it is fun to use PnS to do MACRO .... Liveview focus so easy ... AF ...... no need flash :D
non edit, non crop(shoot in Square), non curve, no change saturation .... noise reduce and resize only .....
this was shooting with my new gear family
http://liewwk-macro.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-gear-pns-camera-panasonic-lx5.html
finally I had make decision for my spare body .... a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5....
think too many people give review to this camera, and I am not going to share one now but my 1st hand experience
1. a solid point and shot
2. 1cm macro is fun (I am back with so much of DOF now)
3. image quality , from the screen is great
4. size much smaller than my 5d but slightly bigger than my Ixus700
5. for a new user (1st time using Panasonic camera), I understand and know where to set most of the basic requirement setting in ~10 minutes .. so this is consider a very user friendly PnS
will shoot more pictures using this camera to share more actual IQ concern :D
Full Specification can easily get from google or http://www.dpreview.com/news/1007/10072110panasonicdmclx5.asp
the main specifications that make me choose this
1. 24mm wide angle
2. aperture f2.0
3. proven IQ LX3
4. shutter speed 30-60s (24mm F2 @60s ... good for star :D)
5. 1cm MACRO
love to do night macro but some of the insect may not active or sleeping in the night and it is good to shoot them while sleeping as in daylight you may not possible to shoot it .. e.g. bee, the bee use to flying around non-stop and not easy to have a capture of it in the day light but at night it will sleeping as
- it seldom move, or we can move it any location/direction to capture a beautiful sleeping style
but I getting bore after a while looking at this beautiful bee sleeping .. so I decide to mark the location and go back in the early morning (just before the bee wake up) , what I going todo
- wake up early (~6-630am)
- go back to the mark location
- use tripod to aiming or pre-focus to the bee
- wait ................................. it may wake up 1-1.5hr later :D so patient is important here
- the moment it wake up, it will stay still for ~5-30s depend on luck
- do not touch it to make it wake up this will make it flew off within 2-5s after we touch it
As special requested for Jan 2011, I have additional workshop happen on 16- 17 Jan near Genting, Pahang area.
it going to be 2days 1 night sharing, which include
1. travel from/return PJ/KL to Genting area
2. max 5 participants but 3 are fill so 2 left
3. accommodation include
4. 1 breakfast, 2 lunch, 1 dinner included
5. theory sharing for basic requirements for Nature - MACRO photography
- gears basic
- setting basic
- lighting advices and DIY diffuser base on participant current setup
6. Basic Post Processing with Photoshop
- WB correction
- color cast remove
- sensor dusts handling
- basic curve and saturation
- cloning
- noise reduction
7. practical shooting with recommended method
- basic MACRO shooting skill
- flash shooting and natural light
Who should attend
- those have basic knowledge of photography and would like to know more on MACRO
What should bring
- Camera (DSLR will be recommended)
- MACRO len, if no MACRO len let me know more what do you have and we will arrange loan equipments
- flash (external prefer)
- tripod and monopod
- clothes for change
- notebook is recommended
http://www.liewwkphoto.com/gallery6.htmWe need to give good respect to people doing a lot of slow shutter photography... their patient to have better work need to respect ......
every shots could toke easily from 15s up to minutes... or even hours ... but it may not come out good due to composition, light change affect final output, wind shake, wave shake ....
every one extra stop we are talking in slow shutter could be in minutes ...
e.g. while we have correct exposure @30s but as for the light change (getting dark) due to sunset, we may need to have extra 1-2 stop where we are talking
30s extra exposure for 1 stop and 90s extra exposure for 2 stops .... as long as the calculation is wrong .... then everything have to reshoot, re-calculate again .......
I am shooting slow shutter witheither
1. night scape
2. B+W ND1000x
3. Lee Filter - Big Stopper
after few shooting, I start love the slow shutter photography and promise to shoot more and share more .... and a New Gallery create for www.liewwkphoto.com
last weekend, have few good discover.. few good spots for sunset... and another wonderful sunrise spots found beach @Port Dickson (west coast of Malaysia) think many people will ask why can shoot the sun rise from the horizon ... :D
so the simple answer is as for now, the sun rise from east south so as the beach location it face east south and a river on east if we move ourselves along the beach ........
not only the sunrise surprise me but the reflection of the beach ..... I wonder why it call Mirror Lake (Pantai Cermin) while I was there few times .. but now I may know why it call such name ... the beach itself is nature mirror of the beautiful sky/sunrise, while I look for better foreground (sorry not much foreground can be found here especially high tide), I found the beach itself will become reflective after ~2-3 s after the wave hit the beach and it will disappear in few seconds too (after the water dissolve/penetrate into the ground).... the sunrise not really beautiful but I still share few pictures of this outing due to the nature beauty of this beach ....
and a series of pictures show how's the reflection come and go
I will definite will re-visit this place ...and share more soon....
