@ Punggol 15 Feb 2011

It been more than 5 months since my last update. 2 of my staffs decided to held a street fighter competition in my office during Mar and I have to ask them to leave since it not the first time it happened.

This added considerably more work when I am already working 7 days week 12 hrs per day. Till date I can only manage to get 1 replacement but life go on and shutter still clicking.

Stilling taking time to take photos of my 2 precious daughters whenever I can and hopefully I will be able to update my blog more frequently.

Not too sure about others but none of the kids that I work with is able to pose for me. Even if they do, the result is always a disasters.

Sample

she look really "kiam pak"

Don't let the gears get in the way

Due to the wide selection of camera body, accessory and lens available, there seem to be a gear combination for almost every situation. At some point of time, I found that I'm spend more and more time researching what equipment can do for me than taking photos.

Gear should help there to help me achieve results, but it slowly become a restriction instead. Because of how camera and lens maker market their specialize product and reviewers in depth analysis (that dun make large different to normal user like us), I came to believe I "must" have those specialize equipment to achieve result even before trying to take the photos.

Memorable moments and interesting framing just pass without me even noticing after I believe that without XXX gear I cannot shoot YYY situation....

some example will be

1. I stop looking things beyond or closer to my lens.

2. Didn't bother about object moving faster than my camera can

3. Keep your camera in bad lighting condition

4. Ignore the moments that pass me because I am not putting effort to train my visual at all.

and list go on....

It is important to get the right tools for the job but don't let the tools get in the way of your perspective. I am glad my friends hard word that slap me out of it before I am poison too deep.

Quote some of them

1. "You need a stablizer, u need ultra fast motor and u need the best camera body because you are a bloody handicap"

2. "Yes, your XXX gear cannot focus in time to capture your kids. Have ur heard of anticpation?"

3. "Yes, XXX lens is not sharp wide open. You think XXX camera maker will release something not usable to the market?"

4. "how big u trying to print?"

5. "Crop in your camera, everything will be sharp"

6. "I think I believe you got a pair of legs you can used..."

Thanks guys for all the "encouragment" !

Although it is tougher to snap the moments a goal is scored during a soccer game without a tele zoom lens equip with the best motor and a camera with good AF system. With practice and pre-focusing, you will still be able to capture alot of good moments from the game. If you do not have a tele zoom, there is nothing stopping you from capturing the emotion of the fans when a goal is scored and interesting view of the field from a wider perspective.

Manual Focus with a old 3rd party Len that unable to focus in poor lighting

What is crop factor?

When I first start taking photos with a DSLR, one of the most confusing term is "Crop factor". Take a bit of time to Google will provide you with a lot of technical explanation and samples comparing the images of different sensor, but how does it really affect a casual hobbyist like myself?

The main purpose initially is for user that shifted from film(35mm) to understand the change in focal length or to make people that start with a entry DSLR that stumble upon the term "crop factor" miserable :-(

Took me quite a while to understand how the sensor size will affect the photos. IMHO I concluded that it cause more confusion than helping people understand them since most hobbyist NEVER USED a 35mm before or had more than 1 camera that have different sensor size...

To summarize, I just put up some points that I think will affect our daily usage

1. The sensor size is different, so the photo capture by the lens of the same focal length will be different (refer to image below). If you used a 80mm lens for a Full frame camera, the photo taken will be identical to a smaller size sensor photo if the lens used is divided by the crop factor. eg. A photo taken with a Canon full frame camera using a 80mm lens will have a same result as a photo taken wtih a Canon smaller size sensor using a 50mm(80mm/1.6)

Example of image capture by different sensor with same focal lenght lens

Reduce motion blur for free.

I look through the photos I took 12 months ago and I am really glad they look kind of bad now. Hopefully I can say that again in a year time from now.

From those photos, the biggest problem that I had is motion blur causes by slower shutter speed. It took me quite a while to find out there are betters ways to get decent result when the lighting is poor....

A few that worth mentioning are

1. Camera can be stabilize on a general guideline of 1/(focal length) seconds. Instead of pumping your ISO, try setting your zoom to the widest and go closer and be surprise with the results.

1/15 sec at 24mm handheld.

Shooting abit wider for portrait?

