Pics Can Talk

Moving!

2009-07-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Pics Can Talk is getting it’s own domain and hosting and moving to www.picscantalk.com.

The new site and move will see a change and a full upgrade of what the site originally had.

In addition to the current offerings of articles, photography resources and links, I will be introducing new and exciting stuffs such as :

Daily high-resolution pics
More free photography articles
Free online photography courses
Specific photography related e-books
Recommended photography products
Photo-editing and advanced digital imaging tutorials
Exclusive invites to workshops and outings
Contest with prizes to be won
..and much more.

So be sure to be on the look-out for the new grand reveal of www.picscantalk.com!

If you want to find out more, drop me a message!

Twitter – www.twitter.com/kennygoh
Plurk - www.plurk.com/kennygoh
FaceBook – ID : kennygoh

Tea Plantation

2009-05-27T10:21:00.001-07:00

Tea Plantation, originally uploaded by Kenji Images.

It's been a year since I've uploaded this image to my Flickr site. Today I revisit it again, still charmed by how it turned out.

A bit of imagination and light touches defined how I perceived the Hills of Cameron Highlands to be. I will be making another visit here soon to get more shots like this.

I'll be adding this to my collection of favourites on my Flickr site. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Creating a Unique Tilt-Shift Photography Blurring Effect

2009-05-27T08:23:00.001-07:00

In the old days of photography, we often see techniques to create special effects done right from the stage of taking the shot. One creative technique of manipulating the sharpness of a shot and creating a fake depth-of-field look is tilt-shift photography. In the past, this method of displacing the a lens on bellows so that the plane of focus is not at the right angle to the film surface creates a unique effect that has the scene looking almost like a fake miniature.

| Look mom! Toy cars!!! |

What makes the scene look like a miniature?

When you take close-up of a miniature set, the first thing that sets the scene is the angle that you are shooting from. Usually, from a 25 degree to a 45 degree angle would be how you may be standing above the set to take the shot of the scene. The second factor is the shallow depth-of-field that will usually result as you are taking a close-up or almost a macro shot of the scene right up close. These two factors are what is required for your mind to perceive the view of a miniature scene.

Highlighting the focus of your shot.

This technique can also be used to the extreme level to highlight the focus of your picture. Such as in portraiture, you can simulate the effect by putting the focus of your subject rendered sharp whilst keeping everything else in the scene blur.

Sometimes in a particularly busy scene, you may resort to this technique to reduce the focus on distracting elements. Applying this technique keeps your scene simple and clean.

How do you simulate a tilt-shift photography blurring effect?

Step 1 : Picking your Shots

Once you have understood the fundamentals behind creating the effects as explained above, take a look at your shots to determine the right shots that can be used to create this effect. In this tutorial, we will be using a shot taken from an apartment building overlooking buildings below. It’s also best to work with a shot that has more or less diffused lighting conditions as that is usually the case when you shoot miniatures indoors.

Step 2 : Creating a Layer Mask for the Blurring Effect

Using Adobe Photoshop, you first begin by creating a second layer of the same image and also a layer mask. When you do your lens blurring, the layer mask will be used to determine which part of your picture will be sharp and which blurred. Remember with the tilt-shift technique, the area which is sharp is very narrow.

Step 3 : Masking the Sharp Area

Next, use the gradient tool and create a 2-sided gradient by dragging across a horizontal plane. Make sure you use a black layer mask to ensure that the area covered by it will be sharp when you apply the lens blur.

Step 4 : Using Lens Blur

Adobe Photoshop has a lens blur option where you can get quite authentic looking lens blur with the options of adjusting the details and settings of an actual lens. To create the effect using lens blur will take longer than the normal Gaussian blur technique but the result is much better.

Step 5 : Setting the Depth Map

In the Lens Blur menu, select Layer Mask from the Depth Map drop-down menu. The blurring effect will be applied to your earlier layer mask.

Step 6 : Lens Characteristic Settings

The options under the Iris menu are settings for the characteristics of your lens such as Shape (the number of aperture leaves that your lens has), Radius, Blade Curvature and Rotation. Experiment with the settings to determine the best outlook for your shot. You don’t have to be too bothered about the specular highlights settings unless you are going for details.

Step 7 : Remove Layer Mask

Next remove the layer mask which you had set earlier

You’ll end up with a shot that looks like a miniature version of the real world. This is a fun technique which you can apply to different subjects, provided you take the shot from the right angle. Here are several more examples of what you can do with this technique.

Before & After

Have fun trying it out!

Published : Click! Issue 28 (2008)

2009-02-08T10:24:00.001-08:00

I had to feel blurred writing this article! :-)

THE BEAUTY OF BLURRING

[ Yes… I had to put on my lipstick in the foggy bathroom mirror ]

This issue is out on news stands in Jan 2009. In this issue I looked at the effect created by shooting extreme blurred photos on purpose. Despite how this is an unconventional way to shoot, appreciating the beauty of this form of photography takes a little understanding of what makes it work.

INTRO

"...Intentional blurring in photography can be regarded almost as an art form. Sometimes abstract but sometimes done intentionally to intensify an element in the picture, whether it is colours, lights or shape. Blurring blends colours into a gradual mix but not a total mix. Some form of blurring highlights on the contrast between light and shadows and others creating the soft gradient of a single hue..." (pick up a copy at newsstands and read more).

[ My wife’s earring never looked that good! ]

Bali in a Whole New Light

2008-05-22T07:48:00.001-07:00

Every bit of pun was intended with the title above . Well, I've just added a collection of shots on Flickr of my trip to Bali. These are HDR rendered sets, all edited with a single RAW. What is interesting about this new shots are the fact that I am applying some texturing effect, such as the sunlight streaming effects to create a unique and even more surrealistic effect to the shots.

Honestly, I discovered it by accident as I had been doing some retouching effects to reduce noise and came across the final effect of this.The shot you see above is the first of a number of shots which follows this series. I will be posting a tutorial here pretty soon on creating this effect. So do check back often.

The Link : Bali in a Whole New Light

Click! Magazine May 2008 - DIGITAL CAMERA NOISE

2008-05-22T07:39:00.001-07:00

In May's issue of Click! Magazine, I write about the occurrence of digital camera noise. You can learn how to make your shots smoother and post-processing ideas to remove digital camera noise.

Also remember to flip to the "Yes You Can" pages for some interesting ideas about unconventional methods to improve your photography.

This month, I am also back to reviewing your pics in the Pictures for Review section.

Have fun reading!

Photo to Appear in Publication

2008-03-16T04:18:00.001-07:00

A received an email a couple of days ago from the writer of a book called Skyscrapers to have this particular image of the Chin Swee temple of Genting Highlands to be featured in a small section of the book called, "Ancient Roots of Skyscrapers". It's another testament to the idea that any picture may be interesting and relevant for a particular topic, so don't take your collection of pride and joy for granted.

Will certainly be looking forward to seeing how my the shot will be used when the book comes on the shelves in September 2008.

HDR from Singapore

2008-03-10T05:08:00.001-07:00

Hi I'm in Singapore at the moment.

This afternoon I was sitting in my hotel room when I looked out the window and saw a beautiful sight, Singapore at Dusk.

So, I took out my little Panasonic Lumix FX7 and took 3 bracketed shots = +1 & 0 & -1 (yes, it's a feature built-into even basic digital cameras).

