Thai Temple

I went with my uncle to the Thai Temple in Wimbledon last Sunday (22/04/12)...

My uncle was the man who basically got me into Photography as it was his D300 that inspired me to go shoot, and he was also the one who lent me his Nikon D90...

We decided a while back that once a month, we'd meet up to go shooting... Just to make more use of this incredibly expensive gear, and try keep it fun!

I watched this YouTube clip with Zack Arias from who was teaching at CreativeLive, and he defined the difference between an Amateur and a Professional as being that the Amateur enjoys Photography. Whereas the Professional is really stressed out and worrying about the perfect shot all the time.

But the point of this Blog was that I needed to just go out and shoot for me.

Whereas I do genuinely enjoy my work, and capturing images for people, I did start off by capturing images for myself, which I haven't done for a while (excluding Holiday lol).

So me and my uncle went to go look at the Thai Temple in Wimbledon, and see what we could capture.

Thankfully the sky was blue, and it did have some clouds to give it that slightly more interesting look rather than a plain blue sky...

Nikon D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4, ISO200, 1/1600sec



The above shot, I just saw a random statue under a tree. It didn't seem like a spot where I would expect to see such a thing, so I thought I'd take a picture of it. I wanted to put focus on one part of the image and blur out the rest... I just love the Bokeh from the 50mm f/1.4... It makes me wonder what the 85mm f/1.4 would be like............. I want! lol

Nikon D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4, ISO100, 1/3200sec

Nikon D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6, ISO200, 1/800sec

Not much to say about the above shots... I just saw, I liked, I clicked! lol...

www.leophoto.co.uk

www.facebook.com/leophoto.co.uk

@LeoHoangPhoto





F-Stoppers - "Can't afford it? Rent it."

I just read an article on the F-Stoppers website which was titled "If you don't own it, why not rent it?"

http://fstoppers.com/if-you-dont-own-it-why-not-rent-it

Buying vs. Renting is something that I have considered a few times in my Photography life; however I ended up always opting to buy it anyway.

I am not, by any means, a financial advisor, and this may not work out to be the best way to go for everyone, but I personally have found that if I buy the gear I want to use, I'll save in the long-run, regardless of it costing £1000+.

I began shooting Weddings in June 2011, and I quickly realised the limitations of my gear as I only owned a Nikon D7000 and 50mm f/1.4.

I said to myself that I needed a flash gun, a wide angle, mid-range zoom, telephoto, and macro lens. To literally cover all bases, and various perspectives, I needed these lenses. (Forgot to add, I aimed to have back-ups of certain things too)

The whole "Zoom with your feet" saying in Photography does not work in all scenarios as Focal Length does not only determine how much you can magnify an image, but it determines its perspective.

So, as far as I was concerned, I needed all these lenses to cover all perspectives.

Granted, I do not need to use all the lenses, all the time. For instance I'm not really into Macro Photography. However I needed a Macro lens for some shots at the Wedding such as Rings, and other details. I’m not really the type who would feel comfortable including a ring shot which was not done with the correct tools for the job. So I had been advised in the past to just rent the Macro when I needed it for a Wedding.

I called up FixationUK (www.fixationuk.com) and got a quote from them that the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro would cost me £18 a day. Then to factor in the cost of collecting the lens, returning it, and the time it would take for me to collect and return the lens, I figured it would set me back roughly £32 and 2hrs.

£18 - Lens
£7 - One Day Travelcard (to collect)
£7 - One Day Travelcard (to return)
2hrs = 1hr collect, 1hr return

FixationUK may have a delivery collection service, however I am not the type who likes sitting at home waiting around for couriers to collect or deliver, as my time waiting at home is time I could spend being more productive elsewhere.

In addition, they wanted a deposit for the value of the lens anyway. So for me to rent the lens, I would have to have a lump of money available to use anyway.

I then looked at the cost of the lens in Jessops (www.Jessops.com), at the time the price was £624.95, and first impressions was "Whoa! that's a lot of money...". So I checked eBay for used versions of the lens, and discovered that even used, the lens was going for roughly £600 with no warranty. With used equipment there are risks of dust inside, sticky focus rings, damaged front or read elements, and generally just looking scruffy.

But I realised that the value difference between new and used gear was basically the same as it would cost me to rent, and that if I did own the lens, there's no rush to return the lens, no worries of late fees etc.

So instead I opted to just buy the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro and I have used it for various Wedding shoots, and not needed to worry about returning it on time or late fees etc. In the past year, I have now done a total of 9 Weddings, and assume that I had rented the lens for each Wedding, the cost of lens rental alone would amount to £162. That is not including the travel costs and time to collect/deliver. Hypothetically speaking, even if FixationUK were to have delivered and collected, then it's my time that I'm losing whilst waiting around to not miss that door knock.

So I decided to look at my lenses as investments rather than general purchases seeing as even though I lose out on holding £624.95 worth of cash, I still possess something of worth. As opposed to if I rented, that money I'm never seeing again and will have to give back the lens.

In addition to that, the current value of my Nikon 105mm f/2.8 is now at £649.95 in Jessops. So I am confident I can get most of my money back, if not all, if I were to sell privately as the RRP for the lens new, has gone up.

I’ll accept that not everyone has the means to just go out and drop that lump of cash on a lens, and there may be other rental company’s out there who don’t require a deposit for the amount of the lens you are renting. However, for those of you that could actually buy it right now, but choose to rent to save money, you’re probably losing out in the long-run.

There is a boundary where I do not cross between buying and renting of course, and I am not necessarily saying that we should all fork out the cash and buy everything we want. I mean as much as I would like to shoot with a Nikon 400mm f/2.8G, which costs £6646.95 from Jessops, I would not opt to buy this as I think it would be too difficult to resell, and I really do not think I will get much use out of it, although I do really want to see first-hand what the compression is like on a 400mm lens!

