Katin Images Travel Photography

Travel Photos, Travel Photography Tips and Software

Category: china

  • The A-Z of places: China

    China would have to be one of the most fascinating countries I have visited. It has some of the top attractions and sights in the world and some of the oldest. It has culture, philosophy  a burgeoning middle class and abject poverty. From natural sights like Tiger leaping gorge to the history of the great wall and then the monolithic skyscrapers of Shanghai – it has it all! Or does it?

    Hall of Prayer for good Harvests

    Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is part of the temple of Heaven, a complex of religious buildings in Beijing, china
    Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is part of the temple of Heaven, a complex of religious buildings in Beijing, china

    Roof tops

    Roof tops in the old city of Lijang, china
    Roof tops in the old city of Lijang, china

    Noodle maker

    Noodle maker at a small restaurant in the Flowers and Birds Market on Jingxing Street in Kunming capital of the Yunnan province of China.
    Noodle maker at a small restaurant in the Flowers and Birds Market on Jingxing Street in Kunming capital of the Yunnan province of China.

    Man in a suit

    Well dressed man watching Tai Chi in Kunming's main square.
    Well dressed man watching Tai Chi in Kunming’s main square.

  • Photo tip no 8 – RAW V JPG part 1

    This is a HUGE topic that will be difficult to do justice to but if the question is why? Then here’s a brief answer. I might add that this question (at the moment anyway) only applies to higher end compacts, micro four/thirds and DSLR cameras. If you are using a smartphone or a compact that doesn’t give you the option of shooting in raw, then jpeg it is then. So firstly why raw? Raw is digital negative that retains all the information that the camera sensor can see but needs post processing to get the best out of it. So if you want a outstanding image and are prepared to put in the time in front of a computer to get it then shoot raw. Secondly why jpeg? This depends on what you will be doing it with it. If you are sharing on social media or via email just among friends or they are happy snaps which display memories rather than artistic merit, then jpeg is fine. Bear in mind that even if you shoot in raw you need to convert to jpeg to show or share as raw files can only be read by a small number of programs and the file sizes are pretty big. A final tip on that would be to shoot (if available on your camera) raw + jpeg so you can ‘publish’ the jpeg immediately and fine-tune the raw image later. Happy snapping!

    Man in a Zhongshan or Mao suit posing in the village Xizhou near Dali in the Yunnan province of China
    Man in a Zhongshan or Mao suit posing in the village Xizhou near Dali in the Yunnan province of China

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  • Photo tip no 5 – revision

    So lets just recap on the first 4 tips: No 1. To grab a shot at any time keep your camera ON which, depending on what camera you are using, requires you to look at the camera manual.
    No 2. Turn off your flash! Again to do this check out your camera manual
    No 3. Set your camera to auto ISO and don’t be afraid to turn your ISO up even higher. Just make sure you’ve taken a few images at various settings to see how your model performs at high ISO’s
    No 4. Avoid Camera shake by using the viewfinder if fitted or if not, by tucking those arms in. Tip no 6 next week.

    Two boy monks playing In Zhongdian's Songzanlin Monastery near the border of Tibet and China ©2013 Nick Katin
    Two boy monks playing In Zhongdian’s Songzanlin Monastery near the border of Tibet and China ©2013 Nick Katin

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  • scatter guns

    i was at a dinner the other night and got talking to a couple of guys who had recently been travelling with their wives both of which (their wives that is) were keen photographers. they both said that there wives took literally ‘000’s of images. one actually has her camera set on auto bracketing and took 100,000 on a 5 month outback road trip. how much i thought! i wouldn’t shoot anywere near that amount in that time span.
    like most ex film photographers i still believe in the philosophy of trying to make every shot count. apart from my strong believe that i get much better images by taking less, i also hate to spend any more time in front of a computer (doing what is now image development) than i need to. i’ve heard similiar tales around the photographic community and i guess you need to see the best images from this scatter gun approach to make a conslusive comment. the image below is a scanned slide and I probably only took about half a roll of film (18) on this subject matter

    Three Tibetan ladies dancing