We love to shoot beautiful women… many of us were inspired to take up the art when we first saw how gorgeous photos turned out when the subjects were attractive women. Is there a specific technique? Well, having shot many models in the past, let me share a bit some of the tips off the top of my head.

1) Keep a scrapbook of poses/stances handy
2) Try not to point the fingers to the camera
3) Watch the background and ensure nothing sticks out of or cuts through the back of her head/neck
4) Remind your model to watch her posture
5) Try not to pose the models in awkward positions
6) Keep the light soft (window light or under the shade). Overhead light is not good. Direct sunlight will cause her to squint.
7) Use a reflector (car shade will do) to balance out the shadows under the nose/chin. This reflector is also good to create a small reflection in the eye called the catchlight
Talk to the model to form a rapport and ensure that she remains relaxed
9) Leaning hard against the wrists/shoulders will create unsightly bone jutting situations
10) For make-up, heavier and contrastier make up can make the person look better
11) Ensure that the hair is controlled… watch for baby hair and stray strands
12) Mop up the sweat and always do touch ups to also allow the model to have a bit of rest
13) Model must have enough sleep the night before
14) Keep the clothes and accessories simple
15) Watch where your photo crops off the model’s features like forehead, elbow, bustline etc

Some examples…

This is my effort at the channel mixer conversion with the red channel boosted up after taking a blue sky with a CPL.

From the top of the Malvern Hills, you can see the rest of the series at my blog.

The sky is the photographer’s friend. Most of us love blue blue skies and it certainly helps in making a photo ‘prettier’. Grey nimbus clouds can ruin a scene of blue skies and fluffy white cumulus clouds. Predicting the look of the sky is essential if you want to make the best use of it.

1) Under normal circumstances, the sky will look best in February or October. However, with the rainy season being unpredictable lately, this may not be true.
2) Normally if there is hot sun after a few days of rain, the skies will be pristine.
3) If it’s a grey muggy day, I normally like to shoot in B&W where the colour of the sky won’t matter so much
4) Magic hour (the hour right after sunset) is known as such because the sky is always a nice tone of violet and blue and is an excellent backdrop for landscape or architectural photography.

Learn the cloud formations and they will serve you well…

Cloud formation information at Wiki

Anyway here are some samples of how the sky can be the main subject.

And a couple of shots I took yesterday evening (it was such a glorious sky)…

With a CPL (circular polarizer), you can get deep blue skies and if you use the B&W conversion technique I mentioned earlier, and turn on the Red filter in the Channel Mixer to 100%, you will turn these blue skies into a deep shade of grey or black. Should there be white clouds in the sky at that time, they will really stand out.

However, you may want to use this effect with some moderation.

Ah finally, Nikon have unveiled the new camera with full specs.

It’s not a great jump from the D70s but there are some nice minor refinements, I don’t regret getting my D70s though as I doubt there will be any stock for this cam until 2007.

We posted our first thoughts after the leak here: D80 leaked shots and thoughts

The major changes are:

• New 10.2 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor with the power to capture exceptional sharpness and faithful colour at 3,872 x 2,592 pixels size.
• Inherits the industry-leading advanced imaging processing engine of Nikon professional D-SLR cameras. Colour-independent pre-conditioning prior to A/D conversion works in harmony with high-precision digital image processing algorithms to produce natural-looking images that benefit from faithful colour and tone reproduction.
• 3D Colour Matrix Metering II automatic exposure control ensures ideal exposures in most lighting conditions. It evaluates brightness, colour, contrast, selected focus area and camera-to-subject distance. The system references the data against an expanded onboard database created using data from more than 30,000 actual photographic scenes to instantly and accurately calculate the final exposure value for the shot. Variable centre-weighted metering and spot metering centered on the active focus area are also available.
• Refined 11-area AF system packs the same number of focus areas available for the professional D2 series into a space-efficient system that features fast, precise operation. Each of the 11 focus areas can be used individually, the centre sensor can be switched to wide-frame operation for broader coverage and new Auto-area AF mode measures all 11 focus areas. The system automatically determines which are on the primary subject and activates only those areas.
• ISO AUTO mode automatically adjusts sensitivity between ISO 100 -1600 to maximize available light and achieve optimal exposure. Sensitivity can also be set manually between ISO 100 - 1600 in steps of 1/3 EV, plus HI-0.3, HI-0.7 and HI-1. Three levels of High ISO Noise Reduction are available when shooting at high ISO settings. Long Exposure Noise Reduction is also available when shooting at shutter speeds of 8 seconds or slower.

The full specs and press release/pics can be found here.

The preview looks good so far, I’d like to see some sample shots though.

Two and a half years ago Nikon announced the six megapixel D70, their first affordable enthusiasts digital SLR, it proved to be a very popular camera and strong competitor to the Canon EOS 300D (Digital Rebel). Just fifteen months later Nikon revealed the D70s which was essentially the same camera with a some subtle tweaks (improved AF, wider flash coverage, higher capacity battery, larger LCD monitor). And so just over fifteen months on from the D70s Nikon present the latest incarnation of their ‘enthusiasts’ digital SLR line, the ten megapixel D80.

The D80 slots nicely between the entry-level D50 and the semi-professional / professional D200, clearly based on the D70 design but also different enough to be seen as a completely new model. It features a ten megapixel DX format CCD (the same we presume as used by Sony in the DSLR-A100), the metering sensor from the D50 and numerous other items taken or modified from the D200.

The full hands on preview is here.

They also announced another couple of AF-S lenses to go with the launch of this cam an 18-135mm as the new optional kit lens with more focal range (AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED) and another which I might add to my shopping list after I see some reviews as it’s the exact range I’ve been looking for and it has VR!

The AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED, it’s not f/2.8 but with VR it gives you that couple of extra stops anyway and it’s much more affordable. It’s equivalent to 450mm on a 35mm camera. It should be about RM1500 where as the f/2.8 version is RM6100, a huge difference, but is it really 4 times better? I shall test it out.. but if it’s anything like the 18-200mm VR it’ll be impossible to get hold of.

I’ll talk more about the lenses later.

With the National Day just round the corner (about 3 weeks from today), I would like to share with you a shot from easily one of the most photogenic sites in Malaysia i.e. Putrajaya.

This one from the MOF/National Treasury…

Like KLCC, Putrajaya has been shot to death… so the challenge is for photographers to find new angles.