Showing posts with label how to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Milky Way Shooting Post Processing
It's been a while since my last post. Here I would like to share my way of post process the milky way RAW. If you want to know how to shoot the milky way at the first place, you can read my previous post here. Since my last attempt, I have been always looking for new location to shoot the milky way. The galaxy looks the same anywhere, but how you compose the foreground to compliment it matters.
Remember the less light pollution the area you shoot, the better the output captured. You can then extract much better detail from the distance stars. You always want to make sure you have record the best possible RAW file to begin with.
I use Lightroom for post processing the RAW file. First is the white balance.
- White Balance
- Contrast
Increase the contrast to makes the milky way stands out.
- White & Black
Increase the White and decrease the Black. This will makes the stars pop. You manage your slider intensity just before the sky looks pitch black.
- Clarity
Increase the clarity for more sharpness
- Saturation & Vibrance
Increase the saturation and vibrance to bring out the color of the milky way.
- Tone Curve
Increase the highlights and lights and decrease the shadows.
- Noise Reduction
Often we need to shoot at high ISO level (i.e. 1600 - 6400) that will introduce noise. Drag the Luminance level from 0 to about 10-20. You cannot eliminate all the noise wihout sacrificing the details. There should be a balance there.
- Adjustment Brush
Lastly, we need to use the adjustment brush to enhance the milky way. Select the milky way path using the adjustment brush and then increase the contrast, highlight, saturation, clarity, sharpness and reduce only the shadow.
With this few simple tweak, here I would like to show you the before and after post processing photos.
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After
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After
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Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Animals in Black and White
During post processing of the photos I have taken during my visit to the Afamosa Safari, I have noticed some animal photos stand out more in black and white. The coloured background often produce unpleasant distraction of viewer eyes instead of focusing on the animal itself.
Below are few of the photos as example:
In this case, after convert the image to black and white, the eyes of the monkey stands out more, compared to the coloured version where by the green foliage have caused the distraction.
Friday, September 26, 2014
How to Shoot Water Droplet
Stuck at home, gotta find something to do. Then I recall there is one episode of digitalrev showing on how to shoot water (droplet). So be it! Took me 15 minutes to gather all the necessary "equipments" and set it up. It look roughly like this.
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| The Setup. |
The orange plastic bag is fill with little bit of water for droplet purpose, then fill up the bottom tupperware container with water. You see I wrap the flash with red plastic bag to give the image "reddish" look by default. Finally, I mount my camera on a tripod.
The flash was set to 1/32 power. Camera exposure was on ISO100, f/16 and 1/160 seconds. I'm not using high speed sync here because I don't have the hardware to support it. Although D600 is able to sync up to 1/200 sec, I shoot at 1/160 sec to prevent the dark frame problem. The exposure value is just for reference only. You may use these exposure values as a staring point. Next is to manually set the focus distance. I'm using the YongNuo 603 radio trigger to trigger the flash remotely and also to served as remote shutter release. Estimate where the water droplet impact on the surface and I put a straw there to assist me in focusing. Once you get it, set the camera to manual focus. Finally, punch a hole on the orange plastic bag with a needle and let the show begin!
Observe the interval of the water droplet falling into the tupperware below. You can use continuous burst to increase the hit rate, but I prefer accurate timing. After some try and error, you may start to get consistent results. Note that when the droplet falls onto the water surface below, it will first create a round splash, then the droplet sink into the water and bounce back up with "water column". I'm able to manipulate it into many different colors from the white balance and tint scale. Just play around with it in Lightroom and you will be suprise how many color combination it is able to produce. Of course, shoot RAW! Here are some samples from my attempt.
I hope you enjoy the shot and please try at home! Good Luck!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Additional functions guide on Fujifilm X100S
Since I met "him" around May this year, I'm constantly learning on how to use it better for my vacations and day to day casual shoot. At first I seems to be overwhelmed by the optical view finder it has, but overtime, I have find the electronic view finder more appropriate for precise focusing and exposure judgement. The auto ISO feature I explained in the earlier review however, is still used 95% of the time. Max ISO 3200, and Min shutter speed of 1/100s. The remaining is "M" mode for me to archive something against the camera will.
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| A typical environment portrait shot wide open lid by windows light only. |
For portrait shooting, I will shoot wide open at f/2 most of time time, while group photos would be at 4 to 5.6 depends on the crowds. Macro works handheld would be start at f/2.8 to 4 depends on lighting and landscape shot always at f/8. I seldom go beyond f/8 unless I want to lengthen the exposure extensively.
It's a feature even Iphone or any smart phone has it. It produce acceptable results most of the time and I will not hesitate to use it.
