Kevin Chooi Photography

QR Code!

2011-10-17T11:03:00.000+08:00

Just so that I don't feel left out in the technological changes, here's the QR code to this site...hehe. Been awhile since I've blogged or updated new stuff due to my current hectic schedule. Will promise to update some new tips soon. Cheers :)

The Ariel Wedding Photoshoot

2011-09-19T22:09:00.005+08:00

The original plan was to shoot 30+ wedding gowns from Ariel Wedding's new collection. A couple of weeks beforehand, we have already started scouting for talents for this shoot. Finally it was decided that we obtain the talent of Natalie Sim. Tiffany Yeoh was the make up artist selected for the shoot and the whole project was underway. Location of shoot is at Ariel Wedding's Penang outlet - de Montage located at Cordrington Avenue, Pulau Tikus area.

I asked Mujib for assistance for this shoot as it will be a whole day shoot and it would not be as tiring if we have 2 photographers to cover it. We packed the Canon 5D Mk2, Canon 7D, 24-70 f2.8L, 17-40 f4L, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8, 3 units of Canon 580EX II speedlite and a Canon 430EXII. One softbox, one octabox, shoot through umbrella and a reflector were brought along for the shoot as well. Remote triggers used were the Pixel Knight TR331 which enabled high sync triggering.

Mujib during light testing..LOL

On the day of the shoot, we were supposed to have started off at Youth Park but after my morning cycle ride at that area, I decided against going there as there were just too many people around (and it was a blessing in disguise as it rained halfway through the shoot). So we all ended up at de Montage and the shoot began in earnest at 9.30am. Tiffany had also done her homework way before the shoot and matched both hairstyle and makeup perfectly to the gowns of the day.

As usual there were lots of laughter and craziness throughout the shoot including the period where super duper classic songs had to be played to create the mood for the gown being worn during that time. We ended up using a 3 light configuration due to the space but I think in the end, it worked out quite well and we were happy with the results.

Tiffany hard at work on Natalie

Natalie was great and she knocked of poses after poses so that we can focus on the lighting and composition. Great model asset and something which upcoming models should definitely strive for.

A special mention about Ben Leong (Tiffany's boyfriend) who must be the most patient boyfriend in the world as he was there throughout the whole shoot while waiting for Tiffany to complete her job!

The whole shoot was completed at 6.30pm and we managed to shoot 20+ gowns. Once again, a big thank you to Tiffany Yeoh, Natalie Sim, Ariel wedding gang and the folks at de Montage for making this shoot a success. Till next time~!

For more photos of the shoot : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150319941054362.363666.607859361&type=1

Yashica Mat 124 - an unexpected find

2011-08-30T23:55:00.002+08:00

sample shot from the Yashica 124

I stumbled across this Yashica Mat 124 which had shutter sticky issues and was going for a really good price, so I immediately picked it up. The overall exterior condition is close to mint and I guess the previous owner did not want to spend the money to do a full CLA on the unit. A quick check on the light seals shows everything was in good shape. Even the insides of the film bay compartment was clean and nothing needed to be done there.

another shot from the Yashica 124

I then removed the front taking lens element as well as the back and proceeded to clean the shutterblades which were really covered with a thin layer of oil/grime. The 2 lens elements were cleaned up as well as they had some residual on them, most likely from the shutterblades. A quick test firing off the shutter shows everything in perfect working condition, from B mode to 1/500. Oh ya the seller has even included a battery and the light meter is working fine.

After reassembling everything back together, a roll of Kodak Ektacolor was loaded and I met up with the guys for a short coffee session at coffee bean. Within a few minutes, I've shot off 12 shots at coffee bean and I must say, shooting with the Yashica was a quite fun due to its light weight compared to my Mamiya C330.

testing the lens capability to handle extreme contrast

I tested a few items during the 12 shots namely - bokeh, ability of the lens to handle extreme contrast, edge to edge sharpness, color rendition and shutterspeed. I did not test for high aperture shots as I was mostly interested to test the wide open capability at this time. Will do another test on landscape for the higher aperture values.

Yashica 124 and I

The shots that came back from the photolab were quite impressive and the Yashinon produced sharp clean images even when shot wide open. This would be a great camera to have in the bag due to its compact size and ability to shoot 6x6 medium format images. Certainly a great buy at the right time.

Do click on the images to see the larger versions of the photo. If you have any questions on this TLR (twin lens reflex), do feel free to drop me an email or comment on the article below.

Till next time..adios.

Full Circle - Medium Format

2011-07-29T10:12:00.002+08:00

Musician at a chinese opera performance

Well it has been exactly 3 months since I stepped into the world of medium format and what can I say other than WOW! For those who know me long enough, they'll know that I like to try out new things / techniques that can change my picture style. I'm never very happy staying with one style for too long as I tend to get bored with the repetitive images.

Along came Mr Medium Format in all its glory to open my eyes to this new form of canvas for me to paint on. Subject perspective, details, dof from the shoots enabled me to see things that I've never seen before. While waiting to restore my dad's Mamiya-6, I managed to obtained the Mamiya C3 and C330 TLR's (twin lens reflex) which gave me good portability for street shoots as compared to my RB67.

Aunty watching chinese opera at Kuan Yin Teng Temple

I used a tripod whenever I'm shooting with these fellows to ensure that I do not introduce any camera shake into the photos (these babies are heavy!). The tonal range coming out from the film scans (using a CanoScan 8800F) are incredible to say the least with the histogram showing full tonal range right across the graph. I've never been able to obtain that from DSLR but we have to be fair, as the medium format film size is 6 times that of a full frame DSLR.

Kek Lok Si - Wishing Ribbons

Working with this beauts are not as difficult as it may seem and once you get your exposure / metering figured out, it is pretty much down to composition and the usual stuff. For those who are not aware, a roll of medium format film (120 format) will give you 10 shots (6x7 format), 12 shots (6x6 format) or 15 shots (6x4.5 format). These means that you will not only need to think before you shoot but you will also need to manually meter with your eyes (unless you're using a light meter which I don't as I find them too cumbersome to use) as you will only have those limited number of shots. Developing time for color films will take only 15 mins for the negatives while BW (black & white) will take a couple of days as they need to be manually developed as oppose to the machine developed color negatives.

Once scanned, I'll do the usual post processing on the photos. Why still need to post process? For one, post processing will enhance the photo further by bringing out the sharpness, details etc. And again for those who are opposed to this, well everyone has their own way and this happens to be mine ~ no offence.

Audience at a chinese opera performance

I know a lot of old timers will be laughing at me as they have already experienced this eons ago but hey, better late than never ~ big grin!

If you have any questions with regards to the above article, please do not hesitate to contact me : kevin@kevinchooi.com

For more photos, you can either go to my facebook or flickr :

http://www.facebook.com/kevinchooi

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinchooi/

Montage montage and more montage...

2011-07-14T21:49:00.003+08:00

I've always like mixing and matching different types of photos together or what we call montage, reason being it simply amplifies the original image without overwhelming it. However having said that, there are times when the complimentary images do overwhelm, either in the form of having a distracting color or simply contains more "wow" factor as compared to the main subject.

I've spent the last couple of nights coming up with this 3 images and trying to come up with a new signature style. Hope that you guys like it :)

Restoring a Mamiya-Six

2011-06-29T10:48:00.006+08:00

Mamiya-six

I inherited this Mamiya-six from my dad and found it to be a perfect subject for a full restoration to make it usable again. The bellows was pretty much gone, having disintegrated through age while the lens was covered in haze and fungus.

Lens removed from shutter assembly

Luckily the shutter was firing well and being fully mechanical, this medium format camera was really quite simple in overall design. The first thing I did was to remove the Olympus Zuiko lens which only took a simple step of unscrewing it from the main shutter attachment. There's a tiny screw at the side of the lens that needed to be removed before I proceeded to clean the 2 elements.

Viewfinder removed

The next thing that needed some minor cleaning were the viewfinders whereby I needed to remove the top cover. This was quite simple and only consisted of 6 screws around the top cover. After that I removed the film advancing knob by just unscrewing it which enabled the top cover to be removed. The viewfinder was held together by 2 screws and a plate.

Dark slide chrome bits

Top cover

Next up I cleaned the chrome bits of the darkslide using Autosol to restore it back to its original shine. That was quite fun and I ended up polishing all the other chrome areas of the camera..lol.

Lens after cleaning

The final part was to remove the worn out bellows and this was quite easy as it literally melted when touched. The only problem I have now is finding a way to remove it from the end parts where it is connected to the shutter/lens mechanism and the back portion connected to the body. The back portion is quite easy as there's a sort of holder snapping it to the main body where it is glued down but its the shutter/lens part which is giving me the problem. I'll try to fabricate a lens hood out of suede cloth in the coming days before attaching it to the camera.

I'll post more pics after I've build up the bellows, hopefully by the end of the week.

Family Outing Photoshoot - Penang Hill

2011-05-21T16:26:00.006+08:00

Most of us photographers seldom have the chance to shoot with our family beside us. Today I had that chance when my wife, son and sister in law decided to tag along with me to Penang Hill for an early morning sunrise shoot.

We woke up quite early around 5am+ as I had to feed the dogs and prepared to catch the first train up to Penang Hill at 6.30am. We were the first to arrived at the station and the 2-way train ride cost us RM18 (2 adults and 2 children).

The timing of the train was spot on and by 6.30am, we were on our way uphill in the newly launched trains. The speed of the trains have improved significantly as compared to the old ones and the air-conditioning was excellent. Gone were the days of smelly humid fully packed trains.

We reached the summit just in time to catch the sunrise although it was not really one of the best ones. After about 15 mins of shooting, the fog started to roll in and we could no longer see the view of Penang island.

We potter around the place for awhile before heading back down and the heavens poured down just as we reached the base station. The family thoroughly enjoyed the trip and can see my son and wife happily snapping away with their cams during the whole trip.

Overall quite a nice photo outing and managed to capture some photos and video. Till next time...

Video link : Penang Hill video outing

Equipment used : Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 17-40mm f4L, EF24-70mm f2.8L and EF70-200mm f2.8L, Manfrotto 190 ProB Tripod and 3-way head. Photix remote trigger.

