Landscape Newbie Level

I've always enjoyed looking at landscape pictures over the internet, drool over them you might say. And the 'breaking point' was during the New Year celebrations where tons of beautiful firework pictures were posted all over the internet...but one picture really caught my eye.

That's when I knew I had to get a tripod and start looking into landscape photography. So I went over to gstrapinuse's shop in Millenium Square and bought myself a Beike Pro 471 tripod. The initial intention was just to grab the tripod and go home but "unfortunately" he had a 60x60 softbox in stock and also gave me a good price I got both together. So, I thought ahhhhhhh might as well get both and be done with it (I was also eyeing a softbox for quite some time now).

Here's the link to the tripod sales page: http://www.gstrapinuse.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_7&products_id=498&zenid=f0ecf1765a3709e4b6cc7879a0762b0b

It's a good sturdy tripod. The legs are by no means skinny, they are pretty big, strong and well built. Could be mistaken for a really pro tripod actually.

The ballhead on the other hand isn't that great actually, having some minor hiccups here and there. First thing, the metal plate doesn't quite secure well to the camera. Second, the tripod knobs aren't that comfy to tighten and loosen. There isn't much grip and the size of the knob being small doesn't really help much either. After a while of constant operation, my hands got sore and painful.

Anyway, just right after I got my tripod I went with my friend to Ampang Look Out point because I hear the view here of the city is pretty good. And the reviews were right! The view is magnificent!

We were actually fortunate to get that somewhere around 6 something as we went the wrong way!

So here's the shot. Took 3 exposures and merged in Photomatix Pro.

There were several good spots but the one I find best is in the Panorama restaurant. It's the highest point in Ampang Lookout Point which provides good composition. The other places I find a bit flat and there were some distractions from the trees/plants.

I decided to go HDR all out for the sunset shots since the sky was still bright and had good details. HDR is to get as much dynamic range of the foreground and background without having the sky being overexposed if one is metering the foreground for example.

Faced several challenges through out the shoot. Some of them were

1) Distractions of the trees(notice the picture above) which obviously could not be avoided at all. If I were to opt for a different composition, I would not have been able to get the same composition

2) Tripod ball head not steady (highlighted above already)

3) Misty/Hazy conditions <---- Can't be helped! Yes, the misty/hazy conditions didn't help at all. Lots of details were lost in the middle of the frame and in the background. Colours were a bit fuzzy as well.

Too bad I went at the wrong time. Better luck next time I guess?

Anyway, it was a good learning experience. It's not possible to obtain good results overnight so I'll try to learn a lot more about landscape shooting and try to attend talks/workshops whenever I can.

2011 ends with a BANG!

A week after Comic Fiesta 2011, there was another event that I know I can't miss- DCIM 2011! Another great event to test out my gears, shoot models and also hang out with friends!

As you all might know, photographers love to attend such events because there's always photographic opportunity to shoot something nice.... especially the pretty models there :P

There was a mini studio set up inside with all the fancy lighting and stuff. Awesome thing is that we get to use the lightings to shoot the model over there! This shot was achieved by using 3 light sources. 2 softboxes from left and right and a lovely Beauty dish from the front.

Love the lighting! The uneven lighting on the white backdrop seems awkard at first, but somehow I kinda think it works! Well at least not the usual boring plain backgrounds you usually see from studio shoots :P

 I like how well the Demb Diffuser performs when it comes to shots involving more than one subject. It's really good at dispersing light so that all your subjects is lit up correctly and evenly.

Colours are nice and skin tone is spot on, partly attributed by the good optics of my Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The model is from EOS DSLR.my booth.

And also Goldfries was going to give a talk about "One light only" which sounds pretty interesting, so I knew I had to attend it. Not many people realize that one light can do wonders, most would think that those awesome shots come from multiple lighting system with elaborate setups here and there. But turns out you can also get a good shot with just ONE light...!

And there's this 'fashion' show happening during the fair itself, that is the Velocity Angel Model Search! And I couldn't wait to have my first taste of cat walk shooting :P

Shooting cat walk may seem easy but is ridiculously tough. First thing you need to do is get a good spot! Try to get as close to the stage as possible so that  you don't end up shooting the backs of other photogs.

Secondly, look out for eye contact! When the model looks at your direction or anywhere nearby just fire that shutter! Nothing is nicer than getting a well composed shot and also eye contact from the model!

 

 Love the expression of the model. It's like "I found you!!!" She wasn't looking directly at my camera, but it still look good though! LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY shotttt!!

 
 I like the lighting and mood in this shot! Or maybe because it's my own picture? Hahaha

You can find more shots in my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kytz/sets/72157628604561355/

Also, thanks Legend Lee for his 100mm f/2.8 macro lens! Couldn't have managed those shots without that superb lens. Super fast AF and sharp lens! *drools*

Before we left, we spotted this model showcasing the Fujifilm X100 if I'm not mistaken. Pretty gal =)

And I played with wireless flash! Always wanted to get that backlighitng, flare kind of effect! Lucky it turned out quite decently and way better than on camera flash alone.

