my kendo album

[taganahan]

hey check out my kendo album. i'm still new with photography and the pictures might not look that good or aritistic. i'm also trying to figure out how my camera works.

plz. tell me what you think about it guyz.

http://community.webshots.com/user/taganahan (http://community.webshots.com/user/taganahan)

~taganahan

[Yann]

Niiiice ! Keep up the good work taganahan !

[Neil Gendzwill]

Looks like some sort of special occasion - Phil showed up!

[Swissv2]

who is phil? I can't tell, hehe.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Philip Nishikihama, former Team Canada member, longtime Steveston dude.

[amatsuda]

Good to See Nishikihama Sensei back at the Dojo.

[Andoru]

We really need a sticky thread with all the kendo photos in it!

Nice work by the way!

[TheNige]

Nice work. I'm not sure if you were trying to be artistic with the blurry photos or not....but if you want sharper photos and you have an SLR camera try to raise the ISO setting on the camera...if it is digital and use a faster shutter speed so it doesn't blur.

The lighting in the dojo doesn't look like the best...as is the case a lot of times indoors so your flash really isn't going to do much at great distances....that is where the higher ISO comes in for shooting in darker conditions with higher shutter speeds (I think).

[Andoru]

....that is where the higher ISO comes in for shooting in darker conditions with higher shutter speeds (I think).
Indeed. There is a trade-off however - the higher the ISO the more noise (or grain if using film). There are other factors which influence noise/grain too. For example, I used an ISO 1600 film (Fuji Press) for this shot:

http://unswkendo.timeless-sky.net/pics/act2004/01.jpg

Which looks alright. But contrast that to this shot (same film, same location etc) which has significantly more grain:

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1241/ROLL2DX-30.jpg

Though I can tell you that digital photography is more predictable than film in this regard.

Flash looks unnatural when taking kendo photos, but fill-flash is alright.

[taganahan]

oh yeah....the special occassion was all about the tall ship that arrived from japan. it's called the kaiwo maru. a training vessel. some of the cadets and officers trained with us during that day.

i really meant those other pictures to be blurry. those other ones that are dark, those are the ones which i'm not sure if they're good. i have to agree that the lighting is poor. i tried to do some photoshop on it but it messed up the quality of the picture. grrrr

by the way, i'm using a digital camera for all of those pictures. canon A80. just got it and i'm still trying to mess around with it.

~taganahan

[D'Artagnan]

by the way, i'm using a digital camera for all of those pictures. canon A80. just got it and i'm still trying to mess around with it.

~taganahan


Just a suggstion,

You need to adjust the white balnce when working with artificial lights (though not with flash). Some of them have a horrible yellow cast on them caused by this.

[taganahan]

i'll keep that in mind. it's also a good idea for me to read the manual....hahaha

~taganahan

[YAMAFELL]

Good pictures! I really need to get more of mind out there.. I wish I could be at a speical event with many people who are not Japanese. I swear, I am still in shock knowing so many people play kendo around the world. I was a bit stupid at first and still am, the only non-Japanese I have played against is from my dojo who started with me, but he is from taiwan, so everyone mistakes him for being Japanese. Although there was this one guy from Holland once, but I didn't get the chance to play him. (I was, still am, to bad to play against him.)

but enough of my rambleing.. great shots! I love seeing kendo pictures!

[Mr.Tvola]

Pictures are OK, but you should show them at different website, this one is downloading a lot of spyware/adwae to viewer's computers :confused2

[taganahan]

but you should show them at different website, this one is downloading a lot of spyware/adwae to viewer's computers :confused2 really? i don't have any problems with the adwares and spywares here cause if i do, my firewall and anti-virus should alert me a long time ago.

~taganahan

[Swissv2]

i tried to do some photoshop on it but it messed up the quality of the picture. grrrr I should be able to help you on the photoshop touchups. Just let me know if you are willing.

[TheNige]

Indeed. There is a trade-off however - the higher the ISO the more noise (or grain if using film). There are other factors which influence noise/grain too. For example, I used an ISO 1600 film (Fuji Press) for this shot:

http://unswkendo.timeless-sky.net/pics/act2004/01.jpg

Which looks alright. But contrast that to this shot (same film, same location etc) which has significantly more grain:

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1241/ROLL2DX-30.jpg

Though I can tell you that digital photography is more predictable than film in this regard.

Flash looks unnatural when taking kendo photos, but fill-flash is alright.

For getting rid of noise while shooting at high ISO or high speed film... do a google search for a product called "Neat Image"....it works wonders on noise!

