Category Archives: Photography

Photography

Favorite faces from Dickens Festival 2011

Thanks Gillian Vogel for being a good sport, smiling and ever patient with me. You look lovely in that outfit.

This year’s Dickens Festival at a new location, the Riverside Convention Center, had a different feel to it.

The change of venue, I overheard, was due to the municipal auditorium was being renovated.

Nevertheless my family and I enjoyed visiting this annual affair.

My gripe? Come on, you know photographers always gripe.

But that’s the subject of another post.

If I had one suggestion to offer anyone who wants to improve their portraiture and develop their self-confidence as a people photographer, it would be to seek out events and fairs such as this.

One of my favorite things about this annual event is how folks always turn out in costumes and partake in the pageantry.

And I don’t mean just the performers. Visitors and attendees also get into the spirit of things. Continue reading Favorite faces from Dickens Festival 2011 →

Assignment, Photography

Low light action photography Part 2

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Acrobats in small circuses like Circus Vargas often work in very dim lights of their big top. ISO 400 1/160 f2.8 Nikon 1D. In 2001, the Nikon D1 was the best camera of its time, however, its low light capability was horrendous, that's why I exposed this at ISO 400

Of the obstacles you face whenever you want to take a picture, low light is probably the toughest to overcome. Things get even dicier when your subject is moving.

#3 Lighting

At religious ceremonies in church, you can sometimes get away with low shutter speeds like 1/30 sec @f2.8 ISO 800. With my 50mm, I could have used a higher shutter speed like 1/125 sec @ f1.4 but I wanted my son's hand to register as more of a blur as he waved to my wife. Canon 1D

Whenever light levels are low:

  • you won’t have the shutter speeds needed to handhold long lenses successfully
  • you can’t freeze the action even if you use a tripod or image stabilization because your subject is moving
  • your lens might not focus
  • color temperature or white balance might be an issue because most environments choose lights based on practicality and efficiency instead of whether it’s good for photography

Bear in mind, your ISO is already set to the highest that you can live with taking into account digital noise. Continue reading Low light action photography Part 2 →

Photography

Low light action photography Part 1

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Even at a shutter speed of 1/800 sec, Indonesian badminton player Taufik Hidayat's racquet registers as a blur. Badminton, the fastest racquet sport, is one of the toughest to shoot because no flash is allowed and the gyms are usually not very bright. I used a Canon 40D, a 85mm 1.2 L lens, ISO 1600 at the U.S. Open 2 years ago.

Now that DSLRs are in the hands of more and more 1st-time camera owners, I’ve noticed this question come up a lot.

“I’ve tried to photograph my son’s basketball games, but all my pictures are blurry. How do I get better pictures with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel?”

Continue reading Low light action photography Part 1 →

Internet & Technology, Photography

Online privacy, Facebook and our pictures

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Privacy in cyberspace: what's a realistic expectation?

Privacy as our parents knew it is dead. We attended its funeral when we ushered in the internet.

Thanks to cheap data storage, search engines, and yes, Facebook, if we want to find someone, our chances are pretty good.

The average Facebook user is probably very comfortable with their circle of friends seeing their pictures.

I don’t know how many friends the average user has.

Fifty? Hundreds? Thousands? My guess?

Younger users will be more cavalier  about who they are willing to share their pictures and info with.

No doubt their “coolness” depends on how many FB friends they have.

For the rest of us, it means we have to be ever vigilant and always be on the lookout for changes especially in their privacy controls.

So, don’t just sign up, log in and be friendly, stay on top of things. Continue reading Online privacy, Facebook and our pictures →