But for other lenses like the very popular Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII, and other popular lenses like that which are in demand and will probably sell fairly quickly, you may want to consider buying it as opposed to renting it as you could save in the long run if you bought, used, then sold.

Memorable Day...

I started Blogging as I wanted to share some thoughts about anything and everything Photography related...

I found myself talking constantly about Photography, to the point that I felt that friends of mine who weren't as passionate about Photography as I am, got bored of listening to a broken record player discussing apertures, ISO's, and various lenses that I want to buy lol...

Therefore this Blog I'm not if its relevant to the theme... but I suppose it's also a Photography diary somewhat...

It's a memorable day for me, well, yesterday was (24/04/12)... I officially handed in my notice to quit one of my day jobs :S

If you're reading this and wasn't aware... I've had two jobs for the past 3 and a bit years...

Finished University and still held onto my Part-Time job at HMV, taking care of their banking. Then I attained a job at a school as an ICT Technician. So for the past 3yrs I have worked 8am-4pm, and then an evening shift at HMV which could vary from 6pm-8pm depending on workload. Admittedly 6pm finishes were more common than the 8pm finishes, but they did happen! lol

Recently I've found HMV to be a bit draining, and really cut into day.

Since I started freelancing Photography, I technically now have 3 jobs.

I saying I heard from Will Smith really hit home...

"There is no reason for Plan B, as it only distracts for Plan A"...

I'm not quite ready to take the plunge and my Photography my sole income, but HMV was definitely a distraction in regards to time and energy.

So yesterday I officially handed in my notice and from May 28th, which is the last day, I will no longer be working the two jobs Mon-Fri, and I hope that the extra time will allow me to develop myself further as a Photographer.

Photo Stitching

Photo stitching has been a method that has been around for years, it simply is a series of photos taken, and then pieced together like a puzzle to compile a final image.

It's used for various reasons, one is to increase the mega pixel count, another is to get a wide Panoramic shot which is otherwise impossible to do with a modern DSLR.

Some cameras do have this feature built into the camera, I have never owned one that does, although I hear rumours of the new iOS Software will have this feature for the camera.

About a month ago I paid a visit to Brighton Pier, and funnily enough, I had my backpack on with ALL my lenses, that was the 14-24, 24-70, 70-200, 50mm, and 105mm Micro. I mounted my Nifty Fifty as I just love this lens. For some reason I keep going back to this lens to shoot with. It's actually the cheapest lens I own, and the ones that's most used. I love it due to it's perspective and speed at f/1.4. But I'll save the details for another BLOG.

So I mounted the 50mm f/1.4 on my D7000 and treated it as a 'walk around' lens. It's actually quite difficult to shoot with this lens on a DX Body (APS-C Sensor), as I was shooting with the D7000.

I saw so many photo opportunities but with the 50mm mounted on the D7000, my field of view was restricted to an equivalent 75mm on a FX Body. So It was very difficult.

I saw the view from the Pier of Brighton, and I wanted that shot, although I was pretty lazy to stop, find a spot where it's quiet, and switch over my lenses to the 14-24mm, and then snap the shot, and once completed, switch back to the 50mm as I still mainly wanted to use that.

So instead, I just set my camera to Continuous High, and Fired away from Left to Right. First time doing this, and I made the mistake of slightly going downward as I was going to the right, and to get a completely squared off level image, I had to trim the top part of the image on the left side which cuts into the Wheel. But! That's a lesson learned!

D7000 + 50mm f/1.45 @ ISO100, f/2.5, 1/8000sec

Don't ask why I was at f/2.5, I clearly just forgot to change it up. Nonetheless, it was a good exposure with not much done in lightroom other than warming up the image and a touch on contrast added.

I stitched them up with Photoshop and this is what I came out with

I definitely intend on doing more Photo Stitching, but I mainly decided to try stitching now as I'm very keen on trying the Brenizer Method.

New BLOG and Photos will be coming soon for that!

www.leophoto.co.uk

www.facebook.com/leophoto.co.uk
@LeoHoangPhoto

Michelle & Jeff - 2012-04-18

I shot a Wedding for Michelle & Jeff last week Wednesday, 28/04/11, and it had been a while since I shot a full day Wedding.

Michelle & Jeff had already arranged their Photography with another Photographer, Dan Catley, however I was put in touch with Michelle and we made an arrangement where I was a secondary shooter.

I arrived at the Venue around 12:30pm, after getting lost for 15min as the venue seemed to be in the middle of no-where. I was scheduled to get there for 1pm, however I wanted to arrive a bit earlier to scope the setting as I have never shot at this venue before.

The TomTom directed me to a road and said to me "You have arrived at your Destination", I immediately screamed back at it saying "No I haven't!" as I looked around and I saw nothing but residential housing, and I KNEW this could not be where the Wedding was being held lol...

Thankfully, with the beauty of modern technology, I whipped out my iPhone and opened up Google Maps, which then directed me to follow the road I was on, for another mile, and as I said, I was driving in the middle of no-where. I saw nothing but bushes, trees, and grass. Then much to my surprise, I saw a sign saying "Cooling Castle Barn" and I turned left into a building which had people in it! I was so relieved I found it...

Unfortunately the day began with dreadful weather, and the clouds were grey and rained quite badly on the way in. I got my stuff together from the car and texted Michelle to let her know I had arrived.

I thought it was best to get some venue shots before too many people came in.

D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO500, 1/20

I try my best to attain every little detail, that even the Bride or Groom would even think they would like to remember. With Dan Catley being present as the main shooter, it did allow me more time to think more freely and creatively about what to look for.

So much so that I even thought it would be nice for the Bride to remember the door of her Bridal Suite...

