I wrote about backlighting photography before here and would like to emphasize again to encourage you all not to be afraid of backlighting scene when taking a picture as it can really give you a lovely image. Do you agree?

When I first learned photography 10 years ago, I read and was told that I should position the subject or look for a subject where the main source of lighting is from behind me so the subject is nicely lit. It’s definitely true and I still practice that a lot in many situations. But, I would like to encourage you all to also shoot a backlit subject like the above. The key to a successful backlighting photography is to balance the exposure between the bright background and the subject. You can easily use flash for this, but if you are like me who prefer to keep the flash at home, you can still do that. The foreground subject won’t be perfectly / uniformly exposed, but that’s perfectly fine to me. The overall image may lose some contrast, but to me that’s perfectly fine too. After all, I know it’s a backlit subject and I want to show that in the final result as I don’t want to lose the mood. So, check your exposure metering for the background and the foreground and compare the two. Settle for somewhere in between. You don’t want your foreground to be too dark.

If you are shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority mode, dial the exposure compensation to +1/3 or more depending on how bright the background is. Dial more for brighter background. Notice that the logic is the opposite, but that’s how the camera works. Its metering system can easily be fooled by the bright background and hence telling its metering system that the subject is very bright and thus compensating the exposure by underexposing the overall image. That’s how you get dark photo when shooting a scene with bright background.

So go out and look for some backlit subjects to practice. Hope this is useful.

The photo above was taken in Singapore’s Chinatown before the Chinese New Year in 2009. It’s a lovely place to visit if you want to shoot photos that say “Chinese New Year”.

I shot these few weeks ago when I was waiting for the couple to arrive for the pre-wedding photo shoot I did for them at the end of July. You can probably guess, especially from the three photos of the green leaves, that they are back lighting images. Backlit subjects can give you an interesting images as they will reveal the textures and other characteristics of the subjects which you can’t really see when they are lit from the front. Try this the next time you are out shooting. Look for backlit subjects and shoot them. Be careful with the exposure as your camera can easily be fooled to think that the scene is bright enough and hence underexposes the image. Use positive exposure compensation if you are shooting in auto, aperture priority or shutter priority mode. Depending on the brightness of the background, you may want to set the exposure compensation to +2/3 or even more.

Keep shooting everyone.

You can see the heart shape which is the symbol of love as we all know in the picture above. But what was the subject I used to shoot this? Read on to find out.

You can find many items at home to shoot if you are bored and with a bit of creative thinking (Note: I don’t claim that I am a creative person though), you can have lovely photos to grace the wall in your house. The ones I have here were shot using a macro lens with ambient lighting in my living room. No studio lighting at all, so you all can do this easily. The light came from the overhead fluorescent bulbs in my living room. And the subject is a book. Yes, a book.

First, open the book and divide it into two with each side having about the same number of pages. Use two pages from the left and right sides and bring them together by curling them toward the center to form a heart shape, like this:

I then placed the book on a sheepskin rug which I got from a friend of mine, but you can  use anything really, like a chair covered with white cloth, a table, a sofa, etc. I then placed a white styrofoam board as the background. My 100mm macro lens was set to shoot at its maximum aperture of f/2.8 and the ISO was 1000. The choice of ISO 1000 was necessary to give me fast enough shutter speed as I was shooting handheld. I could have used my tripod, but not this time. Even with ISO 1000, the shutter speed was only 1/60 sec. The f/2.8 aperture and the close shooting distance blurred everything except the part where I focused on and that’s the beauty of shooting macro. You can bring out something unusual and interesting out of something ordinary. I then played with the compositions to get the following two photos:

Now … how about the top photo? The one that gives you only the bright shape of the heart? As you can probably guess now, that one was shot by focusing on the far end of the book hence everything else including the book itself became out of focus. I actually looked for the focus point through that paper hole and on the fur of the sheepskin rug on the other end. Got what I mean? The bokeh (the out of focus portion of the photo) is now in front of the main subject, if I can say it that way. Play around with the compositions and the angle of your camera and shoot away and have fun. It may not be for everyone, but for those who like this kind of photo, go experiment with it. Have fun and share what you shoot in your blog and let me know too so I can have a look at them.

