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» How to: Shoot Fireworks

For all in the USA, July 4 is coming up tomorrow and there’ll likely be a lot of fireworks displays. I posted this little how-to right before new years this year and reposting it again for all of you going out tomorrow to take some shots. Good luck and have a safe and fun evening!

How To?
First off dial in Manual mode and set the aperture to f/11 or f/13 or something in the likes then set the shutter speed to Bulb, usually indicated by a B. Now when the firework explode, press the shutter and then when the burst has exploded and is wearing off, you let go of it and you should have a working picture of a firework. If you wish to capture many in one frame, just keep it pressed and make sure the frame is pitch black until the next firework goes up. Adjust the aperture as fits between the shots.

Equipment?
It’s best to have a camera that you have full manual mode on but special firework modes can work, although best result is given with a full manual mode. It’s really necessary to have a tripod because you’ll be working with second long exposures that you simply can’t hand-hold. Also learning from own mistakes, never extend the center column on the tripod, even if it feels like you need to, I did it last year only with a good sacrifice in quality in the images. It also helps if you have a remote release to minimize camera shake further as well. I think also a lens in the zoom range of 18-55 or similar works really well because it allows you to get close enough in the sky (if you are close) and also to get some foreground in there as well if you want to, without changing lenses, changing lenses is a no-no!

Position and Preparations
Get to the fireworks display in time and make sure that you know where they are going to be shooting from and set up in a good place where you can see the display and if you want also include some foreground such as the water or something alike. Also make sure you have clean memory cards that are formatted and that they work, also make sure to have your batteries charged and working! Don’t forget to take something warm to wear if it is cold outside either, and good gloves! I hope this little article can benefit you and it is really fun to photograph fireworks!

» Landscapes in general – Tips on shooting!

There are lots of things you can say about landscape photography and how to shoot them and I’ll start off by saying that everyone has their own ideas on what makes the best landscape photograph. I’m trying with this article, to outline some tips and tricks that most landscape photographers can agree on and some tips that I’ve learnt myself while being out in the field.

There are some equipment that really helps to have when you are shooting landscapes. Some of it you could do on the computer but it will degrade the quality and really, doing it in the field is much more fun anyway and usually renders a better quality.

A Tripod is a must most of the times in the landscape environment because of a few things really. Many times you’ll be in the early or late hours of the day when you’ll be working with slower shutter speeds that you cannot hand-hold. However it is not only that; it is also so that you can work with the frame in a more advanced way. Composition can be thought about because the camera stays in place while you zoom, think, add filters or generally change settings and take multiple exposures. This all makes the tripod an essential asset.

Filters are really underestimated in this day. Most think that sure, we can add them after in Photoshop or similar programs. I would say that the person who is sure of that probably either don’t know enough about Photoshop or enough about photography. Let me take two types of filters that you can’t replace. Lets first start with the Graduated Neautral Density filter. To selectively darken a part of the frame is genious. It works especially well for sky and so on. Another filter is the ND, Neutral Density. It allows us to slow down the shutter speeds in broad daylight or at sunset to get nice effects on mainly water.

If we leave the equipment for a bit, because really a tripod and filters are really the most important (apart from the lenses etc.) accessories. Should we now move into a little more of the techniques on getting the photo we want in the end, because that’s what really matters, we would start with a very simple tip.

So my first tip for you is to get down low. Whether you have fancy equipment or the small compact camera this is gonna do a lot of difference and it is really what makes the better from the worse snapshots. Just kneeling down, getting down and dirty with the ground can make a photograph so much better! Try it, it costs hardly anything (just bring a plastic bag if it is moist).

The next tip is probably going to sound pretty silly at first but try it! If I go out to shoot a beautiful landscape I might be so focused up in just the landscape and the view that I either knew I was coming for, or saw the first. The tip here is to look for more. Look around. There might be good details to isolate in the field using a telezoom lens. Landscapes doesn’t have to be wide-angle. Also look closer, maybe there is a small insect of some sort or a nice looking flower that would get lost in a wide-angle composition. This is really a big topic just to look for other things in a scene and not to be afraid of differing. Most shoot landscapes with wide-angle lenses, do differ and shoot with a telezoom or midrange prime and experiment. Your photos will probably end up more unique than the other guy’s.