 Nikon D7000 + 24-70mm @ f/2.8, ISO1000, 1/60sec

I thought this image could also make for a nice background image. If the Bride had decided to put together a Wedding Photobook, this image could be the background with other Wedding Photos from her Preparation around the "1". With the lack of "Likes" on facebook, I don't think many people saw where I was going with this lol... But nonetheless, the shot has been taken, and I like it at least lol...

The Preparation itself was a bit hectic, as there were 7 bodies total in a small-ish room, loads of bags, clothes and weirdly enough, a Baseball Cap? 

I was trying my best to stay out of the way. I try to allow things to roll as if I was not there, although I'm fairly certain I failed in that regard during the Preparations with my 6ft+ self and big camera lol...

The Preparation went smoothly, excluding the panick attack where no-one could locate the Veil. I can safely say this was probably the most awkward moment in my Photography life as the thought that ran through my head was this "They're upset, so I shouldn't snap a picture of them being unhappy" but then I did also think "It was a memory of the day... so maybe???" lol... I think after they had found the Veil, and that everything went well afterwards, Michelle would've probably liked a few shots from that moment to look back and laugh... But nonetheless, I don't think that's a memory she'll forget very quickly lol...

It didn't rain as much as I thought it was going too, as it did rain quite heavily in the morning, however throughout the day it seemed to have cleared up, and casually spitting.

The rain forced the group Wedding Photos inside, which was still ok as the venue itself was lovely.

The rain stopped just long enough for us to snatch a few shots of the Bride and Groom outside. Jeff was a gentleman and held Michelle's dress for her as she walked around the outside. Seeing as the grounds were wet, it would've made her dress very dirty... But I just love this shot! I wish I caught it a split second earlier so I could've gotten Michelle in the shot also, but the main focus of this shot was Jeff anyway and still conveys the same memory of the day lol... Hopefully Jeff will treasure this memory lol...

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO100, 1/1250sec

After the dinner they moved onto the speeches, and I have heard some funny speeches in my time, but my god did the Best Man make it hard for me to aim the camera lol... He definitely did a great job at his speech as there was plenty of laughter and smiles.

D800 + 70-200mm @ f/2.8, ISO2000, 1/50sec

This is what I love about Wedding Photography, is capturing real emotions. The smiles on both Michelle & Jeff speak a thousand words, and hopefully the Best Man sent them a copy of the speech also so they can actually remember those words which made them smile so much...

The first dance surprised me... It began with the couple dancing together, then the DJ Scratched the track and Jeff's Daughter came out lookin' all hip hop with a New Era LA Lakers Hat!

I was standing where the guests were standing at first, capturing it from their perspective, however I moved around behind the couple to get the shot where you can see the couple dancing, and all the guests watching, however it was at this point where the music switched and now there's a second part to the performance where it was very energetic! Unfortunately I wasn't aware of this part of the performance, as I'm sure the Bride and Groom wanted it to be a surprise for everyone...

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, ISO3200, 1/60sec

I had to sneak from the back to the front...

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, ISO3200, 1/60sec

Jeff's daughter was a super star! Throughout the day she had a warm welcoming smile on her face, and then she rocked the show on their first dance!

All-in-all, it was a great day...

Sincerely wishing both Michelle & Jeff all the happiness, and have a great Honeymoon...

www.leophoto.co.uk
www.facebook.com/leophoto.co.uk
@LeoHoangPhoto

Quick Edit

A fellow Photographer friend whom I met through Dom Bower's Photography Group on Facebook sent me a D700 RAW file.

I wanted to see a RAW from a D700, he wanted to see one from the D800, so we exchanged RAWs, just to see what they're like.

Yes! It's a very geeky thing to do... but I don't care lol...

Thought I'd give it a quick edit... it's weird, I needed a break from editing my most recent Wedding Shoot, and I decide to do what? Edit another picture :S...

D700 + 80-200mm f/2.8 @ f/3.5, ISO100, 1/250sec

This is the shot straight out of the camera.

It's weird editing an image which is not shot by you, as before you click the shutter button, you generally have an idea of what you're looking to achieve, unless it's an event shot which you catch emotions on the fly.

But for a setup shot like this, Danny Yau, the Photographer, obviously had a theme in mind and a final goal for his image.

Where his vision for this image will differ to mine, my vision for this image lead me to this edit...

I was tempted to kill the ambient light and have her on a black background... but if I did it via lightroom it would look too fake I feel... I would need to properly take this into Photoshop to remove her from this setting... But I think it's fine how it is...

I decreased the exposure on the right hand side of her face, smoothened out her skin a bit, and removed a few blemishes. I then warmed up the image by adjusting the White Balance and added Clarity and a touch of Saturation to her hair...

Be sure to check out Danny Yau's work at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150800663555935&set=a.461106570934.269641.612320934&type=1&ref=notif&notif_t=photo_reply#!/dannyyauphoto

www.facebook.com/leophoto.co.uk

www.leophoto.co.uk

@LeoHoangPhoto





SLR Lounge

The other day I contacted Pye Jirsa, from SLR Lounge, to ask a question about their educational DVD for editing, as they have released tasters of what they do on YouTube, but I was looking to purchase their educational DVD to develop my editing skills.

Pye Jirsa is one of the photographers at "Lin & Jirsa" and they have produced some amazing work. Without a shadow of a doubt, they are definitely Photographers that I admire and respect.

Since I started shooting, which is just about over a year now (time flies), I have followed and studied various Photographers work.

I began working last year with David Sherjan, he employed me as an assistant/third shooter, and this was a big learning experience for me as it gave me an opportunity to watch an established Wedding Photographer at work. This is where I realised that Photography is so much more than just clicking a button. The amount of things a Wedding Photographer has to think about, I did not even comprehend before shooting that Wedding.

It goes for any type of shooting also, as you have to envision the final shot before pressing that shutter button.

When I began last year, a lot of googling, a lot of YouTubing, and a lot of trial and error...

