Oh no, I'm still in Busan but I decided to shift from hobby photography to professional photography. I currently taking portrait photoshoots in Busan. Checkout my new blog at www.lrphotog.blogspot.kr and my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lrphotographybusan
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Monday, November 11, 2013
The meeting with the previous owner of the Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, was really pleasant. I'm happy to
know a nice man, a traveler, artist and photographer born in the same
year as me :) If you are reading this, thanks Marty!
Finally got the D3100 mirror error fixed!! After swapping cash with the used lens, the D3100 gave an error that says this "Error, press release shutter button again". Imagine my disappointment!! Because we were traveling away from home, I wasn't confident fixing it myself until at least I know I have the cleaning kit around me. The error was finally fixed after watching a simple YouTube video about the mirror can be 'unstucked'. My husband helped me do it since I wasn't confident. I just warned him not to touch the sensor at the back of the body!
So, I got working immediately and during the day, I was trying mostly the view outside our apartment and around the house. Of course, Gwangan Bridge is mostly in my shots. In the evening, as the second day of sudden cold (to signal the coming of winter) as the sun set and because hubby was home to watch the kids for a while, I went downstairs instead of taking picture from the apartment to avoid the dirty glasses of my windows.
Finally got the D3100 mirror error fixed!! After swapping cash with the used lens, the D3100 gave an error that says this "Error, press release shutter button again". Imagine my disappointment!! Because we were traveling away from home, I wasn't confident fixing it myself until at least I know I have the cleaning kit around me. The error was finally fixed after watching a simple YouTube video about the mirror can be 'unstucked'. My husband helped me do it since I wasn't confident. I just warned him not to touch the sensor at the back of the body!
So, I got working immediately and during the day, I was trying mostly the view outside our apartment and around the house. Of course, Gwangan Bridge is mostly in my shots. In the evening, as the second day of sudden cold (to signal the coming of winter) as the sun set and because hubby was home to watch the kids for a while, I went downstairs instead of taking picture from the apartment to avoid the dirty glasses of my windows.
 | ||
| At 200mm focal length. Oh, I love how the golden orange contrast with the black here. I realized that I was at ground level, the sun is blocked by the bridge in this sunset view. In all, the zoom focus is crisp and fast. The only problem maybe a moving subject towards or away from you like the joggers and cyclists I tried getting but were blurry. I hadn't had time to change the ISO because my fingers were already frozen!
|
 |
| After sunset I quickly went in to prepare dinner but as minutes passed and I was in the middle of cooking, I realized there is a brilliant combination of colour happening here. This is rare as its not always a clear sky in the autumn. I took shots from the apartment. I did not use the flimsy tripod I got from ebay but I rested the camera and lens on the ledge of the window. However, the lens was too long so I had to hold my breath for half a second every time I release the shutter. This is among the more steady ones. Others were kinda shaky. (Gotta get a good tripod soon) |
 |
| Taken at 24mm focal length. The corner upper left seems to be a satellite reflecting back to earth. |
 |
| This rising moon was taken as the sun set at 200mm focal length. |
 |
| The same image cropped. I never would have done this with the kit lens! |
In whole, I happy with the lens performance despite being a used one (2 years) except for the manual focus ring that seem to be not smooth when turned. The switch to change from A/M to M focus is also kind of hard. Perhaps this is common for used or not so new lenses?
Monday, November 4, 2013
At this point, I am a little excited to wait to get my hands on the Nikkor 18-200mm VR I'm supposed to pick up in Seoul from an artist/photographer (from what I gather from his website) because he recently switched to a full frame system. That means (I'm guessing from what I can remember from an article I read sometime ago) that he can still use the lens with his new SLR but it will be much cropped from the actual captured image. Anyway, he's been so nice to give the lens to me with a great deal.
I will talk about that more once I get the lens! Anyway, back to the actual post, I know I'm spending so much on the lens (yes, it's a second hand deal but it is an expensive lens to start with), I knew I need a better camera bag to carry it around, as its heavier and longer than the current kit lens. I could actually imagine how I will be traveling and touring with the lens AND the 2 kids and I could imagine bumping the lens while trying to console or comfort a crying/screaming/tired toddler. I told myself, NO way I'm going to let it happen. However, I do not want to carry so many bags as we always carry a backpack or tote for the kids food, change, water and wet tissue too.
First I looked at ebay if there were cheap camera cover and the cheapest was about USD25 and a professional bag can come up to USD300! After some research I come across these cute handmade camera covers in Etsy!! I thought to myself, I have the materials, a sewing machine and the old foam mat (the toddler made a big hole in it anyway), why not make myself a camera cover!? *Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! *Idea rush!!
I looked at a few tutorials from blogs and none actually showed how they are actually made. So I took about 12 hours making this first prototype because I had to do a lot of trial and error. I am actually HAPPY how it turned out! AH....bliss...without a hole in my pocket.
The padding or used to be foam mat is 10mm thick which is thick enough to absorb bumps but flexible enough for me to work with. Certainly will put to the real test how this camera cover work with me in terms of convenience, durability and protection but I'm pretty confident putting it into the backpack on top of the kid's stuff or even carry it around my neck just as it is. I'm sure to grab some attention too :)
By the way I also have another hobby that is crochet and knitting and I have a special Facebook page for that. Go check out, www.facebook.com/anyonghandmade
After this, I can't wait to add padding to my handbags and totes to tranform them to ladylike, stylish DSLR camera bags.
