Sunset at Manila Bay

 Sunset at Manila Bay. There's really no other sunset more beautiful than here in Manila Bay. I had another chance to capture it's magic again yesterday after a funshoot with my model friends in Intramuros and Roxas Blvd. I thought I would never see the sun setting because the whole afternoon was gloomy and cloudy , but it did made a brief appearance just before vanishing from the horizon. 

As soon as I saw the sky changing colors, I stopped my model shoot and quickly set my ever dependable mini tripod and uwa lens for long exposures. Later, I was joined by my model, Lee Ann, in taking snaps of the sunset with her LG digital camera. The sky was still cloudy and full of city smug, but there are enough colors during the after glow.

 

I only had few minutes to shoot the sunset, but it was more than enough to cap my day fruitfully yesterday. A fitting finale for a day's captures. I know I'll be back here soon, to wait for a more glorious summer sunset...without the smugs.



 

Photography Tips of The Week #4

BETTER COMPOSITION & FRAMING

PART 1 : RULE OF THIRDS

Just like any other form of visual arts like painting, architecture and even on film, photography also rely on a good composition or framing to better translate the thoughts of the author into the minds of the viewer or spectator. Composition in photography is a very broad subject, but nonetheless, still follows the same methods or rules as in any art to achieve a better quality. Elements such as light & shadows, colors, textures, shapes & forms, and even dimensions help us to create a better composition for our photographs.

 

Composition is the combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole. In photography that thought is very important in taking good pictures. The following guidelines are just to be thought about though, it is not necessary to try to use them with every picture you take or there wouldn't be any creativity in your work. Once you learn these rules and strategies you will be more prepared to find great picture spots and opportunities.

Framing is the tactic of using natural surroundings to add more meaning to your subject. It could be anything such as bushes, trees, a window, or even a drift wood like in the picture above. In the process of doing this you need to be careful that you don't only focus on what's framing your subject. Make sure you focus on the main subject, and also it is a good idea to use a narrow aperture (high f/stop) to achieve a high depth-of-field. It also wouldn't hurt if the part of the picture framing the subject was darker or lighter so make sure you take your light reading on the main subject.

For years, photographers followed and created a number of rules or ideals in their composition. Below are few samples of those rules. There would be a lot of interpretations by different photographers on each of these rules.  So it would still be best just to gather all versions that you can, and then derive from them your own.

Here are from my own thoughts and works… 

THE RULE OF THIRDS

The Rule of Thirds has been used for centuries and is probably the most important of all the composition techniques. The Rule of Thirds means that the frame can be divided into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections and therefore, where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect makes an ideal location for the more important parts of your picture. By locating your main subject at one of the four intersections you give the subject more emphasis than if it was right smack in the middle of the picture. This is also a good technique if you have more than one important subject, the intersections can still work even if there's a subject or more than one. The divisions can also be helpful in setting up a picture, they can for example, help you determine how much horizon you want. Most famous photographs or paintings in the world today have the rule of thirds applied to them in some way.

As I have explained on my the workshops, the reason for having this rule is not just because of the positioning of your subject, but mostly on how the eye of the viewer should be directed in the photograph. There must be a single directionality for the flow.

It is you that should command that flow, in the way you would want the viewer’s eyes to travel along your image, and the way you would want to narrate your story.

Poetry in Nature

Poetry in Nature. I have always been fascinated by the magical world of macro photography. As if looking into another realm of fantasy. While learning my craft in this genre, I discovered another facet of nature amidst its simplicity... the drama of shapes, the harmony of colors, and its magical connection with sunlight. I found the Poetry in Nature.

Since then, I always try to capture a different view of the little things that we see in nature. The changing colors, the varying textures, the abstract of life itself on a minuscule scale. Far from the ordinary photographs of flowers or insects, capturing the poetry of nature is more on understanding its essence and the relation to one another. Seeing them in a different view, not merely as subjects, but works or arts waiting to be painted in your canvas.

Last Monday, I was supposed to have a meeting with a new client, but was canceled due to his health. Instead of going back home, I decided to look for a place to shoot, since I already have my gears with me. With the sun getting low... and with Manila Bay taking more than an hour to reach, I opted to visit my friends again in wildlife (NAPWC) for a macro shoot. But to my dismay, not a single flower or butterflies in sight! Not even tiny insects to greet my macro lens!!! We'll of course, mosquitoes and flies are more than eager to welcome me. 

I just don't understand how a Nature Park could not have any single flower, and it's been raining for the past days. Anyway, It didn't dampen my spirit... (or just a tiny bit ^_^)  I just went ahead and scower the place as I normally do. Looking like a fool, bending here and there, with nose down in the grasses.

Thank Heavens for the leaves and wild grasses, I didn't come home empty handed. But rather quite happy with my finds. They may not be what I expected, but they are rather exquisite, bathed in the setting sun.

