Bokeh is an often misused or misunderstood word

Neil shows examples of smooth and less smooth bokeh with actual examples coming from lenses people may be familiar with rather than some oddball legacy lens. Worth bookmarking for demoes to newbies.

in reference to: bokeh – a few notes « Neil vN – tangents (view on Google Sidewiki)

Criteria of Assessment

What question should I ask

Many, many times, we see newbies ask questions which they consider is crucially important or which they don’t understand the context of, at all. Invariably they desire a clear answer to the question. And proceed to the next question in a hurry, so that they resolve the issue of choice.

TED Talks: Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice

Let’s walk through some of these questions. (I’ll add more as I find them)

Q1: I wish to purchase a wide angle zoom lens for taking wide angle landscapes. Should I buy the one with the bigger zoom range?

A: No, you buy the one that has the wide field of view that you desire, has better image qualities, is within your budget reach. A bigger zoom range is a practical desire but it’s not the highest priority criteria.

Q2: Should I choose a brand that has In Lens Image Stabilisation or In Body Lens Stabilisation? Which is better? Does In Body work out cheaper?

A: Choose the camera model that you like to use and bond with. Choose the camera brand that you like to own. In Body Image Stabilisation works fine and is useful when you want to fit any hunk of glass (lens) onto the body, often old legacy lenses or modern wide angles which are not offered with In Lens Stabilisation. In Lens Stabilisation is good when you want the best expensive pro grade telephotos – because the lens should have a mechanism tuned just for that lens. The cost of an expensive lens is largely in the quality and size of the optics and build – the cost of the IS mechanism does not affect the price advantage either way. Some brands offer an IS body can third party lenses for that body offer IS in the lens. That’s nice to have but I wouldn’t use that feature as the prime criterion.

Q3: I love those low light shots. Should I get the Canon XXX or the Nikon XXX? I’m avoiding those small sensor cameras because of high ISO image noise.

A: It is true that an APS-C size sensor camera will have better high ISO, low noise performance, relatively. It is also true that these two brands typically have a 50mm f/1.8 nifty fifty cheap and bright lens. But that’s it.

• If you are into landscapes, a formal one that is set up nice so that you reap the rewards of taking the patience of setting it up means, a tripod. I don’t like to carry a tripod and I hand hold whenever I can but really if you want a horizons level, nice depth of field, good composition that takes more than a split second of framing then click, high ISO isn’t the sole criteria. You might take the time to bracket your exposures or explicitly meter your exposure and mentally employ an Ansell Adams moment or a histogram / review moment to get it right. A high ISO, feel good fast click isn’t the sole reason to choose a camera.
• Having a fast f/1.8 lens isn’t the absolute solution either. If you shoot an f/1.8 lens at f/1.8, the sharpness and micro contrast of that lens at that aperture isn’t the best. Additionally if you intend to use f/1.8 for indoor portraiture, the 50mm image magnification size and the shallow depth of field yields very soft portraits except for the eye you are focussing on or the nose that you mis-focussed on.

Get some experience first and see what the total package works like in practice. Maybe you need a flash and reflectors. Maybe you need a tripod. Maybe you need brighter lights indoors or ask the subjects to come nearer the windows or existing lights.

Theory doesn’t overcome practical experience.

More as I see them….

Robin Wong: Olympus E-5 Review: Macro Shooting at Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur

Robin's a young photographer who came to my attention in his continuing and evolving street shots of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He brings so much identity and nuance to scenes that I grew up with.

He's been testing the new Olympus E-5 with one of my yearned for, favourite lenses, the 50mm Zuiko Digital Macro. Brandon's let me try it from time to time - it's amazingly sharp but very leisurely in its autofocus because it has a long focus travel.

I thought the E-5 would be too rich in price for my taste, but with results like what he's showing, ahem........ Obviously, it's the photographer in Robin that made those shots sparkle.

Robin Wong: Olympus E-5 Review: Macro Shooting at Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur

Interesting article showing the progression if Image Quality

For the Canon G series cameras...

in reference to: 9 years in the megapixel race - noise or quality - Pixinfo.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans…

When I was in school, this Max Ehrmann poem was all over students’ doors, walls. It’s since lost favour in this world of incessantly competitive and vexatious world of internet forums and dropped remarks.

