Sunday, September 30, 2012

Update On RainbowImaging 100 Meter 2.4 GHz Wireless Shutter Release Review (Video)

Hello guys, I just wanted to give a quick update on one of my video product reviews I have posted before. the first video is the original review.


After the product broke and I have to do some DIY soldering to fix it, here is an update on what happened and how my views changed on this product. 


That is all. If you enjoyed the videos and want more, you can always subscribe me on Youtube here.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Shuttle Endeavour Flyover at NASA Moffett Field (The Speech)

On 9-21-2012, the space shuttle Endeavour made its last voyage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles, CA where it will rest in the California Science Center museum. The space shuttle was flown attached on top of a Boeing 747 and has made its trip across several famous landmarks all over the United States including the NASA Moffett Field, Monterey Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Endeavour has flown 25 missions, including 12 to help construct and outfit the space station, and logged nearly 123 million miles in flight during 4,671 orbits. It has served us all a very long time and has helped us further understand our unique and mysterious universe. For those who were not lucky enough to get to see it or wish to see it close up and relive the event again, here are the photos I took at the event at NASA Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA. These photos includes photos of the event, the space shuttle itself, the paparazzi groups, and some other stuff. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos. These photos will be split into several parts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. View my best event photos here. If you want to view all the photos from the event, use this link.

Parts:
Message from the Photographer: Currently, I am working very hard to get those Yosemite photos processed so I can start posting them! :) I've been taking a small break from my school work as there is nothing too big coming up recently. LOL So anyways, let's introduce today's photos.

Today, I have some photos of the guest speakers at the event that did the speech. If you wish to also listen to part of the speech, I have a video embedded at the end of this blog post that you can watch. I didn't video tape the whole speech. I left a bit early to get a good spot to view the flyover.

Singing the National Anthem. 






I actually embedded the speech at the end of my high speed photography tutorial, because I used the NASA event as the example in my little lecture. If you just want to watch the speech, go ahead and skip to 22:05 of the video. If you wish to read the tutorial, you can do so here. If you wish to subscribe for more videos, you can do so here


Thank you for viewing todays photos! I hope you have enjoyed viewing these. Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Friday, September 28, 2012

High Speed Photography Tutorial (Including a Video Version)

Space Shuttle Endeavour Flyover at NASA Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA.
See more photos of the event here.

How would you guys like to learn high speed photography and be able to take a photo like the one I did above? Pretty sure all of you do. I am here to offer some tips and tricks on the method I use for high speed photography. Let's get started!

In order to take the photo, you need to have the correct settings on your camera. Here are some of the settings I use on my camera. I'll explain them in more detail under the image. These were just screenshots pulled out of my video. If this text version tutorial don't make that much sense to you, I recommend you want the video at the end of this blog post.

  1. In a high speed shot, you always want to control the speed of the shot. Always use Shutter Priority Mode (Tv or S) on your camera. In this mode, you can set the camera's shutter speed, and have your camera decide the rest of the values (ISO, Aperture) automatically to reach the correct exposure. You do this by using the mode dial on the top of your camera. 
  2. Secondly, make sure you have a shutter speed fast enough for your moving object. However, you should not drive this speed up too much as your camera may not be able to get the right exposure! Generally if the camera can not reach the correct exposure, the values in the camera will flash. Generally when this happens, it means your photo will turn out too dark, however under some circumstances, it may mean your photo will turn out too bright. This is generally a trial and error process. The tip here is to get it at the "right" exposure, one that is neither too short or too long. I can not give you a specific shutter speed as it will depend on how fast your subject is moving. 
  3. Set your camera in AI SERVO mode (Canon) or in the special focus tracking mode in your camera. This mode is generally under different names in other brands of cameras. I only know the name for Canon cameras as I have never used other brands before. AI SERVO will insure that your subject will be continuously focused on as long as you are pressing down the shutter button half way or in between shots when it is fully pressed down. 
  4. Set your camera on High-Speed Continuous Burst so it will take as many shots as fast as it can when the shutter button is pressed down. This will make it more likely you will get the shot you are looking for. 
  5. Zone-AF is what I use for these kinds of photos. The center focus points of ANY camera is the fastest and is great for focusing on fast moving objects. Most likely, your subject will be in the center anyways, so why not just limit the focusing to those points! 
  6. Setting the metering mode to center weighted average will help you get the correct exposure. Sometimes when you try to take a photo of a bird in flight, the sky behind will be extremely bright compared to the under side of the bird. If you left it on evaluative metering, your camera will most likely expose for the sky instead of your subject. Again, your subject will be in the center most likely, so this will even out the exposure a bit and help you get the right image. 

