Wildlife Photo: White Eye and Cherry Blossoms that Got GIF'd

Remember that rascal flying through my scene the other day ?

The Mejiro or, Japanese White Eye birds can really move fast even when they're not flying. 

Something had to be done, to save a photo, the feathery terrorist tried to ruin.

Today, I went back to my photo files and cropped him out.

Here's the same image, cropped and composed differently.

Then, I took four more images from the same series of shots and put them on my Google+.

A few minutes later, Auto Awesome created that GIF for me.

 Just in case you were wondering what I think about that, I'll tell you.

It sure beats the devil out of working for a living !

One of these days, I might have to do a Photo Tip on using that Auto Awesomenator thingy.

Holler, if you get lost over there, because, I'm getting used to it.

And, after I got lost a few times, I think I finally got it figured out.

When Hungry: Unhealthy Food Tastes Good (Photo)

Man, I wish I could remember where I shot this food photo.

Today was one of those days.

Five trip reviews, a travel photo essay and a photography tip were submitted online.

Digging back through past photo files, I came across this delicious-looking dish.

That order probably has enough cholesterol in it to kill an elephant.

But, I don't care.  I have to find something like this, right now.

Because, when I'm hungry, unhealthy food tastes great !

 

Photography Tip: Shooting a Camera Under the Tripod

When the Camera Goes Under the Tripod

 

There are times a photographer turns the tripod center pole upside down.

It's a rare occasion when you see RyukyuMike shooting like this but, it happens.

It all started in preparation for making this shot, inside a cave.

Doing some online research, I found an article written by a cave photographer.

He mentioned turning the camera, with flash, upside down for awesome cave photography.

When you reverse the center post on a tripod and attach the camera, it looks like this.

Extend the tripod legs and you can see through the viewfinder and operate all the camera controls.

But, I was in a cave making a low, wide angle shot.

Having a heck of a time with manual settings, operating in the dark I skipped using flash.

Instead, I opted for several different exposures and created an HDR photo.

It did remind me though, that I need practice shooting from below the tripod legs.

Photographers making flower and macro shots do this all the time.

That's not my style of photography but, I'll show you some examples of how else, it can be used.

 Here's one of those old-time print publications, Doc Graff and I were published in.

Recently, I had to email proof of publication to someone.

Well, I didn't feel like running around to find a scanner so, I shot the blasted thing, myself.

Slipping a black background under the subject, is the easiest way to get proper exposure.

If you don't want to use side lighting, from both sides be careful; shadows may appear.

Turn off all lights, set the camera timer, snap the shutter and, get away from the scene.

Magazines and old film photos may want to curl-up on you and ruin the shot.

Just find something to weigh them down.

White background

Black background

Digging through my wallet, I found this photo of the Missus and a younger version of myself.

That was sometime in the last Century when she was the lightweight.  Hah !

Any old film photo, ID card, license, passport, whatever you want, can be digitized.

There's no need to run out and buy a scanner.

 Probably, I should look through the old stuff in my wallet, more often.

It seems like my student ID from NY Institute of Photography has expired.  Oops.

Most of what I learned about cameras came from that school.

Just, I don't think grandpas should have to do homework so, I didn't.

Now, I'm not sure if I got expelled or, just have to ask for a new ID card.

Maybe, I'll write the Dean a letter and ask.

Who knows, they might issue me an honorary degree !

More tricks of the trade in PHOTO TIPS

Photography Tip: With Wildlife Always Aim for the Eye

This is a screenshot of a RAW photo taken Jun 6, 2012.

Normally, I wouldn't enlarge a photo file 200% but, this is to show you my focus point.

The cross-hairs are something I see in my editing program, not, in the camera viewfinder.

In wildlife photography, the eye is the most important part of the subject to capture.

Aim for, spot-meter and focus on the eye and you may have an award winning photo.

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Related Post: European Kingfisher

 

Photography Tip: Leading Lines and Curves

Ladies and Gentlemen, the answer to the $64,000 question is:

This is a leading line.

It has nothing to do with photography but, if it got you to look a little closer at my

Photography Tip today, it worked. It’s a little trick you can use in your photographic technique, too.

When composing a shot:

Look around and find some lines to draw attention to your subject. They don’t even have to be straight lines. Anything in the scene that can be captured and lead the viewer’s eye from the corner of the frame towards the subject is fair game. Sometimes it’s a curved or crooked line, like a branch, shoreline, curve in the road or, paint on a basketball court. 

