How to Shoot Firework Photo

In view of the new year countdown, and the beautiful firework display, below is a guideline on how to shoot firework.

1. Use a tripod
2. Be on site early to secure a good spot
3. You may use landscape or portrait format. The choice is really yours
4. Exposure setting:
   For digital compact, use firework mode if there is one
   
   For DSLR: Use B mode if available. Shutter will remain open as long as the shutter release button remain pressed. A good way is to use a black card to cover the lens. When firework goes off, take off the card and put it back on as appropriate.
   
   Set Aperture between 8 to 16.
5. Use the lowest ISO available
6. Focus - use manual mode.

After a few practice, I hope you get good pictures. Otherwise, fine tune the setting.
eg, if too bright, set Aperture to a higher value

Photo reconstruction

Recently I was given a black and white and a colour photo to be made into a memorial style image to be printed. The reconstructed black and white photo is as below.

The finished photo is as below.

By the way, if you have photos which you like to be done like above, please do contact me by e-mail (williamting @ hotmail.com (remove space)) or phone (+60123020178).

Graduation Photography

Recently my friend's daughter graduated from Curtin. I was privileged to be able to take just a few of their pictures to celebrate this extremely important event and also marking a major milestone in life.
Below, you see just two of the photos.

The photos were taken just outside the graduation hall. I have to turn this into "studio style" shooting, perhaps with the hope that the result is even better than those taken in studio.

Nikon D3, F/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO-1000, Metering: Pattern

DIY Green Screen

An interesting video teaching you how to make green screen!
 

21 sample poses to get you started

For those who run out of ideas on posing, here is a list of 21 sample poses. Click Here.:

How I shoot these flower photos

I hope you like these photos and the effect... They were taken on my Nikon D3. But most cameras should be able to take nice flower photos...

F-stop 2.8, Exposure 1/400s, ISO 200, Focal 70mm, no flash

The original photo show the complete orchid but I cropped it just to show the centre part. I used Lightroom to "blacken" the image slightly and then use the adjustment brush to increase the exposure of the centre centre part.

F 16, 1/250s, ISO 3200, 70mm, flash

This photo was taken during the morning at 10:00AM while it was raining slightly. I did not put a black curtain behind. I should have locked the ISO down to 200! But never mind, I got the effect I want.
How it was done:
Camera was on manual mode. Behind these flowers is a white wall. Therefore, if I shoot directly, the white wall will spoil the effect of the required black background as it will give me a white background.
So, I shifted myself and ensure that the nearest object in the background is some 20-30 feet away. On manual mode, I adjusted the aperture so that it showed at least 3 stops under expose. I was holding a white umbrella and pointed my flash up on the umbrella. I was squatting about 3 feet from the flower.
Release the shutter and I got a picture with a dark background! Then I used Lightroom to adjust "Black" and a perfect black background is obtained. If you want to ask more question, you can always attend my photography class or buy me a breakfast!

'To see all my photos on flower, please click here.