Which camera I should buy??

Oh boy!! On popular demand. This is tough one but explanation is easy.  Its all 3 :)
- There are 3 type of camera in digital format. (SLR - Single light Ray, Micro 4/3, Point & Shoot).
- There are 3 type of usage: Low light, Day light, Mix light.
- There are 3 type of customer preferences: Cost, Weight, Quality. Obviously all want least cost, least weight and highest quality.
- There are 3 type of lens (Wide, Normal, Zoom). Any camera offering wide to zoom will be rich in feature but not very fine in optical quality simply by design. Canon SX series leads in super zoom category.

- There are 3 parameters:
1. Aperture: Its opening to decide how much light should go in at once, good for low light, more opening is indicated by lower number. F1.4 is more aperture than F1.8. Factors are (f1.4, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.8, 3.5). Costliest and most desirable lens are of high aperture (not to mention they support no aperture anyday). Only micro 4/3 and slr type camera offer you to change the lens type. Canon S90 has bigger aperture lens in point & shoot category too (but only on wide side).

2. Shutter Speed: It decides for how long light will go in. Faster means action freeze. With kids & sports you mostly want fast shutter speeds. All camera are good from this point.

3. ISO: Most important these days, its sensitivity of sensor which higher is more desirable but higher also means more grains. Hence camera should be able to reduce that. It comes in factor of 100, 200, 400, 800... etc. Each one doubles the sensitivity. Point & shoot don't go without grains above 400 and SLR goes to 1600 sometimes.

Now verdict:
SLR: They offer best quality and freedom to switch lens but are bulky and costly. Least on feature like video, wifi but manual controls are best.
Micro 4/3: Offers freedom to change lens, compact and manual controls are good, picture quality not as good as SLR (nick pick). - value of money.
Point & Shoot: Compact, super zoom and good ones fall here, select based on your preferences and your understanding of material written above.

Contact us for further doubt.

Before I Hit the Shutter I Ask Myself (oh really!!) :

1. What mode do I want to shoot in? Manual, AP, SP, Auto or a pre-programed mode?
2. If I’m using a pre-set, what F-Stop or Shutter Speed am I going to use?
3. What format do I want to shoot in RAW or jpeg?
4. What’s my ISO? Is it fast/slow enough?
5. Too grainy for the shot?
6. What White Balance am I set on?
7. Do I need to set custom White Balance?
8. Did I bring my 18% Grey Card?
9. What Metering Mode should I be on?
10. What Colour setting do I need?
11. Am I going to use Manual or Auto Focus?
12. Do I want to Bracket the shot?
13. Am I going to use a Flash?
14. And how am I going to use it?
15. What story am I trying to tell?
16. Do I need to change lenses?
17. If so, which one?
18. Am I shooting in Landscape or Portrait perspective, or even a jaunty angle?
19. Do I need to use a Tripod?
20. Will I use the Rule of Thirds or break it?
21. What other rules should I be following?
22. Are there Leading Lines I can use in the shot?
23. What about finding an S-curve for the leading line?
24. Is there any thing I can use to Frame my picture? e.g. Tree branches.
25. Will I change this to B&W, Sepia or something else post production?
26. Do I have a Focal Point?
27. Is my subject Moving or Stationary?
28. For Moving Subjects, do I want to Pan the shot, Blur the background or Blur the subject?
29. Is there a Pattern I can pick up on?
30. How’s the lighting?  Are the shadows strong or weak?
31. Do I want to emphasize them?
32. Is the light too strong?
33. Will it wash out detail?
34. Is my horizon straight?
35. Can I get this at a better angle?
36. Should I wait for better lighting?
37. What does the light meter read?
38. Should I increase shutter speed or open up the aperture?
39. Is it in focus?
40. Did I just miss a great shot?

Mode Dial

This quick little tip is aimed mostly at the dSLR users out there who are still learning the ropes. I know how easy it can be to leave the camera in an “auto mode” so you don’t have to worry about all that technical crap. But the non-auto stuff really isn’t that bad, and it opens up a world of possibilities for you.

