Diana Khir: Portraits

Diana is one of those models who got in touch with me years ago but never got down to collaborate. Yes, it all sounds so familiar (for those who have worked with me before), but well, I don't have all the time in the world.

So, when I made contact with her this month, she requested for - in her own words - "angelic" kind of shots you take, wind in the hair, very bright background. Chiffon, soft flowy dresses.


And that's what we did. Thanks to Mother Nature Wind for styling her gorgeous hair during the shoot.

Location: Punggol Promenade (Punggol Rd End)

More photos at my Facebook page at http://facebook.com/chesterphoto

Outdoor Portrait Photography: Sharing My Shooting Style

Last month, I organised a group outdoor shoot for my photography kakis (friends) who rarely shoots portraits. It was a great learning session for everyone, including myself. While others have opportunities to practice portrait shoots, I have the chance to actually see how my style makes a difference to normal portrait photos.

So in this post, I shall share with you how I capture some of the shots using techniques and tips to create the look that I did for many of my portrait photos.

Backlight
This is one of my commonly-used lighting to create a dramatic effect. Some higher-skilled photographers would be able to control the flare effects but I like my way of shooting against the light.

The above shot cast rather unusual rings of flare, a result of the Nikkor 24-70mm shot at f4.

Here's one below where the flash is completely covered by the model. It might not look different from a shot without backlight, but notice the model's arms have a glow.

Here's an example of a shot without backlight and one with. Notice that the camera auto-adjusts the white balance to give a warmer tone with backlight. Of course, if you shoot in RAW, you could fix the left photo, but you certainly can't fake the glow.

As for the flash output, I always keep it at 1/8 power, and I don't factor it into my shooting exposure. Take a shot, evaluate the flash power, and adjust accordingly. You can trigger the rear flash using whatever methods you know that supports your camera system. For my case, I enabled SU-4 slave flash mode on my SB-600 flash and used my Nikon D300 internal flash set to minimum power (1/128) to trigger the rear flash. You could also purchase radio trigger but I want my shooting pals to also try the backlight shooting by triggering my rear flash using their individual built-in flash units.


Wide-Angle Framing
Surprisingly, most of my kakis were shooting close up on the model. During the shoot, I recommended them to pull back and shoot wide, but one of the commented that "there are too many elements when shooting wide, don't know how to frame".

The technique is simple: find a background that you would shoot with a wide-angle lens. Then place the model in the middle at about 2 feet. To make the subject large in a wide-angle shot, the subject has to be close enough. Finally, add a dramatic pose. In the above shot, I added another light source to the left of the camera - yep, that's not from a real sunlight but from my external flash.

Nikon D300, Tokina 12-24mm at 12mm, f11 1/250s ISO200

Here's another shot to show how wide angle lens can work on portrait shots. I framed the background structure into the photo. For this shot, I underexposed the background by several stops to give a more dramatic effect, then set my external flash to full power (1/1) to light up my model.

Close Panning
When trying to shoot a model with flying hair, you would either need a wind machine or a very windy day. Even so, you might not capture the right poses when the model is stationary.

What I do in this shoot is to ask the model to take a walk, let the wind blow in her face, and ask her to look into the camera at times. As she walks, you walk and pan with her. After dozens of shots, you might get a few good images with sharp focus on the subject's face or eyes.

Nikkor 85mm f1.8 1/1600s ISO200

Here's another shot, with all the random elements perfectly come together.

Nikkor 85mm f1.8 1/1600s ISO200

Conclusion
The above shots may not demonstrate perfect framing or lighting or posing examples because I took the shots really quickly in order not to hold up my kakis shooting enjoyment. Try these in your next portrait shoot and add some variety and emotional impact to your portrait images.

Visit my facebook page for more of my photos at http://facebook.com/chesterphoto . And if you need more information on the above techniques, please leave a comment below.

Close-Up Macro Photography

Macro photography intrigues me, because I can capture images beyond the naked eye's perspective. But you can't do it unless you have specialty lenses or if you stack 2 lenses together.

The below is one of my earliest macro photo, shot in 2006 on a Nikon D70, achieved by stacking 2 50mm lenses. Since then, I have acquired the highly-acclaimed Tamron SP AF 90mm f2.8 MACRO Di lens.

A challenge when shooting close-up is that the depth of field becomes astonishingly narrow. Even if you close down the aperture, the depth of field is still shallow.

But if your focal distance is long, then your depth of field would be like any other lenses, as demonstrated in my previous comparison post with Nikkor 85mm.

Here's a compilation of some close-up photos shot recently with the Samsung NX camera and the impressive 60mm f2.8 MACRO ED OIS SSA lens. Do you know what objects they are?

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Answers: Samsung NX 16mm f2.4 lens, Samsung NX200 camera mode dial, inside circuitry of a flash storage drive, frozen grape close up, frozen grapes, pencils held with a hand.

