But one problem with blogging on the iPad is the uploading of photos. The official Wordpress app is disappointing to say the least, I much prefer the original web interface. But yet the web interface does not allow photo uploads. Fortunately, I figured out a way to painlessly upload photos and still stick to the original Wordpress web interface.

Things you need:

• A FTP client for iPad. (e.g. FTP On The Go Pro)
• Add-from-server Wordpress plugin

Step 1

While you have your computer with you, install the Add-from-server plugin on your Wordpress blog. What the plugin does is it attaches any photos you uploaded via FTP to specific posts. This is one of the main reason the official Wordpress app doesn’t work for me, as photo uploads are not attached to the post. I make use of it to automatically display photos such as the one above this post.

Step 2

Install your favorite FTP client on your iPad. At the time of this writing, only FTP On The Go Pro is available for iPad, but it is also one of the best FTP app among the iPhone ones. Get it installed, and make sure you can connect to your server.

Step 3

Now you are ready to blog on the go with your iPad! Draft up your post as you would on your computer via Safari, and when you are ready to upload a photo, save your post and fire up your FTP app.

The beauty of FTP On The Go Pro is that it has a built-in browser which can be used to download photos. Unless you need to do editing on the photos, this allows you to use just one app to download and upload the photos directly to your server.

Upload the photos to /wp-content/ on your server. When you are done, switch back to Safari.

Step 4

Go back to your Wordpress post and click on the Media Manager button beside “Upload/Insert”. Since you’ve installed Add-from-server, you should see a new link. Click on that and you are now presented with a FTP-like view of the photos you uploaded earlier. Select the photos and click Import. When the import is done, simply close and reopen Media Manager, and you should now see a new tab named Gallery. Since you are already a Wordpress user, I’m sure you know what to do next to insert the photos into your post.

Conclusion

And there you have it, a rather painless way to upload photos to your Wordpress blog that behaves just like a regular photo upload from your computer. Now that your photos are imported, you can also log in to your FTP server again to delete the photos from /wp-content/ to save some diskspace.

The iPad is no substitute to a laptop for fast and efficient work, but this is just to show you that it is quite possible to get things done too on an iPad. And yes, this entire post is written on my iPad.

Setting things in motion

Shutter speed is commonly used for creating motion. By using a slower shutter speed, movements of your subject will show up as a blur, depicting motion. Incorporating motion can add variety to your pictures and helps tell a better story, especially for things like sports where the movement and energy are what it is all about.

© John Steven Fernandez

In the above photo, the motion is done using a technique called panning. It is done by using a slower shutter speed, and tracking the subject along its path of motion. The result is a nice motion blur of the background, while the subject remains relatively sharp. In this case, you can see motion in the wheels as well. This is an excellent example of how motion can create a stronger image.

Imagine the same car shot with a fast shutter speed. The background would be frozen in place, and the wheels would be stationary. Wouldn’t it look like a parked car?

Stopping time

The opposite works too. By using a faster shutter speed to freeze your subject, you can do creative stuffs like making people float or capturing fast-moving objects like water splashes; Stuffs that are normally too fast for human eyes to see clearly.

Zoom burst

This effect is done by using a slow shutter speed, then zooming the lens while the shutter is open. This is best done with a zoom lens that has a manual zoom ring. The result is blurred streaks emanating from the center of the photo.

© josh.liba

Experiment!

Different subjects move at different speed, so there are no fixed shutter speeds for achieving the above effects. As a guideline, 1/30 is good for panning shots of subjects moving slower than 30 miles per hour (48km/h), 1/60 is good for panning shots of faster subjects, and high speeds like 1/4000 is good for freezing fast subjects like water splashes. Keep experimenting!

To understand depth of field, you need to understand that lenses can focus at only one distance. It could be anywhere between its nearest focusing distance and infinity. The distance that a lens is focused at, is where objects will appear the sharpest. And objects in front or behind that focused distance will gradually become more fuzzy or blurry as their fore/aft distance increases.

The above photo is a good illustration of depth of field. The lens was focused on the part of the barbwire that is in sharp focus, and everything else in front or behind are turned into a nice creamy blur.

