Oh yeah, on of my other favourite hobby is to catch lightning and now, I will just share a lil bit on how to get a shot like this!
It's not too difficult at all if you follow these steps for an entry range DSLR:
1. Prepare a tripod for stability or any other place to steady your camera.
2. Set your ISO to the lowest possible... mine was ISO 100.
3. Prepare enough space for many shots and adjust quality to compensate. I caught 3 flashes in about 200 shots without using a trigger.
3. For dark nights, set shutter speed to anywhere from 2-30 seconds but for those rainy afternoons, set aperture as small as possible or the f number as large as possible. Mine was at f/22
4. Set your camera to continous drive mode... mine could do bursts of 10 shots. For extra catches, get yourself a wireless trigger which guarantees you a much better chance of success.
5. Find a thunder storm brewing and find a good shelter... high buildings are great but the above was taken from the first floor.
6. Start shooting until you get a few!
Have fun and don't get shocked!
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
I wish I could take this along #2
Well, even after so long of living next to it and seeing it day and nite, the sight of the Penang bridge has not registered as boring in my head.
One night, I got to capture the splendor and glory of this 13.5km engineering marvel.
Perfect light, perfect weather and perfect timing with the right equipment!
I am in awe at the beauty of the bridge that rarely accentuates the sky into a bright glow. In fact, what you are seeing here is actually a rain cloud, and it also looks like someone installed spotlights onto the bridge which gave the entire stretch a golden glimmer with a hint of night sky.
ISO200, F4.0, Canon 50D
Yeah 50D, cause bb has my camera at the moment. Anyway, sent it to the Star, see what happens then!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Long Overdue! Pentax Optio H90 review @ Youth Park
Oh yeah, finally it has arrived! The Pentax Optio H90, compliments of MSS that I won last year (been bz getting my piece of paper so was not on Malaysian soil to collect it) Nonetheless, its here and now can die happy!
But before that happens, time to do a mini review of this lil thing to see what its got. Looking at some other reviews, seems like all the technical (read boring) specs are all stripped down for you to enjoy. What I would always do it just take it for a spin and see how fast one can start producing nice pics out of it!
Test 1 - Night Vision Test + Zoom Test
Since it was night, might as well do this first. How convenient, the Penang Bridge is just 2-3 km outside my window...
Guess what, total dissapointment! The pictures are far too noisy and focus at infinity seems distrupted at low light conditions. At a measly 5 times zoom (digital zoom is actually bullsh*t and doesn't count), don't count on it to do telescopic stuff. As a benchmark, here is what you can get from a mystery DSLR:
Test 2 - Macro test!
The next prominent feature that this camera boasts its its macro zoom. Picking out a bunch of screw heads, I placed the camera in front of the row and the results pleased me somewhat. Good focus and depth of field. On a minor note, the colour balance seems like its needs work as the camera sometimes give a slightly different hue under different light conditions ie, becomes extra yellow under yellow light.
Test 3 - Panorama test.
This feature was non existent in cameras before the the first half of the decade. Now it seems that many cameras come with stitching software that helps you create panoramas easily, which was previously done using photoshop.
Again, this camera hows that its capable of amazing feats. For such a compact camera, seems like the panorama was almost seamless. However, it still relies on a smooth hand to give a decen panorama. Yet, looking at at, I like!
Test 4 - Organisation skills!
Sounds like an interview but one thing that caught my eye was that the camera automatically places your shots into folders by date! I used to have to do this manually (Especially hate it for the iPhone). This small feature will indeed be time saving for long trips and big SDHC memory cards!
Okay, thats it for the indoors test. Come tomorrow, this camera will face Penang Hill! By now, I should have told you that for all the tests in this blogpost, no photoshop was done to alter the pictures except for resizing!
Test 5 - Medium Light
Time to wake up and shortly after sunrise, it was the perfect time to find out how this camera did with medium light and so here you go:
The exposure and metering were not very good either under medium lights. Fine then, time to head to Youth park for a hike up the Moongate trail! This happened to be where my old Sea Scout Troop used to camp.
Forest shot pass. Now time to go another 10 minutes up. Here, there is a clearing where you can see most of Penang. With the sun rising on the east, time for an overexposure test!
