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.

And then Quality of Photos.
Does having better knowledge means better photos? Well there’s a correlation. Again we start at zero. And then as knowledge increases, the quality of our photos increases naturally. And then wham! New advances in software especially in dealing with HDR means you start from scratch with this new understanding – learning to increase the dynamic range of your images. From here onwards, your pictures will improve in tandem with your knowledge.

So how good do you think you are?
Many of us start off thinking the world of our images. We live in our own world. Everything looks pretty but as we improve, we begin to see cracks in that. We can swing to the extreme and say that the more we learn, the worst we think our pictures can get. But with Photoshop and sharing our pictures on Flickr and Facebook, people start telling us how amazing a photographer we are. And we believe that..until a certain point of realization then we start all over again.

Do I believe in this completely? Maybe not. But what I do believe is we go through ups and downs in photography. I went through an experience when I stayed away from it for many years until I rediscovered it. And improved from then on. So it’s perfectly normal.

However if I only want to get one lens, I would save all my money and just get a medium range zoom lens like Canon’s 24-70mm F2.8L. Good for urban landscape at the wide end and portraits at the 70mm end. The alternative to that is the 24-105mm F4L. That has the Image Stabilization and although the maximum aperture is only F4, shooting portraits at the 105mm range gives an acceptable, pleasing blurred background (also known as ‘bokeh’). I use this lens a lot when shooting events and don’t have the luxury of changing lenses a lot. I very much prefer to use lenses with larger aperture, or fast lenses. But for the convenience and the versatility, I’ll take the slower mid-range zooms.

Finding the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary

Use compositional techniques to give a fresh view of an otherwise ordinary image. As an example to illustrate this, people see things usually at eye level and sometimes shooting up or down can give a fresh look. Many times we go about our daily routine just looking straight, at eye level. Going to work and back, we see blank faces, posters, ads, building entrances, steps (hopefully), etc. Perhaps once awhile we need to change our perspective a bit and enjoy the view, the breathtaking grandeur of skyscrapers for instance. Or even the interior of a building. This was the premise for a series of pictures taken in New York I’ve entitled Looking Up.

Diagonal approach refers to lines in the composition. Three basic elements are diagonal lines, leading lines and curves. Diagonal lines are more dynamic compared to verticals and horizontal. Use lines to draw the viewer to a certain part of an image. My examples have a lot of diagonal lines.

Colour is used to draw attention to a particular subject, for eg, a red umbrella in front of a mostly gray building. See example 02….the reflection of the building draws attention easily since the rest of the image appears monochromatic.

Two-thirds rule/rules of thirds. To make the image more interesting, compose the subject at the side and not in the middle of the frame. If you imagine the scene to have 2 lines running across or along it, place the subject on one of the lines. The idea is not to have the subject dead-center of the image.

Negative and positive space. Negative space is space around an image while positive space is actual the subject itself. Use negative spaces well, too much or too little can affect the image drastically. Example of negative space can be the sky, landscape, etc while positive space is the building itself.

Technical details. Images shot with Voigtlander Bessa-R rangefinder, Hellar 15mm lens, Kodak Ektachrome slides. Conversion to B&W done in Photoshop.

The manual method I use a lot is to process the RAW file with different brightness levels, normally one with the right exposure and the other underexposed. I overlay the former on top of the latter in Photoshop and remove the parts of the top layer so that the darker areas from the bottom layer can be seen. I use this for shooting interiors when the outside window lighting is so strong, or when there is insufficient lighting for certain areas. The images above show examples of the final output.

Recently I started trying out the HDR function in photoshop. If you’re using CS3, it’s in File>Automate>Merge to HDR. You would need to have at least 3 images to get a decent merged image. The function allows you to select the number of images, which are then converted into a single 32-bit file. When you want to change to 8-bits or 16-bits, you are required to choose a tonemapping method. The only option that makes sense is the ‘Local Adaptation’ option. However, you may get a file that has so little contrast, it looks comic-like. You would have to increase contrast to make it look real. What you get can be close to what you see in the real world, with a wider dynamic range than just a single shot can give. Here’s a sample image I tried. I shot 5 files with the following exposures -2EV, -1EV, 0, 1EV, +2EV. It was a bright sunny day and the single shot showed a completely washed-out exterior.

