picture taken using iPhone

Recently I have acquired a Holga, the 135 BC to be exact. This is a cheap plastic camera built for 35mm negative. Obviously the build quality is nowhere near the SLRs that I usually use, the lens are made of plastic instead of glass and the body prone to light leaks; but there is something charming about all these. They are unpredictability and the fact that you have to estimate A LOT.

The Holga looks like a point and shoot camera at a glance, however I think it requires a solid understanding of aperture, speed and focus. Even more than normal SLR, because you won’t be able to see what you are focusing on and stuck on 2 modes of aperture.

Briefly speaking the camera has an aperture of f/8 or f/11 depending on the cloudy/sunny switch,  speed of 1/100s or bulb and 4 modes of focus. Like I mentioned previously, there is no way to preview the focus therefore our estimation is the only tool that we can use. The 4 modes are either 1m, 2m, 6m or 10m from the subject.

The film that I used were Fuji Xtra 400, I developed them in a store then scan them with my negative scanner.

Get Creative!

The biggest reason that has driven me into using a Holga is to get creative and practice my composition. By taking away all the SLR precision settings and huge amount of storage, I was able to focus more on composition and think carefully about exposures and focus.

The picture on the left is taken using bulb shutter speed. If I remembered correctly it was around 1 second. I held the shutter button for about 1 second then I let go.I didn’t have a tripod at that time hence I hand-held the camera. One tip  get usable images with the Holga, one will have to be very steady and avoid breathing while taking the shot because the plastic body is very light and prone to movements. Then again, maybe you do want some movements to for the sake of creativity .

Another way to get some more interesting images is by utilizing Holga’s multi-exposure. With this camera you will be able to take multiple shots on a single negative frame. This is similar to the multi-exposure mode on proper film SLRs such as the Nikon F-801s. The image on the right shows 2 exposures on 1 frame.

Last but not least are light leaks, which under some circumstances can be used to our advantage (perhaps not so much on the left image), but the image should give you some idea what the leak would look like on this type of Holga.

So, after 2 rolls of film, I had quite a bit of success, most of the pictures are usable and only a few with severe exposure errors rendering them unusable. See the gallery below for some of my favorite shots. It’s quite certain that I will continue shooting more interesting things using the camera.

Ever gone on a trip especially one with photography in mind where the weather didn’t happen as you have expected? This is exactly what happen to me on one of my last trips. I was expecting low temperature and a couple showers, but didn’t expect that much fog! Basically the great scenery that I was expecting didn’t happen.

Well the point is, that in this condition there is no reason to be down and stop taking lots of photos. In fact, these kind of situations are perfect situations where we can explore our creativity. Remember that with proper compositions there are millions of ways to create special photos out of ordinary scenes.

In my case, it was obvious that the fog would eliminate possibilities to take landscape scenery shots as long as its there. Therefore what I do is focus on nearer objects and use the foggy environment itself to create the shots. I’ll have to admit though, that I’m quite fond of vignettes and darker tone photos. On the other hand, indoor objects when possible always offer great opportunities for your winner shot.

And one last important thing: don’t forget to enjoy the trip and have fun!

Here’s a couple of the photos that I have taken on the trip.

This time I’m going to cover some of the tips and tricks to photograph sport events. Recently I went to a local Kendo championship – the Mumeishi 3 and I am really glad that I have brought my photography gear with me. Many of my mates are competing and they would love to get good shots of them in action!

I have seen a lot of sport snapshots that are quite disappointing, like blurry, too dark or too still. Yes, just because a photograph is dead sharp, it doesn’t mean that it’s good if the colours are washed out by flash and everything is so still. Of course by no means I am a professional in sports photography, however I would like to share a tip or two that can help common folks like us take good photographs.

First things first, be prepared the day before, the usual routine: charge up your batteries (bring spares if possible), clear out your memory cards, make sure your camera is in working order. Sports photogrphy is very demanding, a silly tehnical faults such as memory card errors and low battery can bring a lot of grief.

Tools of trade:

• A zoom lens, preferrably one that goes up to 300mm
• Flash, in case we need one
• Monopod (if you have one) – I didn’t us one on the day

The important technique to understand with sports photogrphy is to allow movements to be recorded into you photographs. Your shutter should be fast enough yet slow enough to alow some movement blur (not camera shake). On the day I didn’t use any flash at all, it was bright enough and I use quite a high iso. The reason I didn’t use the flash were first I’m not a fan of flash harsh lights and second I didn’t want to distract the players with the flashes.

Play It manually.

If you are shooting indoor like I do, then chances are that the lights are pretty consistent. Set your camera to manual exposure. You can either use a light meter to do this or simply by trial and error. This way your shots will be consistent in their exposures, less chance of stuff ups due to the camera miscalculating the exposures in fast conditions.

Have depth of field.

With sports photography you want your photos to be focused to the players. Using high aperture settings such as f3.5 or f4.5 will help achieve the depth of field required. The background surrounding will be blurred enough to accentuate your subject but still clear enough to give a sense of location.

Think about who is your subject.

Maybe this does not apply to all sports, but for Kendo, in case you haven’t notice the players wear full faced mask. There is very little chance we can recognize their face easily, that is why they have the name tags. Be sure include the name in some of your shots, but don’t overdo it.

It might also pay off to include some of the surroundings as well. In case of the photo on the left, it was the judges. By including the judges in the background we have set up the serious and tense atmosphere.

Focus, focus and focus

In these situations as I have mentioned above, we will be shooting with zoom lens and high aperture. Therefore your focussing is of utmost importance. Make sure your subject is well focused, missing the focusing even one but will ruin the image. Set your camera to continuous focus or if you are on single auto focusing mode, always try to obtain focus before shooting.

Move it!

Technical details aside, we have to keep in mind that sports is about movements. Your subject will be moving around a lot…and you should be too. I don’t stay in one spot all the time (unless I have to due to limited space, regulations,etc ). There are many things that will obstruct you, never with for them to move away, you have to move away. So stand up and walk to the most suitable spots.

Other important thing to remember would be to shoot in RAW and don’t be stingy, shoot as much as possible and you will have more chance to select your best photographs. So to conclude, sport photography is about capturing the atmosphere, movements and most importantly the players. It can be frustrating, but will be an utmost joy for you and the participants when you have a great results in the end.