Wedding : Rene & Tessa

Congratulations Rene & Tessa!

Fading Bind

Its been ages since my last project so here it is! These were shot in a few places during my trip to the UK. I cant write too much at the moment as I am still busy editing wedding assignments. I haven't even had enough time to sort the photos from my trip but I hope to put them up here soon. I was going to post this on Halloween but I will be away so I hope you enjoy the photos!

Summer Winds

Some photos from a recent photo session with Joanne

Envy

Credits
Model: Nadine

Time. Sometimes you have too much of it, and sometimes too little. Some days remind you that you need to make the most of it.

Flying Dragons

Forgive the post title, I just couldn't come up with interesting names to call this post. There was a state-wide blackout yesterday that lasted for around six hours and even more in other places as the power was restored in stages. As chaos had surely ensued within the city, I was left completely bored and without anything to do. I set out once again with my camera into the garden. Just as I wondered if there was anything interesting to take photos of, a dragonfly caught my attention as it flew around and perched itself on the branches of a dead plant which had more dragonflies.

Its times like these that make me wish I had a macro lens. The few dragonflies that were sitting on those branches didn't scare too easily and they just sat there the whole time I was taking photos, even when I got really close with the lens. These photos were all shot at f/8 to try and get more of them in focus. 

An interesting thing I found was that auto focus in situations like these where there are plenty of other objects such as branches or leaves in the frame which are high in contrast can be a challenge for the 6D. Whether using the center AF point or selecting all of them was really difficult to pinpoint towards any of the dragonflies as it tends to back focus instead towards the bush in the background.

The only solution I came up with was to get really close and select the center AF point as well as filling most of the center frame with the subject, making it easier for the AF system with just a slight adjustment with the FTM focus ring as I switched angles.

Canon EOS 6D

This is the Canon EOS 6D which I purchased recently. As some of you may know, I have been surviving with an EOS 1000D for several years now and a replacement was necessary. Now I don't want to get into too much technical details about camera specs as it has been covered in an extensively detailed review by Bryan at The Digital Picture. 

The following is a list of key features as seen at The Digital Picture. 

• Full-frame 20.2 Megapixel sensor 
• Tough, lightweight construction 
• Max ISO 25600 (expandable to ISO 102400) 
• 11-point AF sensitive down to -3 EV 
• GPS records your location 
• Wi-Fi file transfer/remote control 
• Full-HD video

 The rear layout of the camera closely resembles the design of the Canon EOS 60D

Of course when switching over to a different button layout, you tend to hit buttons wrongly due to muscle memory from previous body designs. The 6D utilizes a different image zooming method when reviewing photos on the LCD than on the 1000D which kept me hitting the top right buttons on the first couple of days but I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I got accustomed to the new method afterwards.

A new feature which I feel is very useful is the ability to connect to the camera via WiFi from a smartphone or by wirelessly tethering to a laptop on a WiFi network which provides options to download images directly or remotely triggering the camera shutter. I haven't tried the GPS feature yet so I cant say much about it for now.

Side view of the camera and lens

EF 24-105mm F/4 L IS USM with an EW-83J lens hood attached

I purchased the 6D as a kit with the EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM lens. As you can see in the photo above, I use the lens with a third party EW-83J lens hood that I had been using with my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. Of course the 24-105 does come with the smaller EW-83H hood but I prefer using the larger EW-83J on it. You might wonder if using a larger hood for this lens on a full frame body causes vignetting on images but even if it does, it probably only has minimal impact. View the image comparison below.

24mm 1/1250 f/4 ISO 100

The 6D produces excellent image quality. High ISO performance is brilliant up to ISO 6400. Higher ISO settings are best kept for emergencies. Of course, moving up from an APS-C sensor, the difference in Image quality and ISO performance was an eye opener. I knew it was going to be great but it didn't truly sink in till I saw it.

In terms of AF performance, The center AF point is outstanding in low light, being able to lock focus in very dark situations equivalent to -3 EV. This is a plus as I cover events and weddings which mostly takes place in dimly lit venues. The outer AF points don't perform as well as the center, but I do not need to utilize them as much anyway.

The following are a few image samples from the 6D;

105mm 1/60 f/4 ISO 500

105mm 1/125 f/4 ISO 1000

85mm 1/60 f/4 ISO 1000

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Omens & Visions

First State

Credits

Model: Nadine Dargham

Me, Mahira and Nadine went on another photo shoot at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort. I was completely off my game because we arrived and started the shoot just before noon. It got too bright and hot very quickly so I stopped while Mahira continued.