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'»
For those of you interested in keeping a copy of Scene City: Singapore, the DVD will be launched tomorrow!
Here are the details:
When: Thurs 4 Feb 6pm-8pm
Where: Objectifs 56 Arab Sreet Rooftop
I should be there if I can find time away from my work which includes a corporate tour of Lenovo, Google, Nokia Siemens, Rolls Royce, Siemens…all in one crazy week! Seems like everyone wants to have pictures taken just before CNY. Ouch.
More importantly, Tom Ang will be there too so if you want to see what he’s like off-camera, now’s your chance. He’s a great guy.
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.
Continue reading 'A YEAR IN RETROSPECT'»
Baby Photography, Event, Family Photography, Kids Photography, Musings, Overseas shoot, Personal, Portrait Photography, Pre-Wedding Photography, Pregnancy Photography, Product Photography, ROM Photography, Sports Photography, Tips, Understanding, Wedding Photography
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book review, camera, iPhone, Kids Photography, learning, Photography, Portrait, Pre-Wedding Photography, product, studio, technique, travel, Wedding Photography, workshop
Brought my new baby to Aceh and with CameraBag, grabbed a few images. I loved it! The iphone’s camera was surprisingly quick, with very little shutter lag. I was even able to capture a shot of a boy jumping off a wall. That was pretty amazing. Of course, I had so much fun with the Helga function of CameraBag that I didn’t bother with the other effects. The only issue I have is the ability to quickly launch the app from the phone. That was the only delay. Gotta find a way to do this quickly so I don’t miss out those ‘moment’ shots.
I was with a group that painted a kindergarten and organized a children’s program for the kids at the village ala Singapore style. The event was impressive, the decoration they put up included colourful bedsheets to cover a gaping hole in the wall. The Balai Desa (Community Hall) was transformed in a matter of minutes. But the transformation back to its original state was even faster, unfortunately. The result of kids and balloons in the same room.
Decorating the venue
Local kids giving full attention
The painting of the kindergarten provided more fun for the guys than anything else in the trip. As someone quipped ‘it looks nice from far but is far from nice’.
Before painting
Work in progress
More images here:
Continue reading 'RANDOM IPHONE IMAGES FROM ACEH'»
You can do your part! Calling all photographers, make-up artists, assistants, everyone who think they can be a part of this movement. Join us and be a part of a growing worldwide community.
Help Portrait is all about giving back to the community. Ever encountered a less fortunate person who would like to have his portrait taken but cannot afford a professional photographer? Well, it’s time we give them an opportunity.
Help Portrait is the brainchild of Jeremy Cowart, and you can read more about its mission in the blog. All around the world, people are participating and putting in their time and skills to do something for the less fortunate. Join us and sign up in this link. Look for Singapore and you’ll see us there.
I’m opening this up to anyone who would like to assist me when we start doing this. It’s totally FREE and you’ll have a chance to learn about studio photography. Learn valuable tips on lighting and posing people and also play a part in this movement. You can contact me on this blog:
email: eulee@photographybyeulee.com
hp: 97616405
twitter: twitter.com/tweetbyeulee
Come on guys, let’s do something for the community and bring a smile to someone else this Christmas!
It was a great day considering the crazy weather we’ve been having the past few days. There was great light in the morning and it got cooler since the sky turned overcast in the afternoon but importantly, not a drop of rain! We started the morning with some theory at Botanic Gardens, in the cool shade facing the gazebo near the Ginger Garden. The basics covered include the shutter speed, aperture, ISO and how all these variables affect the image. The idea was to get people to move away from using the Auto mode and begin to have creative control over their cameras. I also demonstrated to them the advantages of using back button focusing, something a lot of people are not aware of. We did a bit of portraits and I demonstrated the use of aperture and lens selection to get blurred background, important to separate the person from the cluttered background.
After a long discussion on aperture and F-stop readings and also depth of field, we moved on to shutter priority mode and I had some exercise while teaching them how to pan and capture movement, my movement to be more precise. So I did a bit of running, walking at various speeds to have them try out various shutter speeds. Probably useful in capturing kids at play.
With the sun at its brightest, it was time to move indoors and continue with lunch and critique and a session on composition. We moved on to Dome at Dempsey and spent a few hours there, plus shooting around Dempsey area where they practiced composition, using lines, rules of third, framing, etc. The challenge was to try get fresh angles of everyday objects. From the critique, they showed interest in architectural elements and I had the idea of moving on to Upper Seletar reservoir where there was an old tower, maybe from the 70s era and I thought that might be a good subject. Plenty of opportunities to practice composition and portraits of people there. We also did a session on flash photography inside Dome before moving onto Upper Seletar.
I did a bit of shooting there in the midst of mentoring, and got these few images.
And that wrapped up the November workshop. It started heavy with a lot of theory on aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc but all totally essential to wrest creative control from the camera’s programmed modes. That’s the only way to improve, by knowing what you’re doing. I’ll take a break in December due to my heavy schedule and will commence workshops in January. So stay tuned to my workshop page and register early!