[Andoru]

For getting rid of noise while shooting at high ISO or high speed film... do a google search for a product called "Neat Image"....it works wonders on noise!
Ahhhh arigato!

[taganahan]

i got a few questions here.

1. when do you use a fast or slow shutter speed?
2. what does an aperture do?
3. ISO...i think i've used that term during drafting classes, anywho, what does a high or low ISO do?

~taganahan

[D'Artagnan]

i got a few questions here.

1. when do you use a fast or slow shutter speed?
2. what does an aperture do?
3. ISO...i think i've used that term during drafting classes, anywho, what does a high or low ISO do?

~taganahan

I will answer fairly briefly, as this could take up pages!

1. you use a slow shutter speed when you wish to include blurred movement in a picture. You use a fast shutter speed when you wish to 'freeze' action.

2. the aperture of a camera is the hole which light passses through before it is exposed to the film/sensor. In many cameras you can control the size of this aperture from a very wide aperture (large hole), to a very narrow aperture (small hole). here comes the confusing bit. Aperture is measure in 'f-stops'. The lower this f-stop, the bigger the aperture, and vice versa. for example, a very large aperture would be something like f2.8, and a very small aperture would be f22 or f32. Now, why do we want to change it? well, the aperture gives us control of what is called 'depth of field', this is the amount of the picture, infront and behind the point of focus, that is acceptably sharp. This is very useful, allowing a photographer to isolate a subject from it's surroundings, or ensure that an entire scene is pin-sharp. You should remember that a bigger aperture (smaller f-number) requires a faster shutter speed, and vice versa

3. ISO (International _Standards Organisation), formerly ASA (American Standards Association, is traditionally the method of catagorizing the sensitivity of film. In other words, some film is more light sensitive than others. Now i am not going to get scientific as to why, but all you need to know is that the lower the ISO rating the less sensitive to light it is, thus it means that slower shutter speeds are required when using a consistant aperture, hence they are reffered to as slower films. A film with a higher ISO is more sensitive to light and can be used in conjunction with faster shutter speeds. However, it must be remembered that, the higher the ISO rating, the more visible grain shall appear on the image. Now, what if you are shooting digital? Digital cameras have what is known as an ISO setting, this allows you to set the sensitivity of the sensor to an equivalent film speed. However, the the higher this sensitivity is set, the more visible noise shall appear on the image (very similar to the visible grain on film). So, if you wish to use faster shutter speeds, and are not too bothered about the noise, then use a higher ISO setting. But, if you want optimum image quality/enlargement potential, then you should use a slower ISO. As a general rule, photographers (proffessionals) raise the ISO as a last resort.

Hope this helps, and is not too confusing.

if you wish to know any more, let me know.

[D'Artagnan]

I will answer fairly briefly, as this could ta....




AMMENDED


i got a few questions here.

1. when do you use a fast or slow shutter speed?
2. what does an aperture do?
3. ISO...i think i've used that term during drafting classes, anywho, what does a high or low ISO do?

~taganahan

I will answer fairly briefly, as this could take up pages!

1. you use a slow shutter speed when you wish to include blurred movement in a picture. You use a fast shutter speed when you wish to 'freeze' action.

2. the aperture of a camera is another name for the hole which light passses through before it is exposed to the film/sensor. In many cameras you can control the size of this aperture from a very wide aperture (large hole), to a very narrow aperture (small hole). here comes the confusing bit. Aperture is measured in a sequence of 'f-stops'. The lower this f-stop, the bigger the aperture, and vice versa. for example, a very large aperture would be something like f2.8, and a very small aperture would be f22 or f32. Now, why do we want to change it? well, the aperture gives us a large amount of control of what is called 'depth of field', this is the amount of the picture, infront and behind the point of focus, that is acceptably sharp. This is very useful, allowing a photographer to isolate a subject from it's surroundings, or ensure that an entire scene is pin-sharp. You should remember that a bigger aperture (smaller f-number) requires a faster shutter speed, and vice versa

3. ISO (International Standards Organisation), formerly ASA (American Standards Association, and DIN in germany (Deutscher Industrie Normen), is traditionally the method of catagorizing the sensitivity of film. In other words, some film is more light sensitive than others. Now i am not going to get scientific as to why, but all you need to know is that the lower the ISO rating the less sensitive to light the film is, thus it means that slower shutter speeds are required when using a consistant aperture, hence they are reffered to as slower films. A film with a higher ISO is more sensitive to light and can be used in conjunction with faster shutter speeds. However, it must be remembered that, the higher the ISO rating, the more visible grain shall appear on the image. Now, what if you are shooting digital? Digital cameras have what is known as an ISO setting, this allows you to set the sensitivity of the sensor to an equivalent film speed. However, the higher this sensitivity is set, the more visible noise shall appear on the image (very similar to the visible grain on film). So, if you wish to use faster shutter speeds, and are not too bothered about the noise, then use a higher ISO setting. But, if you want optimum image quality/enlargement potential, then you should use a slower ISO.
As a general rule, photographers (proffessionals) raise the ISO as a last resort.

