Photography Cocktail!

I’v been playing around with Adobe Lightroom a lot lately, and I developed my own Presets. Here is one of them that I used to post-process “Dublin Luas”:

So, instead of preparing a long tutorial this time, I decided to upload the preset for you to download :). I prepared a tutorial that shows how to import presets into Adobe Lightroom, it’s included in the zipped package:

–> Street photography Preset <–

When to use this preset? when you have a photo with a similar histogram reading to the one above. Generally, it can be used for street photography for photos taken in the shadow + there’s an indirect sunlight.

Enjoy

Hello everyone!

I prepared a short step-by-step tutorial that explains how I post-processed “Her Majesty”:

Before:

After:

—> Click to download the tutorial (560 KB) <—

I have watched an interesting video on strobist.com about a photographer who used one Nikon SB-24 flash with a soft box to shoot vehicles in a completely dark showroom! one source of light only to light a car from all sides! Here’s a video that shows how it was done:

Amazing isn’t it?! Well I thought of using it for lighting my macro shots. The problem is: I don’t have a soft box! However, I managed to get these two:

Alright, I know that they’re not perfect. The distribution of light isn’t right, but hey, it’s my first trial! I used:

• A Nikon SB-800 (you can use any flash unit that can be triggered manually)
• A white t-shirt to cover the flash (acting like a diffuser).
• My studio was a bathtub!

How? It’s pretty easy!

As most of you already know, the camera’s sensor captures light that is reflected off subjects in front of it. If you place a camera in a dark room where there aren’t any sources of light (light is totally blocked), the camera won’t capture anything even if you leave the shutter open for very long periods of time. However, if you open the shutter (using the Bulb Mode) and use your flash to light a subject from different angles, it won’t capture your movement (especially if you wear dark clothes), it will only capture the subject that reflects light the most. This technique is good for subjects that don’t move, like flowers; but if you want to capture a water drop, it won’t work! You should use multiple flashes at the same time. Here’s how I did it:

1. I mounted my camera on a tripod.
2. Pointed it towards the subject in a room where all sources of light could be blocked (windows, doors…).
3. Used a remote control or a cable release to open the shutter in bulb mode.
4. Covered my SB-800 flash with a white shirt (diffuse light).
5. While the shutter is open, I started flashing my strobe at the main subject from different angles but from the same distance.

After tenths of trials, I got two “not bad” photos. They’re not really impressive, but the technique is very inspiring! Using a soft box/Umbrella can lead to a better distribution of light. So, start thinking of other ways to use this, and I’m sure you’ll come up with brilliant ideas

“follow your needs”. Ryan Brenizer wrote a very interesting article about how to make a decision and buy the photography equipment that fits your needs. Here’s a link to the article: When should I upgrade my digital camera?

Enjoy!

If you ask me which lens stays on your camera 80% of the time, I’d say it’s definitely the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8! (Lenses with a focal length of 50mm like this one are called “normal lenses”).

Mostly because I like shooting in natural light (no flashes/strobes) and this lens has a:

• Wide aperture (f/1.8): which means that a great amount of light passes through the lens to hit the sensor => you can use a fast shutter speed => sharp images (no need to use a tripod).
• Fast Auto-focus: you’d appreciate this feature when shooting kids!

I could’ve got the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, which has a wider aperture (1.4), but (in my opinion) the price difference isn’t worth the quality difference, especially for a beginner.

Here are some of my shots using the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

There is another advantage of owning this lens: you can use it to shoot macros! How? by reversing the lens. In order to do so, you should do the following: (more…)

I went out to take some shots of two beautiful butterflies near my place. They were so calm until I arrived with my big fat camera; they started flying around the place to show off their beauty! and when they were done with the “air show”, they started posing for me on some beautiful pink flowers :D. With the butterflies, there were some bees working late (an hour before sunset); they looked so exhausted –> very slow and not in the mood to bite –> perfect for photography

I got many e-mails asking me about my macro lens and how do I make the backgrounds so smooth. Well, it’s not me who makes them smooth! In order to have smooth backgrounds, or what is also known as a “Bokeh” look where the main subject is in focus and the rest of the image is so smooth and blurry, you have to do the following:

• Open up the aperture of the lens to the widest (have a small F number, like f/2.8)
• The closer you are to the main subject, the smoother the background becomes!
• Use a telephoto lens (i.e. one that has a focal length of 50mm or more); because the longer the focal length is, the smoother the background becomes!
• A smooth background results from applying these three conditions combined. If you used a telephoto lens with a small aperture, you’ll have a wide depth of field = no smooth background! Example: having a 100mm lens and bringing the F number down to F = 11.

So, the wider the aperture + the longer the focal length + and the closer you are to the main subject = the smoother the background becomes = cool Bokeh look!
Another example: Here are two different photos with the same F-number (aperture) which is = 6.3

As you can see, the background in the first image is smoother. This is because the main subject’s distance from the camera is different; the first subject is much closer to the camera/lens.

Anyways, if you want to know more about background blur and “bokeh”, please follow this link: Background and Bokeh.

Enjoy

Now that you (hopefully) know which SLR camera body you should get to fulfill your photography obsession, you will definitely need to know more about lenses!

In order to compare lenses, you have to understand the following definitions:

• Aperture: is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted. Light reaches the camera’s sensor through this opening. Generally speaking: The wider the aperture, the better the lens is! Because it allows more light to pass through the lens and hit the sensor. You’ll understand why it’s good to have that later when you understand shutter speeds. Lenses with wide apertures are best for portraits and macros; because the wider the aperture, the “blurrier” the background becomes -> which makes the main subject (a person/ a macro of an insect) stand out.
• Focal Length: the distance in millimeters from the optical center of the lens to the focal point, which is located on the sensor or film if the subject (at infinity) is “in focus”. A lens with a 50mm focal length is called the “normal lens“, because it captures images that have a perspective that is similar to what human eyesight. When a lens has a focal length that is below 50mm, such as 24mm, it is called a wide angle lens (which is used for landscape photography). On the other hand, a lens with a higher focal length, such as 400mm, it becomes a telephoto lens (best for wildlife photography). Therefore, focal length is a key factor that you must look at when buying a new lens. Remember, the smaller the focal length number, the wider the perspective of the lens becomes; above 50mm, you get a normal perspective (not wide). (more…)

The first series of articles will be dedicated to those who are about to start photography but don’t know HOW to start! Usually, beginners ask this very popular question: What camera should I buy? Should I go for a Nikon or a Canon? Should I buy a compact camera and then upgrade to an SLR or what? (more…)

Hello there everyone!

I’v been waiting for this moment since I bought my camera! what were the obstacles? I wanted to do everything on my own. I am currently working on designing + developing my website and it’ll be released very soon. However, the design is just temporary for now. I am concentrating more on the functionality (website development.)

After tenths of messages asking me to “reveal” my photo manipulation / post-processing “secrets” I decided to have this blog dedicated for that. Actually, I don’t think they’re secrets, they’re just “my way” of photography and image color/tone manipulation. I’m planning to have two blogs: a “worldwide” version which is in english (this one!) and another Arabic version. I’ll do my best to keep them synchornized!

This blog isn’t only dedicated to “photography”. I’m also interested in web design and development and I am planning to write about that from time to time. I’ll start off with a series that talks about how I learned the basics of web-development which helped me alot in developing my own website.

Anyways, I’ll make sure to post original stuff over here that will actually add value to you! So…Stay tuned ;)!