If your camera has the live view function and has a dedicated ISO button, you can preview your white balance setting.

Even though I understand the theory behind how the white balance setting affects the image, I have yet to master anticipating the white balance setting to use. I have my white balance set to Auto almost all the time. When the camera is unable to give the correct white balance setting, I would have to try the different white balance modes in an attempt to get the white balance closest to my desired outcome.

When I used my D40, I had to shoot at each white balance mode and then view the resulting images. With my D90, I can use the live view function to preview the outcome I would get with each white balance setting.

1. Turn on live view.
2. Scroll through the different white balance modes. Your LCD screen will show how the mode you chose affects the colour cast.
3. Shoot at the white balance that gives the result closest to the result you want!

This can help you to better understand what each white balance mode does to your picture.

Of course, you can always shoot in RAW and correct the white balance during post processing. I prefer to get it right in the camera whenever I can.

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A larger f-number means that the aperture is smaller, and vice versa. For example, f/1.8 is a larger aperture than f/8.

Aperture setting affects the amount of light entering the camera, and in turn affects the exposure of a particular scene.

Depth of view

The size of the aperture does not affect the quantity of light entering the camera. It also affects the depth of view.

Depth of view is the portion of the scene that appears in focus. Larger apertures (smaller f-number) will give a shallow depth of view. This means that part of the scene will be in focus while the parts outside the depth of view will be thrown out of focus.

Likewise, a smaller aperture (larger f-number), will give a deep depth of view. This will render a greater portion of the scene in focus.

What aperture size to use?

Large aperture

A large aperture is used to isolate the subject. The shallow depth of view will render the subject in focus and throw the background out of focus.

However, if the depth of view is too shallow, you might end up with part of the subject in focus and part of it out of focus.

Small aperture

Small aperture gives a greater depth of view and will render more of the picture in focus. This is used when you want the picture to be as sharp as possible from foreground to background.

Critical aperture

If depth of view is not a concern, use the critical aperture of your lens. When the subject and background are in the same plane, depth of view is not important.

The critical aperture of a lens is the aperture that will give the sharpest image. Every lens has its critical aperture. Zoom lenses have different critical apertures at different focal length.

Smaller apertures are supposed to give sharper images. However, at sizes smaller than the critical aperture, diffraction occurs.

Depth of view preview button

Some DSLR cameras come with a depth of view preview button. When you press the button, the camera stops the aperture to the size you selected. This allows you to see the depth of view that you will be getting at that particular aperture.

If your camera has such a button, you can use the button to learn more about depth of view. Use the largest aperture and focus on a near object. Keep the button depressed and change the aperture. You will be able to notice the change in the sharpness of the background.

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The shutter speed you should use depends on the lighting in the scene. It is also based on your preference on the results you wish to achieve.

1/1000 second or faster

At this shutter speed, you will be able to capture frame-filling action shots. The actual speed to be used depends on the speed of the action, the distance from the action and the focal length used.

When you are zoomed in using a telephoto focal length, a small movement will translate into a greater movement in the viewfinder when zoomed in as compared to when you shoot at wider focal lengths. Likewise when you shoot at a distance nearer to the subject.

1/500 second

This shutter speed allows you to achieve action stopping effect and it works well in most situations. However, certain movement might still be too quick to be captured at this speed and, as you have guessed, you will have to increase the shutter speed.

1/250 second

When the action is moving towards you, you can freeze the action with this shutter speed. Of course, you can use faster speeds to freeze the action but 1/250 second is fast enough in most scenarios.

1/60 second

This shutter speed is good for capturing rain. Water droplets will be captured as streaks at this shutter speed. Faster speeds will render the droplets as shorter lines while slower speeds will generate longer streak lines. The shutter speed of 1/60 second gives a result that I prefer. Experiment and see what speeds give you the desired result.

1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4 second

These speeds are slow enough to create blurring of the scene when you pan the camera. You press the shutter and move the camera while keeping the subject at the same spot in the viewfinder. This will render a photo with the subject in focus while the background is blurred.

It is important that you take note of the background! The background should have different colours or different shades of the same colour so that it will generate blurred lines. If the background is of uniform colour, you will not get the streaks of lines characteristic of the panning effect.

1/2 or 1 second

If you want to create the silky effect when you shoot moving water, these are good shutter speeds to try. An exposure of 1 second gives a softer feel to the water flow.

Above 1 second

Exposures longer than a second are usually used for low light and night shots.

Disclaimer:  the above is a rough guide that I came up with for my own use. I’m sharing the list to help fellow budding photographers. You may want to experiment and come up with your own list of preferred shutter speeds.

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When I bought the Nikon 18-200mm VRII lens, I knew of the zoom creep problem inherent with the design of the lens.

What happens is, when the zoom gears become loose, the lens will zoom in from wide angle when pointed downwards and zoom out from telephoto when pointed upwards. This is due to the effect of gravity pulling on the heavy glass. If you attach the lens hood, it is even more likely to happen.

