SYOG Closing Ceremony Fireworks Display

[adapted from my personal blog]

My borfriend msg-ed me this late afternoon to remind me that it's SYOG Closing ceremony today and I have been whining about taking fireworks for my assignments lately. So it was either we take them today or head down to USS tomorrow. Since I can only make it today and it's FREE, we just decided on today. =)









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I must say that it's an interesting experience to be among like-minded photography fanatics. It's like we have a common language and we know what each other mean! And there's always this exchange of knowledge going on.

I met a few men who apparently have started this online forum community called MyPhotoKaki, because..well I kinda ignorantly 'squeezed' among them to have a chance at taking good shots of the pyrotechnics display! And they also started teaching me about how to take better night and fireworks photographs..so I really did learn quite a few tips!

Did you know that people actually use black cards to control the amount of exposure going into the camera between fireworks blasts?

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Any comments? It's my first time out trying to take shots of fireworks actually using a tripod and a DSLR.
I think I should invest in a remote control too.

Freeze Frame

When I first received the assignment and brainstormed on what are the interesting subjects I could use for freeze frame, I immediately thought of the tigers. I had previously taken some photos of the white tigers during their feeding time using my compact camera before and I have loved those shots, so I really wanted to recreate those photos for this assignment.

Of course, this time round I'm better prepared with my Canon 500D and 55-250mm lens.







I've also got the inspiration to do this after reading a DIY article on digital-photography-school. I might try to retake these using a better container.

Motion Blur

It was my first time being this successful at a light trail shot because the shots always turn out somewhat blurry (coz I didn't have my tripod with me). I'm very happy with how this shot turned out because I didn't use a tripod here as well! Just very fortunate that the overhead bridge on which I was standing on had double railings, so I could just rest my camera on them. This was taken at a shutter speed of 30 seconds - something that couldn't be accomplished using merely hands.


Testing out motion blur @ NUS in boyfriend's car. I saw a similar image online and thought I might just give it a try. If you look closer at the side mirror, you might even notice me trying to get out of the shot as much as possible! But I do think this shot is kinda underexposed, huh?


Saw a similar image online and wanted to try something like it out. Unfortunately, the results was quite disappointing (even though I really do like the way the street lights were being captured) because the foreground is shaky.
>.<
Besides, it would have looked way much cooler if it were at night. I tried some shots out at night, but were unable to reproduce a similar motion blur result.



This was really just another surprise moment. I was actually just taking notice of this pretty bird resting on a branch, then it just suddenly took off and started to 'hover' at flowers. I was blessed enough to capture the moment. This was my first shot at something like this but I do admit that it could have been better angle-wise.





After taking all the motion blur shots above, I remembered that I had wanted to do a shot whereby the movement is generated from my camera alone. Hence this picture (of a chair at home).


This was also one of my first attempts at light graffiti after being inspired by some of the awesome works I had seen online so far. I had tried drawing like a stick figure sitting on the bed but it was a drawing that proved to be too hard for me at this time, so I resorted to just drawing simple star instead. It's challenging because I couldn't remember where I had drawn the different stick body parts.

Panning

I personally found panning shots to be the most challenging because it's difficult to think of creative ways to shoot panning. I know that the most common are taking vehicles and people cycling so I try to deviate from those (also because I've taken those before).

Panning shot of a white tiger as it walks back and forth while waiting for the token feeding time.


Panning shot of a truck

Well, I saw many creative images of panning - animals, swings etc. And it did spark off a new wave of interest and ideas for panning shots which I will hope to try out soon.

Deep Depth Of Field

I also learnt during class that for an image to really show a deep depth of field, the composition should be made up of objects placed in varying distances from the camera.

So here are my takes!

Compared to the shot taken for the shallow depth of field (similar composition), this exhibits a much deeper depth of field.


I hope this image shows the deep depth of field well enough - with the perception angle/arrangments of the concrete 'dividers'.


Deep depth of field here as the background scene of the construction cranes are not blurred.

Shallow Depth of Field - Focus on Background

As mentioned during the critique session (Week 4), shallow depth of field photos work better if they have a certain kind of 'context' to it - meaning like it shouldn't be taken just for the sake of taking it/as much as the background matters, I think the blurred foreground helps to kind of 'frame' the subject in focus as well.

At least I hope I got that part right.

Two people admiring the white tigers. The white tigers are in focus here. I hope that at least it's more effective than the next photo.

A picture of an unused boat 'framed' by plants. The blurred foreground sort of gives it a kind of depth perception; the boats is perceived to be further away from the camera than if without the blurred foreground to provide the clue.
I think the photo has a kind of eerie feel, don't you think?

Shallow Depth of Field - Focus on Foreground

This shot was actually taken from Assignment A1 which I thought would fit the requirements for Assignment A2 better. I hope it makes for an interesting composition here and I'll most probably be using this shot for my final submission.
This was shot using a 28mm, f/2.8 lens.


A shot of a flower against the new Alumni house. I like it that the pool is being blurred here - which is because of the distance from the pool itself to this flower (which was actually situated on the slope of the entrance of the carpark to COM1) - learnt it during class regarding the factors that contribute to a shallow depth of field. This shot is also another of my consideration for my final submission.


Context will be the same as above. Just that it's probably 'messier' than the shot above. Besides, I had wanted to have the flowers in focus too, but in this shot, only the leaves are clearest, so I'm not entirely satisfied with this shot.


This is one of my favourite 'accidental' shots! It was taken in the Singapore Zoo and I was fortunate enough to see a live squirrel! I kept telling myself that I NEED TO SNAP A SHOT! But taking pictures of squirrels proved to be extremely challenging because they simply just MOVE SO FAST! I couldn't get my focus to stay on it even while I'm using AF Sensor mode (by the way, I've never used that mode before, so I guess with practice, I'll be able to master it).
So this is a shot of a squirrel that 'ran out of focus'. But it's still kinda cute, don't you think? I showed my mom the picture and she oggled at it for a while. After that, she told me, "But it would be better if the focus was on the squirrel." I agreed with all my heart.


Just a shot that I was trying out. However, it's a little boring (although there are color contrasts) and the colored leaves seem to be in 'middle-ground' instead of foreground (which is also blurred).


Some figurines in the Singapore Zoo. Not entirely fantastic huh? But it was just something that I didn't mind snapping, just for the fun of it.


I definitely do like this shot as I was trying to allow the shot to at least be in context. However, I didn't get much critique on this piece. I suppose it would work better if there were indeed some silhouettes of animals in the background.


Just trying to play around with lines and depth of field.


This was a gift from my boyfriend. I was about to eat it because I would feel terrible if they rotted if left to 'keep' or 'admire' for too long (they were simply too beautiful to be allowed to be eaten!). So I had to at least take a shot of them right? I went and whipped out my 500D and 50mm f/1.8 lens and took this. Probably the composition isn't that fantastic and I know the lighting could have been way better. But I do hope I have managed to capture at least the texture and form of the macarones... haha sound familiar?)

A2 summary

A2 was an interesting assignment as it dealt with depth of fields, motion blur, panning and freeze frame!

It all sounded really interesting! So I immediately took off - snapping away in NUS, went to the Singapore Zoo, roamed around Vivocity for interesting shots etc.

This assignment really challenged me to do things that I've always wanted to do, but have never tried before (probably because I always perceived that I had lack of skill and equipment), e.g. water droplets, light trails and light graffiti. I'm glad I tried them out!

Enjoy the photos!