Some people may disagree with the tips I provide below. Again, this is just my way of doing things. Whether or not you want to follow these is completely up to you. 

Another thing I like to do is setting my camera on RAW + Small JPEG. I love shooting RAW as I have more work room in post processing, and I also shoot a small JPEG because RAW photos can not be previewed with out special softwares like Photoshop. Generally people look down at this for high speed photography as it will fill the buffer (temporary storage) of your camera as it writes the data to memory card. When this limit is reached, your speed will slow down significantly and your camera will refuse to take any more photos. How fast you hit this limit depends completely on the camera you have and the write speed of your memory card. If you want to see how fast before the Canon EOS 7D hits its buffer, check out my video below. The Canon EOS 7D has a pretty fast processor and a fairly large buffer inside so I shoot in RAW as the buffer limit don't bother me as much. 

If your camera hits the buffer too soon and it starts bothering you, you can try these few things:
  • Turn off the JPEG "preview".
  • Choose a lower resolution RAW format.
  • Switch to JPEG format (you usually can't fill your buffer in JPEG mode).
  • Buy a faster memory card or camera. 

The other thing you see in my above image is that I have my camera set on ISO Auto. If you are a bit more experienced with photography, you might be thinking, "That is not very professional!". Usually I'd agree with you, but however, the recently Canon EOS 7D firmware upgrade added the option for me to set a max in ISO Auto. If you want to read more about the firmware update, you can read about it here. You want to use as low of an ISO as you want, but with fast moving objects, there is no telling what you need to use. It is best to let your camera automatically pick between a limited range. I usually don't like to go over ISO 800, but in the Space Shuttle Endeavour Flyover case, I know ISO 400 should be enough to properly expose the shots. In photography, everything is about experience. You should be able to get a rough estimate of the settings you need for a particular image with out even seeing it first. Only tip I can offer you on that is keep taking photos and soon you will get the hang of it. To configure the maximum ISO on a Canon EOS 7D, press (Menu), and scroll to the 3rd menu. You should see this option. If you don't, you probably didn't update your camera yet, and again, you get get more details on that here.


I love these settings, and I wish to use them more often! What should I do? You can easily set it to one of your custom function modes on your camera (may not be present on some cameras and the number of modes you have vary between different bodies too). The method I show you here is for the Canon EOS 7D as this is the only camera I have and know how to use. Different cameras may have different methods of setting this up, or you may not have custom functions entirely. I recommend you consult your camera's instruction manual for more details on this subject.

If you have a Canon EOS 7D like me, you are in luck! Ever wondered what the C1, C2, or C3 on your mode dial is for? It stands for Custom Function 1, Custom Function 2, and Custom Function 3. On your Canon EOS 7D, you can set up a total of 3 custom functions. For me, I my C1 set on the settings for HDR photography. For my C2, I have it set up on landscape shot without a remote shutter release (in other words 2 second delay). For my C3, you have been looking at it all this time and it is my high speed photography settings.

The settings can be any mode you want (expect Auto and Creative Auto). The button can be P, Tv, Av, M, or B and any custom settings you dial in will be saved. Custom settings includes your menu options, your metering modes, your shutter speed (in Tv or M mode), and all the other things displayed on your LCD. Every time you turn to the Custom Function, all those options will be there set up for you the same way you did the first time. To do this, turn your mode dial to the mode you want (P, Tv, Av, M, or B) and dial in the settings. Then just press (Menu), scroll to the 9th menu, and go down to Camera user setting (as demonstrated in the photo above). Then it will ask you to either Register, or Clear Settings. You will want Register (obviously). Then you just pick which mode dial you want to set it on. Doing so will reset what ever you have set on that mode previously, so make sure you don't pick the wrong one!


