Good Distortions

With a wide angle lens, the vertical lines distort by diverging outwards when you hold the camera pointing down. You can use this effect to your advantage in your compositions. In this picture, I let the vertical candle and worshiper form a V-shape. The elements became an inverted triangle when the arm and joss sticks connect with the flame. Only problem with a wide angle lens is that almost everything falls into sharp focus. This is the time to use Snapseed’s Foggy Filter plus Vignetting selectively to feather the messy background. Photographed with the Olympus OM-D and Panasonic 7-14mm UWA lens at a Hungry Ghost festival prayers session in Hot Springs New Village just now.

Good Distortions

Brain Freeze

The brain is confused when it cannot determine the visual logic or objective reality of a scene, at a glance. Cognitive recognition comes about via familiar optical perception of the horizontal plane. Here we have a guy in a vertical dive and his friend is looking up at him leisurely. What is going on? To unlock the illusion, just rotate your phone. No small feat by world freestyle motocross champion Eigo Sato and friends in Malaysia. Moment frozen with the Olympus OM-D.

Brain Freeze

Spray And Pray

Water flowing from a tap into a pail in my garden. Olympus OM-D set to 1/4000th of a second and fired at 9 frames per second since the bubbles form nicely only on first impact. If your camera can machine-gun at those speeds or faster, I suggest you use “spray and pray” techniques sparingly. Why? Just like a car, the shutter mechanism has a rated lifespan. Usually averaging 150,000 shots for the average camera. Some less, some more. It should still work after exceeding the rating but why create wear and tear unnecessarily?

Remember this: Every happy, reckless burst and your camera will die earlier. Replacing the shutter assembly can cost as much as buying a new camera. Don’t forget that many cameras also record the shutter count (actuations) and a prospective buyer may check the mileage. Save it for a rainy day or unless it is your company’s camera or part of your business expense as a professional photographer. You don’t want to be trigger happy with your hard earned money.

Spray And Pray