Size-wise, it sits in between the iPhone and iPad. Here’s a comparison between the Note and my iPhone 4.

It’s quite a fair bit larger than the iPhone but surprisingly not that much heavier at 178g compared to the iPhone’s 140g. But in most cases, the weight plays a less important role than the size. You would either love it or stay away from it.

They say the best camera you’ll have is the one with you all the time. I’m a firm believer of that so how does the 8Mpix camera perform? Specifically in the areas of noise performance and auto white balance. I like the fact that you can customize shortcuts by dragging and dropping the shortcuts to the left bar.

I just wish that I can operate the camera without accessing the app. This is where the iPhone 4S is so handy because the camera can be accessed right from the lock screen.

I would also like to have a dedicated physical shutter button. Especially with the large size, it really becomes awkward trying to hold it steady and using a finger to hit the button. All these features will make it operate more like a point and shoot camera.

So how about white balance? A straight forward outdoor shot like the one below should be easily handled by the camera. Image on the left was taken with Auto White Balance and on the left with Sunny WB. I’m not sure what you see on your screen but the AWB gives a cooler image compared to the warm tones of the Sunny WB.

Indoors, the auto white balance performed fairly well under warm lighting. This is one of the more challenging lighting conditions for cameras. I took this shot with mixed lighting as I’m drafting this post. So we have warm lighting from the LED spots in the background with color temperature close to tungsten and the cool white glow from the Mac in the foreground.

From top left to bottom right:
1. Flash
2. AWB – Auto white balance
3. Daylight
4. Cloudy
5. Incandescent
6. Fluorescent

Verdict: AWB was really close to the actual lighting condition whereas the incandescent gave the background a neutral tone. Works perfectly well in this example. I’m very impressed with the AWB in this instance.

So what about noise? In the example you’ll be able to see noise in the shadow details. On the left is an image taken at ISO 100 and on the right, ISO 800.

Looking at the shadows, the ISO 100 picture performs well but the ISO 800 image is very noisy, viewing at 100%. The good thing about the noise characteristic is the monochromatic quality (not the red and green dots), which to me makes it a lot more acceptable.

After capturing the image and viewing it in the gallery, the Note makes it very easy to share the picture. I like this a lot especially being able to share the pictures via bluetooth and wifi.

Moving on to data entry, I’m getting used to the S Pen. It fits nicely in a slot at the bottom of the Note. With this, you can easily sketch and draw just like any ordinary pen. You can use the S Pen for data entry with its handwriting recognition and also to write directly on notes. I actually would love something like this for the iPad. Writing notes with fingers seems so unintuitive. I have a few iPad apps for doing this but have stopped using them. Even with a third party stylus, the resolution is just not high enough. So this is one feature that makes the Note so appealing. Another added feature is the button. However, I still have difficulty locating the button with my fingers. Once you’ve done so, it adds another set of shortcuts which makes navigating a far richer experience.

This is an example where I incorporated a picture in the S memo. You also include maps and as before in the camera, share it easily. This is so useful to deliver your ideas and of course give directions to a hopelessly lost person.

Besides the impressive S memo, the Note comes with a few Samsung apps such as Social Hub, S Choice category of apps designed for the S Pen, S Planner to name a few. I like the S Planner. It can sync with Google Calendar which I use a lot. It also syncs which Microsoft Exchange although I have not tried that. The big screen of the Note makes it really useful to have a quick glance at all the appointments in the month screen. I use a third party app for my iPhone to do this but it’s a big plus that this is integrated as a native app into the phone itself. Moving appointments around is just a simple drag and drop.

So this concludes a short review on the Note. What I love is the AMOLED screen, the fast 1.4GHz processor running the Android 2.3 Gingerbread, amazing graphics, S Pen for note taking, media handling, etc. I’m still getting used to the size and pondering whether it’ll be my iPhone replacement. Comments from other users I’ve asked reveal that the strongest point is actually the size. Perhaps that’s where I’ll be gravitating to the more I use it.

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!

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!

Here’s the link to the page: http://www.photographybyeulee.com/blog/weddings

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

Here’s another one of those shots with Adelene.

There’re actually 2 things that happened in this shot. Think about it as a multiple exposure throughout the time the shutter is opened. In this case, the shutter was opened for 20s. So what happened in this 20s?

