Blurring crowds

Shutter speed: 8 sec (Flickr)

Intentional blurring is a creative photographic technique that I like to do. I have tried zoom blur/burst and panning with some success, at least to me anyway. Next I want to do is motion blur, particularly on crowds.

Wildlife and landscape photo exhibition

My friend and I went to Ferry Meadows Country Park yesterday morning to check whether our photos made it to Nene Park Trust's Wildlife and Landscape Photo Exhibition that started in October. Much to our pleasant surprise, not one but two each of our photos were included in the outdoor exhibition! It was great seeing it among other wonderful photos that showcased the wildlife and landscape found around Nene Park.

Picture of the Day #6

It is Halloween today so I chose this photo as it is apt to the occasion.

I was going through photos in the last two years (it is not that many as I only took photography as a 'serious' hobby two years ago). I came across a short set of moonshots with trees in the foreground. They are all in colour except the above featured photo.

White flowers

Three days after I took photographs of the cherry blossoms in our neighbourhood, I then brought my attention to a bunch of flowers closer to home - our backyard. Technically, the flowering shrub (name still unknown to me) is not part of our house nor our neighbour's (I think). Why? It grew in between both our fences!

Cherry blossoms

Springtime is great for flower photography. Apple and cherry blossoms are a common sight near where I live. It is really lovely to see them in bloom during this season.

Picture of the Day #5

Pinoyborian Flickr

While waiting for my train to London, I was struck with the play of lines and the grey morning sky in the platform I was standing on. I thought this would make a good picture. The photo looks a bit 'sterile' without people in it. But, I chose this image over the other two photos with a walking man because this composition looks stronger to me. Converting it to black and white completes the image as it is less distracting and lets you focus on the composition (play of lines with the grey sky) instead.

London day trip

Early December 2013, I went down to London to process some documents at the Philippine embassy. I brought along my camera (Olympus E-PL2 + mZuiko 17mm f2.8) as I plan to do a photowalk if I finished early.

By mid-afternoon I was finished with my purpose at the embassy. I knew the office was located near Trafalgar Square so I went looking for it. It was just a couple of minutes walk away.

Sweet hello

Photo: Pinoyborian's Flickr

My last images in 2013 were macro/close-ups of roses and a couple of sweets. I've already made several close-ups of roses last year but I was particularly excited with the sweets. I have wanted to take macro images of sweets after reading a magazine tutorial.

Picture of the Day #4

This picture was taken autumn last year. This year the leaves in this area are mostly yellow again. This is in the same place as Picture of the Day #3.

Picture of the Day #3

It's autumn again, a time of great colours in the outdoors. I took the photo above last year in a place which my children and I frequently pass by when going to their school. Nothing out of the ordinary really about the place so no surprise there that the image I took was er, just ordinary, too.

Picture of the Day #2

I took this picture in autumn last year while practicing the zoom burst technique. This was taken in my son's school. The ground was covered with fallen cherry leaves, mostly coloured yellow. I chose this particular composition where one leaf was surrounded by others. I thought it would make a good focal point for a zoom burst picture. I loved the results of the original coloured version, which I featured in the zoom burst post. It turned out better than I expected.

Multiple exposure nature portraits

Last spring, I bought a set of 3 photography magazines to keep me updated with techniques and latest news on gears in photography. One of the magazines was an issue of Photography Monthly (Issue 146 | April 2013). In pages 49-53, I came across the wonderful multiple exposure portraits of Christoffer Relander (www.christofferrelander.com), a Finnish photographer. In the featured photos, Relander combines images of people and trees. I thought to myself back then that I would try it.

But I didn't know how to take multiple exposure images and try as I might I can't find a tutorial to follow. Until a few weeks ago. I was going through various photography tutorials in YouTube when I came across PhotoExtremist's tutorial on multiple exposure nature portraits. Bingo! The multiple exposure portraits in the said tutorial are similar to Relander's. So, I gave it a try. (Note: if you want to try this technique, check that your camera has the option on multiple exposures. I knew beforehand that my Olympus Pens have it.)

There are 2 main steps in taking multiple exposure portrait shots: 1) in-camera using multiple exposure option and 2) post-processing.

Picture of the Day #1

This is my first proper multiple exposure shot, a portrait of my son. He was not happy during this shoot as he was busy in his computer game. You can see it in the pout he's giving me when I took the shot. This was a good thing actually as it turned out to be quite artistic. I explained the details on how I took and post-processed this final photo in my post on multiple exposures.

My inspiration is Christoffer Relander (www.christofferrelander.com), a Finnish photographer. I know I can never come close to any of his wonderful multiple exposure portraits. But, I'm here mainly to satisfy my objective of taking decent creative shots. In the future, I hope to come up with a series of multiple exposure portraits of my own. Watch this space!

Panning

Shutter priority, f22, 1/20s, ISO 100 (Olympus Pen E-PL1 + 14-45mm @ 14mm)

Aside from zoom burst (or zoom blur), there is another technique you can use to imply motion in your images. It is called panning.

Zoom burst creates motion by turning your zoom lens while your camera is stationary. On the other hand, the panning technique requires the photographer to move the camera parallel to, and at the same speed as the action or subject focus. Oftentimes, slow shutter speeds are used in this technique.

Panning enables the photographer to keep the main subject, e.g. moving car or cyclist, clearly in focus while the background is a blurred motion.

Olympus Pen E-PL1

Pinoyborian's Flickr

In Christmas 2011, I bought my first "serious" digital camera. It was not a straightforward and easy decision to make. In the end, it was the cost of the camera and the non-DSLR body that made me decide.

The Olympus Pen Lite E-PL1 is one of its earliest micro four-thirds mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. I bought it as a twin lens kit from Jessops on a 10-month 0% finance scheme.

My camera gear and accessories

Since 2011 I have slowly build up my digital camera equipment and accessories. The list below will be regularly updated.

Digital camera (body)
• Olympus PEN Lite E-PL1
• Olympus PEN Lite E-PL2
• Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1

Native mu-43 lens
• Olympus 14-42 mm f3.5-5.6
• Olympus 40-150 mm f4-5.6
• Olympus 17mm f2.8
• Sigma 30mm f2.8
• Sigma 60mm f2.8

Adapted lens
• Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4
• Vivitar 2x macro teleconverter 50mm (MD mount)
• (Fotodiox MD to mu-43 adapter)
• Ozeck II Super 135mm f2.8 (FD mount)
• Vivitar 2x macro teleconverter 50mm (FD mount)
• (unbranded FD to mu-43 adapter)

In addition, I also have 2x Olympus Trip 35 film cameras when I feel like shooting in film, which is seldom.

My family (and me occasionally) are now using my old point and shoot cameras, Olympus mu-725 SW and Nikon Coolpix L110.

Note: This is also posted as the Gear page.