I will talk about that more once I get the lens! Anyway, back to the actual post, I know I'm spending so much on the lens (yes, it's a second hand deal but it is an expensive lens to start with), I knew I need a better camera bag to carry it around, as its heavier and longer than the current kit lens. I could actually imagine how I will be traveling and touring with the lens AND the 2 kids and I could imagine bumping the lens while trying to console or comfort a crying/screaming/tired toddler. I told myself, NO way I'm going to let it happen. However, I do not want to carry so many bags as we always carry a backpack or tote for the kids food, change, water and wet tissue too.
First I looked at ebay if there were cheap camera cover and the cheapest was about USD25 and a professional bag can come up to USD300! After some research I come across these cute handmade camera covers in Etsy!! I thought to myself, I have the materials, a sewing machine and the old foam mat (the toddler made a big hole in it anyway), why not make myself a camera cover!? *Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! *Idea rush!!
I looked at a few tutorials from blogs and none actually showed how they are actually made. So I took about 12 hours making this first prototype because I had to do a lot of trial and error. I am actually HAPPY how it turned out! AH....bliss...without a hole in my pocket.
The padding or used to be foam mat is 10mm thick which is thick enough to absorb bumps but flexible enough for me to work with. Certainly will put to the real test how this camera cover work with me in terms of convenience, durability and protection but I'm pretty confident putting it into the backpack on top of the kid's stuff or even carry it around my neck just as it is. I'm sure to grab some attention too :)
 |
| I looked for the Nikkor 18-200 VR dimensions to make the lens part of this camera cover. The dinosaur fabric was what I had so I worked with it. Will certainly make with another pattern next time. |
After this, I can't wait to add padding to my handbags and totes to tranform them to ladylike, stylish DSLR camera bags.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Jinju is about 1.5 hours away from Haeundae, Busan but it took us a good 3 hours because of traffic entering the highway. Preparing to go out with kids, we left home quite late so that's one of the reason we were caught in the traffic jam :(
Okay, so the weather was not only cloudy but OVERCAST and that created a lot of diffused light and its not my favourite kind of outdoor lighting. I can work with evening light easily but cloudy light is something I haven't grasped really well. I should be because this is not an uncommon weather anywhere in the world (try to think hazy Hong Kong). However, for portraiture photography, this weather is favoured due to its light shadow effect and subjects do not have to work hard to open their eyes and appear squinting all the time. But, at this time, I was concentrating on landscape which was quite difficult. What it does is, it creates light that is not bright enough to light up foregrounds and ground subjects but bright enough to create foreground. So, on an auto mode, normally what will happen is either you have a bright background and dark foreground OR clear foreground but whitewashed background. In a perfect world, you'd want a clear blue sky with hints of clouds but what we can do is make the best out of it. Many high impact landscape photos are of 'happening' sky action but when its overcast, well, I just try to avoid sky images as much as possible. Using the 'cloudy' white balance, did not really help. So I used auto white balance.
I should be researching this further but this is what I tried to overcome the condition, so this is just me:
Used ISO 200-400, aperture at the most at f/5.6, centre metering and adjusted the exposure compensation depending on the scene. The yellow, orange and brown colours of the autumn leaves were my concern where I didn't want it to not show but I did not want them to be white washed too. I tried taking less sky images because I knew they were less appealing and it would create the problem of dark foreground.
Okay, so the weather was not only cloudy but OVERCAST and that created a lot of diffused light and its not my favourite kind of outdoor lighting. I can work with evening light easily but cloudy light is something I haven't grasped really well. I should be because this is not an uncommon weather anywhere in the world (try to think hazy Hong Kong). However, for portraiture photography, this weather is favoured due to its light shadow effect and subjects do not have to work hard to open their eyes and appear squinting all the time. But, at this time, I was concentrating on landscape which was quite difficult. What it does is, it creates light that is not bright enough to light up foregrounds and ground subjects but bright enough to create foreground. So, on an auto mode, normally what will happen is either you have a bright background and dark foreground OR clear foreground but whitewashed background. In a perfect world, you'd want a clear blue sky with hints of clouds but what we can do is make the best out of it. Many high impact landscape photos are of 'happening' sky action but when its overcast, well, I just try to avoid sky images as much as possible. Using the 'cloudy' white balance, did not really help. So I used auto white balance.
I should be researching this further but this is what I tried to overcome the condition, so this is just me:
Used ISO 200-400, aperture at the most at f/5.6, centre metering and adjusted the exposure compensation depending on the scene. The yellow, orange and brown colours of the autumn leaves were my concern where I didn't want it to not show but I did not want them to be white washed too. I tried taking less sky images because I knew they were less appealing and it would create the problem of dark foreground.
 |
| Ahhh...found a lovely maple tree. |
 |
| The stone that comes with a story about a gisaeng (female entertainer) who threw herself into the river to drown a Japanese general in a 1593 invasion. |
It was soon dark by 5pm so I took some night views before looking for dinner.
 |
| One of the bridge on Namgang River |
 |
| The Bamboo Walk along Namgang River |
 |
| I froze for 8 second for this photo :) |
Friday, November 1, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
*I should be consistent with my watermarking though..will work on that.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Anyonghaseyo!! I know this photoblog looks pathetic with very little postings. I have so many images but busy with life as a housewife in Busan now. So, I relocated here and will be imaging from South Korea. This is a brilliant view of the longest bridge in South Korea, the Gwangan Bridge. It connects rather one side of a bay to another (Haeundae to Suyeong) rather than a mainland to an island unlike the Penang Bridge. It's about half the length of Penang Bridge. This photo is taken at manual setting, ISO cranked up to 3200, shutter speed 1 sec and aperture f/5.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