Some examples of straight lines used in pointing towards a subject are handrails, railroad tracks, the roof of a house, edge of a sidewalk, even the crease in someone’s shirtsleeve. The diagonal line of the sail on a boat, a tent or the white lines painted in a parking lot can be used to point from a corner of your photo to the subject. The lines don’t even have to reach all the way to the corner just use them to help the subject say, “Hey, I’m over here. Look at me”!

  Use lines and curves to your advantage.

Every scene doesn’t require leading lines. But, when you shoot something as huge as a castle, compose the scene so any lines , or curves lead into a corner of your frame. It will give your scene some balance.

 

In your travel photos, use this simple rule of composition. You’ll start noticing a depth to your pictures which makes you feel you could walk right into the scene. Give Leading Lines a try next time you’re out snapping photos. You may come home with the $64,000 photo. 

Photography Tip: Get Your Reflection Out Of The Picture

Once in awhile in your travels you may come across a scene like this.

Something important inscribed on a highly reflective metal surface.

It was hotter than blazes on a July afternoon when Doc Graff and I located this spot.

This plaque describing the burial site of two Frenchmen is on Yagaji Island in Okinawa, Japan.

There was nothing available to shield the chrome plated sign from the sun.

Standing in front of the sign and taking a photo was not such a great idea.

What I wanted was, to be able to read the words and not look at someone's beer belly.

All you have to do to get your reflection out of the picture is move to one side of the metal object.

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Flower Photos and a Tip For When You Travel: Be Flexible

When you arrive at your destination and the flower fields look like this

but, you were hoping for something like this.

 Just be flexible.

Pick on one flower, or a group of flowers and play with the aperture settings on your camera.

This photo was taken with an aperture of 4.5

Notice, the background is blurred.

The camera is mounted on a tripod and here's another shot at f/11.

See the background coming in a bit sharper ?

The same scene with an aperture of f/16 gives even more details in the background.

A final photo at f/22 makes the background sharper, yet.

The iris fields in Okinawa, Japan aren't ready for me, yet.

I'm lucky. I live only about an hour's drive away so, it doesn't cost me much to travel there.

If I was paying big bucks to travel and see the iris fields when they weren't in full bloom,

here's a little secret I'll tell you

I'D BE CUSSIN' UP A FREAKIN' STORM !

So, remember my travel photo tip.  Just be flexible.

PS: Somebody from THE AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY started looking at my iris photos. 

You should take a look at their Facebook page and LIKE them.

Now, I have to get on out of here and see if I can get some better iris pictures.

Who knows ?  Maybe a bunch of iris lovers will like My Page, Too !

More of my camera ramblings may bee seen in PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Photography Tip: How to Clean Your DSLR Sensor (Photo Essay)

One of the most frightening things for someone switching from a Point and Shoot camera to a DSLR (besides price) has to be the words, "Dust on the sensor".

This photography tip will show you how to get dust off your sensor.

Camera manufacturers want you to send your camera back to them to remove dust and clean your sensor.  
For some people that's OK, I guess.  But, I'm not a millionaire, yet.

So, I do it myself.

First, take a look inside the DSLR when the lens is removed.  What you see is the mirror.

The sensor is hiding behind it.

On the camera Menu, you should find Mirror Up or similar words.  The mirror needs to be locked in the UP position for you to clean the sensor.

With the mirror locked up, the blue and green computer chip-looking thing you see is your DSLR's sensor.  
And, that baby is sensitive.  Do not touch it or, use a brush on it.

A Master Blaster air blowing bulb is the strongest thing I ever use to blow dust out of the camera body.

One time, I did hear of a lady who thought her hair dryer would be a great thing to use.

She melted the sensor and had to buy a brand new camera.  DUH !

There are all sorts of kits available for cleaning DSLR sensors and I won't recommend any one brand over another.  They all do the same job and all have similar tools with instructions.

This kit just happened to be in my backpack and I had what was needed to shoot a how-to demonstration for today's blog.

The orange-handled swab has some super-absorbent material on the end of it.

A little spill-proof bottle of magic sensor cleaner is what you use to, lightly moisten the swab.

Then, gently place it on the sensor and wipe, from one side to the other.

Next, I twist the thing around and give it a second swipe in the opposite direction.

That's just in case a chunk of my beard fell in there the first time I was doing it.

The final stage of sensor cleaning is a few good blasts of air to make sure the sensor is completely dry.  Normally, the camera would be held up in the air with the opening facing downwards.  That way, any other dust inside the camera body would fall out on the floor and not be free to hang around the sensor. 

For some informative YouTube Videos on cleaning DSLR sensors, a Google Search provides specific procedures for almost all brands and models of cameras. 

