I am better at dialogue, not monologue.

Recently, friends and colleagues around me started getting DSLR. The marketing campaign from the camera makers are really going well. Every man and woman on the street believes they can easily achieve those award worthy shots shown in the TVC advertisements. That plus it is cool to be seen hanging a sophisticated piece of technology around one's neck.

Anyhow, a friend living in the states recently, by twist of fate, got hold of a DSLR and got curious how to take the hobby to the next level. She asked me some newbie (aka noob [dont know why so]) questions that under normal circumstances, would get slammed by my cynicism. But coming from a friend, and knowing she is a serious person, I took a kinder approach and gave her as objective an advice that I possibly can. While I was at that, I thought I'd put those down in my blog as well.

Here is the email:
Hey,

I've finally decided to learn to use my D5000 and now has an idea of how to use M mode!! Still trying to get the hang of what does what but so far has been interesting.

Wanted to ask you if you have any recommendations for the followings:
- tripod
- lens for landscape photography
- Filters to get
- software - Photoship CS or Lightroom or others.


Before I even continue to read further, I was very irked by her first sentence about the "M" Mode. Why?! does everyone thinks that SLR users = "M" Mode?!!! What, SLR = sophisticated people hence we must use "M" Mode? Duh.

That went through my mind, but my answer came much toned down:
Getting SLR or DSLR does not mean one HAS to use the deaded “M” mode. Truth: 90% of my shots are in 1 auto mode or another. I use M mode only when the lighting is really too tricky for the camera’s sensor to handle. So don’t be too concern. As long as you understand the 3 things that control the exposure: shutter speed, aperture, sensor sensitivity (aka ISO); and you understand how to use them to get what you want from the picture. example:

a. Motion: fast shutter to freeze motion or to prevent hand shake blur, slow shutter to create motion blur. If neither are important in that shot you want, then shutter is the last thing you’d think about in that shot.

b. Sharpness and depth of field: controlling aperture when you want large amount of objects in the shot to be relatively sharp, or limit the focus so as to create attention to your intended subject (this is usually the time when you need a tripod, later)

c. My rule for ISO (I stress that this is my rule because no other books will say this): use as low as possible the ISO setting that your environment allows. This helps to retains as much details as possible. There will be exceptions, but only when you need it to be otherwise.


Breathe... ok. I shall deal with the other questions after my National Service and a much awaited holiday to Europe.

Day 3 in Hakone

I have not been posting due to heavy workload and coming company event. The aircon at home is broken and for 3 weeks, the servicing company have not been able to get it working. I hope it will be fixed soon.

On with the Japan Trip, this is the the evening in Hakone. I was hopeful that Hakone might be remote enough for star shoots, but the weather again spoiled everything.

1) Lake Ashi by twilight.

2) and I thought perhaps it will be better the next day? Got another foggy morning.

3) Boats docking near the banks of Lake Ashi

4) Colourful canoe on the hotel property. for rent I suppose.

5) Single boat with fog coming in.

6) These branches looks like the hands in the poster of "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

7) I love these country side scene.

8) Foggy forest at the edge of Hakone Machi.

Still in Hakone

Pict 1:
The 2nd day morning, woke up at 6am, walked over to Motohakone for morning shoot. Bad weather, strong winds, low/dark clouds, overcast sky, rough waters.

Well, extreme weather makes for an interesting shoot, just more tedious. This was taken along the walk towards Hakone Shrine. Picked something with striking colours against the dull weather.

Pict 2:
On my way back to the hotel for breakfast, weather is still as bad (strong winds et al), the local folks are beginning their day. It was very surreal. Like I'm living in a Japanese movie. I couldn't help but capture this scene, which so depict the country life.

Pict 3:
We went back to Hakone Yumoto. Now the weather is calmer, but the sky is still overcast. Well lit, but dull. Tried to make the best of it by taking slow shutter/ motion blur images. This is of the main river in Hakone Yumoto.

Pict 4:
On the way towards the Hakone Shrine, walked through a forest. Many trees have growth on their trunks due to the moisture in the air.

Pict 5:
It was nearing sunset and we were on our way back, out of the forested area, facing Lake Ashi. There, a pirate cruise ship was ferrying passengers to and from MotoHakone-ko. Caught a shot of it before it disappeared into the mist.

More pictures, less words

I shall continue the post on my Japan trip, in Hakone.

Pict 2:
My 4th Japan trip - my first view of Mt Fuji. And it lasted for only a few hours. Thereafter, it was no longer visible due to mist/fog.

Taken on a cruise ship in Lake Ashi.

Pict 3:
Another view of Mt Fuji, from Owakudani. It was quite faint due to the mist. Post Process it to retain the mood.

Pict 4:
Stair way to Hakone Shrine, surrounded by tall cedars.

Pict 5:
Tori gate advertising Hakone Shrine, on Lake Ashi. Taken with UWA lens with ND400 filter for the slow shutter.

Pict 6:
Hakone Yumoto. Looks like Japan Hour, doesn't it?

My Profile picture

I was just told by a friend that my profile picture sucked big time. It is shameless to use a passport picture as profile in a photography blog... I shall get a better one done.

Japan Trip March 2010

My wife and I went on a trip to Japan during the late winter, early spring period. It wasn't deliberate but our trip coincide with the Sakura season! How lucky.

This is my 4th Japan trip so far, and first prospect of seeing the highly acclaimed flowers. 1 big difference in this trip is the subtlety in weaving in photo opportunities into the itinerary. I still had to keep it mostly like a family trip, right? :)

Anyhow, roughly, the itinerary covered Hakone, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Nikko, and Tokyo.

I will start off with some pictures from Hakone first.


Hakone
The few items that are must dos in Hakone are: see Mt Fuji; take the myriad mode of transports through the mountain area; enjoy Lake Ashi.

Pict 1

This was taken from the pirate cruise ship that take tourists from 3 ports off the banks of Lake Ashi: Hakone Machi, MotoHakone, and Togendai. At the edge of the hill side is the Tori advertising the Hakone Shrine, within walking distance from MotoHakone-ko. This was taken at 200mm. 1 thing I learned in this trip about landscape photography: tele lens is extremely relevant in big landscape. This is unlike Singapore where it is mostly cityscapes, and what's left for natural landscape is very limited. Tele lens is needed to zoom into the feature of the landscape. I dare say tele lens was used 50% of the time for landscape shots in this trip compared to others.

The original RAW file is in portrait orientation. I did a square crop as the excess foreground (water) and the sky does not contribute to the composition. In this frame, the Tori Gate stood out well against the natural element - the woods.

In post process, the darker portion of the forest was processed in 1 part, while the lighter forest and the sky is process separately, and then blended together. This is to bring out sufficient details and reduce clipping in the sky area. Apart from that, standard unsharp mask was applied to sharpen the image.

That's it for my first entry. More to come on my Japan trip in the following posts.

My first blog

Today, 2 June 2010, is the first day of my blog. I am making this entry to thank those who drop in by chance, and to apologise for not putting any content yet. I am tidying up my stuffs and will put up fresh content within a week.