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| It stitch up pretty nicely |
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| Stitch up using Microsoft ICE with 4-5 individual shot in Manual mode and manual focus. |
There is one night when I'm at Cameron Highland, I wanted to shoot traffic trail night landscape. I set the camera to f/5.6, ISO to 200 but when I trying to twist the shutter dial for the "first" time, I find the largest value on it was "T" which stands for 1 second and "B" which stands for bulb. I couldn't figure out how I can manually set the shutter speed for more than 1 second! At last after rounds of googling, I managed to find that actually rotating the round dial at the back of the camera actually sets the shutter speed, while fiddling the top dial adjust the aperture by 1/3 stop increment. Maybe it was just me will face this "problem" but I hope this can help others who have similar question. One neat feature on its long exposure is that the LCD screen shows count down in seconds that the exposure is going to end so you can know when the exposure finish.
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| Shot with external flash, YongNuo trigger system. |
TTL on camera flash works wonderfully and I hardly change the flash compensation when using it. Partly it is embedded inside the menu which I find it inconvenient to change it. It just give enough "kick" for some fill flash to subject less than 5m from the camera roughly. However the fun part comes when you can use external flash / remote flash for it. So happen that I have a YongNuo flash trigger system for my Nikons. I have tried to setup on it and it doesn't work. After some research I found out that it can support the Canon version of the YongNuo flash trigger due to the pin head variation. I get a used unit from my Canon friend, Jason and it works! So now, I can trigger the flash remotely from X100S using the YongNuo 603C - (canon version) and trigger any YongNuo 603 trigger and even the latest YongNuo 560III speedlight directly. This opened up many creative possibilities to use it with remote flash.
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| Post processing in Lightroom to add clarity and saturation to the image. |
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| Sample B&W photos converted in Lightroom instead of in-camera jpeg. |
At first, I was attracted by its film simulation (filters) it has in camera to process the jpeg. It gets you the photos immediately without having you to import the photos into Lightroom and convert them into jpeg. After that, I have decided to shoot ONLY RAW no matter what situation and I will always convert / slightly touch up the photo before exporting into jpeg using Lightroom. This is just my personal preference. There is nothing wrong with shooting jpeg. For me, I felt more secure for having the uncompressed data for post processing later.
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| Manual focus on macro subject that is not moving very quick. |
I always use single point center autofocus point for 99% of the time. I practise focus and recompose method. Although it takes more time for certain cases when the camera just cant seem to able to focus on anything (low light or back light condition), I still preferred to do it this way. Sometimes you need someone else to take a photos of you. You can't expect them to focus and recompose for you! You will end up getting out-of-focus shot most of the time! So here comes the 1% where I will set it to "Auto" autofocus points (Access from "Q" Menu, AF Mode to auto), so that the camera will select a focus points whenever you half press the shutter. You will get better hit rate with that. Make sure also you set a smaller aperture (if lighting condition is good) to increase the hit rate.
Macro:
For macro shot which I did quite often with this camera, I normally have to turn on the macro mode, which is always a pain in the ass. It WILL NOT FOCUS ON ANYTHING if you throw a very close up subject for it. In certain extreme condition, I will use manual focus with peaking highlight turn the focus ring to the closest distance on the distance scale(I believe is 0.1m) and moving the camera near to far from the subject. When the subject glowing with white dots like a Christmas tree, you know you have nail the focus and now you just have to press the shutter.
Street shooting:
Street photography is always so fun with this camera because of its small size and quiet shutter. It is important so that your subject is not aware of your existence so that they can be what they are, not looking into the camera with anxious / angry face. I am still very new in photography especially in street photography. I have seen video for it and one of the famous photographer mentioned, take the shot first! then smile at your subject as a sign of appreciation that they allowed you to take a photo. If they smile back, that means you have the permission granted. Otherwise, maybe you need to introduce yourself and telling what you are doing. If they do not wish their photos to be taken, delete it and respect other people privacy.
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I was actually not that close to the subject, I crop the photo to make a better impact. I cheat!
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Flashback:
You might also want to view my initial review of X100S when I first got it here or during my trip to Bangkok, Penang or Taiwan.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The making of Fruit Ninja Style - Strawberry
After dinner today, I went to night market nearby. I saw the strawberry at one of the stall and I decided to be a fruit ninja tonight! hai...yak~ First, chopped the strawberry into few pieces. Don't mess up the order of the slice. Then, carefully slide them into the stick with slightly different orientation (to create the illusion that the strawberry being chopped apart at mid air). Hang the stick in any possible way. I prefer hang it horizontally because the strawberry slice wouldn't stick together easily. I choose a white wall as background because its easier to clone out the stick later in the Lightroom. The knife at the back of strawberry slice to give more dramatic effect. The stage is set.
