For those who haven’t been following our updates, your iPhone 5, 4^th generation iPad and iPad mini are now supported by Maxis LTE. This means you can enjoy internet speeds of up to 75Mbps (typical average speeds of 10Mbps to 30Mbps) right on your mobile.

To receive that update (if you haven’t already done so when the update was released earlier this morning), make sure you are running on the latest iOS version – iOS 6.1.3. To update, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Once done, go to Settings > General > About and you should be prompted for a Carrier Settings Update; update it and ensure that the Carrier is Maxis 14.1 before rebooting the device.

One done, you can turn on/off your LTE at Settings > General > Cellular.

For those using Maxis iPhone 5, 4^th Generation iPad or iPad mini, have fun with your newfound speed; just make sure you’re within the coverage area.

More information about Maxis 4G LTE available in this link.

(Source: Maxis)

To those of you who are somehow celebrating 12/12/12, we’ve brought back our Wednesday photography features with 12 simple ways to improve your photography! Whether you are a seasoned shooter or an aspiring beginner, there may be something in these tips that you can use to improve your pictures or even just your photography experience as a whole. Take these tips with a pinch or 2 of salt, don’t try to apply all of these at once and you will see results in no time! So without further ado, here we go!

1) Frame in your mind, not in your viewfinder

It’s too easy to be constrained by the small box which you are looking though in order to compose your photo. Those framelines will never fully capture what you envision, or even what’s happening around the scene. It’s always great to be able to know what you want and then only translate it to your viewfinder. Sometimes it may be hard, but also open your other eye to see what’s happening around you, you never know, it may result in one hell of a picture.

We’ve all been there. Aperture and shutter speed set perfectly according to the meter, exposure on the dot and subject looking great, but when you go to review your picture, it’s strangely awash in a sea of orange. Alternatively, your photo is so dull, it looks like none of the colors even resemble what is actually in front of you. Sometimes the color cast is not super obvious but there nonetheless and this phenomenon is due to the White Balance on your image going awry, giving your picture the wrong color temperature.

This week we look at how to correct the color in your pictures using White Balance and color temperatures on your camera. We look at what White Balance is, how to use presets and creative uses of white balance in your photos.

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Part 1: ISO & Aperture
Part 2: Shutter Speed & Summary

For the last 2 weeks, we’ve been looking at how the 3 points of the exposure triangle relate to each other and create a good exposure. You should now be able to grasp fully the impact of each of the elements on the overall exposure of the image, if not, hit up the links above and read through them again. Now we are ready to put all these in practice with your brand spanking new DSLR, but where do you start? Isn’t that green box easier? I’m taking portraits, so wouldn’t the portrait mode preset be better?

This week we go through the different “Manual Modes” that a DSLR has to get you better acquainted with shooting. We will wean you off the dreaded Green Box and Presets to be able to mould and control exposure as you see fit. So if you’re ready, hit up the jump to continue!

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Read Part 1: Aperture & ISO Here

Last time we looked at the first 2 prongs of the exposure triangle, Aperture and ISO. This week we’re going to tie it all together and talk about the last point, Shutter Speed and how everything relates to each other. Before you go any further, I suggest you read the first part in the link above lest you be confused. Again, this series of guides is for the absolute beginner and if you know all of these already, share the link with someone who doesn’t! =)

Shutter Speed

The third point to the Exposure Triangle is a thing we call shutter speed. Shutter speed is measured in seconds, going anywhere from 1/8000ths of a second to a full 30 seconds. Shutter speed is the indication of how long the camera shutter opens and exposes the sensor to light. Shutter speed can be compared to a pair of curtains on a window. The shutter speed is an indication of how long the curtains stay open before they shut again. Granted it would be hard to open the curtains for only 1/500ths of a second, but you get the idea.

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For our photography related feature this week, we go way back to basics for everyone who has always wanted to get into photography but didn’t know how. In the first part, we will be looking into a basic, yet very important concept in photography: The relationship between Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO or the Exposure Triangle.

This concept will be employed in whatever form of photography you choose to pursue and should be second nature to you with time. The clearer you understand how the exposure triangle affects your images, the easier things will be for you down the road.

If you’re a grizzled veteran, this post is probably not for you, but for the rest of you who are new to the camera, or have yet to pick one up, I hope this post will help you on the first steps of your photographic journey.

This week, we look at what is the exposure triangle and what are ISO and Aperture.

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So, you’ve probably got all your chemicals and equipment, shot a roll of black and white and can’t wait to dive right into your first time developing your own black & white film at home. This week, we’ll learn the things you need to know on how to cook up your own working solution, right up to the steps you need to do to develop your film, right up to how to dry it properly for scanning.

The beauty of home developing black and white film and the big reason why you do it is that every film emulsion and developer has a different timing to get what you want. The best thing is that at this stage, you can “push or pull” your film too, meaning that you can either over develop or under develop your film, leading to a a stop or so brighter or darker exposures throughout the roll. It is this high customizability and control you have over your film that draws film photographers to self developing rather than a bog standard lab processing.

For the purpose of this article we’ll be using the example of a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 shot at 400ISO, using Kodak HC-110 as a developer.

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