Now that you know How-to, when you are Ready-to clean your DSLR sensor

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Photography Tip: Experiment with Aperture Settings

This won't be a lengthy Photography Tip explaining the whole field of aperture control, just two quick photos and the camera specs used to shoot them.  Taking your camera out of the fully Auto Mode and setting it to "A" (Aperture Priority) is all you need to do for this experiment.

The above photo was taken at an aperture setting of f/11.  The camera was mounted on a tripod and I focused on the grain.

The second photo was taken at an aperture setting of f/5.6 without changing the focus or readjusting the position of the tripod.

Taking control of aperture settings allows you to sharpen, or blur the background in your photo.

Try experimenting with some different aperture settings than what your camera likes to use.

Before long, you'll be wondering why they put that crazy Auto Mode thing on there !

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Photography Tip: Quick Release Your Camera Strap (How-to)

The straps that come in the box with your new camera are alright for carrying the thing but, for shooting outdoors, the strap's gotta go.  It causes too much camera shake.

I modify all my cameras so the straps have quick releases.  How-to depends on the make and model.

The latest addition to the RyukyuMike family was this CANON G12 and in the above photo you see the way the camera dude at the store, kindly assembled the strap for me.

Well, I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings so, I left it that way until yesterday.  That way the wife and some of the party animal girls that run around here could test drive the thing with the strap hanging around their necks. And I wouldn't have to worry about them dropping it.

But, when I took the little guy along with me outdoors a few times on windy days, the strap started bugging me.  It had to be modified.  My other camera straps were much easier to make quick releases for and I'll show you how three different models were modified so you can decide which method best suits your camera.  The Canon modification I did here, I will be refining when I get around to it but, for now it's ready for all the festivals and sports days I have to shoot over the next few weeks.

A stainless steel bolt snap hook, needlenose pliers and a short piece of stainless wire were what I used.

Remove the camera strap and rethread it through the swivel-end of the snap hook.

It's a good idea to take your camera along when you visit the hardware store.  That way you can make sure the strap will fit whichever size hook you decide to buy. 

There are all shapes, sizes and styles of snap hooks.  This style,  a Bolt Snap Hook,  is the best.

How do I know ?   I have two Huskies to walk everyday.  We know what breaks and what don't.

The length of stainless wire I cut so, folded in half, it was about the size of the snap hook.

I used 0.9mm wire, just because I happen to have a few hundred meters of the stuff.  It comes in handy when the Huskies chew through my fence.  If I were to make a contraption like this again, I'd go with more narrow wire.  I had to wrestle with the camera and pliers trying to snake the wire through the slot for the strap.

Next, I twisted everything together with the pliers, making sure the loop that I formed was large enough to easily attach and detach my snap hook.  If it gets too tight you won't have a quick release.

  This ain't pretty and the Canon guys are probably grating their teeth and voiding my warranty.  Hah !

It's my damn camera and I can do anything I want with it.  Make a better model next time.  That's what I would do.

The PANASONIC LUMIX has, what I'd call, ears sticking out the sides with little slots wide enough for the camera strap.  All I needed to do here was find a couple of small, sturdy key rings and thread them through the camera's ears.  Again,  it's a good idea to bring your camera along when shopping for these items.  You want to make sure everything fits before blowing five bucks on something that doesn't work when you get back home.

The PENTAX K5 came with sturdy enough hardware.  I just had to make sure I didn't buy a bolt snap hook too large to attach the camera strap.

Camera straps are important.  When I'm cleaning lenses, changing, batteries, SD cards, reviewing on the LCD or attaching a quick release for the tripod the strap is on the camera.  When I'm shooting, the strap if off, almost always.  Now that you know how to make a quick release for your camera strap, give it a try.  Guaranteed, you will see an improvement in your photography.

It's a blast going to all the festivals I shoot and running into other cameramen loaded down with all their camera gear.  We're always spying on each other trying to see who has what.  Everybody wants to know in what mode the other guy is shooting, what lens and which make camera they have hanging off them.  So, I got thinking.  Maybe, at the next festival I'll put the Cannon strap on the Pentax, Panasonic on the Canon and one of the Husky's harnesses on the Panasonic just for the heck of it.  There's more how-to's in this business than just making quick release camera straps.  Ya gotta know how-to have some fun while you're working at it, too.

Like last year, I remember using every strap I had available to keep myself from blowing off a tall building while shooting the THE NAHA TUG-O-WAR

Photography Tip: SD Cards Deal Or, No Deal ?

Today's Photography Tip: When there's a sale on SD Cards is it a good deal or, no deal at all ?

Here are some of the SD Cards I tote around with my cameras.

None of these came with any camera I ever bought.  I think the originals come equipped with enough storage space to hold less than ten of the size photos I like to shoot.

