The 26 weeks B&W Project - Week 11 | Embrace

"Feel beautiful the way you are...for we are all beautiful in our unique way..."

Another addition to the 26 week B & W ! :):) Slowly progressing...I am so happy to have family and friends who are so supportive towards my passion for photography. You all have gave me energy to keep going :):) Definitely more models wanted :D:D

Portrait - Tash

What a lucky day we had yesterday! The sky was dark and a storm was about to come, kept looking at bom and there was no rain in the heart of Brisbane. We kept praying for no rain for a little while more and it was sunny for the 2 hours or so we were at the University of Queensland (and then it started to rain again)! Very thankful :D:D!

It was a really fun afternoon and this is the most beautiful pair of eyes that I have ever seen! :):)

Behind the scene : a duckie (?) kept looking at us on the day and it actually wagged its tail when we were looking at it..and followed us when we get moving!! lol

Self taught photographer series - What is ISO?

Although I am not sure if there are people following my blog *grin*, but I am going to share what I learnt about photography here. We do not necessarily need take a course to learn something (although it surly helps), all we need is passion and determination. There are so many self-taught photographers out there and there are so much to learn from them. It is not going to be a regular post but whenever I dig into whatever, I will share them around, no guarantee that I will be all correct but let's learn together  - please do correct me if I am wrong! :):)

ISO is probably one of the first few things that we would wonder about when coming to photography. So here we go -

ISO stands for International Standards Organization (well I didn't believe it at first but after some research it seems to be true...sound kind of business like...my Operation Management teacher at school would probably be very excited about ISO...lol). ISO gives state of specifications of a certain product / service. I would take ISO in photography as the specification of how sensitive the image sensor / film is to the light source - based on the ISO setting (standard) we desire.

Photographers who are very much into film photography would know a lot about ISO, as there is only one ISO setting per roll! My mum used to get ISO 200 films most of the time for everyday photos. Now we have digital cameras where literally every picture can have a different ISO setting - a lot more flexible!

Professional DSLR cameras on the market nowadays support ISO range from around 100-51,200. Generally speaking, the weaker the light source, the higher the ISO setting tend to be used to keep shutter speed in a reasonable level. However, the lowest possible ISO setting should be used in a given light source to get the best image quality possible.

So why higher ISO setting will result in more noise in the pictures in digital camera? It is because the actual sensitivity of the sensor can't be changed. When the ISO setting is high, the signal from pixels will be amplified by adding electronic gain, to allow the pixels on the sensor to 'see better' under low light condition, and this results in more noise in the photo (Real World Digital Photography, 2011). There are a lot of suggestions around about avoiding high ISO setting but it is also worthwhile to think about how are we going to use the image - is it going to be just a small print that the noise will probably be not too disturbing? Is it going to be a Black and White picture which sometimes a grainy picture is a plus? Is it the situation when freezing the moment is more important than anything else? In an uncontrolled environment, I would probably just press the shutter first and we will go from there...lol

ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed are closely related to each other. Let's look into the other two next. :):)

The 26 weeks B&W Project - Week 10 | Smile

Oh my! My first portrait session in Brisbane since 2 and a half years ago?? I was quite nervous before the shoot to be honest...not familiar with the location and just feeling stiff! I am very very thankful to my friend Kim who is just a natural model, with very beautiful eyes :):) This is taken outdoor in a park under a covered sitting area, there wasn't much cloud in the sky and I was worried that the light is gonna be too harsh, luckily there were some shaded area and the lovely white background in the sitting area were just great! Had a really fun morning! :):)

The 26 weeks B&W Project - Week 9 | The Classic

Vintage cars are all very special in their own way, they are all so beautiful that we can spend hours and hours just admiring them! This is one of the many beautiful vintage car that we saw during the visit to Toowoomba last week, how gorgeous! How amazing are their owners who is taking such wonderful care of these cars!

First impression - Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f2.8

Obviously I didn't know what I am getting when the decision was made to purchase a camera package...I was mainly wanting to get a new camera body as my old and faithful canon 1000D has a dot of dust on the sensor which we couldn't quite get rid of, and it is adding extra "effect" to the picture...which is not so desirable...

This lovely lens comes in with the bundle and I didn't bother to look into it too much at that time...thinking hmmm prime lens - Yes! / f2.8 - Yes! / 50mm - Yes! / manual focus - Ummmmmmm not so sure / manufactured in the 70's - What????

I had a canon 50mm f1.8 and unfortunately it was dropped on the sand one day on the beach, it wouldn't work well 100% after that and this is a good replacement.

So this vintage-looking lens joined the lens family and I am totally amazed at how well it performs although I have only played with it for a few times.I use it on my canon 600D with an adapter to take the below and they work nicely together. More pictures will be shared in the future! If you are thinking whether you should go ahead with this lens, it is definitely a Yes!

The 26 weeks B&W Project - Week 8 | Fundamental

The weather is getting warm and it is time for the rose to bloom! How nice is it to photograph beautiful flower with lovely curvy pedals. This is a picture of a rose's receptacle - the fundamental part to support a flower to bloom beautifully. It has its own pretty shape and texture, yet not highly recognized as the pretty flower gets the attention mostly...

This picture is taken by my Canon Kit Lens 18-55mm with a +10 Macro filter. I am really amazed with the Macro filter that we've got, although the image is not as nice as the ones taken by a Macro lens, it is definitely a very cheap alternative to satisfy my Macro need...lol

The 26 weeks B&W Project - Week 7 | The Frame

A nice walk in the evening by the seaside is always enjoyable, the lovely fresh breeze, the smell of the ocean and the gentle sunlight....

Wohoo...Finally I have some peace and space in mind to continue the journey with my camera again...Got a new set of camera from hubby a few months ago, got my reflectors and most exciting of all - I got my photo book in my hands!! Too many excuses in the past not to do this and that and now I say "enough" to those excuses.

Sick at home today and couldn't do much, so just organized the photos in the computer and getting ready to resume my black and white 26 weeks!

Got the logos done finally :):) What do you think? :):)  Have been thinking about a few words that I feel towards photos so came up with The Moment . The Image . The Memory...Chauses Photography...hahaha well I hope it doesn't sound too weird. I always feel grateful when looking at photos and glad that I have taken them. It is not like we can't remember those very special moments but in such details, I think only photos can tell...so my photography is about turning those special moments into images and memories. :):)