Sunday 15 April 2012

First Photo Competition

Got called by a friend to join a wine tasting(!) event at a community event, co-organising a photo competition with the theme "Gems" of that neighbourhood.

The day started with congestions along those filter lanes on the road. Makes me wonder how badly our road system is designed, if our public buses are also trapped by these lanes!

This was then followed by a heavier drizzle, and slight hunger, since we had little since the morning. Sat in a 1.5 hour experience sharing by 2 judges, one a nature photographer and the other a wedding photographer. Some nice photos, though I did not get my question posted to them, which was "if writing can improve what you will take". I believe it does, so maybe taking a poetry class helps :)

I must admit that we did not really try hard to get the photo, since his aim was the wine and mine just spending time with some of my oldest gears. We even had a not-so-short lunch before moving out! Nevertheless, I had a venue in mind (due to the weather).

On walking towards the venue, we came across a small shop selling some Polariod stuff. I got myself a pack of PX100 Silver Shade. Hope this is a better stock.

Where's my venue? Right under the nose, I mean the roads: the underground train stations :)

While I had a venue, I had no design. The friend came out with a design to be shot as a passer-by, stepping towards the lens. Fitted the fisheye, off-camera flash, and full manual mode with the remote. Tried a few exposures to get the correct shuttle speed (for the ambience) at 6sec, closed down to f/22 and ISO200, laid the toy on the floor and supported by the lens cover.



Results:
Original exposure. Completely forgotten to correct the white balance and correct the flash gel
Post processed. Corrected the white balance and adjust the contrast. Luckily the flash didn't turn out to be too blue.
Of course, we had to submit the original JPEG from the camera. This shot took us about 10-15min :)

The rest of the day was supplemented by a tea break in a Japanese style confectionery, followed by the buffet dinner and a glass of wine (so much for the tasting :). Fun, if you asked, and there are really some nice photos relevant to the theme (though I still cannot understand how some get selected, maybe it's because they were taken by iPhone??).

My takeaway from the experience? Take a writing or poetry lesson (probably it will enhance your creativity), and I finally know there is a Chinese cemetery in that neighbourhood.

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