Just about Photography

First you can see the result here or in my flickr…..

If you don’t like or don’t wish to know how to edit my bad original photo become like this photo you can skip read this review and close the window. In this review, I will describe the step how to make “normal” original landscape photography become more than normal landscape photography. What you need to edit the image is “program”, in this case I use Adobe Photoshop – you still can use other image processing program although the result maybe a little bit different. Below I will describe it step by step so you can understand how to do it.

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Photographer should be know this problem, dust is a common problem for SLR & DSLR camera, if you don’t know about SLR or DSLR stands for – you need to read this link. Not all photographers know that not all dust will be visible on picture. To explain it, let me categorize three kind of dusts (then you will know what kind of dust that will be visible on the picture) and you will know how to solve it:

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I found this insect – it also known as red hornet – then I grab my camera to shoot it. I don’t have EF 100mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro USM so I only use my lovely EF 35mm f/1.4L USM to take this photo. It’s not easy to take this photo using EF 35mm f/1.4L USM because red hornet is small insect and this lens has limited minimum distance to focus the object. When I go to home, I only see the photo in the left part – for me I am still happy can take that photo – however I am not very satisfied of it. Read the rest of this entry »

This review actually isn’t only for newbie photographer….. but I think newbie must read this review before he choose what camera and lens he needs to buy. I can say most of photographers buy camera without know what the camera is. For example, maybe he knows about EOS 400D or EOS 5d but he doesn’t know what EOS stands for; other example maybe he knows about the difference between EF and EF-S but he doesn’t know what EF or EF-S stands for. So I suggest you to read this link before you choose to buy the camera and lens. The link I give to you is copyrighted by NK Guy, PhotoNotes.org. Enjoy your time to read that link – there are many information you could get.

I use my EF 35mm f/1.4L USM to take three shots with different aperture: f/4, f/2, and f/1.4. As you can see, f/4 and f/2 have big difference (in case of bokeh); f/2 and f/1.4 I can see the difference but it’s not too much. When you want to take portrait photo use EF 35mm f/1.4L USM be careful using wide aperture; for example you use aperture 1.4 with far distance with object – the object maybe blur because the focus area is too small. For myself, I seldom to use f/1.4 to take portrait photo because it’s not easy to hit the focus perfectly and you need to set your position in certain distance – otherwise you don’t get the focus area perfectly (because the focus area is too small). Read the rest of this entry »

Did anyone has experience with this problem? Most of this problem is caused by the contact between the camera and the lens. What should you do to fix it? First, you need to detach the lens and the body, after that you’ll see the contact in the lens and the camera. Second, you need to clean the contact in lens and camera, if you use tissue – use carefully so the tissue part not go inside the camera. Third, you need to attach the camera and lens – hope the 99 error problem will go. If this problem still there, you need to check the lens, flash extender, battery, card. If you change the lens but the problem still there, the lens should be in good condition. Next you try to change the battery or the card but the problem still there, the battery or card should be in good condition. When you change the lens then the problem gone – I can conclude the problem is your lens; same case with battery and card. But if the problem still there – maybe your camera need to be repaired.

This review is important for photographer, especially for photographer who loves night photography or indoor photography. First I must explain about noise, there are 2 types of noise – first is high ISO noise – second is long exposure noise. For night photography most of noise are long exposure noise; I assume you use tripod when capture a moment and use low ISO. Long exposure noise can be reduced by setting custom function (for Canon DSLR), there is a parameter about long exposure noise reduction – you can set this parameter become ON. For night photography, I don’t suggest you to use high ISO because you use tripod so it’s not necessary to use high ISO. Also remember to turn off IS (Image Stabilizer) for lens that has IS function, because use IS with tripod will make image become blur. Example of night photography can be seen here. For Indoor photography most of noise are high ISO noise; you need to capture the moment for example dance performance but the light isn’t sufficient. If you use tripod, it still not solve the problem because the object is move, so you still need the fast shutter speed; otherwise the object will blur (motion blur) – you can see this link to know the major causes of blurry images. IS also can’t solve this problem, the solution is use high ISO or use flash light to increase the shutter speed. Use flash light sometimes will produce not natural color, in order to get natural color I suggest to use high ISO. High ISO always come with noise, so it needs to be reduced. The method to reduce high ISO noise is use photoshop or the other image processing programs; I suggest you use RAW when you take a picture so the detail is still good when you reduce the noise. If you use Jpeg when you take a picture, you will miss some detail in the photo when you reduce the noise.

May 14th, 2008 I went to Tiger Mountain to see Taipei 101 and the city view. I used tokina 12-24mm f/4 attached with EOS Kiss Digital X. You can see more information about tokina 12-24mm f/4 here. I just curious about comparison between these focal lengths: 12mm, 17mm, 24mm; so I make some comparison of these focal lengths. You can see the picture below:

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First to make sure all know about these lenses, you should read these lenses review:

EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, EF 100mm f/2 USM, EF 135mm f/2L USM

After you read the reviews, now you understand that these lenses have similar characteristic. They are fixed lenses and suitable for portrait categories. William L. Castleman has done some experiment with all these lenses. Because this review actually written by William L. Castleman, so I don’t have right to post any pictures in my blog. So you must go to this link to see the experiment setup and result. If you are boring to see any text there, you just see these link (I don’t recommend you only see the result, I think you should read the experiment setup, and some summary in the first link I give to you). I hope after you see this review and test result, you know what lens you need to buy; especially for portrait lens category. This is my opinion (someone please correct me if I am wrong), I think EF 85mm f/1.8 USM is “the optimal” choice, EF 135mm is “the best (in term of image quality)” choice, EF 100mm is “the one that I don’t recommend”. If you often to use “100mm” focal length, my suggestion is get the EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1. My opinion maybe right for someone and wrong for the other because everyone has different focal length that he often to use. Finally, any suggestions and comments are welcome.

This is one of my best shot in 2007, I used EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM to take this photo. I have done some post processing on the image, so the photo looked beautiful. When I took this photo, I don’t use CPL (circular polarizing) filter so some part was done by Photoshop. I remember the weather when I took this photo is very good, not rainy and the sun shine very clear. For me, I like the light in the left part of photo and shadow in the right part; Taipei 101 in the center make it balance for the composition. You also can see this photo in my flickr, maybe you can give some comment or suggestion, thanks. More detail about Taipei 101 can be seen in wikipedia. Photoshop technique to make original photo become this photo can be seen here.