This was the result after I combined the 3 shots into an HDR image...

What do you think?

People : HDR

2008-03-08T02:28:00.001-08:00

Okay, this technique may sometimes look similar to the dodge and burn technique which I had been showing, but only because the dodge and burn techniques may be used to turn out pictures like these. HDR when you use a software like Photomatix to create, becomes a more "automated" technique whereby your control over the photo, becomes a matter of sliding tabs and determining the extent of your HDR effect.

The examples which I have in this gallery combines the wonderful effect of HDR along with a bit of dodge and burn to perfect the final effects. Afterall, even if you go through an automated car wash, you gotta get your hands dirty by wiping it down at the end...

Check it out here

People : Dodge & Burn

2008-03-08T02:20:00.001-08:00

I've just posted some new shots in the Dodge & Burn section of my photo gallery. A couple more people shots. If you want to see how I've used it to bring out certain shots, go there and have a look. The theory may be quite straightforward but it takes a good eye to see what you need to be dodging and burning for, to get the best effect.

Flickr Galleries : Dodge & Burn

Click! Magazine March 2008 - DODGE & BURN

2008-03-04T11:40:00.001-08:00

In the March issue of Click! Magazine, I will be highlighting about the use of dodge and burn for digital enhancements. This will be an interesting article which highlights a very contemporary technique of dodging and burning to create a unique editing of different exposure levels.

In the tutorial, I have included a step-by-step technique of how to adjust your settings and useful tips to start you off.

Do pick up your copy and enjoy reading and learning!

- Kenji

Intro to Pics Can Talk

2008-03-04T07:59:00.001-08:00

Hi Welcome to Pics Can Talk!

This is my new blog site which I have created to be dedicated to stuffs about photography, photo-editing, manipulating images and creative designs.

The contents on this blog has come and will be coming from several avenues, through my career as well as my hobbies and works which I had created just for fun.

I hope you learn something from here and have fun while you are at it.

Enjoy!

Noisy Images

2005-06-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Digital noise or the grainy texture you sometimes get on your image has long been the woes of many budding photographers. It results in less than pleasing pictures of speckled images rather than the silky smooth ones that you would most of the time, like to see. Little do some photographers of the digital era know, that at once in analog photography, the equivalent phenomenon, called film grain had such a following that it warranted its own field of interpretation.

Here is a picture of an old man on the street. Not only does converting the picture to black and white gives a “raw” feel to the scene, the effects of film grain helps to emphasis the old man’s desolation.

WHAT IS FILM GRAIN?

In analog or film photography, film grain is a speckled texture you see on the surface of your picture. This is created by clumps of silver halide which are the light sensitive components on your film. Faster films, which are identified by their higher ISO range (ie ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600) are more sensitive to light and form larger silver clumps resulting in a grainier image.

WHAT IS DIGITAL NOISE?

In digital photography, Digital Noise is the digital equivalent to Film Grain but how they are created is different. The image sensor in a digital camera (CCD or CMOS) converts light into digital information which is stored in the camera’s memory card. Photoelectrons are produced when light hits each individual photosite or pixel on the image sensor. Free electrons are sometimes produced from the heat of the photosites and contaminate the neighboring sensor thus creating digital noise. In the situation of low-lighting, these photosites are affected by electrical signals during the long exposure timing.

Although the effect of digital noise from digital cameras is similar when viewed on a small print, photography purists never regard these two as the same. In fact, digital noise is shunned by many photographers who see this as a poor result of image processing by their digital camera.

Here are a set of pictures with high level of grain effects. The effect of grain adds to the mood to the pictures.

WHY DOES MY CONSUMER DIGITAL CAMERA SUFFER MORE FROM DIGITAL NOISE THAN A DIGITAL SLR CAMERA?

Consumer digital cameras have a smaller image sensor to convert light into digital information. This means that the photosites on the sensor are closer to each other increasing the occurrence of free electrons. A DSLR has a bigger image sensor with more space in between photosites. This lends to a cleaner and smoother looking image.

This is also another element to consider when you are looking at the latest 8MP digital camera that fits in your front pocket. It does not necessarily mean better quality images but perhaps just higher resolution ones. It may do just as well to get a high quality 3.2MP digital camera with a better output, if you are just going to end up mostly printing 4R prints and the occasional 8R. But, image sensors on digital cameras are improving greatly and I could be proven wrong with many of the new digicam in the market nowadays. Do consider all elements when getting your next digital camera.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF FILM GRAIN ON AN IMAGE?

Black and White films in analog photography are the fastest ranging up to ISO1600 and ISO3200. At this level, grain is extremely high. One of the effects it has on the picture is creating a picture that has a lot of mood and atmosphere. This sometimes helps to improve a scene that is otherwise lacking in interesting features.

Grain in a black and white picture also results in a punchier and sometimes a more dramatic picture as it as a shallower contrast range and outlines are more clearly defined. Bear in mind faster films are also less saturated and are not as sharp.

Faster films or ISO setting allows you to use a faster shutter speed setting in many situations where lighting is low and using your camera’s flash will kill the ambience of the scene.

It is still best to set your camera on the lowest ISO setting most of the time and then add the effect of grain into your picture as you see fit. At least this way, you can adjust any changes that have been applied to your image.

Making Compositional Adjustments

2005-05-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

It’s near impossible to say you can go through images which you have just downloaded from your digital camera and every picture is good enough not to require the slightest adjustments. Professional photographers are notorious for taking large quantity of shots and then using just a few perfect ones and more often than never, ending with slight touches of adjustments here and there.

For this purpose, some basic photo adjusting skill and a good eye for a potentially good picture are required. As we have looked at correcting your images in terms of contrast, brightness and toning adjustments in previous issues, this month we will look at compositional adjustments.

CROPPING

Cropping is a method of adjustment which you could be using less as you gradually become better at composing your picture at the point of taking your photograph. This means you should gradually master the skill of knowing what should go in or out of your picture at the point of pressing the shutter button.

Cropping adjustments help to result in defining compositional rules, such as the Rules of Thirds. Another important use of cropping is really to reduce the amount of clutter or empty space in a picture to give it more “focus” in directing the viewer’s eyes towards the main focal point of your image.

BEFORE

Although the image above is perfectly fine as a snapshot of your subjects in their surrounding, it can be improved as a portrait by cropping out distracting elements surrounding the focal point of your image.

AFTER

By cropping out the distracting plants on the right side of the picture and the empty space on the left side of your subject, you have effectively brought the focus strongly on your subjects.

BEFORE

This image of our Prime Minister’s office was taken perfectly symmetrical but suffers from poor composition. The empty space at the bottom of the picture does not contribute in any way to the aesthetics of the picture.

AFTER

Cropping away the empty space greatly improves the composition of the image. Stronger emphasis is given to the centre of the building. Leaving behind a small part of the path helps to lead the eye of the viewer into the picture.

PERSPECTIVE CORRECTION

The problem of distorted perspective is most common in architectural photography. This happens when you are taking a picture of a building from a low angle. Exaggerated perspectives are sometimes done on purpose (this is done by using a wide angle lens and shooting from very near the structure).

The perspective of this building was purposely exaggerated to accentuate the grand façade of the building.

However, if the distortion is slight but clear enough to be noticeable, the building may seem to be leaning backwards. If the edges of the building are close to the edge of your image, the distortion would be emphasized more in relation.

