Category Archives: Photography

Nature, Nature Photos, Photography, That's Life

What can a bumble bee (bumblebee) teach you?

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Updated 20-Feb-2014

  • News on Bumblebees infected with Honeybee diseases.
  • Additional photos added.

Proverbs, anecdotes, poems and quotations  influence all of us, to some extent, when we were growing up, whether we knew it or not and whether now in later life, we care to admit it or not. Some of them would have shaped our outlook, attitude and even our personality, hopefully for the better.

One such anecdote that greatly influenced me tells of a French entomologist August Magnan and his engineer friend discussing a bumblebee  one evening in the 1930’s.

… because the bumblebee doesn’t know that it is not supposed to fly, it can and does fly …

The engineer apparently did a back-of-napkin calculation and “proved” that aerodynamically,  it was not possible for the bumblebee to fly. But we all know and can see with our own eyes that a bumblebee can indeed fly. That day in my youth, when I first heard of this anecdote, it was not the science (that actually showed a bumblee can fly) that concerned me. The profound idea that struck me and stuck with me to this day was the lesson it conveyed; that just because the bumblebee doesn’t know that it is not supposed to fly, it can and does fly along happily, and it flies very well too, I might add.

_MG_0075_800And that’s the way my attitude is shaped; that one should not be seeking too much advice from others as to whether something can be done, if indeed that something is what you have a strong desire to achieve. Believe in yourself and just go ahead and do it. If the results are not forthcoming, your vision is not worth anything; dreams have no value until the results are achieved. And to get there, be a bumblebee.

Now it’s your turn. Which proverb, anecdote, poem or quotation provided a life’s lesson for you?

_MG_0091_800Footnote:
When was the last time you actually saw a real live bumblebee? For me, it must have been years since I last saw one. So what are the odds of a bumblebee appearing and hovering around me just after I wrote about it? And what are the odds that I’ll have a camera (my iPhone) with a newly installed app “Burst Mode” to snap 100 shots with one click? I wrote the first draft yesterday and this morning a bumblebee paid me a visit. And I shot a few sequences of it darting among my flowers with my iPhone in Burst Mode. Not exactly tack-sharp pictures (I was quivering with excitement), but what a photo-moment it was. Click on the thumbnails below to see the flight sequences.

BBburst1         BBburst2

Learn more about the Bumblebee at Bumblebee.org

According to Bumblebee.org, “Bumblebees are large, hairy social insects with a lazy buzz and clumsy, bumbling flight. ”

Most people like the bumblebee as it very rarely stings anyone. When I was a kid, I thought the large, round, black blobs flying around our garden  was a bumblebee. And even up to when I was writing this article and sharing the photos above  of the unexpected “bumblebee” that visited me, I didn’t think I was wrong.

prat1
Photo courtesy of Laura Smith
www.bumblebee.org
Pratorum queen
Photo courtesy of Laura Smith
www.bumblebee.org

However, I learnt at Bumblebee.org that are six species of bumblebees and the black one is not one of them. See the photo of a “Bombus Pratorum” queen shown here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it here in our country.
Another view of a “Bombus Pratorum” bumblebee.

XylocopaViolacea
Photo courtesy of Laura Smith
www.bumblebee.org

The black one looks like a Bumblebee but is actually a Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea).
However, for me the black round blob that flies “when it shouldn’t be able to fly”, will always be the “bumblebee” to me. It epitomises the lesson adequately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

19-Feb-2014
BBC News (Science and Environment)
Bumblebees infected with honeybee diseases
Researchers have found that two diseases harboured by honeybees are spilling over into wild bumblebees.
Insects infected with deformed wing virus and a fungal parasite called Nosema ceranae….

20-Feb-2014
The Bumblebee came visiting again in my garden.

_MG_9991a

_MG_9996a

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Nature Photos, Photography

The Shootout Between A DSLR and a Point-N-Shoot

Gallery 3 Comments

budgetcameras

This gallery is now linked to “How Not To Be Embarrased By Your DSLR“.
I am not a professional photographer ( yes, that’s obvious, isn’t it? ) and these are simply my amateur photos taken to compare a DSLR (my Canon EOS 500D) with a Point-n-Shoot (“PNS”), in this case my iPhone 5.
The EXIF data are shown below each photo. The photos were taken with the DSLR  set at Shutter Priority to demonstrate my contention that high “Shutter Speed” is the beginner’s best friend.
I just pushed the shutter speed to at least 1/2xfocal length (1 divided by 2x focal length) to ensure that all my handheld shots will be reasonably sharp. The results are not meant for the professional’s eyes but rather they are to be viewed through the eyes of a beginner and see if they are acceptable “keepers”. At the same time, you should not be embarrassed when comparing your DSLR shots to the PNS (iPhone 5), but I must admit, there are a few where the iPhone shots may even be considered superior! You be the judge.

1_9911

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Picture 1 of 30

Meta data

Camera / Type Canon EOS 500D
Aperture F 5.6
Focal Length 84 mm
Shutter speed 1/500 sec
Date / Time January 15, 2014 10:25 am

Featured, How-to, Photography

How Not To Be Embarrassed By Your DSLR

4 Comments

budgetcameras

So you want to be a hot-shot brilliant DSLR photographer?

Update 16-Jan-2014:  See the related gallery “The Shootout Between a DSLR and a Point-N-Shoot”.

There are very few things in Life that are as humiliating and demoralizing as when a guy with an expensive, massive, mean- looking DSLR takes pictures beside his spouse who is snapping away on a tiny point-n-shoot camera and then friends go “wow!” looking at the spouse’s snapshots and saying “uh ah, not bad” at the guy’s should-have-been-awesome photos. What is wrong with this picture!? … pun intended. If that sounds familiar to you and you can relate to it, or better still- if you do NOT wish to be that guy, read on.