Through my YouTubing, I discovered SLR Lounge's Channel, and found their website. In fact, the first website that I uploaded, I put together from using their template.

SLR Lounge is a great learning resource for Photography. I felt it was a great resource, not only because of the actual educational material they put out, but because I had seen the quality of the work that they produce for their clients, and it is stunning stuff.

I have regularly kept up to date with the tutorials, reviews and articles that they put out because I highly respect their opinion and style.

So when I mentioned to Pye that one of the videos he released on YouTube inspired me to edit my Hong Kong Peak image like this...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212161605500520.46627.204420089608005&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=378315798879680&set=a.207634122614516.55302.115142505197012&type=1&theater

I was extremely honoured to hear that he liked the shot, and wanted to share it with the rest of the SLR Lounge Community.

The feedback I received from the facebook comments were also very positive, so I am actually feeling very proud of this image at the moment, and now that it has been SLR Lounge "Approved", I'm even more eager to get this printed on a Canvass for my room.

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII

I just shot a Wedding today, and it was the first time I put my latest gear into use.

In the past couple of months I acquired new equipment. I ended up just investing in all the lenses I wanted/needed, and then I bought a new camera to go with the lenses.

I have shot with both the lens, and camera, done a few test shots here and there, but have not yet had the chance to actually put the gear into a real world scenario.

Today was the first day I did that...

The Nikon D800 is an excellent camera... but this BLOG is about the 70-200mm lens more specifically...

I've owned this lens for about a month or two now, and I've found it pretty much unusable on my D7000. Due to the crop factor, the field of view is too tight and I can't really do much unless its a controlled situation.

Currently I consider myself more as an event Photographer, rather than a Portrait Photographer, so the 70-200mm cannot be freely used at an event due to confined spaces.

However, the 70-200 on the D800, it was a beautiful combination. It still was a bit difficult at times, but a lot more manageable than if it were mounted on my D7000.

So today I fully utilised this lens, and my god was I impressed!

I've owned a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8, and I found the AF painfully slow, especially at 200mm. So when the camera cannot find focus, you have to wait for the lens to cycle through all over again to try find it, and it's so slow! The Nikon 70-200 on the otherhand, a lot faster! Teamed up with the D800 also, it was able to AF in dark conditions...

Seriously was blown away by it today... So much so, that it's now 11:30pm, I've been up since 6:30am, shooting all day, and I'm having to BLOG about this lens as I'm that excited by it.

The thing that blew me away so much with this lens was the VR (Vibration Reduction).

Only two of my Nikon lenses have VR, and that's my 105mm f/2.8 Micro, and the 70-200mm. All my other lenses don't have this feature.

This feature allowed me to shoot in low-light tonight.

I wasn't keen on using Flash, as it just flattens everything out. It doesn't look as if our eyes would see it, so I avoid using it unless I have too.

With the 70-200mm, I managed to goto ISO2500, shoot at 200mm, at 1/30sec. That's a really slow shutter for that focal length, but from what I can see, I'm still getting sharp, in focus images, with no visible hand shake. As I was at 1/30sec, at times I'd get blur from the subject moving, but not so much from my hands shaking holding that lens...

I thought I'd just add a picture of the lens lol... just for the hell of it...

One complaint with this lens though is its hefty weight!

I wanted to stand at a point where the guests were seated, so get the guests perspective of the speeches, and I had my camera ready, aimed at the Bride, waiting to see laughter to capture, and the joke was taking some time to get to the punchline, and my arm was beginning to ache! lol... To pick up the lens and put it down, you know it's heavier than the average... to hold up to your face for a few seconds, you begin to get tired...

So tired to the point my hands were shaking immensely as I tried to pick up a drink to my mouth...

But! I got the shots nonetheless, and the VR really helped me attain some key shots in low light.

I did also shoot with a fairly high ISO, on the premis that it'll handle the noise well, and then when I export the images from 36.3mp down to a reasonable size, the noise will be clean.

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO2000, 1/15sec

As a rule of thumb, you should shoot slower than your focal length. So if I'm shooting at 200mm, I should be at a minimum of 1/200sec. ISO2000 usually you get some grain... But this file exported at 1000px looks very clean to me. I'm sure zoomed in 1:1 on the full res file, you'll see noise, but I'm úber impressed with this ISO performance.

I'm even more impressed with the slow Shutter Speed I was able to shoot at with this lens.

To put it into perspective...

1/200sec down to 1/100sec is one stop of light...

So to do the math...

1/200sec @ ISO16,000

1/100sec @ ISO8000

1/50sec @ ISO4000

1/25sec @ ISO2000

I'm not even entirely sure if you can select ISO16,000. It goes up in different increments on my camera. But the principle is you half the sec, you double the ISO... The more ISO, the more image noise...

The average DSLR struggles above ISO1000... So for my camera to produce a clean file at ISO2000 is impressive in itself, but the lenses VR function to allow me to shoot at 1/15sec is even more impressive to me. It prevented me from pushing the ISO up further than I have too... That is why I'm so stunned by todays shoot!

The above image is unedited, imported RAW, and exported un-touched in Lightroom 4. It's not the best composition, as the face is smack bam centre. This type of shot is known as a sniper shot as it's overly centralised. However to me, it was more important to capture the facial expression than worry too much about anything else.

The Centre Focus point is always the most accurate, and quickest. I personally like this shot as it is. There's a great natural smile, caught in a candid moment. There is some light bouncing off a lamp on the lower right handside, which is slightly distracting, but for me, the smile takes prescendent over that.... The extra headroom allows to display nice separation from the subject, and has lovely Bokeh from the 200mm f/2.8.

I did a quick colour correction on this image. I think on the final edit I'll pull back slightly on the clarity, but I just wanted to do some Noise Reduction. I used Lightroom to perform Noise Reduction at 25, and it seemed to completely rid the image of any grain.