Some digital cameras come with a built-in perspective correction feature. It is still better to correct perspectives on your computer which allows for a better control of the correction and final image quality.

BEFORE

The distorted perspective of this image shows this building, especially the clock tower on the right, leaning backwards.

AFTER

After perspective adjustment, the entire building should look perfectly upright. This creates a more pleasing final composition.

CORRECTING YOUR HORIZON

Holding your camera straight and perfectly horizontal is seldom an issue if you have both feet planted on a flat surface and two hands to correctly hold your camera. If the situation you are in is contrary to the above or if you are so intently focused on your subject that you fail to shoot a perfectly horizontal horizon; your picture may seem to slope to one side. Your viewer’s attention to detail may be quite acute to notice such imperfections.

BEFORE

In this picture, although the line of the horizon is not clearly seen, the sloped horizon is evident from looking at the slanted structures in the picture.

AFTER

Adjust the horizon level of your picture using the structures in your picture as a guide. In this example, the minaret of the mosque serves this purpose)

Note: It’s also quite acceptable at times to shoot with unique angles to give your picture a sense of motion and dynamism. No harm in being creative and trying this out.

Interesting Fact

Lines in an image sometimes create interesting optical illusions. At times, you may not even realize the first time you look at an image. Take note of this the next time you come across similar images.

Take some time to look through your images and see how each of these can be improved by making the above compositional adjustments. You would be surprised as some of these adjustments are minor but makes for a great improvement in the final outcome of your image.

Using Filters

2005-04-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Do you sometimes wonder why a professionally taken picture can look so full of impact? Sometimes you would realize a picture may have colours are “so bright” or a sunset that almost feels “warm” or a sky that is so “clear” and “blue” or even a portrait shot looks so “gentle” and “soft”.

A lot of times, the secret here is the clever use of filters. In analog (film) photography, a lens filter is attached to the front of a lens. Light passing into the camera is affected by the filter and this creates different effects in the final image.

In digital cameras, the built-in image processor mimics traditional filters to create the effects you would normally get. However, D-SLR cameras still uses physical filters as this allows for greater control of the effects of the filters.

If you are using a camera with threaded lens or a DSLR, here are several descriptions of some common photography filters that you can use to create interesting effects

UV Filter

If you use a SLR camera or a camera with threaded lens, a UV filter will be almost essential to keep on your camera all the time. It is a colourless filter and its purpose is to keep out ultraviolet light in the atmosphere and reducing atmospheric haze to capture images clearer.

Polarising Filter

A polarising filter cuts out reflections by preventing light waves from certain angle from passing through to the camera’s sensor (or film). This means that it also affects the light coming from water particles (i.e. clouds) in the sky at the same time enhancing the image by deepening the colours that comes through. It also is useful in shooting through surface of water and glass which are reflective.

A polarising filter gives you deep, rich and high contrast colours

Neutral Density Filter

A neutral density (ND) filter reduces the amount of light that reaches the camera’s sensor without affecting anything else such as colour. This allows you to create effects such as slow shutter speed. ND filter also come in graduated form which is particularly useful if you want to balance out the amount of lighting coming from the sky, which is generally brighter to light from the ground.

You can use an ND filter to reduce the amount of light and slow shutter speed to create effects like this

Warming Filter

Sometimes your pictures can look dull on a overcast or cloudy day. Your camera may capture an image that can appear cool. Warming filters help to add a little warmth for a more desirable effect. Sometimes strong warming filters can give that extra touch to a bright sunset.

Cooling Filter

Cooling filters does the opposite of warm filters and are less commonly used for photography. But, it helps to add saturation and impact to a dull sky.

Blue filter can give you a cool, misty morning feeling

There are also other less common filters such as the Soft-Filter (which is great for portraiture), Intensifying-Filter (to increase individual colour saturation) and Infrared Filters (which enhances the effects of infrared radiation to create surreal light effects especially on green foliages)

The effects of a starburst filter

Simulating the effects of filter digitally

Here are two post-processing methods you can use on your digital pictures.

Creating a warm sky

1) Open up your picture

2) Create a new Layer and set the blending mode to Multiply

3) From the Tools box select the Gradient tool

4) Change your foreground colour to Orange

5) Select your gradient method as “Foreground to Transparent”

6) Drag the gradient from the top of your picture downwards

(adjust the length of this gradient accordingly based on the position of your the sky)

7) Finally, adjust the opacity of the layer to get the desired effect.

You can use this method with blue colour to deepen the colour of the sky.

Softening your portraits

1) Open up your picture

2) Duplicate the existing picture on another layer

3) Adjust the Opacity of the second layer to 50%

4) Click on Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur

5) Adjust the blurring Radius according to how soft you want the image to be

(as a guide for a 6MP image, set the Radius to 10 pixels)

Filters are quite fun to use. It gives your pictures a fresh outlook. Experiment with different colours and effects. Keep it subtle for a realistic look or go to the extreme for some dynamic effects.

Understanding Histogram

2005-03-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

One of the most important features of digital cameras which have changed the experience of taking pictures is the possibility of reviewing your picture at the point of taking a photograph. You are able to see if you have taken a good picture or a bad one and decide whether you should keep it.

However, most of us do not know about an additional feature in our camera that can also help in determining a good picture. This feature is called the histogram.

The histogram shows you the tonal range of your picture, usually depicted as the darkest to the lightest pixels in your picture. Reviewing your picture in such a small LCD on your camera, it can be hard to determine if your picture is of the right contrast level. A histogram can tell you details about your picture’s exposure and whether you need to make any adjustment to the settings on your camera.

A picture that is underexposed will show the following

You can see that most of the details are concentrated on the left side of the histogram showing that there more dark areas in your picture.

A picture that is overexposed will show the following

Here, most of the details are concentrated on the right side of the histogram showing that there are more bright areas in your picture.

In the above cases, what is necessary for you to do is to make the right adjustments such as using flash or to manually increase or decrease exposure level. Most of the time, your camera’s auto exposure feature will correctly make these adjustments unless you are faced with extreme cases.

What do you do if you have already taken the picture?

It’s always best to get a picture just right from the point of pressing the shutter button. But, there are times where you can’t get back the same moment and you end up with a picture that’s not well exposed.

What can you do?

Don’t despair. This is one of the main reasons why there are a number of photo-editing software available to fix the problem.

I’ll use Adobe Photoshop to give you an example of how you can fix your picture. Most good and even basic photo-editing software would have this feature available for you to make adjustments.

Using Levels

For most people the simplest way to adjust the tonal range of a picture is to just use brightness and contrast feature. However, this method leaves you with little control over the results of the adjustments.

Last month, I talked about using an adjustment layer. To recap on this, click on the on the black and white button at the bottom of the Layer box and select Levels.

You will then see a histogram which displays the level of colours for the red, green and blue (RGB) Channels.

If you see empty gaps on either side of the histogram, this means that your picture has low contrast level and could be better with a slight adjustment.

Move the slider on both ends to the edge of the histogram where there are tonal details. You can see the change in your picture instantaneously as the contrast level improves.

What you have done is actually improving the overall contrast of your picture by spreading the colour details over the entire tonal range. This makes for a more pleasing picture to look at.

The middle slider is used to adjust the overall brightness, or gamma level of the picture.

