Club KSP Photography

[ZacK]

Intermezzo:

http://i51.tinypic.com/21eyer5.jpg\">

share another pic of a pretty old Malay house that i like very much ~ :love:

I can almost imagine what your collection of pix would look like

[cimman]

Intermezzo:

Thanks for the great reviews from cimman and ZacK ~ i'm taking notes too kekeke..

as pointed out, the focusing of the olympus e-p1 is a little slow but it's still manageable as i do use it to take candids of my kids.. i don't use it for sports shots tho.

Need some advice here.. i'm thinking of getting a CPL filter for my E-P1. is it ok to keep the CPL on the camera all the time even when taking photos under light situations which actually do NOT need a CPL? thanks in advance ~

(ps. question arised because it seems very troublesome to have to remove / put on the CPL filter frequently.. wonder if i can just keep it on all the time as a kind of protective filter..? )

the CPL filter should only be used as and when needed ie. to reduce reflection, to have a more contrasty sky, etc... It attenuates certain wavelengths of the available light and leave other wavelengths alone. As such, the camera sensor will underexpose your pics, especially indoor shots.
To protect your lenses, it's best to use either Skylight filter or a UV filter. Both of which have little to no impact on exposure metering on your camera. You can stack filters ie. have the UV filter on camera all the time and when needed, attach the CPL filter to the UV filter.
The CPL filter should be rotated to the right angle to be effective. You'll have to play around with it to see where is the right rotation.

The other point to note is that a CPL filter is a lot more expensive than a UV filter. So if it is for lens protection, best to use a cheaper filter to take the hit.

[Intermezzo]

thanks so much for your great advice, ZacK and cimman ~

wow so much important info and user tips in your postings!

i have got the CPL filter and am still trying it out, and it does seem to be very useful in cutting out reflections, eg. from water surfaces, and even from waxy leaf surfaces which usually reflect quite a bit of light and cause a \"glare\".. as a result of the CPL, the green color of the plants look more saturated..

i have attached a sample pic taken with the CPL filter below.

As the leaves are are oriented at different angles to the camera, i suppose it's impossible to cut out ALL glare, but it's great to be able to rotate the CPL to choose a position where most of the reflective glare from the water and green leaves can be removed ~

http://i54.tinypic.com/5b1a1v.jpg\">

this was taken at the science garden of NUSH yesterday at 1/20 s, f/4.0, ISO 320, and +1/3 ev.

Thanks again for all your invaluable help ~ :celebrate:

[ZacK]

Hmm still dun know what the effects of CPL filter will be, but I saw some sample shots and the colours seem to be more \"dramatic\" and saturated, which is fine with me as sometimes we may wish to create the mood to our shots.


Intermezzo, I guess what would be good as comparison would be to show the without CPL and with CPL shot side by side to see if there is any real difference... Just my thots.

Btw just a note... Do you feel that your shots tend to be a tad overexposed, as the skies in your previous shots and also the whites in the latest shot seem to be blended together such that we cant see the details.

Happy shooting... Think you got me interested in CPL, perhaps will find some time over the next few weeks to check it out

[ZacK]

Sharing some of my older pix taken earlier in the year


Actually I have lots of flowers pix but only a few which I truely appreciate, here are two of them:

http://i54.tinypic.com/69hkdh.png\">

This was taken just as the sun was about to set, using the available natural lighting and the fact that this flower is bluish violete, I kind of like the bluish tones in this shot
http://i53.tinypic.com/2rcwtjo.png\">

[Intermezzo]

ZacK:

Intermezzo, I guess what would be good as comparison would be to show the without CPL and with CPL shot side by side to see if there is any real difference... Just my thots.

Btw just a note... Do you feel that your shots tend to be a tad overexposed, as the skies in your previous shots and also the whites in the latest shot seem to be blended together such that we cant see the details.

Happy shooting... Think you got me interested in CPL, perhaps will find some time over the next few weeks to check it out

Thanks Zack for the feedback ~
haha you're right.. should have included a shot without CPL for comparison hor? totally forgot to take one.. :oops:

yep it's true, the skies in most of my photos tend to end up overexposed, especially in high-contrast shots such as sky + dark color houses..
i think it's partly due to that i can't find a graduated ND filter to fit on my e-p1 to balance up the sky when it's too bright..

hopefully with the new CPL i can tone down the sky a bit in such circumstances.. thanks ZacK for pointing it out!

[vlim]

ZacK:

Sharing some of my older pix taken earlier in the year


Actually I have lots of flowers pix but only a few which I truely appreciate, here are two of them:

http://i54.tinypic.com/69hkdh.png\">

This was taken just as the sun was about to set, using the available natural lighting and the fact that this flower is bluish violete, I kind of like the bluish tones in this shot
http://i53.tinypic.com/2rcwtjo.png\">

wow...niccccccccccce...Zack! Are u professional photographer?

[Intermezzo]

ZacK:

Sharing some of my older pix taken earlier in the year


Actually I have lots of flowers pix but only a few which I truely appreciate, here are two of them:

http://i54.tinypic.com/69hkdh.png\">

This was taken just as the sun was about to set, using the available natural lighting and the fact that this flower is bluish violete, I kind of like the bluish tones in this shot
http://i53.tinypic.com/2rcwtjo.png\">

Lovely unique shots ~ any idea what's that plant in the first pic? i've never seen anything like it..

the moody blue color in the second pic is indeed very nice ~ such a poetic feel hehe.. what lens do you use to take this type of macro studies?

[ZacK]

vlim:

wow...niccccccccccce...Zack! Are u professional photographer?

Thanks vlim... Not a pro la.. .You shd see the number of shots I have to take just to find a more acceptable shot that you see here. Still learning.. .Hopefully will have more nice pix to showcase :xedfingers:

[ZacK]

Intermezzo:

Lovely unique shots ~ any idea what's that plant in the first pic? i've never seen anything like it..

the moody blue color in the second pic is indeed very nice ~ such a poetic feel hehe.. what lens do you use to take this type of macro studies?

Actually i dun really know, but shd be taken near to the Ginger Garden at Botanic Gdns.. To me I thot it looked like ondeh ondeh :oops:

the second pix was taken at changi village near to the food centre while waiting for a table to be available. Used my 85mm lens for both shots