Post-processing Wednesday: Crazy Mayan Dance

Time for another post in my Post-processing Wednesday series. For more posts from this series go here.

Note: if there is particular photo (from my blog) you would like me to present in this series, please leave comment under this post.

About photo

Today photo will be different than in the recent parts of the series. Normally I share post-processing for my HDR photos but... I don't take only HDR photos. So today photo is non-HDR one. What's more this photo was Editor's Choice in Camerapixo We Inspire Vol. 3. - you can read more about it here.

There is one more reason I decided to share this image today. A lot of my photos take me even a few hours to process. Sometimes, however, post-processing is much simpler with just a few steps but the photo still looks very good afterwards. Crazy Mayan Dance belongs to the second group.

For more details about this photo, including exact location and EXIF metadata, please read this post.

Generally speaking processing of this photo was quite easy. It was mostly about correcting colours and improving contrast a little bit. I also increased saturation to make the scene more vibrant, more lively and more dynamic.

At high level, post-processing of this photo involved following steps:

1. Apply some basic adjustments in Lightroom.
2. Load image into Photoshop CC and increase contrast and saturation.

In this case Before image shows unedited image and After shows finished image after applying adjustments mentioned above.

Editing in Lightroom

Adjustments in Lightroom were rather subtle and here is the list of them:

• I brightened the image a little bit by increasing Exposure to +0,20.
• At the same time I wanted to preserve highlights so I dragged Highlights slider to -33.
• However, decreasing Highlights has the effect of lowering the contrast in the image so in order to maintain it, I increased the Whites to +25.
• I also increased Vibrance to +31.
• I also enabled lens corrections to reduce any lens vignetting and get rid of distortion.

Continue reading for more details »

Mr Death

Daily photo - Mr Death

I already shared some images from that ancient Maya dance show before, for instance here and just a few days ago here.

Today I would like to share one more image from this very show. Meet Mr Death himself! From what I understood he was some kind of shaman, doing all the magic during the show.

Continue reading for more details »

The Maya Dancer

Daily photo - The Maya Dancer

I already shared some images from that ancient Maya show before, for instance here. It was the first time I photographed any show in fact. Any. It's just not my kind of photography you know (I'm dedicated to landscapes... even cityscapes are not what I really like). But I quite liked it although it was very difficult for me - the scene was very dynamic and rather crowded most of the time. It was also full of various colours, shapes and symbols that were quickly changing and transforming. There wasn't much time for thinking so I needed to trust my intuition. And I think my intuition was good as I captured some really nice and quite powerful images that I'm really happy with :)

Today I would like to share image of one of the dancers performing in that show. He was wearing bird mask and wings and looked really monumental especially in that magical colourful light.

I used Sony 55-210 tele zoom lens and was quite positively surprised by image quality. Of course the image isn't as sharp from my beloved Canon 70-300 L, but still is very good.

Another interesting thing is that this image was shot at very high ISO (3200) and still the image is completely usable with very low levels of noise. Of course I needed to apply some denoising but it's still pretty surprising how good sensor in this small Sony NEX-6 performs in low-light conditions.

Continue reading for more details »

Tutorial: Tack sharp photos in 10 easy steps

Razor sharp, tack sharp, ultra sharp or simply sharp. Whatever you call them - sharp photos are great and attractive to your viewers (and a proof of your technical expertise!). As a few people asked me for this, in this tutorial I will give you some general tips on getting sharp results. Please note that applying a single tip from below list won't change your photos from a little soft ones to tack sharp ones. If you want to take razor sharp photos you need to follow all of them (or at least majority).

If you want to learn more about sharpening you can read my sharpening tutorial: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

So here are the tips:

