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Tutorial: Basics

In this article I’ll be explaining just the basics of how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed works. Knowing how your camera handles light will give you much more control over how you take your photos.

ISO

ISO is a way of measuring the sensitivity of film to light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive. Although it applies to film, the same concept applies to digital cameras. At ISO 800, the film is quite sensitive, and therefore does not require as much light as ISO 100 would need to take the same picture with similar exposure.

The downside to using a larger ISO is the amount of noise (those little annoying pixels) the image will produce. While you may be able to get a faster shutter speed with a higher ISO, the image will have more noise.

No one wants that in their shots. Higher end cameras handle noise much better than the cheaper ones.

Since I like landscapes, I shoot at the lowest possible ISO, and use a tripod so that I can use the aperture and shutter speed that I need. Action shots usually require a higher ISO.

Aperture

The aperture is the opening of your lens that allows light to make it into the camera. The smaller the number, the more the opening increases. Here’s a good example from Wikipedia:

The larger the opening, the more light is allowed in.

There are a few reasons why aperture matters. There is a technique that people use to blur the background while keeping the main subject in focus. Basically, the larger the aperture, for example f/2.8, the more the background will blur. The blurring is called ‘bokeh’. I’m still not sure how to pronounce it because it sounds funny every way I try. This is usually good for portraits, because you don’t want anything else in the background to distract you from your subject.

You may have come across a problem where you want multiple subjects to be in focus, but they are at different distances from the camera. In the previous paragraph, I said that a larger aperture would increase background blur. In this case, a smaller aperture (smaller opening, not number) will blur less and keep things more in focus. Also, apertures around 8.0 tend to be the sharpest your lens will shoot. As you can see, this can be very useful under certain circumstances such as landscapes. It’s a lot to take in and I have a writing skills of a four year old, so go experiment yourselves!

Tags: camera photography landscapes tutorial
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First tutorial: Shutter speed

A lot of people have been asking me for tips on how to take certain kinds of shots. I’ve decided to post up some free tutorials for everyone and Tumblr users. As I’m still an amateur, I may make some mistakes, so if there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out. Also, if you would like any requests on tutorials or specific questions about how I took a certain photo, just let me know!

So you want to play around with longer shutter speeds. The first thing you will need is a tripod. They usually go for pretty cheap if you’re looking at one that will hold your camera in place. Some photographers say it’s better to spend more money on a tripod than a camera, cause they can be incredibly important based on the kind of photography you want to shoot. I shot most of mine on a $50 one. Only until recently I went nuts and blew $400 on a carbon fiber one, but there is a huge noticeable difference between the two in terms of weight and stability.

One thing I always use is a remote shutter release cable. That way I can take the picture without pressing the button on my camera. It reduces small vibrations, especially if your tripod isn’t that sturdy. If you don’t have one or if you’re too lazy like I am sometimes, before shooting a long exposure, set your camera on a 2 second timer. Then, when you press the button to take the shot, it will wait 2 seconds, then capture the image, so the vibrations from pressing the button aren’t picked up.

Anyways, after you have a tripod and all that set up, you have to make sure that you don’t have much light in your photo, so that you can compensate the loss of light with a longer shutter speed.

In that shot, I was in a shady area, so I could use a slightly longer shutter speed, somewhere around a second or two. I wanted even longer to further smooth out the water, so I increased the aperture to the max, which cuts a lot of light out. Therefore, it allowed me to increase the shutter speed to a full 5 seconds.

You don’t always need to blur for that long to show water movement. If water is moving fast, you only need a split second of a shot to show that in your photo. In that beach picture I used 1/5 of a second so the water wasn’t completely smoothed out.

Or you could blur for more time. The tide was still coming in and out so 25 seconds made it seem like mist.

Here’s a 70 second shot. Of course, when I took it, it was much darker outside than the pictures makes it seem.

One of my favorite shots. I took this during the bright day, but I used a neutral density filter on my lens to cut out almost all the light. This let me take a 20 second shot in bright daylight.

Just go out, take shots, and be creative!

Tags: Camera Photography Tutorial landscapes
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Day 7

Last full day here. Went on the best tour I’ve been on so far. Started with eight ziplines or so, wasn’t really counting. Each one was higher than the last. After that were some aerial bridges. They were basically wooden suspended bridges, but we had safety lines cause we would’ve fallen like thirty feet at least. Those got pretty damn scary. Then the best part, the off roading vehicles! They were two-seaters, so naturally I drove my sister around. There was so much dust so we got covered, and the goggles they gave us were for people with massive noses, so there was a little hole where dust would go in and kill my eyes. We went for a swim in another cenote afterwards. There were little zip lines over the water, so you could zip over and let go at the middle point. A couple people tried to dive in after letting go but ended up belly-flopping pretty bad. We also saw a bat! I felt so cool.