The World of Medium Format

2011-04-27T21:03:00.004+08:00

We all know what medium format (MF) can do but for those who don't, let's just say the details and depth of field alone will blow any 35mm full frame pro range DSLR to Pluto and back (and maybe to Pluto again just for the fun of it). One thing for sure though, MF digital backs (layman's term - digital sensors that you slap to the back of a MF camera to turn it into a MF digital camera) are way out of reach of most photographers (due to their crazy prices).

So then how do we venture into this seemingly Holy Grail of a camera range without having to sell everything right down to your slippers? Well luckily (or unluckily, depends on how you look at it), the 2nd hand MF film cameras themselves are priced so crazily affordable (cheaper than some point and shoot) that you might and I say here MIGHT, take the plunge into this unknown realm. You will of course need to consider film cost, developing, scanning etc but all in all it should be around $2 per photo.

Ok let me stop here for awhile, what crap am I babbling about when I haven't even shot a single frame let alone develop to see its result. Well normally I do a lot of research before jumping into anything and MF is one of them. Initially the idea was to go with a Hasselblad H1 with a digital back but a quick check in ebay sent me immediately back to the drawing board.

Next came the Mamiya 645 AFD with a Leaf/Phase One digital back. Now this was looking more promising but again, 2nd hand 645 AFD are still on the high side, to start trying out MF on film. At the same time, I needed to have a MF body that is capable of attaching a digital back since not all are compatible with the new technology.

That pretty much left me with the Hasselblad 500 series or the Mamiya RB/RZ 67 series which are boxy in design as compared to the H1 or 645 series which are designed more similar to the DSLR range. Quick check on ebay and Hasselblad 500 series is once again off the list even though there were tons of them available. Now we're down to RB/RZ 67 and as luck would have it, the local camera shop that has everything - Foto Easycam has on its hand, a mint condition RB 67 Professional SD + 90mm lens + 180mm + prism finder + 3 film backs all going for a really attractive price. The previous owner had apparently only shot 5 rolls on it and then put it up on sale. A quick check on the equipment confirms this as some of the items still had the Mamiya tags on them - that is practically unused. Anyway, I've got 5 rolls of Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 to start off with and hopefully I can rake some shots off after reading the manual on how to operate this monster (it makes my EOS 7D with 24-70 f2.8L look like a point and shoot).

Until then, let the fun begin and photos flow...

Strobist workshop - Part 2 & 3

2011-04-24T22:35:00.004+08:00

Today was the continuation of my strobist workshop and we were very fortunate to have 9 models to work with us. Really appreciate the effort guys and gals. The event started at 8am and I spent about 40 mins giving the 70 photographers a quick run down on some basic strobist setup before breaking them up into groups and pairing them off with the models.

The car park location was really hot even though it was indoors, probably due to the low ceiling height. The teams quickly went about setting up their lights and some had difficulties synchronizing their speedlites to trigger.

I wanted to stay longer to help out further but as usual on Sunday, I had to be a taxi driver to my little big boss to ferry him to his tuition classes..hehehe. Overall I hope everybody had a great time and thanks again to all the 9 models for a great job. My hats off to you guys!

Thanks John Liew for the group photo.

Follow Focus DIY!

2011-04-23T00:02:00.002+08:00

Ever since I started focusing on video (pardon the pun), I've always needed a good follow focus system. A quick search in ebay got me running away from all the ads at top speed. The prices were just outright plain ridiculous for such a simple mechanism. I mean, paying $600 or more for what was practically some gears and a couple of rods were just plain crazy.

Luckily we have the internet with its vast resource and a quick search gave me a blueprint to make my own follow focus system and a not too shabby one at that. As usual ACE hardware and Thye Huat were the typical hardware shops available locally (how I wish we had Home Depo) and a couple of minutes later, I had most of the materials I needed.

Assembly of the rail system and the focusing mechanism were very straight forward but a little bit of work was needed on the L-bracket. I sent it to the local metal work shops to get mine modified and should be ready for pickup tomorrow. Anyway the photo shown is the completed rail system mounted on a Manfrotto 701 video head and the focusing mechanism. All that's left now is to fix the L-bracket and I'll have a fully functional follow focus system.

Total cost? $80 which is a fraction of what you'll be paying for, if you buy it off the shelf.

Sample video footage showing the use of this follow focus.

Strobist workshop - Part 1

2011-04-17T18:00:00.001+08:00

Some came as early as 7.30am to find a good car park just in time as the Subway branch at Beach Street opened its doors. I must really thank my friend Hsung for allowing me to hold my workshop there. By 8.45am, the place was fully packed to the last seat.

I started the class off with some typical light modifiers commonly used and had them make their own snoots and color gels. This was followed by a quick talk on shoot through umbrellas, octabox, light box and some different types of triggers out there in the market today.

As this was the first part of the strobist class, I left out the technical bit such as speedlite settings and things like when to use the proper modifier, for part 2 & 3 as they will then have hands on, practical sessions. Overall the class was super quiet without a single question...which I dread, cause it might be 1 of 2 things - either everybody fully understood or everybody was fully confused..hahahaha

Anyway before we ended the session we had everyone place a gel onto their speedlites and tried to come up with a group photo. Unfortunately my speedlite couldn't trigger some of the others (nearly 50 total speedlites). Till the next workshop then :)

Why teach for free?

2011-04-14T00:41:00.006+08:00

I always get this question thrown at me whenever I meet up with fellow trainers or friends and to me the answer is very simple - why charge? If you can get the answers to this question, then you will see that my thoughts are in direct opposite to that line of thinking. It is actually getting quite frustrating to be asked this question over and over again.

Why charge? Well a lot of people will argue why not? You can make money out of it. And that is the million dollar question. Are you out to make money or are you out to share your knowledge out of passion? To me if you're doing it because of money then that will be your main motivator whereas if you're doing it out of passion for the said subject, then its a whole new level altogether. Passion drives you further in terms of seeking for more knowledge and in return, you gain more insight into skills and techniques that would not have been possible through force learning. There will also be a huge difference in terms of how the content is delivered in comparison with a paid class and one that is delivered out of sincerity to spread knowledge. This is undeniable.

Another common misconception is the idea that the participants or the audience will learn to appreciate paid training as compared to free ones. Again not true. When I teach, everyone is equal in the class be it if you've just bought your camera yesterday or you've had yours for 50 years. Everyone is equal and I hold nothing back in my lectures. Some older generations have a tendency to teach 80% of what they know and keeping 20% in fear that the student will surpass the teacher. What a bunch of dimwits! If you do not have someone to challenge you, how can you strive to learn more and improve yourself? Always be open and you'll be surprise at how much you can learn from your students. Bottom line, everyone is equal...we're all humans and everybody dies one day so please wake up from that 50,000 feet high chair that most of these 80/20 people sit on.

At the end of the day, I love photography and my main aim is to help beginners to overcome the mistakes that I've made previously. My dream is to have more and more capable photographers coming out from Penang and who will do the same in teaching and spreading their knowledge to the wider audience. If there is one common direction, the foreseeable future looks bright indeed or in photography terms, flash power ratio 1:1.

Contest entry to the Actual Day Workshop

2011-04-12T09:21:00.001+08:00

Here are the contest 3 entries to the Actual Day Workshop that I conducted a few weeks back. Please click on image to see larger view.

AND THE WINNER IS DARREN TAN~! Congrats!

Project X - Dateline : 11.11.11.

2011-04-09T14:27:00.002+08:00

Had a sudden burst of inspiration to do something huge, that is to cover the whole of Penang in video/photo and that was how Project X - Dateline : 11.11.11. was born.Gathering the talents from the Dream Wanderers group in Facebook, we had our first official opening shoot today. As time progresses, there will be more to see but for now, its all about planning, scripting...etc :)

SPCA - Squarelet awareness photoshoot

2011-03-12T18:32:00.003+08:00

First half of today was spent doing what I like best, shooting puppies and this time it was for SPCA - Squarelet awareness to raise funds for SPCA. Fortunately there were 7 puppies from the same litter and they were eventually used as the "models" of the day.

The rest of the photos from the series have been added into "commercial" section.

De Rig!

2011-03-06T21:13:00.009+08:00

I've always wanted to try out video shooting on the DSLR given its potential but the crazy rig prices have always been the final roadblock, that is, until now! Behold the "cheap" country, China has released a DSLR rig and what a rig it is. Coming in at a really affordable price, it is an ultra good bargain compared to similar rigs that run into the thousands.

Well the good people at Hike Enterprise was kind enough to demo the flexibility of this device, from the ease of packing (it folds down to a very manageable carry around size) to setup , which was fast, once you get the hang of it.

There were ample socket / screw threads all over the rig to enable future accessory / arms upgrade to hold your mic, LED lighting, LCD monitor etc. You can actually extend the should mount if you have longer arms similar to extending a flash stand.

Initially I found the weight to be too much front bearing but once you get use to it, it actually helps you to stabilize your DSLR more. I suppose I'll mod a battery pack towards the rear of the shoulder mount in the future to act as a counter weight.

Built quality is really not bad and I'll see how long the foam grips/pads can hold off before replacement is needed. These can be easily replace by aircon pipe insulation in the future, minus the aesthetic looks.

Panning with this thing while standing up is a breeze and I simply love it. I've also tried it out in its lower ground configuration but that didn't work out too well as I was trying to do a light running shot. User problem really and not really a device problem.

In the next few weeks I'll try to shoot more with this to see what's the usable working hours for this rig.

Sample video shot for the first time with this rig can be viewed here.

Actual Day Wedding Photography Workshop

2011-03-02T00:10:00.004+08:00

Actual Day Wedding Photography Workshop is now open for registration. Limited to 20 pax only.

Update : Class has been fully booked. Thank you to all who signed up and for those who missed this round, I'll try to organize another one in the middle of the year.