So, unless you got some package deal when you bought a new camera, you need to buy an SD Card that will handle the size and quantity of photos you plan on shooting.

Sometimes, when an SD Card is offered at a sale price, it is a good deal.  So, I'll attempt to explain in non-nerdy terms what you need to know about SD Card performance and let you decide what to buy.

SD stands for Secure Digital.  And I don't think one brand of SD Card is any more secure than another.

GB means Gigabytes.  Just figure a gigabyte is a million bytes and you won't go crazy.

So, in the photo above, using the 2GB Card, I can store 2 million bytes of information.  The 4GB Card will hold twice as many photos.  The 16GB Card will hold 16 million bytes worth of photos.

Back in the days before digital you had people like me stuffing all their photos in shoe boxes.  Think of the 2GB, 4GB and 16GB as shoe sizes.  I could stuff a lot more pictures in a size 16 shoebox than I could in some little kid's size 2 shoebox.  Right?

Now, let a little two year old kid play with those shoeboxes full of photos and dump them out all over the floor.  How much time you have on your hands and how much patience you have getting everything organized and back into the shoeboxes will determine what kind of deal you want on SD Cards.

The speed that an SD Card reads and writes, or transfers digital information, is what you want to know.

The digital camera's computer captures an image. The SD Card reads and writes the information, or transfers the photo from the computer to the card.  When you download the photos to a computer reading and writing, digital-style is going on again.

This is where all SD Cards are not created equal. You want to know the Transfer Speed or Rate.

Look for the Class Number in a big "C" on the card or the packaging it comes in.

A Class 2 SD Card will transfer Two Megabytes a second.

A Class 4 SD Card will transfer Four Megabytes a second.

A Class 6, Six Megabytes and a Class 10, Ten Megabytes a second.

The faster they transfer Megabytes, the more SD Cards will cost you, generally speaking.

The type of shooting you do would determine what kind of card is best for you.

If I was working in studio or landscape photography, I wouldn't be too concerned with a card's speed.

Shooting wildlife and much of the time doing rapid fire in Burst Mode, I need some speed.

People who like to shoot video with their digital cameras need higher speed SD Cards.

Something you'll want to be aware of is the writing speed your camera.  It wouldn't make any sense for you to buy SD Cards rated as Class 10 if the camera only has a writing speed of Four Megabytes per second.  Check your manual or manufacturer's specifications.

There are often bargains available so, know your camera and when you see SD Cards on sale ask yourself, "Deal or No Deal"? 

For more information check these sources:

SD CARD ORG

SD CARD GUIDE

Photography Tip: Going The Extra Mile for Travel Photos

         There are times you have to really go out of your way in photography to snag a great shot.

At home, you can just sit on the back porch and watch a birdfeeder, have camera and tripod all set up, knowing where the light and shadows will be best for you to capture the perfect picture of a bird. 

Or, you'll know where the sun will set and where to position youself for an award-winning scene.

When you're traveling and want outstanding lighting for your subject, it gets a bit more complicated. 

You are on unfamiliar terrain.  Chasing the light may cause you to have to go that extra mile.

In the photo above, I was driving to Okinawa, Japan's annual Dragonboat races.  This is what the City of Naha looked like on my drive to town.

I was thinking "What freakin' possesses you to do stupid things like this, old man"?


The odds were against anyone getting a great photo at the Dragonboat Festival because there were dark skies and rain, on and off, all day long.  It's rainy season.  What did you expect?

This photo was taken while I was standing, with a few thousand other people, facing towards the west.  Look at that red tower in the upper righthand corner of the frame. 

Knowing that the final Dragonboat Races would be in the late afternoon, I knew, that if the sun ever did shine, all the spectators, cameramen, videocam news channels and the thousands of spectators would all be looking directly into the sun.  Good for them.  Hah !

When the time was right, I sneaked away from the crowds and set my camera up on the seawall directly in front of that red tower.  This shot was taken with my cell phone camera thingy.  I walked a long way and crawled through some hairy situations avoiding security guards and police, just to get there and sit on that wall.  And the lighting was just as crappy as where I'd came from.  However, there wasn't any crowd. 

  At 4:25PM the sun lit up the sky right where I wanted it to be for my Extra Mile Travel Photo. 

Today's Photography Tip is my weekly post for LadyE's TRAVEL PHOTO THURSDAY.

She has a bigger and bigger crowd of people posting travel photos every week so, drop on by and you can see great travel photos from all over the globe and it won't cost you a dime.  Most of the photographers over there know what going the extra mile means, too.  Check it out and you won't be disappointed.