After The Rain: A Floral Composition in Black and White.

A half bloom of the Rhododendron.

The flower's midsection with the clinging water drops.

These are just simple compositions of the Rhododendron flowers that I had photographed after a rain. Since the flower is white, I have an opportunity to play with extreme contrast in black and white processing. You can utilise several photo editing software for this effect, such as Photoshop, Lightroom and others. The software I am using for the photos above is Photoscape.

To create a similar effect for your photos, the first requirement is to have a light colored flower as your subject. Just make sure that there is no overexposed highlight and also no backlighting problem.

In Photoscape, transform the photo into grayscale by using the Bright / Color option. Now your photo will be in black and white. If the brightness is too high or too low, you can fix this using the Brighten or Darken option in the same place as just now. 

Curve Tool.

When you are satisfied with your photo's brightness, open the Luminance Curve tool in the Bright / Color option. You will use this curve to manipulate the contrast and shadow. Lock the highlight and midtone range by putting dots on the curve at positions stated on the left image. Now, at the curve's bottom most, grab the line and move it to the right. This is known as the Black Point as all the black and dark areas of your photo will be manipulated at this exact point. As you do this, you will see that the shadow will increase and so are the details of the flower. Just add the shadow and details to your preference. Lastly, just sharpen as needed using the Sharpen option. Happy trying...

Tips On Photographing Sunset Photos And Setting Up Your Shutter Speed.

The beauty of sunset is a nature’s wonder that is an attraction to many photographers. With the reddish sky and multi colored clouds, it is like a painting, and only a few minute to enjoy it.

To shoot a sunset photo is not hard. The most important factor is the weather itself. Is the sunset happening, without rain clouds or haze to dampen it as you set up your equipment? If it is okay, then your work will be an easy one. The tips I am providing below will be suitable for dslr, compact and  creative compact cameras. The only accessory you will need is the Circular Polarizing Filter to rid of glares from the sun. Let us start by reviewing the exif data of the photo above.

•  Camera: Canon EOS 300D
•  Aperture: F5.6
•  ISO: 125
•  Shutter Speed: 1/200 saat
•  Zoom: 150mm
•  Metering Mode: Evaluative
•  White Balance: Auto

For the photo above, I am using the “Full Auto” setting as I was in a rush. The camera’s exposure was basically the same if I wanted to set it manually. The reading was also already accurate by judging the quality of the photo and reading the histogram. Nothing to worry about the camera’s auto exposure reading as a sunset’s lighting is balanced.

To get a big sun in your photo (right), you will need a zoom lens, at least with the reach of 200mm or more. Let the sun be in the middle of your viewfinder and zoom it in until it’s bigger. Just avoid looking directly at the sun for too long.

To ensure that your image is sharp and not blurry from handshake, you have to use the right shutter speed in accordance with your zoom magnification. The formula that I use is 1mm = 1/1 second. If your zoom magnification is 150mm, it means 1 second x 150mm = 1/150 second. This is the minimum shutter speed required to overcome handshake blurriness. For the above photo, I am using a shutter speed of 1/200s, more than enough to overcome the problem.You can use this formula for shooting photos of sports, birding and others. But if you are using a tripod, you do not need this formula.

If your image is too bright or dark, rectify it using the the AE bracketing compensation (the + / - button). Add the value to brighten or lower the value to darken.

 Exif data:

•      Canon EOS 300D
•     Aperture: 6.3
•     ISO: 100
•     Zoom: 140mm
•     Metering: Evaluative
•     White Balance: Auto
•     Shutter speed: 1/200 s

The tips above can be applied to compact and creative compact cameras. For creative compact, you can set the aperture between F2.8 and F5.6, and use AE bracketing to rectify the exposure as needed.