July. The so called ‘Holiday season’! Where do you want to go for vacation? When you return from vacation to your ordinary life, the flood of fatigue and work wait us. It is only time that can console us. Well, at least for Ca’em. Hehe. Vacation season! You will probably clicking away madly with your camera under the burning sun, but you always get disappointed if the results are not that satisfactory.
In fact, the scorching sunlight is not a welcomed guest for photo shooting. Then, what about a gray sky in a rainy day? Not a welcomed guest neither for vacation nor for outdoor shooting. This week, Ca’em plans to share tips on how to effectively take photos in extreme conditions. Let’s take a shot at clear and crisp photos that you can successfully take even when you don’t have an expensive DSLR. Pictures so cool that appear ready to freeze your eyes regardless of the camera. Let’s take a look at example pictures and a few tips on how to take clear pictures.
If you want clear pictures, you first need a clear and bright sky. Even with divine skills and perfect knowledge, if you are not lucky with the weather, you cannot get a nice picture. A blue sky is a good example of a clear landscape that you can easily find around you. The earth is hot due to the hot summer sun but the blue sky is ever bluer. In terms of the season, the sky is bluer in the dry autumn and winter, when the air carries less impurity compared to spring and summer. However, it is still boring to capture the blue sky alone. You have to have at least a good few white pieces of cloud to make it more interesting. A summer sky cleared up after the rain is indeed a gift from nature.
I have tatken those pictures when I’ve been Tokyo. See?? You must know that the important of weather.
Secondly, it is important to make it a habit to check the weather when you plan to take pictures. You can easily go online to check weather information real-time. You can obtain basic information such as the time of sun rise, sunset, as well as visibility and ceiling. You can check the ceiling info on Yahoo weather or
The weather networks.
Lastly, set exposure to under and use saturation for more vivid blue color. Set the exposure 1 or 2 levels lower than the appropriate exposure. In other words, setting the mode a little darker as if lacking some exposure, produces good output. In general, objects are expressed darker when the exposure is a little insufficient. Considering that overexposure obscures the original color and whitens the picture, it is not difficult to understand that under exposure adds depth to the color.
As an exercise, Ca’em set the image size to 7M(3648*2056) and tried saturation and contrast to avoid overexposure from the strong sun reflection and to highlight the achromatic color object. The image size made the photo appear much fuller, quite different from what you get from full image size. Something like a full picture, closer to the object or capturing only the gist of a remote landscape. Sometimes, slimming down the photo is a good way to produce good outcome.
WB500(HZ10W) F7.5 l 1/125s l ISO200 l 0.00EV l saturation High
WB500, which supports 10.2 mega pixels, is a good choice to express the inherent colors of objects. However, quality pictures require some busy ass moving. Depending on the weather, the camera should be set up accordingly. Because WB500 supports wide angle lens, it has a dark lens. To complement this, adjust the saturation value under “effect” depending on the object. Set the exposure value to 0.0 under Program AE and adjust saturation value to High/Medium/Normal at effect. The outcome has been quite effective in conveying the original color of the object. Hmmmm.. is it because the object is yellow and green? The color constract is breathtaking. :)
WB500(HZ10W) F3.3 l 1/90s l ISO200 l 0.00EV l 4.3mm l saturation High
!!! One watch-out before going further! Serious underexposure risks making the object appear dark. Set the exposure to ‘under’ depending on the feel you want to get across or the surrounding environment, but still within the range of appropriate exposure. Meanwhile, you can also play around with the “auto bracketing”, which takes photos under the three settings of underexposure, appropriate and overexposure, and
HDR (#Post13) that combines these three photos, so don’t be hesitant to try various exposures! However, I recommend using a tripod for AEB because it takes long time to store and hand shake is likely to occur…
!!! The pictures below are all shots using underexposure and saturation high. The wart dancing elegantly on the flower petal, a ship floating on a calm river.. These are all scenes you cannot see in the city. Vacation - a sweet escape from the busy reality. If you have yet to decide your vacation destination, a place with open skies would be nice. I truly recommend it to people looking for beautiful landscape and vivid pleasant memories in this hot hot summer. Before you depart, though, check your batteries and don’t forget to bring drinking water and a towel to block the sun! That’s it for today.
“ Same, same but different “
WB500(HZ10W) F3.3 l 1/6s l ISO200 l 0.00EV l 4.3mm l saturation High 
DSLR F5.3 l 1/25s l ISO200 l 2.3EV l 46.0mm l contrast High 
(Left)WB500(HZ10W) F7.5 l 1/175s l ISO100 l 0.00EV l 4.3mm l saturation +1
(Right)WB500(HZ10W) F7.5 l 1/175s l ISO100 l 0.00EV l 4.3mm l contrast -1
WB500(HZ10W) F7.5 l 1/180s l ISO200 l 1.0EV l 4.3mm l saturation High 
WB500(HZ10W) F9.3 l 1/1500s l ISO400 l -1.0EV l 7.6mm l saturation High 
WB500(HZ10W) F7.5 l 1/1500s l ISO400 l -1.0EV l 4.3mm l saturation High
“ Road to the SKY “
All photos, above, may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed, cropped, re sized, or otherwise altered without the written permission of the contributor. All photos represent the sole opinion of their individual authors and contributors and don’t express the opinion of Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd., Samsungimaging.net or the opinion of any affiliates unless specifically marked as such.
All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung WB500(HZ10W)