I expected lunch to be around 2pm, but they served after 4, so I had a lot of the free tour food (Dennis would be proud). After the tour, we went for dinner at the same place as last night, but we got a grilled octopus. All you sissies would’ve been so grossed out at the grilled tentacles but YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON LIFE.

It’s Christmas Eve! But it really doesn’t feel like it. I shall be 20 in a couple hours. Though anyone can drink in Mexico ;)

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 4

Today was the day we went to Chichen Itza, the famous Mayan ruins. We never take tours, since it takes away all freedom of exploring places yourself, but we heard stories of people renting their own cars and getting involved with Mexican police…I’m sure you’ve heard some yourselves. Woke up super early to get on the tour bus, and boarded with another Taiwanese family (my dad thought OMG WE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WE HAVE TO TALK TO THEM so he did, and creepily). The ride there was so long, and the bus was nice, but kinda cramped. First stop was a stupid little shop for all tours. Second stop was Chichen Itza.

Well, when you see pictures of places like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Colosseum, for example, seeing them in person is one hell of an experience. With the Mayan ruins and temple, when we all saw it, we just thought, “That’s it?” I dunno, I expected the temple to be massive and epic, but they stopped letting people climb, and it was also kinda small, so yeah, pretty disappointing. Plus those damn Mexican vendors just making all kinds of noises trying to sell everything for 1 dollar, when they really mean 1 dollar off. Oh, and tour guides talk too much.

The best part of the trip was the cenote, or sinkhole. It was all freshwater with a couple blind fish swimming around. Jumping off the platform was so much fun! It doesn’t look bad at all, but once you get up there and look down into the water, you get a sense of how high you actually are. Plus bellyflops from that high are just terrible.

The ride home in the bus sucked, and they played Mr. Bean almost the entire 2+ hours back. Seriously? Mr. Bean? Only one kid in the bus was laughing and he had a Stanford shirt on. Weirdo.

Tacos for dinner. Yup.

By the way, it was super hot and filled with tourists, so excuse the shitty, tilted, noob shots B)

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 2

Super lazy day today. Started out by waking up late and going to the beach. The water there is so clear and bright blue, and it’s also warm enough to swim in without freezing to death like in SoCal. Which, apparently is drowning in rain at the moment ;)

For lunch we came back and ate some awesome tacos. They were pretty bare, but had all the sauces and such on the sides, kinda like Taco Frescos at UCR, except way better, of course. This is Mexico. I demand non-LA food. When we were done letting that sit, we went to happy hour at the bar by the pools. Got 2-for-1 drinks, so our whole family got Pina-Coladas. Yes, even my sister, since she apparently looks older than me. Plus they don’t card here.

Got a taxi to the Wal-Mart run grocery store called Superama. They will own the world some day.

After that, we dropped off the stuff and went to eat across the street at the huge mall area. For some reason we skipped all the nicer restaurants and picked this place at the aquarium. I know, and it actually looked decent from the outside. BUT it had a shark tank, which made the food all the better. We got another free round of margaritas; this time I got strawberry. The food was once again some of the best tasting Mexican food I’ve ever had, and it was served at an aquarium.

Now I’m sitting here totally food coma’d out. The picture uploaded is our view from the balcony. We’re still deciding when to visit the Mayan ruins. Maybe in two days?

Tags: Travel Photography
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Day 7

Last full day. Woke up late for once, and went hiking. Drove to the first trail we saw, which ended up being a really nice hike. There were lots of trees and wild flowers, and this creek that we followed up the whole time. After a few miles we stopped and rested at the creek, threw rocks and ate. On the way back, my sister and I took a longer way back directly to the hotel, while my parents backtracked to the car. Turns out we beat them back.

We ate dinner at that same Italian place again, which was really good. Same hostess was there, talking in her sexy voice as usual.

After dinner we drove out to the Gran Tetons again to look for wildlife. We didn’t see any. BUT, it was super cloudy and windy, so I thought it was interesting and I decided to get a couple of shots. I seriously thought I was gonna get struck by lightning cause it just started to drizzle and I was standing up in an open plain.

The wind is blowing super hard, and even inside the hotel I can hear it loud and clear. It’s been a fun, unique trip. Can’t wait for my next :)

PS: Hot green tea with honey while it’s cold is amazing.

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 6

Shoot, this trip is almost over. This morning we finally made the trip to Yellowstone. We saw a moose on the way, and that’s always interesting. Drove all the way to Old Faithful and saw all the other geysers. Saw an elk there. I have no idea how it walks around with those massive antlers. Troopers. It’s totally overrated, but it was still fun. Not much else to say, except that it was super crowded and cold. And sulfur smells awesome.

Came back and cooked ourselves the best homemade dinner. That and a break from all the burgers/sandwiches was so good.