As I participate in DPR forums, the Beginners Forum reveals lots of insecurities and misconceptions. Lots of people want better photos with the elusive Image Quality (IQ) – they think that getting a better camera magically creates better photos. We keep telling them that 80% of the photo comes from the envisioning + patience + persistence + evolving skill of the photographer. Particularly when one starts from zero base. And a 50% improvement in equipment performance is 50% enhancement of the remaining 20% due to gear. Certainly a skilled craftsperson can and does benefit from heavy investment in better gear but encountering that boundary requires a enlightened understanding of that encounter.

I’ve shot the scene above, many times, under different weather, different seasons, with different cameras at different times of day. Whilst persevering with my Kodak P880 a few days ago, I was evolving my approach. The P880 is a love-hate camera for me – it can surprise with amazingly clear and detailed photos (usually in the hands of someone who lives in Devon, England or Greece) and amazingly unspectacular, nondescript photos. And this scene has shown all the variations.

This time it works for me. Nicely detailed foliage, stone and wood. Sky not burnt out. Strong colours but not distractingly burnt out.

ISO 50. Matrix Metering. Programmed Mode. EV – 0.7. In-camera contrast at max. In-camera sharpening at max.

del.icio.us Tags: Kodak,P880,Beginners,Photography

Switching Chairs

Is Switching Chairs like Changing Hats? Do we take gain a different perspective when we sit on a different chair? Maybe we can elevate our vision by stacking them.

Standing Out

Sometimes, all you do is stand out. Stand different. Is this you? Do you seek conformity or do you seek individuality? I guess it's relative to the context of existence.

Vietnamese Garden at Diggers Rest

Going nowhere

As the sun sets, we reach the bridge. Does it lead us to the future or does it link us to the past?

The Old Iron Bridge at Keilor

Talking about Blown Highlights

Here's are reflection.

in reference to: Avoid the “blown” highlights obsession « ESFotoClix Blog (view on Google Sidewiki)

Some de-noising techniques

from the Online Photographer.

in reference to: The Online Photographer: Can You Get Good ISO 6400 from an Olympus E-P1? (view on Google Sidewiki)

Timestamping your photo after the fact

or cropping your JPEG losslessly for printing....

in reference to: Edit JPEG photos without recompression loss - Better JPEG (view on Google Sidewiki)

About Lens Hoods

Paul van Walree writes about Lens Hood shapes and designs.

in reference to: Lens hoods (view on Google Sidewiki)

Good work with the Olympus tele kit lens

A collection of flickriver photos

in reference to: Flickriver: Photos taken with Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f3.5/4.5 lens (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Left Handed Micro Four Thirds

Terry Lane describes his motivation to create his device.

in reference to: The Lefthanded Camera Project (view on Google Sidewiki)

Can't judge distance?

Use the Human Rangefinder Card.

in reference to: Human Rangefinder Card Generator (view on Google Sidewiki)

Neil's writeup explaining "correct" White Balance

Neil did a good show and tell of choosing a White Balance.

in reference to: which white balance setting should I use? « Neil vN – tangents (view on Google Sidewiki)

Iconic Photos - by the Simpsons

How many do you recognise?

in reference to: The Simpsons do iconic photos « Iconic Photos (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hear TED Talk

14 TED Talks by Photographers over at PetaPixel

in reference to: 14 Powerful TED Talks by Photographers (view on Google Sidewiki)

Telling A Story

Image by Ananda Sim 88 via Flickr

It’s been on my mind to write about the aspects that I appreciate in photos – both my own and other peoples’. At first pass, one would think that the Technical Image Quality Aspects of a photo dominate appreciation of photos, but no, not really. There are quite a few photos that I have seen, and maybe you have to, that are iconic, stand out keepers despite of the fact that they may rate poorly in the Image Quality aspects of exposure, sharpness, colour and so on.

So what is it that we subconsciously search for in a photo when we look at it? It’s that the photo needs to tell us a story. A story about the scene, about the subject, about the object, about the air and feeling, the mood, the time of day, that location on earth. The essence.

To convey some essence of the subject or scene then, the photographer needs to convey some adjective or adverb about the object or about the environs, about that time of life.