Now that we are done with camera settings, let's move on to some methods I use in the field when I'm actually taking photos.

The first tip I offer you may not be practical in all situations. Sometimes you maybe wondering if the shutter speed you set is fast enough, or if the tracking modes is correct. In planned events, like the Space Shuttle Endeavour Flyover, I know the subject will be a Boeing 747 (airplane). Before the main target flew over, I saw some other airplanes flying over the area and I took some test shots with those planes. You can see the test shots I took below.


Generally this is not practical with wildlife photography because those things are not planned and the speed they move at varies too greatly. However, in these planned events, I know those airplanes flying overhead is traveling at about the same speed as the Boeing 747 later, so I was able to use them as test targets. If you expecting the subject to fly over sometime, and it is totally planned, I recommend you find some test objects traveling at about the same speed before the real deal comes.

If you are in the field getting wildlife photos, it is a process of trial and error. Again, like I said above, The more photos you take, the easier it is for you to judge the correct shutter speed.

Remember how I said above with your buffer filling up? One way I try to avoid that is by shooting 2-3 shots, and then taking a break. I still keep the shutter button half way pressed, and I still track the subject, but I take a break from taking any shots. If you think about it, later on your computer, you only need 1 or 2 good shots. You don't need several hundred trashy shots (even if they are all in focus). So when I take a break between the shots, it gives the camera more time to write the data to the memory card, it gives me time to reframe the shot (You can't see anything when the mirror is up!), and it also gives AI SERVO some time to refocus accurately. Technically AI SERVO is still focusing between the shots, however it will be much more accurate when it doesn't have the mirror flipping up and down.

If you looked at my Endeavour photos, you will know I left some margins in every photo. I recommend you do the same just incase you have to crop and reframe a photo. This will also give you some error space as well. As I mentioned above, you can't see through your view finder when the mirror is up! Sometimes I will find myself not panning my camera when the mirror is up! I am not the only one who make this mistake, so make sure you leave some margins when you frame up the shot. Also remember to continue panning even when the viewfinder goes dark.

Alright, I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! I hope this tutorial can help you out with your future photos. Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar. Alright, and below is a video version of this tutorial which may further clarify somethings if you didn't get it in writing.


If you enjoy the video and would like more, you can subscribe me on Youtube here

Copyright Warning: The first photo in this blog post is one of my best and most popular works of art. Unauthorized usage and reproductions are strictly prohibited. Please contact me here to purchase prints and negotiate photo licenses.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Shuttle Endeavour Flyover at NASA Moffett Field (Airplanes on Display and Hangar One)

On 9-21-2012, the space shuttle Endeavour made its last voyage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles, CA where it will rest in the California Science Center museum. The space shuttle was flown attached on top of a Boeing 747 and has made its trip across several famous landmarks all over the United States including the NASA Moffett Field, Monterey Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Endeavour has flown 25 missions, including 12 to help construct and outfit the space station, and logged nearly 123 million miles in flight during 4,671 orbits. It has served us all a very long time and has helped us further understand our unique and mysterious universe. For those who were not lucky enough to get to see it or wish to see it close up and relive the event again, here are the photos I took at the event at NASA Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA. These photos includes photos of the event, the space shuttle itself, the paparazzi groups, and some other stuff. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos! These photos will be split into several parts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. View my best event photos here. If you want to view all the photos from the event, use this link.

Parts:
Now let's introduce today's photos. I will show you some photos of 2 airplanes that was on display at NASA Moffett Field and some photos I took of Hangar One of the NASA Moffett Field. I am not an airplane expert so I have no clue what the name is for the first plane. If you know, I would love it if you posted it in the comments. 

 HDR Composition. This was the airplane I was talking about I have no clue what the name is. So many people at the event right? :) Hangar One is right behind this plane on the left of the photo. 

I thought a low angle shot of one of the airplane's propellers with the sky and clouds in the background looked nice. What do you think? Tell me in the comments below! :)

Photography Tip: Days with some clouds in the sky (like above) are great for landscape photography. Generally on a cloudless day, you'll end up with a boring blue sky. On days where there are some clouds, it should look better. I also recommend the use of a polarizing filter on these days as it will help contrast the blue sky with the clouds a bit better. 