You can also merge HDR from a single image. Process your RAW file with different exposures, open all the files in photoshop and then use the HDR function. Of course nothing beats doing it in camera.

I have this fascination with images made in the early 1900s. I can just stare at old images, trying to relive the period it was taken in, imagining myself in that scene. I just had a similar experience in the toilet of Grand Copthorne on Saturday. While peeing, I was staring at images of Singapore in early 1900s. No date was given but talk about entertainment while relieving yourself!

Back in the days of Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and other famed photographers, a good image was one which captured a slice of time, ‘the decisive moment’, social issues. We see these iconic images every now and then which may not pass our modern definition of a good image in terms of the basic techniques mentioned earlier. So it’s the purpose of photographing that makes a good image, what goes through your mind, what do you want to say with your images. Stopping at the basic techniques just provide a pretty image, visual satisfaction. Don’t stop there, carry on.

So back to the modern day where rules of composition, lighting, patterns, colour, contrast, etc are presented as essential, I learn to push that boundary. Who says you can’t shoot an image in this particular way or that? The images on top are all shot against the sun which breaks the ‘preferred’ rule of shooting with the sun behind the photographer or at the side of the subject. Who says I can’t shoot against the sun? I like the dramatic lighting shooting this way presents. I don’t quite care about flare…I make it a part of the image. I keep honing the skill of getting the exposure perfect such that the subject comes out the way I want it to, whether as a silhouette or well lit, with the background completely washed out.

The important thing is to shoot the image that excites you. Use the techniques (or break it) and get images that hold people’s attention longer, make them think, make them cry. I had someone cry when she saw the picture of her and her fiance. Good thing it wasn’t because it was bad..but it just evoked so much emotion from her.

Your skill is required to deliver the output, it’s a link between your mind’s eye and the viewer’s eye. Keep shooting to get it right. Learn from other photographers, study film directors’ work, look out for interesting ads when out shopping. Every photographer is constantly absorbing visual input and you should too.

Light modifiers

They do exactly what they are called, modify or change characteristic of light. You’ll see some of these terms used frequently in this blog since photographers use these a lot to get the effect they want, kind of sculpting light. They can be used for both strobe-based (flash) or continuous light. I’ll explain the ones I use a lot in studio and on location, and in my opinion the most basic if you want to start getting into studio lighting.

Light directly from the source is harsh and unless you want that effect, it may not be suitable for many purposes. Think bright sunlight vs cloudy day. So to reproduce the effect you want, you need to have these following accessories.

Softbox

A softbox is fitted onto the light, providing a sort of screen to ‘soften’ the light. Hard light produces edgy, distinct shadows while soft light produces the opposite. The size of softbox to use depends on the size of the subject. I use a 120X80cm softbox to light a full body portrait and in some cases, this may not be large enough. The problem of using a softbox too small is light fallout in areas outside coverage. You could move the light back but you also sacrifice power output and space. In Mark and baby Sol’s portrait, a large 120cmX80cm softbox was used on camera right.

Umbrella

The umbrella has two modes, reflective and shoot-through. That makes it very versatile especially on location. In the shoot-through mode, the umbrella acts like a softbox whereas in the reflective mode, the light bounces of the internal reflective surface of the umbrella. I use both softboxes and umbrellas equally as much, many times choosing one over the other out of convenience. I also mix the two, often using the softbox as key light (main light) and the umbrella to fill the shadows, or even to provide highlight for hair.

For products I prefer to use softboxes as it’s more directional and I can move it easily to control the light on the product.

Barndoors

Attached to the lights directly, they are used to limit the spill of the light. I use it to control spillage onto the backdrop, while getting the harsh light from the direct source. Very useful if I don’t need to soften light, and shooting directly onto the subject.

Snoot

A conical attachment to the light, it serves to focus light to a spot. Very useful in shooting products if I want to highlight a certain area, to give it a specular highlight, without affecting the lighting on other parts. Because of its construction, a lot of light is lost in it so it’s not too useful for lighting something far away.

Honeycomb

A sort of grated attachment to the light to direct light. It’s not as focused as a snoot and it’s useful to provide a circular gradient to a backdrop. I don’t usually use this to light a product but I use it sometimes to provide backlighting for a portrait. They usually come in fine, medium or large grating to provide varying sizes.

