What You See Is What You (Don't Always) Get

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Night Photography

Wow!! Here we go.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I feel like I am at 0.5 at being a photography expert. Ansel Adam fans need not worry. But but.....

some estimates have it that I have the best camera on the market when it comes to a night photography off of a full frame camera. (Easy now.....I am not talking about Hasselblad H4D or Setiz or Leica S2-P here - I am talking about camera rest of us human being can afford - still a hefty chunk though - like ~8-10K mind you!! for the body and few solid lenses that is!!).

Just ask Gary L Friedman, a professional photographer who has written several books on photography; per him Sony Alpha 99 edges out Canon Mark III and Nikon D800 when it comes to overall photo quality. See his picture comparison below shot at night - specially the windows on the dark building on the lower right on each frame - All pics were shot at 6400 ISO from the different models listed below. Looks like A99 is the clear winner here. Also notice the noise level. Thanks Friedman dude for boosting my ego.

image courtesy and © Gary L. Friedman

So this peeked my interest on night photography that I never had in a hurry. I picked up my camera and decided to go on a shooting rampage - at the roof of my condo (only place I felt safe enough for night photography in BKK!!!).

For starters, playing around with my settings, I shot below pic at ISO 800 with a tripod, exposed for 10 Sec with F13 on my wide angle Carl Zeiss 24 mm 2.0 Lens. It was shot at around 10 PM at night with no moon light and with naked eye you could only make out the shapes of the buildings. You however, of course, could see all the windows with lights. (They tell you to shoot RAW, ohhhh to capture all the details, so I did, only to touch up a bit for WB in Photoshop later and cropped some as well) What started out as 25 MB size image scaled down to 12.5 MB by the time I was done with saving it as a JPEG. Camera was set to WB Tungsten lamp btw. Why did I choose this WB setting I don't know. I thought blue looked cooler than the other colors - that's why - or because of the fact that I self scored at 0.5 out of 10 haha. Well...what do you think? Is it a good start? I sure can't tell. All I can say is compared to what the eyes saw detail here is as if someone gave you a night vision goggle.

(Click on the pic for larger image)

Liking what I saw in my view finder in terms of what this toy could do, I thought why stop there and swung my tripod around by 60 Deg or so to focus where the buildings were a lot closer. This time I decided to give ISO 200 a try to see how much reduction there would be on the digital noise (above picture still has digital noise if you were to zoom in a bit). I set it up to F4 this time with 10 Sec exposure again. Below is what I got.

(Click on the pic for larger image)

I was blown away by the amount of light I captured and the reduction in noise. In fact I could have probably gone one F stop higher - it otherwise looks almost like a day time picture for such a dark night. And believe when I say this - it was moon less night and you could barely see the buildings. With F4 focused to infinity I was not sure if I would get everything in focus. With higher F stop I could have had everything in crisp focus - but then I would have had to increase the ISO also which would have beaten the purpose of this exercise to lower the ISO as much as I can.

Now the ultimate!!! What if I tried at 100 ISO close to 11 PM at night and re-shot the first scene?? This time I was going to set the WB to Daylight. Yes Daylight - because this was per one of the Landscape Photography Instructor. Per him you could capture more colors and adjust the WB later if I needed to - as long I shot RAW.

(Click on the pic for larger image)

Above is what I got and I was happy with this outcome. No WB adjustment needed. Hardly any noise and that's the main thing here. This photo was not touched up PS at all. Size of whopping 25 MB. I could zoom in and see every details.

Next stop !! To shoot the light trails, you know the ones that is coming out of the car, that's half way decent (that's worh putting in a blog) as well as shooting sky and capturing milky way galaxy. and all them stars.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Random Photos

Lake at Lumbini Park, BKK

I took this from a fast moving boat - I had to use very high ISO setting (1600) hence you see a lot of digital noise. None the less picture taken at 9PM on a moonless dark evening - I was able to capture the color I saw - blue the sky that I did not see is all camera's doing of course.

This picture was taken last year in Krabi using my Canon DSLR with 18-55 mm lens. Krabi has bunch of cliffs and rock formations right on the shores. This was near one of such shores. This colorful rock on the middle of the beach was unreal.

A walk in the park.

Some Pictures - You Just Take!!! for the composition of it that is. I was hiking down from a light trek I did in Pailini Hills in Southern India - I saw these two rocks among the wildflowers and bushes and reached for the camera. There was a heavy fog - there is nothing you can do to compensate that while taking photos - hence the de-saturated look. None the less pretty happy with the shot.

Why I took this pic? For the color and composition of it.

This is an old photo - at least couple of years old. Taken on my way up to Golden Mont Temple in BKK.What caught my attention were these winding stairs going up the temple that do not reveal the end. For spiritual people - going to a place of worship like this - I am sure looks very metaphorical. That was the thought process as I took this.

After few trials I feel like I have gotten the gist of the panoramic photography - add in the magic of Photoshop and tadaaa....you have this.
You will need to scroll all the way to right to get the full view.

