Hi,
I am starting to move my blogs into my website and here is the link to read about my review and the reasons for picking the Sony RX100 over the Canon G16 as my side arm. Click Here.
Thank you for your support... and please start checking into my blog at www.brntpxl.com/blog for more updates in the future.
Thank you.
Akila.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
And... its here. www.brntpxl.com
The wait is over... and although it might need few tweaks, the basic website of Burnt Pixel Creations is complete and ready to go. Please do take a peak at the site (www.brntpxl.com) and let me know your thoughts. You can also use it to take a look at my work and if you like what you see... to buy prints ordered straight off from the site itself. The ones that you can buy include Landscape shots taken both in Canada and Sri Lanka + super close macro and wildlife work.
Thank you so much for all the support and feedback you have given me for over a year to make this a frequently visited blog close to 9000 page views and counting. Please do share my website with your friends and family. (Some shameless self promotion there) :)
Thank you.
Akila.
Thank you so much for all the support and feedback you have given me for over a year to make this a frequently visited blog close to 9000 page views and counting. Please do share my website with your friends and family. (Some shameless self promotion there) :)
Thank you.
Akila.
Monday, August 18, 2014
New website coming soon....
I have some great news to share with you all.... After waiting for a long time without making this move, I have finally decided to create a website for all aspects of my photography. The site is currently under construction and I will let you all know as soon as the work completes. As a result, you will see that I have renamed the blog to "Burnt Pixel Creations". However, I will continue to use and update this blog and a link will be provided from within the website as well.
Thank you.
Akila.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
First impression on Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 OS and Sigma 150-500 f/5-6.3 OS
I attended one of the photography events organized by Camera Canada in London. Many lens manufacturers including Canon, Nikon, Tamron and Sigma were there to let us use their lenses. Out of interest and the fact that the good lenses in the Canon stall was already on the field, I decided to try out some Sigma lenses (my friend Duane did the same for his Nikon camera body). I had time to try out two lenses during this event and thought to give you with the impression I had on those lenses. Its important to state right away that this was how they felt rather than how they performed in lab test :)
Sigma 70 - 200mm f/2.8 OS -
This was the first one I tried out. Right away, I noticed that the lens construction was really good and it balanced well with my Canon 70D body with the battery grip. The size seemed comparable with that of the Canon, although this lacked the polished while well known look of the Canon counterpart. However, the moment I started shooting with this lens, I felt in love with it. The bokeh was smooth and creamy. Auto focus was snappy and accurate... It was simply brilliant... And for half the price of the Canon model. However, I did notice that at f2.8, the pictures were a little soft (not noticeable). But once I stepped down to f/3.2, everything was crisp. At this price, this lens is surely in my wishlist... I would personally recommend this lens to people who otherwise would spend more than 2 times for a similar lens. Here is a shot I took with this lens.
Sigma 150 - 500mm f/5-6.3 OS -
After testing the portrait lens... I moved on to something geared towards wildlife. Right away, I felt the extra weight on this lens compared to the 70-200 one. I was however able to walk around and shoot with it without a tripod or a monopod... but either would have helped because I got fatigued fast. The lens had similar build characteristics to the other model.. maybe a tad softer feel. The zoom range is amazing for a wildlife shooter and the price was really reasonable It was on sale for $999 at the time I am writing this article. If you are someone who loved shooting birds and other animals in the wild... this is something you should seriously look into. The bokeh and the focus accuracy was nice. But the smaller apertures could at times cost you a little. The day I took it out was a very gloomy day.. so f/6.3 was hindering my ability to take some shots. The OS (Optical Stabilization) in both these lenses were amazing though. Here are some results taken with this lens.
