Implying Motion While Zooming

I’ve just added the above picture to illustrate “Implying Motion While Zooming” in the Understanding “Understanding Exposure“ series on Photoxels on Facebook.

I used the Fujifilm FinePix HS10 super zoom digital camera set to 1/40 sec., F8.0, ISO 200, and zoomed (using its wonderful manual zoom ring) from 24mm to approx. 80mm [equiv.135]. It’s not as fancy as Bryan Peterson’s tree example but I believe it illustrates the principle behind the technique he describes.

I handheld the shot of my neighbor’s beautiful Dropmore Honeysuckle vine but if you want a tack sharp central subject, it’s best to use a tripod.

If you are not getting the zooming effect, you may be using a shutter speed that is too fast and/or zooming too late. It’s trial and error, and I found that I got best results when I pressed the shutter release button and zoomed right away. Zoom too early and you get a zoomed in flower; zoom too late and the picture is recorded before the zoom effect. I took about 10 shots and selected this one as the best one.

Send me yours and I’ll post them.

We’re all familiar with paint by numbers, but Japanese clothing company Onward Kashiyama used 2700 polo shirts to recreate a huge pixelated version of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous self-portrait. The message: to promote its “Couleurs” colection.

[ via Alltop ]

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Samsung HZ30W / WB600

“In low-light things aren’t quite so rosy, with noise appearing at ISO 200 and becoming progressively worse as you move up the range, making this a camera best suited to sunny days.”

We’ve added a new Samsung Samsung HZ30W / WB600 [QuickPrice Check] review to our Reviews Matrix.

PhotographyBLOG has published their review of the Samsung HZ30W / WB600, an ultra zoom with its 12MP resolution (on a 1/2.3-in. CCD image sensor), 15x ultra wide-angle optical zoom (24-360mm equiv.), Optical Image Stabilization, 3.0-in. LCD (230k-dot), Smart Auto, PASM, Scene modes, Smart Face Recognition, Perfect Portrait System, Smart Filter, Beauty Mode, and HD Movie 1280×720 @ 30fps with stereo sound.

You can read the full Samsung HZ30W / WB600 Review at: PhotographyBLOG.

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Move over IKEA, here comes the next generation of compact, actually practical furniture for small spaces. It is Italian Designed, with a capital D, and therefore looks great. Prices? “Competitive.” Vis-à-vis other Italian-designed furniture, I guess, which means that it can’t be cheap. I guess I’ll go back to my IKEA.

[ via Engadget ]

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For the second year in a row, Vancouver was named Canada’s most walkable city by up! magazine.

Check out the top ten most foot-friendly cities in Canada at: Yahoo! Travel.

We need more walkable cities.

Yutaka Yamanaka, a grandson of the Japanese lens maker’s founder, Shigeru Yamanaka, calls for a more diverse, transparent board to help prevent “failures” such as the $1 billion purchase of PENTAX Corp.

Yamanaka, 33, owns less than 1 percent of Hoya’s outstanding shares, with 51 percent owned by overseas shareholders such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capital Research & Management Co. and Deutsche Bank AG. On May 11, Yamanaka submitted a 15-point shareholder proposal (unheard of at a Japanese company) which includes calls for disclosure of individual directors’ pay, limits on concurrent board membership, and an end to cumulative voting (which lets shareholders withhold votes from some nominees in order to cast multiple votes for others). He claimes that Hoya’s 2007 acquisition of camera and endoscope maker Pentax to expand its medical care business was “overpriced.”

Read the whole article at: Bloomberg.

I’ve been negligent with updating my Understanding “Understanding Exposure“ series on Photoxels on Facebook. I’ve just completed the chapter on Shutter Speed.

For those who are new here, what I am doing is going through Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) [QuickPrice Check ] by Bryan Peterson and commenting on each chapter, adding my own experience and bit of advice as we go along.

If you want to better your photography, you need to understand about exposure, and I believe there’s no better book that will explain this as clearly as “Understanding Exposure.” Once you do, you will also — as an unintended bonus — get a clear idea of what features and functionality your next digital camera should have.

Jim Richardson has been on assignments for a quarter century, traveling the world and capturing amazing photographs for National Geographic. He shares his notes and tips from the field of how he prepares for a shoot, improvise in the field, and keep learning and growing.

Here are a few questions I geaned from his writings that he answers:

• Will buying the right lens make you into a better photographer?
• How can online search engines help you take better pictures?
• What are some of the techniques travel photographers use consistently to produce great photographs?

Follow Jim Richardson on: National Geographic.