On the other hand, what makes a photo just discardable floatsam and debris, regardless of the technical superiority? It’s when we don’t connect to it. The photo could be beautifully posed, shot and post processed but if it says nothing to me, it’s a “next please”. Have you heard of the phrase “ill fitting clothes?” That doesn’t mean the clothes are cheap or dowdy – that just means that the clothes don’t fit the person – and when there have been times in the past (and will be times in the future) when we effect a look, just for sheer trying, that doesn’t match the topic that we are trying to convey. So there. In a nutshell.

del.icio.us Tags: composition,photography,postprocessing,imagequality,storytelling

Remove photo backgrounds in Powerpoint 2010

Interesting blogpost for new easy feature for photos in Powerpoiont 2010

in reference to: Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering : More About Background Removal in Office 2010 (view on Google Sidewiki)

A quick summary of DSLR vs Point & Shoot

At Earthbound Light.

in reference to: DSLR versus Compact Point-n-Shoot Camera - Ten Reasons to Favor Each - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light (view on Google Sidewiki)

Making more of the good ol' Olympus C series Ultrazoom

I've had my C-750UZ for a long while. The plastic latch on the battery door is half broken. The internal capacitor doesn't hold charge much anymore. It's voracious for energy. Normal alkaline AA batteries (four at a time) don't last very long in it. Lithium one use disposable AAs are a bit expensive. Enerloop type modern NiMh have just enough fresh voltage to last enough and still not cost you an arm and a leg.

Despite it all, the colours of the C series JPEGs are happy and presentable - the greens are punchy yet not over the top and so on.

Just today, I came across a forum posting that noted that the C series Ultrazooms can produce RAW files - with a lot of help from some Russian hacker forum. I tried it, haven't made up my mind whether it's worthwhile or successful. If you want to give it a go, here's what you have to do:

1. Download OlyRAW program - it runs on Microsoft Windows PCs - I tried it on Windows 7 and it still works on that newer Windows. Keep that aside for a while.
2. Take your C series camera and switch it on.
3. Open the xD card compartment door. A red alert message will appear on the LCD screen.
4. Hold down both Ok button and the switch LCD/EVF toggle button together for 3 seconds.
5. The LCD display should now shows a two panel menu - cursor around the menu so that it reads USB -> CONTROL, press OK
6. Now close the door, switch off.
7. You will need a (currently) common USB to mini-USB generic cable (your C-series camera came with one). Attach the cable to the camera and the running computer
8. Switch on the camera - the computer will acknowledge and the camera will display a 3 choice menu on the LCD. Choose PC on the camera.
9. Run the OlyRAW program and tick the RAW Enabled checkbox, then click Ok on that dialog .
10. Switch off the camera and disconnect.
11. The camera will now create two files with a JPG extension each time you click. One file will be a real JPEG, the other will be an unusual RAW file but it will still have a .JPG file extension.

Processing the RAW file.

1. When you want to process the RAW file, copy the file to your computer.
2. You might want to rename the RAW file's .JPG extension to .BIN so that you do not get confused.
3. You now need to run RawWork.exe to convert this RAW file to an .NEF file.

You will need RawWork.exe, Rawnef.odb and optionally a configuration utility rawutil.exe. Get these files - from this raw2nef webpage and the rawwork webpage.

Note: The RawWork database does not have an entry for the C-750uz - there are entries for the C-770, C-765

Note: NEF, by the way, is the Nikon RAW file format.

When you don't want the C-series camera to produce RAW files anymore, you need to run the OlyRAW program and untick the RAW Enabled checkbox you ticked previously.

Disclaimer: These are instructions derived from the OlyRAW Russian website - play with your camera at your own risk - no liability is assumed if it becomes a useless brick.

Autumn in Melbourne 2010

I haven’t blogged much since I got back to Melbourne. The pressures of living and life imposed their tax.

Last week, it was a cold and tempestuous Melbourne, replete with hailstones. The past few days, it’s been the relaxed, autumnal Melbourne, – lazy comfortable shirtsleeves temperatures, bright but not harsh sun, lovely golden light washing over scenes most of the daylight hours.

I was over at Werribee for some work and chanced by the Werribee Mansion. Disappointingly, I was either too early before work or too late after work, to make a photographic visit. The eucalypts along the way were scenic though – ordinary scenes painted gold by the sun.

There’s something calming about this scene, the P880 with my help of EV-0.7 renders it well. The sky’s blue is unassisted by ND or polariser.

I must confess to warming up this shot and the one below. Auto WB is a relaxed choice but absorbs colour nuances when you want emphasis.

And a tight crop brings the companionship of these two trees better to mind.

Ken Rockwell on composition

KR is notorious. Some people worship him as a deity (no, not diet, deity). He does ramble on about Nikon. But he's a presenter. An entertainer. He says as much. Being an entertainer goes help points across and aids storytelling.

His article on composition is thought provoking and I would say a revelation to beginners who come to you and say "is my shot any good".

