Most amateur photographers would keep their cameras away when it rains. This natural reaction was to protect their digital cameras from the damaged by the rain water.  However, in doing so they would have missed opportunities of taking wonderful and unique images of people in the rain. In our Cebu PMPE, we were caught in the heavy tropical storm when we reached the Cebu Wet Market.  All the participants did not put away their cameras...

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A lot of photographers have asked me why and how I take my pictures. I have given this a thought and have come out with an idea on a series of pictures that I have taken and my thoughts on it. Do not expect too much gear talk though.     Exif data: 1. f4.5 2. 1/10 3. -0.5EV 4. ISO 400 I have always loved to use lighting in my composition. Natural lighting direct, diffused or reflected from the world’s largest light source is always...

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I’ve been a judge at several external photo competitions, such as the recent Sony contest, and the big Sunway Resorts competition, where cash and other prizes worth more than RM200,000 were offered. I was also a judge for this month’s Vanishing Trades Photo Competition, and Renzu asked me to write a few words about how we pick the winners so that the mysterious process can be clear and transparent to all. I’m happy to say the...

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PMPE (PhotoMalaysia Photosafari Experience) is a good learning place to try new techniques. Yes, we were placed in a competitive position as our participants improved on their skills. I am trying to share a series of advance composition techniques used by our participants and ourselves as we go on this long photography journey. I will try to give a short explanation on each technique in a few parts. The hardest part in street photography is...

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Have you ever come across a situation where a photographer would focus on his subject and expect you to wait for a couple of minutes while he checks his exposure, half pressed recomposed, takes his eye off the camera, direct the subject to move a bit to the left, puts his eye back to the camera, half pressed, recomposed, take half a step back, put down the camera, ask the subject to shift to the right, takes his camera to his eye, half pressed...

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Daily rantings – Avoid high contrast situations One of the most common mistake made by newcomers to digital photography is taking photos in very high contrast situations. Most DSLR’s sensors can record images with about 5 to 6 stops of dynamic range. Trying to take a photo of a scene that is higher than what the digital sensor is capable of capturing will result in blown highlights and blocked shadows. Negative films have a slight advantage...

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