If your picture suffers from a colour cast, either due to poor lighting or a problem with white balancing, you can select the individual colour channel, red, green or blue and move the sliders to make adjustments to correct the colour.

Here are a couple more examples of how pictures can be improved by checking and tweaking the levels in a histogram.

Do remember that there may be some cases where it is not necessary to make the above adjustments such as pictures of a grey object, a misty atmosphere or soft colours of a fabric. It may be quite a subjective issue and you have to judge for yourself if it looks fine after the adjustments. Now that you know the basic steps in adjusting your picture levels, try practicing this on your existing pictures. In the next few months we will come across this feature to do some creative digital photo effects.

Essential Black & White

2005-02-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

When photography was first invented, there was only black and white. To this day, black and white photography still captures the interests of many not just because of its nostalgic beginnings. Revisit the works of great photographers like Ansell Adams and you will instantly see why black and white images are still amazing and revered.

What we can discover and interpret from black and white pictures are shapes, forms, light and shadows. In a sense, colour does not become a distracting element and is not essential to the impact of the picture.

There are even times where a picture in black and white may look better than it does in colour. It takes a good eye and a bit of visualisation to see a scene in colour.

In analog photography, black and white films are different in terms of film grain, contrast levels, details of shadows and light. Processing black & white may also require some special treatment during the stage of processing the print to produce a good picture.

Processing a Digital B&W Picture

There are a number of ways to convert your picture into black and white. Although your digital camera may have a black and white setting, I would suggest you don’t use this method as the final outcome may not always be what you want and there is no turning back after the in-camera conversion.

Using software like Adobe Photoshop, you can convert your picture simply by using the “Grayscale” or “Desaturate” tool. It’s simple but this method offers little control over the final results of the picture. The method used here is “Channel Mixing”

Here is a tip before you begin: Create an “adjustment layer” rather than directly altering your picture. Changes using this method are not permanent and you can always go back to the layer and adjust the setting. You can access the adjustment layer by simply clicking on the black and white button at the bottom of the Layer box. You can see an example of this in the conversion described below.

Here is the original picture:

1) Select a new adjustment layer and select Channel Mixer. As you can see this splits your picture into the 3 colour channels, Red, Green and Blue. Sliding the tabs back and forth alters the mix of colours. But now, we will be working with black and white therefore on with the next step.

2) Click on the box below to choose monochrome. You can see that your picture has turned to Black & White. At this point, tweaking the colour sliders with change the shades of different elements in your picture (based on their original colours). You can try different combinations and select what works best for your picture.

3) Instead of using the brightness and contrast, use “Levels” which. To check the contrast of your picture using levels, simply open up a new adjustment layer, and choose layers.

Look at the two ends of the slider. If there are blank spaces on either end, push the slider to the point where the histogram begins to rise. This simply creates “pure” whites or blacks in your picture.

Most of the time, you will need to do this for your picture but as you become better at evaluating your picture, you may sometimes decide not to alter this simply because your picture look better as it is.

Desaturation vs Channel Mixing

In these two pictures you can see the difference between the desaturation method and monochrome channel mixing. The first picture lacks impact. In the second picture, the correct mix of colours in monochrome setting has given the picture a much needed level of contrast and punch.

Digital Effects

After converting your picture to black and white, you can also add effects to your picture.

1) Adding film grain: You can achieve this by using the “Add Noise” option under the Filter menu. Remember to check the “monochromatic” box at the bottom to create black & white grain.

2) Toning your picture: To tone your picture, again use the adjustment layer and select colour balance this time. Try using a variety of monotone colours. You would be amazed with the effects you can create.

If you have been shooting digitally in colour for a while and feel that your images lack mood, try converting a few to black and white and see how it turns out. You may lease new life into them. I’ll leave you with a few more pictures of subjects that lend themselves well to black & white.

Picture Perfect Portraits

2004-12-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, smile and say “Cheese”!

I won’t be surprised if you have heard this said so many times before in the past. But, do realise that most of the time just having “Cheese” won’t make a perfect portrait picture. All you would end up with is a picture of a person saying “cheese”, and it was really just the “cheese” that made the smile.

Let’s look at what else you should be working on to get a more impressive portrait. Work on this more and soon enough you would be doing it by heart.

The Expression

Let’s look at the face first. Our face is the most memorable part of our body. The most important focus of a portrait picture is the face of a person. For a majority of your shots, you probably would ask your subject to smile when you take their picture. Because a smile is so complex, it is sometimes very easy to tell if your subject is not smiling for real. That’s what I meant when I said “cheese” don’t work most of the time.

Now, you would need your subject to be relaxed. Tell them something funny. If you know your subject, it would even be easier to get them at ease. When it’s time to press that shutter button, crack a joke. That should get all the facial smile muscles working. Relaxing your subject also make them more inclined to have their pictures taken. Believe it or not, there are people who get more tensed when they are taking pictures.

Take note that not all your shots need to be of your subject smiling. Other expressions may break that monotony of smiles and add a little extra interest to your collection of pictures. Catch your subject in all sorts of funny expressions and yes, even an angry expression can be funny and interesting to behold.

The Pose

After the face, the pose and body positioning is the next most important element of a portrait shot. It would be quite straightforward if you take a straight frontal picture of your subject standing with his or her arms down the sides. This is the type of pose most people would naturally take.

Your subject may not be a model but it would make your picture more interesting if you could get your subject to pose in a relaxed manner. Try to use the elements around your subject to have the pose as natural as possible. Your subject could lean on the edge of a balcony or a high cupboard. Perhaps there is a nice chair that he or she can sit down on. Instead of putting their arms down the sides, have them hold onto a pillar or simply just laid across their chest.

I could go on and on about the many different types of poses there is but the best is really for you to be creative. To get some ideas, you could even flip through many fashion magazines and see how professional models do it.

The Scene

The scene or the background really depends on what you are shooting your subject for. If the purpose is to focus just on your subject, take the picture against an uncluttered background such as against the sky, a plain wall or in a wide open space. This leaves out distracting elements in your picture, and you end up with a nice clean shot of your subject.

If the purpose is to shoot your subject against a nice background, make sure that there is adequate lighting for your subject or the background to make a good picture. If your subject is standing in the shadow, use fill-in flash to light up the shadows. Set it manually if your camera doesn’t activate the flash automatically.

If you are taking a shot of your subject in a occupational background, get them to pose in their natural state, at work. This type of shot tells you a little something about the person and what he or she does for a living. Alternatively, this could be applied to scenes in a playground, at home, or on a holiday.

Composition

In our August 2004 issue, I talked about composition. With portraits, composition is even more important as you will be taking the picture of your subject close up. Even the “Rules of Thirds” can apply here. A general rule of thumb is to make sure the eyes of your subject is on the top two thirds of your photograph.

A horizontal format is usually used when you are shooting a picture of your subject against an interesting background. Try using the “Rules of Thirds” here also to place your subject in the picture.

A vertical (or Portrait format) is the most common type of composition used for a picture portrait. A very tight close-up of your subject’s face creates a very strong and impactful image. With this type of shot, make sure you focus your camera on the eyes.

A head and shoulder portrait still keeps the focus on your subject’s eyes but allow for a little more body expression and poses. Try experimenting with different angles when taking this type of shot such as turning your body 45 degrees but keeping your head faced forward.

