Workshop with Tomato Photo: Part 2

Yesterday was the practical aspect of the workshop. The plan was for me to shoot Xavier in Tomato Photo's studio under Hart's guidance. He showed me how he would engage Xavier and things to look out for when taking kids and babies photo. Seeing him in action, its just amazing how he does it so fast and made it look so easy.

Lilian was telling me that from her point of view, Hart is so quick. He catches Xavier's attention and once Xavier is engaged, he lift up my camera and click, all in a single smooth motion. Compared to me, her exact words were "you are like a tortoise". I engage Xavier and when I lift up my camera, aim, focus, recompose, and all ready to click, Xavier's attention has wander elsewhere and I have missed my shot.

Anyway before I share what I have learned from the practical session, I just want to touch on the "There is a photo within a photo" pointer in my Part 1. What I meant to say was, for every photo taken there are many other angles to take the same photo. You are try a high view, a low view looking up, slated view, etc. I did not meant to say you can just anyhow take a wide angle photo in high resolution and then intentionally crop them later. There are two kinds of people who can produce very good photos, a good photographer who does most of his work on the camera and minimum during pp (post processing) or photoshop gurus who does most of their work during pp. I am trying to be a good photographer hence I want to learn how to do stuff in the camera and spend less time doing pp.

So what have I learnt from the session?
- Keep things simple
The simpler things are, the better. Simple clothing (without distracting graphic or patterns), simple props (or no props), simple background.

- Observe your surrounding and know how your end shot should be before clicking
I make the mistake on focusing too much on the subject and not observing the surrounding enough. Hart's advise was to observe before clicking. Questions like how would the background look like, where is the light coming from, how would the shadow look should be going thru my mind.

Also, knowing how I want my end result to look would also making it easier as that would help me determind where I want my subject to position, when should be the moment I click, etc.

- Don't worry about missing the shot for Xavier
This is indirectly linked to the previous point. Sometimes I become so absorbed in not wanting to miss that shot of Xavier that I focus on him and neglect the surrounding (like tunnel vision). The end result is a snapshot instead of a photo. Hart say Xavier is always there so no need to worry about missing "that" shot.

- Equipment is only a tool
Hart doesn't use a Canon SLR but he takes better photos using my camera that me. Its amazing how he could get so many sharp shots. He said he has been asked before and he unconsciously move his body to get a sharp photo after the camera locks focus. This is one of the stuff that comes with experience I guess. So your gear is just a tool and with skill, you can take great photos with just about any camera.

- Always keep the little ones engaged. Keep talking even if you are behind the camera

- Kid's attention span is short, when he is "in the mood", take as many shot as possible. Do not drag the session too long.
Xavier was happy to be shot (after warming up to the studio environment) but it didn't last long before he became hungry and wanted his feed. If possible, try to shoot them 30 mins after they wake up.

- The subject looks most natural when they are doing their own stuff or in their own world
Scott Kelby mentioned in his book before, the first step to getting better photos is to stop saying "Cheese!" or "Smile for the camera". When people are not posing (unless they are super models) they usually looked their best.

- Take multiple shots of a direction before moving on
When we have decided to take the photo from a certain direction, take as many shots in different angle, different focus length and different "views" before moving to the next direction. This helps to save time and hassle of changing the camera settings, since shots from the same direction should not differ much in settings.

There are much more things covered but that's all I can recall now. That's the trouble with not writing down notes when I should have. Below are some photos shots yesterday. There are more at my Flickr. Enjoy.

Xavier's many nickname

Xavier is sick yet again, cough and running/blocked nose so we bought him to Dr. Chee for medication before it gets worse. As the clinic need his recent weight, we weigh him and to our surprise, he has now crossed the 10kg milestone. He is now 10.17kg and 79cm long (I use long as we are usually measure laying down). I think when he can stand up on his own I would already need to pay for child fare for him when taking MRT.

Anyway back to the topic of nicknames, seems like unknowingly, Xavier began to have nicknames and its a growing list.

Mat Yo Yo - The first nickname would probably be given by me. I was calling him "Mat Yo Yo" because he looked like the Malays in sarong whenever we wrap him up in cloth diaper before showering him. It's not in any way making fun of our Malay counterparts or the popular Malay program, just so happen the name came up whenever I see him in that outfit.

師奶杀手 - I came up with this when the Aunties were ogling about his Thunder Thighs.

XL - Lilian came up to me one day with a grin and she was saying she just realise Xavier's initial would read XL (Xavier Lee). Seems to go well with his size. Ha.

"Wah" Lee - We went to Soo Jit's second boy's baby shower and as many of our friends haven't seen Xavier since his baby shower, the first word they said (when they saw Xavier) was "Wah!". Rick then turned to him and say, "Think we should just call you Wah Lee from now on. Everyone's reaction when they meet you is Wah!"

