One Night in KL

This is the first time ever I shot a pre-wedding photo at night. Learn a lot of stuff from this experience especially the technical part. Would like to thanks Yew Li for inviting Joshua & I to shoot for this lovely couple, Alex & Phoebe.

First Night Shot

The shots were done during 2008 when I got my camera on the 2nd week. I went to Putrajaya once I finished my work just to do some test shots. When I reach there, it was drizzing. Waited an hour later then only I manage to start shooting. Here are the shots I've got:-

When shooting a night scenery, try to go the the highest f-stop (aperture) so you can get a clear photo for the whole scenery. Like the photo below, the bridge looks sharp but rest of the objects are not clear enough & tripod is a must if shooting with high f-stop as you will need to decreaase your shutter speed to get a desire exposure.

Before I end this, I would like to share one more photo here.

Shoot this photo after I shot photo#2

When it comes to photography, you are talking about creativity. Never afraid to break the rules as long as execute it in a right way. Sometimes shooting an out of focus subject has it's own beauty too. :-))

The Earliest Shots

These are the earliest batch of photos that I shot on the 2nd day after I got my camera. I've attached a macro filter to get these macro shots. The lens I used at that time was AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and currently i'm still using it.

I shot the above photos after I found the way to enhance the color, something that I never thought of. The use of CPL filter to enhance the green color in the photo plus shooting photo with under expose setting actually helps to enhance the color too.

Under-expose without CPL filter

Under-expose with CPL filter

Can you see the differences now? Happy shooting. :-))

The Rule of the Thirds

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

The photograph below demonstrates the application of the rule of thirds. The horizon sits at the horizontal line dividing the lower third of the photo from the upper two-thirds. The rock sits at the intersection of two lines, sometimes called a power point. Points of interest in the photo don't have to actually touch one of these lines to take advantage of the rule of thirds.

The principles of the rule of the thirds

The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. Using any compositional guidelines inflexibly is generally discouraged, as there are many situations in which they are best ignored; the main reason for observing the rule of thirds being to discourage placement of the subject at the center, or prevent a horizon "dividing the picture in half".

When photographing or filming people, it is common to line the body up with a vertical line, and having the person's eyes in line with a horizontal one. If filming a moving subject, the same pattern is often followed, with the majority of the extra room being in front of the person (the way they are moving).

NIKKOR Lens Glossary

ED glass — an essential element of NIKKOR telephoto lenses

Nikon developed ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass to enable the production of lenses that offer superior sharpness and color correction by minimizing chromatic aberration.Put simply, chromatic aberration is a type of image and color dispersion that occurs when light rays of varying wavelengths pass through optical glass. In the past, correcting this problem for telephoto lenses required special optical elements that offer anomalous dispersion characteristics — specifically calcium fluoride crystals. However, fluorite easily cracks and is sensitive to temperature changes that can adversely affect focusing by altering the lens’ refractive index.So Nikon designers and engineers put their heads together and came up with ED glass, which offers all the benefits, yet none of the drawbacks of calcium fluorite-based glass. With this innovation, Nikon developed several types of ED glass suitable for various lenses.They deliver stunning sharpness and contrast even at their largest apertures. In this way, NIKKOR’s ED-series lenses exemplify Nikon’s preeminence in lens innovation and performance.

Nikon Super Integrated Coating ensures exceptional performance

To enhance the performance of its optical lens elements, Nikon employs an exclusive multilayer lens coating that helps reduce ghost and flare to a negligible level.Nikon Super Integrated Coating achieves a number of objectives, including minimized reflection in the wider wavelength range and superior color balance and reproduction. Nikon Super Integrated Coating is especially effective for lenses with a large number of elements, like our Zoom-NIKKOR lenses.Also, Nikon's multilayer coating process is tailored to the design of each particular lens. The number of coatings applied to each lens elementis carefully calculated to match the lens type and glass used, and also to assure the uniform color balance that characterizes NIKKOR lenses. This results in lenses that meet much higher standards than the rest of the industry.

Nano Crystal Coat

Nano Crystal Coat is an antireflective coating that originated in the development of NSR-series (Nikon Step and Repeat) semiconductor manufacturing devices. It virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths, and is particularly effective in reducing ghost and flare peculiar to ultra-wideangle lenses. Nano Crystal Coat employs multiple layers of Nikon’s outstanding extra-low refractive index coating, which features ultra-fine crystallized particles of nano size (one nanometer equals one millionth of a mm). Nikon now proudly marks a world first by applying this coating technology to a wide range of lenses for use in consumer optical products.