How do u shoot your portrait? A total newbie like myself had been overwhelm with advise from photography friends and online information. In summary, I found that majority of people prefer a focal length more than 70mm on a FF body.

There are many reason and this are the few that I keep in mind

1.  Lens distortion exist at wider focal length will make ur subject fatter. Personally I don't think it is a very big issue since most new lenes it keep it very well controlled.  Shooting subject very near (min focus distance) is common when using a wide lens. It can increase the size of the subject compare to the background due to the distance it is from the camera sensor.  Remember that things look bigger when they are nearer? This is called  "Perpective" distortion instead of real "Lens" distortion, your lens is fine...
2. Depth of Field is much swallower at a longer focal length. Everything in the background into a creamy bokeh with a bigger aperture size.
3. The narrow angle of view allow tighter framing to isolate the subject.
4. To pickup important detail like expression, emotions and actions etc..

Samples at 70mm f2.8

Why I always keep my 50 prime lens in my camera bag part 1

The main advantage of owning a prime lens are for the the sharpness and the bigger max aperture compare to the zoom lens of simliar focal length.

Althought quality of zoom lenses had improve alot and the all entry level cameras now can give you usable photos at ISO1600, I still feel it is necessary to have a prime lens over the more versatile zoom lens in my bag.

I never thought there will be any need for any other lens then the EF-S 17-85mm my brother loaned me until I read on the subject called "isolation" and was absolutely enchanted by it.

A good portrait photos will always have isolation on the subject and it can be acheive with many different ways like creative composition, finding a clean background, changing angle to used the floor and the sky as backdrop, tighter framing, use of lighting etc...

I have 2 little gals that will not pose or listen to you when they are having fun, so the easliest way to acheive isolation will be a swallow DOF with a big aperture prime lens with a tight framing.

Canon offer very affordable solution to my problem.

EF50mm f1.8

1. It is light at 130gm
2. On a crop body, the framing is just nice for a little gal with a comfortable working distance of 1-3 meters.
3. Keeping my shutter speed above 1/100 to reduce motion blur.
4. Most important is that at wide open and keep the working distance close, the lens can isolate them from all the messy background that is dominating my neigbourhood :D

It don't take me long to buy it during last Chinese New Year:D and the result is almost a complete disaster...

1. The AF is much slower than my USM zoom lens, so I need to predict the movement of my gals to get the right moments.
2. Focusing is very unforgiving due to the extreme swallow DOF, and taking more than 1 subject is a pain...
3. my leg need alot of move alot more to get a good composition on the sujects that is constantly running around.

I would have given up on the len if not for the very few photos out of the hundreds I shot that few days. Althought they are not very well taken, have what I am looking for.

Bokeh Test

I got special preference for 50mm fast prime len be it on a crop or FF camera body. I will try to explain more in my later post(s).

While waiting for my wife to get some stuff in the mall after collecting my new 50mm from Canon Service Center because of some Front Focusing issues.  I did a not very scientific test with it.

The subject is ard 75 cm (2.5 tile) away from camera and here it goes

Aperture Size F1.4

First Post

I just started taking photos with a DSLR about a year ago to take photos of my two beautiful daughters. Hopefully that will become a gift to them when they grew up.

When I first consult my photographer friend(s) regarding the gear that I need, one of them told me something that is really helpful. He stated:

1. "The most entry model camera body like the D3000 or the 450D are way better than the state of the art digtal camera like 8 year back and I am pretty sure there is hell lots of beatitful pictures been taken during that time too"

2. "If the photo is not interesting in the first place who will actually care abt how sharp the hair on the subject in your photos is right? "

3. "Yes, you will need ultra fast focusing motor, stalizer, prefect lens... because you are a bloody handicap. If you want the photos desperate enough, you will find a way to get it. Be creative, compensate and improvise. Technology will kill them if you rely on it too much and too early"

Maybe people that carrys a camera recently are juz getting too concern with review about Image quality, sharpness, chromatic aberration, vignetting, lens flare, noise control etc... and end up taking less photos.

Just take out your camera and like what you are doing :D I

Below is some of the photos I taken during Nov 2009, my first family outing with a DSLR camera (Canon 300D Canon 17-85 IS USM). I don't know anything about editing that time so this are all taken with jpeg and straight from camera.