There is something obvious which needs to get written here and that’s obviously about the light. Photography is all about the light and landscapes are definitely not an exception at all.  If you are new to this you may or may not have heard about shooting in the golden hours by sunrise or sunset when the colours are most pleasing. Don’t let that lure you into never going out shooting on other hours. Instead, learn to capture photos at the other times of the day, still doing landscapes. It can be done but it is just a bit harder. One of the main things people usually do if they are forced into shoting in the midday is to go black and white. Sure, even black and white is easier in the golden hours but it does work good when the sun is high on the sky. Again, experiment and try to be different, that’s what makes or breaks you as a landscape photographer.

Another thing to try with landscape photography is HDR. When you don’t have much of a scene it may be very useful to at least try an HDR bracketing because it can help the shot a lot and make it into a pretty good one. Just don’t overdo it. Keep it real!

I think I’ve covered the main things in landscape photography while still leaving the creativity up to you. I’m not going to tell you here how to capture that wonderful effect that everyone else does, instead leave you to try that yourself. However, be wary of the light. Photograpy is all about light and looking at a flat image is not nice.

As a final part, get out there, shoot wary and good luck in the capturing!

» Late Tipster Tuesday

There are a lot of sites on the web close to being too many to find. Here I share four that’s just generally cool.

• NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) is the first place I start up (apart from my own sites) and check in on the member forums to see what is going on. I just love the place and could rave about it for long. It’s great folks from start to finish. 
   
• Photography Corner is one of the more amazing photography forums I’m visiting and it’s just great all over. From contests to the comments and the members. I’ve learnt so much there over the years that I can’t recommend it enough.
   
• Another great site is CSS-Tricks where you can get a lot of great CSS tricks and learn how to do everything really in a good way using CSS.
   
• The final tip here would be to go and check out the Lexar Digital Photography site section where you can find tips and tutorials from leading photographers in the world.

That’s it from me today and I’m signing off now and going to bed to enjoy another nice day tomorrow! The shot above is also from today’s mini-hike!

 

» Nikon D700 and SB-900 released!

Nikon has announced two new products today, the new Nikon D700 body featuring a full frame FX sensor and the SB-900 flash which features more power and faster recycling time.

Nikon D700

The Nikon D700 is really like a smaller D3. The looks are almost like the D300 but the inside is much more of the D3 featuring the low noise capabilities in the CMOS, FX sensor. It has unlike the D3 a pop-up flash which can come in handy. You have also the two live view modes, either hand-held or tripod mode. Of course there is also the 3" LCD display and a 51-point AF with 3D Focus Tracking. Something that’s still pretty new to the Nikon line, the D700 has a dust reduction system that sounds pretty good as well.

Read More »

Nikon SB-900

The SB-900 is really a pretty awesome flash head. It features a faster recycle time, it is more powerful than the SB-800, has better software, a larger LCD window and also senses whether you happen to be using a DX or FX camera. It also has a great zoom range from 18-200mm which is pretty remarkable. As a final, you can also choose between three different light distribution patterns depending on what you are shooting!

Read More »

» I’m at the Koster Islands!

 

I’ve arrived at the Koster Islands where I’ll be spending the week. I’m also very happy to report that my mobile broadband (that’s brand new) works as I’d hoped, so I have internet access all the week which means I’ll be able to share photos with you all as they come, as well as some dose of news. The image below is what I see outside my window almost from my bed (at least from the little table in the mini-house) well, apart from the fact from that it is an HDR photo. Pretty beautiful isn’t it!

I’ll be scouting around the island from tomorrow and throughout the week and shoot a variety of subjects. From flora to landscapes to forests and to animals, here is everything. I’ll also make good use of my brand new macro lens.

