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Tag : photography

Sigma unveils the new 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens

Sigma has announced the release of its new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens, a fast maximum aperture, prime wide angle lens. This lens is the first of its new branded “Art-Series“ product line up, which by itself helps to redefine and unleash the expressive and unbeatable performance to bring in the artist in you. Sigma has recently decided on rethinking their range of interchangeable lenses into three product lines. Each line has its own clearly defined concept, and every lens developed here on will be assigned to one of these lines. Sigma’s new product lines are going to redefine the way you relate to photography. The lens is available for Sigma, Nikon, Canon & Pentax DSLR’s and is compatible for both full frame and APS-C camera. The lens has a sporty look with a silver “A” badge on the barrel.

Sigma have developed a special software (SIGMA Optimization Pro) that can update the lens firmware and adjust parameters such as focus . Using special USB Dock, the user will be able to connect the lens to their PC, and, using easy-to-operate on-screen controls, fine-tune focus and adjust other parameters to suit their personal preferences at the luxury of sitting at home.

Sigma reveals this lens at low apertures, for example can perform like a wide-angle lens, while if it’s opened up to f/1.4, it will give the background a pleasing bokeh effect and make the subject pop like a mid-range telephoto lens. What makes this lens so desirable is the wide scope it provides for artistic expression.

You can read more on the lens construction and technical specs here [link]. Sigma US announced the price tag of $899.

The good news is this remarkable lens will be available in Kuwait by the beginning of December exclusively in AAB stores at a truly competitive price of 239.950 KD.

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How to shoot Fireworks

I had earlier posted of the biggest and most expensive firework event taking place this weekend.

Shooting Fireworks is always magical with the beautiful colors and the illumination produced. Generally people tend to think to shoot firework they may have to invest on powerful camera gears or telephoto lens. You can capture beautiful stunning images using a standard kit lens available depending on the camera make unless you need to fill your frame with fireworks then generally a telephoto lens (70-300 mm) will serve the purpose, else you may need to crop the picture.

Few quick tips to get those beautiful streaks of lights in your image

1. Check your location: It’s important to reach early, so as to get an unobstructed view. Check your horizon and the background, reflection of lights on the water or having a nice backdrop will add more dynamic change to your picture.

2. Use a Tripod: Since we would be using long exposure, there is every chance for camera shake. If you don’t have a tripod, then make sure to brace your camera against wall, railing or even a car to keep it steady. If you have no options then you may need to increase the ISO, this will give you shorter exposure without blurs but will also introduce noise in your image. You will need image noise removal application to reduce the noise during the post processing stage.

3. Remote Release: A wired cable release or a remote release will help you to eliminate the minimum camera shake. If you don’t have a remote release, the best would be to use the self-timer of the camera after setting the desired time. You may loose on the initial few shots of firework as you tend to calculate the time the shell reaches the sky and burst out.

4. Focus Setting: On a DSLR camera choose the M (Manual) mode and manually focus your lens to infinity (∞). You have to readjust the focus . On a Point & Shoot camera, you can use the Firework mode, landscape mode or the least night portrait mode depending on the availability on your camera.

5. Flash off: Camera flash or flash-guns are not powerful enough to reach fireworks.

6. ISO, Aperture & Shutter speed: The higher your ISO, the more sensitive your camera is to light. When shooting longer exposures (long shutter speeds) high ISO can introduce a lot of digital noise to your photograph. An ISO setting of 100 is a good bet. Check the following setting and experiment accordingly. (ISO 50 – Aperture range: f/5.6 – 11; ISO 100 – Aperture range: f/8 to 16; ISO 200 – Aperture range: f/11 to 22). Long Shutter speed will help to capture a perfect shot, you may need to experiment by using 2 sec to 10 sec or more depending on the duration of firework to see what works best. If you have a B (Bulb) mode setting you can use it to control exactly how long your shutter is open. The trick is to open the shutter right at the beginning of the burst and close it when it reaches its peak. Allow the smoke to disappear before you take the next shoot.

