Zoila and the W Hotel of Barcelona

Critical Appreciation – 005

I have followed Intagrammer Zoila Guerrero (@zoila_guerrero) for years and always thought she is Spanish or Brazilian. She told me she is Ecuadorian. I contacted her to get her permission to share this pic for 3 reasons. It will be an injustice if I didn’t let mankind see her awesome body in a bikini doing a beach volleyball squat.

Secondly. I wanted to introduce the RM 5000 a night W Hotel of Barcelona. It is the stylish tall building on the beachfront along the Barceloneta boardwalk . Seen here behind Zoila, the hotel was designed by well known and award winning Spanish architect, Ricardo Bofill. His projects can be seen all over the world. View the interior or book the hotel at MyCen Hotels here: https://www.agoda.com/partners/partnersearch.aspx?cid=1775757&pcs=1&hid=161330

Thirdly, there are also a couple of photography tips to derive from this pic. People get distracted at the beach easily and don’t keep an eye on the horizontal leveling, This is particularly important when you are shooting the sea where the real horizon must be level. Notice the W Hotel and trees are tilting to the left?

Another tip: When I step onto a sunny open airspace in the daytime, I always look at the shadows formed on the ground. This will tell you which direction the sun is shining from. Be conscious of it and you can avoid dark faces when the sun is behind.

Coming up next, Can a picture with the statuesque Zoila go wrong?

#tvscapic

#barcelona #whotel #beach #mycenhotels #beachvolleyball #spain #equador

Critical Appreciation – 004

Critical Appreciation – 004

The final pic in the series of which are pics I already commented on Maria Bernadette’s Fb, is |this image of a “fire fighter”. She captioned it as “Fire as weapon” #martialarts #kerala

It reminds me of the fire dance in Hawaiii and other Polynesian or Caribbean countries and cultures. I think you did the right thing by not firing a flash. Many photographers attempt to capture the streaking and light trails of spinning arcs and sparks. It may take more than one viewing to make test shots and to figure which shutter speed works best or to predict the movement. Spinning fire is always dramatic when captured right. Maria’s original pic (lower pic) didn’t capture the motion or dynamism of the “fire fighter”
Remember to always respect or abide by the boundaries set by the performers for safety reasons

My original comment:
“Moving fire is an excellent chance to show dramatic streaking of light. Try a different shutter speed the next time”

I used Photoshop’s motion blur filter to add some trailing to suggest motion (top pic). I didn’t like seeing the static moment of a martial art fighter standing still. The opportunity is rare and I feel it was a missed opportunity. A new subject is always a learning process so better luck next time.

See series 2 and 3 on my Fb or IG.

#tvscapic

Fireworks Shooting Tips For 4th Of July

Happy 4th of July to my dear American friends. Here are some fireworks shooting tips for you. If you are taking a break, you can still find many hotels via MyCen Hotels at http://www.mycen.my/ Every American city and town is covered.

I am tagging Malaysian friends residing there too. Sorry if I miss out anyone inadvertently.

Share with a neighbor, classmate or colleague. Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day To The People Of USA.

Happy 4th of July to my many followers and friends from the land where Ikea is known as Eye-Kea :-). Hope you enjoy photographing the fireworks later tonight. Thought I’ll share with you some tips on shooting fireworks.

As beautiful as each burst is going to be, it is less meaningful if each is photographed in the sky by itself. When someone look at the pictures later, the fireworks could have been photographed in Dubai, London or Hong Kong. The black sky is the same anywhere in the world. Try to also frame some shots with a recognisable landmark where practical.

To do that, it means going out early, finding out where the cannons are erected and walking around to scout for a suitable vantage point. There are no short cuts. Good fireworks photography requires research, planning and legwork.

Where there are no landmarks, you may want to include the celebratory ambience such as the surrounding crowd. With moving humans you need to increase your shutter speed a bit. But doing that will also reduce the streak effects of the fireworks. The trick is finding an optimum balance for both the ground and sky action. Have fun!

Olympus OM-D, ISO 3200, f4, 1/40 sec.

Follow my Facebook Page and Instagram at: tvsmithmy

#fireworks #landmark #fourthofjuly #4thofjuly #usa #celebrations #photographytips #independenceday

Critical Appreciation – 001

Maria Bernadette (https://www.facebook.com/maria.bernadette.92) sent me this message;

“Hi Terrence, I hope this is not too much to ask for. I’ve uploaded some of my photos from Kochi and Munnar. Your comments will be much appreciated and please feel free to criticise as your comments would make me do better the next time”.

I am always hesitant to critic somebody’s work. When I was starting out I used to buy American and British photography magazines in which they had a column in where an expert or panel reviewed pics sent in by willing readers. The expert or panel will explain what he or she liked or didn’t and why. Also suggestions for improvements.

I felt I learned and benefited from it. With that in mind, I asked Maria if I can share the pics and my comments for the benefit of more people. She graciously agreed.

Send me a link or the pic if you wish to participate. It must be yours and not someone else’s. Don’t send a perfect pic just to show off. It is not a contest and done in fun.

Update: Found out the comment don’t show via Fb sharing,

So here it is: “I like that it isn’t overexposed adding to the air of mystery. Also the selective framing and cropping is clever in not revealing all. The trick with this scene is getting the exposure correct. Helps that the speed is slow enough to see the flames blown in the wind.”

#tvscapic

Gossip News: When Two Billionaires Wed

My mom said there was news all over the Chinese newspapers today about one of tycoon Vincent Tan’s daughters, Chryseis Tan, marrying one of Naza empire’s sons whom I believe is Faliq. He was seen together with her in her Instagram account previously. This proposal picture is her most recent post from Instagram @chrystan_x

Yes. Marry the girl whose eyes well up with tears and sniffs or sobs when you propose.

There is likelihood the local newspapers are generating news from social media posts, as always.

Fascinating to see the children of two big names from the local auto world wed. What do you think Paul Tan ?

I searched for the news in the English media and there was no trace except some nonsensical rants in Low Yat forum.

#localnews #gossip #proposal #vincenttan #naza #marriage