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Reflecting on my Photo Techniques

I am back from the China trip, and I took along my K7, Pentax 40mm f2.8, 100mm and Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6. I brought back a set of photographs. Am I satisfied with them? If yes, why, and if no, why as well? This is the start of looking backward to prepare forward.

Let me start by asking myself, which photograph do I like the best that could be posted for critique at Clubsnap? There are also casual social photo which any pns could have done them. There is no need for an expensive DSLR for this purpose. There are shots which were taken in the car, as we will not stop just to take pictures. There are shots taken which were not composed properly, as they needed to be done before the people react to being photographed. Then there are the composed shots where time was given to figure out the best shot.

I will like to summarize the shooting situations as the following: (1) Impromptu, (2) Intentional, (3) Interesting, (4) Memory.

Impromptu is when you just want to shoot away and hoping that some good shots will appear. I could use the multiple and bracketing shooting capability in this case. This is usually in a situation where I have no time to think, but would like to shoot something. Situation could be in a crowded shopping mall, walking along the beach or street and some events happening which do not interest me that much.

Intentional is when I want to find pictures which I want to exercise my creativity, my knowledge and to see the results from the DSLR and the lenses. Situations such as waiting for firework, macro picture of insects, birds, modelling, sunrise and set and being there at an event with certain objectives. To do this, I have to plot the game, as to what will be expected, and which lens will do the job, and whether flash, tripod, monopod or even filters are needed to compose the better shots.

Interesting is when something catches my eyes, and I just need to take those photos. There is an impromptu element in this area, except that it is more focused. Situation will be a performance by a band on the street, a busker, an accident, a celebrity walking about and so on. Such situation does not give you time to change lens. You have to make do with what you have. A zoom lens in such a situation is most suitable. Unfortunately, by the time you change lens, the "interest" could be already gone. This is where a pns could come in handy giving you the flexibility to power it up as well as the zooming capability, preferably from 24 - 120mm.


Memory is when I want to capture certain moments to remember the event and the people. My memory will fade especially if we do not meet often. This could be of places which I am unlikely ever to visit again. In such situation, I want to ensure I have enough photos to do a short photo-story to remind me of the past. In such a situation, there is a possibility of preparing for the shooting events.


In this China trip, I have noted that with a 10-20mm gives wide angle, but as I approaches the object, I still want close-up shots of the building, monument or statute to bring out the details. Here I will need a good zoom, preferable at least 200mm. In this trip, I did not bring the zoom, but only have the 100mm. I needed to move my legs instead of the zoom ring. I noted that at Hyatt on the Bund, I couldn't capture the Jin Mao Tower well, because my fixed lens cut off the tower into two pieces. Similarly for the Bird's Nest (Beijing National Stadium), I need to move my legs; but in the hotel room, I cannot do anything more.


In the Hangzhou West Lake episode, my lenses had condensation, as I moved them out from the hotel to the hot and humid environment. I had to wait for almost 30 minutes and eventually wipe off the condensate with the microfibre cloth. However, surprisingly, the condensate produces some interesting pictures of the lotus flowers.

The buildings taken with the UWA produces distortion, which I cannot do much, even zooming to 20mm, to reduce this effect.

The 40mm pancake was versatile as I took this out for "Memory" as well as capture "Impromptu" and "Intersting" shots. As the pancake is small, it was easy to carry as well as not intimidating to people when I aim the camera at them. It works really well.

As I look back, the "Intentional" part of taking great photos rest upon my ability without tripod to take great picture. I didn't use the remote even though I took it along with me. I used the cement wall barrier as the tripod to steady my shots of the Jin Mao Tower in the night.

Could I have done better? What could I have done? Firstly the bag wasn't the best, as I changed into a Diesel canvas bag to make it non-descript; however it was difficult to put in 2 lenses with one on the camera. The eye piece kept falling off, and luckily I still have it. A friend saw me dropped it and told me. Thereafter, I kept dropping off into the bag. I need to fix that. I didn't use the 90 degree viewfinder at all.

The battery life is great. I did not have to change it, though I have a spare one. This guy has lots of stamina, and could take over 1000 photos with enough juice to spare. I finished a 4GB card, and started off with another 8GB. Memory cards today are cheaper, and I do have three 8GB cards with me. So unless I start using the video in the K7, I should have no problem in term of memory.

I did not take my flash with me, and in fact didn't even recall using my internal flash during this trip.

Ensuring no loss of the lens cap both front and back is a must. To do this, the front lens cap is usually put back into the bag or into my pocket. For the 40mm pancake front cap which is small and metallic, I am even more cautious. Losing the front cap will be disasterous, as I do not have a filter over the 40mm pancake and the 100mm as well. Hence it is important to keep the lens cap and not misplaced them. I do not carry spare. Perhaps, I need to think about buying some cheap UV filters and carry them around, just in case I lose the lens cap.

Having the blower and microfibre cloth are a must; including a bottle of glass wash.

My next trip is planned for Malaysia, and this will be easier to carry my camera bag, instead of the canvas one not designed for carry camera gears. All the lenses will go with me, alongside with tripod, monopod and flash.

We all need to learn how best to manage DSLR, as compared to a simple bridge camera (Fuji Finepix s100fs) or any point and shoot.

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