So this little exercise might be somewhat disappointing on your first go, but it should get you rolling in the right direction. You can do this in a single outing or split it up over multiple days — whatever works for you. And if you don’t feel enlightened after your first try, do it again. Alright, here’s the technique:

1. SHOOT IN AUTO MODE
   If this is what you’re used to doing, just go ahead and get warmed up. Don’t think about that comfort zone you’re about to step out of, just shoot some photos.
2. SWITCH TO APERTURE PRIORITY
   When you move to aperture priority mode, you control the f-number and everything else is automated. So now you need to start thinking about depth of field. Look for photo opportunities where you might want to blur the background or have everything in focus. Lower f-numbers equate to lower depth of field and higher f-numbers equate to greater depth of field. Pay attention to your foreground and background subjects, and experiment with different f-numbers on the same shot to see the results. You’ll also need to pay attention to your auto shutter speed chosen by the camera — low f-numbers on a sunny day might max out your shutter speed, and high f-numbers on a cloudy day might result in long exposures.
3. SWITCH TO SHUTTER PRIORITY
   When you move to shutter priority mode, you control the shutter speed and everything else is automated. Now you need to think about motion blur. Look for opportunities where you might want to blur a fast moving object or freeze everything in the frame. Lower shutter speeds equate to more motion blur and higher shutter speeds equate to freezing action. Pay attention to moving objects, and experiment with panning your camera as you take a shot. You’ll also need to pay attention to your auto aperture chosen by the camera — slow shutter speeds on a sunny day might max out your aperture, while fast shutter speeds on a cloudy day might pin your aperture wide open.
4. SWITCH TO MANUAL
   If you have a handle on the aperture and shutter priority modes, try switching over to full manual controls. The only difference is that you determine both aperture and shutter speed at the same time (and it’s not as hard as it first seems). Modern dSLR cameras have built-in light meters that tell you if your exposure is correct when shooting manual. That little scale in the viewfinder… that’s your light meter. Move the shutter speed and f-number around and you should see an indicator move across that scale at some point. If your exposure is correct, you should be somewhere around the center of that scale. As you experiment with the manual controls, you’ll probably notice that you prefer to leave the aperture or shutter in a steady place while modifying the other. This will tell you which priority mode you lean toward.
Again, if you’ve never shot the priority modes or the manual mode before, this might be brutal on the first round. You’ll mess up a bunch of shots, you’ll miss shots entirely, and you’ll probably be pissed off. Stick with it though! The best way to learn the semi-manual and fully-manual controls is via practice. You can read about this stuff all day long, but that will only take you so far. So get out there and learn your camera!

Points to keep in mind for amature photographer

These are some of the notes I took few years back... still I forget these points quite often. I guess practice is the key. Sharing with others,

1) Automatic is OK
While you can get some great results by changing your camera’s settings, remember to set it back to automatic mode especially when you are new to photography or if the camera is supposed to be used by others. Taking a great photograph is often about capturing a moment, so don’t lose it!

2) Spot metering for vivid backgrounds
If you’re shooting a person against a bright background (the sky, for instance), set your exposure meter mode to “spot” and focus on the person. This prevents the subject being under exposed. If the background is of particular interest, try using a standard metering mode and turning on the flash to light up your subject.

3) Get closer
In photos of people, the subjects can often be lost amidst too much background. Get close to your subject to make sure they are the focus of your shot, and position them to one side of the frame, not dead center. This will give your frame a non-amateur look.

4) Use the rule of thirds
For landscape shots, try to fill the frame with one third sky and two thirds land. Or if the sky is really interesting, do it the other way. Half-and-half never looks quite right.

5) Shutter Speed
Play around with shutter speeds. Anything slower than 1/60th of a second will give some blur (depending on the speed of the action) -- and blur conveys a sense of movement. Try 1/30th to capture the movement of car wheels.

6) Taking portrait
If nothing else, the person’s eyes should be sharp, as they’re the first things we look at. If your subject is off-center, choose the focus point nearest their eyes. Blurry eyes don’t make for great pics.

7) Shooting in sun
Don’t shoot pictures with the sun directly behind you: first, you might cast a shadow across the frame, and second, the person in the shot will probably be squinting.
If you have to shoot into the sun, put the flash on so you don’t get a dark subject – this is called “fill flash.”

ISO Aperture and Shutter Speed

The first thing to understand when you move into the manual / creative zones of your camera the the relation to the three primary factors.

1. Shutter Speed
2. Aperture
3. ISO

The shutter speed relates to the time which the camera opens up to allow light inside. It is measured in units of time. For e.g. 1/125 secs means that the camera will open for that small amount of time to allow light to fall on the censor / film.

The aperture relates to the size of the opening in the lens. The wider the opening the more light that comes in, the narrower the opening the less light that comes in.

Both the shutter speed and the aperture go hand in hand to determine the right exposure. If you let in light though a bigger opening then you would need a faster shutter speed and vice versa.

