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.

Week 11 - Fabulous Inside and Out

After attending ILLUSTRADO Magazine's seminar for Fashion Photography Aesthetics, I was inspired to do a glamour shot.

I've researched some facts on glamour photography and found out that it is sometimes associated with pornography. But the fact was it is an entirely separate venture. Glamour shots are suggestive and erotic but not explicitly pornographic. The true glamour shots produce an air of romance and sexiness without crossing the boundaries of good taste. In totality, a glamour shot is wholesome.

As much as I could, I handled the background with care because I want to focus on my model and not the background. Having a cluttered, busy background may detract from the allure and sultry mystery of my model. I thought of having a plain background is more appropriate for glamour shots.

A White backdrop cloth was used in these shot. I applied what I've learned from some tutorials of Zack Arias and demonstrated the effects of using an umbrella diffuser. As for the lighting, I did a play of shadows across the model's face providing an air of mystery.  A slightly opened umbrella concentrated the light on the model's face.  A flash aiming to a backdrop could have some ring effect (sort of vignette) on the model's image.  I've also learned that to control the flash power, the aperture should be adjusted.

I hope I pleased my model in doing my week 11. After all, she’s already fabulous inside out.  Her eyes speaks with her values.  Kudos for you Tita Zadee and it’s a pleasure having you as a model.

Here is what I produced.

 

Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens, 2 Nikon SB-25 Speedlight, Manfrotto Light Stand, Prodigy umbrella and white cloth as backdrop

Settings: f6.3, 1/160sec., ISO 200, fill light flash power 1/8, back light flash power, 1/16 

Post process: Spot Reduction and Skin Softening with Lightroom 2 and watermarked with Picmarkr  

Gear: Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens, 2 Nikon SB-25 Speedlight, Manfrotto Light Stand, Prodigy umbrella and white cloth as backdrop

Settings: f6.3, 1/160sec., ISO 200, fill light flash power 1/8, back light flash power, 1/16 

Post process: Spot Reduction and Skin Softening with Lightroom 2 and watermarked with Picmarkr