chang*

in the latest edition of dapper, we wanted to stage a picnic and also do a shoot that reflected the cheery mood of the festive seasons. think bright, colours, happy, light, etc. as keywords. this spread was at the end titled ‘hello sunshine’, and below are the 5 photos ultimately selected.

i thought it would be a good idea to give readers am insight into how the shoot was accomplished. forgive me if i get a little too technical but i hope this makes for an informative read nonetheless.

firstly, the people involved in the shoot to whom many thanks are owed:

l-r: ahmad, me, joel, jayne, audrey, carina and sarah.

we started scouting and setting up at the botanic gardens at about 7.45 am and the shoot started proper at about 8.30 am when the models arrived. i wanted to do the shoot early as we were using speedlights (2 x nikon sb-800s and a canon 430ex) and i was concerned that the harsh brightness from the midday sun would prove too much for the speedlights to compete with. we ended shooting past midday anyways. more on that later.

i also did not want to be limited to shooting everything in the shade, which wouldn’t help to achieve the look we were after. the problem with small speedlights is that they lack the power that studio strobes possess. of course, i wished we had the luxury of bringing big strobes on location but that would be a logistical nightmare given the small crew.

final photos to be followed by the originals and a short explanation. here is the first:

this one was lit with 2 nikon sb-800s to either side of the models out of frame to create rim lights so that there will be some separation between the models and the background. frontal lighting provided by a photoflex silver reflector bouncing light from the sun, which was overhead and slightly behind subjects. a canon 430 ex on wide  from the front augmented the light from the reflector.

some of the highlights that were too hot were then toned down in photoshop. the colours were given a boost. we did not have great sky that day (ah, the vagaries of outdoor shoots!) so i fixed that a little. also, the trees and the foliage in the background were trimmed to improve the composition of the picture.

exactly the same set-up as the first. since i was shooting wide, the lights could not be placed out of frame otherwise they would be too far away to have an effect. note that the lights were already set to full power. they were then cloned out in post. the sky was in a bad shape too so that got a bit of attention.

went in close for the next one. still the same scene. for this the rim lights were did away with. image then cleaned up and enhanced in photoshop.

the set-up for this one was relatively simple. we had a canon 430 ex fired through a shoot-thru umbrella on the left out of frame as the main light. the right side, especially jayne’s legs and the polka-dotted roller-case, was a tad too dark so we lifted the shadows with a sb-800 on low power.

for the last one we decided to move into the shade. the final image is actually a composite the 2 photos below it. both were lit in the same manner – 1 canon 430 ex zoomed in to 50mm directed at the subjects. the camera settings and position were set on lock-down. there were some variations in the tonality of both images so i used the first of the 2 as the base image, superimposed the other and masked out the rest of the scene before adjusting the levels so that the subjects looked as though they were really in the same scene together.

alright, there’s that. i know that it was a lengthy post so thanks for reading. for the next shoot i am thinking of something more dramatic and moody so keep an eye out for that one.

to view the final layout of the spread, click here.

for larger versions of the images, visit my flickr by clicking here.

also, do check out my newly revamped website!

did a shoot for jeanine’s blogshop recently and above are my favourites. i have been and will be doing quite a bit of fashion in the upcoming year, largely for dapper, the fashion spread of my school’s paper.

i am really excited about the recent edition of dapper which we shot yesterday. watch this space for that one. will put it up as soon as it is published.

for the rest of the photos from the french fleurs’ shoot, click here.

check out my recently redesigned website by clicking here.

you can only turn 23 once in your life, and i thank God for seeing me through thus far. having said that, you can only turn a particular age once in your life. there’s that for the bad philosophy.

i spent my 23rd birthday in school during the day and then had dinner with sarah in the evening. sarah brought me to this wonderfully quaint and old-worldly russian restaurant called shashlik at far east shopping centre. the waiters and waitresses there were all in their 40s to 50s and they probably have been with the restaurant for a long time. in fact, we were the youngest looking pair in the place.

sarah said that her parents used to bring her there when whe was little, and she thought that it might be a great idea to eat there since she missed the food and she did not want to go to another typical restaurant. perhaps even favourite restaurants can be a kind of family heirloom.

we started off with borshch, which is a tomato-based stew with beef and vegetable. it was served with a dash of sour cream and needless to say, delicious and extremely satisfying. i then had a beef fillet with russian salad while sarah tucked into her steak with mushroom sauce. i think it is a place that we will go back to again in future.

after dinner it was off to botanical gardens for cake and just to have a nice, quiet place to hang out. sarah got me cakes from canele which were some of the best i have ever had in my life. i am not exaggerating. try them yourself.

of course, the birthday celebration is not complete without the present. sarah got me a… HOLGA!!! actually, i already knew beforehand but nevertheless it was a pleasure when i opened the box and held the toy camera in my hand. i am inspired by a certain david burnett, a photojournalist who is so good with a holga that his pictures shot with that have been published in international news magazines, even picking up prestigious awards along the way. time to get some black & white 120 film now!

to end off, i want to thank all for the birthday greetings. sorry if i don’t personally respond to all but i truly appreciate the wishes.

on turning 23, i have come to appreciate a lot of why things are the way they are in my life, and have learned to be more contented.

i have also come to realise that i am truly blessed to have a wonderful girl by my side, driving me on with her love and support. for this i love you sarah.

for more posts on photography, click here.

to see more of my work, click here.

beyond editing my own photos (making selects and working on them in a variety of softwares), i also get to do the same to the work of others in my new capacity as a photo editor of the nanyang chronicle.

so far the experience has been pretty tough. with the whole new editorial team relatively inexperienced, we took an unacceptably long time to produce the very first issue of the new year. i hope the situation improves. going without proper sleep for more than 36 hours is not very enjoyable.

the best part about being the photo editor so far is that i get to shoot “dapper”, which is the fashion spread of the paper. i love working in the studio with all the lights and all, collaborating with stylists and models to create a piece of work. below is my favourite from the most recent edition.

the next installment of “dapper” will most likely be shot out of studio. we will see what happens to that one.

to view the rest of the selects from the shoot, click here.

for more posts on photography, click here.