions state one of the rules is that you must not submit a shot where the Photoshop eyedropper goes 0 or 255.

Well, that’s generally true. Except that often, you can’t avoid one or the other or both. That’s because, regardless of the medium – negative film > transparency film > 24x36mm sensor DSLR > APS-C DSLR > Four Thirds DSLR > small sensor compact, the natural outdoors or indoors harsh scene will have a Scene Brightness that exceeds the Dynamic Range handling ability of the camera. I was musing on that when I compared my photos, with technically correct histograms against someone else’s photos where there was so much “pop” in them. Having a technically correct histogram does not make the photo visually interesting.

That’s because the histogram is only a two dimensional report of scene and subject brightness (well, maybe two and a half because you can have separate R G B histograms as well). The histogram does not tell you:

1. which part(s) of the scene is causing the spike(s)
2. about what curves, shapes and visual geometry make the subject interesting
3. whether the face or interesting part of the scene is “correctly” exposed – can you see the detail, texture of of the face and so on.

In a recent article, The Online Photographer describes and discusses Dynamic Range and even Local Contrast. It’s a good read.

So, what is Correct Exposure?

del.icio.us Tags: histogram,exposure

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Shoot Live Stage Shows (photography-techniques.suite101.com)
• Take Better Outdoor Sports Pictures (photography-techniques.suite101.com)
• Night Photography in a Nutshell (articlesbase.com)
• Exposure Compensation - A Bloggography Tutorial (betterinbulk.net)
• How To Lighten Dark Photos In Photoshop (makeuseof.com)

Chinese New Year in Melbourne 2009

Oh, had a really lovely few weekends shooting with Brandon and Dave. Brandon’s photographic style is coming along very nicely and many of his shots are simply compelling.

I dragged out my Kodak P880 as I had not used it for many shots for a long time. I shot JPEG (formerly I used to shoot RAW), didn’t concentrate on full wide (24mm equivalent) and used lots of fill-in flash. The results are a style which is quite different from my previous P880 ventures.

First stop, to get some fortune wheels

From People in Melbourne

or money trees

From People in Melbourne

maybe some context sensitive caps

From People in Melbourne

and say hi to the friendly sales girls

From People in Melbourne

of course, an ang pow would not go astray

From People in Melbourne

It helps if you can read Chinese, but if you don't someone who can will help translate, maybe

From People in Melbourne

Dry and hot in Melbourne

We’ve just had three days of over 40 degrees Celsius and it hasn’t rained since I don’t know when. The green is receding, replaced by brown and weeds.

From Melbourne 2009

There are brown leaves in spots or all over oak trees – and it’s not autumn for a long while.

From Melbourne 2009

People buy large tanks for rain water, for grey water and for firefighting

From Melbourne 2009