Just showing how usable ISO2000 is, and I wouldn't have been able to get this shot, this clean, without my new gear.

D800, credit is due for the AF in low-light and ISO performance.
Lens, credit is due for Focal Length and VR...

If I used any other lens I owned, I would have to walk in closer, which might cause some attention and the guest would have lost this smile, or I would have to shoot and crop a lot later...

Just pretty amp'd about todays shoot, and some of the shots I achieved with the new gear.

I will be editing and uploading the rest of the pics soon.

Might have to BLOG about the D800 itself... I'll save that for another... but this lens, again, seriously! The VR is amazing!

Hong Kong Peak - Edited

I went to Hong Kong to join my family on holiday, but I've always had the intention of going there for the Hong Kong Peak..

Famous site which MANY people have taken photos of already, however as I a photographer, I wanted my own shot done by me.

The first night in Hong Kong was pretty clear weather, however me and my family were not keen on venturing out after a long flight, so we just rested. The second day it was mildly foggy, and I took a few shots from various parts the viewing area for the Peak, basically wherever I could squeeze in as it was crazy busy.

My travel Tripod was not tall enough to reach over the railing, so I could not do a long exposure. Also, it would've been really difficult to get a Tripod in close to the edge with the amount of people that were around.

I had to kick up the ISO higher than I would have liked, as this image I want to print so I wanted the cleanest file possible. However most DSLR's can have a pretty clean file at ISO800, which is what I shot it at.

As I'm shooting a fairly wide angle, I could have a slower shutter to bring in more light, although a Tripod would've been ideal. Rested on the edge of the ledge, I managed to get a steady 1sec shot.

As I'm not after a shallow depth of field and wanted to make sure I got a sharp image, I would've ideally liked to have had the aperture between f/7.1-f/9. But to allow light, I had to open up a bit more to f/5.6.

Nikon D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ ISO800, 1sec, f/5.6

Conditions were not ideal, as before, it was foggy, very crowded, and no tripod, so this shot above is straight out of the camera.

All I mainly cared for was a sharp image, as I knew the 36.3mp would give me some room to crop and re-compose later, and get a decent base Exposure as a lot can be recovered when shooting RAW.

As you can see, the grassy areas around the bottom corners of the image are very under exposed. There was absolutely no light shining directly on there. Light could've been pulled out of those areas if I had a tripod and just left it as a long exposure to drag out the Greens. However, as before, tough conditions to shoot in. I had people literally queing up behind me to get this view, impatient people slightly barging me... so I couldn't leave the shot open for more than 1sec...

In addition, if I pulled the Greens from the Trees, the building lights would completely be blown out, that's the issue with Dynamic Range in most cameras.

The weather was pretty foggy, creating that white mist up in the sky of the image, and it was emphasised further by the lights off the building.

Where this image is acceptable as a holiday snap, I really wanted something that would pop off the screen and get some attention. Seeing as the intention was to print it on a canvass for my wall.

I went back to the Peak the next day to re-take the shot, but this time when I re-take the shots, I wanted to Bracket the images. I wanted to Bracket the images with 3 exposures, + and - 1stop to then merge together as an HDR image.

I'm generally not a big fan of HDR for certain shots, nor am I any good at creating a good HDR image, so I was apprehensive with making it a HDR. However, as you can see above, from the darks to the lights, the balance is off.

I went back the next day, took the shots, and then come back to my laptop to find that my Photoshop CS5.1 cannot read the RAW files from my new D800. :S

To get the best out of a RAW file, you must merge RAW files. I then had to open them up in Lightroom, Export them as JPGs, and from the JPGs I made a HDR image.

As before, not the best at making HDR images, but the result is below.

There is a better balance, but the image just looks artificial.

This was also a quick edit on a slow laptop, but I got the idea of what the final outcome would look like, so I thought it's best to just use a file and edit via Lightroom.

I then took the image from the first night into Lightroom, and colour tweaked the image quite a bit. The first night was less foggy, and it was later in the night so more lights were on in the buildings.

Nikon D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ ISO800, 1sec, f/5.6

With the building lights being white, and the road lights being tungsten lighting, the cameras AutoWB made the image very orange. I had seen a video from the guys at SLR Lounge, and their video inspired me to edit the image this way.

I cooled down the image to give it a more real look, to how our eyes would see. I then took it down a more and cooled it further to give it a dark Blue sky. Added a lot of Clarity to emphasise the edges of the buildings, and increased the exposure on the two bottom corners. I still wanted to leave it dark, as when you look from the Peak, it is still dark, I just wanted to make it obvious it was trees rather than two black areas on the image.

I have also cropped the image to change its Ratio. It's a fairly wide City Scape, and do to a Panoramic, I would definitely need a Tripod. So I cropped down the top and bottom to give focus to the centre of the image, and went down to 16x9 (as I might have this as my PS3 Wallpaper), and 16x10 for my PC Monitor.

Most likely I'll keep the 16x9 Crop for the Canvass also, but I'll have to see what sizes are on order or if its fully customisable.

If anyone who reads this knows a good place to print Canvasses, please do give me a shout! ;)

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Equipment Choices... Part 1

For the past year I have been shooting DX... started off with a borrowed D90 for the first 2months with a 18-105mm kit lens... Then moved onto a D7000 with a 50mm f1.4... and since then, I've accumulated lenses... I went onto a 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 and this lens taught me a valuable lesson and what variable aperture was...

At this point I knew the lowest Aperture Number = more blur in the background. Then when shooting the lens, I discovered at the long end, with a maximum aperture of, f/5.6 hardly any light was being let through...

I then went onto selling this lens and needed a constant f2.8... Could not afford any Nikon offering, so I opted for Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8... HATED the sound of the AF-Motor and paid an extra £100 to get the Sigma equivalent which had a more pleasing AF Sound... however, occassionally I'd have issues where the camera wouldn't fire, and then I would have to turn off and on the camera... no big problem, but something that obviously shouldn't occur and had never happened with any other lens, and to this day, it has never happened with any other lens other than my Sigma 17-50mm...

