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.

I”m now back on pursuing my photography interest after being really pre-occupied with many other things Anyway, on to the subject: handheld night photography. I’m sure many would think that this is absurd, one would need a tripod for night photography right? Well, yes and no. There are variety of factors that would affect our results in handholding the camera.

For me, the main reason I handheld the camera at the time was because upon entering the Luna Park, we noticed that there was a big sign saying “No Tripod”. Hence for the sake of appropriateness and understanding I put my tripod back into the bag. This turns out to be a good opportunity.

So how do we do this? How do we photograph in low light condition without a tripod and expect to get a clear view ?

1. Use a fast lens if there’s any. The lens that I was using was the f 2.8 Tamron.
2. Use higher ISO. If your camera permits, use the around ISO 1600 or higher. Be careful with this since you’ll have to compensate with noise
3. Know your exposure rules. Don’t forget the unofficial rule of thumb: your focal length is around  the minimum shutter speed. So if your lens focal length is 50mm, then your minimum shutter speed is 1/60s. This works most of the time.
4. Be steady, make sure you are holding your camera in a steady stance. Use both hands with elbows close or resting to the chest.
5. Pick the right spot, there are places where you can rest your camera (and your hands) on for steadier shot.

Above are the few points that helped me get the shots that night.

Handheld photography is also made easier if it not pitch black yet, and it adds a lot to the composition.

For example, the shot on the right was taken just after the sunset; the best thing about that time is that its dark enough for us to capture the artificial lights and its still light enough to capture the scene easily without using too higher ISO. So another lesson to add: pick your time carefully.

One last tip before the end of the article: always shoot in RAW format. In case you get underexposed slightly, there is still chance to save your shot. Sure RAW is much larger in file size than JPEG, but with large memory cards these days, it shouldn’t be a problem.

So…to conclude, handheld night photography is possible given the technique and location. Maybe not so recommended, but will be handy when tripods are not possible.