UPDATE : Photos from the event is up : here

Khee Terh & Jit Mui | 26 Feb 2011

2011-02-28T22:11:00.005+08:00

I was honored to have been given the chance to shoot for Khee Terh and Jit Mui's wedding day last weekend. The weather was beautiful as Khee Terh and his gang of merry men went about their duties and chores before Khee Terh was allowed to whisk Jit Mui away into his waiting chariot. I wish them all the best in their future and a wonderful start to a new chapter in their lives.

The Star Online TV Program - Just Like A Pro

2011-02-11T23:21:00.004+08:00

Episode 6 of "Just Like A Pro - A different perspective" that I hosted recently for The Star TV :)

Link to video : here

Marumi Filters Review

2011-02-01T15:57:00.011+08:00

What is better than having to review 1 pc of Marumi filter? Well how about 5 of them? I was lucky enough to have been given 5 pieces of Marumi filter to play with or rather to review. First up would be the Marumi DHG (Digital High Grade) lens protect filters.

First impression of these filters were they are well built with no play between the glass and the metal ring. On top of that, they were fairly slim, so the issue of vignetting won't crop up.

Both pieces of the Lens Protect filters were made to do just that - protect your lenses from finger smudges, incoming beer splashes etc.

Next up were the Circular Polarizer filters (Super and normal) both DHG. I tested both of them out to get the normal clear blue sky and couldn't really tell the difference between the 2. Both of them provided equal effect on the shoot. Besides from turning the sky blue, Cir PL can be used to "shoot" through glass or water reflections.

Again built quality on the filters were top notch but I found the Super Cir PL to be of better built. There was a slight play on the normal Cir PL, not that it will affect any picture quality but I'm a fuss pot.

Last but not the least and I must say the favorite of the lot, we have the Light Control 8 filter which basically in layman's terms, darken everything or acts as a len's sunglasses. You will need this filter to get long exposures when shooting waterfalls, silky smooth sea effect etc. I use this lens a lot in landscape and even portrait shooting sessions when I need it to darken the background and then using strobes to light up the main subject.

In conclusion, the Marumi range of filters tested out, were well built and got the job. done. The screw thread area were well rounded and did not have any sharp edges as compared to those found in lower grade filters. The filter rings had a nice high quality black coating around them. You can be sure that these filters will not damage your lens filter threads from its excellent built quality.

Actual Day Wedding Package - Year of the Rabbit 2011

2011-01-29T19:02:00.004+08:00

Kevin Chooi Photography Year of the Rabbit 2011 Actual Day Wedding Package. Book now to avoid disappointment on fully booked days.
(Please click on photo for clearer view)

Year 2011 Pre Wedding Package

2011-01-29T00:12:00.005+08:00

“In conjunction with the auspicious year of the rabbit 2011,
KEVIN CHOOI Photography is proud to bring to those couples
getting married this year, the following pre wedding package”
(Please click on photo for clearer view)

Chinese New Year Dinner @ Parkroyal Resort, Penang

2011-01-18T00:11:00.001+08:00

Here's the menu shoot for the upcoming Chinese New Year Dinner @ Parkroyal Resort, Penang.

Valentine Dinner @ Parkroyal Resort Penang

2011-01-16T23:44:00.004+08:00

Another menu photoshoot for Parkroyal Resort Penang, only this time its for their upcoming Valentine Dinner promotion.

Chasing the aperture dream

2011-01-16T16:23:00.006+08:00

When I first started photography, the most important factor at that point of time was to get sharp photos every single time. As the years gone by, I started to learn about image separation, bokeh, artistic shots etc and the forever f8 pin sharp photo started to evolve and disappear. Fast forward 20 years later, I'm now chasing the big aperture lenses which more or less happens to be the style I like to shoot most...wide open.

As luck would have it, a casual visit to Easycam ended up with me bringing home a mint condition 50mm 1.2 lens. Why do I need such a wide aperture? Wouldn't the images be blur/unsharp? Well of course the images would not be as sharp as you shooting at f8 or f11 but and the big BUT, I have ultra duper super creamy BOKEH~!

At this point in time you must be saying to yourself..ok he's a bokeh addict..forgive him, but yes I am and one of the main reasons for this is the image separation you get and the WOW factor :) Take a look at the first image of the cherry. All I did was to ask my kind wife to please hold up the cherry in front of her..and f1.2 later...bam! In your face cherry bokeh image.

Some of you who are creative will say, wait a minute, I might be able to do the same with an 85mm f1.8. Well technically you might be able to pull off the same image but the minimum focusing distance of the 85mm is close to 1metre. Well talk about standing on your next door diner's table for the shoot. The 50mm has a minimum focusing distance of 0.5m so roughly 1.5 feet..wonderful working distance for me anyway.

Ok I'm not even going to go to the ISO I was shooting at but basically the 50mm f1.2 allows me to shoot at ISO 100 in a reasonably lit restaurant..AT NIGHT. Now lets compare the light bokeh size produced by this lens versus the 85mm f1.8.

Photo on the left is a full frame shot of light bokeh on the Canon EOS 7D versus the light bokeh shot of the 85mm f1.8 on the right.

Oh yes, size does matter guys and gals and for those who tells you otherwise, ask them to go eat bokeh lights..lol.

So to summarize, in layman's terms the benefits of 1.2 and bigger aperture lens - crazy bokeh, super fast shooting speeds, incredible night shooting ability with low ISO, great skin tone and off camera usable pics, crazy image separation..etc etc.

All in all, you need to own one of these lenses, your photography life.

Ultra Wide Angle

2011-01-10T14:49:00.011+08:00

UWA or Ultra Wide Angle lenses are well known for the ability to capture dramatic or epic scale images and most photographers would have at least owned one of these in their photographic journey.

I was hunting for a UWA which does not produce distortion, CA problems, must be sharp, good built quality and most importantly ... affordable. So while waiting for Canon to release their EF 8-15mm f4L, I got my hands on the Sigma 8-16mm f4.5-5.6 HSM instead. This is a crop body lens with a EF mount, yes you can mount it on your 5D, 5DMkII but you will have to shoot at around 13mm to avoid the vignet/black borders. But on a crop body like the EOS 7D, this lens is WIDE~!

I was expecting crazy distortions like the previous Sigma 10-20mm that I've used before or even the Tokina 11-16mm but I was really surprised that all of the vertical straight lines, remained as vertical straight lines. Next test was to shoot into a heavily backlit environment, zoom in 100% and wow! no CA issues! How can this be for such a wide angle lens? What magic has Sigma put into this? Well basically, they've put in 4 pieces of FLD glass which is supposed to deliver similar quality images as those produced by Fluorite glass. For the next 2 days of obtaining this piece of glass, I put it through real life shooting situations, from landscape, architectural to a pre-wedding photoshoot (and yes I didn't get any distorted bride/groom).

Color reproduction, sharpness, focus speed, built quality are really off the scale on this lens. If you're a techie and want to know more about the technical specs of this lens, just go google and read some of the articles online.

I've attached some of the photos taken with this lens and you can find more of them in my flickr account : here

Take a look at the pillars/doors of the temple photo and you'll get an idea of what I meant by vertical lines being straight.

Lastly, would I recommend this lens? With the new FLD glass in this baby, most definitely :)

Happy New Year - 2011

2011-01-01T11:14:00.003+08:00

Well its time for us to say goodbye to 2010 and a big hello to 2011. The last year has been a phenomenal one for me personally and I would like to thank all of you who have supported me throughout the entire crazy journey. I would not have made it to where I am today without you . Love you all :) Here's wishing for the new decade to bring us even more and best wishes to all for the new year~!

O'mighty CLAMPS

2010-12-23T19:52:00.004+08:00

For those who are into strobist, these babies are a must have. CLAMPS~! They are just that, clamps, where you can attach an umbrella mount and basically go about clamping them to anything, from window grilles to light stands or even the cheeks of your assistant (ok I'm not that bad..hehehe).

They're robust, cheap, practically indestructible and does the job real well.

Canon December 2010 Delighting You Always Redemption

2010-12-23T17:09:00.001+08:00

To all Canon customers,

Delighting You Always!

e-Redemption (only applicable to EOS 550D, EOS 60D, Speedlite 270EX, 430EX II, 580EX II)

Check out 'Steps to Redeem' from http://www.canon.com.my/section/events_promos/eredemption_2.jsp

Please help to share out with your fellow Canon friends.

Shotgun mic

2010-12-22T00:02:00.004+08:00

Ordered this little fellow through eBay and got it yesterday after about 3 weeks (which is just too long for something coming from Hong Kong). The item cost me RM150 (inclusive of shipping) and it's blister pack came in a bubble wrapped envelope.

Items included were the mic, a CR2 battery, a pouch to store the mic and an additional adapter for the audio jack. Built quality wise...hmmm...just like any other Made in China products....flimsy. I'll be surprise if it can last me 6 months.

Anyway I tested it last night on my 7D and it worked pretty well (then again I don't have a Rode to compare against). There are 2 settings 90 and 120 degrees on the mic for you to select. The mic has a hot shoe mount adapter with a screw hole at the bottom in case you want to fix it elsewhere (eg a boom). The only weird thing about it is the LED light which will only light up when the battery is weak (kind of a reverse psychology thingy going on here).

Will have to field run this baby more before I can give further comments on its performance in an actual shoot.

The Star Online TV Program - Just Like A Pro

2010-12-20T22:06:00.005+08:00

A couple of months ago I hosted 2 parts of The Star Online TV - Just Like A Pro series targeting to help beginner photographers to understand a bit more on their camera capabilities. Was happy to see it being aired today although I sounded quite cartoonish...hahahaha. Thanks to Sherilyn and Danny for taking the time off to join me in the shoot as well.

To see the program, click here

A little lost...

2010-12-12T22:55:00.007+08:00

My wife and I have always loved nature be it the environment or the animals and last weekend's outing was a much needed break for the both of us. Kenneth was eagerly anticipating the trip and got up early as he prepared his own little backpack.

We had planned to go to the Lost World of Tambun and Janice with Kenneth were going to play the water theme park while I would happily kill time shooting the little wildlife there. However when we arrived (after missing a wrong exit, costing me a good 20 minutes), we were taken aback by the sheer number of visitors. I mean the place was jam packed.