I then opted for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 Macro, and I just found all the images incredibly soft around the edges of the subject when shooting at f/2.8. With it also not being the most ideal focal range on a DX Body, I ended up selling the Sigma 70-200mm and opted for a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro...

With this Macro lens I then discovered focal distance greatly affects DOF as well as a wide open Aperture.

I then upgraded my 17-50mm Sigma to a 24-70mm Nikon f/2.8. Then snowballed onto a Nikon 14-24mm and 70-200mm f/2.8...

Now I own all the lenses I would like, exc. 85mm f/1.4 which is not a neccessity for me considering I own the 70-200mm f/2.8. Each lens that I purchased has it's purpose... and it's not neccessarily for Zoom range, but more for Perspective.

I will soon be writing up a full BLOG on my perception and preference of Lens Perspectives...

However this BLOG is more to do with my lens choices and why I opted for FX over DX...

I began shooting DX last year March/April with a borrowed Nikon D90. I borrowed it from my uncle as he suspected I would grow bored of Photography and it was his way of making sure that if I do purchase a DSLR, I definitely know I want one... Heartbroken that I had to give back the D90, I ended up buying a D7000 body only... Chosen as it had gotten a lot of press as the D90 successor, and ISO performance out classing the more Professional choice that is the D300s...

With no lens I chose the 50mm first as I just saw a low f-number meaning very shallow DOF. That's as far as I thought in regards to my choice...

As described above, I went through a few lenses... and looking at my collection of lenses I owned, all the lenses that I bought and kept were Nikon FX lenses. Any lenses sold or exchanged were either 3rd Party Makes or DX...

As these were FX lenses, shooting on a D7000, I always envisioned I'm losing the edges of an image... and that due to the crop, there's aspects of the image that I'm losing out on...

One of my previous BLOG's explains why I suddenly bought a D800 out of impulse, however the D800 was within my sights before it even got announced.

D700 is the entry level FX Body, and I knew D800 would come as the successor and just assumed it's the newer one to the D700, so it must be better... so I constantly read up on it, rumours and everything... when it got released, I knew I definitely wanted it, but with lack of stock and increasing prices, it proved impossible to get...

Nearly opted for a used D700 to satisfy the FX craving... never did, but as far as I'm concerned, I am happy I did make the leap to FX...

Not only because I jumped to FX, but because I managed to buy the camera I had been perving on for the past few months...

To illustrate a benefit of FX over DX... I have taken some shots for comparison...

First to explain, they say 50mm is equivalent to what our eye sees, and matches our eyes perspective... That's why it's such a popular lens... 50mm is very difficult to use on a DX Body, but not impossible, however to get an equivalent field of view on a DX, you'd have to opt for the 35mm f/1.8 to get the same field of view.

However, as focal length is a factor with Bokeh, at 35mm you lose a little Bokeh.

As illustrated below...

Nikon D800 w/50mm f/1.4 @ f.1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec

Nikon D7000 w/35mm f/1,8 @ f1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec

As you can see with the above image from the D800, you get a shallower DOF with the same settings. This is becase of the focal length playing its part in the DOF...

Where you get the same field of view, you do get more Bokeh from the shot on an FX Body...

I will also add that on a DX Body, it seems like you can focus in closer...

Nikon D7000 w/50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec (focused as close as possible)

When I only had DX, I always imagined more around this frame, have more Bokeh viewable with the top of the can also...

However, when on FX with 50mm, the closest I managed to focus in and shoot with these settings, the frame looked like the below image

Nikon D800 w/50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec (focused as close as possible)

If you crop the D800 image to the same field of view as the D7000, you do get very similar Bokeh, although it does seem as if you can get in a little tighter to the subject on a DX Body, which gives a bit more Bokeh due to Focal Distance...

The last two images I will be comparing were both shot on Nikon D7000 at f/1.8, ISO1600 and 1/60sec... However it was the lens that was changed... Composed to the same frame, when 50mm was mounted I had to move the camera further back.

It seems as if you get a bit more better Bokeh with the 50mm, and a lot more compression. Flicking back and forth between the images, the background on the 50mm shots seems to move closer to the subject compared to the 35mm shot.

Nikon D7000 w/35mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec

Nikon D7000 w/50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO1600, 1/60sec

Obviously with the 50mm, I had to recompose and move back to gain same field of view. In terms of image, I do prefer the 50mm as the DOF is shallower with more compression. The 35mm seems to look more distorted around the top of the can...

However the drawback of using the 50mm is the focal distance where to gain the same field of view as the 35mm, you have to step a fair distance back, which sometimes is not always convenient...

In an ideal world, I would like to keep the 35mm f/1.8 and use on the D7000 as a walk around lens, although since I'm mainly an FX shooter, I can't justify keeping hold of it seeing as the 50mm is f/1.4 and can have the manageable field of view on the FX Body...

With this Field of View, and DOF issue when comparing DX to FX, this is partly one of the reasons why I went FX...

In conclusion, DX has it's benefits as you can focus in tighter, which did give the image that tiny bit more Bokeh... Although the Field of View of an FX Sensor just works out so much better for me.

For what I shoot, FX is definitely better for me... There is definitely a difference with Field of View, Perspective, and Depth of Field.

So to anyone who's considering the jump to FX from a DX (as you can tell I'm a Nikon Shooter by not saying APS-C or anything lol, plus it's easier to type), I would say go for it...

I would also add that you should only really jump to FX from DX if you do have the excess money to spend on it, or if you are earning from your Photography work.

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Last Day in Thailand

I haven't Blogged throughout my journey here in Thailand... Purely because the WiFi wasn't available in my Hotel Room... I had to be in the Hotel Lobby to use the public WiFi and it gets a bit crowded and I get uncomfortable...