7. Take plenty of pictures: Carry more than 1 card, shooting firework is quite addictive. Try different setting, preview your first few shots to know you are satisfied with the settings.

Finally enjoy the show and be safe.

Knowledge Base 2

Kuwait Biggest & Expensive Firework Show-2012

Kuwait is all geared to host the biggest and the most expensive Firework show on 10th Nov,2012 as they head to break the world record for the biggest firework yet along the Gulf Road starting from the Kuwait Tower all the way up to the Green Island to celebrate 50th year anniversary of the constitution. It’s told a whooping 4 million plus KD has been spent on fireworks, plenty of steel offshore platform structures has been created for the fireworks. A New Mexico based company Desert Areospace has been hired to tap 3 planes fitted with firework at the tail for the show.

Check the video of the News report from KRQE News

This truly will be one great historic event you won’t want to miss. Now guys, this won’t be just Fireworks, the show will include lit kites, Flying Falcons, Floating Creatures, Laser, Sound and 3D projections. The approx 4.5 km area starting from Ruby Tuesday near the Kuwait Towers extending to the Green Island has been divided into 9 Zones.

The show will start at 3:00 pm with entertainment program followed by fireworks at 8:00 pm and the final closure at around 10:00 pm. Reports indicate that the fireworks shall continue non-stop over an hour and is expected to break the previous 7 Guinness World Records. The show is sure to invite lots of people from neighboring regions to witness this landmark event.

It’s advised to reach the event place well in advance as traffic would be crazy. To all my photo geek friends this is will be one great event you would love to shoot.

3rd International Filter Photo Contest

The 3rd International Filter Photo Contest 2012-2013 sponsored by Kenko Tokina Co.Ltd is open to all photos that has been taken with the aid of a filter (any brand) with the aim of expanding creative possibilities.

Applications are open to image data of both types, both in color or black and white, as long as the photos are taken using a filter. Filters such as protectors, whose filter effects cannot be seen on works, are not permitted. Photos treated or processed using computer software are not eligible

The contest is open from 1st October, 2012 until 30th November, 2013. There are prizes set every 3 months in stages during the contest for encouragement.

1st Stage: 1st October – 31st December, 2012

2nd Stage: 1st January – 31st March, 2013

3rd Stage: 1st April – June, 2013

4th Stage: July – November, 2013

To enter and know more of the Contest prerequisites and procedure click here

Thanks Ahmed Abul Burghul

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Expression of Love Photo Contest Winners & Participants Feliciated

The winners and participants of the recently concluded “Expression of Love” photo contest organized by ShutterXpose were felicitated and the winners awarded with their prizes. The function was private and held over the weekend at Salmiya Play School. A brief introduction of ShutterXpose activities and their future work plans were discussed. The attendees were briefed on the judges of the contest and the evaluation process. Images of the Top contenders of the contest were discussed, most of the participants expressed their happiness on conducting such contest including the professionalism and transparency. Participants were felicitated with certificates.

ShutterXpose once again takes the opportunity to congratulate the winners and all the participants for their active participation and making our 1st photography competition a great success. The continuous support from the Judges, Coordinators (Prashanth, Rakshak, Rilson, Yogee & Unni Krishnan) and the readers helped us with brighter ideas and high spirits (no pun intended). Participants who couldn’t attend the function are requested to email us with their mobile numbers ASAP, so as the certificates could be delivered.

Pictures of the event: (by Prashanth Shetty)

Events & Activities 1

Nikon D600 Launched in Kuwait

The latest, smallest and the lightest Nikon FX-format D600 was launched in Kuwait today morning at the JW Marriott Hotel, Kuwait City. The function was held by Ashraf & Co. and Nikon. This was the 1st major launch of any camera here earlier, its quite interesting since only couple of weeks back the D600 was initially announced, followed by a grand launch in Dubai on the same day and now finally in Kuwait. It’s quite interesting to note that Nikon is considering the Middle East market seriously. The D600 was unveiled by Nikon ME and Ashraf Imaging Group officials.