Harper's Bazaar ION Orchard Photoshoot 2011

The annual Harper's Bazaar and ION Orchard photography awards is back for the third year. During the first year, I shot Melissa Jane. Then on the second year, I assembled a team and went to shoot at ION Sky. I have posted the photobook excerpts on my facebook page after the shoot last year (click here to view). But I'll share some of my favourites here, plus a few exclusive shots not on facebook.

The ION Sky shoot was made possible thanks to the creative team: make-up by Cindy Chan, gowns specially designed for the shoot by Jenny Chua, and modelled by Miss Singapore Universe 2011 runner-up Shn Juay.

More photos at my facebook page.

Emma and Kate: Newborn Photos

Last week, I visited a friend who just gave birth to twins, to pass her an old pen tablet so that she could use it for freehand graphic design. I brought my Samsung NX200 with me and asked if I could take some photos of her babies.

This is the first time I am using the Samsung NX200 for a "professional" photoshoot. You see, whenever I intend to do a shoot with some serious post-processing, I will always use my Nikon DSLR gear. For shoots where I do not intend to process, I conveniently use all other options. In fact, most of my product review photos in this blog are shot with either the mirrorless cameras, compact cameras or phone cameras, in JPG, and running through Picasa for minor brightness and contrast adjustments.

In order to post-process images taken on the Samsung NX200, I shoot in Samsung Raw (SRW) format.

Unedited JPG copy.

After processing in Lightroom.

Many people think that shooting in RAW format is a way for photographers to fix "mistakes" during the shot, like wrong exposure. RAW format is more than just that. When you shoot in RAW, you are able to edit the colour tone, the sharpness, the noise reduction, the contrast, or the brightness, without compromising the image quality.

You see, when you shoot in JPG, the image is already processed by the camera, so all the colour tones, sharpness, noise reduction, have already been fixed. In fact, when I tried to process the same shot in RAW and JPG using the same Lightroom presets, the result turns out entirely different.

RAW image applied with Lightroom preset.

JPG image applied with same Lightroom preset.

RAW image post-processed with Lightroom preset.

But that doesn't mean you have to always shoot in RAW, because sometimes, you really do not need the extra capability, since shooting in RAW increases your file size, requires special software and more time to process RAW images to JPG, and more importantly, takes longer to save the images on your camera. This is very apparent on the Samsung NX200. After taking a RAW shot, I am unable to review the image until the camera buffer has completely processed the images, which takes about 6 seconds. I would have no such buffer issues on a prosumer DSLR like Nikon D300.

It all comes down to picking the right equipment for your shoot assignments. Using a DSLR like Nikon D300 will allow me to shoot without lag, but I would have to pack a bag full of heavy lenses.

A mirrorless system like Samsung NX200 is easily fitted in a normal backpack, but I get the same image quality - the NX200 is a 20 megapixel APS-C sensor, which is on paper better than my Nikon D300. The only compromise I had: slower shot-to-shot, image review, auto-focus (lens dependent).

But sometimes, it's not the speed of the equipment that gets you the shot. It's anticipating the moment.

For more photos, visit my Facebook page.

Rebecca: Portraiture

After a long hiatus from portraiture photography, I collaborated with Lynette for a portrait shoot on Rebecca. 

Click for larger image

With a little coaxing and directions, I managed to catch her in various moods and looks.

Read Lynette's blog entry about the shoot here.

If you like my photography, visit my Facebook page for more photos.

Photo Blog: Gadgets Overdrive During my Hong Kong 2011 Vacation

While I take a break and enjoy my vacation in Hong Kong in Nov 2011, my gadgets went on overdrive.

This is the first time I brought my 4-year-old daughter abroad, so I need to make sure she is well-occupied. I brought all her favourite gadgets - the spare iPhone 3GS and the iPad, plus a comfortable pair of Sony MDR-Z1000 headphones.

Who doesn't love a pair of comfy cushiony headphones?

I also brought the Logitech Wireless Keyboard for Tablet so that I can work using the iPad more efficiently. I love the hard slip-in case that converts into a stand to hold the heavy iPad.

For my own private listening, I used the Logitech UE600vi, an absolute ear-opener. It's so light and comfortable that I could wear this whole day. The treble frequency is not high and so it's very suitable for outdoor use. In comparison, the Sony MDR-EX1000 has very clear treble sound but when used outdoors, the treble overpowers the bass.

I love Hong Kong because it is a very well-connected environment, be it transport or telecommunications. Just 12 months ago, a 7-day unlimited data VAS from CSL costed HK$178. On this trip, it costs only HK$78! Thanks to the 1O1O shop staff at the airport departure hall, I got it set up on my Samsung Galaxy S2 in a brief, while my Singapore SIM card is moved to my iPhone 3GS. Besides data, this card offers free IDD call to many countries including Singapore - pay only HK$0.28 per minute!

