For some reason this video brings a smile to my face

Photographer trumps Camera

How is this photo taken?

Camera Info
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: VR 17-50mm F/2.8G
Focal Length: 17mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: ON
AF Fine Tune: OFF

Exposure

Aperture: F/8

Shutter Speed: 1/400s

Exposure Mode: Manual

Exposure Comp.: 0EV

Exposure Tuning:

Metering: Matrix

ISO Sensitivity: Auto (ISO 100)

Flash

Device: Built-in Flash

Flash Sync Mode: Front Curtain

Master: ---

Group A: M x 1/1

Group B: ---

Group C: ---

New Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8G Lens

For more information please check out the nikon site here.

Which Lens to use?

Lots of people have been asking me what lens they should buy to get the best pictures out of their photography. The answer is that there is no best lens for everything.

An 85mm f1.4 may be great for portraits but may not be long enough for wildlife where you need to shoot the animals from a distance without disturbing them. You wouldn't use an 85mm 1.4 for macro use either because of the low magnification ratio.

Often as photographers, we start of with shooting everything around us. But we'll often find a specific genre that we particularly enjoy, and from then on, we'll invest in the gear specific to that photography type.

Let me give you some lens recommendations according to budget:

Portraiture

50mm f1.8 (cheap)

85mm f1.8 (moderate)

85mm f1.4/1.2 (expensive)

Events (i.e. birthday, social parties)

18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (cheap)

17-50mm f2.8 (moderate)

24-70 (expensive)

Wedding

18-55mm f3.5-5.6 + 55-200mm f4-5.6 (cheap)

24-70mm f2.8 + 70-200mm f2.8 (expensive)

Macro

Tamron 60mm f2 Macro (cheap)

105mm f2.8 (expensive)

Landscape

18-55mm f3.5-5.6 (cheap)

tokina 11-16mm f2.8 (moderate)

nikon 14-24mm f2.8 (expensive)

canon 16-35mm f2.8 (expensive)

wildlife (depends on how far your subject will be)

55-200mm f4-5.6 (cheap)

600mm f4 (insanely expensive $10,000+)

The optically best lenses usually also means that they are the heaviest, I strongly advise against getting huge lenses at the start because it will deter you from bringing your camera around and taking photos, especially when that is most important in helping you improve your skills.

Attached below is a video by Mark Wallace from Adorama, who is an excellent teacher. He talks about camera lens choices and is a very useful video that shows that perspective and compression differences between wide and tele lenses. Enjoy!

Warm Regards,
Roy

Most Meticulous Way of Cleaning your DSLR Lens

Warm Regards,
Roy

New DSLR User

Hope you're as happy as her when you got your first DSLR

Warm Regards,
Roy

Tripods

I personally don't use tripods but this video shows the differences between the really cheap tripods that people give out for free versus the high end ones that people spend so much money on. Pretty amusing way of testing the difference. Hahaha!

Enjoy!

Warm Regards,
Roy

One of the most inspiring photography video I've watched

Dear Friends,

Today I'm gonna share a really inspiring video from Ted.com.

David Griffin is the photo director of National Geographic, a magazine that showcases the most amazing photographs on the planet. He speaks about photography with such passion and shares some of the stories that his photojournalists brought back. This video made me wanna jump straight out of my room and start capturing not only scenes and moments, but a story...

If you're interested, click here to access this wonderful video.

Warm Regards,
Roy

Explosive Skateboarding

This is one of the coolest skateboarding video I've seen and I wanna share with you guys

I thought the lighting and slow motion really accentuated the feel of this video.

Enjoy!

Warm Regards,
Roy

Best Introductory Video to DSLR Use

Although i'm not a Canon fan, I think this Canon based, 3 part video series gives a very good introduction to the basics of DSLR use.

This video has beautiful cinematography and locality. The 2 lovely hosts explain everything from exposure to composition and other special effects and lenses. Something about how they do it makes it so easy to understand.

Please do check out her blog too.

So if you're done with a day's work, have 30 minutes to spare before going to sleep, this can be a good use of your time.

Warm Regards,

Roy

Best Entry Level DSLRs

WooHoo~! The new Nikon D5100 is out! For those who are just starting out photography, I would highly recommend this camera, has one of the best sensors of this price range. That equates to better image quality in low lighting conditions. For more information about its specifications, you can check it out here.

For Canon lovers, the new 600D is a pretty good camera too! However, from my subjective opinion, in terms of image quality, the D5100 should still have an edge over this. For more information and review by DPreview.com of the Canon 600D, you can click here.

Warm Regards,
Roy

For all the Facebook users out there who wants a nice profile pic.

Dear Friends,

I came across this insanely hilarious video about how to capture a good facebook profile picture. I guess this is move entertaining then beneficial, but it's still worth watching.

Warm Regards,
Roy