Was lucky to find a car park right next to the entrance and quickly paid the entrance fee (Janice had some discount coupons which saved us about RM10+) and headed straight for the petting zoo. It had rained in the morning so the animals were not in the cleanest / dry-est of state and the place was quite muddy as well. First animal that greeted us was the raccoon, perched high up in his/her outlook post. The fellow was very tame and couldn't care less even though I had my wide angle lens stuck right up its nose..lol

As usual Janice and Kenneth couldn't resist furry, cuddly animals and the both of them ran amok in the petting zoo...until we came to a section - Skunk. Who in the right frame of mind would ever want to pet a skunk..duh?

Anyway, after the petting zoo, we went to check out the snakes, birds (had a grand time feeding the birds), tiger and swan lake (fed the swan as well) just before it poured. We quickly had a bite during the downpour and by the time it stopped, it was 5pm (another hour to closing time). We had to skip the water park this round but both Janice & Kenneth swore to return and I'll be better equipped with my telephoto to shoot the tigers.

Not a bad place to spend the entire day but wildlife park is very limited, can't really blame them since its more of a water theme park and the wildlife was a bonus. Will be planning a revisit to Taiping zoo soon as it is almost 3 years since my last visit.

'Tis the season to be jolly...

2010-12-10T00:18:00.006+08:00

Received a call last week from a client that they needed a product shoot for their upcoming Christmas menu which means turkey, lobster, oyster, desserts etc etc ~ yummy! I've never really shot a Christmas menu before so I was real eager to get right on it. Arrangements were made between the chef and the marketing team and finally a date was set for the shoot.

As usual, I packed the normally required equipment being the 50mm and 17-40mm (just in case some wide angles were needed for environmental shots). We arrived on location and headed straight to the restaurant to check out the settings.

A few adjustments later, I was firing away at the yummy dishes being placed in front of me. I chose to use the available light and a 1/8 -0.3 strobe for some fill in to the shadow areas to avoid clipping of the shadows.

More shots can be found under the commercial portoflio section. Anyway, I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~!

New Year New Logo...

2010-12-04T00:35:00.004+08:00

With the new year approaching, I've decided to create a logo to make it sort of a rebranding exercise..lol. Tried to keep it as simple as possible with black and white color code. For those who have received our quotes, please do confirm before 2011 as new rates will be replacing the current one.

Fashion Portrait

2010-12-01T23:01:00.004+08:00

Whenever I have clients who comes to the studio for a portrait shoot, I like to shoot them in a fashion commercial style way...guess its just a habit lol. Anyway Sarah came to our studio for a quick portraiture session a few weeks ago and that was exactly what happened.

Didn't have to do much directions on posing with Sarah and used a straight forward 3 light configuration for the shoot. Whole session took about 30 mins and at the end of it we had about a good set of pics.

Will be upgrading the studio lights soon as we need a couple more for better lighting setup.

An International Affair...

2010-11-27T00:09:00.003+08:00

Most of my shoots are often used locally (commercial) or often than not wedding shoots so it came as a pleasant surprise to see one of my Mean Machine event shot appearing in Singapore's Hot Stuff magazine. Let's hope and pray it will be the start to even greater things in 2011!

Canon Moments page created

2010-11-26T16:07:00.003+08:00

I've just created a "Canon Moments" page where I'll put all the activities that I'm involved in with Canon Malaysia. Hope that it'll be easier to refer to rather than having to go through all the blog updates on my site. You may access it from the highlighted red boxed link or here

"A Day With A Pro"

2010-11-25T22:03:00.006+08:00

Canon has once again made it possible for new or existing DSLR owners to learn and improve on their photographic skills. This time round, it is the "A Day With A Pro" series from the Digital SLR Photography Magazine Malaysia - December Issue. Do get your copy today and submit your entry to stand a chance to shoot with me :)

I hope to be able to pass some useful tips and techniques which will help your photography and we can learn together on that day :)

VDSLR - getting into the fray

2010-11-24T15:31:00.011+08:00

With more and more clients demanding for HD videography services on top of the normal photography portion, I guess the time has come to invest on some gears to make it this work. After a few days of researching, sleepless nights etc, I've managed to assemble a reasonable starting kit to kick start / jump start / (hang myself) / empty wallet etc etc into this field.

For a start I needed a basic follow focus kit, should mount and could only find ProAim to be the most cost effective (not so sure about quality yet). The kit I'm looking at will eventually look like this.
Ok it does look super high tech and large once fitted up. On top of that, I'll need a video head for the tripod and I'll be going with the Manfrotto for that.

Next up will be the external monitors to help with focusing, playback etc and I've yet to decide on that. Might be trying to modify one from a car LCD to run on motorcycle batts or Canon DSLR batts.

For sound recording, Zoom H4n seems to be THE choice at the moment with either a RODE shotgun mic (for the moment) then venturing into wireless Sennheiser/Marantz microphones in the future.

As to the flycams...minicam / proaim ones are currently the most affordable but I'm leaning more towards the minicam due to the design which I find is easier to work with.

Oh well, that's the wishlist for now and lets see how soon I can get all these put together to start doing some work on videography..LOL.

*all photos shown belongs to their respective company and is shown as an educational point.

Submit those entries

2010-11-19T11:20:00.003+08:00

Have you submitted your entries to next month's Digital Camera Magazine's Photo Tutor section themed Portraits? I've started screening through the entries since last night so do keep them coming as it will be closing fast.

Preparation For The Big Day

2010-11-18T08:59:00.000+08:00

Having been through so many weddings, I would like to write an article not on photography but rather on how the couple should prepare for the big day. I will focus mainly on items to prepare for the day itself rather than to cover the whole wedding in total as it would be just too long a list...hehe

1) Book your wedding dinner venue way way in advance. Next year being the year of the rabbit is going to be a "hot" year for couples getting married. Make sure you have already booked the venue by now if you're planning to get married next year to avoid disappointment.

2) Book your bands, "sang keh em" (talkative lady throughout your wedding), photographers, videographer, wedding car etc etc. You get the picture.

3) Delegate responsibility! On the actual wedding day, you will not have the time to run here and there to coordinate your wedding. Get help from close friends or relatives to take on this task. You can assign specific task to individuals example : ushers to wedding dinner tables, in charge of projector/slideshow during the event, ang pow keeper, coordinator with the hotel/F&B manager, alcohol (beer) counters etc etc.

4) During the tea ceremony, make out a list in the order of who will be having the tea first. This will save lots of time!

5) Make sure that the slideshow player is compatible with the format of the video/slideshow that your photographer/videographer has done up! Bring along a notebook just in case as notebook plays almost everything. Delegate this!

These are just some of the items that will help to ensure your wedding day is less stressful with careful planning and hopefully you will have time to enjoy yourselves with your family and friends rather than to stress out on organization :) Cheers.

Night Out

2010-11-10T13:21:00.000+08:00

Calvin suggested for a night shooting session and a few facebook messages later, a group of us were on the way. We met at the Citibank car park hoping to start the shooting session at the Citibank bridge and worked our way towards town, however the bridge was not lit up at all last night.

We then headed to the High Court area and this was where the fun began. Long exposures, "flying" videographers, longest handheld long shutterspeed "contests" later, we left for the famous Kimberley Street Char Koay Teow and See Koh Th'ng, before calling it a night.

Overall it was a fun experience as we ran the 5DMk2, 7D and 60D through their "night" paces - literally with the 5DMk2 almost came to a crashing halt if Adrien had fallen at the steps...muhahahahaha.

Pic attached was shot with the Canon EOS 7D + EF 17-40mm f4L lens set to ISO100, f14, 5 sec exposure and for those interested in the video, hope you can see this link.

Anticipate, Observe, Capture

2010-11-07T16:26:00.000+08:00

As a photographer one should always anticipate, observe and capture the fleeting moment during the course of the wedding or event day. These photos will act as the backbone to the album or how I would call them "Pillar" or "Foundation" photos.

Some of the items to watch out for :

Reaction of love ones - be it a smile, tears of joy, hugs etc
Kids curiosity and behaviour
Reaction of the main subject/s for the day
Friends and family
House pet (yes they do provide for interesting shots)

When capturing these moments, I prefer to shoot for a clean background or use bokeh to frame the subject. I will seldom use a wide angle lens as it will tend to bring in unnecessary elements into the pic thus eliminating the overall impact and instead go for the 70-200 f2.8L If the working distance is too near, I'll swap to a 50mm f1.4

The first photo attached shows the bride's father catching a glimpse of her daughter getting ready for her big day. The slight smile brings in all sorts of emotions to the photo - joy, proud etc.

The second photo shows a close friend of the bride checking to make sure the wedding cake is being setup properly. The intensity of the eyes on the job at hand brings strength to the overall pic and leaving a clean background leads the viewer eyes immediately to the subject at hand.

Start to train your eye to look out for these type of given situations and in no time, you'll add better "feel" to your photo collection.

Noise and Desaturated Photos???

2010-11-05T12:22:00.000+08:00

Most of us will cringe at the idea of a photo filled with noise and desaturated colours. Why? Some photographers swear by oversaturated colours, some by overdesaturated colours and others really don't even know what hit them.

Noise and desaturating your photos can give more feel and add a little timeless'ness (if there's such a word) to your photos. Bear in mind of course that the photo you took, must meet the criteria in the first place in terms of composition, lighting etc. Don't simply whack any photos and apply the following actions to them.

Here are some simple steps to achieve this desired effect :

Step 1 - Desaturate your photo to your liking
Step 2 - Add a slight tint to the photo (be it bluish, sephia'ish or whatever 'ish you want)
Step 3 - Add a little noise to it in the "Filter" -> "Add noise" function
Step 4 - Add a little vignetting

Some of the photos you see in this posting has been done up using these simple steps. Hope you enjoy the article. Adios :)

Guide To Buying Lens

2010-11-03T21:48:00.000+08:00

As photographers we cannot run away from the fact that we will be buying lenses one day eventually whether it may be new or 2nd hand lenses. So what do you need to look out for when you part with your hard earned money for these beautiful glasses?