After awhile, I did find some small insects nesting on leaves. Though they're not as interesting to me as a butterfly or a bee, still, I manage to get some decent shots out of them.

As the light were getting low and the clouds were getting darker, I decided it was time to head home. But on my way back, I spotted a tiny flower hidden behind the leaves of a fallen tree. I don't know what kind of flowering tree it was, but am sure was grateful to have met him. It was dangling from a branch and not really visible from the path, so I guess, Lady Luck must have smiled at me.

Now my friends are complete!... it was time to go home and get ready for a brief exercise. (It's just a walking distance from wildlife to my place in Matalino St.) I may have wasted a small amount of time and taxi fare going to a canceled appointment, but I did have a great time visiting old friends in Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center. 


 

Photography Tips of The Week #3

UNDERSTANDING YOUR LENS

I have promised somebody that I would give tips for shooting landscapes this week. But I just thought that, maybe, it would be better to start with the basics and fundamentals before venturing into the major topics. In this way, other beginners in photography might understand better and will be more prepared. Landscape Photography is very complex and it's going to be a very long topic, so let's just take it slow. I think it would be best to identify first the different tools and gears needed for this type of photography, and understand their uses and benefits.

I found this article in www.dpmag.com by William Sawalich regarding focal lengths, and decided to start with it. I will just make some minor adjustments to make it simpler and more comprehensible. The original article is very technical for laymen and beginners in photography.

Focal Lengths. Camera lenses can be broken down into three (3) broad groups: Wide Angle, Standard (normal) and Long-focus (telephoto). Focal lengths assigned to each lens group is dictated by the camera Format (film,or sensors in digital). The Focal Length of the lens is the measurement in millimeters of the distance from the optical center of a lens to the point at which its image is focused (located on the sensor or film if the subject, at infinity, is "in focus"). The camera lens projects part of the scene onto the film or sensor. The field of view (FOV) is determined by the angle of view from the lens out to the scene and can be measured horizontally or vertically. Larger sensors or films have wider FOVs and can capture more of the scene (see full frame and cropped sensors below). The longer the distance, the longer the lens (telephoto).The shorter that distance, the shorter its focal length, thus the lens (wide angle). 

The focal length of standard lens is approximately equal to the length of the diagonal of the format's image size. For a 35mm film camera, the diagonal of the negative size measures 50mm, so a lens with 50-55mm focal length is considered standard, and an 80mm lens is a moderate telephoto. However, the diagonal of a 6x6cm negative measures approximately 80mm, so an 80mm lens is a standard in a medium-format camera. As the dimensions of the sensors used by digital cameras varies so much from model to model, the focal length is usually quoted as if for the 35mm film format.




A full-frame digital sensor is equivalent in size to a 35mm film frame, making this the standard focal length baseline that today’s lenses are measured against. A cropped sensor, 1.6 or 1.5, have smaller digital sensor and thus, smaller formats. You need to be aware that the focal lengths expressed on the lenses must be multiplied by a factor. That factor, the Focal Length Multiplier, depends on the image sensor size used (cropped factor). Of course, if the image sensor is full-frame, i.e. it is the same size as 35mm film, then the multiplier is 1, and the focal length of the lens is accurate. However, only a few dSLRs use a full-frame image sensor , with most using a smaller image sensor, usually APS size (or roughly half-frame). 

The effect that a smaller sensor has on a lens of a given focal length is called a crop factor or magnification factor. This is because a smaller sensor produces a similar effect to cropping a larger sensor—effectively magnifying the image.That's why you'll read that a focal length multiplier of, say, 1.6 needs to be applied to the focal length of the lens to obtain the true focal length. For Example, a 10mm wide angle that seems unbelievably short, but in “equivalent” terms, they’re much more akin to more familiar focal lengths, like a 17mm lens that is the equivalent to a 28mm lens in 35mm film format.
So, suppose your dSLR has a Focal Length Multiplier of 1.6 and you use a 50mm lens with it, the actual focal length of the lens when used with your dSLR is 1.6 x 50mm = 80mm. This is both good and bad. The good news is that you can now get super telephoto focal lengths on your dSLR without buying costly and unwieldly dedicated lenses. For example, a 100-300mm zoom lens, with a focal length multiplier of 1.6, becomes approx. 160-480mm. The bad news is, of course, that super wide-angle lenses are equally affected and a 28mm lens becomes a 45mm lens. One solution is to buy a smaller focal length lens which, when factored up by 1.6, becomes equivalent to your desired lens. Say, a 10-22mm wide angle lens in cropped sensor dSLR, becomes 16-35mm in equivalent full frame sensor. A normal wide angle lens best fitted for landscape photography.