DSLR_AE First attempt with DSLR in AE mode.

 

 

 

 

No-one is DSLRFullAutowatching, set the DSLR to full auto.

 

 

 

compactSpouse’s compact point-n-shoot camera.

 

 

 

iPhone4Same scene taken with iPhone 5, just for the heck of it.

 

 

 

From the above, it is easy to see that except for the first photo, the rest are actually quite acceptable “keepers”.

What went wrong?

If you attend a photography class with a live instructor to guide and hold your hands, so to speak, this scenerio may not apply to you; lucky you! For the gung-ho, teach-yourselves (almost everybody else), this one’s for you. Remember, this is strictly for the NEW newbie. If you’re already ahead of the class here, just shut-up and post your comment at the end of the article.

Here goes:

1. Forget about everything that you’ve read elsewhere or what other “lessons” you’ve been taught about the creative modes of your DSLR.
The absolute first thing you’ve got to focus on is how to get a really “tack-sharp” image. That’s pro-speak for a super sharp in-focus image.
You can try everything that the books or instructor tell you, but you will lose heart and interest if your photos turn out any less sharp than someone’s simple auto camera.

2. The secret to a beginner’s DSLR camera getting a sharp image is Shutter Speed. Some experts will tell you something like shoot at your len’s sharpest aperture. Right, but what’s that and why? Think about it: the reason your picture is blurry is usually because of shaky, unsteady hands. The second most likely reason is because the subject is not perfectly still ( the kid/pet is simply behaving as a kid/pet or the breeze simply will not pause for you or life is just being unkind to you ) .  So you see, as long as you have a sufficiently fast shutter speed, much faster than your hands can shake, much faster than the kid/pet can move, much faster than the flower can flutter in the breeze, you’re already 95% home. OK, I made that up. I don’t know the percentage but I certainly know that you are more likely to get a decently sharp image than not.

3.  Yes, there are probably myriad other reasons why a picture is not sharp, but I dare say the above 2 reasons account for 98% of all new-newbies’ bane. Yes, I made up that percentage, too, just so you can get the picture, get it? And don’t tell me the problem is “out-of-focus” because I’m assuming you’re humble enough to engage your camera’s auto-focus. You just have to check that the auto-focus is indeed focussing on your subject of interest. My Tamron wide-range (18-270mm) lens is notorious for its misbehaving auto-focus at critical times. Yet, I can’t bear to part with it. Sigh! But that is another story.

4. And, oh, the book/expert tells you to use a tripod to eliminate that shake and vibration. But I’m addressing the 99% of new-newbies who have just unwrapped/unboxed  his brand new super duper DSLR and who can’t wait to create the highly anticipated brilliant photos he sees from his books/magazines. Who uses a tripod in the first 100 days of trying out his DSLR for the first time? C’mon!

5.  Here are the guidelines for Shutter Speed priority or Time Value (Tv) on the dial of a Canon DSLR.

  • A good rule-of-thumb is that the minimum shutter speed, secs., = 1/focal length (mm) of the lens used.  For example, if you are using a 50mm lens, then the minimum shutter speed is 1/50 sec. In practice, a new newbie is well-advised to use 1/125 sec for a hand-held shot. And as your focal length gets longer, the vibration risk gets higher with the increased magnification. So while the guideline prescribes  min. 1/200 sec for a 200mm lens, say, push the shutter speed as high as your aperture will adjust to maintain correct exposure. If you find that you need a higher speed than your aperture will allow, you may need to adjust for a higher ISO setting to get that speed.
  • Save in RAW, if possible, so that your less-than-perfectly exposed picture has a chance to be saved. On the other hand, if you used too slow a speed and your picture is blurry due to shakes, it’s game over.
  • In Tv mode for Canon (S-mode for Nikon), set the shutter speed faster than the rule-of-thumb prescription and check the exposure to see if the aperture can handle the selected speed for a given ISO. If not, then dial downwards the speed until the aperture value stops flashing. If that is not possible without going below the rule-of-thumb value, stop! Increase the ISO and try again to get the fastest possible speed.
  • Remember, we are talking about a new newbie just wanting a tack-sharp photo and it’s not about stop-motion, panning, special effect or whatever. Just a tack-sharp photo that you won’t be embarrased to show off, side-by-side with your spouse’s P-N-S photo. So just start with the fastest possible shutter speed. Aperture Priority (Av) and everything else can wait.
  • If you still get rubbish blurry shots, then maybe take a step back and dial in “Full Auto” on your DSLR. Look, no-one needs to know. It’s your own private classroom, after all. After each shot ( quite nice shot, isn’t it?), check the photo information to see all the data and learn. Use your DSLR in Full Auto as your  private tutor. You can’t fail.
  • And I just have to add this parting shot: take as many shots as you possibly can. Memory storage is cheap now, not like expensive films in the past. You could even set your  camera to take continuous shots. I read somewhere that even the Pros do it. It’s not a matter of “kia-su”. It gives you the increased odds of getting a keeper. The rest you can just delete before you show off your terrific photo to everyone, right?

There you have it. Your first 100-days of embarrassment-free, confidence-boosting DSLR photography adventure begin.

You’re welcome.

You ought to be able to do better (with your fancy DSLR) than this shot taken with my iPhone 5, while a steady breeze is gently rocking the flower.

grasshopper

Footnote:
On the issue of gender. This article refers to a male DSLR-hotshot-wannabe simply because I’m male and I’m writing largely of my personal experience. No disrespect is meant to any female reader.