In the field: Gigi @ Tampines Mall

Once in a blue moon I do get the chance to go shoot for WanBao. Their articles usually have more readers. Might be a good chance to gain publicity =) One such opportunity came in a form of a last minute call to shoot some HK celebrity who happened to be in SG. More after the break...

I'm a mountain turtle when it comes to the realm of celeb and pop world. When the photodesk told me i was to shoot Gigi Lai and Aileen, I had no idea who they were. "gigi? Wasn't that the malay term for 'tooth'?" Oh well, since i happened to have an assignment later that day at the same region, i took on this assignment and immediately set off, didn't even google about who's the person. Come to think of it, that was quite risky. I may have banged into her unaware... but thats rare i think.

Once on location, i realised what sh*t i got myself into... an army of compact/handphone wielding aunties. Believe me, their fanatism is a force to reckon with. No amount of equipment or press pass u display can repel them. But hey, I've got a big zoom and a powerful flash, and some height advantage. I decided not to be polite (since it will most certainly not be recipocrated) After observing how the organizers move, I found myself a strategic position and stand rooted to the ground, conveniently blocking the view of quite some people. (they can buy the paper afterwards)

Arrival of VIP. Flash head-on, full auto, OTOT carry on. What intrigued me was the technology of cosmetics nowadays. Gigi's nano-coated face can take any intensity of flash you throw at her, and just refuse to hot-spot. I sometimes get a feeling that her light complexion might be attributed more to the xenon beams she receive than any weird water she may be promoting. Just IMHO.

Soon came the interview session, and i had to wade through the crowd to get to the press area. I don't know if it was intentional, but the reporter came in from behind gigi and forced her to turn her head sideways against the illuminated advertisement board. Well done! The soft-box sidelight effect was simply flattering, and I hogged my position throughout the interview, contentedly spamming my shutter at any chance of more unique expressions. Nobody gave way for me to get out anyway, so why should I give up my prime angle? (ok i'm a fishmonger) To be even more selfish, I added watermarks on pics posted here lol.

Ok, learning points from the assignment: Google the VIP if you are a mountain turtle like me. Then try to be early to access the situation and lookout for prime angles. Do not use big shoulder bags if possible. Watch out for expressions... celebs already have alot of generic poses, so you don't wanna repeat them. Ask the reporter what exactly do they need, so you won't waste effort in getting shots that end up discarded.

Article published 030808

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Mum i've been shooting: 抢麦08 portraits and performance

The Qiangmai season has been a very good opportunity for SYD members to experiment with portraiture. Every season, we are required to come up with publicity portraits of top 16 to finalists. Photos aren't used in major publications, but we still strive to produce our best. Where can you find so many free models anyway?

More after the break...

Judging by previous year's portraits, I believe we have made a big improvement this year. Main ingredient is the use of multiple off camera flashes, AKA strobing. Putting together different brands of flash, gels, DIY light modifiers, we had a taste of what multiple lights can do.

Of course, it was not all about going on site and just shoot. Planning for the shot is most important and time consuming. When we get the theme, we scour the net for what others have done, just to come up with inspirations. Models have to be notified on what to wear, and when to turn up. We have to decide where and what time to do the shoot. Coming up with the idea before shooting will easily save hours, and make everyone happy. A happy model also look better in pictures.

Being new to strobing, experimentation is key. All thanks to the immediate feedback of digital photography, we can see how every little change affects the overall image. Having consistent positioning of lights is very important, and is one problem we face. We do not own lightstands, and have to rely on our dear juniors to hold up the lights, tiring them out and wasting time. Really have to work on this the next season.

Other than that, I guess we learnt alot about how light positioning could really affect the image, and this helps in reverse-engineering those magazine images to deduce the sort of setup others use. Also aids in allowing me to pre-visualise the effects, and know when to employ off camera lighting on assignment.

Besides portraiture, we had to cover the performances as well. Being a rather stress-free assignment, the performances served to hone our skills in metering, which trust me, is one of the hardest to nail. Lights are harsh and ever changing, and we have to develop a feel of what settings to use.

This time round, due to the rather bland lighting, I decided to cheat a little and use off camera lighting =D. Certainly helps in preparing me for covering concerts.

The whole album is visible on my multiply. Do click around.

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Mum i've been shooting: 文化营08 @ DTE

This happened to be my 3rd multi-day event, the 2nd being 迎新 which was a flop. This was the first time we produced a proper slideshow on time =D Of course this represented a significant improvement in our workflow, especially since we have 5 photogs on site. Click on to find out more.

3 day event, I was there for 2. Boss didn't let me off for the first day.

