How To Capture Stunning Fireworks

This post is written by Guest Contributor, Champ Ocampo. If you are also interested in writing a guest blog, please reach out using the form in the Contact page.

One month to go before one of the most colorful celebrations in the world happens. The Fourth of July, the Independence Day of America. Of course, everybody does not want to miss this event, where skies turn into canvass because of fireworks display. And of course, if you have a DSLR, you do not want to miss shooting this event! But how do we capture fireworks with manual settings? I am pretty sure, if you do have a DSLR you do not want to shoot in auto mode. DSLRs are far better than any point and shoot while shooting this kind of events and specially when you want to control your camera on what to do next. This photo was taken last February this year, fireworks display by Team Canada vs. Japan during the annual World PYROMUSICAL event at the Mall of Asia, Philippines. Look how I got the trails of the fireworks perfectly.

Fireworks

My camera settings

1. Focal length – 70mm

2. Aperture – f/22

3. Shutter Speed – 15 seconds

4. ISO 400

5. WB – Kelvin 3120 (or Set into Cloudy icon)

I intended to zoom in my lens to 70mm to give emphasis on the fireworks trails. I set my shutter speed at 15 seconds, to capture more fireworks glow and enough brightness. You can set your ISO 200 to 400 (This compensates our Shutter Speed of 15 seconds, high ISO will give us more sensitivity to light and grainy photos). Aperture setting was at f/22 for maximum depth of field. Do not forget to mount your DSLR on a tripod to avoid blur and of course use a heavy duty tripod to protect our DSLR from strong wind blows when shooting outdoors. You can also use an IR remote. IR remote gives you a more convenient way of viewing the fireworks display. Just a tip, keep on shooting until the show is over; forget viewing the photos on your LCD screen for the mean time so that you will be able to enjoy the show. Right after the show, this is the right time for you to check your photos and I am pretty sure you will end up having few photos you think worth to keep as a memory.

Getting The Perfect Shot Of Your Baby

This post is written by Guest Contributor, Champ Ocampo. If you are also interested in writing a guest blog, please reach out using the form in the Contact page.

Taking pictures of baby is not a joke. We need lots of patience to get the right angle and more patience to get the shot of baby smiling with joy. It will be an expensive deal if we will have our baby photo shoot in a studio. Save time and money; get your DSLR and try shooting your baby on your own and I am here to share some of tips with you. I took this picture of a four months old baby girl couple of months ago. You may have noticed that I captured her smiling. But to be honest with you, she was not really smiling at me but in fact she was smiling at her Mom who was standing behind me. Yes, I did not do this alone. I asked her parents to stay behind me and catch the baby’s attention.

Photographing a baby is a team effort. You can ask your spouse to get behind you and try to catch your baby’s attention by clapping hands while calling the baby’s name or shake a rattling toy that will make a baby pay attention and eventually smile and laugh. The technique here is just to keep on shooting in order to get the perfect angle and perfect smile of the baby.

Let me walk you through the equipment setup and camera settings I used. I used 50mm f/1.4 prime lens but you can use any lens you want or have. I also used an external flash mounted on a stand with an umbrella. Do not use a flash with babies who are 3 months old or younger. It might have a side effect on baby’s sight development and I recommend using pure ambient lights in that case.

Our camera settings

1. Focal length – 50mm

2. Aperture – f/1.8

3. Shutter Speed – 1/200

4. ISO 100

5. WB – Kelvin 5000 (or Set into Flash icon)

Equipments we used

1. Flash stand with hot shoe holder

2. Umbrella and holder

3. Flash trigger and receiver

Flash positioning

1. 45 degrees from your right

2. 3 feet away from the subject

3. Stand should be at least 3-4 feet tall from the subject

Set the flash power level a little bit lower than normal and do not forget to attach receiver on the flash unit and trigger on your camera body to fire the flash remotely. I prefer bounce light in this case; so invert the umbrella to bounce off the flash to produce more diffused light.

Now the equipment is all set and it’s time for shooting. Always remember that proper timing is required while photographing a baby. Ask your spouse to catch your baby’s attention. Keep your eyes focused on the baby’s face, once you see your baby smiling, shoot it and capture the moment of your life. Enjoy!

Self Portrait Photography

This post is written by Guest Contributor, Champ Ocampo. If you are also interested in writing a guest blog, please reach out using the form in the Contact page.

After doing few experiments, I can say that shooting self portrait is one of the most difficult categories in photography and fun shooting as well. Getting the right angle will be a difficult task to achieve. But gladly, with the aid of right equipment, self portrait is becoming easier and fun! Shooting oneself requires no boundaries, you can shoot all you want, pose in ways you want and dress up the way you want. It is just between you, your camera and your creativity. Let me share some of the tips and my experience for self portrait shooting.

The equipment I used and recommend

1. Tripod

2. External Flash

3. Flash Trigger and Receiver

4. Flash Stand and Hot Shoe holder

5. RF Remote Control

6. External Flash Soft Box (optional)

Self Portrait

This self portrait of mine was taken at our dining area after cooking our supper and waiting for my wife to come home from work. This shot was actually experimental. I thought of a “bright and dark side of Champ” concept. The black background was purely improvised. I used my wife’s shawl as my back drop. I mounted my DSLR on a tripod and placed it 2 meters away from me and mounted my external flash unit on a stand and place it closer in front of me about hip high. I also used an external flash soft box diffuser. Now after completing equipment setup, I moved to adjust camera settings. I find camera settings are very important when shooting with variation of lights. I used my kit lens (18-55mm f4.5-5.6) for a semi wide angle shot and used following camera settings.

My camera settings

1. Focal length – 35mm

2. Aperture – f/5.6

3. Shutter Speed – 1/200

4. ISO 200

5. WB – Kelvin 5000 (or Set into Flash icon)

6. Flash Power Level – 1/16

I have few recommendations when you are shooting in this kind of environment. Before shooting, try to turn on all the lights possible to check where you want to stand in front of the camera. If everything looks OK, set your camera shutter release mode into IR Remote timer. It is always convenient to use an IR Remote Control than setting up your camera into 10 second timer, press the shutter release button, run into your place immediately and adjust your desired position. There are lots of cheap IR Remote Controls out there, mine is JJC brand, and it costs around $5. Now if you are ready, turn off all the lights, go to your position, pose yourself, emote and press the remote to release camera shutter. Shoot as many as you want until your battery drains. I am sure you will have fun shooting self portrait. Happy Shooting!