What I learned yesterday
July 3rd, 2008I have been reading some photography books lately and I have learned a few tricks. Now, these books are supposed to be for the beginner, but I found quite a few tips in the books. The books are called “The Digital Photography Book 1 and 2″ by Scott Kelby. They are short books but are easy to read with little jargon in them. Sometimes I wanted a bit more information about something that just wasn’t there, but it made me figure it out on my own. Book 2 has some great ideas for setting up a studio, which is what I still want to do, and teaches some tricks for the flash.
One thing I learned about was the 2nd sync feature for the flash. It is a custom setting on my 30D, and what it does is fires the flash later in the exposure. 1st sync fires the flash as soon as the shutter is pressed. With such short exposure times, you don’t really see a difference, but you do in the images. This is supposed to work great in darker rooms and helps to lighten up the background. I found in just a few simple tests, that the flash wasn’t washing everything out. I shot my entertainment centre in 1st sync and it was pretty bright. I then switched to 2nd sync and noticed it was much more natural colour. Try it out for yourself and see if you notice the difference.
Another thing I did yesterday was play with the macro coupler rings I got a little bit ago. What they do is allow you to mount a lens to another lens using the front filter rings. So I attached my 50mm to my 100mm and I got so close. The depth of field is really narrow, but really neat. I was maybe half an inch away. I managed to find these rings on ebay and they were pretty cheap, about 9.00 each plus shipping from Hong Kong. They seem to be more like 10 or 12 now, but still pretty cheap. I need a tripod before I can do much more experimenting with those.
I am also looking to get some bellows, and will probably get one from ebay as well. Something cheap to see what that can do. I am learning all of this so that I may be able to share some of my experiences with others at a seminar that will be held in October.
I also ordered a small reflector for macro to throw some light back onto the subject when needed. I will see how that works with the macro. It sure can’t hurt.
I have rambled today, but was eager to share. I will try and post pics of the couplers and the couple of shots I got with it.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 30
July 2nd, 2008More from Yale. The leaf and the flower in these shots is from a tulip tree. I have never heard of one before, but this is one.
Happy shooting!
Happy Canada Day
July 1st, 2008Happy Canada Day everyone.
I just realized that I have been doing the photo a day for 6 full months. I have taken a lot of pictures in that time, and have learned a lot too.
I have been busy shooting Canada Day celebrations around town so I don’t have anything for myself yet. I will get caught up with the photo a day posts and then shoot one for today.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 29
July 1st, 2008From the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 28
July 1st, 2008More from Hell’s Gate. Flowers and Tram.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 27
July 1st, 2008I watered the garden and hit some of the plants with the water. I then shot the wet flowers. There is something about these two pictures that I really like.
Happy shooting!
A bit behind….
June 30th, 2008again. I have been pretty busy this last week with work and shooting for the newspaper and for Hell’s Gate. It was fun though. I will upload the rest of the photo a day pics soon.
I have been reading some photography books, watched some videos, and read a good tutorial and have learned quite a few things. I am hoping to put it all into practice on Wednesday.
Tomorrow I have Canada Day celebrations to shoot for the newspaper. There are quite a few events that should keep me busy for a while.
I have also been working on getting some new products for my shopping cart. Some of it has been like pulling teeth, but hopefully I will get some products that will attract some visitors to my store.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 26
June 30th, 2008This was Simon Fraser Day at Hell’s Gate and I was there to photograph the event for Hell’s Gate. I got a lot of shots and am pretty pleased with them. I cannot post any here, but I did shoot a few flowers around my house afterwards.
Happy shooting!
Photo for June 25
June 30th, 2008I was out looking for some canoeists when I found this great dog. He was having fun with a big rock in the lake. I couldn’t help but take some shots.
Happy shooting!
Another link
June 28th, 2008Short post for now, have to go to work soon. Anyway, I was doing a bit of reading this morning and came across this site,http://www.zarias.com/, which has a great tutorial for getting a really white background and how versatile it can be in studio work. Check it out.
Happy shooting!