PowerShot G11
Dang, I always tell people that Canon will come out with a new camera with swivel LCD…and it’s here! I missed the older G-series swivel LCDs but I didn’t expect it so soon though since G10 is still quite ‘young’. Read more about it here. The specs look great, all pointing to a killer of a camera. I’m not sure how the Quick Shot mode performs but if it’s as good as Canon claims, I think it’ll be a first. They’ve quite a lot of scene modes but what tickles me is the aquarium mode. Are there so many people out there shooting those things? This is so tempting but what do I do with my G9?
Scene City: Singapore will be airing every Wednesday 8.30pm from this week onwards, exclusively on Channel News Asia. In today’s episode, a friends of mine, Darryl who blogs at http://zlog.dazza.sg/, was one of the participants. My turn’s on 30th Sept.
If you don’t know what the series is about, it features Tom Ang, a UK-based photographer and writer of photobooks exploring places to shoot in Singapore. He is joined by 2 photographers in each episode ranging from amateurs to professionals. The group will then visit places of different photographic challenges, while trying to debunk the myth that there is nothing to shoot in Singapore. I wrote a bit on the production part here.
Here’s a list of locations featured in each episode: Continue reading 'SCENE CITY PREMIERS THIS WEEK'»
Workshop day! With a very enthusiastic group who sacrificed their precious Saturday to learn photography. Such was the enthusiasm that they streamed in before the scheduled 8am meeting time. As far as coincidences go, everyone brought along Canon DSLRs. The good thing about this is, yes, lens sharing! Since I brought along lenses which the others didn’t have, we had a good time comparing notes and trying out different lenses to get different perspectives. The result, Dee bought a 50mm F1.8 just a few hours into the workshop!
Playing with lenses
Continue reading 'A FRUITFUL SATURDAY'»
I once encountered a creative director of a magazine who was flustered because I didn’t give him images that were in the standard 300 ppi. I explained to him that even though the resolution was lower, the physical dimension of the print is bigger. All he had to do was to change the physical size of the image to A4, and the resolution will change accordingly, and will exceed 300 ppi. He didn’t get it.
So what’s this about resolution? I thought that I’d be able to throw a bit of light on a basic thing that has stumped people. Contrary to popular belief, resolution is NOT expressed in megapixels. Continue reading 'DEMYSTIFYING RESOLUTION'»
Gordon wrote a beautiful poem for Shirley when he proposed to her but little did he know then that that was used as the negotiation chip for him to meet Shirley in the morning of 18 July 2009. The ladies insisted he recite the entire poem verbatim without pausing. Every pause meant he and his gang had to suck on sweet, sour, bitter and spicy ice cubes. How the ladies made those cubes was beyond me. What tickled me most that throughout the entire session, the ‘model answer’ was pasted beside the door. With very convincing acting skills, he managed to complete reciting but not before the tough ladies had their way and forced all of them to finish the cubes.
The solemnization and dinner was held at the Pan Pacific Hotel. The intimate christian service was held just before dinner. I love shooting at Pan Pac because of the great lighting both at the reception area and in the ballroom itself. Congrats Gordon and Shirley!
More of such images can be seen in my Wedding Photography webpage or in the Wedding Photography category of this blog.
This is a follow up to my post on protecting your value as a photographer. This working for free business would seem counter-intuitive but hang on, there is a reason for this. I want to clarify that I have worked for free before and will continue to do so under certain circumstances. Every photographer I know has worked for free one time or another. I work for free from a monetary point of view but only if there is a special reason or a barter trade involved. The special reason could be for charity, on an experimental project, free advertising, breaking into a certain market, etc. Something in return which benefits me, other than monetary gains. And that is how photographers should view this. We should not undermine our skills by shooting for free without any gains. That was the perspective of my earlier post. I’ve done work for credits in return and advertising space but it must be convincing for me to do so. But in all circumstances, I do not give out my copyrights and will allow certain usage of the images. I also weigh the opportunity costs in terms of time for the shoot. If it’s worth the effort, go for it. Else, if it involves a lot of traveling, sucking up precious time, then ditch it. Expenses involved is also considered. All these are weighed against the returns. Continue reading 'WORKING FOR FREE?'»
After the first shoot of the cups, an additional shoot was required for both the cups and the coffee sachet to be more in focus. Sometimes shooting the same thing twice gives an opportunity to try and explore a new approach. The layout of props was similar to the previous one so changes were made to the lighting setup. I still used the ST-E2, Speedlite 580EX and an umbrella. This time I used a styrofoam board as a reflector. Continue reading 'Shooting products with a lifestyle twist: Reloaded'»
Ever since my last post on light modifiers [here], I’ve been asked about the beauty dish. I’ve a few pictures to demonstrate the use of this when my friend Kevin popped by my studio to have a few headshots taken today. Here’s what the beauty dish looks like and one of the pictures from the shoot. It’s fashioned after a parabolic reflector to distribute light and it gives a unique characteristic. Notice the shadows or light fall-off on the face….it wraps the face, Continue reading 'Light Modifiers: Beauty Dish'»
At the start of my photography career, a good friend asked me “What do I want to do with my photography?”. A valid question and a loaded one too. What is it that motivates me? What gives me direction? My answer to him that time was I wanted to use photography to impact society. It sounded lofty at that time, like wishing for world peace, but it was something I truly believed in. Continue reading 'What do you want to do with your photography?'»
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