Another shot of the airplane with some motion blur of the people walking around to show some motion. The airplane says COMPAT WING 4. 


Another shot of the airplane, including the bicycles of the visitors. Sure a lot of bikers! 

The only panoramic I took at the event. That is Hangar One on the left side of the photo. 

Another photo of Hangar One and the people at the event. 


 HDR photo of Hangar One. Did not turn out too well. :/

Hangar One

I think this is a replica of the Boeing 747 carrying the space shuttle. It was off in the distance across the runway. 

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Unboxing the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash (Video)


This video is an unboxing of the new Speedlite 600EX-RT flash. I will have a video review posted soon after I get to use this product for a while. This new flash features radio transmission which is easier to use for multi-flash photogrpahy. 

Follow me on Youtube here. Other than these unboxing video, I also do product review videos, and photography tutorial and tips videos. 






Sunday, September 23, 2012

Shuttle Endeavour Flyover at NASA Moffett Field (Getting Back at the Paparazzi)

On 9-21-2012, the space shuttle Endeavour made its last voyage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles, CA where it will rest in the California Science Center museum. The space shuttle was flown attached on top of a Boeing 747 and has made its trip across several famous landmarks all over the United States including the NASA Moffett Field, Monterey Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Endeavour has flown 25 missions, including 12 to help construct and outfit the space station, and logged nearly 123 million miles in flight during 4,671 orbits. It has served us all a very long time and has helped us further understand our unique and mysterious universe. For those who were not lucky enough to get to see it or wish to see it close up and relive the event again, here are the photos I took at the event at NASA Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA. These photos includes photos of the event, the space shuttle itself, the paparazzi groups, and some other stuff. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos! These photos will be split into several parts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. View my best event photos here. If you want to view all the photos from the event, use this link.

Parts:
As you know the paparazzi has been taking photos and shooting videos of people, whether the person liked it or not, ever since the camera has been invented. It's time us normal people get back at them. ^_^ Here are the photos of the paparazzi groups (the news reporters) at the event. I wanted to get interviewed but they said no. :( Those jerks. ROFL I really wanted to be on TV. Alright, hope you enjoy viewing these "get back" photos! 

This is the CBS paparazzi group. The guy on the left looks so intimidating. LOL I also think he was the tallest guy there... It's not a distortion in the photo. HAHA He really is that tall. 

I guess this is one of the employees of NASA video taping the event. He got me on video, and I got him on photo. :P


The parking area for the paparazzi. Those antennas are really tall! 

 Reporter interviewing a visitor to the event. 


3 cameras set up from 3 different news stations. Those in the back are the antennas from the news vans. 

Saw a helicopter flying over head and decided to take a photo because I was in the high speed photography mood. XD Turns out it was an ABC news-copter. 

Alright guys, these are the photos of the news crew I took a photo of. If you see news crews next time, take photos of them. :P Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Friday, September 21, 2012

Shuttle Endeavour Flyover at NASA Moffett Field (Endeavor and Fighter Jet)

On 9-21-2012, the space shuttle Endeavour made its last voyage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles, CA where it will rest in the California Science Center museum. The space shuttle was flown attached on top of a Boeing 747 and has made its trip across several famous landmarks all over the United States including the NASA Moffett Field, Monterey Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Endeavour has flown 25 missions, including 12 to help construct and outfit the space station, and logged nearly 123 million miles in flight during 4,671 orbits. It has served us all a very long time and has helped us further understand our unique and mysterious universe. For those who were not lucky enough to get to see it or wish to see it close up and relive the event again, here are the photos I took at the event at NASA Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA. These photos includes photos of the event, the space shuttle itself, the paparazzi groups, and some other stuff. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos! These photos will be split into several parts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. View my best event photos here. If you want to view all the photos from the event, use this link.

