Once awhile I’ll come across other photographer’s work that will elicit this response – WOW! Today’s WOW photographer is Dave Hill. I’ve seen his work elsewhere without realizing who the photographer is. He’s quite a master at surrealism, the Indiana Jones’ type of images but the best part about his work is the imaging work. It looks almost cartoony and unreal.
Taken from Dave Hill's website
I don’t really know how much of it is photography and how much of it is imaging work, but I’m guessing he’s an awesome photographer all the same. Any photographer who can shoot those awesome images in his backyard with an Audi in the background is indeed an awesome photographer! Check out the behind the scenes videos, especially the one of Girl on an Adventure, where he’s shooting underwater in a pool, with strobes firing above the water. That’s pretty cool! I can spend the whole day looking at all his videos.
And I gotta learn how to process my pictures like these!
Came across this promo for students and educators. Makes me wish I fall into either category. Ok, I’m way past the student age and my photojournalism presentation at Republic Poly this Friday doesn’t qualify me to be an educator either. Bummer. But those who fall into these categories might wanna check out this promotion. You get a $308 rebate for an iPod touch with a qualifying Mac. How cool is that? Offer ends 7 Sept 2010.
These images were taken at the shoot in The Haven, a Home for abandoned, abused and neglected kids.
Reviewing images during a shoot is very important so how do I get the images into the notebook as fast as possible and how can people select quickly? I use both tethered shooting and the old fashion downloading via card reader. Why? Because I use 2 cameras. Why do I use 2 cameras? I’m too lazy to change lenses. So for tethered shooting, I use EOS Utility, shooting straight into a designated folder and Expression Media to update from that folder. EM is an amazingly fast software to go through tons of images. The card reader also is connected to the same folder and EM updates the folder automatically. So EM is the core that pulls images from the tethered shooting and card reader.
Quick review of images on LCD
Reviewing images using EM
Everyone looks so serious…
…but seriously?
This is actually quite unposed. Thanks to Liz's quick fingers to catch us clowning around
Today marks the end of a 3-day project with Yellow Octopus to produce the Annual Report for the Salvation Army. The shoot brought us around most part of Singapore and as I remarked, gave me a new appreciation for their work. Most of us associate Salvation Army with the Thrift Store but there are so many things that they have done for the community, ranging from nursing homes, rehab centers, prison support, etc. This is not unlike the shoots I’ve done for the Community Chest. What I find unique about the Salvation Army was the range of community services available within an organisation.
These were the behind the scenes images taken by Liz and of her as the lighting model as I make adjustments to my settings, together with some commentary and my thoughts on the shoot. Have fun reading!
The Crest
Salvation Army Crest at the lobby of The Changi Corps
And here’s the picture taken by Liz on her iPhone of me trying to get a vertical as possible shot of the crest. We tried to get images unique to each center and I was so taken back by this crest as we entered Peacehaven Nursing Home. I had this thought of blasting a light outside and have a nurse with an elderly walking and casting shadows across this crest. Unfortunately we could not find the time and this image may not fit our portrait series. Well, I’ll shelve the idea for another time.
So here’s the latest gadget to hit town (officially, of course) and suddenly everyone’s twittering and facebooking about their new toy. I was reading the news from Koh Samui where Lydia and I spent time with family, post-wedding. Not our honeymoon technically since that’ll be in September. I’m not rushing to get the iPad but here’s what I’d like to do with it – shoot tethered. There’s someone who has tried it already, a photographer names Jesse Rosten and blogs about his experience here.
We all believe it’s a matter of time before an app appears to do it seamlessly. I don’t need wifi shooting for now but maybe a USB to the iPad can do. They have the Photokit available but it’s for downloading and not tethered shooting. What I’d like to see? Shoot tethered with jpgs sent to the iPad and RAW saved onto card. Perfect! I don’t need to have the RAW files in iPad neither do I want to do any editing on it. Just want to use it to view the shots and discuss with art directors while shooting.
Saw this on youtube and I’m appalled by some who call themselves professional photographer. This is a person who uses a Canon Rebel XTI or more commonly known as 400D in this region and a kit 18-55mm lens. Sure I’ve always maintained that the equipment doesn’t make the photographer but would you want to charge people money and not give them the best you can? The best part was when she didn’t even know the ‘speed’ of the 70-300mm lens she uses, clearly referring to the maximum aperture. So she doesn’t even know her equipment. The comments in the youtube page is also entertaining.
Anyway, she’s unlucky to meet a judge who is more technically superior than her. That’s embarrassing.
Here’s the youtube video of what transpired in the courtroom:
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
Just five minutes of a youtube video is enough to convince me that I NEED CS5! If you spend countless hours removing pesky litter, poles, pets, unwanted objects and even people, you’ll want to check out Content Aware Fill. This is crazy. You can even stitch your images and fill in the ‘white space’. Makes you wonder how the software creates something out of nothing. This is just magic. And I’m sure this is just one among the slew of new stuff in this package.
According to Adobe, it’ll be launched on 12 April, but available for sale a bit later and guess who’s queuing up then. I always skip versions in PS to save money and since I have CS3, an upgrade is due.
I’m beginning to step into geekdom, buying all this new software and hardware to support all that, but can you blame me when things like this keep appearing?
A few years back I covered a wedding in which the groom’s a commercial photographer. Of course, I then asked the million dollar question “So who shot your pre-wedding pics?” and he replied nonchalantly, “me, of course!”. It’s now my turn to be asked this question whenever I tell people I’m getting married soon. And the answer is the same “me, of course!”.
As photographers, we’re a fan of our work. I mean, it’ll be a slight problem if we’re not. So it seemed to make perfect sense that we shoot it the way we always do. For that groom, he did the shoot in Australia and got a friend to press the shutter. He was like the creative director, setting the camera up on a tripod, select the focal range, aperture and the friend then had to capture the moment. Thank goodness we’re in the digital age. I can’t bear firing rolls of film to do this.
So for Lydia and I, she came up with this idea to get my Dad to fire the camera away. My Dad had been largely responsible for my fascination with photography some twenty years ago. So he was the perfect candidate. Plus it’ll be great fun for the family.
I don’t know how this will turn out but hey since it’s a DIY project, we won’t have much to lose if it doesn’t work out the way we want it to. On the other hand, we could get some very interesting shots. Will update you in the next few days when we do the shoot in Penang.
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