I am interested to hear what you think about these lenses.. or answer any questions you have (I am not representing Sigma btw :D )
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
Sigma 70 - 200mm f/2.8 OS -
This was the first one I tried out. Right away, I noticed that the lens construction was really good and it balanced well with my Canon 70D body with the battery grip. The size seemed comparable with that of the Canon, although this lacked the polished while well known look of the Canon counterpart. However, the moment I started shooting with this lens, I felt in love with it. The bokeh was smooth and creamy. Auto focus was snappy and accurate... It was simply brilliant... And for half the price of the Canon model. However, I did notice that at f2.8, the pictures were a little soft (not noticeable). But once I stepped down to f/3.2, everything was crisp. At this price, this lens is surely in my wishlist... I would personally recommend this lens to people who otherwise would spend more than 2 times for a similar lens. Here is a shot I took with this lens.
Sigma 150 - 500mm f/5-6.3 OS -
After testing the portrait lens... I moved on to something geared towards wildlife. Right away, I felt the extra weight on this lens compared to the 70-200 one. I was however able to walk around and shoot with it without a tripod or a monopod... but either would have helped because I got fatigued fast. The lens had similar build characteristics to the other model.. maybe a tad softer feel. The zoom range is amazing for a wildlife shooter and the price was really reasonable It was on sale for $999 at the time I am writing this article. If you are someone who loved shooting birds and other animals in the wild... this is something you should seriously look into. The bokeh and the focus accuracy was nice. But the smaller apertures could at times cost you a little. The day I took it out was a very gloomy day.. so f/6.3 was hindering my ability to take some shots. The OS (Optical Stabilization) in both these lenses were amazing though. Here are some results taken with this lens.
I am interested to hear what you think about these lenses.. or answer any questions you have (I am not representing Sigma btw :D )
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Pointers for polishing up your images
With some of the readers asking about it, I thought it will be important to talk a little bit about what you should and shouldn't do when it comes to post processing. This article contains my personal point of view of the subject matter.
It is very common to see photographers jumping into image processing software packages to make their pictures stand out. However, its very common to see cases where they end up making it more uninteresting as a result. Polishing up images is an essential step in any workflow. But getting too much into packages like Photoshop at the beginning of your photography learning curve could hinder your skills as a photographer as a bi-product. So, here are some things I believe everyone should do...
1. Get it right in the camera - The camera do have limitations compared to the human eye... Therefore, may not be able to reproduce the same scene you experience. But as a photographer we should all try to optimize what we could get out of the camera. For post processing, this is going to help a lot. Furthermore, you will start to learn your gear better by trying this. I know that there are some who claim to be able to correct for any mistake in Photoshop... But you have to ask yourself where you wanna spend more time... Behind a camera? or behind a computer?
2. Take a break when editing - This is an extremely important step many tend to ignore. Human eye gets used to color saturation fast and you might find yourself repeatedly increasing the saturation to satisfy your eye. In the end, you unknowingly end up with a picture with unrealistic saturation levels which you never saw in the actual scene.
There are many software packages and many ways to accomplish the edits you want... But I thought it is important to point out few mistakes you see in edited images (more like distracting qualities than mistakes).
1. Heavy Vignette - The amount of vignette is something that is very subjective. I have seen pictures where a heavy vignette works really well. But for most images, if its needed, its in small amounts. So, putting a heavy vignette to every picture doesn't make it interesting.
2. Too much sharpening - This is another problem in some photographs which I have come across in the recent years. Although sharpening is often a requirement in photograph post processing, too much of it could create weird effects on the image making it unrealistic.
3. HDR to make it interesting - Adding an HDR effect most of the time can reduce the value of your picture. You need to understand when to use HDR and how to use it properly to get the best out of it. Read the following article which explains this more - http://akilamikephotography.blogspot.ca/2013/09/hdr-and-landscapes-trying-to-keep-it.html
Please do let me know your thoughts on this article. It was purely meant to help all beginners by avoiding them from getting to the pitfalls most of us climbed out of.
Akila.
It is very common to see photographers jumping into image processing software packages to make their pictures stand out. However, its very common to see cases where they end up making it more uninteresting as a result. Polishing up images is an essential step in any workflow. But getting too much into packages like Photoshop at the beginning of your photography learning curve could hinder your skills as a photographer as a bi-product. So, here are some things I believe everyone should do...