Hence, you pick the appropriate depth of field depending on your needs. And you do that by setting an appropriate aperture setting. To get less depth of field, you use a lower f-stop (e.g. f1.8, f2.8), and to get more depth of field, you simply use a higher f-stop (e.g. f8, f11).

When do you want large depth of field?

• When you are shooting stuffs like landscape or architecture, where you want everything in the picture to be in focus.
• When taking group photos. You want enough depth of field to have everyone’s face in focus, especially when you have more than one row of people.

When do you want less depth of field?

• When taking portrait shots, and you want to turn the background into a nice creamy blur.
• When you want to emphasize an object in a photo, by making everything else less focused.

I’ve set the aperture to the smallest number. But I still can’t get that much of a blur.

Different lenses have different aperture range. Some can go as low as f1.2, while others can only reach f4. That is why some of the professional lenses are so expensive. Not only do they contain quality glasses, they allow you to use very low aperture numbers. But of course, there are inexpensive alternatives such as the Nikon or Canon 50mm f1.8 lenses, or f2.8 lenses from Tamron, Sigma and Tokina.

Also, the distance between you and your focused distance plays a part too. At the exact same aperture setting and zoom/focal length, the closer you move in to your subject the lesser depth of field. Of course, this changes your photo’s composition. But it is an important knowledge for times when you are very close to your subject (like a close-up headshot), and you are wondering why only certain parts of the face is in focus, while there is no focus issue when you take a half-body shot.

The simple practical approach

Too much mambo jambo to remember? In the world of digital photography, there’s really no need to memorize all these technical stuffs. Just go out and shoot, and play with the aperture setting to achieve your desired depth of field. Move closer or further from your subject and see how it works out. Nothing beats learning by hands-on. Very soon, you’ll get the hang of it.

Happy shooting!

How cameras record an image

In layman terms (I try as much as possible to use non-technical terms to explain stuffs on this blog), cameras take photos by capturing light onto their sensors. Normally, light don’t reach the sensor until you depress the shutter release. As you depress the shutter release, the “door”, that is the shutter, opens up. And there is light!

Simple? You bet. But what controls the amount of light reaching the sensor before the shutter closes again? They are none other than the big three, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Understanding how they control the amount of light is the key to mastering exposure.

Aperture is located in the camera lens and is simply an opening that determines how much light passes through the lens. Making it bigger naturally lets more light in, and smaller means less light. But the numbering system used can be confusing, the smaller the number, the bigger the opening.

Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter opens up before closing again. In typical conditions, the speed is in fractions of a second. Hence, you usually see figures like 1/80 or 1/200 on your camera.

ISO is the sensitivity of your sensor. The higher you set it, the more sensitivity your sensor is to light, but at the expense of visible “noise” on your resulting image.

Taking a photo is very much like suntanning

You must be wondering why there’s a photo of this hot pair of legs up there. I’m going to use my favorite analogy to explain aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Suntanning.

Suntanning is really very much like taking a photo. You don’t want to get sunburnt, and neither do you want to waste your time not getting any tan. It has to be just nice. Like a photo, more often than not, you want the exposure to be just nice. Now, imagine ISO as the sensitivity of your body to tanning. That is, if you are someone who doesn’t tan easily, you have low ISO. And imagine aperture as the SPF of your favorite sunscreen lotion (my favorite is Banana Boat). The lower the SPF, the faster you will risk getting sunburn. Lastly, imagine shutter speed as simply the amount of time you spend basking under the sun.

So, to get perfect exposure is simply a matter of adjusting your ISO (skin’s sensitivity, which is unfortunately not adjustable) to an appropriate setting, choosing a reasonable aperture (lotion’s SPF), and picking the correct shutter speed (amount of time in the sun).

There are various other ways to explain, but I find suntanning the most helpful. Many people gets confused by the aperture numbering system, so with the suntan analogy, just remember that the number can be liken to the sunscreen’s SPF. That is, the higher the number, the less light will reach your camera’s sensor.

Go ahead, experiment!

Other than just exposure, each of the three settings have its own unique impact to other aspects of the resulting picture. They can open up various creative opportunities and we will discuss about them in another post very soon. But right now, go out and shoot! With digital technology, there’s really no harm in experimenting. Armed with your new knowledge, go out and snap away.

For those of you who are already masters of exposure, do share with us your tips and tricks to exposure in the comment box below.