I've listed out below a step by step checklist which I hope will help you deal/overcome with this ordeal :

Step 1 - Physical inspection : do a physical overall check of the lens for its condition, look out for dents, scratches on the screws (which may indicate that the lens has been opened), rubber condition on the focusing/zoom rings, filter thread, rear of lens (which can tell you the wear and tear) of the lens etc.

Step 2 - Glass inspection : pick up the glass and point it at a bright source and look through it. Watch out for fungus, fogging, cracks etc.

Step 3 - If you're lucky enough to be a Canon user, you will be able to tell how old the L lens you're buying from the code at the rear of the lens. Here's the link which will contain all the info you'll need on how to do this.

Step 4 - Test the rotating rings of the lenses (zoom and focusing rings). They should be smooth with no grinding or resistance right through the rotation.

Step 5 - Do a backfocus/frontfocus test. How do you do this? Simple! Mount the lens onto your camera, take a page of magazine, catalogue or newspaper, shoot at 45 degree downwards onto a word and open your aperture wide (meaning f1.8 if your lens is f1.8). Focus on the word/alphabet and take the shot (preferably at a higher shutterspeed to avoid handshake). View the picture on your LCD and zoom in all the way. The word/alphabet which you focused on should be tack sharp whereas the rest of the areas are bokeh'ed/blurred. If the back is in focus instead, this is known as backfocus and vice versa.

Step 6 - Last but not the least check the apertures, shoot at different aperture settings for example f1.8, f8, f18, f22 etc

Once again, I hope that this article has been useful and do share or drop me a mail/comment on what you would like me to touch on in my future blogs. Till then happy shooting!

Actual Day Shoots Part 2 - Composition On The Go

2010-10-29T10:19:00.000+08:00

Well it has been some time since I was suppose to write Part 2 of the Actual Day Shoots - Composition On The Go. This is a very interesting topic as each photographer will see things differently.

Let's take the few basic composition guidelines and see how we can apply it to our actual day wedding shoots.

1) Off centre - this means putting the subject off centre to the frame to make for a more interesting composition. Many of us started off shooting everything dead centre and this makes a boring photo. You may even place the subject to the extreme left, right, bottom, top of frame as illustrated by this photo of the bride's shoes.

2) Rules of thirds - one of the oldest photography rules around this method involves putting the subject at the thirds intersection of the photo. Please google to find out more on this method. The picture of the bride on her chair awaiting for the groom to arrive demonstrates this rule.

3) Twist, turn, up and down - shooting the conventional landscape and portrait format again will leave us with boring shots. Turn and twist your camera around makes for more interesting and dynamic angles. Shoot from floor level up or even from top down. Bear in mind you don't have to keep looking at your viewfinder to get good shots. With frequent practice, you can shoot even without looking at it. Picture of the bride from above demonstrates all 3 of the techniques above combined.

4) Bokeh it - bokeh are the best items that can make your images pop. You may choose to either bokeh the foreground or background. I'm a sucker for bokeh and you will find me shooting wide open quite often. The picture of the champagne pouring with the lights bokeh in the background completes the picture depicted here.

By combining and applying the four methods of composition above, you will be able to obtain new pictures when out on the field.

I hope you find this article useful and do feel free to share it with others. Till next time...cheers :)

Many faces of a photographer

2010-10-26T11:03:00.000+08:00

Last weekend saw us covering the Mean Machines 2010 event at Autocity, Juru. Being the sponsor and official photographer for the event this year meant that we had to spend almost 12 hours on Sat and Sun to cover all the events that were taking place.

KY Tham who was the lucky winner of the Canon competition was given the opportunity to shoot with us throughout the 2 days.

One of the things that I've observed in my 2 days there were the different kinds of photographers that you'll find walking around. I'll try to list them out by the way I observed them.

1) Gals only - this bunch of photographers will shoot nothing else but the Ms Mean Machines contestants and the car showgirls. They will be following the gals everywhere.

2) Mean Machines only - this bunch of photographers will shoot all the mean machines right down to the last bolt. They have 100% interest in the modification, rims, ICE etc etc

3) All rounder - shoots everything in general.

4) On assignment - those photographers who are on assignment during the event eg media, OP etc.

Next we have an observation of gears and again there are a few categories.

1) Hyper gearhead - carries all the equipment he can find in his dry cabinet. Easy to spot as the gears they carry will be heavier then themselves. Mostly comes in backpacks and hunching along as they struggle to balance the weight.

2) Hyper light flyweights - point and shoot carries. I envy them so much as they have so much freedom to move around with almost 0 weight.

3) Moderate shooters - single body with a couple of lenses. Majority will fall into this category.

And finally we have flash / speedlites and how the photogs choose to fire them off.

1) The directors - basically aims the flash right at the subject and let loose machine gunning down the subject.

2) Creative headers - attaching all sorts of light modification devices to their speedlites and bouncers. Those bouncers who were standing outside the stage for the final round of the Ms MM would have noticed that how their bounced light never came back. A friend of mine once said, the light would have needed to bounce of one of the satellites to return back to earth.

3) Strobists - placing their speedlites all over the place and praying hard that nobody steals them or knock them to the ground. (ok I fall into this category).

4) Flashless - those who don't have speedlites and shooting using their pop up flash.

All in all a word of advise to those who are going out on a long event day shoot - travel light, choose your gears well so as not to carry unnecessary weight and plan ahead. It might take a few events to finally figure out the correct setup for your shooting style. Most importantly have fun during the event :)

To view more pics of the event go to this link.

Prancing Horses

2010-10-10T10:52:00.000+08:00

The horses have arrived in Penang ... ok or rather a group of Ferraris roared their way into Gurney Plaza yesterday afternoon. It was an open event for the public to view these beauties and the roar of the engine could be heard all the way to the other end of Gurney Drive.

I arrived a bit late at 4pm and the event was already ending since it started at 12.30pm but still managed to get some shots of the few remaining cars. This event couldn't have come at a better time as a warm up to the upcoming Mean Machines 2010 event on the 23/24 Oct!

Till then...vrooommmmm~

More pics can be viewed here : link

Traditions through time

2010-10-02T18:50:00.000+08:00

Had the opportunity to shoot an Indian engagement ceremony for Raj and Arunaranee yesterday at the Long Say Building. Event started off with the arrival of guests and family members followed by the registration ceremony and finally the traditional engagement ceremony by a priests. There were so much rich colors throughout the whole event which allowed for tons of photographic opportunities.

Would like to wish both Raj and Aru a big congratulations. For more pics of the event please go to this link.

Before the storm...

2010-09-24T13:25:00.000+08:00

How do you prepare yourself for 3 full days of non stop photoshoot with each day pulling in at least 10 hours / day? Well for starters you will need plenty of rest 3-4 days before hitting the 3 days stretch. Pack all your gears way earlier than the actual day itself so that you will not forget to bring anything in the last minute rush.

When it comes to the actual day shoot itself, remember to backup at least 2 copies of the photos after each day's shoot because you will not have the time to process the pics till the whole 3 days have been completed. Drink plenty of fluids, recharge those batteries, clean 'em lenses and reformat all your CF before starting off into the next day. Have the habit to reformat all your spare CF as well to facilitate for instant CF changes when required during the shoot. Pack your gears in the same manner everytime so that you know where each piece of equipment lies in your waist packs etc. No time to hunt for them later :)

All these sounds pretty straight forward but there are times when the schedule is so tight that we often forget them. And speaking of events, blocked your calendars next month for the Mean Machines 2010 event. We will be there to cover the event so hope to see you all there!

The Chariot

2010-09-19T22:59:00.000+08:00

The chariot of the day or rather the wedding car is one of the most important subject in a wedding and please please do not forget to shoot it! Believe me or not there are some wedding photographers who totally forgot about it. Some of the cars will be elaborately decorated so make sure you focus your energy on those details as well since a lot of $ went into decorating that.

There are many angles which you can take of the car - front, side, top down, bokeh shots etc etc and there is no one correct rule. All you need to do is to make sure that the shot works for you and your client so a few different angles will help. Do not I repeat do not forget to leave out the number plate in at least 1 of your photos.

You may also use the car as a prop for the group photo or as a foreground/background subject. I've included 2 photos here just to give you an example of the different ways to shoot a bridal car.

Hope this little tip helps.

Power cels!

2010-09-17T09:43:00.000+08:00

Power cels or rather the mundane term - batteries :P How many do you need for a shoot? Well assuming you have your AI-servo turned off, not shooting any videos and do not have the habit of staring at the LCD screen for hours after every shot, then most likely a single batt will give you something between 500-1000 shots (if you're a machine gunner shooter then figure will be on the plus side).

So for me, for a half day shoot I'll normally take 2 batteries along and 95% of the time I won't need the 2nd battery unless I shoot videos then God help me, I'll need 10 batteries...LOL

What about batteries for the speedlites? Well 4 fully charged batteries normally will give me 400 shots at 1/4 or 1/8 power then I'll swap them for fresh ones even though they may still have charge in them simply because the recycle rate would have gone down and I don't want to be caught in a shot needing to change batts. Normally I'll carry 3 sets per speedlite.

For a full day shoot, if you have access to a charging point, then you can use the same number of batts since it takes about an hour plus minus to get the batteries recharged. I use Maha Power chargers for the AA batts which works like a dream with 8 slots for recharging.

Hope this serves as a useful guide to you :)

Actual Day Shoots - Part 1 The Basics

2010-09-13T21:10:00.000+08:00

In this series of Actual Day Wedding Shoot series, I'll talk about the do's and dont's of AD wedding photography.

There are a lot of beginners who wants to shoot actual day weddings without really knowing what lies ahead for them. They start off by offering free coverage for their friends weddings to build up a portfolio rather than tagging along with a more experience/full time photographer (I don't like to use the 'Pro' word) which should be a wiser way to go because if they screw up the shoot then there's a backup. Let's just go through what is required on an actual day shoot before we even start to disect the nitty gritty of it.