I always view big events as a test of my level, a gauge of how far i've come. The list of improvements are as follows:

1. Workflow. Having 5 photogs on site and having to juggle >10GB of photos with only 512MB of RAM isn't exactly easy. We synchronised all our camera clocks so all our photos come out in sequence. We also came out with an efficient rating system, being able to sieve 70+ pictures out of thousands within 3hrs. Although we still didn't get much sleep, our slideshow could be presented on time, autonomously, with music and transitions all in. Except for lousy projector which we couldn't do anything about, I guess this was as good as we've come.

2. Agility. First major event using the ThinkTank Changeup. Wet or dry, I could have all my gear with me. Even brought them into Wildwildwet, while keeping them dry with the raincover. Good stuff. Much less tired than usual at the end of the day as well.

3. White Balance. WB in de-tente was horrendous. Green floor and fluorescent is a lousy combi. I learnt to adjust WB to as close to perfect as possible, using a combination of live-view and WB fine-adjustments. 2 sets of WB settings, 1 for flash and 1 ambient, and switching between the 2 on the fly. Gelled up the flash to match fluorescent as well. RAW was out of the option as I do not have enough capacity and computing power to process them on time.

New aims for the next event? At least 2 computers to expedite the sorting and processing. (now that most of us have new laptops). More use of off camera flash for more "kick". More flash units for the group shot so we can go below ISO1600. Of course, grabbing more and better shots.

Event held in May08, published a week after that.

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Mum I've been shooting: 专访

I'm not good at working with people. Much less shoot them. It will take quite a while before I reach the strobist standard, but I'm lucky enough to get opportunities to practice.

More after the break...

Feature portraits are very much a bread and butter of photojournalists, and as SYD shooters we do get our fair share of such assignments. These are the assignments that got me thinking way before I actually go on the shoot, and still get stressed up on site.

There is considerably more PR than technicality when it comes to feature portraits. The person knows he is going to be shown to a lot of other people, and will get particularly picky at times. Most important thing I had to overcome is to act confident. Yea... act. They will be more comfortable if they think you are pro... (and they will think twice about asking to see the pic u have taken) Even when the initial pose is crap, just take a few pics and praise him. Dun keep changing posts too often and too quickly.

Then there is the picky PR manager to deal with... those pesky people who's always looking for opportunities to make free adverts. They want you to include crap stuff like their company logo, their medals, their work... all sorts of stuff you know will be irrelevant. Just take a few random shots to pacify them.

There are also those who can't smile (me being one of them). I had to learn how to talk crap with them to make them comply (something i'm still learning), and its considerably harder to convince a grownup than teens/children, us being still young haha.

Another aspect I had to work on would be the relevance, how to link the guy's face to the topic of the article. Usually it would mean posing props in interesting positions, and photogs only have like... 5-10 mins to work on the poses, and we don't have much time to pause and think between poses. I remembered how shaky I was during my first few assignments, when everyone was looking at me as I try to cough out some poses on the spot. Sweat. I'd really like to see how a pro works in the field one day.

One tool I'm learning to use effectively is off camera flashes (aka strobist). Maybe one day, when I own more flashes and maybe some light stands. But right now, I still have to rely on our dear reporters to handhold them for me.

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Mum i've been shooting: 通讯员 internal camp 07

My first multi-day super assignment came in the form of a 4d3n camp. Both equipment and operator were taxed to the limit. To me this is the perfect endurance training.

More after the break...

The camp was held at changi MOE adventure camp site, and I was to provide coverage for the entire event.

What is challenging is the multitude of conditions I had to shoot in. Indoors, outdoors, bright sunlight, dark campfires, rain or shine, my job is to document the games, and capture the smiles. And continue to do so with less than 4 hours of sleep every night. Don't forget the slideshow at the end of the event as well.

Photos are expected to be more aesthetically pleasing than meaningful, so I got to experiment a lot of unorthodox angles, which is where I really get to learn. Shoehorn a UWA into someone's face? No problem. Super-slow sync? Off camera flash? Zoom burst? Whatever you can think of. Just... impress.

With a camera in my hand for extended hours, I really understood its ergonomics and limitations. I learnt to handle the equipment by instinct, like counting the no. of clicks when turning the dials, or swapping lenses without looking down. It is in situations like this that I really thank Nikon for putting so much attention into ergonomics. A little flaw in the balance, or a mistake in the shape of the grip would definitely show up the next day in the form of muscle aches.

Adrenaline is also kept high. One has to 眼观四面， 耳听八方, or at least try to maintain that level of vigilance. There are moments where you will just want to slack, but the thought of missing the action, missing the smile, or maybe missing THAT million $ shot will really push you to endure.