location
- from Kuala Lumpur, South (Melaka, Johor, Singapore) from North south Highway
- look for Port Dickson out
- then look for Port Dickson (highway will be much easier/faster to access this beach) so follow Port Dickson (green board)
- follow the highway, you should reach to a roundabout ... don't worry look for Tanjung Tuan lighthouse direction
- before reach Tanjung Tuan
it is a right turn to famous Tanjung Biru (Blue Lagoon) and Pantai Cermin is on yours' left instead
just a quick share why I use GND or 10 stops ND filters in some case
1. the sky and foreground always have different of exposures and I do not want to use exposures blending, HDR and black card method to correct the exposure ...
e.g. original shot , no PP no filter, the sky look lost some highlight details especially the clouds
2. to get the correct exposure of the sky then foreground will look under
3. to correct the exposures, I normally use
i. Lee Filter GND filter
ii. Exposures masking (shoot multiple pictures to merge it)
iii. HDR
iv. black card, only apply while long exposure
but for this I only want to disucss 3i (Lee Filter GND)
4. to correct it normally I use Graduate Nature Density filter (GND) to correct the exposure of the sky or get more details of the sky without changing the foreground exposure
- with the help of the GND I have both sky and sea at right exposure with minimum effort
5. but for this type of weather, the sky may look dull and not so attractive.. so I make use of the bid stop ND to make the water look silky and the cloud movement ......
the exp from 1/5s to 140++s which allow us to see the movement line of the clouds to create more attractive sky and silky sea
and with proper planning here is my result
I will share how to use exposures masking, Photoshop GND ... in future ....
it is not my 1st time visit this place .. but last week we make final decision to drop by and spent a wonderful evening with my gang [shunfa, Lio, Xiao Yi & Ken]....
it is locate almost end of famous beach Port Dickson where almost reach Melaka.
direction
- from Kuala Lumpur, South (Melaka, Johor, Singapore) from North south Highway
- look for Port Dickson out
- then look for Port Dickson (highway will be much easier/faster to access this beach) so follow Port Dickson (green board)
- follow the highway, you should reach to a roundabout ... don't worry look for Tanjung Tuan lighthouse direction
- then look for Pantai Pasir Panjang (which is ~12km to the destination)
- this place locate near Ikan Bakar Pantai Pasir Panjang
this place facing sunset so this is a good sunset spot with Tanjung Tuan Light house locate at far (but after dark you still view the light house lihgt)
e.g.
few advice .
1. take note of yours' tripod .. many fisherman walk around .. so may accident "kick" yours' tripod into sea
2. do not look for 2nd seafood store (the center one).. it took hours to serve even not much customer (ouckesssssssss, we are 2nd table and wait ~1.15 hours for our dishes to server)
3. mosquitoes after dark
4. plan with tide level if you want different view of the pier
5. beach is further in the ikan bakar store so if bring family have to plan for this as this spot do not have beach
......
As mentioned, slowly discuss all my equipments so I can't remember what I use after years later :D
from 3++ years ago, Sony a200, a700, 50d... all previous experience I did minimum own 3-4 batteries but until I own Canon EOS 5dm2, I still own 2 as today .. why .. this battery is so expensive .. ~RM330 (USD100) per pcs .. wow .......and there is no proven real good oem battery so far ... hmmm but recently someone told me another brand (OEM), and I just ordered online and hope it is real good and then I will share it here again....
so what so great of this battery ? the % .... it tell truth ,mean it tell you 5% mean you only have 5% to use not like previous battery even you see 1/3 bar but then it could just turn off your camera in 30s, you won;t know yours' actual remaining capacity. but for this .. it is so accurate ..
and how lasting ? hmmm if I shoot macro (non Liveview) with moderate preview .. it can easily shoot up to ~400-500 pictures ..... but while I shoot landscape, where I 95% use liveview and preview moderate, it only can last ~150-200 pictures and depend on the places I shoot (highland ... cold season .. all count too) ....
and why suddenly I want to share this before other accessories, because to let other know ... don't save xx dollar and you may already spent xxxxx dollar on gears .. it is so important ... and let's me share an experience (yesterday)...
I was went out for a discussion, and we decided to choose a place where I shoot a ok ok picture ... (as my client would like to shoot too)
but then, while I reach .... I have my tripod, lee filters , lenses ready .. and spot ready ... while I turn on my battery .. my battery sign blinking .. aikssssssssssss.. goiks .. and I went check .. it left 4% ........................................... and the sunset look great ... so I can';t resist to shoot few .. but the sky just turn amazing ... and I know I left last chance, may be last shot or even less than 5 ............and the SKY keep turn so dramatic , and I ask where is ALEX as he use to be here everyday and he is my the only hope . but he didn't turn up as busy with work .....and I use my last battery available to capture a video to share
so look at this view , do you still want to save $ on yours' battery ????