Parts:
Message from the photographer: Hi fans! I was lucky enough to reschedule with my professor about today's lab! I am such a bad student right? 😅 So yeah, I got up at 5:45 A.M. (well technically my friend's call woke me up because he got overexcited) to start heading to the event at Moffett Field near Mountain View! Also had to pick my friend up along the way. By the time I was in NASA, it was about 7:30. I started taking photos of the event immediately. So later took photos of the people there, took photos of the speech and also video taped a portion of it... Then I took some photos for my friend because he knows I am good with photos, and his camera was crappy anyways. 😂 So yeah, after that, I got ready to take photos of the space shuttle along with everyone else, but turns out the space shuttle was 15 minutes late even though they said any minute now.

So anyways, after I got the photos, I got lunch, and rushed home, and got home at like 4:30 P.M.. I know all of you fans would want to see these photos so I immediately got to work. After 4 hours of work (dinner included) I finished the photos and here I am typing up this blog post! :) I hope you enjoy viewing these. I'm going to start you guys off with the most important photos, which is of the space shuttle Endeavour and its accompanying fighter jet.

Also, no tips on high speed photography in this blog post. :) I plan on doing a blog post just for that soon! (Update 9-28-2012: Blog post is available here.) So check back often. You can always Follow/Like me on my FacebookTwitter, or Instagram for updates!

Aircraft approaching. 

 Another photo of the aircraft approaching.


The fighter jet that accompanied the space shuttle for the entire flight. I quickly turned my camera toward this, took 2 shots, and switch back onto the main subject, the space shuttle! 

The aircraft flying low over one of the buildings so we can take a photo. It was really low!  

 Another photo of it right over the building. 






The aircraft flying off into the distance. It only made one pass. 


These are all the photos for today. The event photos, paparazzi groups photos, and some other stuff I took photos of will be coming up in the next few posts so stick around! Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Next Post >>

Copyright Warning: These photos are some of my best and most popular works of art. Unauthorized usage and reproductions are strictly prohibited. Please contact me here to purchase prints and negotiate photo licenses.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica)

I decided to take some photos of birds in flight at Coyote Hills Regional Park to practice taking photos of fast moving objects. Here are the photos I took. Coyote Hills Regional Park is a East Bay Regional Park located in Fremont, CA. The area is a salt water marsh with a lot of waterfowls and other animals. I sometimes go there because the birds there are easy to spot as there are no tall trees or foliage in the park. The following photos are of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica).

我最近拍了一些鸟正在飞行的照片。这些照片是在 Coyote Hills Regional Park 拍的。这个公园是在加州的 Fremont。今天这些鸟叫 Barn Swallow。

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best Coyote Hills Regional Park photos, use this link. To see my best bird photos of 2012, use this link. For all the photos taken in 2012 in Coyote Hills regional Park, use this link.

Message From The Photographer: Hello guys, sorry about not posting recently. I have been very busy with school work and haven't had much time to spend on my photos. In fact, these are the last of the photos I have ready to post. The rest of my photos are still in RAW format and I like to do some post processing before I post them. Now that we are done with the bad news, here are some good news. On Friday, from 6 AM to 10 AM PST, there will be a space shuttle fly-over at the NASA Moffet Field near Mountain View, CA. I will be there to take photos of the event. I'm pretty sure this will be pretty cool for many of you guys. If you don't know about this event, you can read about it here. Too lazy to get into the details here on the blog. 😂 I'm a photographer, not an article writer. LOL I will do my best to get the photos processed and up on this blog the same day or the day after. 😁 Alright, enough with the message, let's continue to the photos.

When I shown this photo to my friend, he thought it was a fish... I would have cropped it all the way, but I thought the clouds in the background made a good effect for the photo. 


Photography Tip: For photos of fast moving objects, set your camera on Shutter Priority Mode (Tv) and set your camera to take multiple shots. In Shutter Priority Mode, you set the shutter speed and your camera will set the corresponding aperture to make sure your shot is correctly exposed. If the values flash in your camera, it means correct exposure can not be reached (generally underexposure). To fix the underexposure problem, either slow down your shutter speed or boost the ISO. If your camera offers focus tracking, use that too (it is AI SERVO on Canon cameras). Your first few shots may be blurry, you may only have 1 good shot in hundreds of shots. The thing is practice makes perfect and even professionals will screw up on fast moving objects. The thing to remember is if a shot looks bad, take it and look at it and see how to improve the next time you try to do a similar photo. Photography is hard to master and will take time, sometimes even your entire lifetime! It's not an overnight thing and you shouldn't feel sad over a ruined shot. I'm saying this because I often do get sad over a ruined shot, but the thing is, don't look back the past, just look at how you can do better in the future. This not only applies to photography but to daily life too. :)