Here is another one:

Many of us take photographs for granted especially in this digital photography age. Unlike the old days when you have to print the photos in order to see them and you get to keep the negatives too. The negatives sound like the backup of your photographs, don’t they? Do you belong to the group of people who just keep the photos taken inside your memory card in the camera and continue to leave them there for many months before you download them to your computer? Do you back up your hard disk on a regular basis? Do you print your photos?

So, if you are like me who treasure photographs as one of the most valuable family possessions, here are the things, in no particular order, you can do to preserve your family memories:

1. Scan your old family photos
   We live in a very humid part of the world. If you don’t store your old family photos properly, the humidity may damage them over the years. The use of the slip-in album may also cause damage to the photos after many years, as the photos may stick to the plastic sleeves. Flatbed scanner is quite affordable nowadays and can produce a decent quality digital file. Get one and start scanning your old family photos, including those from your grandparents and parents. If you have large collection of negatives or slide films, you can opt to purchase the scanner that is capable of scanning films too. There are good options from both Canon and Epson and they are more affordable nowadays.
2. Print your photos
   OK, I am not suggesting to print ALL your photos, even though you are free to do so, but we all have some photos that we really like. Print these photos that you really like. Frame them and hang them to grace your home or office. Print them in different sizes too and you can keep some in a photo album. You can also print a collage that tell a story.
   You can opt to send your digital files to a photo lab for printing of you can get one of those affordable home photo printers. I would recommend to get one of these that is capable of printing up to A4 size as it is very convenient when you want to print your photos at any time. Get the all-in-one machine if you want, so you can have the same unit for printing, scanning and copying. You can still opt to print at a photo lab especially when the volume is big.
   I had a chat with one of my photography mentors last week and he shared with me his painful experience when he lost some of his important photos when his hard disk crashed but was comforted a little bit because he had already printed them before.
3. Avoid direct sunlight
   Hang your framed photos on the wall that does not have direct sunlight. The sun’s UV rays can fade the photos over the years. If you want, you can also opt to have glass or acrylic with UV protection for your frame. They are more expensive, but if your photos are very valuable, you may want to opt for this.
4. Download your photos to your computer after each photo shoot
   Make it a habit to download your photos taken using your digital camera to your computer after each photo shoot. Do not keep them inside the memory card in your camera for a long time. This will ensure you have the photos safely stored on your hard disk at home.
5. Back up your hard disk
   The price of hard disk has fallen a lot and will continue to fall as the technology progresses. They become more affordable. For the same amount of money you spend two years ago, you may be able to get a hard disk with double capacity storage. Once you have downloaded the photos to your computer, make it a habit to back them up too to your other / external hard disk.  Do not back up to the other partition within the same hard disk, but always back up to another physical hard disk. Run another back up process every time you have finished processing your photos. You can also run a scheduled back-up process. The frequency of it depends on your need and how often you make changes.
6. Create a photo album / book
   Many photo labs now offer the service to create a photo album or photo book for you. Consider this option if you do not want to have those traditional prints. You can design your album / book yourself by arranging the photos nicely, adding text and other elements you like. You can now personalize your album / book yourself.
7. Get a dry cabinet for storage
   The advantage of using a dry cabinet is that it has the electronic control for humidity and temperature and it’s also becoming more affordable these days. Get one to store your albums, photos, CD, DVD and also your camera and lenses. You can get one from your camera shop or CarreFour.

Hope these are useful everyone.

5 more days to go !! Have you voted today? Have you heard about Singapore Blog Awards 2010? I am one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Best Photography Blog category. If you like this blog and you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate if you could vote for me. Voting is open until 30 June 2010.