1. Get it right in the camera - The camera do have limitations compared to the human eye... Therefore, may not be able to reproduce the same scene you experience. But as a photographer we should all try to optimize what we could get out of the camera. For post processing, this is going to help a lot. Furthermore, you will start to learn your gear better by trying this. I know that there are some who claim to be able to correct for any mistake in Photoshop... But you have to ask yourself where you wanna spend more time... Behind a camera? or behind a computer?
2. Take a break when editing - This is an extremely important step many tend to ignore. Human eye gets used to color saturation fast and you might find yourself repeatedly increasing the saturation to satisfy your eye. In the end, you unknowingly end up with a picture with unrealistic saturation levels which you never saw in the actual scene.
There are many software packages and many ways to accomplish the edits you want... But I thought it is important to point out few mistakes you see in edited images (more like distracting qualities than mistakes).
1. Heavy Vignette - The amount of vignette is something that is very subjective. I have seen pictures where a heavy vignette works really well. But for most images, if its needed, its in small amounts. So, putting a heavy vignette to every picture doesn't make it interesting.
2. Too much sharpening - This is another problem in some photographs which I have come across in the recent years. Although sharpening is often a requirement in photograph post processing, too much of it could create weird effects on the image making it unrealistic.
3. HDR to make it interesting - Adding an HDR effect most of the time can reduce the value of your picture. You need to understand when to use HDR and how to use it properly to get the best out of it. Read the following article which explains this more - http://akilamikephotography.blogspot.ca/2013/09/hdr-and-landscapes-trying-to-keep-it.html
Please do let me know your thoughts on this article. It was purely meant to help all beginners by avoiding them from getting to the pitfalls most of us climbed out of.
Akila.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Shooting the 5k Foam Fest....
So, got up on a Saturday morning to go shoot pics of the Foam Fest in London. The weather was gloomy, but the mood at the event was amazing....Hundreds of people were already in line to register for this fun filled event by the time I got there. Since I expected to walk around a bit... the lens choices were reduced to 2. I took my Sigma 24-105mm f/4 lens and the Sigma 10-20mm lens with me.
After shooting some shots of people waiting to start the race, I decided to take the long way around and follow the 5km track so that I will come across all the obstacles. Half way into this long (long long....) walk, it started raining as well and the $4 rain sleeve I got from Henrys ended up saving me 1000s of dollars worth in lens and camera gear from the elements.
Though I felt exhausted after following the race track... it was an amazing experience... and this gave me the chance to capture some of the most unique expressions of joy I have ever recorded. I must say that I ended up using the 24-105 lens almost all the time except in the last mud pit where the extra wide angle gave a unique perspective of people trying to climb out of the mud.
Here are some of the results.
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
After shooting some shots of people waiting to start the race, I decided to take the long way around and follow the 5km track so that I will come across all the obstacles. Half way into this long (long long....) walk, it started raining as well and the $4 rain sleeve I got from Henrys ended up saving me 1000s of dollars worth in lens and camera gear from the elements.
Though I felt exhausted after following the race track... it was an amazing experience... and this gave me the chance to capture some of the most unique expressions of joy I have ever recorded. I must say that I ended up using the 24-105 lens almost all the time except in the last mud pit where the extra wide angle gave a unique perspective of people trying to climb out of the mud.
Here are some of the results.
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
A macro shoot after a long time
It is sad to be a macro lover in Canada! Specially with the long brutal winter we had, insect activities are only available for a very limited period of time before everything freezes over. So, couple of weeks ago, I decided to go out and find some bugs. Unfortunately, there wasn't much activities in my usual area due to the use of pesticides. I specially wanted to see if I have lost my touch with macro work (which I have) and also try some light modifiers on the location.
Here are some of the results. They might not be the most interesting bugs/shots. But will have to do with them for now :)
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
Here are some of the results. They might not be the most interesting bugs/shots. But will have to do with them for now :)
Please consider that all copyrights are reserved for all material on this blog and cannot be reproduced or published without a written consent from the author.
Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/91953384@N02/
Thank you.
Akila.
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