I prayed hard that my lens would not suffer from the issue since there were reports by several individuals that they have not experienced such problem despite using the lens for years. As luck would have it, mine finally started to creep one day. And several days later, Nikon announced the version two of the lens. The newer version features a zoom lock which would eliminate the problem of the zoom creep.

Image source: KenRockwell.com

Some people rejoiced and sold the older version that crept and bought the newer version as soon as it came out. They made a loss as the price of the older version dropped when the new one was launched. But they no longer had to fight the creep.

I was unwilling to change my lens merely two months after I bought it. It is the first lens I bought and it was special. And aside from the zoom creep, I had no other complains about it. It made no sense to switch to the new one.

Then, I stumbled on a solution to solve the problem. A rubber band. Simple as that.

I bought the rubber band for SGD 1. Rather than get a plain design, I chose something that suited my style.

Slip in over the lens and place it on the zoom ring.

There you go. It doesn’t creep any more. The friction from the rubber band holds it in place.

I spent only SGD 1 instead of the extra SGD 300 I would have to fork out if I sold my lens and bought the new version.

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The reason that compels you to take photographs affects how you take your photographs.

Even before you decide how you take a photography, you need to ask yourself why. What is the purpose of taking such a shot? Different reasons have different expected outcomes. To achieve the expected result, you may have to shoot in a certain way.

Before I elaborate, let me briefly explain how this post came about. I dropped by at John 3:16 Photo Supplies two weeks ago and I met Liew Tong Leng. He is a veteran photographer whose name pops up regularly in regional photography competitions. I received some very useful pointers from him while he helped to explain the basics of photography to a lady.

A customer who was also listening to the impromptu lesson asked Liew for critique for some photos. After making a few comments, Liew posed a question: why do you photograph? He went on to briefly explain that it is important that you know why you shoot before you start taking pictures.

His question made me contemplate. And I decided to share my thoughts.

Why do people photograph?

Your goal for taking a photograph affects the decisions you make when you take the photograph. Everything you do in photography involves decisions. Some choices include the angle you shoot from, the composition of the image, the aperture size, the shutter speed, the focal length, how you make use of the lighting… and the list goes on.

Here are some purposes of photography that I can think of. There are probably many other possibilities that didn’t cross my mind. Feel free to point them out to me so I can add on to this list.

Remembrance – People take photographs as mementos of significant events in their lives, such as graduations and weddings.

Record – It could be photographs of your car as proof for insurance claim in the future. You could also be recording the progress of a particular activity.

Art

Competition or Exhibition – This category requires you to fulfill certain criteria decided by the competition organizers.

Commercial – When you are being paid for your photographs, you are obliged to conform with certain restrictions or demands of the client, depending on the manner of work involved.

Fun – Photography should be for fun. That is the most important part of photography.

Before you take your next shot, bear in mind why you shoot and make take that into consideration when you take your shots.

Photography zen

Why you photograph affects your photography zen, which is what I call your unique style and the philosophy behind your shots. It is not a special term but one that I came up with in an attempt to describe my thoughts.

Lets take a look at Jingna, a.k.a zemotion, a famous young photographer. At a tender age of 21, she has already won several awards for her photographs. Her works are breathtaking. You have to see it to believe it. It is ” the happiness and joy (she) had in (her) heart when viewing beautiful things” that makes her photograph. To capture beautiful things. And capture she does.

My point is, when you know why you shoot, you will be able to find your own photography zen if you fuel your vision with passion. It will be very hard to achieve such zen if you do not know why you shoot.

Recently, I covered a car wash event. If I went there thinking that I’m just there to take photos of the event, I won’t be able to get myself into the groove. Instead, I was there to take photos of the participants having fun and engaging in teamwork to make the event a success. That made a difference and I knew the type of moments and scenes to look out for while I walked about.

Do you know why you shoot? Why do you shoot? Have you found your photography zen?

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As you can see, I have updated this site with a new look.

I built the layout using the Thematic Theme Framework for WordPress. I must say, I’m impressed with how much easier and faster it is to construct a theme using the framework.

Moving away from the traditional blog layout, I have decided to go for a blogazine style to make the site look more presentable. Thumbnails will appear on the front page and there are lead images for every entry.

The background is only large widescreen friendly. I will need to tweak with it to find a better size for the images used for the background so that the site will look better on smaller resolutions.

I have decided to link to Flickr for my gallery instead of trying to find a plugin that suits my needs.

Enjoy the new design.

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I got my Nikon D40 on January 20th, 2009. It has taken me on a special journey since then. A year has passed since then and it has been an enriching experience for me.

Image source: Digital Photography Review

Initially, I was capturing moments in my life and interesting things that I see. A few piles of photography books and thousands of shots later, I realise that I have started to shoot differently. I try to look for patterns to create shots. I try to capture the atmosphere of special moments rather than just capture the moment. These are baby steps that I have taken in the one year that passed.