At night, we went out to watch the meteor shower. Up here with the high elevation and no light pollution, we could see 10 times the stars we normally see back in California. It’s scary; makes you think of how insignificant we are. Saw a bunch of meteors and made a bunch of wishes that won’t come true. One full day left!

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 5

Here’s a panorama from yesterday cause I didn’t even touch my camera today.

For lunch, we drove out to this little cabin diner right next to Buffalo River. I don’t think I’ve had so many sandwiches/burgers in a row, my goodness. All these cowboys came in and ordered burgers like your typical Amurican. It was really interesting, because it was like one of those diners in movies where the locals go and everyone knows everyone. Pretty cool experience.

Went horseback riding afterwards for two hours, so my ass is pretty sore (I know, I know). Some group of old people were saying that “we are intermediate riders, not beginners, this trail is too easy, no trotting, whatever.” They couldn’t really control the horses and when they went a little faster than a slow walk they were flipping out. Old people, seriously. Dangerous in cars, dangerous on horses.

Drove around, saw some more bison, though not right in front of our car or crossing the road like yesterday. For dinner we decided to go to this Italian place called Giovanni’s that we stumbled upon while lost the other day. The hostess was some super fit Italian girl. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say “enjoy your dinner” as sexy as she did. Word. Anyways, that restaurant is the best pasta in America, so go there if you go up to Wyoming.

PS: I have a nasty V-neck tan/burn now.

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 4

Pictures! Though not as many keepers as I expected :|

Today we finally went to Grand Teton National Park. It’s pretty much a massive, flat, open valley surrounded by mountains. For the first half of the day, we went to some lakes and all, the usual touristy stuff. Went up to the top of a mountain and took in the view of the mountain range. Apparently I got sunburned too, on my left arm but not my right. I’m gonna have to hit up the beach to fix this.

For lunch, we ate at a lodge right by the lake, then drove some more to other lakes and lodges, then for dinner, ordered some burgers and ate them by another lake.

Afterwards, we went to a place called Antelope Flats, which is the wrong name for a place full of bison. Which we saw. Somewhere around 40 of them on both sides of the road. Those things are scary as hell when you’re 20 feet away from them and they stare and grunt at you, so I couldn’t get close enough for any portrait shots. Before the sun set, we checked out a ghost town that Mormons used to live in. I need to go back one early morning to get better shots though.

Edit: My mom just told me since 1980, 3 times as many people got gored by bison than mauled by bears. They’re like super hardcore intense cows.

Tags: Travel Photography
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Day 2

This morning we took a tram up to the top of a mountain a few thousand feet up. There was a cafe with waffles and a bunch of hiking trails. There was something like 40% oxygen at the top, so even when I hiked around for 5 minutes I started getting tired. We found some snow though, and that’s always refreshing, especially coming from LA. The pictures were from the top of the mountain, and the skis were all lined up on the side of that cafe. Didn’t take many pictures otherwise.

After lunch, we went into town to Jackson (we’re staying in Jackson Hole), which was crowded and filled with your typical touristy shops and whatnot. Apparently it’s the biggest town in Wyoming or something, so there must not be anyone else in this whole state. There were still too many white people and a lot of those noisy annoying Harley Davidson bikers around. Oh the Midwest.

Then we went grocery shopping. Yay.

Before the sun set, we got some bikes and rode a really nice, flat trail parallel to fields of horses and trees with the mountains in the background, so that was really nice. Then everyone else got hungry and tired so we ate. Tomorrow I try downhill mountain biking :)

Tags: Travel Photography

Day 1

This is my first try at a photo blog or whatever. The point is to document the trip, so when I get old and forget wtf happened when I was 19, if this is still around I’ll remember. Anyways…

After an hour and a half flight, we made it to Salt Lake City, Utah, where basically all the Mormons in the world live. Got some bright red Chevy Impala and drove another 5-ish hours through Idaho, then into Wyoming. In Idaho there were so many white people it’s almost scary, and it didn’t help that my dad told me there are lots of white supremacists around. Wyoming is much nicer, and so far the people are friendly. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to get any photos during the trip, since I drove for half of it. On the way, we saw this fruit stand, and since Asian parents are big on fruits and low prices, I swear we left with half of whatever they had to begin with. 8 pounds of cherries no joke.

Our condo is really comfortable and cozy, and we all get our own rooms for once, thank goodness. The pictures are the living/dining room and my own room. Did I mention we ate buffalo for dinner?

Edit: After we arrived in Utah, at the baggage claim, I saw my sister on the other side. Since she’s super weak and all, I went over to help her. Instead of walking up behind her, I walked right behind some Asian mom thinking it was my sister. So I said “Hey.” No response. So then I said “Psssssssssssssst.” Then she turned around and I thought OH F—- and saw my real sister laughing her ass off. Embarrassing.

Tags: Travel Photography

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Tutorial: Basics

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