All is not done when everyone else goes to sleep. We had to process the photos, and this is where I get to learn how to streamline the workflow: Being critical in selecting pictures, and keeping the edits simple and fast, how you separate the selected, edited or resized photos from the rest of the pool without making too many duplicates... Working with event photography isn't quite the same as hobby photoshoots... all these factors are critical in getting the presentation delivered on time, and in style.

The article was published on 2nd of January 2008. Though I didn't get paid for this (coz its a combined effort), just going through the training is worth the effort. Of course, seeing your pictures blown up on paper is a real bonus =D

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Mum i've been shooting: In the SPH auditorium

Many activities take place within this auditorium. Problem is, the lighting is usually crap. Ceilings are 3 stories high, and walls are colored and dull. Bulbs are all tungsten tinted. This is the place I learnt how to light indoors.

More after the break...

When I first joined SYD, I was told that the auditorium is a killer for many newbies. Not only is it because of the crap lighting, but because of the photos you have to take inside. Group photos. Event photos. Photos that need DOV, and relatively high shutter speeds.

When I started off shooting there with my D70 and kit lens, my ISO was always maxed out, along with the aperture. Still had to compromise on the shutter at 1/30th. Either that or work your flash doubly hard.

Colour temperature was also pretty orangy. Without the ability to fine tune WB, I had to shoot RAW most of the time. But I did learn how to get around such problems. Low lighting? Slow sync instead. Orange lights? Gel up the flash.

I got my 2.8 lenses eventually, and with the further procurement of the D300, shooting in the auditorium is now much more manageable. I can now concentrate on the finer aspects of photography, like capturing distinct moments. Equipment counts for indoor event photography. Of course you don't need exotic equipment, but 2.8 glass helps a lot. A flash is almost necessary. So if you see yourself shooting many events in the future, save up and gun for fast glass straight. Saves you the upgrading costs.

There were also pretty unique situations, like shooting someone giving presentations. Balancing exposure between what is projected on the screen, and the speaker in the foreground. It isn't always easy. Colour temperature of the projector is different from ambient and flash. I was taught to expose for the screen, while we light the speaker by flash. However, bouncing the flash also brightens up the screen, while shooting direct will result in ugly shadows. Till now my solution is to shoot ambient (ie without flash). I'd like to try off camera flashing in the when the opportunity arises.

Then there is the all important group shot, lighting up 5-6 rows of people with a single flash. Pressure is on you to command the group, and you have to get it right on the first go. I'll have to come up with standard operating procedures for this, but right now we still can't produce group shots worthy of going beyond 8R.

Experience in shooting in this audi has certainly given me confidence of shooting in less than ideal conditions.

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Mum i'm out shooting: KWN finals presentation

This is the first of my "mum i'm out shooting" category of blog posts. After looking through the many articles we published during the entire work year, I realized that though not all of them have spectacular images, there is always something substantial gained for every assignment I took. It'll be a waste not to share these experiences, and hopefully these posts will serve to document the footsteps I've taken to better my skills.

More after the break...
This is one of the first assignments I've taken solo. It was a rainy afternoon, and I almost arrived late as I underestimated the travelling time of the bus. When we finally got into the room, I was stunned by the formality of the occasion. Everyone was in suits, even the videographers (flown in from japan by panasonic i think) Me - shirt and jeans. Luckily I did regain some confidence after whipping out a substantially larger, non-panasonic camera. Lesson learnt: ask about dress code before assignment.

I hardly had any idea what kind of pictures were needed too. The only indicators of the event was the backdrop posters. The participants present were from different countries, so I thought I'd shoot a few of them in fancy constumes. None of those were used. The only pic published was the group shot.

Article published sometime in Jan 08, in thumbsup.

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Fisheye landscapes #3

7 exp HDR

No other lens could have gotten me this shot. I was only a meter away from the trunk. This lens is built for photographing trees =D It can even do IR! (one day i'll mod my d70 for this) Just be sure to keep the horizon in the center to remove the distortion.

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Yet another fishy walkabout

Bear with me... i just love to see the hexagonal light bursts from this fisheye. Best of all, there is no flaring even when pointing at the sun!

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Warp my world

5 exp handheld HDR

In case you haven't notice... the above image is way wilder than usual. What happened? Make a lucky guess =D

Hmm... isn't that hard to guess eh? I gave in and bought myself yet another lens - the Tokina 10-17 FE. It's a fisheye zoom... first of its kind for DX sized sensors, and can be used on FX from 15mm onwards. (talk about future proofing)

INTRO TO FISHEYE

This lens is a SPECIALITY lens. Which means it is only useful in a few situations. Used too often, viewers will develop vertigo, and it might just turn them off. But when used the right way, it is able to get you ASS-KICKING perspectives no other lenses can.