Just don't make him your sole diet.

in reference to: http://kenrockwell.com/tech/composition.htm (view on Google Sidewiki)

I need theatre in the taste, not so much the presentation

Sis and I were viewing a Master Chef episode. You know, the one where they are down to four and Justine was knocked out with that chocolate mousse. There was good ol’ Mr. Cravat. Matt Preston. I wonder what he would say about my favourite fruits.

Every time I come to Malaysia, I hope to have a mouthful of Bee Cheiu – that’s a small banana with thin, easily bruised skin. The taste is superb. It doesn’t have the coarse “I am carbohydrate startch"” blandness of Aussie bananas – it’s a very delicate sweetness that leaves a gentle end of taste in your mouth.

Because it is easily bruised, it may not stand the rigours of transportation to supermarkets and so on. But it is heavenly.

As heavenly as chiku. I mean real Malaysian chiku.

The Tropical Greens

I like the temperature climate of Melbourne and the plants and flowers. But tropical Malaysia with the benefits of constant rain, sun grows anything you like to grow with less effort.

The oleander bonsai style (if this is indeed an oleander) is a current favourite amongst the residents.

Small bright flowers on small ground cover bushes with waxed leaves are flora du jour as well.

This one’s a firm favourite for the small crumpled trumpets. Sis says they smell lovely.

I recognise the shape of these trumpets – our neighbour in Melbourne has the larger variety, red that bursts into a Rosseau like profusion. This one is smaller, yellow.

Red Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia. Now there are so many different varieties.

Ah Hun Ee has this gorgeous green coloured spiky grass shrub.

Ladies Fingers (Okra) is nice to eat as well as decorative.

Daun Kadok has so many lovely green colours and textures. It adds a special taste to our nonya steamed Otak Otak.

I love my four angled bean, the Kachang Botol. We can get some variety from the Springvale Vietnamese shops but they’re lighter green and the flavour isn’t as intense. I can eat them raw just like one would munch fresh snow peas off the vine. As a child, I used to grow them at every house we stayed in. The nurturing time was mainly over the seedling phase, once they grabbed root, maintenance free of pesticides, fertilisers – just sun, rain, nearly any soil.

I’m unfamiliar with these variegations. They are nice, anyway.

Keeping the light burning

Why do we leave the light on in the front? Is it to give us working illumination when we wake up earlier than sunrise? Is it because we forget to switch off the night before? Or is it to be a beacon to lost souls?

What people do…

Sometimes, it takes a visitor to see aspects of what one takes as normal and the way living. I’m been away from the Malaysian way of looking at things, so it’s both interesting and absorbing to see the sights with blended native and visiting eyes.

This scene typifies the Malaysia (and South East Asia) that is so vitally intense, engrossing and interesting. As Malaysians obsessively watch Astro (and in this case, Taiwanese Hokkien soaps), they escape (or they see virtualised, abstracted, emphasised versions of their lives and living).

The scene above shows the huge umbrella. It belongs to a street vendor, probably selling food. Obviously, the vendor comes regularly to this spot, so X marks the spot. In the background are double storey shophouses, retailing a melange of goods and services. Not the clean, synthetic, uniformised chain stores that so disenfranchise themselves from being nostalgic tags in the timeline. No doubt, the middle class will remember the good times at KMart in Australia, with a passing parade of staff that service the outlet.

But here, in the Taman Desa suburb of Kuala Lumpur, you can eyeball and see the small business owner. And his wife (maybe) because she runs the non related business upstairs. And their children as they come back from school.

Here, someone’s taking Kodak to the Laundry.

In some capitalist Western societies, being a businessman seems to attract and undesirable trail of ethics, motivational queries. In Malaysia, a fair number of people are in civil service or work as nine to five office workers. But being a business person, particularly a small business person is not a withdrawal from society.

It’s just a place where you can hang your hat.

Play Misty for Me

There was hesitancy about KLIA, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport when it was first opened. Worries about the volume of baggage traffic, people getting lost and things like that. Now, this hub has settled in to normal operations, it’s a wonder that people were initially concerned. At one terminal, KLIA has an indoor treery. I have not walked into it – I was not aware it was something you did. But this time, the doors are open. The airport is cool and air conditioned – you don’t realise that this is a synthetic environ until you walk into the tree-ry and your lenses fog up. Alejandro (one of my Facebook friends) reckons RainX should work – but I am a bit hesistant on subjecting my 7-14 front element to that – maybe I’ll try it one day one a less expensive lens.

Anyway, you don’t realise how much mass the 7-14 holds in terms of temperature inertia until you wipe it, wait, wipe it, wait, wipe it…..

They’ve even managed to get some weaver birds in (or were they recorded bird calls?)