Coloured Gels or Filters

Changes the light colour. Strobe-based lights are daylight-balanced so in order to change the colour temperature eg, eg to warm lighting or even change the colour, these are placed just in front of the bare bulb. With a combination of coloured backdrop and coloured filters, you can get interesting backdrop colours. For Mark and Sol’s portrait, the magazine wanted an orange backdrop. The closest colour I had was red but it wasn’t suitable. So I fitted a yellow gel onto the light behind and the combination gave us the colour we wanted.

Reflectors

I use this to fill the shadows. The standard ones you can buy are white, silver and gold reflectors. Gold gives a nice warm fill and I would use it to match the ambient. I have also used a white styrofoam board, mirror (for products), or even the aluminum foil for wrapping food. You can almost use anything as a reflector..

Beauty Dish

Produces harsher light than a softbox and makes a more contrasty image, but not as contrasty as a bare bulb. What I like best is the light fallout at the edge of the subject. This is used a lot in fashion and glamour portraits.

These are the modifiers I usually use. There are others like gobo (to project a pattern, think batman), etc which I hardly use on a shoot but hope to one day.

A very memorable part of the wedding dinner was the part when Poh Huat and Siew Len formed a train by pulling friends and relatives along, as they went table to table to greet guests. It was impromptu and they didn’t have any alcohol in them! In all my years of shooting, this has to be the first for me.

More of such images can be seen in my Wedding Photography webpage or in the Wedding Photography category of this blog.

So what is YOLO? From the website, “It’s a creation by Singapore design agency Yellow Octopus (YO) in 2007 to celebrate its 10th year in the industry, YOLO is your space for discovery, inspiration, art, design, purpose, collaboration, expression and to celebrate life.

The YOLO platform facilitates exciting collaborations, recognising rising talents, and develops innovative products to carry YOLOs message to the world. YOLO is about making the choice to live life to the fullest and drawing out everyone’s hidden potential to become who they are meant to be. To inspire and be inspired.”

Technically, the bike was lit by two main source of lights, with the exact same settings. The lights were 500W Bowens, with softboxes attached. Since the surface is reflective, the key was to position the lights to prevent blowing the highlights. Shooting with modeling light was essential in this case. I find that for reflective surfaces, eg, stainless steel cutlery or kitchen equipment, there is absolutely no way you can avoid reflection from the lights, no matter how far or near you position your lights, it will still show up on the surface. So instead of fighting it, work with it and create the best looking reflection you can. That’s why I set the light output to be identical and use the same light modifier, the light boxes in this case.

Normally, I’ll have an assistant hold up the flash high above the camera and subject, with the infra-red receiver pointing towards the camera with the ST-E2 attached. I used to fire into an umbrella but nowadays, I feel the difference is negligible if the flash is positioned far from the subject. In bright daylight, the range of the ST-E2 drops since it uses infra-red to trigger the flash. If it fails, I replace it with another flash since that will give me more range.

I’ll leave the flash on E-TTL mode but I usually adjust the exposure compensation on my camera (usually set to aperture-priority) to control the amount of ambient light coming in. In most cases I’ll drop to -2EV just to have the effect of the flash more pronounced and give the background a bit more colour. You can play around with this setting to get the feel you want. You need a lot of flash output to shoot outdoors, so I use the 580EX flash with the highest guide number available.

The images below with the triathletes was for promotional material for Tribob.com, while the images of fishermen were taken on a fishing rig (palong) in Aceh. The picture of Khanh in swimsuit was to demonstrate the use of the flash in a brighter environment. Any brighter that this and the flash output will not be enough to balance the sunlight. I would have to depend on more powerful strobes.

So if you want to try creative portraits, both indoors and outdoors, consider getting the ST-E2. It’ll be a worthwhile investment.

Technically, I just used two lights but I positioned them in such a way to create high contrast images, a bit strong and harsh. I originally wanted this series to be in black and white but the colour version is equally exciting. Key light was from a 80X120cm Softbox on camera right and highlight with an umbrella on camera left. Lights were 500W Bowens.

To make the white background glow in the first image, I flooded it directly with one light. I think I must have max-ed the output. The idea was to let the white glow or glare into the image. I love to shoot against the sun, and I guess this was the effect I wanted to create, short of positioning the light behind and shooting straight into the camera.