The D600 is a hybrid with a 24.3 effective megapixel and high-density 39-point AF system employed with a Multi-CAM 4800 auto focus sensor module, with a close feel in terms of controls, ergonomics and weight to the Nikon D7000. In comparison to the D800 it uses the same EXPEED 3 processor, has the second best sensor in the world ranking just behind to it’s elder brother the Nikon D800, but overall the D800 falls in a different segment and is more superior.

The D600 will be sold separately (body only), as well as along with AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Kit lens which is quite unique, since unlike the DX-format the Nikon FX-format camera’s were never sold with a Kit lens. The estimated price of Nikon D600 (Body only) in Kuwait shall be around ~~KD 775~~ KD 700.

You can read my earlier post on Nikon D600 [here] and [here]

Update: More images of the event added. The Nikon D600 is not yet available, but you can pre-order them at AAB which is sold for KD. 699.950 (Body only) and KD. 849 with Kit lens (24-85mm VR lens), also included are the free 32 GB Class 10 SD card & KD. 20 Printing Coupon.

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Expression of Love Photography Contest Winner Announced

ShutterXpose team is pleased to announce the winners of their 1st Photography Contest under the theme “Expression of Love“.

The winners are:

Shafimon Choolookaran (1st Prize)
Joy Roshan (2nd Prize)
Nabeel Sab (3rd Prize)

Congratulation’s !!!

Brief Summary of the Contest

The contest was open to all residents of Kuwait. The contestant had to upload their best image based on the theme of the contest and invite their friends and folks to vote for their image. The Photo contest had a considerable good response. We received a total of 37 entries and only 25 entries were qualified and moderated based on the theme, the contest was held for a 1 month period (19th August – 19th September, 2012). The contest received a total of 3000+ votes from more than 10 countries including Kuwait. As per the rules Top 5 entries with maximum votes were selected to qualify for the Judges technical evaluation round, the last 48 hrs of the contest was quite interesting with votes swinging in favour of few participants, finally there were Ties in 3 spots which ultimately gave 8 entrants to enter the evaluation round.

The Jury (3 judge panel) members had a daunting task ahead, each jury member had to evaluate the image based on the following technical criteria :

Does the Image suit the Theme of the contest
Composition and
Overall impact (Lighting, Sharpness and creativity)

The total point system was on a scale of 10, at the end of the evaluation round the total aggregate point from all the judges against each image were calculated and the final 3 winners were selected.

The 3 panel Jury members are Professional photographer who have excelled in the field of photography with couple of awards under their name. A brief summary of their portfolio would be added in my coming post soon.

Congratulation to all the participants. Taking part in such photography contest is just a stepping stone to your long cherished dream to be recognised as a photographer.

We at ShutterXpose extend our warm wishes to all the participants, Indians in Kuwait (IIK), Blogger Mathai, The Grapevine Kuwait as well the readers here for helping us to make this contest a great success. ShutterXpose would organise many such contests in the future.

Photo Slideshow of all contest entrants

[slideshow gallery_id=”1″]

Events & Activities / News 8

Nikon announces 800mm Telephoto lens

Nikon 800 f/5.6 Nikon Corporation this month announced they will add the super-telephoto 800-mm, fixed local length lens to its lineup of NIKKOR lenses. This lens will offer a fixed focal length of 800 mm, a maximum aperture of f/5.6, and will be fully compatible with Nikon FX-format cameras. There is no price mentioned yet, nor any specification released. From the photo released by Nikon, the lens shows different switch for “Off”, “Normal”, “Active” VR modes, “Auto/ Manual (A/M)” focus modes. It would definetly boost of exclusive Nikon Nano Crystal Coat and a Meniscus protective glass element combine to reduce ghosting and flare for even greater image clarity. The current longest telephoto lens the “AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4 ED VR” weighs approx. 5060 gms with a whooping price tag of $9,799.

I would love to have this lens in my gear bag, but then who wouldn’t. Apart from being serious and earning enough to have this baby I would also have to strengthen my arms.

