Tag Archives: digital photography

Photography, Tutorials

Class at Fairmount Park

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My students try to capture me on camera as I whiz by on the Razor scooter at Fairmount Park, Riverside.Photograph by Brian Stoa or is it Bryce?

My photography class met at Fairmount Park Tuesday morning.

I hope I don’t speak for myself. It was great to get out of the modular classroom. In fact when the weather cools off more, I’m planning on more field trips. Photography is best taught hands-on.

Lectures and powerpoint presentations, no matter how well done, get old.

I had 2 concepts which I wanted to teach.

  • Depth-of-field control
  • Panning the camera to convey motion

Continue reading Class at Fairmount Park →

Photography

New Canon 5D Mark II vs Nikon D90

Looks like the stage is set for these two digital SLRs to duke it out.

I’ve read that some Canon shooters have switched to Nikon because they like the D3 so much. 

This competition is great for the end users. It ensures we get the best camera for our money, keeping both Nikon and Canon on their toes.

Both cameras have video capture capability. The Canon has much, much more megapixels. 

Already I can hear my MacPro crying for more RAM and hard drive space as I read the specs on these two cameras.

Looks like whoever buys the new Canon 5D Mark II will be shopping for 16GB memory cards as well since the RAW files have been rumored to be in the neighborhood of  21 Megapixels.

And I was about to put the Canon G9 on my wish list, then I read about what else? The new Canon G10. 

The G10 will have 14 Megapixels compared to the G9’s 12 Megapixels. I have the G3. It still works great. 

Like everyone else, I’ll have to sift through all the marketing and techno-jargon to see what is real and what isn’t.

The best advice I can give folks who are shopping for digital cameras is to

  1. bring your own SD or compact flash cards to the store and 
  2. ask to fire off a few frames in the cameras with the same settings.That really is the only way you decide. 
  3. When you get home and open the images in photoshop, compare the noise levels especially in the blue channel, the color rendition and compare the images at different ISOs.
Photography, Tutorials

Travel Photography–a marriage of words and pictures

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A view from Big Bear mountain after a fresh snowfall. Captured on Fujichrome 100. Nikon F5. 50mm lens. Exposure was 1/500s at f11.

Every adolescent’s dream is to travel, see exotic places. So mine was no different.

I joined Singapore Airlines when I was 18, right after what would be in the 11th grade of high school here in the US, “O” levels in the British system of education.

That was when I caught the shutterbug, while traveling on the airline’s dime. Continue reading Travel Photography–a marriage of words and pictures →

Photography, Tutorials

Street or Candid Photography in Post-911 World

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Public perception of any person with a camera in their hand whether still or video in and around public landmarks, was forever changed as a result of Sept 11, 2001.

It didn’t help that the paparazzi contributed to Princess Diana’s death.

Sort of ironic, isn’t it?

The hordes of paparazzi through their dogged pursuit of their quarry, contributed to her untimely demise and in the end, they lost a source of income.

Robin Stein bows her head during a memorial service for the victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Friday., Sept. 14, 2001, at the Redlands Bowl in Redlands, California.

Still, if you’re a people watcher like I am, those changes in attitudes shouldn’t dissuade you from pursuing street or candid photography of people. Continue reading Street or Candid Photography in Post-911 World →