Reflection

Throughout this semester, I have learned about the basic photography aspects which are the key factors to a good photograph. We were taught about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, how to evaluate the exposure using the zone system and lighting. There were several challenges that I had to face along the way such as having to endure with the hot weather, tight deadlines as well as transport problems. Despite all the trouble that I had to go through, it was all worth it in the end. This journey to me has been like a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs. It was indeed a very challenging yet rewarding one. With all the knowledge and information I’ve gained from the past few months, I personally believe that I came out as a better photographer then I was back then. As quoted by Elliott Erwitt “ photography is an art of observation .. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them”. I strongly agree with that quote because photography has really changed my perspective on  how I view things now.It has also brought up the artistic side in me. Thank you so much to my awesome lecturer Mr Vinod for all the guidance and help you've given me. All those motivational and inspring talks you give to us really made me become a better person :). Thanks for always caring about us and treating us as if we were your own children :D..haha..It has been an awesome time being in your class! and I have to say that this is THE BEST SUBJECT that i've went through in Semester 1. Keep up the good work and hope to see you inspiring more students to come :)

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN!! XD

 

Lesson 5 : Lighting

 

After our final assignment submission, Mr Vinod taught us something new which is "Lighting".. We were taught about the basic types of lighting, main, fill, hair, rim and background lighting. Mr Vinod then told us to find a vintage portrait during the 1940-1950's. After getting approval from Mr Vinod,we had to reenact the shot in terms of hairstyle,costume,lighting,posture,expression and many more.We were given a week or so to do some preperations.

 

During the day of the photoshoot, we were given a short lecture by Mr Vinod regarding on how to use the photo studio. The first rule when we enter the photo studio is to TAKE OF YOUR SHOES AND PUT IT ON THE CARPET  ~hahaha.. We were then given a short demonstration on how to use the lights and the props/tools in the photo studio. Extra care had to be taken as the equipments are mostly made from China.After all the briefing by Mr Vinod, we then had to take over and direct the photoshoot on our own.Basically, there would be one camera person, one stylist and 2/3 "minions" to handle the lightings. It was a really interesting exercise because it showed me how to actually direct a photo shoot. Teamwork was diffently a essential key into getting a sucessful shot :) .Not only that, I also learned about the function of each lights and also when to actually use them

 

MY VINTAGE PORTRAIT XD

 

 

special thanks to those who helped me take this shot :)

Rationale

As quoted by a famous photographer,Ansel Adams,“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”. Photography is something really magical to me - capturing a still, perfect moment in time, that would otherwise have passed unnoticed, and preserving it forever. I have always had a passion for photography and I think there is something profoundly beautiful in everything I see. For the final assignment, we had to choose any subject matter that would reflect our photographic knowledge that we gained throughout the semester .I had a pretty tough time deciding on which theme to choose. I initially went for the “Café” theme which was rather difficult to get a proper shot due to various reasons. In the end, I finally settled with the theme of “ Old-time Business”.  These shots were taken at the well known Petaling Street . Petaling Street is a place where the hustling and bustling never comes to an end. Day or night, visitors keep coming to Petaling Street to either dine on the famous street foods  or to get some good bargains on things sold here. There aren't many proper shops selling food here. However there are many little stalls offering all kinds of fare and many locals claim these stalls are where the best street foods can be found. It is sad to hear that many people do not really appreciate how business are conducted in the olden days. The main reason why I decided to choose this theme was basically to capture back the essence of how business were conducted back then as opposed to the modern shopping mall. I tried my best to make sure each photograph complement each other, despite its difference, and making sure nothing is out of place. It was definitely a challenging task to accomplish due to time constraints. Capturing a perfect shot was difficult under the circumstances. It took me several attempts to acquire the correct composition, angle and lighting. I personally feel that the final 5 photographs that I’ve selected convey a message to all which is,”There is beauty in everything you see, whether it be something new or old”. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Final 5

After countless attempts of attempting "Cafe" as my subject matter.. I decided to choose "Petaling Street " instead. Mr Vinod agreed with the idea and was pleased with the photographs that I have taken. He also suggested that I change my topic to something else. I've then decided to go with the topic of "Old-time Business".Here are my final 5 pictures :)

 

 

 

Final Project [ Part 2 ]

As I mentioned in the previous post, Mr Vinod suggested that I went back to the cafe to take more shots. Indeed I took his advise and went there again. This time, I decided to try shooting pictures with a model inside. I called along my high school friend to help me out with this :)

Here is my 2nd attempt of taking pictures ^^

 

My pictures still got rejected by Mr Vinod...awwww :(
He mentioned that I still dont show any artistic side of me in the photographs taken. I agreed with what he said and tried to come up with a solution to that. However, I decided to switch topics and went with "Petaling Street" instead :)

 

Final Project [ Part 1 ]

 

For our final project, we were asked to choose any topic and produce 5 "best" shots from it. Mr Vinod told us to submit at least 5 pictures every week for the individual tutorial . The topic that I first choose was "Cafe" .Here are the 5 shots that I've taken :D

 

 

However, the pictures got rejected due to various reasons. Firstly, Mr Vinod mentioned that

the pictures does not show the artistic side of me. This is because the cafe itself is very artistic and it tends to become more of a "documentation" work. Secondly, he also mentioned that the angle and composition of the pictures are not correct. Lastly, he suggested that I go back to the Cafe to give it another try.

 

Lesson 4 : Zone System and The Ansel Adam's Project

Hey peeps! i'm back :D
for this lesson we learnt about Zone system

ZONE SYSTEM

The Zone System is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure  and  developement formulated by Ansel Adam and Fred Archer

The Zone System provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results.

Basically the exposure meters in your camera are dumb. ..like really DUMB!..Why? Because they assume every single thing you photograph have the same tonal value which is middle gray. About Zone 5 in the chart below.

  Just a brief description about the Zone System

 

 This picture shows the different zones in the photo and the table below explains stuff

about each zone.

For our exercise assignment, we were told to photograph 3 sets/pairs of photos. Each pair to have its exposure determined by the DSLR, then by us. The 3 sets had to be of the light zone, middle zone, and dark zone.This exercise is to be conducted in 15minutes around the campus.

Here are the pictures which I took:

Left side : What the camera thinks

Right side : What i think

LIGHT ZONE

   
 MEDIUM ZONE

 DARK ZONE 

What I learn is that, what the camera says isn't always right.This is because the "right exposure" will always be the middle gray.However, certain pictures tend to have a different zone value which doesn't go according the what the exposure meter in the camera says. As a conclusion to that, dont always trust the exposure meter in your camera :D.

For the second part of the assignment, we were told to take a photo of any subject showing what we had learnt from the zone system.We were given about a week to produce our work

Below is the "Ansel Adam" shot that I've taken
It's a shadow picture of my coursemate "Kim " :)
Credits to her for becoming my model..^^

After getting approval from Mr Vinod regarding our picture, we then had to edit the picture into 4 different types which are B/W , RGB ,CMYK and Gray Scale. We were also instructed to print out our 5X7 photos at a shop called "Applied Imaging" .To be honest, It was quite troublesome to go to that shop as it takes some time to reach there.But then again, I realised that It was located nearby my relative's housing area :) . I then asked my relatives for help when it came to picking up the pictures .This actually saved my time as I only had to travel there once instead of twice! XD.Overall, I was really satisfied with the outcome because the pictures turned out nice and it was printed at a reasonable price.