Category — Travel

How do you get the silky effect you see on waterfall photos?

That usually requires a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. Of course this will depends on the water flow rate so do experiment with different shutter speeds.

1)Set up your tripod. This is almost a must unless you can find a good support to subsitute for the tripod.
2)Get the proper exposure setting The idea is to get a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. So I usually set the ISO to the lowest (ISO 200 for my Nikon D70) and I close the aperture down to f/16 or smaller. I also use an circular polariser. It serves to reduce the light by 2 stops and it also cut down a lot of light flare commonly found in reflective water surfaces.

Despite all these settings,  the shutter speed might still be too fast especially if the day is still bright.  In that case,  you may need to add on Neutral density (ND)  filters to further cut down the light.

3) Shoot and review If you are using a digital camera, shoot and review the shoots. Make changes to your shutter and aperture settings if necessary. Do bracketing if using film.

Have fun! 

What is travel photography?

To some, it means signing for a generic tour and taking photos along the way during the trip. To others, it means signing up for a tour organized by a photo club or school and go along to wherever the group where. There may be local models arranged for stage shoots. (Think of photos of monks praying in candlelight in a Thai temple). One photo school even have a tagline that say something like good photos are guaranteed.

Some folks may like to go to such trips because they only have limited days of leave and could not afford to spend time researching the places they go to. Or maybe they only want to take photos and not want to learn more about the places they go to. Well all these are valid reasons.

To me, travel photography is to travel first and take photographs later. Before I go on a trip, I usually spend time reading about the place I will be going. This can be done by reading a guide book or reading up on the Internet. Next on locations, I will take my own time to roam around. If I need to wait for good light, I will stay on and wait. I?prefer nonposed setting even for human shots and I am more than willing to engage them in a good conversation.

While the country is trying to recover from the impact of cyclone Nargis, let us remember the resilience of the people of Myanmar aka Burma. Donations can be made via the Singapore Red Cross. Details at http://www.redcross.org.sg/

Myanmar School Kids

A Myanmar craftsman enjoying his smoke.

A Child Worker resting

A novice monk

This photo was taken using a 16mm fisheye lens. The fisheye lens can create an unique perspective not seen in other lens. However do not overuse it or your photos will look boring. Due to the wide angle, it is easy to include a lot of empty foreground or worse still , clutter foreground. In the photo above , some cropping is done after printing to reduce the bare foreground.

“The Independent Traveller magazine is a quarterly travel and photography magazine for the global citizen with an Asian perspective. Our contributors scoured the hidden pockets of the world for fascinating stories and scenery that are one of a kind. Through vivid and colourful experiences in every issue, the world is being brought closer to our readers.”

I have contributed an article on my independent travel to Myanmar for the inaugural issue of this magazine. They have chosen my photo of this little Myanmarese girl as the cover.

This is taken off the Lazyfish Guesthouse in Phnom Penh. I was on my way back to the guesthouse and I saw the beautiful sunset. I made it in time to set up my tripod and take a few shots. The background is empty so I used the few poles in the water as the foreground to hold the composition.

Just want to share this photo that I took in Putaxi (Victory Gate) in Vientiane, Laos in Dec 2006.  Without writing too much, I felt this photo tells a story, hence the title.

What do u think?

what do i bring for a photography trip?

Here is my list

What are the usual equipment that I brought along to a photography trip? By photography trip, I meant it is a trip that I can manage my own timing. If I need to stay at a spot longer, I can do so.

• Nikon D70 DSLR Body
• Nikon FM3A Film Camera Body?
• Nikon 17-85 kit lens from the D70
• Tamron 90mm SP (Macro)
• Nikon 50mm 1.8
• Cokin ND Gradual Grey ND8 (P121L)
• Cokin ND Gradual Grey ND4 (P121)
• Kodak Trix 400 Black n white film ?
• Slik Sprint GM Tripod
• Batteries, Chargers , Memory Cards, Portable HardDisk device
• Cleaning kit: Brush, Blower and Microfiber Cloth

For my last Laos trip, i just used a normal haversack to carry one body and one lens and whatever accessories that I might need around. The rest I would leave in my big backpack or in the guesthouse.