I heard the best father-of-the-bride speech delivered last Sunday. A speech full of humor and emotions. Not forgetting the Star Wars opening line too! He mentioned that he initially was not enthusiastic about kids but when the bride was born, it completely changed him. The love and passion in which he delivered that line inspired me because in a few months time I will experience that.
I’m looking forward to fatherhood…bracing myself for the sleepless nights, frustrations, stress, but yet looking forward to moments like those mentioned in the speech. The speech left another indelible mark on me. It reminded me of why I love what I do. A wedding is a major milestones in one’s life and I always count it as a privilege to attend one. As a guest or as a photographer.
In 2011, I took on various commercial assignments but I always go back to the love of shooting weddings. It’s physically tiring indeed but the reward is always reaped when I go through the images, process them, and receive appreciative comments from the couple.
Looking ahead to 2012, I’m offering a $250 discount on my Basic Package for Actual Day Wedding Photography. You get this discount if you sign up from now until 31 March 2012. Only condition is, my other promotions with gown designers and videographers will not be valid with this.
Also, LIKE our Facebook page and receive a further $50 discount!
. This is to thank you for supporting us.
I wish you the best in this season of loving and giving! Have a great X’mas and a fabulous year ahead!
I just collected a Samsung Galaxy Note this morning courtesy of the good folks at Samsung. I have a week to review this and I must say, I’m very impressed with my first impression. It’s straddles between a tablet and a smartphone. Exactly how the market will react to this remains to be seen. It’s a bit awkward to use as a phone, yet it fits snugly into the palm of my hand. Very portable indeed, with a great user interface especially with the stylus included. We were assured that this is no ordinary stylus (S Pen) and one can see why as the S Pen has a button which opens up a whole set of commands for easy navigation. Finding the button on the side of S Pen is a bit difficult but I’m sure it’s very useful..if you can remember all the commands. So far I like the user interface although I’ll take a bit of time getting used to an Android phone.
The 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display is very bright and super impressive. There were some videos preloaded and the quality is just mind blowing. What I like a lot is the data entry. You can type as per the usual smartphone style or you can write with the S Pen like below. So far it performs really well in recognizing my handwriting. It’s about 90% accurate which is a lot. I remember the days of my palm devices where I needed to learn keystrokes for handwriting recognition. We’ve gone a long from that generation of smart devices. Also, for note taking, the resolution of the screen (285ppi) is so high that everything is so smooth and fine. I love to take notes and doodle so this is a real plus point.
I’m going to have a lot of fun with it the next week or so, so stay tuned for more updates! I’m very interested at how the 8 Mpix camera performs so do come back.
Oh at the Samsung showroom at Vivocity, several prints from my earlier review of the NX11 are up on display. Look out for them if you drop by the showroom!
Hey it’s been awhile since I posted anything. Rest assured I’m still alive and to prove that, here’s a link to my favorite food joints in Penang. More photography stuff coming soon after the busy period. End of the year is always the busy period for photography and party, after that.
So back to food. If you plan to visit Penang, you might find this useful. It was originally up on my blog before it got attacked by malware so I’m posting this out again. Have fun and tell me if you have any updates. Enjoy!
Click on the Map to go to Google Maps
By , 26/06/2010 12:08 pm
Today we’re gonna attempt the second part of our DIY project. Since Lydia is having her trial makeup with Samantha, the opportunists in us decided to continue to do a shoot after that. Good news: Since our wedding will be at ACM, we’re allowed to shoot inside. Yippee! Bad news: the ACM has open house today. Crowds!! We don’t really know what’s gonna happen later but we’ll take it as it comes.
We have our good friends Oon and Val to help us. It’ll be pretty much be the same setup. Camera on tripod, creative direction by me, the finger by Oon. I think we’ll have a blast! So if you’re gonna be around the ACM, come over to say hi! We’ll be there from 5 onwards.
By , 09/06/2010 9:58 am
Just checking in to inform everyone that I’m still alive although my blogging is real slow. It’s no joke shooting weddings, corporate and commercial assignments over these few weeks plus planning a wedding! That kinda leaves not much time to breathe. Well, expect more pictures up on my blog soon…hopefully!
So far, I’m really glad I retired my 1D and got the 5D. Shooting with two 5Ds and not having to decide which lens to put on which camera leaves me more time to shoot. I’ve made mistakes like mounting my 35mm F1.4 on the 1D and 50mm F1.4 on the 5D. And then finding out that both are the same because of the 1.3X FOV of the 1D. Duh! Plus both 5Ds are light and gives me more maneuverability. I’m really enjoying this!
My June 26 Workshop still has space for more. So do sign up quick! Learn to use your camera’s functions well and also learn from critique of other images.
Recently I was asked if there’s any ‘cheat sheet’ for figuring out exposures. Especially if you’re not planning to do any further processing, this may help:
1. If you’re shooting white or bright objects which fill a significant part of the frame, pump up the exposure. If in Av mode, increase the EV by opening the aperture until the meter is on the plus side. If in M mode, adjust either the aperture or shutter speed to get the meter to be in the plus side. Reason being, the camera is not very smart and will try to average a scene. So if you’re shooting snow, it’ll look gray.
2. Vice-versa dark objects. Make sure you underexpose it. The image below was shot at -2EV. Without the exposure compensation, the suit will look gray and the flower completely white.
3. If you’re not comfortable and quick when using the M mode, consider using Av. I’ve met plenty of beginners using M mode and that surprised me. Personally I think the full control is good but if you want to grab quick shots, isn’t it easier to change one variable rather than two? This is just a matter of preference though. I use Av outside the studio.
