Photography Talk Blog Singapore photographer discuss about tips, techniques and stories.

Well, many times the photos that we took of buildings tends to suffer from a perspective problem. They look like they are falling backwards. This is usually due previous reasons : use of? a wide lens that we used, the angle of the lens tilt or standing too near the building.

If you could counter these by standing far away from the building and using a telephoto lens, then you could avoid these perspective problems. Otherwise some post photo editing is required.

Before Adjustments

Before adjustments, this building looks like it is falling backwards. So we will use Photoshop to make some adjustments.

If you have Photoshop CS3/2, you could do this :

Use the Lens Distortion Correction filter by selecting FILTER > DISTORT > LENS CORRECTION.

In the Transform box move the Vertical Perspective and Horizontal Perspective sliders until your image looks great.? You may need to perform some cropping after the Lens correction has been done. Wahaa! Done

After Adjustments

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! 

For those who are using a digital camera, what is the average number of shots you take when you go out for a day shoot? 50-100 maybe. How about if you go for a 10 days holiday tour ? 400-1000 maybe.

The question is what do you do with the shots you took? Some of us will simply upload them into the harddisk and never let them see daylight again. Some will upload the whole lot of shots into a photo sharing site  like http://www.multiply.com .

However if you are serious about photography, then you will spend some time to do some self critique before selecting a small set for processing and uploading. So how do I do my self critique? Here are some of the stuff that goes through my mind when i review my photographs.

1. Does this photograph tell a story by itself? Otherwise you may have to write a few hundred words to explain why you take this photograph.
2. Does it convey a message?  Is there a  message of peacefulness? Devotion? Love? Endurance?
3. Will I hang this photograph on my wall or publish it in a book? This usually goes for my nature shots
4. Is it technically well executed?  Did you control the sharpness or blurriness to the best effect? Did you exposed it correctly to the best effect?
5. Do I like this photograph?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

After 12 lotus, now is an exhibition titled 12 Years of Black and White Photography by Desmond Teo, an avid black and white photographer. He is also an instructor at SAFRA photoclub and  conducts the monochrome class at a regular basis.

The roots of a lotus grow in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, and the beautiful flower lies above the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment.

Often mistaken with the water lily plant, the obvious difference is that the lotus which, owing to the strength of its stem, regularly rises eight to twelve inches above the water surface.

Here is a montage of 12 lotus photographs. Enjoy them and learn to be like a lotus.

This is another classic film camera that I owned and tested. This is a 35mm rangefinder that come with a  Color Yashinon DX 45mm 1:1.7-16 lens. Trust me this lens is sharp. When I collected the scanned CD and developed negatives from the shop, I examined the negatives under a loupe. Boy, the images were sharp!

This is bigger than the Olympus 35 EC and weighs about 700g and is solidly built. I love the feel of it in my hands. This cameras can be obtained cheaply from Ebay at around US$25 or less. As with all old cameras, you will need to check the working condition and the condition of the light seals before you bid for one.

This camera uses the old mercury batteries that could not be found these days. Just roll of 4 LR44 button cells batteries and add some aluminium foil to make the contact.

Some sample photos off the camera.

Shopfront at Haiji Lane, Singapore

Shadow on a HDB block , Singapore

Well just as you has just bought your D300 and think it is the greatest camera, Nikon announced the D700.

Cutting through all the marketing talk, here are the major features of this D700 camera that matters to me (a D70 user).

1. FX - full frame! I could use my AF 20mm lens now was a wide angle lens!
2. ISO 200-6400 - useful in certain situation
3. Live mode
4. Image sensor cleaning - wow no more dust specks on photos

Price and date of availability is unknown yet.

Olympus 35 EC

Well I can said that this Olympus 35 EC camera, when compared to the plastic compact cameras, it is solidly built. I have the silver chrome one with cool black leatherette covering. There are a few unique features regarding this camera. Firstly, the film advance function. Instead of a lever, there is a thumbwheel which you roll it to advance the film. One hand operation is possible. The file is also loaded at the right hand side of the camera back. So you will wind the film from righ to left.

Secondly, there is a lever that resembles a self-timer, but it is a shutter lock. To shoot you will have to slide it down otherwise it will lock the shutter. It has a orange light on top to indicate exposure, which is the same light seen in the viewfinder. Orange light means battery is OK when you do a slight press of the shutter. If it remains on when you press the shutter further, it means the shutter speed is slow ..1/30 or more. Simple right?

There is another thumbwheel for adjusting the ASA (now known as ISO). It goes from 25 to 800. Well it hard to find ISO100 film not to mention 25. This camera has the Olympus E. Zuiko 42mm f2.8 lens.

This is a zone-focus camera and has no manual controls - shutter speed and aperture are set automatically. This means, of course, that the batteries must be installed and the meter must be functioning. The battery compartmen is also unique. It has 2 battery chambers designed to take 2 mercury batteries that are impossible to find these days. I just stack 2 LR44 batteries into one chamber and stuff the other one with a wad of aluminium foil. Viola ! It works!

Sample photo