A full length portrait reveals the entire facial and body expressions of a person. Try and get your subject relaxed so he or she may be free to pose in a manner they may be more comfortable with.

When you take a picture of your subject against nice background, a general tip is to make sure your subject fill up at least a 1/3 portion of your picture frame so he or she don’t look too small in the picture. Leave 2/3 of the picture for the background. In this case, the background could be a building or scenery. Of course this is not a steadfast rule and there is room to be creative with your compositions.

The Group Photo

When taking a picture of a group, firstly make sure that they fill up your picture. To do this, consider different heights for your subjects such as having some of them sit on chairs or squatted on the ground. If they all need to be standing, be aware of each person’s height and rearrange them according to their height, the centre being the tallest, to have a well balanced picture composition.

Wherever possible, try and create a links between your subjects such as putting arms on each other’s shoulders or hand on the back of the chair so that they look like they all belong in the picture together.

There is also a higher possibility that someone in the group may not be ready for the shot or accidentally closed their eyes for the shot. Therefore, always take more than one shot of a group.

Babies and Small Children

Some people may say that it is not easy to take pictures of babies and especially of small children, but the opposite is true. Children exude innocence in everything that they do, and the pictures usually reveal their true self rather than being a posed picture.

Babies who are too young to understand what you are doing with a camera are generally very easy to shoot. The best type of picture is of the babies smiling or laughing and you can do this by playing with him or her before you take the shot.

Pictures of toddlers and young children are best taken in their natural environment ie, a children’s park, in playschool with other children or in their own bedroom among their toys. This type of picture tells a story about the child and depicts their true age.

Don’t take pictures of a child for a long period of time as they their attention span is short and they tend to get bored easily. Make each photography session short and quick. After a while the child will get used to having their pictures taken and will naturally smile or pose for the camera.

If you are using a digital camera, show them the picture. This would usually excite the child to want to take more photos.

As it is the holiday season, I know most of you will be taking a lot of portrait shots of loved ones this season. Remember the tips that I have mentioned above and may you end up with a lot of cherished photos and of course wonderful memories. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Travel Shots

2004-11-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

Traveling is one word that excites many. The core reason of traveling on vacation is to enjoy and see unique sights away from home, and most of us can’t get enough of it even when we have to come back to our real life. And so, what do we do? We record our memorable trips on our cameras. Indeed travel photography is where we use our cameras the most.

Planning for your next holiday? Read on to see how you can bring back more memories and interesting shots within a travel album which you would be proud to show to all your friends.

Recording Images

When we are on a trip, our eyes record every interesting element, storing it in a special area of our brain. When you see something interesting, be aware of how it makes you feel and then remember to take a picture at the same point. It’s good to make a strong impression of the feeling as when you look back at the pictures from your trip, your mind will instantly bring up the same feeling. It’s is as if you are revisiting the place.

Don't Spare on Your Shots

One point I always tell friends is not to be stingy with taking shots while traveling. Remember, that you may be taking a once in a lifetime trip, so for goodness sake, take as many shots as you feel you need. If you can spend on souvenirs, surely a few extra roll of films or larger capacity memory cards would be worth buying.

With digital cameras nowadays, you can delete and retake shots right at the very same spot. If you are unsure whether to take or not, just take the shot.

Sometimes bad shots or candid ones make excellent pictures and are worth a laugh. Not every shot in your travel album need to be posed or perfect. Otherwise you may just end up with a boring set of “normal” pictures.

Use Your Still Camera Like a Video Camera

Yes, you may have a video camera handy when you are taking pictures of your family having fun. However, do realize that you would most probably be showing off your photographs more than your video camera after your trip. With this in mind, use your still camera like a video camera. Take a sequence of pictures of the activities. Switch on the “multi-shot” function on your camera if you have one. Then when you put these pictures into your album, place them side by side to show “movements” rather than just a still shot.

Tell A Story

It is widely known that Japanese tourists take their cameras with them almost everywhere they go and they can’t help but take pictures of almost everything. Perhaps they may have the right idea.

Make your trip into a story. Start every point of your journey with a title. This means when you arrive at a tourist destination, find the name of the location on any signboard and take a picture of it. This will be the first picture in the picture collection. Then, as you proceed with your visit, take pictures along the way at “checkpoints” (ie entrances, ticket counters, refreshment counter, getting onto a tourist tram).

Your tour pictures will almost be like a comic strip storyboard and making it even more interesting and meaningful for friend and family flipping through your album.

Shooting Reality

Don’t just take shots of tourists’ spots. In between these, look around you and discover “real-life”. Tourists’ spots would most probably have been “made-up” for tourists but more interesting shots can be had if you look around you. Take pictures of the locals and what they are doing. It is interesting to see and think about how different the foreign culture is to your own as well as the lifestyle of the people.

Vary Your Shots

Mix your shots. In addition to taking scenery shots, take shots from up-close when there is an interesting design or object. This allows you not just to have pictures from a distance but also near to highlight the details of the design or object.

Some Do's & Don'ts for your Trip

1) Don’t rush when you pack your equipments (you might forget something)

2) Bring along your battery charger and camera tripod

3) If possible pack a backup camera (better safe than sorry)

4) Never leave your camera unattended

5) Be wary of passing your camera to a stranger to take a photograph

6) Keep your camera dry in a weatherproof bag

So, enjoy your next trip and make sure your memories and pictures will be things that you will cherish and be proud of!

Up Close and Personal

2004-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have had the childhood fascination of looking through a magnifying glass and discovering this strange world of the small and tiny. We are so used to seeing things in our normal field of vision that we pass by things which we take for granted. Well, ever thought about “stopping and smelling the flowers”? While you are at it, take some really cool macro or close-up shots?

Compact digital cameras benefit from the fact that they have really close focusing range. On some cameras you can focus down to 1cm from the subject. That’s why almost all new cameras come with a “macro” mode.

WHAT MAKES IT SO INTERESTING?

Firstly, it is actually interesting to look at something at a different angle and close-up. It shows a world that is unknown to us in revealing minute patterns, shapes, colours, textures and structures.

Secondly, by going close-up, you are actually eliminating distractions by other objects and creating an image purely of the subject. This creates a powerful expression and a bold, beautiful image of the object.

If you get your picture printed (maybe even up to 8R or 10R sizes) your viewer would be able to enjoy looking at the subject of your picture from a comfortable distance rather than peering through a magnifying glass.

When I am not away on a photographic expedition, I get to do small close-up photography projects right at home with the things available around me. This adds variety to the types of shots I take.

TIPS FOR SOME COOL CLOSE-UPS

Get Down On Your Knees.

Yes, getting down on your knees is a good way to start. Sometimes great close-up opportunities are just right next to your feet. Some examples to begin with are seashells on a beach, blades of grass, wildflowers, an insect perched on a plant, colourful pebbles, water droplets and the list goes on.

Spare a little time from looking at the entire scenery to look at the small things which form parts of the whole surrounding. Having these types of shots gives a set of pictures more variety.

Look for Unique Shapes and Colours

Mother Nature has a knack for creating some really interesting shapes out of plants, insects and natural formations. Look out for what catches your eye. If need be, carry a magnifying glass with you on your hunt.

Consider the colour contrast between your subject and the background. A strong contrast between your subject and a clean background makes your subject stand out more.

