Afternoon. But by the time this goes out, it could be evening or morning. We’ll see. All’s well in the European front as I’m on my way to shoot some football in Manchester. That’s Manchester in England and not the fake one in New Hampshire. I’m also now toying with the idea of getting a GoPro so that I can get some weird angles and hangout with all the cool extreme sports photographers.

This week’s sweet tip is exactly that. Trying to get your low angle shots lined up whilst not looking through your view finder. This is assuming you have no space to lie down. Because if you have the space, you better have some dirt on your tummy.

What I used to do is to put the camera as low as possible (aka on the ground) and point the lens towards the direction I want and fire away. But unfortunately, this is not the most reliable way to shoot as you have no idea EXACTLY what and where you are shooting. I’d shoot couple of frames, check the images, try different angles and settings, check the images, prefocus, check the images, and repeat until my OCD got tired. When the moment came to shoot, I just hoped and hoped and hoped.

With the arrival of D4, everything changed for the good. I suddenly realised that with this this live view thing, I can now see what my camera is seeing on the LCD. Wow. A twist of the dial and a push of a button. I have to admit that it was a technological breakthrough in my life (I’m fully aware of the fact that a Somy camera made in Tajikistan for 50 Indonesian Rupiahs also has an active LCD just like the one on D4). Welcome to the world where pro gear doesn’t get all the useful stuff.

I don’t know which of the DSLRs out there have a live view mode. But I’m assuming I’m talking to the majority and not the minority. Therefore if you’ve been dying to shoot that low angle shot in a cramped place and was having trouble getting shots, you now just have to push a button. Maybe turn a dial. By the way, in the D4, the live view mode only lets you shoot in AF-S and it doesn’t do the usual FPS.

But hey, life could be worse.

Ryu

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