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Showing posts from 2010

REPAIR YOUR MEMORY (CARDS)

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A few thoughts for the digital photographer on what to do if you lose your photos stored on Compact Flash, SD or other camera memory cards. As published this week in the People's Post.

My Latest Digital Tips

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“Pyramides” at The Louvre, Paris. Note I have made the impromptu dancer the focus of the picture, that automatically tells a story about the structure as well. This weeks Tip focuses on taking photos of massive architecture features, buildings etc. You can read the rest of the posting in my Column in the People's Post.

Two options - same architecture

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Cropped, converted to greyscale, with red channel component boosted. This image was as exposed. This image with contrast boosted.

SHOOTING BUILDINGS

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Some of my readers ask me about how to shoot architecture and buildings appropriately. Best answer I can give is that your photo must tell a story. And you cannot fit a whole "book" into one photo. So pick out one dominant feature that gives the viewer of  your photo a very good feeling of being in front of that building / feature in life. Where is the eye drawn first? Of course, there's a heap of technical stuff to get right, as well e.g. exposure, optimum light, optimal depth of field, etc. Take a look below at a shoot I did for valued client, FIRESPEC at 11 Adderley Street Cape Town. The theme of this shoot was the dominant red paneling applied to the walls of the building looking into the atrium. The pics below show how sections can be used to good effect, due to the massive nature of the building within the atrium. This pic shows some distortion. Not surprising, since the lens was taken back to about 15 mm !

ABOUT HOLIDAY PICS.

Adapted from my latest column in the People's Post - July 2010 A reader recently shared a series of his landscape photos with me. For example, a photo featured a very interesting view of a lagoon – resembling Knysna in the Western Cape. Significantly, he used an old wooden jetty to lead the eye into the photo, and kept a good depth of field, meaning that both the foreground and the background is in focus. Images like these help to bring out the character of a holiday venue by making a feature of ordinary things that might have been lost in a bigger landscape. They make your holiday memories much more interesting. To achieve high depth of field, set your camera on a high f-stop (e.g. f16) or use the “Landscape” feature on your digital camera. To enure the camera selects the highest possible f-stop, and to minimise camera shake which can cause blurring, use an ISO setting around ISO400 – meaning don't set your camera to Auto ISO. Override it manually. Then, focus the camera

LENSES AND SENSORS

Two of the most important features of the digital camera - sensors & lenses. Both make the difference between expensive camera at over R 4 000 and a cheaper version costing R 1000 and above. Bear in mind, “computers with a lens” are cheap, but great lenses are very expensive. Megapixels are no replacement for good quality lenses and sensors. Think of the sensor in your camera as the direct equivalent of film. In many cases, they are even the same size – the negative of APS C-sized film is exactly the same size as the sensor of many modern digital cameras. If you want to test the quality of a sensor, upload your photo onto a computer and study the dark areas closely. Lesser quality sensors will not differentiate the contrast between of light and shade efficiently and the shade will appear as a series of 3-coloured dots under 100% view. The lens is more important – for much the same reasons as film cameras. Bear in mind that the lens of a "point and shoot" compact can nev

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

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AS PUBLISHED IN "THE PEOPLES' POST" NEWSPAPER DURING 2009 Weddings and Photography! - tip number 1. This is a big question! Best left to a reputable professional photographer, the most important aspect is the professional relationship and understanding between the couple and their photographer. Pre-wedding meetings are essential and I like to suggest an informal “engagement” shoot at a relaxed venue at least a week before the wedding. Brides are advised to check the what exactly is included in their wedding shoot packages. It's a case of horses for courses. However, it is best to ensure that your precious Rands are spent on a solid reliable photographer with decent equipment first, before the gimmicks. A number of suppliers these days rely heavily on fixing errors and adding special effects afterwards using the computer – so called “photoshopping”. This can lead to long delays, sometimes up to 4 weeks or longer, in finished work being delivered to the happy couple. B

VALENTINES DAY 2010 POSTING

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Stephen and Jana - Boulders Beach Lodge & Boardwalk. Stephen, from JHB, wanted an 'intimate' photoshoot to surprise his Cape Town-based student girlfriend, Jana - with a special romantic weekend at the Boulder Beach Lodge. So I met the young couple on location and tailed them as they explored the intimate beaches and walked the Boardwalk.

OUTDOOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL SHOOTS

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BEACH SHOOTS ARE GREAT FOR THAT SPECIAL COUPLE - OR FOR THE KIDS. ALSO, FOR WEDDING PRE-SHOOTS !