This is all the photos I have for today! I hope you have enjoyed these photos. I will try my best to get some of my photos finished processing. Don't forget to check back on Friday or Saturday for those Space Shuttle photos! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably missed my message above. If that is the case, you can scroll up and read it.) Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Canon's New EOS 6D Full Frame DSLR

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Hello photography enthusiasts! Canon has unveiled today their new EOS 6D camera. This new camera is a great upgrade if you are an EOS 7D owner as this camera is only around $2100 USD (Body only) compared to the EOS 7D which was priced around $1500 USD (Body only). If you are making this upgrade, please take note this camera only reads SD cards and are not compatible with EF-S mount lenses. A 20.2 megapixel full frame sensor, a built-in GPS, DIGIC 5+ Image Processor, and a built-in Wifi transmitter are just some of the important components making this new camera unique. 

The new built-in GPS allows the camera to include location information in every photo you take. Other Canon DSLRs so far (Example: 5D MkIII7D) requires you to plug in an external GPS in order to recored location information. The new built-in Wifi transmitter allows you to upload photos wirelessly, print photos wirelessly, and control the camera wirelessly. Previous cameras (Example: 5D MkIII7D) needed an external Wifi transmitter in order to do these things. Peripheral Illumination Correction, Chromatic Aberration Correction, and Distortion Correction can also be done in camera.

If I had the money right now, I would totally upgrade from my EOS 7D to this camera. Sadly, I do not have the money right now. HAHA Currently (at the time of writing this post) this camera is up for pre-order at $2099.00 USD plus tax where required on Amazon.com. If you think you want to upgrade, or want to find out a bit more, please follow this link

Specifications:
  • Sensor: 20.2 megapixel full frame (self cleaning via ultrasonic vibrations)
  • Processor: DIGIC 5+
  • GPS: Built-in
  • Wifi: Built-in
  • Memory: SD, SDHC, SDXC Cards
  • Lens Type: EF mount (No EF-S or EF-M lenses)
  • ISO: 50-102400 (when ISO range is expanded in the in-camera settings) ISO Auto can be limited. User can set a high/low limit. 
  • Flash: Needs external Speedlite. None built-in.
  • Modes: Auto, Creative Auto, Scene Mode, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, Bulb, 2 Custom Functions
  • AF Type: 11 Point AF including a high-precision center cross-type AF point with EV -3 sensitivity allows focusing in extreme low-light conditions
More specs are available on Amazon.com. I just listed some of the important ones here. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Augustin Bernal Park (Landscape, Plants, and Deers)

Augustin Bernal Park is a hiking trail near my house. I sometimes go there to exercise and take photos. Augustin Bernal Park is located in Pleasanton, CA and is only open to Pleasanton residents and their guests. In my opinion, the trail is not too good for photos because it's too shady and dark so I can't get fast enough shutter speeds. Great for exercising though! I have a landscape photo, some plant photos, and some deer photos for today.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best photos of Pleasanton in 2012, use this link. To see all of my photos from Pleasanton in 2012, use this link.

Here is a landscape of the trail. I boosted the fill light for the shadows in Adobe Camera RAW. I always take my photos in RAW. It's a good habit to take RAW files, especially if you plan on doing editing on the photo later. 

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum)

Leaves on some of the trees on the side of the trail. 


Not sure what flowers these are. 

Another photo of the leaves on a bush near the trail. 

A deer near the parking lot. 


There was actually 3 deers. Lucky me! But my new 600EX-RT did not arrive yet on that day. :/ Had to drive my ISO up.

Another photo of the deer eating something on the tree. 

This is all for this blog post. I may have to slow down a bit on my posts because as of right now, I only have photos ready for 1 more blog post. The rest are still being processed. :/ I have been very busy. I hope you have enjoyed these photos though. Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.