Hope this helps, and is not too confusing.

if you wish to know any more, let me know.

[taganahan]

i understand some of what you said.

so aperture deals with how bright the picture will be. ISO, i still don't know when to use this. i have an option in my digital camera that you can manually change the shutter speed and aperture together but not the ISO. when should i change the ISO setting when taking pictures?

~taganahan

[Swissv2]

photo class ONE OH ONE. Pay attention tag, HUP HUP! We are expecting great pictures from you your next photograph session :D

[taganahan]

photo class ONE OH ONE. Pay attention tag, HUP HUP! We are expecting great pictures from you your next photograph session :D
haha...i just finished reading the manual early this morning. when i looked at those pictures i took, i just realized that i didn't have the flash on! what a waste!!! and that was the only time that the kaiwo maru arrived, hopefully not the last because it was the ship's 25th anniversary.

~taganahan

[Swissv2]

Just a little photoshop editing I did

http://community.webshots.com/user/swissv2

Those are your pictures tag, hopefully improved a little bit. With photoshop you have the ability to make many shots very nice. All the pictures that say unedited are the ones you originally took.

[Andoru]

haha...i just finished reading the manual early this morning. when i looked at those pictures i took, i just realized that i didn't have the flash on! what a waste!!!
~taganahan
I find that flash doesn't work well with kendo photos coz it looks unnatural. Besides, kenshis may get distracted by the flashes.

Your best bet right now is to find out if you can change ISO settings on your digital camera. ISO rating determines how sensitive the film (or digital sensor) is to light. Accordingly, an ISO 400 is more sensitive than ISO 100, and to get the same amount of light the former may require less shutter-open time compared to the latter given a specific aperture. Shutter speed is crucial since it affects whether you're going to get a blurry image or a movement-stopping image.

Now, aperture is actually a device in the lens (or in camera bodies for some models) which actually controls the amount of light entering the lens. Do a google search for some illustrations. The bigger the aperture, the more light is allowed through the lens, and therefore shutter speed may have to be reduced to get the proper exposure. Aperture affects "depth of field".

Very simply put, a correct exposure is a function of both the shutter speed and the aperture.

I like to use a wider aperture when taking kendo photos as it keeps the target in focus while blurring out the background. It also allows me to take photos at a higher shutter speed.

hope that helps. :)

[taganahan]

Just a little photoshop editing I did

http://community.webshots.com/user/swissv2

Those are your pictures tag, hopefully improved a little bit. With photoshop you have the ability to make many shots very nice. All the pictures that say unedited are the ones you originally took.

thank you swiss for taking time to edit the pictures. the reason why i didn't do any photoshop on my pictures(i did some of them though, like 5 of them) is because it makes it a lot grainy especially when you lighten up the picture.

thanks for all the help people. next time i take pictures it's going to be better, hopefully. with more practice and a lot of experimenting between the ISO, aperture, and the shutter speed, i hope it's going to be a lot better next time.

~taganahan

[D'Artagnan]

The bigger the aperture, the more light is allowed through the lens, and therefore shutter speed may have to be reduced to get the proper exposure.



Sorry, i don't mean to nitpick. But if the aperture is larger the shutter speed must be increased. :redface:

[TheNige]

Also, as mentioned all. If you have not tried Neat Image http://www.neatimage.com/ on high ISO shots or any digital images that have a lot of noise you don't know what you are missing. They have a free demo that you can download and use.

Shooting in low light conditions with high shutter speeds (to freeze action) will almost always require a higher ISO (for digital) or higher speed film. As mentioned higher ISO always gives more noise in the image. Use Neat Image and all of that goes away.

Also, if you only have the built in flash for your camera it is almost useless for shots that are far away....and in some cameras it will limit your shutter speed because they shutter and flash have to be in synch to work correctly...and most built in flashes are synched to rather low shutter speeds.

[Andoru]

Sorry, i don't mean to nitpick. But if the aperture is larger the shutter speed must be increased. :redface:
To get the same amount of exposure given a bigger aperture (thus allowing more amount of light in), the film doesn't have to be exposed as long accordingly. Conversely, if aperture is reduced thereby allowing less light through the lens, then shutter time has to be increased.

