Here's a short video from one of the many sumo bouts we watched on Monday at the Kokkusai Centre, Fukuoka.
Grand Sumo Championship, Fukuoka, Japan from Robin Nichols on Vimeo.
Thursday 14 November 2013
Benefits of a Lens Hood
I often get asked what that plastic 'thingo' on the front of a lens is for, and, when I explain, I get asked "should I use it".
To which I reply of course you should. Lens hoods are cheap plastic add-ons, often included in the cost of a lens. They provide a twofold benefit: Firstly a lens hood is a really effective lens element protector. I have tripped and fallen forward a couple of times and the lens hood took the brunt of the fall saving me from an expensive lens repair. It's happened to countless numbers of my students too. One example I remember where a student set up their tripod and then walked away to look at something. One leg on the tripod was not properly locked off so the rig collapsed and the lens went smack into the concrete floor - the lens hood was ruined but the lens itself was unharmed. Without the hood this would have been a very expensive repair!
Secondly, a lens hood shades the glass from extraneous light entering the lens and causing flare, image softness and poor quality - as you can see from the two shots here, the shaded version also appears darker and clearer.
To which I reply of course you should. Lens hoods are cheap plastic add-ons, often included in the cost of a lens. They provide a twofold benefit: Firstly a lens hood is a really effective lens element protector. I have tripped and fallen forward a couple of times and the lens hood took the brunt of the fall saving me from an expensive lens repair. It's happened to countless numbers of my students too. One example I remember where a student set up their tripod and then walked away to look at something. One leg on the tripod was not properly locked off so the rig collapsed and the lens went smack into the concrete floor - the lens hood was ruined but the lens itself was unharmed. Without the hood this would have been a very expensive repair!
Secondly, a lens hood shades the glass from extraneous light entering the lens and causing flare, image softness and poor quality - as you can see from the two shots here, the shaded version also appears darker and clearer.
Straight shot, no lens hood, no editing. |
With lens hood, no editing. Singing boatman in Yanagawa, a coastal town in Kyushu, Japan |
Tuesday 12 November 2013
Shooting the Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka
More bluster by Natalie Hitchens Foot stamping is as much about challenging the opponent as it might be about loosening those muscles |
The moment of truth by Natalie Hitchens. You can't get a shot like this without a fast shutter speed (1/1250s), high ISO (i.e. 2500+), continuous mode and a fast card. |
The Moment of Truth 2 by Natalie Hitchens Another sumo hits the clay. |
Night Photography, Miyajima Island, Japan
The watery shrine and famous 'floating' torii gate on Miyajima Island is on the list of Japan's "most beautiful spots" to visit (Japan has a lot of lists covering the 'most beautiful things..' available to see).
We arrived on the island by 4pm so set off with tripods to shoot the torii gate at high tide - actually, although this is a fabulous photo subject, the rest of the shrine, called Itsukushima, is also very interesting.
Photo Tip: to enhance the smoothness of any watery shots, shoot at f22 and the lowest ISO number available. The long shutter speed has the effect of smoothing out ripples and currents to give a glass-like surface.
To make this more effective, use a Neutral Density (ND) filter to extend the shutter speed. The result is a water surface that looks almost mirror-like, even though you can't see this with the naked eye. ND filters come in ND4, ND8, ND16 and ND64 strengths. I'd recommend an ND64 for bright light but an ND8 for evening shooting. An ND64 filter is almost opaque and reduces the exposure by a massive eight f-stops. Because of the long shutter speeds it is necessary to use a cable release or the self-timer.
Another benefit of using an ND filter is that, because of the extended shutter speeds it creates, people move through the frame and barely register - moving people almost disappear. With 20-30 second exposures movement barely registers so you end up with a virtually blank frame - you might get some ghosting if the people stand still for any length of time but otherwise, it's a good way to simplify a composition...
HDR of the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima Island |
Photo Tip: to enhance the smoothness of any watery shots, shoot at f22 and the lowest ISO number available. The long shutter speed has the effect of smoothing out ripples and currents to give a glass-like surface.
To make this more effective, use a Neutral Density (ND) filter to extend the shutter speed. The result is a water surface that looks almost mirror-like, even though you can't see this with the naked eye. ND filters come in ND4, ND8, ND16 and ND64 strengths. I'd recommend an ND64 for bright light but an ND8 for evening shooting. An ND64 filter is almost opaque and reduces the exposure by a massive eight f-stops. Because of the long shutter speeds it is necessary to use a cable release or the self-timer.