Get Creative with Stuffs around You

Look around you right at this moment. Everything around you can be shot close-up. You are only limited by how creative you can be. Try close-up of a piece of fabric, corners of a stamp, textures on a wood surface, weaving on a basket, a digital circuit board and lots more endless possibilities.

Take Your Time

Don’t rush in taking a close-up shot. Sometimes, you may just miss the obvious and the opportunity to get a good shot. For example, you need to take your time when taking shots of insects as sudden movements will scare your subject. A good tip is to watch that your shadow do not surprise the insect.

Don’t use your flash

For extreme close-ups a camera’s built-in flash is virtually useless. The very short distance between the camera and subject means that your subject is most likely to be overexposed by the flash.

Professional SLR cameras have special macro lighting used to illuminate close-up subjects. Make sure you have enough lighting or you may have to give a little more distance between your camera and the subject to get a good exposure.

Use a Tripod

Getting close-up means high magnification which also means any movement or camera shake is magnified. If you do not have adequate lighting to prevent this try setting your camera on a higher ISO setting or use a tripod.

Remember to Compose!

Even though you are shooting close-up sometimes with virtually minimal background, you need to remember to compose your shots properly. Most of the time, you would have your subject placed right in the middle of the frame. But, take into consideration the shapes and lines on your subject and how it would look in various compositions (Check out our August 2004 issue on Composition Rules). Even the Rules of Thirds can apply effectively here.

HERE’S SOMETHING YOU CAN TRY AT HOME

If you have a subject such as a flower and you are not sure what type of background you can take its picture with, try making your own background.

1) Simply print out an A4 sized picture of a suitable scenery.

2) Place it upright on a table.

3) Position your subject so that it is in front of the “background” picture.

4) Make sure you have adequate lighting for this.

5) Set your camera on “macro” and compose your picture with the A4 picture covering the background.

6) And shoot.

The shallow Depth of Field (DOF) would sufficiently blur the background enough to create a soft background against the sharp close-up shot of your subject.

Great photographers make great pictures simply because they have perfected the art of looking at things in a unique way and are able to convey it so effectively that we see it the same way they do. Don’t just look at the big and obvious, find uniqueness in the small and intricate. It helps to take a little break from the hubbub of daily life and look at the little things that make up the big picture. Have fun and happy shooting!

Flash It!

2004-09-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

This time we look at one of the most useful feature you have on your camera, the flash. Surprisingly we almost always take this feature for granted, thinking that all there is to it is to switch it on and off whenever we need it or don’t. Well, this month, I’ll share some tips with you on how you can effectively use your flash.

Most of us would have the standard flash unit built-in on our (digital) camera. Of course if you have moved on to a prosumer (digital) SLR camera, then you may already know about the different ways of using an external flash. This set-up gives you the versatility of using bounce flash and a more powerful flash output. But this month we’ll focus on the compact digicam.

Understanding Your Camera’s Built-in Flash

We are most familiar with the usage of flash at times when there is not enough light to take a good picture. Set on Auto, your camera would compensate by adjusting shutter speed and aperture to light up and give you the best exposure for your subject. It is also the most portable lighting equipment that you will ever have.

On a standard camera, your flash unit has 4 settings, namely “On”, “Off”, “Auto” and “No Red-Eye”. “On” and “Off” is quite obvious, allowing you manual control in switching the flash on and off. “Auto” setting lets your camera choose to activate the flash depending on lighting conditions. The “No Red-Eye” setting prevents red-eye effect on your subject caused by the flash illuminating the blood vessels at the back of the eye and bouncing it back to the lens. Almost all cameras do this by activating an initial flash which shrinks your subject’s pupils before taking the actual shot.

Let There be Light

Okay, on with the tips. Here are a list of things you would use your flash for apart from just illuminating the scene.

1) Light up shadows

One of the most useful times to use flash is when natural light is at its brightest. This is when harsh shadows are created on your subject. Because of the amount of light, your camera would not automatically switch on your flash; therefore you would have to do it manually. The resulting flash will light up the shadow areas on your subject giving you a more balanced shot.

2) Put a sparkle in her eyes

Sometimes even when natural light is enough, consider using the flash to give a sparkle in your subject’s eyes. This also lights up your subject’s face resulting in a livelier look.

3) Flash in a night scene

When you are taking a picture of your subject against a night scene with the normal flash setting, you would probably end up with your subject brightly exposed by your flash and little else of the background. Most new digicam have “Night-Scene/Mode” setting on them. This means the camera uses flash along with a slow shutter speed. Use this to illuminate your subject and at the same time enough lighting from the scene will be captured by your camera.

4) Freeze the moment

Using your flash is also a great way to freeze motion. What happens when you are faced with low lighting condition and you have a moving object to capture? Use your flash for a burst of light to freeze your subject. Your shot is then less likely to result in blurring. You could even try using “Night-Scene/Mode” and panning (using your camera’s viewfinder to track your subject) to create nice effect. This allows you to capture your subject sharp against a motion-blurred background.

5) Improve contrast and saturating colours

Low ambient lighting results in poorly lit low contrast images. Use your flash to improve the contrast level of the object you are shooting. This also brightens and increases the colour saturation of your picture. You will have to trigger your flash manually to do this.

When Not to Use Your Flash

Okay, in getting to know when to use your flash, you should also know when not to use it.

1) When your subject is out of range

Most built-in flash have an effective range of approximately up to 10ft or 3m. If your subject is standing beyond this range, either move closer to your subject or switch off your flash and use a slower shutter speed setting. On your digicam you can also use a higher ISO setting to capture your subject at a higher shutter speed.

2) When you are taking a pleasant and usually warm ambience.

If you want to effectively take the pleasant nature of a scene that is lit by warm lighting such as candle light, don’t use flash if it is possible. However, make sure you have enough ambient lighting to prevent underexposure or blurring due to movements. A tripod is best used here.

3) When you are shooting a reflective surface

Shooting with the flash on and directly in front of a reflective object is a sure way of ruining your picture. This includes shooting through a window or between metal bars or fencing. The reflection from your flash will bounce off the shiny surface and right back to the lens resulting in a blurred highlight. If you have no other choice, try shooting from an angle to avoid reflections.

4) No flash photography allowed

Some places like museums, art gallery, or specialty zoos do not allow flash photography. Here using a slower shutter speed coupled with a tripod or simply switch your camera to a higher ISO setting.

Personally, I almost always keep my flash on. The added highlight created by the flash on my subject is a good ingredient in creating a brighter and livelier shot. Practice on having a good eye on observing lighting conditions around you. Eventually you will be able to predict how your flash will work in different conditions without having to do a double-take. So, go ahead, flash it!

Composition Rules!

2004-08-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days where you hurriedly take pictures of friends and unintentionally chop off their heads and only realizing it after you get your pictures back from the lab. Either we all have become better photographers in this modern day and age or perhaps it is due to the wonders of digital photography, where all it takes is a press of the little magical “Delete” button and all your photography woes come to an end. In any case, somewhere along the way, we realise that our photo album has become the all too familiar boring set of normal “straight on”, “flat”, “uninspiring” images. Now think, Composition.

Composition is the way in which a photographer conveys the story and meaning of the photograph. It is really a diverse subject to dwell into, but you may realise that it will be brought up very frequently in relation to other subjects of photography.

