Misc.

For shots like this I would say it would be very hard / impossible to do without a tripod. I would also suggest using a camera shutter release cable as when you're using a 400mm + 1.4x extender, 560mm equivalent ( on 1.3x crop bodies ) is going to amplify movement a lot - especially at 1/13th second. Yes the moon can be very bright but I wanted to keep my ISO as low as possible. Handheld you'd be looking at ISO 800 - 1000. I'd recommend AV mode for moon photo's and underexpose as many stops as needed - if you cant get the speed you need then switch from AV to M mode and make a note of the shutter speed then decrease further until the moon stops blowing out the contrast.

This was taken at a bar - I've always loved the different kinds of light you find in bars. From neon signs to multi-coloured backlit glass there are so many interesting things to photograph and even more so at low F numbers. I hunted out this green glass and took the F number as low as it would go and although a strange thing to focus my attention on I find it basic but interesting. As with all very low-light photography you're going to have to crank up your ISO and keep your shutter speed as low as you can hold it. I opted not to use a camera flash as I liked the ambience the low but natural light gave off.

A tripod is a must for this type of photography due to the long exposures you'll be needing. There is no right or wrong way to set your shutter speed as there's no way of knowing which fireworks are going off, when, where, for how long etc etc... so set your F number to F13-F16 and use a wide lens too. A shutter release cable will also be essential because you'll be using " Bulb " mode and holding down the camera's shutter for as long as it takes to get enough light into the lens. This is a 16 second exposure but in the same evening I took photo's with the same settings that were letting enough light in from 10 - 16 seconds so again it really is trial and error. As for a focus point, use auto focus for the first couple of fireworks to gauge the distance then set your lens to manual focus. After each exposure check to see how the photo looks and if it's drastically out of focus then select auto focus again and get another lock. Once you have it, just fire off exposures between 10-16 seconds and you'll have a nice selection of low noise sharp coloured light trails painting the night sky.

These shots are easy and fun to take. All you need is a bright sunny day and a watering can with a rose on the end so the water comes out like a showerhead. Set your F number at F2.8 and zoom in to enhance the effect and set the focus point on the end of the watering can ( not the water ) and you'll see how the water blurs out as it passed the F2.8's depth of field the shutter speed should be nice and high but again, on a bright sunny day at F2.8 you're going to find that you can keep your ISO nice and low and still get the speeds you need. If you dont want to shoot in black and white, why not try adding some food colouring to the water in the can and see how different coloured water droplets look with the sun shining through them (just remember not to water anything that will stain easily !)



More low F number fun again. It gives a real freedom when doing handheld low-light photography as being able to take shots like this without a tripod or a very high ISO means you can get the angles you want and clearer images too. Illuminated glass has a relaxing vibe to it. And there are no end of things you can try. Different colour liquids, thick + thin liquids, still + fizzy liquids and of course different coloured shaped, sized and strengths of light too. In this case I've just used an alarm clock with a bright blue display and my pc monitor as the background. I tilted the camera so the image appears almost " diamond-shaped " as my above glass + light photo was taken horizontally. Because it was F1.2, I focused on the front rim of the glass. I underexposed the image -1 step to make the mellow ambience stand out more. As for editing, a bleach bypass filter was added once, the entire image had sharpen, and sharpen edges applied once and a slight contrast boost to make the blues burn in a little more using Adobe Photoshop CS3.