Vagabond’s Caravan

Again, thanks to ChiHo, I was able to get some really nice photos taken with bounced flash. As I explained here in the previous post, bounced flash (the big, external flash pro use?) are much better (more powerful and natural) compared to direct flash (the built-in flash on most camera). It allows flash to be fired at an angle, usually towards the ceiling, so that lights are diffused by the ceiling and fall evenly on the subject. It creates much better and smoother skin tones as compared to direct flash (where you often get washed out + oily faces and red eyes). Since this is the first time I handle ChiHo’s flash, and the auto setting didn’t turn out that well, so I was firing the flash manually most of the time. Quite a number of the photos taken are not well exposed and hence need to be corrected in Photoshop, still, it rawks! Thanks buddy (ChiHo)! Will do strobing with ya when I get SB-600, hehe.

Here you go, I hope it illustrated the advantages of a bounced flash. =)

For more about bounced flash, read this.

^ Love this! This is well exposed in the very beginning, very little adjustment were done in Photoshop. =) Continue Reading…

I Love 50mm f/1.8, originally uploaded by IngSiang (Vagabond).

Really appreciate ChiHo for bringing his 50mm f/1.8 (and Vivitar flash), which I tested before, but didn’t quite like it because MF (manual focus) is very difficult. Anyhow, MF is not terribly difficult actually, I was using a wrong method last time and when I get the method right this time, it’s actually pretty fun and very rewarding when you get THE low-light shot (without flash). =)

I am still practicing and learning, and was pretty slow when taking photos with it, and were just doing some trial & error shots (out of 5 shots taken, only 1-3 are in focus, haha, blame my eyes) last night during the party.

ChiHo lend it to me for a week or so, ‘poison’ (temptation) ah! Luckily it’s not very expensive, hehe, I might consider it, see first. =)

Before I got my D40 kit, I love to shoot candid! I shoot lots of candid, and always zoom to the long end and snap ‘head shots’. When I get my D40 kit, due to the limitation of the aperture size at the long end, I started to shoot wide (so I get the biggest aperture, hence faster, thus no blur) most of the time. This super fast f/1.8 50mm brings back my candid passion! =D (but MF while your subjects move is not easy) f/1.8 is very fast, although it’s not very sharp (need to stop down), and 50mm is already very long for candid. =)

Terms/Notes: Long end of a lens means the ‘further’ side, ie. when taking photo of something far apart away. Wide end means the ‘closest’ mode, ie. when you take group photo, you zoom to the wide end. My D40 kit lens has variable aperture, and the biggest aperture is available at it’s widest focal length while the smallest one is at it’s telephoto/longest end. The bigger the aperture, the more the light which enter the camera/lens, and hence faster shutter speed, ie. less chance of having a blurred shot in low light condition.

Yay, finally got my first full size tripod, a Christmas gift I bought for myself, hehe. Got it at HuaHo Yayasan yesterday for B$68, consider a very good deal because it comes with a ball head, am loving it! =D

As the title suggest, any tripod is much better than no tripod. I had been having a dilemma, whether to spend a lot on a tripod (around B$150-B$250), and so it last for a long, long time (without the need to upgrade to a better one); or spend a lil’ on a cheap one first, and upgrade 2-3 years later. Decided to go with the former, and for B$68 only, I expect this tripod could last longer than 3 years for me (I don’t expect myself to have bazooka lens until 5-6 years later, when I start working) without any future upgrade, why not? Continue Reading…