Sh*t Photographers Say

Canon 70-200mm F4L Coffee Mug

Image from PDNPulse

What is more awesome that owning a Canon L lens? Drinking from it! Kudos to Canon for making us fanboys drool all over again this awesome giveaway. They previously brought out the Canon EOS 5D Mark II flash drive and now this! It will even be more shocking if this mug is also "stabilized."

Here's the PDNPulse article for more information.

Great Images With Humor

Image screen capture from Smashing Apps

This is a great compilation of creative images with a twist of humor taken by imaginative photographers. The list may be short but it will surely jumpstart your creative juices.

Click here to see the compilation.

Photography Themes Galleries

This is a compilation of the various beautiful and amazing galleries I found showcasing the best photographs following a specific theme.

Urban Decay Photography Gallery

Image by Gundross

In stark contrast to the glitz and glamour of the city lies the dark and grungy beauty of urban decay.

Rain Photography Gallery

Image by Agnieszka Borkowska

Some photographers do not like bad weather but some bask in them. These photographers were able to capture the drama and atmosphere that one is unable to extract from good weather.

Night Photography Gallery

Image by Jose Maria Cuellar

Even if night photography is very technical and challenging in nature, you will be rewarded with beautifully lit buildings with light trails, fireworks, lightning strikes and star trails to name a few.

Street Photography Gallery

Image by Blake Andrews

Capturing the decisive moment is the mantra followed by street photographers. As a result, I have very deep respect for them who are able to visualize the image in their minds, compose on the fly, and capture the right moment in the nick of time.

Reflective Photography Gallery

Image by Azzam Merchant

Reflective surfaces surround us thus we can use them to create surreal / abstract photographs or provide a creative depth to images.

Underwater Photography Gallery

Image by Eldad Hagar

Due to the high cost of specialized equipment for underwater photography and the requisite advanced techniques, only a handful of photographers are able to attempt and become successful in this field. On the other hand, amidst these challenges, a photographer will be introduced to a stunning new world of strange creatures and breathtaking ethereal vistas.

Motion Blur Photography

Image by Lee Cullivan

Cameras do not just freeze time. Controlling the shutter speed enables you to creatively create images that depict motion and the sense of motion or speed.

Awesome Photo Manipulations

Image from Toxel

There are regular photo manipulations that you see everyday based on tutorials that you get from the Web (see my last post about 100 Photo Effects Photoshop Tutorials). On the other hand, there are those extremely awesome photo manipulations that make you scratch your head and ask, "How did he do that?" This will definitely be your reactions when you see the digitally modified photographs of Erik Johansson. Just one word, awesome! Click here to be blown away.

100 Photo Effects Photoshop Tutorials

Image screen capture from Photoshop Roadmap

I found this extensive tutorials list a few days back while searching for Photoshop Text Effects tutorials. It is an extensive list of recreating photo effects from Cross Processing to Watercolor using Photoshop. Some of the tutorials even focused on recreating traditional photography techniques. This is also a great way to improve your Photoshop skills and know-how.

Nikon's F-Mount 50th Anniversary

Image from Nikon.com

March 3, 2009 was the 50th anniversary of Nikon's F-mount, the lens-mounting system for its SLRs and Nikkor lenses. To coincide with the anniversary, Nikon is releasing a new logo for the F-mount (shown above). 

Even if I am a Canon user right now, I have deep respect for Nikon's products. In fact, I almost became a Nikon user if not for the price difference between the Canon 350D and the Nikon D70s. My first choice back then was the D70s but unfortunately I was on a budget. Who knows, the winds may change in the future and I will eventually shift to a Nikon. That Nikon F6 is just a sight to behold!

For now, let's enjoy this great video for Nikon's 90th anniversary.

Flickr Explore and FlickrLeech

FlickLeech Adobe Air application

Whenever I feel I am in a photographic rut, I always visit Flickr's Explore Page (or commonly known as Interestingness) to be inspired and bathe in the creative juices of fellow photographers worldwide. Unfortunately though, it was quite a chore to scroll through 50 pages of the day's top 500 images. What more if you plan to go through several days or even months worth of top images.

This is where FlickrLeech, created and maintained by Andrew Houser, is heaven sent. What it does is show in one page all of the top 500 images of the day. It was previously a web site but due to the strain brought about by loading 500 images (even if these were just small preview images), the server hosting the site brought it down.

As a result, Andrew converted FlickrLeech into a desktop application utilizing Adobe Air. You can download the program here or just visit FlickrLeech's site and get more information as well. Be aware though that the program is still in Alpha stage meaning you can encounter some errors while using it. In case you encounter one, you can send your feedback to Andrew's email address.

Macrophotography: Extension Tubes

Image from Kenko

Using extension tubes is one of the cheaper alternatives in doing macrophotography. These tubes are exactly just that, tubes that extend or move the lens away from the camera film or digital sensor. As a result, the lens can focus closer, magnifying the subject in the process. The longer the extension, the greater the magnification.

You will be encountering 3 limitations though. First, extension tubes cause light loss. The farther the lens from the camera film or digital sensor is, the greater the light loss. As a result, this will cause a darker viewfinder and longer exposures.

Second, the longer the lens' focal length, the lower will be the magnification. Conversely, the shorter the focal length, the higher the magnification. This can be computed using the formula below

M = Y/X

where:

M = magnification
Y = total length of the extension tubes in mm
B = lens' focal length in mm

As a result, if you have a 50mm lens and the total length of the extension tubes is 68mm, magnification will be 1.36x or 1.36:1. On the other hand, if you have a 100mm lens attached to a 68mm extension tube, the magnification will just be less than life-size or 0.68x to be exact.