Angle of View.Lenses have various classifications based on focal length and the field of view they provide. A wide-angle lens provides a much greater field of view, and is generally considered to be any lens 40mm or shorter (again, in full frame equivalent terms). A normal lens—on a full frame DSLR—is the distinction given to any lens that ranges roughly from 40mm to 65mm or so. These lenses are “normal” because they provide an angle of view that approximates that of the human eye. Telephoto lenses on full-frame cameras usually are lenses longer than 70mm, and they range upwards of 300, 600 and even 1000mm. The longer the telephoto, the narrower the angle of view and the greater the magnifying power it provides. That’s why wildlife and sports photographers so often use 600mm and longer telephotos. Most amateur users, though, tend to top out around 300mm lenses for most uses.



Some lenses are called prime lenses, which means they have a fixed focal length. Other lenses are zoom lenses, so they can be adjusted across a range of focal lengths. Some zooms fit within a particular classification, such as wide-angle zoom, normal zoom or telephoto zoom. Many lenses actually zoom from wide to normal, or normal to telephoto. Extreme zoom lenses actually encompass all these qualities in a single lens—say a wide-angle 30mm lens that can zoom all the way to a 300mm telephoto. These extreme zoom lenses are prized for their portability since they offer such a wide range of focal lengths in a single package. The downside is that some extreme zooms are more prone to vignetting and chromatic aberrations when used with wide apertures and zoomed to the extremes.

Photographers shopping for point-and-shoot or compact cameras often encounter zoom lens descriptors such as 2X, 3X or 10X. This isn’t actually a representation of the precise focal length of a lens, but rather the zoom range that lens covers. A 2X lens, for example, doubles its focal length from its widest to its longest setting—as in a 35-70mm lens. A 3X zoom triples the focal length (like 35-105), and a 10X zoom multiplies it by a whopping factor of ten (as in a 35-350mm lens). The bigger the X factor, the larger the range of focal lengths covered by a lens. Remember though, just because two lenses offer 2X zooms doesn’t mean the lenses have the same focal length. For that, you’ll have to compare actual millimeter measurements in 35mm equivalent terms.

The longer the focal length of a lens, the more difficult that lens will be to handhold. This is true not only because longer lenses tend to be physically longer and heavier than wide-angle lenses, but also because subtle vibrations and camera shakes are amplified dramatically when using a telephoto lens. A good rule of thumb is to use a minimum shutter speed equivalent to the focal length—for example, when handholding a 500mm telephoto lens, be sure to set the shutter speed no slower than 1/500th of a second. The benefit of new lenses today is the extra feature added by the manufacturers dedicated to counter this kind of problem. The Image Stabilizer (IS) of Canon, the Vibration Reduction (VR) by Nikon, Optical Stabilizer (OS) by sigma, and others. They are extra motors inside the lens to counter camera shakes and other vibrations.

Just take note, that, when shooting while the camera is mounted on a tripod, monopod or any other sturdy objects, make sure to turn off the IS/VR modes of your lens to stop it’s motor from moving or reacting. Using a tripod to avoid movements or camera shakes will be of no use if your lens is still vibrating on its own.

Magnification.Some lens designations mean that even though the focal length may be the same, the lens won’t perform the same. A macro lens, for instance, can focus extremely close, allowing for great magnification of small objects and fine details. One 100mm lens may be designated macro, while another is not. You’re bound to pay a premium for the added capabilities, but if making big photos of little objects is important to you, it’s well worth the investment. 

Accessories and Adjustments.Many photographers utilize special devices to change the effective focal length, or at least the performance, of a lens. Teleconverters are popular among wildlife photographers and those who want to double or triple their lens’ focal length (with a 2X or 3X teleconverter) without carrying an additional, and often quite expensive, supertelephoto lens. Extension tubes are a similar device, but rather than changing the lens’ effective focal length they simply change the focusing range—making a lens focus much closer and behave more like a macro lens would. Like macro lenses, extension tubes are used to allow close focusing are ideal for flower photography and other close-up uses.

The downside with both extension tubes and teleconverters is that each requires a sacrifice in available maximum aperture—often as much as two full stops that turn an ƒ/2 lens into an ƒ/5.6. It’s worth it, though, if you’re working at smaller apertures, with flash or if you simply need the close focusing or telephoto extension effect.

Hyperfocal Distance .One great way to maximize the effect of focus and sharpness in your images is by understanding the Hyperfocal Distance of your lens. The hyperfocal distance is basically a point in which your focus and everything from that point to infinity will be sharp. Different lens, either prime or with varying focal lengths, have different corresponding hyperfocal distance. Mastering this can make outstanding landscapes with really sharp image all throughout the frame.

 






















Hyperfocal Focus distance is basically the focus distance for any given camera, lens, and settings that maximizes the apparent focus distance while including infinity at the far end. Normally you carry a table of hyperfocal values with you and just set what it says as focus distance for the lens and aperture settings you're using. Do so and everything from about half the hyperfocal distance to infinity is "in focus." Since a lens can only focus one distance at a time, hyperfocal focus depends upon the blur circle that is created by things in front or behind the focus distance to be small enough that we still detect it as a "point."