7-15-12
I had gone for a evening walk at a park in Northern Bangkok today. I looked up and saw this and decided to take a shot. Few things were intriguing to me. First is obviously the rainbow color although it does not look like a rainbow. Not sure what causes this. But second strange thing was that as if someone had made a rectangular cut on the cloud with a knife. Equally strange is that the color seem to extend from this cut in the cloud upwards at diagonal as if someone left a stroke of brush full of colors on the canvas.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Outdoors

That's my niece Paragliding - Phewa Lake on the backdrop. There is lot of sky between where I am standing and the lake (at least 3-4K) hence the blue tint on top half of the pic. Not an over-saturated image in anyway - a right filter would have reduced it some and made it bit crisp I am sure.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

River cascading down the mountains - what caught my attention was the fresh green moss clinging to the rock with white water rushing down next it.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Modi Khola En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

Not the cleanest of shot that I usually would like to take none-the-less brings back memories vividly.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

I thought I would frame this not sure how it would turn out. Natural green in you frame is always good.

Sony Aplha 900, Carl Zeiss 135 f 1.8, AWB, Tonle Sap, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2012

The goal was to capture the mood of sleepy fishing village in calm and quiet evening. Do you get that sense?

iPhone, En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

Someday someone will do photo exhibit somewhere with shots just from iPhone. The quality is better than some full fledged point and shoot camera.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Mt. Dhaulagiri, Nepal, 2011

I wish had a polarizer. This shot is ok but the view was divine. That's when I wished I had abetter equipment.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

Yes a filter could have done wonders - but I am still happy with this shot - for some what may look like a over exposed photo - but this is exactly how the mountains appeared in the morning with little bit of fog blanketing the view- almost like water color canvas.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, En Route to ABC, Nepal, 2011

White balance and filter lacking but still was happy with this shot - the square corner rock profiles on mountain face were unreal.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Mt. Machhapuchhre, Nepal, 2011

When the view is this good - even a point and shoot would be a winner.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 2008

What caught my attention were these trees. Would have had to wait bit longer to let her be out of the frame - oh well - adds to the mood.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Rama XI Park, BKK, 2010

What caught my attention was the round bushes.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Rama XI Park, BKK, 2008

Lot of people take these type of shots. Nothing unique here - I was trying to see how it would turn out.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Maya Bay, Koh Phi Phi, Gulf of Thailand, 2010

Few places in the world are as magical as this. A wide angle lens would make this shot fantastic.

Sony Mavis with Carl Zeiss Lens, Full Auto, Chao Phraya River, BKK, 2009

Quality of this shot is terrible I know. But what I like is the depth of field on this photo. I will go back there again and frame this exact shot with my full frame with wide angle lens.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Southern most point, Koh Phi Phi, Gulf of Thailand, 2010

A much too predictable photo spot for tourists. I guess I was no different. But you wont see me in it with a "V" sign and a grin.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB,, Taylors Falls, Minnesota, 2010

Late summer in Minnesota - This is shallow St. Croix river - water is very still - I have canoed here at times.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Night Exposer 1/3 Shutter, Southern most point, Koh Phi Phi, Gulf of Thailand, 2009

The pic came out almost magical even with some blur and tilt.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Off of Krabi, Gulf of Thailand, 2011

These three rocks sat in the middle of the ocean. We snorkleded around it.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Small island off of Krabi, Gulf of Thailand, 2011

The evening sun does wonders to the reflection and color and the mood comes for free with it.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Rose Garden, South of BKK 2011

One of those spots that just makes you stop and reach for the camera. But there is lot of clutter here than I would hive liked. Plus still need to learn to reduce over exposing the sky.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Looking North of Kakani, Nepal, 2010

The pic quality is not that great I know. It was overcast and foggy day. There's nothing you can do about that. But what caught my attention was layers of clouds and then layers of mountain.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, M,odi Khole En Route to ABC Nepal, 2011

The scenery unfolded in front of me as I was climbing down to this river gorge in ABC trail. When the frame lends itself like this - any point and shoot would do it too.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Park in Kakani, Nepal, 2010

Another one of those picture taken in fog. Taking stairs are easy. But I still don't fee like I have quite pulled it off here as far as the mood goes.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Koh Samed, Gulf of Thailand, 2008

The goal was to capture color here. Instead of AWB I should have used Overcast (cloudy) setting to bring whit balance little better. But I thought framing was good. The people (which there are many) in this shot do not seem to distract the outcome.

iPhone, Still Following Modi Khola en route to ABC, 2011

Yup another iPhone shot. How far the phones have come along - and even the laziest of people would be inclined to take chances like these.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, At at rest stop in Ulleri en route to ABC, 2011

I know this photo is little on a cuter side - looks bit staged. But that is what I saw and this is what you have. Only thing it short of fails to capture was how vivid and bright that mountain hiding behind the cloud looked at the moment.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Mountain Stream en route to ABC, 2011

Just one of those shots - My focus were these helpless and wet rocks. I could have tripoded and exposed longer for smoother water profile but I didn't have time.

Rocoh SLR, Sigms 35 mm lens, ISO 100, Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado Springs, CO, 1993

A print photo from ages ago. Shot taken simply for the pointy peak that decided to be tipsy a little.

Canon Rebel EX EOS, 18-55mm, Full Auto, AWB, Near Krabi, Gulf of Thailand, 2011

Framing - that is too predictable. Why I list it here - do you see 30 or so swimmers that were there?? Neither do I.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Buildings & Temples

My attempt to capture building and temples - although I this would my third choice for photo subject after nature scenes (no wildlife though) and portraits.