Here we briefly explain the basic principle of composition, which will help towards you composing a pleasing picture. After which, hopefully you’ll be using less of the “Delete” button.

The Rule of Thirds

The “Rule of Thirds” is one of the very basic guideline in composition. Many have preached it as a hard and steadfast rule of photography, and it has been proven to work.

Visualise 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines splitting your picture into 9 segments, when you are taking a shot. If you are taking a picture of landscape, compose your picture so that the horizon falls on either one of the horizontal lines. That means the sky perhaps taking one third of the top of your picture and the ground, two thirds. Or when you are taking a picture of a person standing in front of a nice background, compose your subject so he or she is standing along one of the vertical lines.

In the subject of landscape above, this sort of composition ensures a pleasing image with no two elements, ie the sky and ground, fighting for attention. You either give focus to a dramatic sky or a feature full foreground. And in the matter of taking the shot of a person, your picture would not look flat, by just placing your subject right in the middle of the picture. It provides you with a little more diversity to work with.

A point to note is that, most rules were meant to be broken. Although, perhaps nine out of ten times you get a good picture with this rule, don’t let that stop you from creating some dynamic shots by composing creatively. After all, what governs the picture is really the subject itself, which may be interpreted in different compositions.

Horizontal or Vertical?

Horizontal format is widely used for landscape photography for the simple reason of getting a panoramic and sweeping view of the entire scenery. It is somewhat a pleasing composition where you can see everything in relation to the object next to it. A vertical format is usually used for strong emphasis on a particular subject. It is a more dynamic format where you would use a strong foreground image to lead your eye into the picture.

Horizontal or vertical format may not really be just the way your subject is positioned. Just because you are taking a full body shot of a person, doesn’t mean you have to take a vertical shot. A horizontal shot coupling your subject with an interesting background may work just as well if you position your subject well. Of course, in the end if you are unsure, take both and make your choice from the final outcome.

Perspective

Still photography is basically taking a three dimensional surrounding and putting it into a two dimensional form, which is your picture. One way to give your picture depth is to use perspective. Although the end result is still a two dimensional picture, but your brain converts that into 3D.

Converging lines such as roads, a line of trees, sides of buildings, lampposts sets a path which will lead your viewers’ eyes into the picture. As such, it does not only create depth but also a sense of motion.

Use the wideangle setting on your camera to the best effect when taking a strong perspective picture. Always be aware of your foreground which is an important starting point as you lead into the main subject of your picture.

When composing your picture, it is important to remember the basic principles of composition. But, to adhere to the rules really depends on you. With practice, composing a picture should come so natural that, it will be like almost driving a car, where you don’t really have to think about it, but just drive.

The “Oohs and Aahs” of Photography

2004-07-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

So, having fiddled with your new toy, by now you would have taken that photo of your girlfriend or boyfriend posing with their hands placed on their hips, your little baby’s smile, a friend huffing and puffing to blow out a candle on a cake, you would also have probably asked a bunch of people say “cheese” many times over to get them to give you a genuine smile on your photo and pulled your camera out a couple of times for the occasional fun snapshot of a “teh tarik” session. Perhaps now it’s earning a well-deserved spot on the shelf among the rest of your decorative items.

Is that all there is to it? Okay, let’s look at your approach to photography. You may have bought that little snapshot digital camera to take all the special occasion mentioned above. Of course you couldn’t be bothered to go through the pages and pages of manual describing the little features and tweaks on your camera. The most common setting your camera would be on is “Full Auto”. Kudos to you I say, as I believe most of your photos will turn out fine.

Now, add a little creative shot here and there, and it would make your photo album much more interesting, special and livelier. It is definitely a treat to hear “oohs and aahs” as your photo album is being flipped through.

Here are some tips and ideas of how you can make your photography experience more interesting.

Lighting

Lighting is the single one reason for the existence of photography (actually for the existence of everything too). We could go on to describe in a whole book on lighting alone. In the future, we will have an entire article devoted to this subject. For now, just remember that lighting is not just daylight and the little flash mounted on your camera.

Sometimes, what makes for an interesting picture is the type of lighting you use on your subject. Be creative, have your subject hold a candle to light up her face, sit your subject by the window where the sun’s rays are coming through, have your subject stand in front of the sun or a bright light source and get a silhouette shot of her, shoot under bright sunlight with their shadow streaking across a flat surface or get your subject to stand near a pool of water and see how light is reflected off her face.

Give a little thought as to how light falls on and off your subject and it should give that little extra sparkle.

Emotion

Get into the habit of taking “emotional” pictures. Many great pictures evoke emotions. These pictures manage to “touch” the viewer beyond just colours on prints. Of course there is the more common type of emotions, namely happy, sad, angry, shocked, surprised and so on. To capture faces genuinely showing these emotions are a sure way of capturing a special picture. Try and discover all the other type of emotions as well, like serenity, loneliness, elation, quirky, excitement and love just to name a few.

Sometimes emotions do not only mean focusing on faces, but rather the feeling which is resulted from pictures of a scenery, memorable items, or simply the general ambience of a picture.

Angle

Have you ever asked yourself, “How did the photographer get that shot?” and you are turning your head left and right wondering at what sort of angle was the photographer in. Many of us take the all too common, “eye-level” shot. All of us see from eye-level and that is what we perceive as normal. Professional photographers often realise the impact of a uniquely angled shot or one that is taken from a different height. They use this method to distort perspective and to give the viewer a unique perception of an otherwise “normal” scene.

The advent of digital photography eases the use of this technique in taking a picture. Simply delete the pictures that you are not satisfied with. The next time you take a picture of a building, try shooting straight up the sides of the building. Perhaps when you shoot beautiful scenery, try going down to knee level and shooting between the blades of grass and if you are capturing that informal picture of a group of friends in a small room, stand up on a chair and have everyone look up at the camera.

Colour

We are surrounded by a harmony of colours. So much so sometimes we take this for granted. Photographers have a knack for getting the right combination of colours to create a good photo. Look out for different temperature of colours in your shots. Colours such as orange, red and yellow, exude comfort, warmth, sensual or even active at times. In contrast, colours like blue, green, indigo shows off cleanliness, purity and coolness. Think about how you would like to “colour” your picture.

There are also exceptions when a dramatic shot is composed with bright contrasting colours. These picture often “jump” out of pages of an album. Take a little time to walk around your subject to see how you can mix the colours in the surrounding.

Sometimes the lack of colours such as in black and white photography, sepia toning or monotone colour enhances the picture by giving focus to shadows and shapes. This is of course done intentionally and with a clear thought about the entire composition.

Shape

Look at shapes as how you would with colours. A shape is more than just the physical characteristic of an item or a subject. Shapes are also related to composition, perception, creative placement and how lights fall on and off your subject. You would probably come across this mostly when you take architectural shots. Take time to plan what sorts of shapes could be placed in your picture at certain angles. And whether this is a pleasing composition or one that may be overly complex.

You should take note of shapes even when you are taking a live subject. Taking a picture of your subject against a bright background would result in a silhouette shot emphasizing on her shape. Look again and you may realize that the shape creates and interesting shadow.

Patterns deriving from shapes are very distinctive features. Patterns are found in the repetitive petals on a flower, the windows on a building, a paved walkway, the roof tiles on a building, clouds formation in the sky and I could go on and on. Patterns can be the main subject of your picture or they may serve as backdrops to pictures of your subject.

