At the start of my photography career, a good friend asked me “What do I want to do with my photography?”. A valid question and a loaded one too. What is it that motivates me? What gives me direction? My answer to him that time was I wanted to use photography to impact society. It sounded lofty at that time, like wishing for world peace, but it was something I truly believed in. Continue reading 'What do you want to do with your photography?'»

This article supplements the one I wrote earlier on shooting products at home. If you try shooting products on a white background, you’ll often encounter the problem of having the background not-so white afterall. Of course, you can turn up the power of your flash or lamp but you may end up overexposing your product. So how do you get the perfect white without introducing more light? Here’re the steps I use frequently for a location shoot when sometimes I don’t have the luxury of having all my studio equipment with me. The basic idea is to highlight the areas around the product and turn that to pure white using curves (you can also use level but I just prefer curves). Continue reading 'Shooting Products at Home: Getting the white background'»

Your creative mind needs to be exercised regularly and one way to do it is to do things differently. Here are some of the things I always do.

1. Search the web for good blogs and photographers’ sites. Share with your friends a link or blog that attracts your attention and get some links from them too.

2. Visit exhibitions on anything visual like photography, art, design, etc.

3. Read magazines and photography books beyond the basic instructional ones. Fill up your creative well. Continue reading 'Developing your creativity'»

Images will only be posted on this blog after the airing of the episode in August.

I’ve never shot butterflies before. But after a short visit to Hort Park’s Butterfly Garden, I can see why they’re favourite subjects. I whipped out the macro lens and was quite pleased overall at my first attempt. We were warned to watch our step when we entered as butterflies may be on the walkway. Apparently there are 2 almost extinct species in there so I here was treading gingerly, determined not to increase the extinction rate. There were also scarecrows in Hort Park. Yes, and they were all concentrated in a corner, scaring each other…..without a bird in sight, of course. I called it the Wizard of Oz theme park. Continue reading 'Scene City: Singapore Part 2'»

Images will only be posted on this blog after the airing of the episode in August.

It all began with my inane desire to be a calafare in a show. I didn’t even mind playing the dead person or someone crossing the street in the background. So when I was approached to be a guest photographer in a local series to be aired on Channel News Asia, I gladly said yes. And then I found out the minor role wasn’t that minor at all. The host Tom Ang, is a writer of many photography books you see in the bookshops. So 2 guest photographers, together with Tom, Continue reading 'Scene City: Singapore Part 1'»

I was asked to shoot a set of cups yesterday and I decided to do it with a bit of a lifestyle twist. So what is a lifestyle shoot as opposed to the the normal product shoot? It’s hard to define but I take it as shooting a product with a certain styling and props to simulate a real scene. Unlike a product shoot for a catalog Continue reading 'Shooting Products with a Lifestyle twist'»

Did you wish you had a better camera to make a better image? Did you feel that you could have caught a better ‘moment’, get a better colour, shoot from a better angle, etc, if you had the latest and greatest equipment? While there may be some valid points to your musings, perhaps you could get what you wanted if you spent a lot more time shooting and looking for alternative shots. Look at what you have first Continue reading 'It’s not about more equipment…'»

One thing I thoroughly enjoyed at the wedding dinner was Robin’s friend, Danny’s performance. He’s a professional magician and Robin’s best buddy from school. He got them up to the stage to participate….nothing embarrassing, of course. The other thing that amazed me was their coordinator, David’s huge A3 spreadsheet detailing the whole day’s schedule together with action items. An excellent piece of work! A thoroughly enjoyable Saturday indeed.

More of such images can be seen in my Wedding Photography webpage or in the Wedding Photography category of this blog.

I posted another [link] that inspires me a lot. The photographer is Nick Onken and I just love his style and attitude. There’re so many of those feel good images. He shoots for Nike and I guess the Nike ads you see at shopping centers now may be by him. He shoots a lot into the light too, and with wide angles, so I guess we share something in common

I had a discussion with a friend this afternoon who blogs at NikonD90Lab.blogspot.com and the issue about lenses cropped up. He wanted to know what’s the most versatile lens to get. I have 6 lenses and if I were to go shoot street photography, I’d pick the 35mm F1.4. I use a Canon 5D MkII, so on the full frame without FOV (Field of View), I get the full 35mm. For street photography, Continue reading 'The Versatile Lens'»

A few days ago I was asked to give some advice on someone else’s photography assignment relating to architectural photography. The theme was ‘Extraordinary out of the Ordinary’, using compositional techniques such as two thirds rule, diagonal approach, balance of negative and positive space, and colour. Here’s the content of the email I sent out (with more explanation here). Continue reading 'Composition'»

You’ve been there before. You shoot an image on a bright sunny day and then you realise there’s no detail in another part of the image in the shadows. The basic thing photographers know is that the film/slides/sensor of the camera cannot capture all the exposure values you see with your eye. The eye has a wider latitude to exposure values compared to the camera. So how do you increase the latitude or the dynamic range of the camera? Enter HDR, or High Dynamic Range. This is a fancy term for something photographers have been doing all the time, since the darkroom days. We burn (darken) and dodge (lighten) areas of the picture to pull out the details and to even out the lighting. With the digital camera, our lives are made easier. Continue reading 'What is HDR?'»

I’ve been asked this question many times and to be perfectly honest I think a good image surpasses the basic techniques like composition, lighting, contrast, colour, etc. Sure, every photographer and aspiring ones, need to know all this. Instructional photo books flood the market with these basics. So what makes a good image? Continue reading 'What makes a good image?'»

This article is to help those who want to take pictures of food or products at home without any professional equipment. This is a simple one-lamp setup, shot with a digital compact camera. Here’re the things you need: Continue reading 'Shooting Products at Home'»

A few pictures from Ignatius and Mui Ling’s pre wedding shoot last month. We happened to be in Penang in the same weekend so we decided to take a few shots around town.

More of such images can be seen in my Wedding Photography webpage or in the Pre-Wedding Photography category of this blog.