This was the Prepaid SIM card I bought. Link

The reason for using the Galaxy S2 for the Hong Kong prepaid SIM card is obvious: Android phones enable Wi-Fi hotspot. With that, I can tether all my mobile devices to the Galaxy S2 and enjoy data connectivity at no extra cost. I made sure all our other mobile devices' data roaming is turned off, and the Wi-Fi is connected to the Galaxy S2.

Besides the benefits of Wi-Fi tethering, the Samsung Galaxy S2 can also do USB OTG (on-the-go), which means I can plug an external storage device to the Galaxy S2 and it can read the storage device. Thus I am able to transfer photos from my cameras via a card reader to the phone and upload to Facebook. The photos are edited using the NX200 built-in editing tools and then resized.

And with so many gadgets, it is practically not possible to survive on a a couple power sockets in the hotel room. For that, I brought my own extension sockets to charge up all my devices. I even bought a portable battery pack just for this trip in case the phone battery runs out before the day ended.

Now that I've taken care of the gadgets, let me share some photos I took during the vacation and the process of capturing them.

Day 1: Going to the airport.

I took this shot on the moving taxi. After a dozen shots, this one captures the airport control tower without blur while the surrounding is. Tip: there is no way to guarantee a good shot on a moving vehicle. Just keep shooting and hold your camera steady.

Above, I used the Panorama mode on the Samsung NX200 to capture this seemingly fish-eye shot of the aircraft. You can see that Panorama modes are not limited to long stretches of images. This 4:3-looking aspect ration is achieved by panning using the portrait mode instead of the landscape mode.

Shooting without looking at the viewfinder takes some practice, but it's the only way to capture images at places where photography is not permitted. With a fast camera like the NX200, it doesn't take more than a second to get this shot and stealthily slip the camera back to my case.


Day 2: Checking the weather.

Still drizzling. Our original plan was to visit HK Disneyland on Days 2 and 3. But Day 2 weather is quite bad, so we had to hope for a better weather on Day 3. To get this shot, I had to anticipate her as she slowly heads towards the curtain.

That's Disneyland Hotel, and at the foggy distant background, the mainland Hong Kong, not the CBD, by the way. That's way too few skyscrapers if you noticed.

Bossini got the license to produce a range of Toy Story merchandise to tie-in with the opening of the Toy Story theme park in Disneyland. Unfortunately, the park only started from 18 Nov, about 10 days short from our trip. Nonetheless, Mayenne got to pose with this statue inside the 4-storey store at Sai Yeung Choi Street, among others. Notice the similar poses?

Day 3: It's Disneyland!

Weather was perfect! Cloudy cooling day with no precipitation! The moment we entered the park, we saw the queue for a photo shoot with Mickey and Minnie. We quickly got on the queue and captured this beautiful memory.

The must-watch show, Festival of The Lion King. Shooting in the dark is no problem for the Samsung NX200. Tip: set the camera to Manual exposure mode, maximum aperture, and then fine-tune the shutter speed, using the viewfinder as a guide.

I didn't take any still images of the Street Parade, because I felt that a video capture offers a better visual memory for my daughter (she still watches the video regularly at home till today). Here's one just to show the colour vibrancy of the Samsung NX200.

There were 2 things which I felt regretful as night time approached, yet the regrets were all negated by one non-event. One: the Samsung NX200 battery could not last the entire day. For that, I was fortunate to have a secondary camera, the Fujifilm Finepix F550EXR to capture video footages, while trying to conserve the NX200 battery for the fireworks. Second, I did not bring a tripod for the fireworks shoot. So I had to look for a flat elevated surface and attached my pocket flexi-pod. The only elevated surface I could find: the trash bin.

And this was the position.

But all these problems came to naught, when the PA announced that the fireworks show was cancelled!!

As the crowd dispersed, I attempted to capture a better shot of the Castle.

I wasn't able to capture any more shot, because at this point, the NX200 battery went completely flat.

Day 4: The Return

Before we checked out of the Disney Hollywood Hotel, we explored the garden, which is surprisingly well landscaped. If you are staying there, please make an effort to visit the garden.

At the airport, she insisted on handling her new luggage we bought for her. Doesn't she look like a seasoned traveller?

Credits:
I'd like to thank the following companies for lending me some of the gadgets to use for my vacation:

• Samsung for the NX200 and lenses
• Logitech for the UE600vi earphones and Wireless Keyboard for Tablet

There is also the Sony Camcorder HDR-PJ10 which was not featured in this vacation blog because, despite their kind intentions to lend me, I decided not to bring for the trip because I had too many gadgets to handle. This camcorder has a built-in projector which can project up to 60-inch size, and records with an internal 16GB memory plus optional card slot for expandability. The original intention was to use the camcorder to record videos, and at the end of the day, I could project the footages in the hotel room. I tried it in my own bedroom and the brightness is rather good. In fact, it spurred me to look around for portable battery projectors so that I could watch movies in my bedroom without all the wires and heat and fan noise from the common projectors.

If you have any questions about the post, drop me a comment. You may follow me on my Facebook photography page at Chester Tan Photography.