Third, the shorter the focal length of the lens, the closer the subject needs to be to the lens to achieve focus. All lenses has a minimum focusing distance. For example, the minimum focusing distance of the Canon 50mm lens is 0.45m or 1.5 ft. Attaching a 68mm extension tube to this lens results to a reduction in the minimum focusing distance to about 4 inches. If you are dealing with a lens whose focal length is shorter than 5omm, there will be a high probability that the minimum focusing distance between the subject and the lens will be very small. This will be quite impractical if your potential subject is an insect.

By the way, you may be wondering what is the process for computing the minimum focusing distance for a lens attached to an extension tube. It is not quite exact, well as per my research, but I found a great forum thread which discussed this topic.

There are many types of extension tubes depending on the manufacturer. One of the most popular, which I currently use, is manufactured by Kenko (see image above). It is composed of 3 tubes with various lengths, 12, 20 and 36mm respectively. You can use the tubes separately or you can combine or stack all three to get the 68mm length.

Images from Amazon

Canon has its own set of extension tubes, albeit more expensive than the Kenko tubes. One is 12mm in length while the other one is 25mm. You can also use these tubes separately or you can combine both to get 37mm.

If you like to experiment or the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) type, you can also make your extension tube. As I mentioned above, the concept behind these tubes is just to move the lens away from the camera film or digital sensor. If this is the case, you can use any material for the tube as long as it is sturdy and you can place the right adapters so that you can attach it to the lens and camera body. I found two DIY extension tube examples from the Net, one made from a PVC pipe and the other one from a Pringles can, both did a great job in getting great macro images.

You may be asking now, what is the difference then between the DIY and the commercial tubes (except of course for the price). Well, from my standpoint, that will just be the presence or the lack thereof of electronic contacts connecting the lens and camera body. The commercial tubes have electronic contacts which allow you to get camera metering and even focusing. For the DIY tubes, these do not have the contacts thus you need to manually set the metering and even the aperture of the lens. I will be discussing how to do this in my next post when I tackle how to use reversed lens where you will encounter the same problem, the lack of electronic contacts between the lens and the camera.

To give you a sample of what you can get using extension tubes, you can find below a slideshow of the images I captured using a Canon 50mm lens and Kenko extension tubes.

Macrophotography: Measuring Magnification

Magnification is the differentiating factor between macrophotography and closeup work. Anything equal to or higher than 1x magnification (or 1:1 which means the image is the same size as the object being photographed), this is considered to be a macro. Anything lower than 1x magnification is considered to be a closeup.

To measure the magnification of your macro gear setup, get a ruler with mm scale. Take a picture of the ruler focusing on the mm scale. Ensure that you will be able to get a measurement of the image's width in mm. Now, get the width size of your digital camera's sensor. For example, for a Canon 40D, it's 22.2mm. A great resource for this information is Digital Photography Review. Now, divide your sensor's width to that of the width in mm from your image.

As an example, based on my test image below, the width's size is approximately 13mm. Using the Canon 40D sensor size, we divide 22.2mm with 13mm.


Click image to enlarge.

22.2/13 = 1.7. As a result, the magnification of this macro gear setup is about 1.7:1 or 1.7x magnification.

Another example based on my test image below, the width's size is approximately 6mm.


Click image to enlarge.

22.2/6 = 3.7. This is equivalent to 3.7:1 or 3.7x magnification. This is already enough to make a tight portrait of an ant or fly.

Macrophotography: Raynox DCR250

I started with macrophotography when I bought the Raynox DCR250 out of curiosity. This is a closeup filter that you can snap-on to lenses with 52 to 67mm filter sizes. This is how the Raynox looks like attached to my Canon S2 IS via the Canon Conversion Lens Adapter (LAH-DC20).


Click image to enlarge.

This setup is not for the faint of heart though. It looked deceptively simple but when the lens is zoomed to its maximum (equivalent to 432mm), you will get about 2x magnification. At this magnification level, a slight twitch from your subject or a light breeze will look like a storm of movement from the viewfinder. If you do not have a stable support or your blood is laced with caffeine, you will always end up with blurry images.

You can find below a slideshow of the images I captured using the Raynox.



By the way, you may be wondering what is that thing covering the pop-up flash. That is my home-made flash diffuser cut from a small water sprayer. It is a big help in cutting down the harshness of the light from the flash, all the more essential when you are close to your subject.

The Latest: The Beauty and the Beast

These are my current camera gears. One is more than 20 years old while the other one is 3 months old.

I was very lucky when I had the privilege to buy Daniel Go's Canonet G-III QL17. I had been looking for one for quite some time now since I am very interested in trying my hands on film. My heart skipped a beat when I laid my hands on this beauty. The sheer simplicity and quality made me understand why the camera lasted and still operational for all those decades.

I sold my Canon 350D which was my photography companion and provided me with great service for 2 years. I decided to sell it though to utilize the new technologies and features found in the Canon 40D. This new model is a beast in terms of features. What I had a hard time doing in my 350D, I can easily accomplish with the 40D.

The Beginning: Canon S2 IS

This was the camera that opened my world to the beauty and challenges of photography. It was a Canon S2 IS and even if it was a point and shoot camera, through it, I was able to learn the foundations of photography and got amazing pictures.

The most important accessory I bought for the S2 IS was the Canon Conversion Lens Adapter (LAH-DC20).



Through this adapter, I was able to attach filters in front of the lens. My two most favorite filters were a close-up filter (for macrophotography) and an infrared filter (for infrared photography). You can find below two pictures I took using the S2 IS with these filters.

Macrophotography


Infrared Photography


I would be explaining in details in later posts about the gears and workflow I used to get the two pictures above.