I'm Blogging now because I have 40min to kill before I hop in a Taxi to goto the airport... and just now some old man sat down next to me, and decided to take off his shoes and socks, then crossed his legs so his right foot is now dangerously close to my knee! I waited a few mins and pretended I finished and walked off and now sitting in another location... didn't wanna be rude, but I have a phobia of feet lol...

Anywayz, this is a Photography BLOG usually :S lol...

My time here in Thailand was an interesting one... it's not something that I really had on the agenda, just thought "Why not" as it was only £200 more overall, and I'm on this side of the world, so may as well make more use of it...

Didn't really know what Thailand had to offer in terms of Photography experience, and in truth, there isn't much for me.

It's definitely a place for an experience, rather than visual... if that makes any sense?

To clarify, I'm in Bangkok... From what everyone tells me in Bangkok, I'm basically in the centre...

Shopping is cheap, Massages are cheap (and painful :'( lol) and food is available... not keen on the food here tbh... I ate everything with fear as anything I ate it gave me a funny feeling in my stomach and didn't taste 'fresh'...

In saying that, I just ate in some Japanese Style Restaurant in Terminal 21 Shopping Centre and the food did not look nice, but tasted great...

In terms of Photography though, there wasn't much for me here in Thailand... I wanted to take some shots of the Grand Palace Temple but I was told by the Taxi Driver that there was a death of someone of importance which forced the Temple to close as they're hosting the funeral and cremation there...

So I missed out on seeing that.. Would've been nice to have seen it, although as I didn't set out to go see it, I'm ok to let that slip by...

Otherwise it's General Street Photography style shooting with people in the markets and so forth.

Two shots that I really like from this holiday are from the Floating Market... Warning to anyone who goes to the Floating Market, expect to pay roughly £20 a head to get on... that is super expensive by Thailand standards, but it's about right for UK rates... They wouldn't negotiate on the rate as they knew they had us... We travelled 1hr30min by Taxi to get there, and we were hardly just going to turn back now... It was a relaxing boat ride along the river and seeing the sites...

Well, it was relaxing when you're not listening to the bargaining and haggling happening all around you... I wouldn't suggest you buy too much from the Floating Market as it's pretty pricy compared to any other market... I would average the prices at least 20% higher than a standard Market...

Anyway, the first image that I really like from that day is of an old lady rowing a boat... We were heading straight on the river and I just so happened to peak left and caught a glimpse of this site. Quickly pulled the camera up and shot....

Nikon D7000 with 35mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, ISO200, 1/5000sec

The shot had been cropped a bit to re-align the shot, as it was one of those very quick moments...

In hindsight, I should've increased to f2.5-3.5, as the main subject was a touch too soft for my liking. With a little Clarity added I think it's ok now...

Edited with a Vintage feel... it's very Cliché to edit an image like this with a Vintage style, but it really does suit...

The second shot I liked from the day was a trail of Coconuts...

Nikon D7000 with 35mm f/1.8@ f/1.8, ISO100, 1/2500sec

Focussed was missed... as I would've preferred the main focus on the front or second to front Coconut and have the rest fade off in the background... However again, it was a last min spot and off the side of the boat, so I was 'shooting from the hip' as they say... although it wasn't from my hip :S

Basically I couldn't see through the viewfinder to compose the shot lol...

I missed another Photography Opportunity right before this as there was an old woman walking in the River pulling these Coconuts along... I missed the shot as I was recording video and had the camera in Manual Focus and when I saw the chance to shoot, I forgot to switch back into AF Mode and I got the shot, but was WAY out of focus...

Nevermind... another opportunity presented it self later that day, however it was with a man dressed like a Ninja... Not quite the same feel, but that shot got attained lol...

Looking forward to arriving back on UK Soil... I would say I'm feeling slightly home sick... Mainly because I miss home food! I also feel like I need to get back to work...

A few things I need to get on with... I need to finish editing Lisa William's Portraits, my friend Alvin Ossai's Power Lifting Competition, and edit all these holiday pictures. Would prefer to do it on a proper PC with a bit more power and bigger screen...

I've also had an idea for an article to write regarding my lenses...

There is a lot of stigma about "Shoot with what you have", "You can get any shot with any gear" etc... "Zoom with your feet"... "The best camera is the one you have with you"... Where all these sayings have truth to them, there is the other side to it that no-one really discusses which I would like to address...

Not that I'm encouraging people to break their banks to get the stuff, but quality equipment does produce quality images... But of course, yes, great images can be captured on lower-end gear...

I also have a BLOG to complete regarding D7000 to D800 transition... Definitely a good move for me...

D7000 was taken around in Thailand as it wasn't important shots I needed to attain, so D7000 and 35mm suited me fine as a walk around...

Those BLOGS coming soon....

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BLOG 2012-04-05

Today was the final full day in Hong Kong… The plan was to go to Macau as we had done a fair bit of shopping and I had gotten the key shots I was after… In an ideal world, I would’ve liked to have had more time shooting the architecture here at night as it’s simply mind blowing… However the first night I was too exhausted from shopping around in the Markets, and the second day was too Foggy… Today we was in Macau, and by the time we got back, it was fairly late, and was absolutely chucking it down with Rain… Seeing as London has had a bit of a drought, I haven’t seen rain like that in a long time!