• Voting is open to everybody. For International voters, just use your passport no or ID no during the registration. They need your ID no for verification in case you win the prize for voters.
• Please go here to vote: http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/category/ .
• Click the Best Photography Blog category and click Vote for my blog.
• You can vote everyday even for the same blog. One vote per day per category. So, keep voting please if you can. Thank You! 
• They have prepared some prizes for the voters too : http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/about/prize.html.

So, next time you have something that you want to  throw away, think for a moment if you can shoot it first now or later.

You never know, it may turn out to become an interesting photo. Keep shooting everyone.

Have you heard about Singapore Blog Awards 2010? I am one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Best Photography Blog category. If you like this blog and you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate if you could vote for me.

• Please go here to vote: http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/category/ .
• Click the Best Photography Blog category and click Vote for my blog.
• They have prepared some prizes for the voters too : http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/about/prize.html.
• And don’t forget that you can vote everyday even for the same blog. One vote per day per category. So, keep voting please if you can. Thank You! 

How can I take pictures of strangers while on holiday?

Traveling always opens a world of opportunities for us to see many different things. Different foods, different landscape, different cityscape, different culture and many local peoples. What do you photograph the most? Some will say the cityscape and the landscape. Some will say they photograph the peoples on the street or at the market, shot using wide angle lens to show the street and the market, thus showing the scenes of what they see. But, how about taking portrait of the strangers too? Portrait of the local people we meet while on holiday. How can you do that?

Shooting travel portraits is actually not difficult. No special techniques required even though I will share some technical techniques I usually use in my future posts here. But, the most important aspect about shooting travel portraits is actually non technical. So, without further ado, in no particular order, here are the top 10 tips for shooting travel portraits while you are on holiday:

1. Respect themThis is the basic courtesy that applies not only when you are on holiday and taking pictures of strangers but also anywhere anytime when dealing with people. Do not think that you are ‘higher’ than them just because you think you are from a more developed country for example. You should remain humble and treat them with the same respect as you would to others in your own country or how you would like people to respect you.
2. SmileSmile will open up and build a warmer connection between you and the stranger even if you don’t speak their language. Smile is also the cheapest way to make us look good without having to go for plastic surgery.
3. Talk to them – 5 minute ruleWhen you first arrive at the location, try not to shoot them immediately. Talk to them if you can and show them that you are interested in what they are working on and want to know more by asking questions sincerely. Spend the first five minutes to build a good connection between you and your subject. Ask questions about what they are working on, where they are from and how far the place is and try to look for commonality between you and them if any. Find out what their hobby is, their favorite football club, their favorite food, how many children they have, etc. You can also start by shooting details of what they are working on first without having them in the picture, such as shooting their hands while they are weaving fabric, peeling onions, cooking, etc.
4. Ask PermissionAsk permission whenever possible. If you don’t speak their language, use the body gesture to ask for permission to photograph them. Raise your camera toward your eyes while keep looking at them and smile. If they smile back and/or even pose for you, you know that you get the approval. Do not insist if they do not want you to take their photos and don’t be discouraged. Continue to smile and respect their decision. Continue to explore the place and look for other subjects.
5. Respect the local cultureDo not judge or criticize the local culture no matter how you feel about it. Respect it highly. It’s not about which one is right or better, it’s about seeing and accepting the differences that make up this beautiful world. Enrich yourself by learning about these differences.
6. Look for colors and expressionOpen your eyes and look for colors and expression. I don’t mean the color of their skin obviously, but the color of their clothes, their headscarf, their hat, etc. Something very colorful that will make an interesting photo. Look for expressions on the face too: smile, giggle, laughter, solitude, etc, when you are talking to them and be ready to shoot.
7. Share what you shootDigital camera has made it easy for people to view the photos taken on the spot. Share what you shoot with them. I guarantee you that this will make them smile even more and you are more likely to be given more access to photograph them. Others who see it may also give you access to photograph them. If possible, ask for their mailing address or email so you can mail them the photos.
8. Don’t shoot and runWhen you think you have shot enough photos, do not just walk away. Spend some time again talking to them and especially to thank them for their time talking to you and for allowing you to take their photos.
9. Get a local to be with youIf you can, get a local to be with you when you walk around exploring the villages, wet market, etc. This will help a lot especially when you don’t speak their language. The local will also be able to bring you to more interesting places where you can shoot more interesting subjects.
10. Be alert and stay safeRegardless whether you are just in a different city or different country altogether, you need to remain alert and stay safe. Ask the people at the hotel about the places you want to go and ask about the safety there in general. Do not go to places where even the locals try to avoid for safety reason. When you are walking and exploring the place, remain alert of the surroundings while continue being friendly and smiling.

