I’m starting a new workshop for those interested to learn studio work. Learn how to use studio equipment and communicate with your subject. You’ll get to practice on location too, which is useful if you just have a simple setup. A flash, umbrella, light stand and a sync chord or remote trigger will be all you need. It’s not going to cost you as much studio lights and your photography will improve by leaps and bounds.
It’s finally up! The first batch of images I shot for the YOG exhibition is up at the YOG Olympic Village at NTU. This is a smaller compared to the one in Suntec in August. Not sure when it’ll be opened to the public but that’ll definitely be before the start of the Games. Meanwhile, I had a good look at the use of my images at the Village’s display and well……I’m happy.
Visitors to the display will be greeted by fencers and taekwondo exponents at the entrance. The raw images from the fencing and taekwondo shoots are below.
Fencers in mid-action
Taekwondo exponents
For both sports, there was absolutely no way to pose them as we needed the action sequence. So we let them do the thing, and let the camera and lights rip! Now here’s the catch, we needed the highest resolution we can get from a DSLR as the images will be life-size, hence the 5D Mk2. But we also needed the speed of the 1D Mk2. Also, we couldn’t use too much strobe power as we needed the fast recycling time. So all the while I was timing my shots, using all the experience I can muster to anticipate action and pray! Why did we need strobes? Well for obvious reasons, light levels were way too low to freeze motion indoors. But the important things was, we wanted it to feel like a studio shot, with good lighting. It’s not enough to have grainy, blurry and flat pics. Of course continuous lights would be great and I used modeling lights on some of the sports but fences and taekwondo need a lot of space to move hence a lot of lighting power. And I don’t have 600W hotlights at my disposal at that time.
So in the end, what would visitors to the exhibition see?
Entrance to the YOG Exhibition
Entrance to the YOG Exhibition
And to show it’s a full size image…
Me and the display
Unfortunately the public will not be able to see the display at the Olympic Village but do watch out for the one in Suntec and let me know what you think of the images! For more images of the exhibit at the Village, click here.
You’ve heard of Trash That Dress…but how about Trash That Car? That was what Alex and Delia did at the end of the shoot. Yesterday was one of those days that made me glad I’m doing what I’m doing. A great couple, whacky ideas, perfect weather, in light of the flash floods we’re getting. We brainstormed the location that allowed us to drive a car into, and secluded lest the cops were called when we start painting. As it was we had a few curious stares. We realized there isn’t much choice in urbanized Singapore. Last time I did something like this was as at the Changi reclaimed land. I think there must be some huge buildings there now. Thank goodness my friend Sean did a shoot like this before and he gave some ideas.
I wasn’t too sure about the light in the evening since Sean did his shoot in the morning. But we drove around till we found the perfect spot. And we couldn’t have asked for more! A big open field that gave us space to move the car and a great clean background! I was all prepared to setup my speedlites but thank goodness, the lighting was just amazing!
We started the shoot with Alex and Delia with the car. I wanted a more lifestyle approach to the shoot and I drove my car next to theirs to get the shot from high. Now you know why I loved the location. Plenty of space to move two cars around. This shoot definitely made my day. Until England lost to Germany. But that’s another story.
Here’re a few of the pics:
And a few production pics taken by Lydia.
Getting the height for the first shot
Looks like the paint is going to coat the lens. But carefully positioned car made sure the winds prevented that
The last shot for the day. Alex and Delia with their handiwork
I had a laugh when I saw this picture. Once awhile, we’re allowed to be dissatisfied with how things are going at a shoot. Lighting’s off, angle’s off, things are not working as I’ve envisioned it. And so on and so forth. Liz took a picture of me at this particular instance when I felt that. I like this portrait..it’s emotional. Deep in thought and sulking a bit, I looked straight into the camera looking for answers and she took this picture. What was not working was the tight angle at this spa and beauty center, which had a lot of reflective surfaces where my lights could be seen everywhere.
The place was beautiful, so I wanted to bring out the character and the intrinsic designs so thoughtfully incorporated here. We were shooting a series of portraits of four employees for an advertisement. So in this place, the employee would pose with the different chemicals that are mixed for each customer. Pretty neat stuff considering it’s open for everyone to see and admire. In this shot, I used one key light to camera right, with a softbox, and one highlight to camera right also but behind the subject. Of course it didn’t work out. In the final shot, the highlight was left outside the room shooting through the glass. The final shot really worked.
We had a few rooms to shoot the portraits and one of them was a room designed to serve the guests tea. Liz was of course the lighting model of the day and here’s the test shot. One key light in a softbox and one highlight behind shooting through and umbrella, and making sure the vertical strips of wood had enough light to differentiate it from the back while throwing a bit of light on her. The final image was from a slightly different angle but an even stronger image.
What’s that blurry thing in front? This is what it looks like under the same lighting, taken by Liz
Check out this footage of me in action…..all 3s of it courtesy of Liz who assisted me in this shoot. This happened yesterday as we were wrapping up the last bit of photography for the YOG. You should’ve seen me telling the gymnast to go as slow as possible so my 5D Mk2 and lights can catch up. If only she could defy gravity and the laws of momentum…my life would be so much easier.
The idea was to get a series of shots to superimpose them onto a life-sized panel. I don’t know how that will turn out. We’ll have to wait and see when the YOG exhibition opens.