First off, its none other than skills. What level of photography know-how is required? An actual day shoot will typically involve fast changing situations, lighting, terrain/environment roadblocks, people (and there'll be lots of them), distractions etc to name a few. You must know how to change settings instantly when lighting conditions changes (eg moving in and out of a building, sudden spotlight focusing on your subjects etc) and when I'm talking about settings, I'm referring to ISO, Shutterspeed, Aperture, WB etc and if you're using AV, TV and god-forbid P mode then you will continue to have shots made for you by your camera and not by you. I'm going to get flamed for this but I'm full M mode fellow unless the lighting conditions never changes and everything in the shoot area is lit up in exactly the same way then I'll stick to AV else its M, period.

You will not have the luxury to pause any situation and there won't be a second chance or retake for the shot. During the shoot, you will also encounter lots of people who will talk to you in the course of your shoot so make sure you're not distracted and miss the shot while at the same time converse with the said person. Be always vigilant for spot shots or candid moments which cannot be repeated. And while your brain is processing all of the above, you will need to compose your photo, be aware of what is behind and in front of your subject and how the lighting in those 2 zones will influence your subject. Going one step further you need to know or at least forsee how you are going to post process that photo to get the right feel and mood for the total shot. All these are processed by your brain in less than 1 sec.

Next we come to the equipment. Technically you will need at least 2 bodies with 1 as backup with a set of fast lenses that can cover your wide to telephoto range. Again you need to know what each lens can do at what ISO and under what lighting etc etc. Then you will need speedlites, triggers etc. I carry 4-5 speedlites for a wedding dinner and set them up around strategic places in the wedding hall and 1 unit with me throughout the shoot. Batteries and CF cards are no brainers and you'll need spare batts for your triggers and receivers as well.

Wear super comfortable clothes and shoes unless the event calls for formal cloths/attire rules. I chew gum or eat sweets during the shoot to keep me "hydrated" or rather it helps me to focus and I need the sugar to keep my energy levels..lol

Till Part 2 - Composition On The Go

Coincidentally the photos you see here are shots from Keith & Carol's actual wedding day taken on 11/12 Sept. More pics : here

More than a photo

2010-09-09T10:25:00.000+08:00

For those who have been following my work, you would have noticed that most of the time I enhance the photos by using words or collages. It might not be everyone's piece of cake but to me a photo is not complete without some additional designs etc to further bring out the mood/feel of the photo.

Typesetting, color, design and the extra photos which you choose plays a very important part to make the completed photo "correct". For example if you choose a funky font for a moody shot, it will eventually spoil the shot rather than enhance it. Similarly funky colors does not go well with a moody / feel shot. It is just the way we've been brought up I guess which makes our brain reject these types of combination.

If that's the case then how do we know what to use? Well there are tons of books on typesetting, graphic design and even color coordination which are available and a good source of guide if you want to know more about this.

To put it simply, in today's highly competitive photography business, the ability to shoot photos alone is simply not enough and with so many emerging talents, you need to keep learning to stay competitive. Most importantly be humble and accept criticism which will help you to improve. I have a group of friends who I will consult to get their opinions on my work after every shoot and believe me, it has helped a lot! The best and most open critic of them all is none other than my dearest wife :)

Mr Instrument

2010-09-07T22:47:00.000+08:00

When Adrien said he wanted to be strobed with his instrument, I nearly fell off my chair laughing non stop because it sounded so wrong. Moreover Cathy was in the chat window at that time. Anyway, Adrien came over in his Oakley long sleeve T and almost immediately started sweating the moment he came in the front door.

About 20 mins later we were done and had some pretty cool shots of Mr Instrument..hahaha.

SPCA Calendar 2011 Photoshoot

2010-09-05T23:15:00.000+08:00

As a company that believes in its corporate social responsiblity, nutmegstudio is humble once again to be allowed to shoot for SPCA Penang's 2011 calendar after a successful sold out sale last year.

For complete set of pics please go to this link

Wedding gown shoot

2010-08-31T23:52:00.000+08:00

Today saw us going to our gowns facility to have a photoshoot of the latest arrivals. Poor Jack had to ferry practically our whole studio setup over there all by himself - respect~! Many thanks goes out to Huey Li, Caroline, Cheryl, Jess (our wonderful models), Minn & CH (our super pro makeup professionals) for taking the time to join us in our shoot.

We started a bit later than expected (around 9am) for the makeup and actual shoot started at around 11.30am. We managed to complete the shoot just in time for lunch at 1.30pm.

For more photos, please go here : Link

Sky Residences - Lifestyle Living

2010-08-28T10:34:00.000+08:00

Received a call from Eupe asking us for a lifestyle concept shoot for thier upcoming TV program in Astro. We had less than 24 hours to plan for the shoot but that’s part and parcel of the job. Packing our gears right through the night we headed for the location the next day – Sky Residences in Sungai Petani.

The whole shoot lasted for 6 hours and at the end everyone was tired but super happy. Many thanks to Huck Lee and Michelle for the great hospitality.

In this shoot we used the Canon EOS 7D with Canon 17-40mm f4L lens. For the strobes, we used 3 x 300W lights and the Octabox. These were triggered using the Pixels triggers which allowed for high sync speed strobe.

For more photos of the shoot please go here : Link

For more info on these gorgeous homes, please go here : Link

Uncle Zack by the beach

2010-08-25T21:47:00.000+08:00

Was chatting with a client a few weeks ago which led to us having to shoot the new wing of their dining location aptly named "Uncle Zack by the beach" at Parkroyal Hotel. Taking full advantage of the beautiful beach and sunset opportunities, a row of dining tables on raised platforms were built right at the edge of the beachline.

You can order anything from their menu and have them bring the food to you at this location. We took with us the Canon 7D and the Canon 17-40mm f4L as we needed a more compressed DOF. We then took 2 strobes triggered by the on board Canon 7D commander to light up the tables and surrounding areas.

Luckily the clouds formation were beautiful and we ended up with this shot.

Gowns have arrived~!

2010-08-22T23:33:00.000+08:00

New wedding gowns have arrived @ nutmegstudio~!

After a hectic day....

2010-08-21T23:59:00.000+08:00

Day started off with a calendar shoot at SPCA for next year's SPCA calendar. We had 6 cats and 4 doggies (another 2 doggies were already shot earlier) to make up the 12 months of the new calendar. Lots of cute poses and expressions all round :)

After that it was off to Old Town at New World Park to run this month's ShutterAsia Food theme outing. Turnout was bigger than expected and we snapped away at eggs, coffee, bread and whatever item that was placed on the table. Thought the gang on off camera flash techniques and types of settings to use.

Day ended with Adrien doing the funny face for me to get this shot :)

Flash synching 'em

2010-08-10T22:47:00.000+08:00

Ever since I got into strobing, finding the trigger that is able to sync above 1/250 (high speed) has always eluded me (as I am too poor to afford Pocket Wizards) that was until last week when I walked into Hike and saw a pair of Pixel Knight triggers (fancy name).

Anyway a quick check on its specs and I was hooked. Ability to have multichannel control, high speed sync to 1/8000, full manual control direct from trigger and lastly for those who are lazy TTL :P

Coming in at 1/3 the price of a PW it was a no brainer and with addition of white LEDs to light up the display..poof its in the bag~!

Built quality is not bad for a made in China product (will see how long they last) and both the trigger/receiver uses a CR2 battery each. Easy menu systems lets you set the desired settings quickly to get that shot.

Will continue to test out the range and coverage (behind walls etc) in the coming weeks so stay tuned :)

Dream DOP rig

2010-07-30T23:11:00.000+08:00

With the emergence of HDVDSLR (High Definition Video Digital Single Lens Reflex) more and more movie makers are turning to these pocket rockets to shoot their movies. Jumping on the bandwagon, more and more third party providers are coming out with rigs to turn these HDVDSLR into better/usable movie makers.

Last weekend I had the chance to test out one of these, the DOP (made in Singapore). Overall built quality was pretty impressive except for the focus ring attachment which could look a bit dodgy after frequent use.

After fixing everything up to a Canon 7D (which was surprisingly fast and easy to do), I tested out the follow focus as well as the rear LCD attachement/enlarger and was pleasantly surprised at the ease to operate the gears. The colors matched the Canon's line of lenses as well..nice touch :)

Verdict time..would I buy the rig? Most definitely, especially if I'm going full time into HDV. For more info on DOP, refer here : DOP

Rise and Shine

2010-07-24T08:31:00.000+08:00

Early morning start for today's ShutterAsia workshop on HDR. Took the gang to Gurney Drive only to have the sun fail on us...oh well. After a few shots we adjourned to McD at Gurney Plaza for the tutorial.

Zee showed us his waterproof bag for DSLR which he has yet to use due to uncertainty on bag reliablity hahahaha.

A Dog's Life

2010-07-20T23:18:00.000+08:00

Ok now that I have set myself a dateline, looks like I will need to get off my butt and shoot this short film. Wonder how I will be able to juggle this new workload on top of what I already have on my plate.

I guess the first thing to do is to come up with the storyline, 3 mins in total for what its worth followed by the storyboard. Definitely easier said than done.

Modern affordable homes

2010-07-17T00:27:00.000+08:00

This last week has been one of the most hectic weeks I've ever experienced as a photographer. I had to shoot 5 full days straight comprising of portraiture and commercial shoots and travelling between Penang and Sungai Petani each day.

The commercial shoot was for Eupe Corporation Berhad on their soon to be launched terrace, semi-detached and bungalow homes. All 3 show units were ready but lacked electricity so we had to have a huge generator on standby early each morning to enable us to shoot throughout the day.

I can tell you these houses are really affordable and by no means can you even get something close to that in Penang for those unbelievably low / affordable prices.

Way to go Eupe for making affordable homes available to everyone.

Pupzclub Portraits Day 2

2010-07-11T21:06:00.000+08:00

Today marks the 2nd day of Pupzclub portrait shooting with Jane and Lim taking the centre stage at Esplanade and studio respectively. Early morning showers held off to enable us to complete Jane's shoot before taking on Lim and his 2 Poms after lunch.

All 4 furkids were very manageable today and you could have literally put them anywhere and they'll stay there without moving. Well there'll be 2-3 more shoots next week and the problem now comes in the form of good locations which are dog friendly.

