Happy Rabbit Working Festival

Hohoho. Just a lame joke.

Today is the so-called Mid-Autumn Festival, and as its name implies, marks the middle of the season. There are many stories and myths associated with this day, some of them disputed because they are probably distorted with the mouths that retold them... (in other words, several different versions)

Anyway, since I found a toy that is close to this festival, albeit the Japanese version (haa... why is there no Chinese or Korean version?), I went ahead and build it. As with my other toys, I took a picture after the build. Quite a simple and fast setup.

And the end product. The shadow is noticeable but I decided it is good enough.

Dead Space Marker Shot

Coming with a concept for this took quite a few days. Originally I wanted to shoot it in a tree environment since the base was "wooden".

However, after some research on google, I changed my mind. I shifted to placing it in a more artificial environment with a green eerie aura.

The idea of how the shot will look

The experiment took about an hour or more, with different placement of lights and camera elevations. Finally settled on the setup below.

Final shot. Didn't really achieve the effect I wanted but gotta have to settle for this ;(

Year-book assignment, sorta

The location? A Taekwando gym. I think it was a black belt presentation ceremony or something similar. The whites were placed on the mat to reduce the red reflections on the subject.

The catch? The belt and the name on it should be visible, and most of my clients were kids or teens. The routine: a single shot, a family shot and one with the instructors.

As my friend put it, this was not a particularly difficult assignment. Just that I don't really like working with people, and giving orders to pose people really isn't working with me. I like spontaneous, and would follow the subject.

Now that's where the problem lied. I missed at least 2 kids' names, and the height of the shortest kid actually caught me off guard, though luckily I think the shot would still pass. The whole session went very fast, so I didn't actually have the luxury of reviewing the shots (anyway I don't have the habit too). So if I missed it in the viewfinder, probably I will miss the shots.

So what now? Obviously back to the desktop to see if there are ways to patch: Photoshop! Luckily for me, it is still pretty workable and took me two nights. Hope I wouldn't have to work this anymore...

P.S. wonder how effective the mirror at the side is as a huge reflector?

A Slime draws near!

Intended as a parody ;) Been scouting a ideal setting for the shot, finally came across a candidate while walking back after a friend dropped me off after a drink. Good things just pop up unexpectedly, don't they?

A very easy shot, hardest part being walking to the location under the intense heat of the day. Crazy weather this time of the year.

Location is actually shot against a highway at the back, but luckily the trees managed to block everything and cars flashing by are not that obvious ;)

Only two shots were taken, this being the first. The light and the location was almost so perfect, I don't even have to use the reflector or the flash that I carried, though the polarizer was used. The only post-processing was just a minor horizon fix, some contrast push. The focal length was about 50mm; if I knew earlier, I would have brought the Lensbaby as well.

Next was to get the command boxes in. Copied them from a jpeg in wiki, a little copy and paste, cutting here and there, and tada, the end result at the top ;)

A planned shot for Vesak

Technically not a difficult shot, but getting that yellow glow the way I want was. What I thought could be fixed in 30 min took over an hour ;(

The setup: 1 flash with a golden yellow gel and another lean in close to the subject, zoomed at the tele end (probably 85 or 105mm). Triggered wireless, since I shot this on the D3.

Didn't notice that the washing machine was reflecting the yellow light until I took a picture of the setup! Maybe I should do it earlier next time as a check for other surprises...

Doing a product shoot for my friend's shop

Unfortunately, I was stubborn enough to bring my D200 and the Tamron 17-50. Not that this combi wasn't good, but this has missed quite a few shots in the past. I'm not sure if it's the lens or the camera, but even my older D50 does better :(

Anyway, I started off thinking that we could manage without a flash (even though I brought one, or at least one). This was what turned out :(

Too dark, and there was the strong green cast, probably from the trees

Had to be remedied with post processing, but still reasonably usable

With this bad initial experience, I took no chances and use the flash with the remaining shots. Lesson learnt? Always mount and use the flash, then turn it off if it doesn't really add to the picture. Or maybe I should just bring a reflector :)

This location was chosen by my friend. It was not bad, very flattering light and comes with a funky wall :)

My favourite shot, but D200 and Tamron disappoints me ;(

The funny Taiwanese girl. Locals, on the other hand, are really too camera shy

The photogenic Burmese guy. I think he came from a rich family

Yeah!!

Mersing trip

Actually I have nothing much to say about this, in photography terms and experience.

Just trying to be funny, I brought the Fuji Instanx since I ordered some film packs just weeks ago. Must say that I am impressed with the consistency and quality of the pictures that this toy can deliver :)

The pictures can be seen here.