Star Burst

EOS 60D, F/5.6, 1/25s, ISO-800, 18-135 @ 18mm

Just wondering, how can you get a star burst effect on lights at night like the picture above? Does increasing or decreasing the shutter speed get you a star burst or does increasing or decreasing the F-stop will get you there? Been reading and viewing some photographic content on the net. Got the answer but I need to proof it to my self that it is correct... It is more fun to test it out than just believe heheheh, Typical me... 

Tonight I had some time to go out and went to a park near my house. I brought with me only the EOS 60D and EF-S 18-135. Shoot some photos of a street lamp handheld in hoping to find a star burst... So, I took around 6 photos. All photos was taken at 18mm and ISO-800... The first set of photos was taken at different speed but at a constant F-stop... Here is the first set of picture at 1/20s, 1/10s and 1/5s. 

As you can see, nothing changes. The light on the street lamp is still the same with only a small start bust... As the shutter speed is lowered, the star burst is still the same...

The second set is captured with a constant shutter speed. Only the F-stop is changed. Here is the second set...

Aaaaa.... This is more like it... The star burst increases in size as the F-stop is decreased...

Oh ya forget to mention, for proper exposure, when increasing the shutter speed, the F-stop needs to be decreased and vice verse... The pictures above has been edited in Photoshop. I only increased the Exposure and nothing else so that all picture is almost the same.

Oh well. That proofs it that increasing the F-stop does give you the star burst effect... Happy shooting... photos that is... 

Super Wide Angle On The Go...

EOS 60D, F/5.6, 1/500s, ISO-200, 24-70L @ 24mm panorama.

Went on a family trip a few weeks ago. Brought a lot of camera equipment with me (I wish... ). Mostly, I brought my EOS 60D (my one and only body), three lenses (EFS18-135, EF24-70L, EF100L), speedlite 580EXII (my one and only flash), gels, batteries, chargers and filters. Did not use the filters actually. Did not have the chance to stay still without my family trying to drag me...

The only two lens that was used most of the time during the four day trip was the EFS 18-135 and EF24-70L. The EFS18-135 was mostly used at 18mm. Did not quite like the quality of image the lens was producing but I still need a wider lens than a EF24-70L can give me. EF100L was always in the backpack.

There was a time during the trip that using EFS18-135 at 18mm is not wide enough. Did not want to move back since it will let in distraction into the picture. Remembering one of the show that I have watch on AdoramaTV in youtube, I did my first panorama... I take a picture of my hand then a series of images by panning from left to right.... considering how much overlapping I need on each image and finally took another image of my hand. Did this for two times... Here is a sample of the image before the stitching process. Did it with the 24-70@24. You could use the 18-135@18 but did not like the image quality.

Put all this images in Adobe Photoshop. Hey presto, I got this image...

This is a very-very large image. Reduced the size by two times and export to Adobe Lightroom. You can do what I am going to do with Adobe Photoshop but I am used to do picture editing in Lightroom... I crop the image and add vignetting to the image. The final image is as seen atop of this page.

Here is some more panorama shots on that day.

EOS 60D, F/4, 1/1250s, ISO-200, 18-135 @ 18mm panorama.

EOS 60D, F/5.6, 1/640s, ISO-200, 24-70@ 24mm panorama.

Did you notice the difference... Yes the picture is different but did you notice where the picture starts to bow... It seems that the line that start to bow is where you focused on and pan... Need to take that into consideration when doing panorama. I don't actually like doing this since it took me about 30-40 minutes to do it on my computer... or maybe I need a new computer Hahaha.

Side Note

EOS 60D, F/7.1, 1/250s, ISO-200, 24-70 @ 70mm

The side view of the 2nd gate before entering Todaiji. You need to pay here to enter Todaiji... Just would like to take a picture of the gate from other perspective... The long hall on the each side of the gate makes this picture seem 3D.

Walkway...

EOS 60D, F/7.1, 1/500s, ISO-200, 24-70 @ 27mm

This is a walkway to the entrance of Todaiji Temple... Just learning how to compose correctly... using the right side fence as a means of moving the attention of the viewer to the Temple Gate... 

Railway? What Railway?

EOS 60D, F/7.1, 1/500s, ISO-100, 24-70L @ 24mm

The railway line is behind the rows of sun flowers. Sorry but could not link a location. Some error came out. This is taken near Kurosunadai, Chiba, Japan

Big Sight

EOS 60D, F/8, 1/640s, ISO-100, 50 F1.8 II

What happens when you cross a ball, a boy and a waterfall?

EOS 60D, F/7.1, 4s, ISO-100, 24-70L @ 24mm + Kenko ND400

The answer: An exciting day heheheh.

Update on 20 July 2012: This is my first time using ND400. What I did was first take a picture without ND400. The scene is the same as the image above. The setting is the same but the exposure time is 1/100s for proper exposure. I multiply the exposure time by 400 (since ND400 is being used) to becomes 4s. Add the ND400 and shoot. I guess I was right. Maybe this will be true for ND8 and ND4.

I see... Icy...

EOS 60D, F/5.6, 1/80s,  ISO 200, 24-70L @ 24mm

Ice sculpture competition outside EUNO zoo. Very interesting event.

The Full Length...

EOS 60D, F/4, 1/15s, ISO-800, 24-70L @ 24mm

Actually almost the full length of the Rainbow Bridge. Did not bring the tripod thus the railing of balcony is used instead. Taken from the 6th floor of Aqua City, Odaiba. 

Middle Lake Shrine

EOS 60D, F/8, 1/125s, ISO-200, 24-70 @ 25mm

@ Mobara Koen

EOS 60D, F/10, 1/30s, ISO-200, 24-70 @ 24mm

Shrine Garden

EOS 60D, F/6.3, 1/80s, ISO-200, 24-70 @ 27mm

Garden near Sogen-ji Temple

Temple Arch Gate

EOS 60D, F/8, 1/250s, ISO-100, 24-70 @ 70mm

An arch situated between the Japanese grave and the temple.

Sunset @ Mobara Koen

EOS 60D, F/16, 1/3s ISO-200, 24-70 @ 24mm

Mt. Fuji & Tokyo Bay Sunset

EOS 60D, F/2.8, 1/160s, ISO-100, 24-70 @ 70mm, Grad ND Soft 0.9

A picture overlooking Tokyo Bay with Mt. Fuji seen on the right of the sun.

Naritasan Park 3

EOS 60D, F/5, 1/30s, ISO-100, 24-70 @ 34mm

Naritasan Park 2

EOS 60D, F/5, 1/40s, ISO-100, 24-70 @ 38mm

Naritasan Park 1

EOS 60D, F/8, 1/160s, ISO-100, 24-70 @ 24mm

Snow & Swing

EOS 60D, F/4, 1/2000, ISO-100, 24 - 70 @  42mm

Snow @ Chiba University

EOS 60D, F/4, 1/1000s, ISO-100, 24 - 70 @ 32mm