Fisheyes have geometric instead of volumetric distortions. That is to say, objects retain the same area in the picture no matter where it is placed. Rectilinear lenses, say the 12-24, have volumetric distortions, stretching objects placed at the edges, making faces and bodies look wider than they are supposed to be. However, fisheyes curve any lines that doesn't pass through the center, so there are subjects that you shouldn't shoot with a fisheye under normal circumstances (ie buildings/landscapes).

COMPOSING WITH FISHEYES

What i love about this particular lens is the wide-ness. It's sick. You get the full 180 degrees FOV, meaning that EVERYTHING in front of you will be in the picture. That includes part of your feet or maybe your shoulder, but more commonly, your shadow. The widest rectilinear lens at the moment is the sigma 12-24, but that is only about 120 deg FOV. Imagine how much wider this is! The extreme wideness and unique distortion means I have to learn to compose in a very different way.

To get use to this new persective, I stuck the camera to my eye as i walked around the park. With the distortion, I have the ability to "bend" objects, warping them to aid my composition. This also means that how I frame my picture will be more important than before. You can't simply crop the image in post.

HANDLING & BUILT

The 10-17 is a very compact and light lens. Despite its solid metallic body, it only weighs 350g. (the 12-24 weights 750g). It is only slightly larger than a 50mm prime, making it an ideal walkabout UWA, provided you can accept the loss of corner detail when pictures are de-fished.

PERFORMANCE

Wide open, this lens is not very sharp. Purple fringing is evident, even after the Expeed processing. But stopped down to f8 and sharpness is much more acceptable, although still not as sharp as any other lens I own.

Edit: I made a serious mistake on leaving AF Fine Tune ON. (Apparently D300 doesn't allow fine tuning of different 3rd party lenses) With it off, I get much better results. This lens is surprisingly sharp all the way to the edges from f5.6 and above!

It is surprisingly resilient to flare though, and the 6 aperture blades give me very nice sunbursts. This is important as the lens is so wide you almost always get the sun in your picture.

Matrix metering will go wild outdoors, due to the super high contrast of the scene. Use center weighted, manual, or if possible, HDR like what i've did. (it helps if you can rattle off at 8fps hehe)

IN CONCLUSION this is a very unique yet versatile lens. Lightweight and compact, I believe it will be with me for the non-important social gatherings, or walkabouts more often than the 12-24.

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Le Grand Finale

Behold the bringer of light - We stared in awe as the sun blazed through the cool morning air, waving us goodbye with a spectacular lightshow. What a way to end off this beautiful trip!

More details after the break...
With less than 7 hours of sleep in 2 consecutive days, I was severely reluctant to catch the sunrise (especially when yesterday's was a disappointingly wet one). As my alarm rang, I peeked at the still-dark sky to check visibility. Hmm... not bad. Stars still visible. Called out to my friends (hardly expecting any of them to respond), I dragged my waterlogged tripod and gear down to the beach again.

I was first treated to an eerily beautiful moonrise, which I mistook for an eclipsed sun. Wth happened to our sun today? I was really perplexed for a moment. Thanks to Junzhan for clarifying that it's the moon we are seeing. Ok... i'm blur.

Minutes later, the lightshow began. The horizon glowed the "tekong glow", a wonderful gradient of yellow to blue, and i was fully awake now. There was a field of altocumulus clouds in the distance that would really bloom when the sun comes out. I began to panic as i did not have a proper composition in mind yet - I wasn't prepared to shoot with the sea at high tide.

After rattling off a few mediocre "smooth-water" frames, I was frustrated.. something was missing in my pics. There was no action... no movement. Not the best way to present the grand sunrise imminent.

I clambered over hard and slippery rocks in search for nice waveforms, and spotted this cool rockpool where the water would swirl around before retreating. Setup my stuff just in time to catch the first rays of light clipping at the clouds.

Here's a snapshot taken by my newly made friend Simin, shooting conveniently from the balcony of the resort bar. That's me in the back swapping lenses.

The sun made its entrance as a pink round blob, rising rapidly from the horizon. There was simply no time to wait for a big wave. The scene's contrast is very high as well. Switching to CH i bracketed multiple series hoping to get a few right. No time to think now.