More of such images can be seen in the Family Photography category of this blog.

My guitar is going to be famous. For my keepsake, I didn’t DI away the pick mark in the full body portrait We did the shoot to her music, blasting away from her phone. Awesome stuff, look out for her CD! Her voice is so rich and I can’t wait to hear her music on a proper sound system.

Alila, I thank God for your talent!

Technically, it’s a very simple lighting setup. The idea was to just shoot against white to leave the CD designer a bit more creative space. Alila had not engaged a designer yet and decided to go ahead with the photoshoot first. So I set up:

1. One 80X120cm softbox on camera right for most of the shoot.

2. One light with a diffuser to light the white backdrop. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to get a completely white background. The trick is to adjust your light ratios.

3. One light with diffuser at camera left, slightly behind her to light her hair and give the edgy light on hair and part of the face. I don’t use this all the time though.

These were essentially the lighting setup throughout most of the shoot. Of course I played around with light output and direction of the key light quite a bit for visual variety.

I planned the itinerary with Google Maps, realizing how much I’ve underestimated the software. Amazing piece of work! Here’re the shoot locations. The colours denote different dates. 

This is my first trip to Paris but after this trip, I intend to offer this as one of my pre-wedding shoot locations next year.

After Paris, Lydia and I plan to head to Bordeaux. It’s about 3 hours plus from Paris by TGV. I generally stay away from French wines when I go wine-shopping coz it’s so darn complex. I’m hoping to learn a thing or two in Bordeaux.

1. Cameras – Duh! Well, I make it a point to have a backup for any shoot whether local or overseas. You never know what will happen to your main camera or you might decide to shoot with two cameras, avoiding lenses changes. I’ve had my shutter collapse on me during a wedding shoot some years. Yes, it was a pretty harrowing experience but I calmly setup the backup camera without anyone realizing what had happened. Part of the professionalism is having to anticipate as much as possible …and leave the rest to God.

So into the bag went my Canon 5D Mk II and 1D Mk II.

2. Lenses – For weddings, I like to go close to the action as possible and so if you noticed my style, it makes the viewer feel he’s into the thick of the action. And I like to use a wide aperture to isolate the subject.  So in this trip, I brought along the following lenses:

16-35mm F2.8L, 24-105mm F4L, 35mm F1.4, 50mm F1.4

I’ve decided not to bring along my 70-200mm F2.8L. Besides, this lens sees little action even in my local actual day wedding shoot.

3. Flash – Definitely have a backup.

2 X 580EX Flash

4. CF Cards. I prefer to have a few smaller cards…kinda spreading the eggs in a few baskets, so I have an assortments of 2Gb and 4Gb cards.

5. Macbook. I opted for the souped-up smaller 13″ Macbook instead of the Macbook Pros which has the 15″ as the smallest size. I just prefer to bring along a smaller notebook.

6. Other Accessories

- CF card reader. 

- Stofen Omnibounce – the white plastic box thingy that diffuses light from the flash.

- Batteries – A4s for flash and spare batteries for cameras

- Cleaning cloth

- USB cable – in case anything goes wrong with my card reader, I can download pics from the camera directly.

- CP-E4 Battery Pack – to ensure quick recycling for the flash. Don’t wanna get caught missing moments, while waiting for the flash to recharge. I use flash sparingly but in a totally dark environment, this is going to be useful.

- LowePro belt – that stores almost all the stuff I need during a shoot. This is one of the best belts I’ve had. Stiff enough to not pull down my pants yet flexible enough to not eat into my flesh. I’ve all sorts of pouches attached to it.

- LowePro Mini Trekker AW Bag – to house all the above items. Now you know why I carry a 13″ notebook. Anything bigger than that won’t fit in. I usually chuck my bag in one corner during a shoot and carry all the things with me. I have to be very careful of theft, especially overseas. I’ve heard enough horror stories to avoid packing everything I have and having to leave things in a bag hidden somewhere.

I think the important thing is carrying just enough equipment for the shoot. Of course I would like to pack everything I have for a shoot but I would sacrifice mobility and security. Experience tells me what I need to pack although I may not be prepared for something unexpected. But that’s the balance one has to strike.