The Head of Kodak Kuala Lumpur Advertising Department

I was on the DPR Kodak forum (where we have a nice social camraderie) and posted a photo of the first advertisement I had ever seen (in Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur) extolling the features of Kodak Smart Capture in their cameras. Kodak has been through a tough financial year (well, several) and their camera business is sadly in some disarray. Lots of what looks like oem models (i.e. somebody makes them, maybe somebody designs them, proposes them, makes them – an Original Equipment Manufacturer with a name beginning with F… with factories in South East Asia and elsewhere). Kodak diehards were horrified to hear that one of the new gen 9xx series ceased production just before 2009 Christmas and New Year holiday sales season, goss being that they had contracted the oem for a fixed number of units, contract satisfied earlier than expected (hey something went right, sales were good) but the manufacturing and distribution dried up at such a crucial time. This is goss, we won’t know the truth.

Anyway, we love our Kodaks, old and new and I was thrilled to see scooter rider (in sandals, teeshirt) flying the flag at an intersection. Chiue reckons he’s the head of Kodak Kuala Lumpur Advertising Department. Maybe they’re starting a viral ad campaign at the grass roots? Maybe…..

del.icio.us Tags: Kodak,V705,Malaysia,Advertising

The Return of the Native

This isn’t a reference to the Lord of The Rings trilogy, which is something that is more modern, considering the movies. I have in my mind, more the Thomas Hardy novels that I read when I was much younger.

I’m visiting Mum – the past few years has been a new deal for me with respect to perspectives of Malaysia. There’s a whole jumble of sentiments, perspectives, detractions yet positives, nostalgia, relationships – the lot. Does having a landmark birthday bring upon such ruminations of lost opportunities and what to do for now and for the future?

As I encounter a flood of regrets (it gets tough as the emotional and psychological baggage increases) as well as a sense of helplessness of how to handle the future, Malaysia is one place where ruminations don’t become abstract without interruption. There’s so much going on as life keeps living and moves on, whether you’re debris in the flotsam or steering a purposeful boat, there’s more to come and coming now.

Took a walk with Mum – she only does a short circuit, so I went out for a slightly longer one (the urgency to lose the tum is quite an imperative, although a feeble one).

I was kinda looking for the “golden light” of the morning – it comes at a different time of the morning in Malaysia and at a different angle.

It’s a new day of course. What’s surprising for me, is that the sky is blue and the clouds are white and fleecy. The V705 can even be convinced render the scene. The past few times, Kuala Lumpur has had a thin grey, polluted gauze of a sky.

This is a middle class suburb, with a whole range of residents. My sis is into greenery regardless of the size of her garden area – she works really hard at it, it’s a hobby and a passion for her, like photography is for me. It liberates the inner soul.

Signs on lamp posts have been around for a while. They seem to be breeding. Someone wants to sell a fridge, a washing machine and the ubiquitous Astro equipment. Maybe they want to rent out a lorry (truck) as well….

When I was a child, we used to look at birds on the wires between lamp posts. There are still lamp posts, but lately, a Kagi antenna sees to be a preferred choice.

I think this photo above is just gorgeous. It’s with the Kodak V705. I could have rushed back to get the Oly DSLR or I could have carried the DSLR with me in my shorts, old tee shirt and open sandals. Nah. It was comfortable and more convenient with the V705.

The tropical climate – sunshine, heat, rain brings easy growth. Residents love to have something to please the eye – the plant on the left has hairy leaves and spikes. On the right, there seems to be some umpela dwarf variant

These yellow flowers are distinctive.

Nice and peaceful huh?

What do we know about human nature? Peace and a comfortable existence is fragile. Seems this part of the housing estate (that’s what they call a block of houses in Malaysia), there’s a war broken out. This family who’ve been residents for more than 30 years are neighbours to a tuition school.

After school tuition has been popular and commonplace in Malaysia since my primary school days. Tuition classes are held in linked shop houses (commercial establishments) as well as homes of teachers – it’s a small overheads, fair revenue stream. Parents and kids identify good places and come to learn.

Unfortunately the neighbour seems to be very popular and traffic and parking in conveying students has become such a nuisance that a local war has broken out. This resident has taken to blocking off the road and various parties have taken to scratching the car paintwork as well as other misdemeanours.

And so, the day passes.

del.icio.us Tags: Malaysia,Photography,Kodak,V705,KualaLumpur

Photo Tagging and Metadata

Good list of metadata formats.

in reference to: http://www.photometadata.org/META-101-metadata-types (view on Google Sidewiki)