NOVEMBER 7 WORKSHOP
It was a great day considering the crazy weather we’ve been having the past few days. There was great light in the morning and it got cooler since the sky turned overcast in the afternoon but importantly, not a drop of rain! We started the morning with some theory at Botanic Gardens, in the cool shade facing the gazebo near the Ginger Garden. The basics covered include the shutter speed, aperture, ISO and how all these variables affect the image. The idea was to get people to move away from using the Auto mode and begin to have creative control over their cameras. I also demonstrated to them the advantages of using back button focusing, something a lot of people are not aware of. We did a bit of portraits and I demonstrated the use of aperture and lens selection to get blurred background, important to separate the person from the cluttered background.
After a long discussion on aperture and F-stop readings and also depth of field, we moved on to shutter priority mode and I had some exercise while teaching them how to pan and capture movement, my movement to be more precise. So I did a bit of running, walking at various speeds to have them try out various shutter speeds. Probably useful in capturing kids at play.
With the sun at its brightest, it was time to move indoors and continue with lunch and critique and a session on composition. We moved on to Dome at Dempsey and spent a few hours there, plus shooting around Dempsey area where they practiced composition, using lines, rules of third, framing, etc. The challenge was to try get fresh angles of everyday objects. From the critique, they showed interest in architectural elements and I had the idea of moving on to Upper Seletar reservoir where there was an old tower, maybe from the 70s era and I thought that might be a good subject. Plenty of opportunities to practice composition and portraits of people there. We also did a session on flash photography inside Dome before moving onto Upper Seletar.
I did a bit of shooting there in the midst of mentoring, and got these few images.
And that wrapped up the November workshop. It started heavy with a lot of theory on aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc but all totally essential to wrest creative control from the camera’s programmed modes. That’s the only way to improve, by knowing what you’re doing. I’ll take a break in December due to my heavy schedule and will commence workshops in January. So stay tuned to my workshop page and register early!
Themocracy
Hi Eu Lee
It was an enjoyable learning experience though i attended the workshop without a SLR =P
It provided a better understanding of photography basics through the many mini discussions and hands on pratices along the way. Liked the relaxed and informal way that the workshop was conducted =)
Thanks for the comments Edwin. And I’m glad you had an enriching experience.
It’s a great session. Thanks for all the valuable critique and tips to take better picture. And of course the great deal of patience on the theory portion … sweat!
Hey Stephen. I’m glad you enjoyed the session. Yup, the theory part was a bit challenging….but it’ll come to you easily through practice. Keep on shooting and call anytime.