Pic of Lim with his 2 furkids

Pupzclub Portraits

2010-07-10T22:22:00.000+08:00

Shot first batch of Pupzclub portraits today with Lisa, Jane and Stephfenny and their partners taking the lead. Weather was perfect with clear blue skies even though it was a bit hot at times but everybody was super sporting including the furkids to make the shoot a success :) Looking forward to the upcoming shoots with more doggies.

Andy shown here with Bon Bon (pic)

RAW or JPG?

2010-07-09T09:48:00.000+08:00

The never ending debate on which format to use when we're out there shooting. For me, anything other than my commercial shoots gets the JPG treatment. The only reason for me sticking to RAW for commercial shoots are the fact that the photos could be used for billboards measuring 40 x 20 feet and as such, I need all the details possible from the cam.

So there...don't go overboard with RAW under peer pressure..hahahaa ;)

SPCA Food Fair 2010

2010-07-05T00:30:00.000+08:00

Today saw SPCA holding its food fair at the Silver Jubilee hall. We arrived there at about 9.30am and there were already a lot of people getting the stalls ready for the start of the event. All in all there were 33 stalls with lots of varities ranging from food to homemade items going on sale. At about 10.30am, more and more dog owners were bringing their dogs to the venue as some of them were participating in the 3 fun dog competitions held at the later part of the day.

PAA was there to demonstrate obedience and tricks much to the delight of the dog owners there. On top of that there was a MJ impersonator who came out twice on stage to entertain the crowd. I was very happy to see so many owners bringing their dogs out to support this event.

Bought a handicraft toy dog for Kenneth to paint (which kept him fully occupied for an hour) while I got a couple of buttons (pic) for my bag. Shelby was superbly behaved throughout the whole event even though the level of distractions was off the charts (smell, people, strange place, tight areas to walk etc). She acted perfectly and maintain her composure, a very important trait for a therapy/service dog.

Pupzclub 1st Dog Gathering

2010-06-27T23:18:00.000+08:00

Was invited to shoot at Pupzclub's 1st Dog Gathering last Saturday 26th June who could resist such an offer (I couldn't anyway..hahaha). The weather held out after a few days of raining before the event to give us a clear nice blue sky.

I couldn't go in my usual "birdmobile" as it has been condemned after the little adventure we had the previous week. Anyway my mechanic was able to get my old Honda Accord back into shape and with that I bundled Shelby into the back seat with Kenneth tagging along for the event :) First try of putting Shelby into the car without closing the back window saw her jumping right out of the car~! Luckily it was at home and we haven't started the journey yet. I was surprised she could actually pull that off with her weight and size (and that little small rear window).

Once we arrived at Casa Permai, we could see lots of people getting ready for the event with a whole bunch of doggies. The committee members did a great job in preparing water for both owners and furkids. As more and more people started to arrive, it was time to go a-shooting and Shelby happily followed me all over the place and at one time even acted as my (tripod) during the event...hehehe. You can see her playing that part in my facebook profile pic :)

All in all, great event with a very strong support from all the dog lovers and next outing will see an even bigger crowd as there were a lot of newcomers who registered on that day itself. Great job Pupzclub~!

For more photos, check it out here

(Photo of Shelby with Hamlin)

Storing a Buffalo

2010-06-26T02:33:00.000+08:00

Decided to pick up a 1TB Buffalo DriveStation just to test out the reliability before getting the LinkStation for NAS storage. Priced at RM299.90, it was quite a bargain.

Installation was quick and easy with walk through menus to select the type of file system you required. Speed of files being transferred to the drive was good with no signs of lagging (so far anyway). Built quality feels solid and would look good even if you have a few of them sitting on your workstation.

Only thing I wished for was for a longer power cable than the one provided. Item was bought at Gadget Zone, Gurney Plaza.

Doggone tired

2010-06-24T22:56:00.000+08:00

Last couple of days have been so tiring with lots of running around at the office as well as after office follow ups. Decided to take some shots of Shelby and Reva tonight using the 50mm f/1.4. Must say I love the sharpness and color tone produced through this lens

Photos shows Shelby wondering what the heck I was doing :P

More photos here

Lock and Load!

2010-06-20T22:37:00.001+08:00

Well thanks to Andy Yeoh, I've found the perfect carrier for my equipment while on the job after hunting high and low for it for what seems like years. Behold~! The Think Tank Multimedia Wired Up 20 paired up with a Skin 75 Pop Down.

The MM Wired Up 20 is a belt pack that comes together with a harness~! way cool! The first impression that I had of the Wired Up was hmmm not bad quite slim and an incredible array of sections. The designer of this bag must have seriously spent lots of time coming up with this as it is so practical.

How I pack? Well I carry 5 flash in total (I know I know...I'm nuts), 5DMkII, 17-40mm f4L, 70-200 f2.8L and a 50mm f1.4 The 70-200 goes into the Pop Down while the rest packs neatly into the MM WU 20. On top of that I have a A6 notepad tucked away at the back compartment of the MMWU with a small torch and a couple of pens. The front pocket holds 4 x diffuser, 1 demb diffuser, batts, CF cards, cleaning cloth, flash trigger and extra receivers.

The Skin 75 Pop Down is another classy act. You can switch the velcro to "silent" mode and the bag is extendable to take in a 70-200 with its hood on. Great for me as I need to change lens quickly so most of the time when I'm working all the filters, back caps are off with hood on in ready position. The front pocket of the Pop Down stores my 77 cir-pol filter in its case.

The belt is well padded and supports the weight very well without the need of a harness but that could change whenever I needed to add more equipment to the pack. When shooting, I do not feel the weight at all as it is securely attached to the waist and no issues with shooting 8-10 hours straight on this :)

This bag was built to last and quality is top notch. Attach you'll see some images of my setup and how I store my gears into the bags...enjoy. For more photos please see : here

to Dine in the Sky

2010-06-20T08:56:00.000+08:00

Went off to shoot a birthday party at Sky Residences yesterday when my car decided to breakdown near to the toll. However I was very fortunate as a mechanic was following me from behind and took me to my destination - Sky Residences in Sungai Petani. Told him to tow my old beat up 4WD to get it fixed while I focused on my shoot.

The dinner was held on the 16th floor (sky garden area) and in Sungai Petani, with no skyscrappers around, the view was plain perfect. At around 6.30pm, the sky started its lightshow with the sun setting behind the distant mountains.

I could only managed to setup a quick single strobe off above left to illuminate the table to capture the following image.

After dinner, was very fortunate to be able to hitch a ride home from one of the guest and wife picked me up when I reached Penang. All in all a great and adventurous shoot. P.S. left my tripod at the penthouse and will have to pick it up next week..hahaha

More photos can be viewed here

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

2010-06-19T09:22:00.000+08:00

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been symbolized as pestilence, war, famine and death respectively. To me however it symbolizes four strobes in a single blast...hehehe. I came about this device by accident rather than my usual "out hunting for gadgets" runs. At first it looked to have been designed wrongly as the distance between the flash mounts were rather too close to mount any standard speedlite.

Then I remembered, I don't have standard speedlite which are bulky because I'm using ultra slim speedlites and for RM50 this device might actually work..hahaha. A couple of twist and turns and angling later...behold~The Four Strobes of the Apocalypse...Muahahahahahahahaha <- evil laughter.

Second pic shows the completed setup with a shoot through umbrella. A warning for those intending to mount this onto a light stand; make sure that you get a heavy light stand and not those flimsy ones as 4 speedlites with an umbrella makes a perfect recipe for "crashing speedlites into a pile of plastic" (you have been warned :) )

L Colored Frame

2010-06-16T09:30:00.000+08:00

Since my old spec's lens coating was peeling, decided to get a new pair of specs and the first thing that came to my mind was the color~! Why not get one which matches my lens..muahahahahaha. So here it is...tadaaaa...(drum roll)

Brand : levelnine Price : RM300 (with lens)
Place obtained : 99 Optics
Facebook : 99 Optics

Flexing the 200!

2010-06-13T13:35:00.000+08:00

Decided to join Aless, Albert and Jonathan to shoot sunrise this morning and at the same time being able to put the 70-200mm f/2.8L through its paces. Shot attached was shot at f/7.1, 1/1250 at iso 800 and cropped 50%.

Very pleased with the details and no signs of image breaking especially at the small staircase on the huge cranes at maximum crop. Sharpness and image quality held up to its end and not unexpectedly so from the L stables.

Penang Agility Association shoot

2010-06-11T09:42:00.000+08:00

What better way to spend last weekend by shooting my favorite subject - dogs~! Went to the PAA obedience class to shoot a promo poster to help promote their classes.

All photos taken with the 70-200 f/2.8L and cross processed for the final color outlook.

For more info on PAA, check out their website : http://www.agility-penang.com/

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L

2010-06-07T00:20:00.001+08:00

This lens replaced my previous Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 which is a far cry from this baby in terms of image quality and image separation. Will provide more reviews and images in the coming weeks coming from this baby...haha

Coffee with Canon

2010-06-05T06:54:00.000+08:00

It was a great event organized by Canon on the 22nd May at Penang Times Square where a crowd of about 70 turned out and gathered at the 1st floor of Roti Bakar. Canon gave out their EF Lens Work III hardcover books to owners of 1D, 5D or 7D as well as setting up a counter with lots of demo lenses for the attendees to try out.

On top of that, Canonfoto brought in their range of photobooks samples which featured new textured paper for better printout quality.

Glenn and I had a blast talking about the 1DmkIV, 5Dmk2 and 7D as we tried to answer questions from the participants as well as we could. Overall I'm very glad and thankful that Canon has setup these kinds of meet to reach out to their client base and to encourage more knowledge sharing.

The crowd was then treated to a very nice scrumptous buffet prepared by Roti Bakar. Overall the event was very successful and Canon will be preparing similar events like this throughout Malaysia. The one held in Penang was the first event of its kind here.

Burning The Midnight Oil

2010-03-09T01:04:00.000+08:00

Managed to get the floor mat, signs and aircon for the studio today all within a short span of 1.5 hours.