Aspherical lens elements

Nikon introduced the first photographic lens with aspherical lens elements in 1968. What sets them apart? Aspherical lenses virtually eliminate the problem of coma and other types of lens aberration — even when used at the widest aperture. They are particularly useful in correcting the distortion in wide angle lenses. In addition, use of aspherical lenses contributes to a lighter and smaller lens design.Nikon employs three types of aspherical lens elements. Precision-ground aspherical lens elements are the finest expression of lens-crafting art, demanding extremely rigorous production standards. Hybrid lenses are made of a special plastic molded onto optical glass. Molded glass aspherical lenses are manufactured by molding a unique type of optical glass using a special metal die technique.

Close-Range Correction system

The Close-Range Correction (CRC) system is one of Nikon’s most important focusing innovations, for it provides superior picture quality at close focusing distances and increases the focusing range.With CRC, the lens elements are configured in a “floating element” design wherein each lens group moves independently to achieve focusing. This ensures superior lens performance even when shooting at close distances. The CRC system is used in fisheye, wideangle, Micro, and selected medium telephoto NIKKOR lenses.

Internal Focusing (IF)

Imagine being able to focus a lens without it changing in size. Nikon’s IF technology enables just that. All internal optical movement is limited to the interior of the nonextending lens barrel. This allows for a more compact, lightweight construction as well as a closer focusing distance. In addition, a smaller and lighter focusing lens group is employed to ensure faster focusing. The IF system is featured in most NIKKOR telephoto and selected NIKKOR zoom lenses.

Rear Focusing (RF)

With Nikon’s Rear Focusing (RF) system, all the lens elements are divided into specific lens groups, with only the rear lens group moving for focusing. This makes autofocusing operation smoother and faster.

AF DC-NIKKOR lenses — unique NIKKOR lenses for unique portraits

AF DC-NIKKOR lenses feature exclusive Nikon Defocus-image Control technology. This allows photographers to control the degree of spherical aberration in the foreground or background by rotating the lens’ DC ring. This will create a rounded out-of-focus blur that is ideal for portrait photography. No other lenses in the world offer this special technique.

Distance information

D-type and G-type NIKKOR lenses relay subject-to-camera distance information to AF Nikon camera bodies. This then makes possible advances like 3D Matrix Metering and 3D Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill-Flash.Note: D-type and G-type NIKKOR lenses provide distance information to the following cameras: Auto exposure; F6, F5, F100, F90X, F80, F75, F70, F65, F60, F55, F50, PRONEA S, PRONEA 600i, D2 series, D1 series, D100 and D70s/D70.Flash control; F6, F5, F100, F90X, F80, F75, F70, D2 series, D1 series, D100 and D70s/D70.

G-type NIKKOR

The G-type NIKKOR has no aperture ring; aperture should be selected from camera body.

Silent Wave Motor

Nikon’s AF-S technology is yet another reason professional photographers like NIKKOR telephoto lenses. AF-S NIKKOR lenses feature Nikon’s SWM which converts “traveling waves” into rotational energy to focus the optics. This enables high-speed autofocusing that’s extremely accurate and super quiet.

M/A mode

AF-S NIKKOR lenses feature Nikon’s exclusive M/A mode, that allows switching from autofocus to manual operation with virtually no time lag — even during AF servo operation and regardless of AF mode in use.

Vibration Reduction (VR)

This innovative VR system minimizes image blur caused by camera shake, and offers the equivalent of shooting at a shutter speed three stops (eight times) faster.* It allows handheld shooting at dusk, at night, and even in poorly lit interiors. The lens’ VR system also detects automatically when the photographer pans — no special mode is required.* As determined by Nikon performance tests.

DX NIKKOR

Compact and lightweight DX NIKKOR lenses featuring a smaller image circle are specially designed and optimized for Nikon D2-series, D1-series, D100 and D70s/D70 digital SLR cameras. These are ideal options for landscape photographers and others who need to shoot expansive scenes with Nikon DX-Format digital SLRs.Note: We do not recommend use of DX NIKKOR with 35mm (135) or IX240 format cameras.

source: http://www.nikon.com/

The Little Vietnam

This photo of a little boy in Vietnam, portrays himself as a buffalo in the paddy field. At that moment, I was thinking, is this going to be his future?

Mac 2009 @ Sapa, Vietnam