Taking wild Hong Kong photos

Hong Kong Photography Tips

Hong Kong's outdoors offers a wealth of subjects to shoot - from hills and islands, tthrough cityscapes and villages, to waterfalls and wildlife.

There are wonderful landscapes; yet for much of the year, pollution sullies the views. Summer, when winds tend to blow from the South China Sea, is the best season for landscape photography; it also helps that there is more rainfall, so grassy hillsides are greener. BUT it is hot and humid, so walking around taking photos at this time can be tough, and you need to take care to avoid heatstroke.

Don't be a Slave to Your Camera!

The automatic features typical of cameras today have helped make the technical aspects of photography relatively easy. But it's not enough to rely on automation; to ensure your camera delivers the best photos, you should know how to both use and over-ride the automatic features.

If you're to make really good photos, photography is not a technical subject. Here, I only briefly cover the technical aspects, and equipment; instead, the photo tips emphasise techniques for creating good, even outstanding images.

Creating a good image depends partly on photographing the subject, with few or no extras. Composition is important: for instance, it's rarely best to place the main subject in the centre of a photo. Also consider aspects such as colours, textures, patterns. Ideally, a photograph will be a dynamic image.

It's important to look at work by good and great photographers. And look around all the time; look for photo possibilities, notice times when the light seems just right for making photos.

If it's worth taking one picture, it's worth taking two, or even three, or thirty or more.

Camera Essential; Tripod Helpful

You need a camera of course, and these days that likely means a digital camera.
Don't feel obliged to get one of the relatively bulky DSLR cameras; it's important to have a camera you are happy carrying around with you - which could mean a compact camera that slips into a pocket, and is no inconvenience if you go hiking.

Nor should you worry to much about number of megapixels.
Nowadays, quality of the pixels is more important - such as the dynamic range they can record (to span a wide range of tones, on images with high contrast).
Generally, larger sensors on digital cameras deliver better images, yet these difference might not be too evident on images viewed on the web or for small prints. So unless you aim for large prints, you can save money, and weight, without significantly compromising image quality.

Even if you want a somewhat larger sensor, you don't have to buy a DSLR. New mirrorless cameras, such as in the micro four thirds system, are relatively small yet deliver excellent results. I'm currently using an Olympus Pen E-PL1, which is great for carrying on hikes etc.

Most cameras come with a lens, often a zoom lens that covers a range of focal lengths suiting typical photography. Interchangeable lenses allow the opportunity to buy additional lenses, such as super telephotos for photographing birds.

A tripod can be very useful, such as in low light, or for macro (close up) and telephoto photography. But again, it's best to buy one that you will actually carry on occasions it may be useful.

Polarising Filter

There are various filters you can buy. Basic skylight/UV type are good for protecting the front of the lens, and for reducing haze a little.

The best filter, to me, is polarising: especially for landscapes, when these filters reduce polarised light scattered in the air - making blue skies more intense, with more contrast vs clouds, and reducing light scattered from surfaces like leaves, which can also intensify the green of vegetation. Plus, can make water look better, with better visibility from surface into what lies or swims beneath.

Basics of Photography

Photography involves exposure - which results form the combination of f-stop (aperture in lens) and shutter speed. But "correct" exposure can be subjective.

Though auto exposure can often deliver very good exposure, it is best to learn how to override the auto exposure. For instance, you may need to increase exposure when an image is mainly of whiter shades, which the camera might otherwise render as duller, greyish.

I under-exposed the following image, so the boulders became dark, but the clouds and see through the "window" were correctly exposed. 

Depth of field is important too - relates to how much of an image is sharp in front of and behind the focal point. A very wide depth of field can be good for, say, landscapes; while a narrow depth of field can highlight the main subject, as the rest of image is somewhat blurry. Yet, with smaller sensors, there is not so much scope for "playing" with depth of field, as it tends to be very wide - for some people, an important benefit of larger sensors is that they allow narrower depth of field, boosting creativie possibilities.

You might also select short or long exposures worth considering. Short exposures can freeze movement.
With long exposures, movement becomes evident as at least part of images blur. Sometimes, this is effective, such as with water plunging down a cascade.

Composition

Whenever you take a photo, you are "editing" part of the world into a rectangular or maybe square image. Even with a wide angle lens that has something approaching the angle of view that you have, the resulting image is not just what you can see - including as it is enclosed by four straight sides.

It is useful to know of the Rule of Thirds and other "formulae" for arranging subject matter within frames.
Using the Rule of Thirds means to position major parts of photo a third of the way from one or more edges: the horizon might be a third from top or bottom; something that's relatively small but will be eye-catching could be a third of the way up and a third of the way from one side.
There are various other such "rules".

Compositions can also vary using wide angle and telephoto lenses (and zooms).

With wide angle lenses, there are chances to "create" lines etc within images; and there can be a sense of expansiveness. Plus, it can seem that objects recede into the distance.
These lenses also enable possibility of using very wide depth of field, so subjects near and far are in focus.

Telephoto lenses instead tend to focus in on subjects, and flatten perspective.