Another benefit of using an ND filter is that, because of the extended shutter speeds it creates, people move through the frame and barely register - moving people almost disappear. With 20-30 second exposures movement barely registers so you end up with a virtually blank frame - you might get some ghosting if the people stand still for any length of time but otherwise, it's a good way to simplify a composition...
Same view as above but slightly closer - note the flat sea and mirror-like surface created by forcing the shutter speed to extend as long as possible - in this case 30secs @f22. |
One of the many shrines that dot the island. HDR at dusk. |
Rear view of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island. Despite the long 20 second exposure I still got blurry figures under the arches slightly right of centre frame. |
Same place, but a slightly different take on the scene. Although the sky was heavily clouded and dramatic, the HDR process certainly helps add drama to this scene. |
Night Shooting in Kurashiki
Kurashiki is a small town on the main Osaka to Hakata rail line in Japan. Most would pass through the region, stopping briefly at Okayama before thundering off to Hiroshima and Hakata in Kyushu. The reason for stopping at Kurashiki, 20 mins by local train from Okayama is twofold. It's an almost perfectly preserved mill town, famous for its cotton production, plus it has one of the best art museums in the country featuring works from both Japan and Western cultures. The factory owners clearly spent their wealth well. Now it is a pleasant little town full of old wooden houses, brick warehouses (now converted into shops and a hotel) and several hundred metres of willow flanked canals that form the nucleus of this tourist town.
It's a very pretty location and makes for some great pictures in good weather. I had overcast skies so ended up shooting mostly in the early evening so I could ignore the bland skies and create something a little more interesting with very long exposures.
Most of the shots here are HDR images, multiple exposures combined using Photomatix Pro to give a wide dynamic range look to the shots - vital when shooting in the light and dark extremes of night.
It's a very pretty location and makes for some great pictures in good weather. I had overcast skies so ended up shooting mostly in the early evening so I could ignore the bland skies and create something a little more interesting with very long exposures.
Most of the shots here are HDR images, multiple exposures combined using Photomatix Pro to give a wide dynamic range look to the shots - vital when shooting in the light and dark extremes of night.
Canal, Kurashiki town. Extremely long shutter speeds are great for producing a mirror-like sheen on the surface of water. |
Gateway to old wooden residence, Kurashiki |
Tourist information centre lit up at night in Kurashiki's historical Bikan quarter |
Monday 11 November 2013
Image Stabilisation and Clarity
How often do you consider turning your image stabilisation function off to get better image clarity?
Most would answer "never", and to be honest I have always been a bit skeptical of its benefit. I have read that you should always turn the image stabilisation off when the camera is tripod mounted but have never seen any evidence to prove it worth the effort. However, I was recently shooting landscapes on a tripod using extended shutter speeds (to get a nice smooth-looking sea surface) and could not get a sharp result. I tried one test frame with the IS off and noticed a marked improvement in the clarity of the file.
Most would answer "never", and to be honest I have always been a bit skeptical of its benefit. I have read that you should always turn the image stabilisation off when the camera is tripod mounted but have never seen any evidence to prove it worth the effort. However, I was recently shooting landscapes on a tripod using extended shutter speeds (to get a nice smooth-looking sea surface) and could not get a sharp result. I tried one test frame with the IS off and noticed a marked improvement in the clarity of the file.
Itsukushima shrine Canon EOS 5D MkIII +EF70-200mm f2.8 USM II lens, 30 secs @ F32, ISO 100 with the lens stabilisation turned On. The resulting file is noticeably spongy... |
Sunday 10 November 2013
GoPro for Grown-ups
Here's a very short video I made with my GoPro camera in Japan. It's made from a few clips I shot on a walk up to the Kiyuomizu-dera shrine in Kyoto and was hurredly put together using Adobe Premiere Pro while on the train between Kyoto and Okayama (so I only had 50 minutes to finish it off!). Hopefully it demonstrates how you can create a simple travel video - but with different angles and fields of view. GoPros are small, discrete and waterproof - allowing you to manhandle them easily into places you'd never risk putting an expensive DSLR camera.
GoPro for Grown Ups is the title of an upcoming class I will be holding in Sydney, and online, next year. Basically it's all about how to make cool little videos with totally different 'looks' using a GoPro camera...
GoPro for Grown Ups is the title of an upcoming class I will be holding in Sydney, and online, next year. Basically it's all about how to make cool little videos with totally different 'looks' using a GoPro camera...
GoPro for GrownUps #1 from Robin Nichols on Vimeo.
Shooting in Nishiki Markets
The people working in Nishiki markets |
Friday 8 November 2013
Kasuga Shrine, Nara, Kyoto
Thursday 7 November 2013
Japanese Woodblock Printing
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