What a nice event I attended. Got good shots, met some nice people there and more importantly I got to experience 3 new things which are

1) Cat walk shooting
2) Studio Shooting
3) Wireless flash backlighting effect

And also Happy New Year everyone!

p/s: As usual, you can view all my pictures in my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kytz/

Busy month of December

Indeed a busy months with many events to cover. First there was the colourful Comic Fiesta which is usually held at the end of every year. I don't really watch that many anime/manga so I was pretty blur as to what the characters are being cosplayed at the venue lol! I'm just there to cover the event and hopefully to get some good shots.

Cosplayers gathered outside of the Convention Centre near the Park area for photo taking sessions. Good move I should say as indoor lighting conditions might not be as favourable as natural lighting.

I'm also quite happy that my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens manages to capture really nice and vibrant colours. Pretty good contrast as well, sharpness is good especially when stopped down to about f/4 for more DOF, crucial for group shots

This time round, I got the chance to test out my new Demb Diffuser Pro and results seem pretty sweet. It gives out good bounce and also helps to spread out the light more evenly. Excellent for group shots.

And it started to drizzle. So, it's back to indoors.

 You might notice that the flash is slightly bluish right? That's because I didn't have any colour gel at that time and  realized the importance of one.

  Colour gels are used for balancing colour temp of flash with ambient White Balance. Most events have warm ambient colour temperature so if one were to use flash in such a situation, it would result in warm Background whereas the subject would be lit with a cold/bluish flash. This is of course pretty bad as there is an unbalanced of colour temperatures. Increasing WB temperature during PP is possible but your background will be overly warm. One way to prevent this from happening is to use orange colour gels. This will correct the colour of your flash to match the ambient colour temperature which is orange.

When I was walking around hunting for my next 'prey' I spotted this fellow!! The Villian from Scary Movie 1!

Was slightly intimidated by his look actually hahaha =D

Here are the rest of the pictures. You can find it here in my flickr =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kytz/sets/72157628565432449/

Bridal Wedding theme shoot

Been pretty much idling for the last 5 months or so, partly due to my laziness to go out and shoot and the other, nothing much of a significance to post it here :)

However, last month or so, a friend of mine told me about a photography gathering with tons of models and make up artists! There were about 100 photographers present as well!

The crowd was massive and everyone gathered in the nearby carpark lot in Tasik Titiwangsa to wait for the models to finish with their make up

And met with Philippe and his gang. Managed to get to test his Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 lens. Simply amazing! The sharpness and colour rendition is superb, also at it's widest focal length there isn't much noticeable distortion. Here are some poisons

And then the shooting session started!

Shooooooting Birdies!

The Bird Park. Never thought that I'll come here for shooting.

As you see, they're the naughty kind. Constantly moving around, the type that never sit still. Heck, it's gonna be one tough day trying to shoot em' and to make matters worse, I don't have a telephoto lens

Anyway, today's trip is a photoshooting one, 'organized" by Brian aka goldfries for all the LYN shooters. Was nice meeting the forumers for the first time, in person. Nice and friendly people.

Justin let me play with his Sigma 30mm *oooooomph* I've always wanted to get this lens some day. A few clicks on the shutter, bang! Awesomeness, everything was spot on. Auto Focus was quick and precise. The bokeh was excellent, and all the shots came out sharp wide open! This lens has lots of contrast, a little bit too much for my taste. Image quality is excellent, although there's some purple fringing. Which lens doesn't?

When we gathered around, we also can't help noticing a father and son combo. Yes, both with big and long lens. You know like they say, like father like son eh. Anyway, it's good to see young kids picking up photography

I think the Dad is using a 5D Mark II with a EF 180 f/3.5L macro lens while the son is using a Canon 7D with a 70-200 f/4L. Not sure whether it's the IS version or not.

Birdies were hard to shoot. Lock focus on their eyes, and the going to recompose the shot.. *pooof* they flew away or turned their head. So I learned that either I do it quickly or I choose different AF points, not the centre one.

Bird Park is a really big place and with all sorts of birds. With all the vibrant and different colours too. Sadly, I couldn't even identify any of em' except the Peacock. LOL

Funny, I can't help looking at this bird here staring at his meal being prepared. The pose, the look, the eyes staring right into his meal. By this time, birds were already crowding around, they seem to know when lunch time is served eh?

Chaotic. Used a Slow Shutter speed of 1/13 sec at f/22, ISO 100. Was bored with the usual fast shots, so I tried to do something new. This picture is of course, to show motion.

And, that's all for today' entry! Will be doing a blog post on the recent PC EXPO. Stay tuned