Beyond Phototips

So you’re using a filter on your lens, maybe to protect it from dust or finger smears or maybe for an effect that you want, what can you do to ensure that it does not degrade the quality of your expensive lens? Here are some pointers:

DOs:

1. Buy a good filter. A bad filter can do more harm than you expect.
2. Never touch the glass of the filter. The oil from your skin will rub off on the filter and could damage it’s coating. Some filters, are noted to retain fingerprints if not cleaned up immediately. Always touch a filter by the edges.
3. Store filters in their boxes. This ensures that dust and fingerprints stay away. [Read more →]

I’ve got myself some new favourites in the Beyond Phototips Flickr group. Head over and check out the new additions for yourself.

[Read more →]

Recently, I was looking through some of the posts that you’ve made popular over the years, and I realised that some of the newer readers may never have seen this content. So here’s a list of the most popular posts, with a healthy sprinkling of my own favourites – posts that I think you may find interesting.

• 8 Good Habits for Creative Photographers
• 8 Ways to Keep your Compositions Simple
• Get ‘em to look through the Lens at You
• Obvious Street Photography Tips
• 11 Things To Do With Your Cameraphone While You Wait
• Selecting Photographs: What not to show
• Lenses for Photojournalism
• Kung-Fu For Your Photography
• Lenses for Portrait Photography
• A Better Picture
• How to Take Better Party Pictures!
• Symmetry – A User’s Guide
• Steady that Point ‘n’ Shoot

Please feel free to comment, or retweet any of the posts. Also, be sure to let me know which ones you liked – or didn’t like.

Note: This list is in no particular order.

Scott Bass is a practitioner of Parkour, a Photographer and Cinematographer. To those of you who have followed his work, you’ll recognise his videos “Live On” and “Constant Motion“, considered by many to be outstanding examples of Parkour Videography. His work often features well-known parkour athletes Daniel Ilabaca and Phil Doyle among others, and his unique position as a practitioner himself gives him a unique understanding of his subject.

He keeps his videography gear simple: A Canon EOS 550D (aka Rebel T2i) dSLR that shoots HD video, coupled with either with an 8mm prime fisheye lens set at f/5.6 or the kit 18-55mm lens.

Here are some tips on how to film Parkour action from Scott himself. You can adapt these tips for filming Martial Arts Tricking, Skateboarding and many other ‘Extreme’ sports. Also check out some tips on how parkour can inspire your photography.

1. Never Change Lens/Aspect Ratio

   The quickest way to make your video look amateur and in-cohesive is to film it on a multitude of cameras. Pick one lens/camera and stick with it for the whole video.

2. Colour Correctly

   Most DV cameras tend to result in washed out footage direct from the camera (which is great for a colourist!). Throwing a few subtle effects on, especially with contrast but keep the colours at a suitable level to ensure that once its on youtube, its still nice and clear. [Read more →]

Often people mistakenly believe that they need to go to a strange new land to discover new things to photograph. I discovered otherwise just yesterday.

Yesterday, I deliberately got lost in my city, Chennai. I went into a section of Chennai that I’d not been to before, and I discovered a whole new part of the city that I never knew existed. It was a simple step; wander through a section of town that you’ve not been through before, look around you at the people, buildings, shops. For me, it was like I’d gone back through time, to when the city was simpler, less modern, more rural. You may not discover new vistas around each bend, but give it a shot. If you’re truly looking for a photograph, you’ll find one.

You’ll ask me then, “Where are your photographs of this new section of town you’re bragging about?” You’d be right in asking. I don’t have any photographs to show… yet. But I will have them soon.

In the mean-while, let me walk you through some interesting ideas to explore a new area in your city. [Read more →]

Canon has announced that they will be acquiring the ‘.canon‘ Top-Level Domain (examples of other TLDs are .com, .org, .co.uk, etc.). They expect that this will increase the effectiveness of their communications.

Canon hopes to globally integrate open communication policies that are intuitive and easier to remember compared with existing domain names such as “canon.com.”

Read more at their press release.