Test 6 - Overexposure
Was jsut wondering how the metering system would stand up and so, I pointed this into the sun! So, as usual, when one does a shot like that, one should expect a camera to give a properly exposed sky and a dark foreground. Amazingly, the software compensates for the overexposure to give:
Either that or it was focused on the city giving an overexposed sky! Either way, not to bad. Now if only someone would build in an ND filter on compacts that would be great! Climbing up, it was time to try Pentax's zoom. 5x Optical Zoom up to 30x digital zoom. I spotted a doggie in the corner of my eye in the distance while my nose spotted the big piece of crap I stepped on. Here is a photo od the suspect:
Test 7: Portraits
Yes, that is what most people use their camera for, camwhoring... so while I was on the way up, noticed many monkeys around youth park so I decided to shoot one:
Whoops, wrong monkey...
Thats better. The other feature that was cool was the panorama feature. Not as userfriendly as Microsoft's Photosynth (cause they are building their own flash player called Silverlight), it does do the job. Tip: Not so good for trees.
Thing is, you can clearly see the sticthes on the frames, nowhere near as good as a person but the clouds shot says that its not so bad. Yep, somehow, clouds were made to be photograghed:
Test 8- Macro
Its that lil focus mode that I usually do not touch cause I think its useless but why not. So down on my kness I went with the camera ridiculously close to the specimens.
Luckily, Youth Park has no shortage of blooms.
Test 8 - Driving Test
What camera would be useful if you can't use it to capture accidents! So, in the passenger seat, it was no holding back! This one is confirmed, good for taking pictures of the winning number plates on the unlucky people's car. Irony.
There are loads of more funny features that I will take a look at in due time!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
My Canon is 12000 Clicks! Canon Photomarathon!
The region's largest photo competition returns to Asia with twelve unforgettable expense-paid tickets to the Republic of Turkey* up for grabs.
Come August, the Canon PhotoMarathon 2010 will kick off for the 8th consecutive year. Spanning six countries, this year's competition will bring together photographic talents from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Join thousands in the unique photo competition that challenges participants to create photographic masterpieces in line with assigned themes - under time pressure.
Stretch your creativity and endurance in this full-day event, and two winners from each country stand to win an unforgettable 8-day photo clinic to Turkey hosted by professional photographer Triston Yeo.
To register, simply click on the appropriate country's link and complete the registration form when registration opens.
Malaysia
Venue: Tanjong City Marina, Penang
Date: 16th October 2010 (Saturday)
Event Time: 0900hrs – 1900hrs
Best of Show
Grand Prize: EOS 1D Mark IV & Photo Clinic 2010 in Turkey
1st Prize: EOS 5D Mark II (Body) & Photo Clinic 2010 in Turkey
2nd Prize: EOS 60D (Body)
3rd Prize: EOS 550D (Body)
Best of Theme
Theme 1: PowerShot G12
Theme 2: PowerShot G12
Theme 3: PowerShot G12
* Registration close on 10th October 2010
Indonesia
Hari / Tanggal: 16 Oktober 2010 (Sabtu)
Waktu: pk. 06.00 - 19.00 WIB
Lokasi: Tribeca Park, Central Park, Jakarta
Katagori Kamera DSLR
Tema 1
Juara 1: Trip Photo Clinic ke Turki +
Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 7D body only
Juara 2: Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 7D body only
Juara 3: Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 500D body only
3 Juara Harapan: Kamera digital Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
Tema 2
Juara 1: Trip Photo Clinic ke Turki +
Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 7D body only
Juara 2: Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 7D body only
Juara 3: Kamera DSLR Canon EOS 500D body only
3 Juara Harapan: Kamera digital Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
Katagori Kamera Digital Saku
Juara 1: Kamera digital Canon PowerShot G11 + Printer foto SELPHY CP790
Juara 2: Kamera digital Canon PowerShot SX210 IS + Printer foto SELPHY CP790
Juara 3: Kamera digital Canon IXUS 130 + Printer foto SELPHY CP790
5 Juara Harapan: Kamera digital Canon PowerShot A3100 IS + Printer foto SELPHY CP790
Demi kelancaran acara dan kenyamanan peserta, pendaftaran peserta akan ditutup jika jumlah peserta telah mencapai kapasitas maksimum.