So next time you are on holiday, don’t forget to try these tips and let me know if they help and I would love to see the photos you take too. Share the joy of photography.

Have you heard about Singapore Blog Awards 2010? I am one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Best Photography Blog category. If you like this blog and you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate if you could vote for me.

• Please go here to vote: http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/category/ .
• Click the Best Photography Blog category and click Vote for my blog.
• They have prepared some prizes for the voters too : http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/about/prize.html.
• And don’t forget that you can vote everyday even for the same blog. One vote per day per category. So, keep voting please if you can. Thank You! 

I am sure you may have other tips that work better for you and I am sure that there are more than just 10. But, I am sharing here what I usually do and hopefully this will help those who want to take better pictures of their children. Few of the tips below are applicable only for an SLR camera, but most of them are applicable for a point and shoot too. You can also view more collections of children and family photography on my Masakecil Photography website.

So here they are in no particular order.

1. Be patient
Children are usually active and not always willing to listen to instruction, so they are the boss during the photo shoot. Talk to them, build the connection with them during that short period, so they are comfortable with your presence. Watch them and be prepared with your camera for the good moments. Photos will usually come out more natural and will show the children as children in their own world.

2. Shoot them playing with their toys
Children are usually very attached to their toys, especially their favorite ones. Shoot them while they are playing with them and look for those moments that show the connection between them and their toys. If you want to, you can exclude their faces and focus on their hands while playing with the toys.

3. Watch the Foreground and Background
Unless there is a special purpose, avoid shooting in environments with unwanted cluttered foreground and background if you can. Note that the keyword here is “unwanted”. So if you want a toy or part of a toy to be in the picture to add more stories to the image, by all means do it. Pay more attention to have clean background. Avoid having something vertical behind them that will look like as if it’s getting out from their head. Your main subject of attention is the children, hence removing those unwanted objects helps to emphasize your subject of attention. If you are outside at the playground in the park and you want to photograph the children playing, you can do few things to get a better picture:

• Move closer to them to isolate them from the busy surroundings and include part of the playground setup to still give a sense that they are playing at the playground. You don’t have to include the entire setup of the playground.
• Choose an angle where the background that is just behind them is clean or cleaner. Again, avoid vertical bar or pole behind the child’s head.
• Zoom in or use a longer lens to isolate the child from the surroundings

4. Color does matter
If you know the place you are going to, plan better by choosing a good combination of colors between the children’s clothes and the background/surroundings. Avoid wearing the same/similar color with the surroundings, as it will make the children less prominent in the photo.

5. Shoot during early morning or late afternoon
When shooting outdoor, do it during early morning or late afternoon when the angle of the sun is low and the quality of light is better and softer and the shadow is not harsh. If you have no choice but shooting while the angle of the sun is high at noon time, try looking for a shady place under the trees or where the sun is blocked by tall buildings.

6. Use window and/or curtain to diffuse the light
When shooting at home, try to position the child near the window with his/her face facing the window or having one side of the face lit by light from the window. If you have thin white curtain, use it to diffuse the light even more and create softer lighting if needed.

7. Focus on the eye(s)
When shooting portrait, the eye(s) should be in focus. When you are shooting at an angle to the face, focus on the eye nearer to the camera. Hence, select your focus point upfront and be prepared to move it quickly as the child moves.