Pretty happy with the productivity..hehehe. Here you see me slogging away late into the night on the signs.

Tomorrow will us spending time cleaning up and laying the mat followed by moving all the gears, lights etc into the studio, then its all system go~!

And the wall is down..! Yahooooooo!!!!!

2010-03-04T06:53:00.000+08:00

It was so funny last night when Jack mms me the picture of the new studio with the wall we had planned to remove totally gone! and he did all of this with a single parang...hahahahahaha. Well things will definitely move faster now that the major piece of renovation is out of the way.

My friend Hong from the paint shop has also advised us from painting the floor and it would be better for us to lay flooring mats instead. According to him it'll be more cost effective and practical. Thanks for the advise Hong!

Modifiers

2010-02-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

Light modifiers are absolutely essential to control or a better word would be to make light work for you. There are tons of items out there which you can use as modifiers from the simple boards to files.

Pushing yourself to think out of the box when using these modifiers will open new doors to your photographic creativity and the most important part of this journey is take the time to have fun~!

Diffusing Boards

2010-02-27T10:21:00.000+08:00

Bought a couple of diffusing boards of different density to try out last night. I quite like the effect that I can produce using different configurations. Must try to see how I can make full use of it for portrait shoots in the coming days.

Here's a shot I took last night using the 2 boards.

Stupid, stupid, stupid....

2010-02-26T08:08:00.000+08:00

Was in a rush yesterday to go uphill to strobe my son with the Goddess of Mercy and what do I find? I've mistakenly packed the studio lights trigger instead of my speedlight trigger...brilliant!

Anyway boosted the ISO to 4000, f7.1, 1/125, fired away and went home sulking...

Note to self..thou shall triple check the triggers and receivers from now on.

Strobist Info

2010-02-23T06:49:00.000+08:00

Two days ago I decided to add photos of my strobist info for the project 365 setup in order to help new strobists see how some of the lighting can be setup.

The images can be located here : Strobist setup

Hopefully with this guide, more new strobist will be able to come out with more outstanding photos for all to appreciate :)

Outdoor portrait shoot

2010-02-21T08:46:00.000+08:00

Had a good outdoor portrait shoot yestday for Denise. The lighting and the climate was favorable to us during the course of the shoot. We started off at a couple of bridges before heading deeper into the reserve for some shots amongst the trees.

Surprisingly not many people were there picnicking although it was a weekend which was fine with us. More pics are up in www.nutmegstudio.com

I used mainly 3 strobes throughout the course of the shoot.

Project 365 (Year 2-010)

2010-02-16T22:12:00.000+08:00

My second attempt to try and complete Project 365 strobist style after stopping at day 118 last year. Wish me luck...lol

This is my speedlite carrier bag. I keep 5 speedlites with all the receivers, transmitter, gels, extra batteries, remote cables etc in this portable little bag that I double up as my hip bag for my lenses when I'm out shooting a wedding.

Sis and Cuz

2010-02-16T18:18:00.000+08:00

My sister in law and cousins came over for a bit of portrait shooting yesterday. Good practice for me before the studio is ready in less than 2 weeks time.

Wedding Season

2010-02-15T08:14:00.000+08:00

Towards the end of last year (2009), we were fortunate enough to have been given the priviledge to cover quite a number of weddings just before the new year. It has become quite a norm for newly wed couples to hire wedding planners to spice up their wedding dinner decorations and from the shoots that we went to, the wedding planners did one hell of a job to make those weddings super grand~!

Here are just some samples of shots taken at those weddings and you may find more photos at our official site : www.nutmegstudio.com

Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Tiger

2010-02-15T07:41:00.000+08:00

1st day of Chinese New Year was celebrated yesterday with the usual visiting of relatives and friends. This year the weather was and still is extremely hot ranging from 38C in the morning and 32C at night. Even with the airconditioning switched on, it took hours for the room to cool down!

Both Janice and Kenneth were up for a shoot after lunch so a few quick snaps later, here are some family portraits :)

Its been awhile....

2010-02-09T19:49:00.000+08:00

It's been awhile since I had the opportunity to update the blog and for that I would like to apologize. My last update has been way back in August of 2009 (6 months ago!).

My crazy photographic schedule has taken me to many places during that time and I've shot a lot of wonderful wedding couples on top of my usual commercial shoots. The next few days will be hectic as well as I'll be giving a photography talk to the USM (University Science Malaysia) students and staff on this coming Thursday and I've yet to fully go through my presentation slides :)

With the Chinese New Year ushering in the Year of the Tiger round the corner, I would like to wish all my friends and families a Gong Xi Fa Chai~!!!!!

Till my next update (which will be soon ~ hopefully)... :)

Busy busy busy...

2009-08-06T00:26:00.000+08:00

I would sincerely like to extend my apologies to everyone for not updating the blog lately due to my heavy workload. Tonight we got together to brainstorm new ideas and plans for the future and we're glad we managed to pull out some great stuff from everybody :)

Backlight

2009-07-16T01:17:00.000+08:00

The use of backlight is a very powerful way to make your images look even more dramatic. The light source can either come from your strobe, an open window, street lights etc. All you have to do is to position your subject in such a way to make the most of this lighting.

I prefer to use snoot and color gels to create most of my backlights in my photoshoots. This will enable me to have more control on the composition as well as the position of the light source. Here are some examples of backlit images taken recently.

Tighten The Belt

2009-07-11T00:52:00.000+08:00

With our current economic situation, a lot of us had to tighten our belts one way or the other to make ends meet. Don't give up hope and keep the spirits up! :)

SEED...

2009-07-09T11:49:00.000+08:00

I have been so busy with work that I've not had the time to update my blog :( Had a lot of photoshoots over the last few weeks that I'm now backloged in photo delivery..lol. Anyways on top of adding new speedlites to my gears, I've also managed to find new techniques to shoot the night portraitures.

As with all good things, it all starts with a good seed which we have to nurture it daily and so that was the topic for last night's photoshoot of Kristen and Lee :)

Full series can be viewed in my flickr stream : http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinchooi/

Penang Dog Trials - PAA June 2009

2009-06-30T22:15:00.000+08:00

Had to cover the Penang Dog Trials event organized by PAA (Penang Agility Association) last weekend over a period of 2 days. Shooting an event has always been a straight forward affair but when it comes to animals (in this case dogs), one has to be on the alert at all times for that special moment as animals like children are highly unpredictable

Here's a shot of a Schnauzer waiting for its turn at the agility course while another one flying through the air :)

Wonderful Weekend!

2009-06-28T23:03:00.000+08:00

What a wonderful and hectic weekend this was. I had to shoot 3 events, catch Transformers - Rise of the Fallen, shoot my daily 365 project and took my parents out shopping! The movie was awesome to say the least and almost every single one of the cinema in the cineplex was showing this movie and talk about the crowd..dang! there were so many people there that ants wouldn't have been able to move.

Anyway, we should always cherish these moments as all of this would not have been possible without PEACE, topic of tonight's shoot :)

Next week I'll try to do a review on a new cheap speedlite which I hope I'll be able to make use of in my daily strobist shoots.

Kevin Chooi Photography

QR Code!

The Ariel Wedding Photoshoot

Yashica Mat 124 - an unexpected find

Full Circle - Medium Format

Montage montage and more montage...

Restoring a Mamiya-Six

Family Outing Photoshoot - Penang Hill

The World of Medium Format

Strobist workshop - Part 2 & 3

Follow Focus DIY!

Strobist workshop - Part 1

Why teach for free?

Contest entry to the Actual Day Workshop

Project X - Dateline : 11.11.11.

SPCA - Squarelet awareness photoshoot

De Rig!

Actual Day Wedding Photography Workshop

Khee Terh & Jit Mui | 26 Feb 2011

The Star Online TV Program - Just Like A Pro

Marumi Filters Review

Actual Day Wedding Package - Year of the Rabbit 2011

Year 2011 Pre Wedding Package

Top 5 Newbie Questions - Answers Here

Chinese New Year Dinner @ Parkroyal Resort, Penang

Valentine Dinner @ Parkroyal Resort Penang

Chasing the aperture dream

Ultra Wide Angle

Happy New Year - 2011

O'mighty CLAMPS

Canon December 2010 Delighting You Always Redemption

To all Canon customers,Delighting You Always!e-Redemption (only applicable to EOS 550D, EOS 60D, Speedlite 270EX, 430EX II, 580EX II)Check out 'Steps to Redeem' from http://www.canon.com.my/section/events_promos/eredemption_2.jspPlease help to share out with your fellow Canon friends.

Shotgun mic

The Star Online TV Program - Just Like A Pro

A little lost...

'Tis the season to be jolly...

New Year New Logo...

Fashion Portrait

An International Affair...

Canon Moments page created

"A Day With A Pro"

VDSLR - getting into the fray

Submit those entries

Preparation For The Big Day

Night Out

Anticipate, Observe, Capture

Noise and Desaturated Photos???

Guide To Buying Lens

Actual Day Shoots Part 2 - Composition On The Go

Many faces of a photographer

Prancing Horses

Traditions through time

Before the storm...

The Chariot

Power cels!

Actual Day Shoots - Part 1 The Basics

More than a photo

Mr Instrument

SPCA Calendar 2011 Photoshoot

Wedding gown shoot

Sky Residences - Lifestyle Living

Uncle Zack by the beach

Gowns have arrived~!

After a hectic day....

Flash synching 'em

Dream DOP rig

Rise and Shine

A Dog's Life

Modern affordable homes

Pupzclub Portraits Day 2

Pupzclub Portraits

RAW or JPG?

SPCA Food Fair 2010

Pupzclub 1st Dog Gathering

Storing a Buffalo

Doggone tired

Lock and Load!

to Dine in the Sky

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

L Colored Frame

To all Canon customers,

Delighting You Always!

e-Redemption (only applicable to EOS 550D, EOS 60D, Speedlite 270EX, 430EX II, 580EX II)

Check out 'Steps to Redeem' from http://www.canon.com.my/section/events_promos/eredemption_2.jsp

Please help to share out with your fellow Canon friends.