Nikon Press release:

This lens has been developed in order to strengthen the NIKKOR lineup of super-telephoto lenses. It will boast the longest focal length of any NIKKOR autofocus lens, and will be best suited to capture of a wide variety of decisive outdoor scenes, from sporting events to wildlife. In addition to its superior optical performance, the lens will offer dust and water resistance.

In 2012, Nikon released three new FX-format digital-SLR cameras—the D4, the new flagship digital SLR, and the D800 and D800E, which offer incredible resolution and image quality. In addition to reinforcing its lineup of FX-format digital-SLR cameras, Nikon has also been working to expand the lineup of NIKKOR lenses. Nikon has been providing service and support to professional photographers for roughly fifty years through the activities of its Nikon Professional Services (NPS).

This lens is scheduled to be on display at the Nikon service depot that will be set up for professional photographers working at the Open Championship event. Nikon has been also an official sponsor of The Open Championship since 1993. The Open Championship is the oldest of the world’s four major tournaments in professional golf . Furthermore, this lens is scheduled to be on display at Photokina 2012, one of the world’s largest photo and imaging exhibitions, to be held in Cologne, Germany from September 18–23, 2012.

Release date and suggested retail price for this product have not yet been determined.

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My Style – Lee Llamas Workshop delights photographers to new height

Lee Llamas is one of the most successful and popular wedding photographer in the Philippines. In spite of his popularity, Lee Llamas is quite a modest and sincere person, an ardent listener a serious humorist. To his “Golden Boy” reputation Lee Llamas created wonders at his 1^st Kuwait Leg- My Style Wedding Photography workshop, which was held at the Safir Hotel- Fintas on the 15^th & 16^th June 2012.

Day 1 started with the formal introduction of Lee Lamas, his photography works, his approach and workflow while shooting models and his style of creating magic with dynamic dimension when it comes to wedding photography. The day continued with photo shoots covering every aspect of wedding photography including the E Session, Lighting details and Outdoor shoots. Lee Llamas took personal attention in composing couple of bridal shoots, attendees were given first-hand information on such composition and advised to be creative. He also took personal interests to observe each attendees (photographers) shot and end up either advising or complimenting the photo. To give a real feel of the wedding, 2 expensive bridal gowns were arranged along with 4 couple models (2 couples for Pre-Nuptial ceremony & 2 couples for Wedding ceremony), make-up as well as floral artist. The models were pampered with glory by the photographers who were trying to capture them with their best camera, available lens, light and creative angles.

(more…)

Events & Activities 2

Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX Announced

Nikon-18-300mm-f3_5-5_6G-ED-VR Nikon Inc. today announced the AF-S NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX lens. This lens is a versatile and compact 16.7X all-in-one super zoom DX-format lens. The lens is an Ultra high-power approx. 16.7x zoom lens covering 18-300mm focal range. Just as the Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G VR is equipped with Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) II image stabilization system which provides the equivalent of a shutter speed approximately four stops faster. The built-in Vibration Reduction will help photographers create blur-free images and video while shooting handheld and in challenging lighting conditions. Two focus modes, manual-priority autofocus (M/A) and manual focus (M), are easily selected in both lenses as well. When in manual-priority autofocus (M/A) mode, users will be able to instantly switch from autofocus to manual focus operation by simply rotating the focus ring, even during AF servo operation. Additionally, these lenses feature an internal focusing system, providing fast focus without changing the length of the lens while retaining working distance through the focus range. Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor (SWM) technology designed to deliver fast, accurate and quiet AF performance. The lens also boast Nikon’s Super Integrated Coating (SIC) which provides superb color reproduction, color consistency and reduced flaring.

The AF-S NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR also has a dedicated zoom lock switch which secures the lens barrel at its minimum length and will prevent the lens from sliding when not in use and during transportation. This lens is ideal for capturing close-ups with great detail, as it offers a 1.48 ft. minimum focusing distance at 300mm, as well as a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:3.2x.

Price and Availability:

The AF-S NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens will be available at the end of June 2012 and is available on pre-order for $999.95

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