1. Use a steady tripod
   It should be self explanatory - tripod greatly reduces camera shake. When you're shooting hand-holding your camera there is always some movement even if you have steady hands. Tripod lets you eliminate this movement completely. What you have to remember is to use a really sturdy tripod. Some I used in the past were shaking so they were a little useless.
   What's more when you're using tripod you don't need to use faster aperture nor increase the ISO to get steady photos.
2. Use manual focusing
   Although Auto-Focus is great most of the time it often doesn't work that good in dim light (or no light situations) and these are the ones landscape photographers have to deal most often (sunrise/sunset, blue hour, evening).
   And even if it works, it might produce images that are slightly out-of-focus (due to slight back- or front- focusing).
   If you still prefer to use Auto-Focus make sure to use central point single focus. It's the most accurate one in most cameras.
3. Use your lens sharpest apertures
   This may surprise you but not all apertures are equally sharp. For most lenses, fastest and slowest apertures are usually the least sharp ones, with apertures between f/4 to f/11 usually being the sharpest. And the difference between sharpest and least sharp aperture can sometimes be really huge. To learn how to find sharpest aperture for your lens, read my tutorial about it.
4. Disable Image Stabilization
   When using a tripod disable image stabilization system if your lens or camera has one. The way image stabilization works is by trying to find and reduce vibrations. If it doesn't find any, it can introduce a little shake on it's own - not much but it can still cause your photos to look a little softer than they could.
   Please note that it's not true for all image stabilization systems. Some (especially newer systems) don't introduce movement when mounted on tripod. To check if it's the case for you, refer to manual of your camera or lens.

Continue reading for more details »

Sony NEX-6 Review

Image quality is one of the biggest strengths of Sony NEX-6. It beats my backup DSLR (Canon 50D) in this category.

I promised it, and here it is - my complete review of Sony NEX-6 mirrorless camera. After using it for a few weeks now I can say a lot about it. Do I like it? Is it good replacement for DSLR? Find out by reading this review.

Please note that today I won't talk much about the lenses. I hope to review them separately. Especially the Sony E f/4 10-18 lens which is pretty fantastic. And one of the best ultra wide angle zoom lenses I worked with.

Introduction & Parameters

You can get Sony NEX-6 in a few packages:

• As a body alone for around $750.00,
• With a 16-50 mm kit lens for $900.00, or
• With 16-50 mm and 55-210 mm lenses for $995.00.

I went with the last option. Additionally I got Sony E f/4 10-18 mm lens which I mentioned at the very beginning of this review. So I currently own 3 Sony E-mount lenses - they cover almost all focal lengths that are interesting for me.

Before going any further take a look at some of the most important parameters of this camera:

Vendor	Sony
Released on	2012-09-12
Weight	345 g (including battery and memory card)
Dimensions	119.9 × 66.9 × 42.6 mm
Megapixel count	16
Sensor type	ASP-C
Supported file formats	Photos: RAW, JPEG, RAW + JPEG Videos: AVCHD 2.0 (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264), MP4
ISO range	100 - 25.600
Shutter speed range	1/4000 - 30 s, bulb mode
Video resolution	Full-HD
Burst mode FPS	10
Built-in flash	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	No
Other	Swivel LCD screen, Electronic viewfinder

The biggest advantage of Sony NEX-6 for me is its size and weight. It's really small and light. It looks and feels like a typical compact camera (it's even smaller than some of them!). Together with a lens it weighs less than Canon DSLR body alone. It's so light that when I had it in my backpack I needed to check it's really there or whether I forgot to take it from home. It's really light. Dimensions make it look less professional what is also an advantage because in some places of the world professional photo equipment is now not allowed.

With its small size, comes one issue though. If you have large fingers or try controlling this camera wearing thick gloves, you might have some problems as the buttons are rather small and in such circumstances I ended accidentally pressing wrong buttons.

I also really loved electronic viewfinder - it's the best one I have seen so far. It offers full coverage of the scene and very nice colours and resolution. What's more it can also show virtual horizon or real-time histogram - both features are very useful and can help you take better shots.

Continue reading for more details »

Crazy Mayan Dance

Daily photo - Crazy Mayan Dance 

I just got back from 2 weeks vacation in Mexico. I took a lot of photos there, mainly landscape ones (the sunsets were really gorgeous! and each of them was different). However, not only. As I made a visit to Xcaret park, which is famous for many interesting activities and shows performed by local actors and dancers, I also had a chance to capture photos of traditional Mayan dances (yes, the same Mayas who predicted the end of the world... in fact they didn't but it's another story which I hope to share in following days).

Below you will find just one of many photos captured by me during shows performed in Xcaret. Some of them were really crazy and I was wondering if they had been really performing or whether they reached some trance status of mind. To show they craziness I decided not to freeze motion. Instead I used slow shutter speed of 1/8 of a second. This way dancers are blurry showing how dynamic their movements were.

Continue reading for more details »