Just shot a ROM yesterday in which the bride walked in with her two brothers. I felt it was a really sweet moment and thought I’d share this with you. If lighting conditions change rapidly I have to worry about both focusing and exposure reading. Here, I used Av, set at F1.8 and just concentrated on focusing. Focusing was already hard enough with such shallow depth of field. I wanted to blur out the background as much as possible.
More to come…
By , 25/05/2010 11:11 am
A couple of weeks ago, The Straits Times published an issue with 3D images complete with 3D glasses. That got me interested in this project. I did a bit more research on the web and found a couple of visual artists who started shooting 3D portraits and published a book. All that was needed was a rig they constructed to mount 2 cameras at a distance equal to the human eyes. The software used was just Aperture and a compositing software called Nuke.
In theory it didn’t sound too complicated, just having the cameras’ shutter synced. But if the subject is still life, perhaps syncing is not the main problem. I’m not sure if the flashed were gelled to get the red/green effect or just using photoshop filters to do it. Or Nuke just does that for you. I gotta try this. Anyone interested to join me?
Here’s the link to their project called Stereo Portrait Project.
By , 11/05/2010 10:15 am
I’ve started using the 580EX II after one of 580 EX died on me. It was about time anyway, after 5 plus years and I don’t even know how many thousand flashes. Served me well. So the EX II is a recent addition to my arsenal but some things irritate me. In particular the missing wireless switch to toggle between master/slave shooting. Sure I understand the need to be weather resistant, hence the possible omission of the switch but it’s such a pain to not access this function easily. I’m sure other photographers use this a lot.
I came across this website with points on a wishlist I fully agree with. Right down to getting rid of the penguin in the manual (point 16). I’d love to know the reason behind the penguin in the first place. I’d also really love a built-in RF trigger so that I can place the ‘slaves’ anywhere I want. I have resorted to bouncing off the infra-red signal off a mirror to fire off a flash in the background before when there was no line of sight. With RF, I can leave the flashed in a softbox, behind the subject, heck in anywhere that makes a good image. And for goodness sake, allow me to trigger my studio strobes! Ok, maybe Canon may not sell that many other speedlites if that happens but photographers would love them for it.
So here’s the wishlist by Syl Arena.
Down with the penguin!
By , 28/04/2010 11:45 pm
Finally the day has arrived when I retire my Canon 1D Mark 2. This camera has served me for 6 years! I get nostalgic when I think of the time I got ‘her’. She was one of a handful in the shipment to arrive in Singapore. The rest were routed to Athens for the 2004 Olympics. For 6 years she endured the hardest abuse and came out unscathed. Two of the most memorable experiences I had were:
1. Shooting a triathlon in Bintan in heavy rain. Mid-way through the race, a thunderstorm developed. What started as a light drizzle turned into a fierce tropical thunderstorm which blew my makeshift shelter, made of black trash bags, away. I was in the middle of nowhere and my 1D had a 70-200mm lens coupled to it. Together they formed a completely weather-sealed system. So here I was in a thunderstorm, with my camera exposed to the elements, still shooting away. Onlookers would’ve been amazed at this sight. I was strangely confident that the rain would not get into the camera and lens and I was right. I wiped them dry in the hotel room and went on shooting the next day.
Continue reading 'PUTTING MY CANON 1D TO REST'»
By , 25/04/2010 10:31 am
I’ve been scouring the net for information of a possible replacement for the 5D Mk 2 since I’ve been toying with the idea of one to replace my 1D Mk 2 as a 2nd body. After my experience of buying the D60 just weeks before the 10D was released, I don’t want to end up kicking my own butt.
So what have I found? I’ll be safe for a year if I get one now. Rumours has it that the replacement will probably be due later part of next year. And after the 1Ds 4 is released. A little peace of mind if I proceed with the purchase. Else, it’s butt-kicking time again for me.
Here’s what else I found. There are rumours that the 35 F1.4 will be obsoleted. I find this crazy but this one site I read had sources around the world stating that they’ve been discontinued and have been disappeared from a few sites. This is one of my favourite lenses and it’ll be a shame to see it go. Perhaps a better one is in the pipeline. But what’s more believable is the new 24-70 F2.8L IS. Now that’ll be an interesting buy. Maybe not for me since I shoot with prime lenses most of the time now but a combination of F2.8 and IS will make this a very potent low-light lens.
Well some rumours are more accurate than others, mainly because they make perfect sense for Canon. Others will remain as rumours. But I’ll give the 5D Mk 2 a serious thought now. Anyone else know anything?
By , 24/04/2010 11:12 am
Think your life with a camera is getting out of control sometimes? You’re not the only one! One day we swing from a gear geek, to a time we think we have a shot at National Geographic and then bang, we are sometimes too ashamed to bring out the camera. Got this from the internet one day and I think it’s a humorous and good reflection of what photographers go through, amateur or professional.
Let’s start with Knowledge.
At the beginning, we’re born with zero knowledge of photography. At least I am. So we have a new camera, things are set to auto mode (unless you’re like me who started without auto modes). Then you learn about properly exposing your images and wow, you can actually take pictures and then you drool over the pictures in National Geographic and you’re convinced all you need is gear, and more gear. So break your piggy bank, starve a bit, work part time, and then you enter the gear geek stage. You improve on techniques, attend workshops, and then your knowledge just increases from then on.
Continue reading 'STAGES OF A PHOTOGRAPHER’S LIFE'»
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