Be creative, take a shot through a tyre swing at the playground, frame up your shot with a square window frame or compose your picture with a lotus with multiple angular petals on a round lotus leaf.

These are just some of the basic things which you should consider even when taking a common shot. With practice, it should come naturally to you.

The next time you take a picture,

1) Wait for a couple of seconds

2) Think about these key words; Lighting, Emotion, Angles, Colour, Shape

3) Compose; and

4) Shoot

Eventually, you would be hearing your first chorus of “oohs and aahs” and perhaps even some “wows”.

Getting Acquainted With Your New Love

2004-06-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

If you are new to photography and have just picked up that full-featured new “toy” which you have always wanted, you will come to the realization that the new camera also comes with a number of new jargons. A digital camera is a sophisticated piece of equipment. Different from its analog cousins, there is much more that is packed into it.

This may seem daunting at first but taking a little time in the beginning to get acquainted with these jargons would save you a lot of hassle of having to flip through the entire camera manual when you are suppose to be enjoying your new found hobby.

We hope to give you a little head-start in getting to know some of the basic features which you would come across. With practice, you should be able to recall these useful features at your fingertips.

WHAT’S ON YOUR CAMERA

Most of the features of a digital camera are similar to the ones on a film camera. Several items which you should be familiar with are the shutter release button, an on-board flash (with a release button), the viewfinder, the lens and a zoom-in and zoom-out control. Your camera may have unique names for some of the features shared by cameras of other brands. Let’s look at some of the more common features:

Macro : This feature lets your camera focus on items at close range. How close you can focus depends on your camera’s lens construction. Check your camera’s manual on how close you need to be, to use this feature.

ISO : The speed of a film is expressed in an ISO (International Standards Orgainsation) number. On a digital camera, you can change the ISO setting. That means, the larger the number, the faster the speed in which you camera can capture the shot. This is good, but you will be trading the quality of your shot as a faster ISO setting also means grainer shots. So, you should consider if it is worth the trade-off.

WB : You may find at times you need to take photographs under different lightings. Here is where White Balancing (WB) comes in. Tungsten lighting or your common light bulb will give you a warm colour cast and fluorescent lighting can give you a greenish colour cast. With WB, you can neutralize these colour cast by selecting from the setting options, to give you true and natural colours. You could set this feature on Auto and let you camera worry about the proper settings.

Image Quality: Your digital pictures can be saved in a variety of formats, eg. JPEG, TIFF or RAW. These formats determine the quality of the picture which your shots are saved in, with RAW (uncompressed) being the best. TIFF is also another high quality uncompressed picture format. JPEG is the most common format used as it is actually a compressed version of your shot. This means you can save more shots in a memory card with this format. Picture compression, degrades the quality of your picture slightly but is acceptable for most shots which are sent for printing afterwards. Most digital camera gives you several JPG options. A higher JPG compression (lower quality) allows you to save more shots on the same memory card. In the end, the format you use is determined by what you use the shots for.

Image Size: The maximum image size on digital cameras depends on the number of pixels on the CCD or CMOS of your camera. The default setting on your camera would be the largest image size. You can reduce the size of your shots for different purpose or just to save memory space on your memory card.

LCD Screen: This is probably the most useful feature on any digital camera. A colour LCD screen allows you to review your shots after you have taken your picture. On a non-digital SLR camera, you can use it as a digital viewfinder to compose your subjects before taking the final shot. The screen also displays information about your camera setting. (Some advanced cameras have another monochrome LCD display which does this.)

Playback Button: Pressing on this button lets you review your shots which you can toggle with a Forward/Backward control. With playback, you can delete or zoom in and out of your shot to check on clarity. This feature is one of the main reasons why most film camera users have converted to using digital cameras.

INSIDE YOUR CAMERA

CCD/CMOS Chip: The inside of a digital camera is packed with a host of electrical parts. At the heart of it all is the CCD or CMOS. This is a light sensitive chip which captures your shot and converts it into digital information which is then stored on your memory card. The quality of your picture is also affected by how good the chip is. Most new cameras are now fitted with better CCD/CMOS with improvements over past versions.

Camera Lens: Your camera lens is the “eyes” of the camera. Apart of digital SLR camera which has interchangeable lenses, most digital have built-in zoom lenses. You may work the zoom with a toggle button or by rotating the lens. Optical zoom refers to the physical range of your lens. Digital zoom refers to the digital resizing used by your camera to simulate zoom. If you do post-editing on your pictures, you may not require the latter method.

Memory Cards: Memory cards are storage devices for your digital camera. These comes in sizes of 32MB , 64MB , 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and the numbers are still rising! Different manufacturers have come up with a number of formats like CompactFlash (CF), SmartMedia (SM), Memory Stick (MS), MultiMediaCard (MMC) Secure Digital (SD) and xD-Picture Card (xD). This is due to production cost and development of storage speed. It may be worth considering the price of memory cards when you purchase your digital camera.

Batteries: Nowadays, digital camera comes with rechargeable batteries. Aside from some brands which use common AA batteries, some manufacturers choose to develop high capacity batteries of their own. If you tend to leave your LCD on for most of your shots, this will drain the power of your camera more quickly. Having an additional battery is handy and saves on many frustrating moments when you are on that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

DISCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Aside from the above, there are many other optional and advanced features which your camera may have. With this basic information, you can go on to discover all your photographic creativity. Over the next few months, we will be teaching you basic and advance photography techniques. Some of these advanced features will come into play and frequent practice will ensure that you get even more acquainted with your camera. After all, you bought your camera for a purpose, why not explore beyond this and not limit yourself to how far you could go.

My Photo Links

2004-01-01T06:04:00.000-08:00

My Favourite Photographers

www.stuckincustoms.com – Stuck in Customs is the creation of Trey Radcliff, one of the premier experts in HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography
www.davehillphoto.com – Dave Hill is a commercial photography who shoots people subjects but edits the final result in a gritty, contrasty and saturated format
www.manipulator.com – Jill Greenberg is at the forefront of people photography and most famous for evoking ‘controversial’ images of crying children to get emotions in her shots

Malaysian Photography Forums

www.photomalaysia.com – PhotoMalaysia is a popular local photography website
www.photokaki.com

Image Banks

2004-01-01T05:47:00.000-08:00

My Bio

2004-01-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

Hi I’m Kenny Goh.

I’m have been an avid photographer and an enthusiast for more than 7 years now. I have always been passionate about photography, starting out with simple point and shoot film-cameras. I consider myself lucky to have been a photographer since the pre-digital decade.

Having had the opportunity to shoot negatives as well as colour and black & white slides respectively, I believe that experience of appreciating the true meaning of analogue photography has been close to my heart even with my use of digital photography in this modern day.

Photography isn’t just about putting the world into a picture, it’s about looking inside you, that which perceives the world.

I love the emotions that comes with photography… the passion, the excitement, the excitement, the calmness, the pleasures, the expressions. It’s all there for interpretations. Capturing time at its most vulnerable moment and then looking at it over and over again trying to emulate the same feelings… but, then it’s never the same. That’s what makes it so special.

I’ve been shooting and writing about photography all this while, but I will be rekindling back with the simple pure enjoyment I get to capture moments in time. I hope you find what I have here, enjoyable too.

Kenny (KenjiImages)