Milca Hokkaido Soft Ice Cream

My neighbour Alan was asking me for information about Japan as he would be going there with his wife soon. Ever since the day he asked, I can't help but think about going Japan again. There are just so many things I missed about Japan, especially the food, the kawaii girls, the gadgets, the customer service, erm I better stop (as I could go on forever).

One of the things I miss was the Milk Ice Cream I tasted when I was in Hokkaido. You see, Hokkaido is famous for its seafood and dairy products and Hokkaido milk is as fresh as it gets. And it is only in Hokkaido that you get to taste Milk Ice Cream. (The other unique flavour is Lavender Ice Cream.) And I could not find it elsewhere in other parts of Japan.

So I was very excited when I saw one of the stalls in Orchard Ion's Food Hall (at basement 4). So did Milca Milk Ice Cream taste? My first bite had me thinking I was eating the soft serve from MacDonald. But as the Ice Cream slowly melts, the milk flavour began to surface. And the more I ate, the the closer it edge towards the unforgettable taste I had in Hokkaido. The cone is yummy too, thin and very crispy, complementing the ice cream very well.

My verdict, this is as close as you can get besides flying to Hokkaido for the milk ice cream. Its still not the same, but defintely close enough.

2 Orchard Turn
Orchard Ion, Food Hall (basement 4)

Takashimaya Baby Fair starts 27 Aug 09

The Takashimaya Baby Fair starts tomorrow 27 Aug 09 to 13 Sept 09. For those parents to be and parents of young children, this fair is not to be missed. Elsie had said before that this is the best baby fair in Singapore. The discounts are genuine and the variety are aplenty. I trust Elsie on it. If there is one person that I know that does more research than me, it has to be Elsie.

So what are stuff to get? For parents to be, you can look at strollers, car seats, breast pump, stream sterilizer, bottles, wet wipes, etc. Do your research and comparison, especially on the stroller. Handle it, push it around, try opening and closing it.

For parents of young children, you would know what you need by now. They also sell toys and educational stuff like flash cards and DVDs if you are keen.

See you at the fair.

Workshop with Tomato Photo

Having the knowledge and actually applying what you know are two different things. I have taken many photos of Xavier since his birth, easily 3000+. But somehow I find my photos lack that something. So I decided to look for a "how to take better photos of babies/kids" kind of course/workshop during my block leave.

There ain't many such courses around but I chance upon a workshop by Tomato Photo (Eric and Elsie had their photos with Zach taken by him and Joanne was telling me about wanting to take her babies photo with him). So I decided to use the money I had intended for a tripod to pay for the workshop instead.

Today was a 2 hour session on the "theory". But it was like having a casual chat for us. In fact, it feel abit like I was "interviewing" him. So what have I learnt from the session?

- Having the knowledge and actually applying what you know are two different things
I know what rules of composition are; rule of thirds, leaning lines, colours, textures, shapes, etc. I have gone through them in my basic photography course and the books I read. But when it comes to actually taking the photo, I do not seem to apply them. Often, I am so focus on capturing Xavier and his action that I just snap photos. Hence my photos look more like snap shots.

Even when Hart showed me some of the photos he took, I know it looks great but I can't really tell why until he explained what he "saw" when he took the photo. I guess its that comes with experience and practise.

- See/Know/Visualise how you want the photos to look like before you click the shutter
By knowing what you want your end photos to be like before you start taking photos, you would then be able to know what settings to use, what background to use, what expressions to capture, when is the moment to click.

- Know the technical stuff then forget about it
Very often we get sucked into the technical part of photography, like "is my lens not sharp enough" or "full frame more expensive and better", etc. I know I do. But these do not guarantee you great photos. Taking great photos is about capturing the moment you would treasure and like to keep as memories. Equipment is just a tool to achieve that. In fact, Hart showed me how he prefers softer photos for babies (since they are soft by nature) and how adding noise to a photo can make a photo look more real (see the photo example later).

- There is a photo within a photo
Well Hart didn't actually say it this way but he showed me how he would post process the two photos I brought along to the session. See the differences below.

This was the original shot I brought. It looked kind of messy with the bright colours from his playmat distracting the viewer from Xavier. Hart showed me how he would lower the colour intensity of the playmat so that the subject would stand out.

Or he would crop away the distraction like the above photo. By doing so, the viewers would immediately focus on Xavier's eyes first. He even changed it to black and white and added noise to the photo. I thought it looks great. Bryan Peterson had mention before in his books that there is often a photo within a photo and you can see the above as a perfect example.


The above is another photo I brought. As Xavier was back-lit, Hart simply blew out the background and changed to black and white so the photo looks more simple.

Hart also shared some of the way he engage his subjects to get certain look or expression. The Golden Rule, subjects will always look their most natural when they are at ease and not posing.

I am looking forward to the practical session with Xavier next week.