Playing with Slow Sync Flash

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7.5mm (35mm equiv.), f/8.0, 1/5s, ISO500

Slow sync Flash, +2ev

One guy told me that his brother knew a little trick to make the portrait shot has a spinning background. He didn't know how his brother did it, but I told him that I can guess the technique.

Quickly I whipped out my S90, and made the shot. Well, to make a perfect shot, more samples must be taken. This was just made with one shot!!

He was impressed, and told that's exactly what he say his brother did.

Zuiko and Sports Day

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Friends in arms.

35mm, f/4.0, 1/160s, ISO800

A few weeks back, my daughter's kindy held a sports day at the MPSJ sports complex.

It was drizzling with rain when we arrived there, and the event was delayed by up to nearly half an hour. Knowing that I had to shoot this in the open, I opted for the Olympus E-3 with the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm f2.0 lens. The lens gave me the distance coverage I needed as there was a large crowd of parents and friends encircling the telematches. I couldn't get close enough!

Boys Brigade provided the marching tempo

The old Zuiko motor was able to track the fast marching

On your marks!!

Hard at work collecting the bumper crop.

A medal for the effort!

There's nothing much to say, except that shooting in an uncontrolled crowded situation is very tough. Gotta be fast to get the best location. In this type of shooting, location, location & location is very important!!

Also, notice the compression effect in the pictures. Thanks to the sole usage of the telephoto lens, the effect of people bunching up together within the frame is further magnified.

And my son had a blast too playing with the umbrella!

Byee......

Zuiko and the Sony Experia X10

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For the past few weeks, I was busy with a new toy. Regrettably, I was left with little or no time to spend time with my Zuikos or even the nimble Canon S90. The Sony Experia X10, equipped with Android Donut 1.6, loaded with applications and features, was my focus of attention.

One of the nifty applications is the Retro Cam. I downloaded it last week, and got a good time playing with its 4 different camera effects. With the ability to hook the pictures directly with Facebook and Flickr makes my usage of this little contraption ever more worthwhile. The X10's 8MP sensor, with the right photographic situation, delivers enough resolution to rival the Canon S90.

Let's look at what the Retro Cam can do...

Effect with Xolaroid 2000 camera

High X-processing, blue/green cast, high contrast, glossy instant frame

Effect with pinhOle camera

Low saturation, multi-color swirl, medium-high contrast, full-bleed film

Effect with Little Orange Box camera

High X-processing, red/purple cast, high contrast, square damaged frame

Effect with The Barbl camera

Low saturation, red/purple cast, high contrast, square damaged frame

Well, the SE X10 won't be able to match the S90 overall output quality, or so much to challenge the Zuikos top notch optical performance. Nevertheless, the complete package offered by this smartphone is more than enough to not let me spend some time with other cameras. Nothing beats the instant capabilities to upload the pictures to Facebook and Flickr via high speed HSPA connection!

No worries, I will continue blogging away with regards to my Zuikos; but this new toy is so time absorbing!!

Another Session...

I just conducted another basic photography session.

A bit of activity to teach the tricks of group shooting.

To my students who are reading this blog entry, take note that the photo above is perfect composition based on the Golden Mean where the triangles A, B & C are clearly seen.

Me and my students.

The gist of my basic teachings are :
1. Get the exposure right, know the exposure triangle
2. Get the focus right, know where to point the lens
3. Get the perspective right, know the right angle, lens, and distance to get the shot

Zuiko and Bicycles

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E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED 35-100mm F2.0

35mm, f/3.2, 1/400s, ISO100, -0.3ev

I have rekindled an old past time - cycling. The last time I rode a bike was when I was a teenager, which was a 17"-frame road bike. This time around, I got myself a 17"-frame hybrid bike.

I have found that for the past twenty years, a lot of technological development had advanced this mechanical wonder. I remembered the cumbersome gearing system, the heavy iron frame, and the non-friendly tooling for wheels, brakes and fitting setups. Now, with the wonder of materials engineering the frame is much lighter, and the inclusion of easy clip-ons for easy fittings and tooling. The gearing system is very friendly, too.

What makes this past time worthwhile now is that I have a cycling partner - my lovely wife. She loves mountain bikes, but I came from road bikes. The easy way out was for me to get a hybrid bike so that we can go on trail and park rides on many occasions. So far, after one week getting the bike, I am getting the feel of riding again. Well, not counting my motorcycling days with the Aprilia RS125, the exuberance and excitement of pedaling this lovely machine really hit the right spot. I am feeling the freedom, the speed, the youth; and, using just plain clean energy while riding is just great!!

Except for the sore buttocks for the first couple of days, the light aluminum 6061 frame and wonderful Shimano equipment have helped eliminate the potential pains to my arms, back and legs. Lovely!!

Daughter coming straight at me, Continuous AF to track her approach

100mm, f/3.2, 1/640s, ISO100, -0.3ev

Well, it seems that the whole family also on the bike thing. My two kids are also enjoying this leisure. It's a good way to spend quality time with my family.

Son diligently putting on the helmet, hard at work trying to lock-in the straps

100mm, f/3.2, 1/160s, ISO100, -0.3ev

As for photography on wheels, I have decided to go back to 135 camera system, especially the OMs due to its lightweight design and small size. I seem to have about 30 rolls of Fujifilm Reala 100s in the fridge. It's about time to unleash Full Frame.

Till then....

Zuiko and Green Apples

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I had some spare time after sending my daughter to Enopi Math class. The 30-minute gap was used to do some quick flash shoot.

35mm, f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO100

This was processed in High-key to accentuate the full breadth of flash coverage

Green apples.. that looked simple but cool!

How did I do a 2-minute setup?

Get the E-30 with a moderate telephoto lens, in this case the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD.

Get the FL-50R flash, and set to Remote mode. Quickly activate the Remote Commander menu on the E-30, and fiddle with the TTL setting.

Place the two apples on a dark glass table. Shut the room lights, and use ISO100 to blacken as much as possible the disturbing backgrounds.

Position the flash in various angles and height to see the different effects.

And don't forget the Do's and Don'ts of simple composition techniques. Rule-of-Thirds, Depth-of-Field separation, contrast isolation, parallax error, etc, etc.

Shoot in RAW only, and later process it using the Olympus Studio software. The E-30 Art Filters are available in Studio v2.2.

Voila!

By changing the angle and light intensity, a different effect was created.

This was processed in Low Key to accentuate the dark contrast zones.

Zuiko and Flash Techniques

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Event shooting is all about getting the right shots and meeting the client's needs. You only have one chance and there's no repeat! Hustle, hustle!!

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R

23mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO400, -0.3ev + Direct FP Flash + Spot Metering

Those were the mantras I kept repeating in my recent Event Shooting class. And boy, did the participants got a whole load of flash techniques.

You name it; the basic flash techniques for quick event shooting were covered. It started with simple direct flash and output balance calculation. Then we proceeded with the bounce & white card, and estimating ceiling height factors. Next, it was dragging the shutter in dark lit room, playing with 2nd/rear curtains. We went outdoors, and played with FP high sync flash to negate "the skull effect". High speed coverage with rapid flash and rapid movement followed, which was finally topped off with the indoor/outdoor flash balance technique.

Of course, the basic EV measurements along with GN calculations and DoF controls were thrown in the whole sha-bang! At least I managed to confuse most of the class before they got their hands dirty the next day and saw what I was talking about the whole day before!

Though I was tired, it was satisfying. To see the participants learning a lot within a short span of time was very rewarding.

On to the next class....