DIY grid snoot project

I've endeavored to complete this DIY project and it took me about a day. Let's see what's this about, with pictures.

These are the two I've completed. One is 6cm long, the other is 8cm long. The straws inside are 3cm and 5cm long respectively.

Lets see what these do.

#1.This is a bare shot without grid.

#2 This is a shot with the 5cm grid snoot.

#3 This is a shot with the 8cm grid snoot. Notice the area of the circle?

#4. This is how it looks like on the flash itself.

These are going to be very well utilized. Have fun with this!

I intend to do an even longer one. Probably a 10-12cm.

School's a busy-bee

Hi guys! Blog is NOT dead. Repeat. Blog is NOT dead!

I've always had the mind to blog, except school work is piling. Spending more time going out to look for things to photograph rather than being on my computer, especially when I am now doing a photographic elective with NIE. I hope to share this soon, except one stumbling block is the slow upload speed cause I'm staying in hall.

Anyway here's one photo over the weekend:

F1 Practice 3, Qualifiers (Saturday Night) - Ferrari, F. Massa

It was basically a night of panning shots. It's one area of photography that is touch and go for me. Sports photography need very good frames-per-second (fps), which we should be looking at the upper-pro-bodies. Mine's a 550D - fps is not that fantastic, but doable. You might want decent fps for shooting running children as well! One thing that I learnt (or relearned rather), is that being close to the fence and keeping the aperture low can throw the fence off-focus a greater extent, hence making the fence "disappear". This, is, on hindsight. I was sitting at the back rows of the padang grandstand, it is thus, very unfortunate about the fences.

Nevermind. Knowledge is power, it cannot be taken away from you.

Holland Village Outing

You., originally uploaded by du3z.

Just joined a Beginner's Outing on the 7th of August to Holland Village as a guide.

Weather: Cloudy, Raining, Dull - Overcast Skys.
Lighting: Dim, Diffused
Mood: Not there

I was a little late, and the rain didnt' help. I'm glad to have met new friends though, and to share whatever little knowledge I have.

Just sharing this photo.
EXIF:
1/60 @ f/5.6, ISO 800.
S-Curves, Black level, slight sharpening and noise reduction - Sepia-ish tone applied.

Windsurf 2010

Just back from Japan after a 12 day (albeit challenging) trip! 4000+ photos and 2 movies! That will have to wait.

Right now, I went to see Jude at his windsurfing race on the 31th. Apparently, the race's final day is on 1st of August. Couldn't make it.

Anyhow, here are the pictures!

Flag colours of the Day. What do they mean?

Caution. Serious Sport Ahead

Guys from Malaysia testing water #1

Guys from Malaysia testing water #2

Jude from Singapore - Hard @ work

The most important man of the sea - Safety Boat!

The big boys, and girls equipment #1

The big boys, and girls equipment #2

The sun, the beach, the sky, the sails, and the rock.

Jude and his fellow (chao ta)hunks.

NTU peeps! Woohoo! And no I can't join windsurfing for nuts :) cool sport though!

The blue dudes from Malaysia. All the best!

Sam? on the right thinking really hard.

And off they go. And so did we.

Photographic notes:

Armed with my Ultra Wide Angle 10-22 mm, I decided to cover the event exclusively in a unique perspective to sports events. Of course, I'm limited only to the pre-action on shore, if any. But that's okay - I had my friend Zhi Wei with his 200mm end to shoot any action.

The sky was so so blue, I decided to bring it out in my photos. Aside from the polarizer aiding in bringing out the blue and contrast in the sky, I also exposed for the sky , bringing my subjects up to exposure with flash (the later parts). Of course, I'm still learning on the best way. Preferbly, I would be using a big softbox for this purpose. Haven't gotten my hands on one.

We didn't stay on much longer after 2pm when the race 'started'. Uninitiated, we thought all the waiting was silly. Of course, the bigger reason was our tummies - totally famished. Note to self : keep energy bars in my StreetWalker. No energy, no shoots (we got lazy and started sitting down, we missed the NTU and NUS guys heading out).

Great day though! Had fun!

Again, my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31221849@N06/sets/72157624633091496/with/4851776706/

Photos All Rights Reserved.

Jonathan

National Day CR-4 Coverage - 3 Jul 2010

It's been awhile - mainly found myself caught in with 912 photos after last saturday's NDP rehearsal.

It was a day of mixed blessings, as the tickets for a rather premium seat came just two days before. On the day itself, the sky looked bleak and threatening - to the dismay of most photographers. It didn't lend itself any favour of good photo shots, due to poor, undirectional lighting, as you can see in the photos as the day progressed. Anyhow here are some of the photos I decided to upload to flickr:


Some shots before gaining entry to the seats - They were incidentally my favourite shots of the day:


#1. The Lamp-post

#2 The Victorian Gate

#3 The stairway

Some shots during the event:

#3 Overall View of the Padang V3

#5 The Kallang wave w/ Ponchos
#6 The Infantry Contingent?

#7 The Men With Saws

#7 was my favourite of the mobile shots! I felt it caught the spirit or moment of what these men are trying to portray, even if they put it up as a show. All in, many shots were done in 3200 ISO, even some of the firework shots. It was disappointing, but nonetheless a very challenging event to cover. Hopefully, more opportunities like that to come, with a better weather to boot.

Rest of the photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31221849@N06/sets/72157624432998878/with/4771696866/

Please do leave comments if any do catch your eye!

Oh with the internet security coming up as an issue, please note that all photos, as with flickr, are all rights reserved. That means you cannot use it for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without my permission, the photographer and copyright owner.

Gears for comfort

Made a couple of purchases today!

Firstly related to the previous post, I have found my match. The winner is the Think Tank StreetWalker Pro!

Here are some pics:

Full View:

Top Flip:

All my gear stuffed in!

And the other purchases:

Neck Strap to replace the default one:

550D Battery Grip (BG-E8)

So why the grip?

• It enhances grip as the 550D is rather small for a normal guy's hands.
• It allows convenient portrait shoot as there is a 2nd shutter release button
• It adds weight to the relatively light 550D body.
• Heavy lens (in the future) makes the body imbalanced.
• With my 580EX II, it is already top heavy.
• Lastly, increase battery lifetime (strangely enough, the least of the priorities, despite the name, battery grip).

The Hunt For The Perfect Bag

After shooting for about 3 months or so, one of the things that really slow me down would be the shoulder sling bag given by canon.

It gets in the way when I shoot, and I always have to get my darling assistant carry it. It otherwise impairs creativity with a bag sliding across my shoulder ever so often, especially if I shoot solo. Not to mention the strain it has on my back and shoulders trying to balance a one sided weight while shooting.

After the poisonous 550D meet-up, I've decided I should invest in a decent backpack (not slings, please!) to walk around comfortably, independently. After all in the coming Japan trip, I would really dread having to walk about balancing my silly shoulder bag for hours on end.

All said and done. I'm looking at the Kata 3n1 20/22, or some Think Tank Product. It must support tripod carrying, it must be comfortable to the shoulders. Weight distribution must be excellent - thus a sternum + waist support system is a must. It must have a quick-draw compartment and it must not be too difficult to access. Size-wise, medium. Some personal space//interchangeable with expandability to accommodate new lenses (Most likely a 100mm Macro). Budget should be about 150~200+...since I'm buying to last, a little more should be okay. Having said that, I doubt there is a single bag that fits my needs.

Wish me luck in my hunt!