Some of you will know that the WPPM (Wedding and Portrait Photographers of Malaysia) was launched a couple of weeks ago.  It was an interesting turn out.  There were about 200 or so participants and an eye popping array of camera equipment.  I  attended some of the sessions after my own presentation and found it very interesting to hear how  the new photographers approach weddings in a, dare I say, post  film world. I know many photographers still shoot film, and personally I prefer it , but for weddings it is a rarity .

As I have been shooting weddings for more than 10 years, it was also interesting to hear about other peoples styles. I was somewhat stunned that many wedding photographers still shoot only in jpeg.  With todays processing tools the edit process in RAW is almost as fast as editing jpeg, and you end up with a much better image as you are in control of the processing. That said, at least one other presenter said he also shoots RAW like I do, so we are both in good company.  To me the photographer who shoots RAW “screams” they love quality. As for it “taking too long” I usually have my RAW photos processed and ready for the couple to view in less than a week.

The good things that came out of the WPPM was the common place to meet and talk with other photographers. The past 10 years I have been in the business have been marred by a lot of politics, some of it unpleasant, which has been a motivator for me to hold much of the local wedding industry at arms length. However this type of event helps stamp out politics.  It is also good as a melting pot of ideas.  This works as long as we remain teachable, which isn’t always easy, as sometimes someones behaviour distracts from their message, which may well be worth hearing. Personally  I believe we can learn from everyone we meet. The highlight for me was going out for pizza with Jon, Kris, Grace..and a whole gang of like minded wedding photographers on the first day. great bunch of new friends!

The areas of improvement for WPPM 2011 are as follows:

Structure, as it was difficult for people to go to all the tracks they wanted to as there were  3 concurrent tracks. Ouch! Me, myself,  and I is a threesome I just can’t split!

I also heard feed back regarding the photography competition that it was weighted heavily toward Portraiture and photoshopped/composited images rather than “in camera” technique.  This is always difficult as these competitions by nature are subject to the whims of the judges.  I saw things in some images which the judges missed, at least during the public critique when they were commenting on the strengths and weakness of the photos. But then again, doing a judging in front of your peers is no joke, and with the pressure on (they were being filmed) I’d say they did a good job.   No doubt had I been a judge people would have disagreed with my selected winners as well. Its the nature of the beast.  I usually do not put much weight into competitions anyway as in some overseas competitions I have seen some really bad photos “win”.  It’s sort of like watching a soccer game and thinking the ref was biased

Lastly there were no feed back forms. This makes it very difficult for the speakers (like me) to know the relevance of what we taught and match it to the competency of the listeners. Next year I want to tailor my message to my hearers, but it is going to be harder to do so unless I get some feedback. Was it too simple? Too deep? Not enough time on one point or another. I would have to say I had a good group who asked intelligent questions.

Ok…thats it. BTW notice the web site update? I bit the bullet and gave up on HTML 1.0 so as to bring my site into the 21st century.

Canon EF 85mm F1.8

Ever hear a new photographer boast that he only uses available light? The first time anyone moves from a compact camera or a kit lens to any lens faster than F2.8 can be intoxicating. All of a sudden you can play with the depth of field to get interesting out of focus areas, and shooting without flash opens up options that were not available before.

These lenses are usually F2.0 or faster. Typical F stops for the faster lenses are 1.8, 1.4 and 1.2. On occasion there have been lenses released between F 0.75-F 1.0. Most are now discontinued, being superseded by more practical lenses by their respective manufacturers. While some of these lenses are not cheap (RM16,000+ for some of the longer F2.0 lenses) a 50mm f1.8 is a modest RM400 investment.

After the initial excitement, hopefully the low light neophyte will realise that their images are now a lot softer. This happens because lenses are seldom sharp wide open, and can be remedied by stopping down the lens. A general rule is that most lenses are much sharper stopped down 1-2 stops. The benefit of fast lenses is that they can be stopped down slightly to improve sharpness and still be pretty fast.

Another trap is to think available light is the only way to shoot. This is a common boast amongst those who are still new to photography. A trip to any studio will show that professional photographers believe in controlling and/or modifying light. The plethora of light modifiers used today is amazing and stands as testimony that professional photographers are generally lighting control nuts. The one exception may be press photographers who utilize another skill set altogether.

Being totally reliant on available light photography for a wedding usually means the photographer is inexperienced, or that they have given control of the light over to whatever lighting “gods” they pray to.

So does this mean that available light wedding photography is for the birds? Not at all and now we come to the secret of it. Ready?

Available light photography is all about the quality of light. Let me repeat. Available light photography is all about the quality of light.

Available light photography can be evenly lit, or dramatic, but the photographer has to determine very quickly which way they want to go. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the available light at the venue? In the example shown, the light was beautiful and even. There were several other locations at this venue which were not suitable at all.

As a photographer you must think through the pros and cons of the lighting. Modify it if necessary, but work with what you have. Never be at the mercy of the venues lighting.

BTW: If you like the posts let me know.

Originally posted 2010-05-02 04:57:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Just back from a morning rehearsal at Sime Darby Convention Centre. I am shooting a high end Malay wedding there later today. Lovely couple, wonderful parents. I took wedding photos up in Tanah Merah Kelantan last week for this one, and every one is looking forward to seeing my slide show. The photos look brilliant on the computer but once it goes to their projectors you have to wince.

Everything is a shade of green. White baju now greenish white. Everyone looks bilious (sick!) and the projectors are pale….not powerful at all. This is not the first time this has been an issue. Many hotels in Malaysia have lousy projector systems.

Is it too much to have proper infrastructure?

While the photos are great, the parents love the candid shots where emotion was captured, once they are projected people will blame the photographer for the quality, NOT the projectors

So there you have it, a great marketing tool let down by slip shod infra.

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Quick update: when I went back in the evening the AV guys had fixed the colour!! That made me a lot happier! Projector was still underpowered though.