Singapore
Venue: Suntec City Hall 401
Date: 23rd October 2010 (Saturday)
Event Time: 0730hrs to 1930hrs
Registration Fee: SGD 10
Singapore's largest one-day photo competition returns for an 8th consecutive year on 23rd October 2010.
Participants will once again compete in the Open and Student categories throughout the day, shooting to fulfill three pre-determined themes that will only be revealed on competition day.
Besides standing a chance to the latest Canon cameras, two Best of Show winners will travel to Turkey for a 8-day photo clinic led by professional photographer Triston Yeo.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
No Artificial Colouring Added
Aren't we glad we live in a colourful world?Getting back from Melbourne, I wanted to take BB to someplace she has never gone before. Apart from that, it had to be exciting and good for taking pictures as well. Time to add some colour to our lives! Photography is the art of light and where better to test the limits of a camera than the most colourful place in KL, Berjaya Times Square theme park!
Shhhh!Babe asking me to keep quite! Maybe its because I was saying that dress is too sexy...
It doesn't hurt to prepare and pose!Getting from Sunway to Times Square is a challenge in itself. You will frequently encounter this:
Yes, my favourite, traffic flavoured jam served on the Federal highway, sandwiched between an MyVi and a Proton Wira.
No matter, there is always time to get some pictures in the car. Indeed, the car provides some interesting lighting depending on where the sun is. Anyhow, getting to Times Square takes some creativity as the complex is inconveniently located in the middle of the city.
First picture in Times Square theme park.Stepping into the complex if you find it, the building stand tall but lacks the quality of people there. Berjaya Times Square is now the biggest "pasar malam" in KL. The traders and hence the crowd are a lil cheap, not that i'm complaining.
The last time I was here in the park as in 2004 when the building was just at its infancy. Today in 2010, it is already in its decline. We were lucky that the theme park was still operational.So altogether, it was about RM35 each for entry and you get discounts for ISIC and Jusco card!
To start things off, I took Babe to the gentlest ride in the park. Meant for kids, we joined in the car ride which made two round around a 30m track.
To get some adrenaline pumping, Bb made full use of the on board horn!
Next, we went into the Merry go round! Quite paiseh when we were asked to move to other horses since some are specially for children! Already you can see the dramatic difference in colour from the picture here and the one before.
The lighting was so nice that Bb decided to do some camwhoring! We were headed for the big one, but then we saw this cute lil ride around the place and so just hopped on.
Many rides on the park will try to make you puke, and we absolutely avoided that because we prefer to keep the contents of our lunch inside. On the ride, there was also time to do some
With the appetizer done, we headed for the main course. The main reason I brought Bb here was to let her experience this:
10 storeys in the air, it is Malaysia's only fully indoor roller coaster! The fact that makes it even scarier is the people in charge of the park! The structure seems to be oscillating dangerously and could break off anytime soon with the type of people managing the place! What better thrill than to put your life on the line on an old roller coaster! Realising the fact, bb was quite afraid.
No matter, I dragged her into the scary thing. Keeping our stuff in the locker, we got on to the platform. I could see that Bb was excited and scared at the same time.So we got into a car and the metal bars came down. It was seconds from putting our lives in the hands of maintenance people!
The lights turned green. The snaking coaster heads for a drop and here we go!!!
Babe was shouting her head off and it sounded something like:
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
But I had other plans:
Yeap, one of the funnest things to do is to get your picture taken on the roller coaster!In fact, this was the second picture we took! The first one did not turn out that well and the second time round, because bb enjoyed the coaster that much, instead of screaming her head off, she was saying:
Oh no, what to pose , what to pose?? So we decided to come up with that pose!
Yay! So we finally conquered the Times Square coaster and it feels
Great!
Long exposure on one of the rides!
Final checks of pictures before we head off!
Hmmmm, now i know how Bb takes her pictures so nicely.
Feeling a lil snacky, we saw Krispy Kreams! Its finally here in Malaysia! Albeit the price, its nice spending on something new here!
Delicious, the regular coated, peanut butter and chocolate cake donut, literally.
This is the frontage of the shop on the ground floor.
Yesh, its delicious!
Lastly, I used a 75-300mm to try some portrait shots. The effect is the blurred background and the subject clear in the foreground. The only bad thing about using a Tele lens to do a portrait is the fact that you have to shoot from a mile away to achieve the above effect!
and cut!
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