Arum lilies in my garden

Arum lilies are lovely subjects to photograph. The bright yellow stamen stands out against the white petals. The flower has lovely curves. The shiny green leaves provide a beautiful backdrop.

The plant itself is easy to cultivate. I planted a row of rhizomes some years ago, and every single one of them sprouted successfully without any care or attention. They even survived a dreadful drought without any watering at all.

When the flowers wilt, I simply cut away everything and leave only the rhizomes in the ground. When the growing season comes around, all the plants just appear like magic to charm you with many weeks of lily blooms.

Personalized mug from Harvey Norman

Got this from a Harvey Norman special for $5. What a deal!

Autumn in the Dandenongs

My wife and I went for a drive up the Dandenongs today. The deciduous trees are simply ablaze with the colours of autumn.We made a number of stops as we drove. I managed to capture some pretty looking houses, accentuated no doubt by the colourful autumn foliage. The sky was constantly threatening to rain but fortunately it held on long enough for us to make the drive up there worthwhile.

Shooting people

Here are a few of my favourite "people" shots taken during the Easter break. In the first picture, the weather was simply gorgeous on that day. We stopped at a cafe in Winchelsea and had tea outdoor.

In the picture with the lighthouse, I thought the swirling cloud makes an interesting backdrop, while the cameraman in front adds drama.

In the last picture, I must confess that I couldn't resist using the gradient tool in Adobe Lightroom to make the picture more artsy.

My feel good moment

It seems like quite a while since I last had my "feel good" moment in photography. That's the feeling of euphoria I get when I create a nice shot, i.e. a shot that I feel is good enough to add to my Picasa photo gallery. Looking through the photos shot during my recent trip to Malaysia, I managed to find three photos. At last, my "feel good" moment is coming back again. Here are the pictures:

The Pink Lake

This is surreal: blue sky, but pink reflection. This is the Pink Lake, which is near Dimboola, on the way to Adelaide. I have made this stop many times, but this is the first time I have seen the lake so full of water. Every time I passed this place before I had only seen a thick crust of salt which crystallized out of the sea water that somehow has been trapped there, although this place is nowhere near the sea. It so happened that the sky was very cloudy on that day, so it made the shot all the more interesting. (The pink colour of the water comes from a pigment secreted by microscopic algae. The intensity of the pink varies with the amount of water in the lake. When the lake is drier more light is reflected from the white crystallized salt reducing the impact of the pink)

My Picasa online album

I have decided to go with Picasa for my online album, not because it has the most impressive layout to display my pictures, but because it is the most practical for my needs now. I have included the link here on my blog page. What works well for me is that I can keep reorganizing my folders. All the folders I have set up to display will be automatically synchronized to the online album. That saves me a lot of work. I can also block the display of any pictures in the folder without moving them out of the folder. On the online album side, the display is fast (pictures are preloaded for the viewer) and easy to navigate. It is also supereasy to fire off an email directly from Picasa to anybody or any group on my mailing list when I feel like sharing some photos in an album. My only gripe about Picasa is that the display is oh so bland! I hope that the next time Picasa does some upgrade they will take a page out of pbase.com

How to recover files from a formatted card

I used to think that when I format a flash memory card in my camera, the files are deleted forever. A friend of mine did just that and started asking around for a way to recover the files. Another friend did a quick google and easily found a number of applications that will do just that. I went a step further; I wanted a freebie. I found one called ZAR, downloaded and tested it out. It works and it is very easy to use, and it is free for recovering picture files. For other type of data recovery you will have to purchase the software and it costs US$40. I don't think I will have much use for this application as it is not often that one accidentally formats a flash card. However, it is good to know that there is a solution. If you are interested, here is the link for ZAR: http://www.z-a-recovery.com/

Walhalla-Rawson excursion

My camera club organized this excursion to Walhalla. We will be staying over for two nights this weekend in country Victoria. I think I'll write about my feelings about the trip before I go off tomorrow. It is more interesting to look forward to it than to reminisce about it after I come back. I haven't been to Walhalla. From the description in the website, I can imagine a rustic country scene with rolling pastures, quaint village, and in this case, an old goldmine and various ghost towns. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend on my own than to be in a rural retreat with nothing to do but take photographs whenever I feel like it. If the inspiration is not there, there's always a bunch of photographers to chat with. I can talk about photography all day long. Yes, the next few days are going to be AWESOME!

Portraiture Class - continued

The recommended reference setting is ISO 400, f4, and 1/60 sec, with the key studio light at 600W and a secondary lighting at 120W. Energy saving bulbs with daylight colour temperature were used. They are less expensive and do not give out as much heat as the halogen ones. I suppose ISO400 was chosen because most people in the class would not have a bright enough lens and this ISO will retain the perfect quality on all DSLR's. The f4 aperture gave the right depth of field to blur out the backdrop while keeping the entire figure in focus.

I can speak from experience now that it is not the camera that matters, but the lens. An entry level DSLR would be good enough. I had to struggle with my kit lens, where the maximum aperture starts from f3.5, and increases to f5.6 at maximum zoom. Whenever I zoomed out, the maximum aperture reduces, thereby slowing down the shutter speed (making it hard to hold steady). A constant f3.5 short zoom lens would have been ideal for the portraits session. Actually, a lower cost prime lens would be sufficient for home use because you can move back and forth towards the model, but when you are with a crowd, it helps to be able to stand in one spot and zoom in or out. Finally, I should have brought my monopod to better steady my hand while pushing to the limits with my lens.