1. The flash fired (assuming your flash is set to 1st curtain sync) and Mr. Teddy gets exposed
2. I get to play with lights in total darkness for the remainder 20s.

In actual fact the flash fires in something like 1/125s thereabouts depending on camera make so that leaves a lot of 20s left to do anything.

The first thing you’ll need to understand is at a fixed ISO, aperture affects the exposure of the subject. Second thing, shutter speed determines ambient light coming in. This is the most basic principle which everyone should understand. This is fundamental to studio photography especially.

So set the aperture and ISO to get Mr. Teddy well exposed. Don’t worry about the shutter speed at this time. If you do this in total darkness, you can afford even a few minutes of exposure. You can do something with lights, take a break and continue. I only spent 20s for these streaks.

This is loads of fun. But importantly, it reinforces your understanding of flash photography.

Check his work out. And contact either of us to find out more!

For obvious reasons I used a glass bowl and chose salad as the subject. Vegetables are slightly translucent. I bounced off some light in front to brighten the front using a foam board. To avoid seeing the inside of the lamp, I covered it with a foam sheet, from some packing material I had. The reflection was thanks to my dining table. But you can buy a piece of perspex to get that same effect. As I was shooting, Lydia poured dressing (ok, it’s actually honey). I like the bright golden color of honey and its syrupy thickness. The color of honey looks great backlit.

It’s a really simple setup. I just cropped it tighter in post processing so that the light behind looks even. Here’s what my setup looked like.

Nothing impressive about that but the result is something else.

Congrats guys!

Working with one light is easier because you only need to worry about the colour temperature of that light. Whatever it is, don’t mix light sources unless you plan to shoot in b&w. The different colour temperature will make you pull your hair. Even if it’s another similar lamp, the bulbs do not necessarily give the same colour. So make life easier and work with one source, and use light modifiers. In this case, a styrofoam board.

Learn to use the custom white balance to get a neutral tone under your light. The info is found in your camera’s manual. Essentially it involves setting the white balance to custom white balance, shooting a piece of white paper, and using that setting. This is only neutral under that lighting. So you see the problem if you mix light sources? If your camera is tuned to warm light, any daylight that is captured will appear blue.

Here’s what the setup looks like. The velvet cloth sucks up light so shooting against it makes it easier if you don’t want to worry about shadows.

You can use this same setup for shooting small products. I wrote about something similar awhile back about shooting products at home with a simple setup.

Have fun!

Anyway, here are the rules and a few examples which might demonstrate it.

Rules of Thirds . I would say this is the most basic. In fact many cameras now come with grid lines to help you compose. I don’t like that because it makes everything so technical, as if photography is a set of formulas. Learn to see the image before you. This rule states that the subject should be positioned at the side and not in the middle of the frame. If you imagine the scene to have 2 lines running across vertically and horizontally, place the subject on one of the lines. The idea is not to have the subject dead-center of the image.

In portraits, this is useful if you want to take an environment portrait like below.

Colour is used to draw attention to a particular subject, for eg, a red umbrella in front of a mostly gray building. Or like this flower against a green monochromatic background. The whole idea is to draw the viewers attention to your subject.

Frame. Framing your subject can be used to draw attention. The frame becomes a natural boundary. In can be an arch or this case, I used legs to frame and of course contrasting colours to isolate the subject.

Leading lines. The eye naturally follows lines in the picture. It could be straight lines or curves. So if you have lines to help lead the viewers eyes to your subject, it makes a stronger image.

Isolate background. Especially useful in portraits. You would want to avoid a distracting background. One of the most effective way is to completely blur it. You’ll need a very wide aperture to achieve that. The images below were taken at 200mm with an aperture of F2.8. With that blur background, you’ll just concentrate on the athletes.

Different angle. Shoot from a different viewpoint. Try shooting from bottom up, top down, etc. Too often, people take images from eye level, straight. A different angle would introduce variety.

Layering. If you shoot everything far away in the same plane, it looks flat. Try to layer ie, having a foreground, middle ground and background. This is very useful in shooting landscapes. You create depth by having different layers in your image.

Break rules. Try to incorporate as many of these elements as possible in your image.

Perhaps in a couple of weeks, this cityscape series will be featured. Anyway, here’s an image from this series.

Stay tuned for more images to come!