So I have attained some shots I wanted, however the conditions were not ideal… Maybe in the near future I can come out for a quick visit with better weather to get the Hong Kong Peak shot once again, IFC Building and Bank of China… if I do manage to come back I’ll also head over to Kowloon and shoot across the waters to Hong Kong City, and get that shot…

In Macau, we went to MGM Casino… Amazing building inside… I just did high ISO hand held shots and got some good results… Then security asked me to stop taking pictures so I had to stop… But the Casino was like palace and I would’ve loved to have got it from more angles and in more rooms…

Outside the casino, we went around Macau and it was pretty good visually, but once you have seen Hong Kong City, everything else seems a bit poo…

Macau is bloody expensive btw, if anyone who reads this is planning on going… Hong Kong seems to be on par with London… I found some purchases I made either £1-2 above or below UK prices, so it kinda balanced out… But Macau on the other hand, everything was more… I wanted to get a CF 

Card for my new D800 but couldn’t because

Amazon.co.uk = £48

Hong Kong = £55 ($680)

Macau = £80 ($990)

So I didn’t make that purchase… Got left over HK Dollars I might either change back to £, or spend stupidly in the airport and on the way to the airport… Hopefully I can find some Camera stuff... or treat the family to a slap up meal…

I’ve noticed since getting the D800, I’ve been more selective with my shots… Two reasons, one, I’m trying to keep Shutter actuations down… In the past year I clocked up 25k on my D7000, as I did a lot of shooting for practice and a few events… not only that, holiday and family photos… so it went through a lot in a year…

Second reason is that the RAWs are so much bigger… So I have half the available shots with the memory cards I own. Selective shooting is pretty good though… Less pics to file through later and less to edit…

I did a shot with the H.02 ISO Setting… a comment from a member of the Dom Bower Photography Facebook Group requested a high ISO test… Figured I’d give it a go… On the back of the screen it looks pretty clean… but that’s the back of the screen…

On the computer, with the RAW exported to 1000px, the image seems pretty good to me… You can tell it’s a high ISO shot and slight loss of detail, but it’s definitely acceptable for a holiday shot. I probably wouldn’t be submitting it for a professional shot…

I do plan on doing a head-to-head ISO test against D7000 with a controlled lighting situation, as for all I know the ISO on D7000 could’ve handled this shot just as well, you can never really tell until you see direct comparisons as Image Noise is more apparent in really dark conditions, whereas this shot did have a street lamp which provided some illumination…

It’s crazy how far you can zoom into these images and see little details… I didn’t even realise there was someone in the distance… I thought it was an empty alley way…

Tomorrow I’ll be off to Thailand, NO idea what kind of shots I can get from there as I no nothing about Thailand…

It’s going to be interesting…

Hong Kong Peak Part II

I decided to go back to the Hong Kong Peak, only to find an immense fog!

I was hoping to catch the Hong Kong Peak in the daytime, and with the period of time where the Sky is going dark, but not complete Black just yet. Usually you get a Dark Blue period, and was hoping that would give the image more punch.

Unfortunately, the weather was terrible. Foggy like crazy, and freezing cold...

I braved the weather and took the shots anyway...

Stood up there at the Peak for 2hrs waiting for the Light to drop, then fought my way through the crowd and probably upset a few people in the process... and then snatched the shot. With no Tripod, I had to hold the camera tight, on the railing... I bracketed the shots with 3 Exposures, incase  I wanted to try HDR as I did find the Grass areas on the bottom corners too dark and too distracting...

My first attempt at HDR wasn't too bad... but it was a quick try... I will do properly when I'm back by my proper computer with proper editing power... waiting for this laptop to render each change is ridiculous!

With HDR, you always get a dirty vibe from the image... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... this I feel is undecided...

My biggest peeve with this shot is the misty white sky, but that's due to the epic fog...

I brought the Whites down as much as I could, and brought the Highlights down via Lightroom 4... It's probably worth mentioning the HDR was Merged with Photoshop CS5.1... Which currently doesn't support D800 RAW...

So I did these via the JPGs exported from Lightroom...

I'm sure a Better Result can be attained, maybe even if I tweak the JPGs before merging...

But I feel this edit shows good promise!

My main intention for flying to HK was to get this shot... so I will be working hard on it! My intention was to print it and mount on my wall... I would like to have more of my shots as Canvasses around my walls... This will be my first, if I can get it right...

If not, I think I might have to fly back later this year specifically for this shot and just hope the weather is clear...

I also broke away from my family today... They wanted to go shopping, and I wanted to go shooting... So with different intentions, we did our own thing...

Flew solo and depended on Taxi's... Taxi's are pretty cheap here in HK compared to London... so I didn't mind paying... Taxi's keeping me mobile around HK totalled to about £17 once currency was converted... That's to the City Plaza, HK Peak, IFC Building and back to the hotel... not bad in my opinion... in London that £17 is one Cab ride around the corner!

Plus, I'm lugging around camera gear and not familiar with the Metro system, and only here for a shot period of time, not much point trying to learn right now in my opinion. Keep it as easy as poss...

I wanted to snatch a shot of the building that Batman jumped off in, in the infamous Dark Knight!

Unfortunately there was all this Construction work going on around below the frame... Hence why I cropped it slightly higher from the Road... I think the image would've been stronger with some Car Lights streaking across the bottom, but with the horrid looking construction Zone, I had to crop it out...

Hong Kong is an amazing place to shoot... My style began with long exposures at night, and Hong Kong is like heaven for me with this...

Although in the daytime, around the Market Places, it's just as amazing... I can't explain it, and you won't know until you get here... it's just interesting to look around and shoot... I've seen shots of HK before, and seen Street Photographers go around here, and I completely understand why... It feels like there's never a dull moment...

I have more shots to go through... I will sort them out when I'm back in the UK and upload to my FB Page as always...

I should really use FlickR, 500px, or Tumblr... but FB Page seems more convenient, even though their compression system sucks!

In regards to the D800, it's performing very well... the above shot of the IFC Building was done hand held... ISO Performance is very good... Clean files are coming out of it...

Zoomed in 1:1 will probably reveal just as much noise as my D7000, but then when you resize the image to 1000px wide/high, it more or less makes the noise invisible...

I wouldn't send the file for Print I don't think, but def good for screen...

A more in-depth review of the D800 is to come...

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