On location Penang. After my DIY project, it was Allen and Celia’s turn to have their pre-wedding shoot done in Penang. We had this idea to shoot in Allen’s alma mater, the Penang Free School, which also happened to be mine too. I was then the photographer for the Editorial Board and that was about 20 years ago. The school looks pretty much the same, with the exception of the mind-numbing choice of green and orange on parts of the building. It looks like a polished gentleman in an amusement park now rather than the grand old dame it once was. Nevertheless we made the colours work for us and we were pleased at how things went.
That was the Sunday evening. On Monday the plan was to hit the Botanic Gardens early in the morning to catch that sunrise and the beautiful light streaming in the little ravine. And after that it was up the Penang Hill to David Brown’s restaurant. If you ever make the trip to Penang, don’t miss this. A late afternoon tea with scones in the cool weather is the way to go. It rained when we were there, minus the mist we had when I shot Chris and Zinee there. The original plan was to have a go at the beach but the balmy, overcast weather would make potentially eye-popping images dull. So we decided to postpone the shoot and head to town to see what we could get.
Amidst curious stares from the local bovine population indignant at our intrusion during breakfast, we waited for the sun to rise at the Botanic Gardens in Penang. I first saw the potential when I was scouting for Chris and Zinee’s shoot but unfortunately it rained that day. And I’ve been waiting for the chance to shoot here in the warm glow of the morning sun. Well, we got our break yesterday!
Before sunrise....boring
The variety if images we had were a bit limited coz it took time to setup each shot, instead of moving freely and working with the light. But we’re happy with what we got.
Ok, it’s really not as simple as it sounds in theory but it’s heck of a lot of fun. I like to entertain the couple I’m shooting normally, so I ended up entertaining ourselves. Today’s shoot lasted less than 20 minutes, in between shopping at Queensbay Mall and dinner at Hammer Bay (I kid you not, that’s the name). Dinner was grilled stingray or ikan pari bakar. If you ever come here, try the satay too. It’s from this nondescript stall just by the entrance. The ‘makcik’ is very generous with the chicken…chunks of well-marinated meat.
The light changes really fast after sunset and that explains the 20 min shoot. Interestingly, the lights from the makan place served as a giant light source and I was happily using it. The Penang Bridge is in the background but barely visible due to the large aperture I was using. f1.4 to f1.8 most of the time. But I wanted just the lights visible only so that worked out quite well.
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.
Help me spread the word! For a limited time only, I’m offering a 10% discount on Family and Kids Portrait Photography. Plus you’ll have more high resolution processed softcopies. You have a choice of having it done indoors or outdoors or even both, if you can manage it within 2 hours. No limits to the change of attire, feel free to wear your entire wardrobe. Pets welcomed and loved
Oh what a hilarious time I had with this family. Fun-loving and spontaneous would best describe them and that made it a very enjoyable shoot last weekend. The shoot was at their house and I set up two lights, after rearranging furniture. Midway through the shoot, we gave it a different feel by using a black backdrop. Here are a few images from the shoot:
Paris. City of Romance. Maybe cliched, but nevertheless a most beautiful place for your pre-wedding images.
After an amazing time there last year, we’re planning another trip there in September 2010. September should be a great time, not as crowded as summer, cooler weather and lighting should be great. Exact dates are still on the drawing board but we have kicked started our planning. So if you are considering this, let me know and lets discuss further. Places are limited so sound me out as soon as you can.
The 2nd day of the YOG shoot brought us to this row of warehouses housing the Singapore Weightlifting Federation, opposite the National Stadium (the same one that was supposed to be demolished but never got to meet its fate after all this while). It’s a beautiful quiet area facing the Tanjung Rhu condos. So this is where the weightlifters train. Liz and I got there early to setup the black backdrop and lights. I was shooting tethered since I didn’t have to move around a lot. This series of images were different from the gymnastic images since they are more static and no one’s flying around from one end to another.
The space was a huge relief. No problems with power points, positioning lights, camera and notebook. Wouldn’t it be nice if the remaining shoots were like that….
Setting up the camera and notebook. Image from my iPhone.
The star of the day was Darius. It was his birthday and what better way to celebrate than to have portraits taken with family. Darius is also Desiree’s brother. We originally planned the shoot outdoors but changed venue to their house, since it was easier to celebrate his birthday after the shoot. Good thing too since the weather turned bad in the evening. I brought along my lights and decided to use a white wall in the house as a backdrop. I started shooting with a ladder/chair as a prop. Little did I know that sitting there unaided was the first time for Darius and I must say he handled himself very well. Desiree had a go after seeing her brother enjoy himself.
It was playtime towards the end and as the whole family gathered in the playroom, I pulled over one of my lights and started firing away. Totally unplanned but I learned to expect the unexpected when dealing with kids at Darius’ and Desiree’s age. Makes the whole shoot so enjoyable by keeping the photographer on his toes
Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010! After a season of festivities, everyone’s back to work with, I hope, a fresh perspective to work, life and perhaps a zest, zeal and enthusiasm to make this year count. But take a moment to have some reflection on the past year, and use that as a guide for this.
For myself, this blog was started as a kind of social experiment and i must say I am hooked on it. I started in May 2009, after many years of deliberation and fears that I will not get pass my first post. I eventually discovered a love for writing. I can’t say I’m very good at it but at last I don’t dread it. So my first post was on packing for an overseas shoot in a reply to curious questions on what I always bring on my shoot. At that point of time I was already overseas and that was the perfect moment to talk about it. From then my blogging went on to discuss techniques, equipment, workshops, current work, book reviews and now with my new iPhone, a bit on apps and its camera. After the first post, ideas start popping up and since then, I’ve logged 140 posts! I try to go for higher value content and not just one-liners so I think I’ve done decently looking at my workload.
Comments (0) 
Themocracy