From the 18-55mm kit lens that came with the camera body, I shifted to a 18-200mm VR superzoom lens. The telephoto range of the new lens allowed me to have a greater reach on my travels and I have learnt to use it to shoot better portraits and even mimic macro shots.

Image source: KenRockwell.com

The next lens I picked up was a 50mm f1.8 prime lens for shooting figurines. I have yet to master shooting portraits with it since I can only focus manually on my D40. I love how the bokeh turns out though.

Image source: KenRockwell.com

I shifted to a D90 slightly more than a week ago. As mentioned in the previous entry, I was convinced that the advantages of using a D90 would have an impact on my photography. Hence the decision to make the switch. I have been impressed by the D90’s performance so far.

Image source: Digital Photography Review

I carried my camera every where I go in the past year, except in situations where carrying a camera would be impractical. I hope to have either camera out of the bag more often in the year to come. I realize that once the camera is out of the bag, I’ll keep shooting.

Onward, Cammy and Shasha!

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I have not ditched my D40, a.k.a Cammy. I still love Cammy for the joy it has brought me. However, after much thought, I decided it was time for me to step up to a better camera. While I will miss the small and light Cammy, using a D90 does have its benefits.

Image source: Digital Photography Review

I have been using my 50mm f1.8D prime lens to shoot figurines. It was only recently that I started to shoot more in low or available light. I needed a faster lens and the 50mm f1.8D was good, provided I could focus fast enough. As my D40 does not have an internal auto focusing motor, the 50mm lens does not auto focus on it. I could have gotten the 50mm f1.4G but that lens would cost me SGD600 more.

Aside from that, there are several reasons that made me want to change my camera body.

The Nikon D90 compared to the D40:

Advantages

• Auto focus with non AF-S lens. AF-S lens have auto focusing motor built into them.
• Faster auto focus speed
• Better ISO performance
• Higher mega-pixel count. This is not a big deal but it is a feature good to have.
• CLS commander to remotely fire flash.
• Video — I don’t believe in using DSLRs as video cameras.

Disadvantages

• Bigger and bulkier. This is a concern since I carry my camera wherever I go.
• $$$ — of course, I’ll need to fork out quite a sum for it

The advantages had enough weight to convince me to burn a hole in my wallet with the purchase.

I’m a proud owner of a D90, Shasha. Shasha is derived from Shashinki (写真機), which means camera in Japanese. If you hadn’t connect the dots, Cammy is derived from camera. And since I fondle the bodies of my camera on a daily basis, I’d like to think of them in feminine terms, hence the female names.

Let’s welcome Shasha to the family!

I refuse to consider selling Cammy to fund my D90 purchase. Cammy can still be a good backup camera. Rather than let Cammy be left all lonely while I fiddle with my new camera body, I loaned it to my brother. Let’s hope he gets interested in photography and we can shoot together. And, oh yes, we can share lenses!

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I love the feel of my iPhone naked. It is sleek and a pleasure to hold. However, with the soaring popularity of the iPhone, you can see it every where you go. Me being me, I wanted to personalise my phone. I did my research back when I was looking for a perfect case for my phone. So I knew what I wanted – a Gelaskin.

Cute toughness.

I’m terrible when it comes to applying screen protectors and skins. So the application process is quite a success despite some noticeable creases. Juzz1 doesn’t provide application services so I had to do it on my own.

It wasn’t hard to apply the skin, though it would have helped if there’s a way to align the skin more easily and accurately. I had to remove the skin and reapply it because it was a misaligned. There are still some bumps but I can live with that. I only have my poor skills to blame.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the plus point about Gelaskins: They are reuseable.

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I finally picked up a novel that had a great impact on my in my early teenage years — the Rivan Codex by David and Leigh Eddings.

An important part of my life.

The Rivan Codex is a very special to me.

I read the Belgariad and Mallorean series from epic fantasy writer David Eddings back in secondary school. The Rivan Codex is a book about the series that spans ten books. There’s a section at the front of the book that details how David Eddings came to be a writer and how he created the world of the Belgariad and the Mallorean. Crucially, he gave the recipe for writing an epic fantasy series.I was inspired.

I begun doodling and eventually came up with my first world map of a fantasy world that I dreamt up. That was eight years ago. Since then, I have created several worlds. I enjoy the conceptualization process to build worlds and populate them with a myriad of characters. My ultimate goal is to write stories set in these worlds and to see other writing stories based on the worlds of my imagination.

David Eddings sowed the seeds of my passion for fiction writing and it has continued to grow in me. This makes him a very special author to me. I was devastated to read about his passing last June. His literary works are towering masterpieces and I hope that his legacy will continue to inspire many other young minds the way they spurred mind.

Have you read any of David Eddings’s books? If not, give the Pawn of Prophecy a go and venture on an epic journey with Old Wolf, Garion and Aunt Pol.

Latest cover art

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