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Previously, Shamin went to a graduation ceremony in London and gave out tips on graduation photography. Today (31st October), one of LENSA co-founder, Rafie will be going to Nottingham for the 25th Malaysian Nottingham Games. It is an annual one-day sports event which all of the Malaysian societies from all the universities around the United Kingdom being invited.

Credit: cuteglassdecanter

Okay, enough promotion! Lol. Not let’s get back to our checklist – what you need to bring when you are attending such event.

What to bring

• Your SLR camera (duh!). If you have any extra camera, you can also bring it along but if it is too heavy. It would cost you some energy to carry around the extra load. What Rafie will bring is his Canon 400D DSLR, Ricoh 500 RF (film camera) and three rolls of unused film.
• Lens. Depending on what you are looking for. Any fast telephoto lens is an ideal but you know Rafie haven’t bought any of that. So he will be using the all time versatile lens, wide angle lens – SIGMA 18-200mm DC OS.
• Filter and Polarizer. If you fancy it.
• Extra battery and charger. Or you can bring one, and just wait for the right moment to press the shutter. Better than just random “crap” shots. Opsss… Harsh baby!
• Speed light. Oh, Rafie don’t fancy this thing. But it is good for indoor shots. But hang on, sometimes, the flash may disturb the players athletes (usually professionals).
• Bag. Just to keep everything organized. Rafie chooses to bring his messenger bag.

The night before

The night before today (we mean, last night). What you need to do is the Search and Rescue mission of your camera equipments. If the battery is low, charge it (that will includes you phone). Change the camera setting so that it would be ready by the time you need it. Here’s what Rafie anticipates for today’s event.

Before everything, might be not many will do it – check the weather forecast. If it is raining, you’re half screwed if you are not prepared for it. If you’re prepared, you’re about to look freaking cool that today with an umbrella and taking shots in the rain. Extra point if you can capture wonderful moment!

So, the forecast said, it is going to rain until midday. Fine then. Rafie’s ready for it – physically, mentally and emotionally.

Next, Rafie’s camera setting:

• Shooting mode: Aperture Priority (Shutter Priority on standby)
• ISO: 400
• White Balance: Cloudy (AWB on standby)
• Focus point: Manual – Center
• Metering: Partial
• Exposure: Zero (0)
• Shooting type: Continuous
• Picture style: Custom.
• Lens focusing mode: Auto Focus ON
• Lens optical stabiliser mode: ON

From above setting, we know that he is ready to take few shots once he arrived. He might be switching few things such as the shooting mode to (Shutter Priority) while capturing actions. Same goes to White Balance, because he fancy many stuff – experiment.

End results

Now, Rafie has anticipated pictures that he would like to capture during the events. But the setting isn’t right, he might need to re-think of the end results – outcome. But worse come to worse, he just taking crap picture like he used to do and try his luck!

Remember that there will be a lot of colours during the sports event and it will contribute towards the colour composition and harmony if you get it right.

Picture credit: robert.molinarius

Dress well

Shamin mentioned about dressing well could raise up your image. Indeed. Rafie will wear reasonable smart attire. It is not even raise his image as photographer but also enable him to socialise with people easily. Oh yes, he loves to smile like a Joker! Lol

Have fun!

Well, there will be a lot of people using DSLR and Rafie is not there to compete because he is just a noob. Alas, have fun is the best thing to do on such a day. Oh, if you meet him today. Don’t be shy to say “hye” : ) He won’t bite, we promise!

Related posts:

1. Camera Bag Checklist
2. Concert photography tips
3. Cardiff European Games
4. ISO for Dummies. Not!
5. Aperture Priority Mode-How it Works