» New Lens - Tamron 90mm f/2.8

 

Today is a new lens day here. As some of you know I’m off to a bit of a vacation this coming week up on the wonderful islands of Koster. It’s some very beautiful nature there and I’m going to be taking a lot of photos while there so I thought why not add another new lens to my arsenal right before this. I have long thought about a good and reasonably priced macro lens (hence the 105 VR too expensive) that would work really well for both Macro and Portraits. Now I felt though that it was a great time to pick this one up. I haven’t really done any testing because I got home late and all (writing this just before midnight now) so I’m looking forward to try it out and I’ll be writing a review during this week.

Sorry for the lack of industry news today but I’ll do a post tomorrow morning here!

» No Blogging Wednesday

Got a lot to do today which means that there will be a no blogging Wednesday. Instead go and check out a guest-blogger post over at Scott Kelby’s blog by Matt Kloskowski that talks about a fun project that involved photoshop! Matt did a wonderful post there and it is worth your time!

Tomorrow is going to be an article Thursday with some coolies! The picture above also from my recent weekend trip! Cool things are happening, more on that tomorrow!

» Late Tuesday Things

It’s busy times right now preparing the shop windows and all for the summer and sales and I’m a bit of the in-house web designer and design/tech guy so I actually get to do a lot of it.

• Microsoft has released a critical update to Office for Mac 2008 bringing it up to 12.1.1. It should fix several things mainly stability and performance issues. The update is available through the Auto Updater which you can get to by going into either Office application and choose "Check for Updates".
   
• Here’s a little tip for you, something I always do. If you are trying to design something, start with a piece of paper and a pencil (having an eraser nearby would be pretty nifty as well). This way you can lay up a lot of things and write comments to yourself before working and finalising it on the computer. Also very easy to show to other people near you for quick-feedback.
   
• If you are looking for an advanced text editor also for the Mac that greatly supports coding, then you should look no further than Smultron. It’s a really good editor that supports all major code languages you want to code in mainly for the web but also for more trivial tasks like doing a to-do list. Check it out!
   
• I’m in the market for a new lens, mainly a macro lens (can’t be too expensive so the Nikon 105 VR is out unfortunately) and if any of you have any experience with one, post a comment and tell me because I’d love to hear it! Needs to be good for macro and portraits. I have a pretty good idea on what to check out but any input and hands-on experience wouldn’t hurt.

» Real Monday News

The weekend is over and everything is back to full swing. Below are the news:

• Are you a keynote user? If you are a mac user and not a keynote user you really should be! In any case, iPresentee has released a lot of free objects (100 of them in fact) for both Keynote, Pages and iWeb! They are really cool and yeah, they are indeed free. Visit the iPresentee site to download.
   
• A little sneak-peak at the future. I’m working on a DVD, unluckily for most of you guys, this first will be about Photoshop Elements and only available in Swedish here in Sweden in one place. I might make the DVD available for order online here (I probably will) but I talked to the boss at the camera store where I work and asked if I could provide a DVD that he can sell/pack with the Elements purchases and I got an OK, so I’m at least getting out there.
   
• I’ve been a NAPP member for a little longer than a year and I really like it and if you’ve been thinking about it, now it s great time to join. Why? Because it is summer and you most likely have a lot of time to learn. Now, NAPP isn’t just about tutorials but also about a great member forum and lots of discounts, reviews and more. Go and visit the NAPP Site.
   
• The top photo is another one from my trip this weekend! Enjoy and see you back tomorrow!

» Late Evening Update

 Alright so I took the train this morning down to the most beautiful little town and coastline that I know of here just north of the city Halmstad here in Sweden. It’s mostly a quick visit to my grandparents but obviously you can’t turn down an amazing shooting opportunity. This is the result of this evening’s shoot, well one of the results (I have a few more). Gonna share some more later one but for now, this’ll have to do. It’s so nice to get out there after working so long with little time for it!

I’ll see you all back tomorrow with a surprisingly bloggy Sunday!