The aperture is measured in f stops, The lower the number the bigger the opening. e.g. f1.8 has a bigger opening than f5.6.

The ISO is how sensitive the senor or film is to light. It is measured as ISO 100, 200,400,800,1600. The lower numbers indicate a lower sensitivity and the higher numbers a higher sensitivity. The lower number require more light to expose the film and the higher number require lesser light to expose the film.

ISO settings have a direct effect on the quality of the photograph. The lower the ISO the smoother is the resolution and the high ISO setting yield grainier images. Think of it this way, when you are studying a book, if you skim though the book fast, then you have an overall understanding but loose out the details, but a more thorough study takes you more time and will give you a finer understanding.

Quality Slimming

Very important and common area of mistakes. When we slim the size of an image, we don't generally include the quality aspect. Size reduction of image is by the size of image (length & width), it reduces the file size too, however we can also reduce the size of file by reducing the quality of image (Color depth). Mostly all software programs do both (picasa being worst). They would reduce the width and length and reduce the jpg quality without asking further details. You will get pretty small size making email servers happy, but the photo quality will be very bad.

Make sure when you reduce the length and width of picture, you do not go overboard with quality of jpg to reduce the file size. Photoshop gives very good options and another hidden option is well explained here.

http://photonaturalist.net/how-to-resize-your-photos-the-sharp-way/

Enjoy quality slimming down.

My assignment of Marathon photos

Got another photography assignment to cover Ekalwalk Marathon.

- Got up early and reached before time, took a tour of places I need to be.
- Made a scheme in my mind on what to cover and by which lens.
- Get my gear ready according to situation.
- Covered preparation, warm-up session, stalls, marathon, awards, dance, yoga and food.
- When people reach the final spot, make sure no one comes on your way and select right spot.
- Check background when you shoot people running. Good contrast is needed.
- Compile your pictures after post processing quickly.
- Don't forget to shoot interesting people.
- Don't forget to enjoy yourself too :)

Amazing effects with your pictures

Have you tried this??

http://www.photofunia.com/

Just select a picture out of many styles, add your picture and it will appear in any of those style, cool thing is you can copy this picture.


And by the way I know this lady :)

Black & White Photography

Here is 1 article which tells you the steps to achieve best black and white results in post production. I will be trying it soon too.

http://digital-photography-school.com/an-adjustable-black-and-white-c...

Time Lapse Photography

Ross Ching is well known for his time lapse movie. Do see his Electric series along with his latest Little Bribes. Please remember, every creation is only photographs and no video at all.

http://rossching.com

It's a must see and he also has a video on how he has made it.

Steps:

- Use interval-o-meter (build in camera or remote or manually). Take multiple shots with same exposure.

- Put all these pictures in a movie making software with a music file.

- Bingo.

Finally I found it...

I was trying to do this effect for a long time but finally I found it.

Steps:
- Take multiple shots with your multiple locations with camera on tripod and exposure value set at manual. (make sure exposure in these pictures is same).
- Open these pictures in photoshop in different layers.
- Erase the layer to expose lower layer and show you at different location.

Try multiple times to get the right picture.

Photo Samples

A must see article (you can ignore to read but see the result).

http://digital-photography-school.com/shooting-portraits-like-a-pro-o...

HDR Tutorial

I want to remind all that blogging is good start to show your skills, get critical eye, tips and problems discussion.

Anyone interested to know about HDR (High Dynamic Range), follow this link.

http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/

Keep shooting

Look good in picture

Some recipes to look good in pictures, its effective when you are in group photos or someone taking your picture casually. I have experienced it myself.

http://www.lookgoodinpictures.com/
Good to try videos on this site: Carson's Times square Clinic, Tips from the celebs, New Born etc.
This website is also promoted by Nikon.

Light Painting

This is my experiment with light painting first time. I have seen lot of folks doing over net and here is my pixel.

Stuff you need.
Dark room, camera with manual exposure capability, tripod, flash light.

- Setup the camera on tripod with 18-135mm lens. (Tripod use is must here).
- Set the exposure time to time taken to paint the name in the air (pre calculated).
- Camera is ON with a go to person who paints the name in the air (my wife obviously). :)
- Starting painting in air, make sure you don't point the flash light towards camera.
- Check the results and adjust your painting accordingly.

You can do any kind of experiment on this. I will be trying out more soon.

Water Droplets

I was out with my family to NY for a week, now back from ground zero to square 1. It was physically challenging times for us with a little kid. I will be posting snaps soon.

I came across a very nice video of how to shoot water droplets, very easy to do and nice results to impress

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-wi...