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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…

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By , 18/04/2010 8:23 pm

And that was where the April Photography Workshop was conducted last weekend. The cafe mentioned is Tossz. specialising in sandwiches and salads. Here’s what Hungry Go Where has to say about it. It’s a very cosy place and ideal for a small class, and best of all situated near Chinatown with plenty of photo opportunities. There were altogether 6 participants so a place to plonk ourselves down, hook up a monitor and some paper for brainstorming was needed.

The class. Photo courtesy of Desmond

Demonstrating aperture selection via remote live shooting

The participants were a bit more advanced compared to the previous workshops so that allowed me to zoom past the basics and get into the more techie details. So we got past camera basics, lenses, mode settings and metering fast and concentrated more on actual shooting and critiquing. That was enough material for them to get on with the first assignment. They were tasked to play around with different aperture and shutter speed settings to pan and freeze motion. I was quite surprised to find that most of them use the M mode most of the time, and were quick in setting both the shutter speed and aperture.

The techie details

The techie details

Photo critique is a very important segment in any workshop because that allows each person to share their thoughts behind their images and also a great opportunity for me to guide them to get what they want. We spent a lot of time on it and moved on to composition after that.The second shooting assignment was much longer and they had to demonstrate the different compositional techniques. My stand has always been for them to know what the basic accepted composition techniques are and then to be creative in breaking them or using them for their needs. We had some really impressive shots.

At the critique session. Photo courtesy of Desmond

We wrapped up with an intro to flash photography and the effects of bouncing light off different surfaces to get even lighting vs shooting straight.

What happens to your subjects when you aim the flash directly at them

The next workshop is on 5 June. Please check out the details here. Places are limited because I believe in small classes to be effective. I can then spend more time with individuals rather than just address the entire class all the time. So do sign up fast!