EDIT: sorry I just realised that you may have thought that I was referring to f-stops. I was referring to the diameter of the lens as controlled by the aperture.

[JSchmidt]

Just a quick photoshop note: Photoshop has a decent noise filter called 'despeckle' which can work wonders on scanned pictures

Jakob

[taganahan]

just uploaded the pictures of the tall ship, the Kaiwo Maru. i know i should have uploaded this one earlier but i only had the time to upload it now.

~taganahan

[Rularn]

This is some really good information about photography even though it may be in the wrong thread as this thread is about the album, heh.

I was curious though what kind of settings (aperture, ISO, and speed) have people been using to take their kendo photos that they found to work best for them. Now I know it will depend of course on the target, movement, distance, and lighting. But anyone have a general range that they start from and fix for the situation?

I have no photography skills. But I do have this really nice nikon film camera I was thinking about using to take pictures but I don't have much experience with getting the rights setting. I've been using a zoom lens, with a small aperture setting (f-22), no flash, and a film of 400 ISO as practice to get used to zooming, focusing, and getting the right light. I have no idea how to set the shutter speed, but I have been getting about 500-1200 rating for the lighting (dunno what it is called) without a flash for basic pictures.

Then again, I have yet to develop the film so I don't even know if those pictures came out well.

Judging from all of the comments so far about camera settings, if I was taking photos of a kendo match, I would use:

-midway toward smaller aperture to focus on match and just a tad on background
-high shutter speed for freeze frame look (no blurs)
-higher ISO (for no flash and low back light)
-zoom for good picture size capture

What does everyone else think?

[D'Artagnan]

You are correct, except maybe about the aperture.

I am not sure what you mean by small aperture, if you mean small as in physically small (such as f22) then your picures will be too dark, however, if you mean a small f-number (such as f2.8, f4, etc.) then you should be fine.

The best thing to do is experiment, but as you are shooting film, and not digital, this could get expensive. Use print film for your experimentations, as it allows more room for error in terms of exposure. most importantly have fun, and let us see how you get on.

If you have any more questions, just post them up, i am positive you will get an answer.

:)

Andy Fisher
DSKYK Preston
Great Britain

[taganahan]

any recommendation or tips for shooting digitally? saw your album and it was nice!!

~taganahan

[Hai_hai]

i understand some of what you said.

so aperture deals with how bright the picture will be. ISO, i still don't know when to use this. i have an option in my digital camera that you can manually change the shutter speed and aperture together but not the ISO. when should i change the ISO setting when taking pictures?

~taganahan
Since your digital camera doesn't use film, you don't need to deal with that.

[litige]

any recommendation or tips for shooting digitally? saw your album and it was nice!!

~taganahan

They sell numerical film that you can put in your normal 35mm

[Neil Gendzwill]

Since your digital camera doesn't use film, you don't need to deal with that.
Talking out of your butt again. You might want to look into that, it's a constant problem.

Edited as previous posters have explained ISO in film and in digital. Suffice it to say that better digital cameras allow you to adjust their sensitivity to light (ISO number) with the tradeoff of more noise at higher sensitivity.

Try reading through DP Review (www.dpreview.com) or Steve's Digicams (http://www.steves-digicams.com/), you can pick up quite a bit from the articles and reviews there.

I just scored a Canon Powershot A75 for my birthday from my wife, it's a lovely little camera. Now I'll be able to load up the website with more stuff, if I get the chance.

[Hai_hai]

Talking out of your butt again. You might want to look into that, it's a constant problem...
Okay. I'll call the protologist.

[D'Artagnan]

any recommendation or tips for shooting digitally? saw your album and it was nice!!

~taganahan


To be honest, there ain't a lot of difference between a digital and film camera, in terms of how you would shoot.

However, as with film, you should raise the ISO setting as a last restort. Use a wider aperture (e.g. f2.8) to let the light in. Invest in a tripod, or monopod, so you can avoid camera shake at the slower shutter speeds. Use the camera's LCD screen to constantly check your exposures, that's what it's there for. And other than that shoot shoot and shoot, it's cost nothing so shoot everything! filter the chaff from the hay later.

most of all enjoy it! and let us see how you get on.

[litige]

However, as with film, you should raise the ISO setting as a last restort. Use a wider aperture (e.g. f2.8)

Since strikes are pretty fast, I would consider a 400 ISO film. 400 is really the best, not to much grain, fast, normal cost.

[D'Artagnan]

Since strikes are pretty fast, I would consider a 400 ISO film. 400 is really the best, not to much grain, fast, normal cost.

I agree, 400 ISO is a good choice