The best pictures were shot with 2 GND8 filters stacked (6 stops total difference). The bigger waves came in soon enough, and they were useful in portraying the life and energy in the scene. As the camera continued filling up a whole 2 GB card, I stood to take in the breathtaking send-off vista.

Adios Redang!

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银河梦

Yet another "night star" pic from Redang. No, I don't have as many variations as Mozart did for his "twinkle twinkle little star" melody. This is probably the last of the series.

I blew some condensation onto the front element 40 seconds into the exposure. Not very obvious here, but it did create a soft glow around the bright stars, perfectly reflecting the dreamy mood i was in as the picture was taken.

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别有洞天

62sec exposure, f/4 at iso1600

Hmm... probably a different composition than the usual star skies?

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The world is a miraculous place

122s exposure, f/4, iso800

Stars above, darkess all round. At the edge of the cliff I sat, alone, feeling as one with mother nature. Holding the shutter open, I let my camera do its magic, the magic of describing this beautiful experience with a thousand words, or in this case, with one solid picture.

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Accidental Beauty

No PP done. Just resized and posted as taken.

All thanks to the cool morning shower we were forced to sleep a little more. We gave the marine-park snorkel a miss too, which is probably a good thing since we've not have enough sleep ever since the trip began.

The air was damp when as we strolled towards the "More more tea inn", and condensation graced my lens elements, creating perfect tonality depicting the morning blues... it's an accidental yet wonderful effect. Picture taken with the AIS nikkor 80-200 f/4

Oh fyi, snapshots from Redang have been uploaded on my multiply site. More to come =)

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How many more times can I feel so happy?

Group photo shot with off camera flash to the left at 1/2 power

This is one hell of a trip. Well planned, well executed, great company. Coupled with crystal clear water, white sands and beautiful weather, this is the poor man's Maldives. I'll have quite a few more pictures from Redang to be posted in the days to come. Stay tuned.

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Nikon's latest releases - d700 & sb900

I'm back from my Redang trip, and have quite a lot of NEFs to convert (including those from last week's portrait shoot. But the first post since returning will not have a single picture. Being gear headed as I am, the first thing i did when i returned was to visit dpreview for any latest Nikon releases... and lo and behold, here's the D700 and SB900 - as rumoured. More after the break.

D700 - This is Nikon's cheaper FX camera, with hardly any compromises. For those dreaming of FX on a d80 or lesser body... dream on. You can't meter with legacy lenses with those bodies, and only with legacy lenses will Nikon users have a chance at Canon's wide range of primes.

NO, you won't see a D700 in my hands anytime soon

People debating between D700 and D300 is basically choosing between FX and DX. Both have the same speed, almost same body, sharing same accessories. For me, I have 2 DX lenses at the moment, and if they were to be upgraded to their FX equivalents, I have to fork out another 5k (lens alone) I'm going to be a uni student soon, and that means no income + high expense. Nope, i don't have 5k to burn at the moment. But I will definitely think thrice before anymore DX lens purchases.

FX tempts me for it's much better bokeh and high ISO performance, as well as UWA lenses. My next DSLR might be an FX one, but I'll definitely want to keep a DX body for its reach. I don't see myself owning the 300mm f2.8 anytime soon.

SB900 - This is a tempting product. Very. From specs alone, there isn't any difference compared to SB800. SB800 is as good as a flash can get, specs wise. What really got me is the ergonomics. This is exactly what is wrong with the SB800.

1. I have to hold down the on/off button for a sec before i can turn it off. SLOW. And sometimes it doesn't respond, as the buttons are hard to press with fat fingers, or when u are wearing gloves.
2. I need an average of 4 secs to switch between CLS and normal modes, and that includes mashing the buttons like siao. I will hesitate even when i know a scene will look better with off hand light, because i don't know if i can get it back on fast enough should something else happens.
3. I cannot turn the head right for more than 90 deg. Which means i can't bounce over my shoulder if i hold my cam in the vertical position. This is a severe limitation for indoor shooters.

The SB900 solves all these! It's a major ergonomic improvement. So YES, I will get an SB900, but not so soon. I will get it the moment the price drops to about 600 new. The SB800 will be slaved when that moment arrives.

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Oh you filthy beach

It is a sad situation... a sacrifice for being a shipping hub. Singapore's beaches just cannot make it.

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又是一个单独度过的日落

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Written in the stars

2 nights on Pulau Tioman gave me some chance to experiment light painting. With the sky full of stars, I used a torchlight to "paint" the coconut trees to add in some foreground details.

Do note that working on an uncalibrated monitor, it is possible that some of you might not see as much details in the sky. There are many faint little stars and milky ways visible on the original pic.

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