Portraiture Class

Yesterday I attended a much-awaited portraiture class organized by my camera club. It was every bit as interesting as I thought it would be. We had a model who did a fabulous job of posing for us, and an instructor who is an accomplished photographer. The instructor, Paul Robinson, belongs to the who's-who in photography in Australia. He was very approachable and kept encouraging us with positive comments as he looked at our shots and helped us to achieve the kind of pictures only pro's would take. Here are some pictures I would like to share: the class in session, teacher and model, a shot of the model that I took. All in, I shot more than 500 photos. This is something you can only do when you have a model, so it was a rare treat indeed to be able to keep shooting at a subject.

It might appear that I have suddenly mastered the art in one class. The truth is, taking portraits requires a lot of practice. Knowing how to set the camera correctly takes but a moment to learn. Setting up the props and lighting is also not difficult. These are all "knowledge" stuff. The "skills" part takes years of practice to hone. Telling the model how to pose so that the picture turns out nice and pleasing is not something that happens by chance. The instructor explained how he positions the hands, tilt the face, etc. Once this is done, all of us in the class just kept shooting to our hearts' content and the pictures all came out nice.

Flower Shop on Swanston Street

Went down to the city last Sunday. Took a shot of this flower shop along Swanton Street. I turned it into black and white because this seems to go better with the scene (antiquated shop against old brickwork).

Corel Painter with Wacom tablet

I shot this image in the Rhododendron Gardens last year. Using Corel Painter, I have instantly converted this into an impressionist painting!

It was quite by accident that I came across this software, which comes bundled with the Wacom tablet I bought primarily as a mouse replacement for my computer. After much research I was ready to part with AUD$139 for a Bamboo Wacom tablet as advertised. Instead I got the better Bamboo Fun tablet instead, and it comes bundled with Corel Painter. So here I am, an overnight digital painter!

A moonlit picture

Everyone has taken a picture in the full sunlight. Have a good look at this one. It was taken in the full moonlight. My garden was very brightly lit under a full moon. I have always longed to take a picture under the full moon and this was the perfect opportunity. Braving the bitter cold (about 10 deg C?), I took my camera and tripod out to the deck and shot this picture.

I set the camera to Bulb and held the shutter down for about 90 sec. Have a good look. You don't often get to see a moonlit night like this!

New Panasonic DSLR: DMC GF1

What a busy week it has been! First, Sony introduced its high end DSLR, the affordable full frame A850. Four days later, Canon announced its EOS 7D, their highest end APS-C frame DLSR. One day later, today, Panasonic announces its most advanced Four-Thirds DLSR. It is an exciting product to watch. Here's the deal.

This is a camera that will seriously compete against the high end compact cameras. Professionals and amateurs alike buy the high end compacts (e.g. Canon G10) because they are small to carry everywhere and yet take pretty good pictures. Yes, even pro shooters sometimes opt for compacts when they go on holidays.

The Panasonic GF1 is about the same size as the Canon G10, but offers all the advantages of a DSLR: interchangeable lens, Four-Thirds sensor, SLR controls. Like a serious compact, it also offers Live View, HD movie with a dedicated record button, wind-cut for noise reduction, built-in flash as well as flash hot-shoe. Also, the fact that this innovative DLSR has done away with the mirror mechanism means that you can put the camera in silent mode. Great for use when you are shooting animals or birds. One nice touch is the option to record video in either AVCHD format or MJPEG. Both have pros and cons, so it is good to have the choice.

Help me; I feel like running out to buy this camera! This is an ideal camera to take on a holiday. The only thing that is holding me back is the lack of a fully articulated LCD, which allows one to hold the camera at any angle. Seriously!

Notes to myself: How to win in photo competition

I think I'd better start writing down some things I have picked up from the competitions, just to sharpen my strategy for winning in the club's monthly mini judgings. Tonight's judging was done by the Camberwell club's president. Although my entry "Apollo and Artemis" won first place in the novice category, I think it was a fluke shot, as I realized today my only strategy was to produce as good a shot as I could, without really considering what the judges wanted to see. A few other club members had multiple winning entries and I could tell they were consistently doing well competition after competition.

Tips picked up:
1. The image has to "leap" up from among all the entries. Imagine the entries are all laid out on a table for the judge to pick the winner. Your image has to be the one that attracts the most attention.
2. Competition shots stand a better chance than a PJ (photo journalistic) shot or an archival shot (shot for preserving memory). A competition-worthy shot has to have a point of attraction in the image. It has to tell a story. It has to pull your eyes to itself.
3. A picture of an art piece (e.g. a beautiful vase or a sculpture) is just that; it doesn't quite give merits to itself as a beautiful image. I have just learned today to avoid submitting such a picture.
4. White space on the edge is frowned upon as it leads the viewer's eyes away from the picture.
5. Tight cropping adds to the "oomph". Always crop tightly.

Still life - Greek couple

Here's another still life shot for your enjoyment.

Still life shot

Here is a still life shot I did just now. Recently I have been buying a number of items to set up a home studio and I thought it is about time I shot something.

What I used: a black muslin cloth, Sb900 flash, tripod, translucent studio umbrella.

Photo book idea

I had a very interesting evening with a friend today. He showed me pictures taken in his travels, which he compiles into a scrapbook. However, instead of using a typical scrapbook, he organizes the photos into A4-size pages (several related photos on each page), prints them out, and binds them into a book using a ring binder. He compiles a photo book after each holiday trip abroad, and he has about ten photo books now to his credit. The pictures tell the story, according to my friend. He does include some narrations here and there, or a scanned picture of his visa, or newspaper clipping, etc. I thought it is such a practical idea and a wonderful way to show off the photos. They are like a personal photo journal. My friend acknowledges that not everybody is keen to go through his photo books, but they are very meaningful to him. I applaud him for his effort. I also think he has a good eye for travel photography. Well done!