8. Look for expression, emotion and relationship
Capturing the children’s expression, emotion and their relationship with the parents or friends will help make a better photo and tell a story. So look for those funny faces, giggles, laughter and even cries.

9. Rule of Third
Play around with the composition. If you are used to photographing the child by placing them in the center, try different approach now. Position them off-center by following the rule of third. See image below. Position the main subject at either one of the four intersections.

10. Eye-Level shooting
Photographing children from a high angle creates an unpleasing perspective. Bring yourself down on your knee, or even on your tummy to be at the similar eye-level as the child.

Now, extra three last tips for you.

11. Understand your camera
Read the manual and learn how to use your camera optimally. Practice often to play with the setting, switches, buttons, etc, so it becomes second nature and you can operate it fast when you need to change the setting to adapt to certain situation.

12. Use manual exposure setting
If you are like me who prefer not to use flash, set the camera exposure mode to manual especially when the lighting is constant. Follow these steps to decide:

• do I want more of the background or do I want the background to be completely out of focus? This will determine what aperture you will use.
• after deciding what aperture to use, check if the scene can give you fast enough shutter speed to handle the subjects. If children are running and moving actively, I usually ensure that my shutter speed is at least 1/250 sec or faster depending on the speed of the children movement.
• if shutter speed is too low to freeze the subjects, increase the ISO so you can get higher shutter speed setting.
• if shutter speed is still too low after increasing ISO to the max, you may want to go back to point no. 1 and compromise by not getting more of the background. Use the largest possible aperture you can for the lens.
• if all have been done and nothing else you can do, don’t be discouraged, be prepared with your camera and press the shutter button when the children is at the peak of their movement, when there is usually a brief moment of freeze

13. Have fun and take LOTS of pictures
After reading all the above, I am going to tell you that rules are created to be broken. So, don’t be too stressful about following the guidelines. It may deter you from liking the process of photography. Just take LOTS and LOTS of pictures. As you review them one by one on your computer monitor, you will learn what works and what does not. Be brutal to yourself when you are learning. View the photo at 100% on your computer monitor to be able to see if it is sharp or the focus point is where it should be. Review the composition and play around by cropping the photo and see which one works best. As you learn more and practice more, you will notice that you will tend to CREATE the image in the camera right in the first place. It will become second nature as you progress. Photography is fun, so have fun. If you need to break the rule in order to create an image that you think will have great impact, by all means, do it.

Hope you find these useful and keep shooting.

A Biker on Victoria Street, Singapore

Shooting at high ISO is sometimes necessary, especially when shooting in low light condition and if you are like me, prefer not to use flash. Bumping up the ISO to 800, 1600 or even 3200 is fine if that helps you achieve a higher shutter speed to help freeze the subject and reduce the handshake. Current generation of digital cameras produce wonderful pictures at high ISO with very minimal noise. Let’s forget about pixel peeping. I am not shooting for a cover of fashion magazine. Few of the latest digital cameras have high ISO up to 12800 and 25600. You don’t have to go that extreme of course, but if you own one of those cameras, just don’t forget that you have that option if you have to.

Do not worry about the noise produced by the high ISO setting, because to me, they are just bigger colourful pixels.

Shooting at high ISO in low light condition without flash gives you the advantage of using a high enough shutter speed to freeze the movement of the subjects.

Unless a special effect is intended, it is better to have a sharp grainy picture rather than a smooth picture with no noise but the subject is blur.

The above image of a biker on Victoria Street in Singapore was lit only by the street lights which were quite dim. The aperture used was f2.8 and at ISO 3200, the manual exposure metering gave me a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. I used the panning technique to shoot the subject and was happy with the result. I know that when you re-size an image shot at high ISO, the noise will either go away or reduce significantly, so you can’t really see the noise in the above picture, but I hope I made a point that to be able to have ideal shutter speed for dimly lit subject like the above, you need to bump up the ISO.