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| The flash light from the top mimic the directional light source. A white wall as background and of course the knife of a ninja! |
Now I would like to talk about gear. Any camera would do. I prefer an external flash to give a slight edgy look on the image by giving some directional light. My flash is triggered by YongNuo 603. You can get as cheap as RM150 a pair. However, this trigger only support manual flash power. No TTL here. I stopped down to f/8 to give more depth of field at such a close distance. I'm on auto ISO by accident! We are ready to shoot.
The exposure for me is kinda try and error. Use manual exposure to get complete control over the exposure. I did not do it on this time, but the idea is kinda straight forward. If it is too bright, stop down the aperture or the flash power. Vice versa. After a few test shot, here is what I can come out with.
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| Image background looks clean, and the strawberry is properly expose. (maybe slightly over-expose :-p ) |
I import the photo into Lightroom and start removing the stick (use clone tool), adding some contrast, adjusting the colour hue particularly on red and orange channel, and add some vignetting at corner to give more punchy look. The whole process take less than 10 minutes to complete.
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| Fruit Ninja with Strawberry COMPLETE! |
Hopefully this gives you an idea how you can unleash your creativity in photography even if you are stuck at home. A photograph a day, keep your worries away!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
My shots attempt on Milky Way
There are few guidelines to shoot Milky Way:
- Location
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| Google Sky Map Application |
Besides, you should look for a location away from the streets light and city light pollution to maximize the visibility of the Milky Way.
2. Composition
You would like to include some of the object eg. trees, house, mountain as part of your composition to show the sense of scale in the photo. However, you can try out different composition as you have hours to photograph the subject which is moving slowly across the sky.
3. Weather Condition
Do check on the weather forecast on the area that you are about to visit. You need a perfectly clear sky (not even cloudy) in order to get the shot. Besides, watch out for the moon cycle as the moon light can pollute the sky as well. You can check the moon rise and moon set cycle on the internet.
4. Gear
Now we are talking. My recommendation on the gear would be:
- A good camera body. APS-C sensor size at least. This ensure your camera have big enough sensor to pick up the weak light from the distance stars and often result in better high ISO performance.
- Wide angle and big aperture lens. If you can afford the f/2.8 lens such as the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 for the crop sensor or the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L then it shouldn't be a problem. My entry level lens would be the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 Non VC as it is the better choice beside the kit lens. However, if you only have your kit lens, which the maximum aperture at f/3.5 at 18mm, then you would like to give it a try. I will explain why you need such big aperture lens later.
- Tripod!!! or anything that allows your camera stay still during the exposure. Gorilla pod??
- (optional) remote cable shutter release. This is to ensure your camera did not shake when you press down the release shutter. However, you could use your built in camera timer release to avoid camera shake.
- Torch Light. You often shoot in the dark environment. Make sure you can shine your way into the right position and not end up into the swamp or something.
- Proper attire. Jeans, shoe, jacket to cover yourself during the night and walk through the bushes.
- Pepper spray and baseball bet? For security purposes in a not so safe country we live in.
5. Settings
Generally you would get better result with the following settings.
- ISO highest you can get. e.g. 1600-3200. Don't worry about the noise. Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw are good in removing the noise in the post production part. You need to harvest all the available light from the distance star first!
- Largest Aperture possible. For instance, f/2.8 or f/1.8 if you have a wide angle prime. Big aperture means more light can get into your sensor in the same amount of exposure time.
- Focus to infinity. You want your star cluster to look sharp doesn't you? Otherwise you can calculate what is your lens hyperfocal distance (distance to set on the focus scale whereby all the object in your lens would appear sharp!) at a given length which I have no talent to understand it.
- Exposure time not more than 20 seconds! Otherwise your star will start to move and you get a short trail on all the stars you capture. (not the longer the better unless you want to do star trails)
6. Personal Safety
Last but not least, safety first! You might want to travel in packs, carry some light weapons or even first aid kit. Who knows what would happen in the dark bushes? At your own risk.
Finally, I would want to show my outcome on my recent attempt.
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| ISO 1600 | 17mm | f/2.8 | 15 sec |
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| ISO 1000 | 17mm | f/2.8 | 30 sec |
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| ISO 1000 | 17mm | f/2.8 | 30 sec |
If you need more reading, I recommend you check out Milan Teh blog. I get my reference from her as well.
http://www.milanteh.com/2012-05/how-to-photograph-milky-way
It might not be the best, and for sure I will keep trying! Good luck~
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