Sunday, October 10, 2010

Week 12 - Bokeh and a Panning Mistake

Raynan and I went to ADNEC (Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center) for Barbican Turbo 2010 and Adrenaline Sports Live. I enjoyed all the time and my camera never stop clicking for two days. Team Orange return to Middle East with the debut of the drift queen, Sumika Kubokawa (see her in Gallery section). Other than that were the best in show competition car and bikes, UAE sound off, the city ride, the Barbican stage and region's festival of adrenaline-fuelled sports.

As for my weekly photo project, I'm featuring BOKEH and PANNING.

Bokeh is a photography technique where it is purposely defocusing the lens slightly in order to create a soft borderless feature in the image. I took a close picture of my subject- a pro-skate boarder from Europe (Sorry, I don't know his name but he sure is cute!!) I slightly unfocus my lens so that it is softly blurred. The image background was significantly blurred but tried keeping the foreground image, my subject, recognizable. I've set my exposure time relevant to the amount of light present and set my aperture to a lower f-stop. Here he is in his awesome smile.

Gear: Nikon D90, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8
Settings: f3.2, 1/100sec., ISO-1000
Postprocessing: Soften skin, adjusted brightness for popping the eyes in LR2 and watermarked with Picmarkr
Panning is another photography technique I wanted to feature. However, unsuccessful to demonstrate a good sample, I would like to site what faults I did. I chose a moving subject- a pro-biker (Sorry again not to know his name.). I know he is a good subject that could have great pan shots. I designated a focus point where i will take the photo as I pan. However made a mistake with my shutter speed. To focus on a movingobject, it should have been a very slow shutter speed. A good shutter speed for a bike rider could be around 1/50 of a second. Second mistake is, I didn't use a tripod to keep my camera level while panning. The lens (70-200mm) I use what really heavy causing my hand not to be steady. As much as I would want to follow through the rider and keep my movements smooth, my arms and hands are tired of carrying it in effect, a poor panning shot was made. Here goes the image and I hope I could do better next time.

Gear: Nikon D90, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8
Settings: f3.2, 1/100sec., ISO-1000
Postprocessing: Watermarked with Picmarkr


For other shots taken to this event..... visit the Odds and Ends section.

5 comments:

  1. Nice again Paps,,,, I like the bokeh in the lights. Although you mentioned a mistake in your panning, I like it still.

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  2. Hi Imelda

    My name is Bryan Espie and I am the Marketing Director for Barbican Turbo & Adrenaline Sports Live pres by RANI. I would be very interested in seeing all of your shots from the shows, with a view to using some of them through the year in marketing or for the media if they are suitable.

    Please get in touch with me if you would like to do this.

    Thanks, Bryan
    bryan.espie@ubm.com

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  3. Imelda... your bokeh looks good. I like the blur on the lights. for the panning, it's a good start.

    Congratulations too. I've read above comment. Seems like someone is interested.

    Best of Luck!

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  4. Great post again Imelda.

    I noticed both of your shots is a little bit noisy... Then I check your ISO... Next time, try to set as low as possible, otherwise use a flash.

    Just a piece of advice too.... using 70-200mm lens is really heavy, not to mention the added weight of your camera (+flash if using)... remember to keep a tripod with you always. Don't be lazy carrying it. Would save you a lot when printing large sizes. Who knows, the Bryan could be buying your prints.

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  5. Your bokeh is good.. your panning is a little bit lacking of background movement... but at least you admit it. Nice attitude.

    Practice practice practice

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