Shooting at moderate distances with everything in focus

Assignment 6 is done, finally. It took me a while because I was not shooting at all, I was uninspired. The assignment was exciting but was a tough one for me. Just as the title says, it's about shooting at moderate distances with everything in focus. Confusing? Easy? I guess if you take it literally you just need to stop down and Ming's advise was to shoot at f/16 (for FF) or use a compact camera to get the depth. The goals of the exercise are:

1. Not to always rely on using shallow of depth of field to isolate the main subject 
2. Focus on composition (hint: subject placement is key)

If everything is in focus on the frame then careful consideration of what we include is required or else it might end up being too busy or with a lot of distractions.

Color or Black and White?

Why do you convert coloured images to black and white? What do you look for when aiming to produce a black and white image? For this post I'm going to cover what I learned from my mentor Ming Thein, about why we should choose one over the other and why some subjects work in colour but not in black and white and vice versa.

365 Days Project - The Benefits and the Potential Disadvantage

First of all let's define what a 365 Project is since it is the subject of this post. It is generally the name or term used for making and posting one photo per day for an entire year. In a photo hosting site like flickr it is quite common and there are many flavours. There's an iPhone 365 (photos taken with iPhone only), 365 days in colour (coloured photos only) or 365 - DPS Assignment (there's an assignment everday or every week I suppose). Those are just to name a few, a search on flickr for "365" came back with many pages. There is also a similar version, the 52 weeks project or simply Project 52. Instead of one photo per day it's one photo per week. For this post I would focus on the 365 project and touch a little bit on the 52 weeks project.

Half way through Ming Thein's Email School of Photography

My journey through this online school is past the half way point and it is a good time to write about my experience so far with the mentorship program. A few of you asked about it too and that's another reason for me to write about it. I also think this will be of help for those who are considering Ming Thein's Email School of Photography or those that are already in the early process of taking the Email School program. Once I'm done with it I will do another blog post, a conclusion and photo essay about my journey and development throughout the whole process.

For those that are not aware of the setup, it's basically all via email unless you live in Malaysia where Ming can do a face to face portfolio review, then the rest is by email. It is assignment based and the outline of how it works is on his website and if you have other questions the best way is to ask Ming directly. His contact information can easily be found on his website and he is very quick to respond, normally between 1 - 2 days and sometimes quicker if you're in the same timezone as him. Just take note that he travels on assignments. If you want another opinion other than Ming's I'm open to answering any questions you may have. Kindly leave a comment, email me or flickr mail me if you have a flickr account.

SLR Magic 26mm f/1.4 Toy Lens

Eric Flexyourhead lent me his most current acquisition, the SLR Magic 26mm f/1.4 Toy Lens. I want to thank Eric first before anything else because this post won't be existing if not for him lending me the toy. Also, I want to note that this is not a review of this lens. This is a blog of my experience using the lens and I have to say I had so much FUN! All images in this post link to flickr. Click any image and you'll be able to see EXIF data and a larger version if desired.

So what is it about the lens that made it fun to use. For me it was about the unique images you can produce from this toy lens, size & weight (it was very light) and ease of use. The lens reminded me of how enjoyable it is to make photos when your camera and lens combo is light and comfortable. I'm using it on an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and a quick google tells me that it only comes with a M4/3 adapter. I believe it is a cine lens or a CCTV lens with C Mount. The SLR Magic 26mm f/1.4 + OM-D E-M5 combo is swell!

Subject Isolation

There are five ways to isolate your subjects, by:

• Light
• Depth of Field
• Colour
• Texture
• Motion

You can combine all to increase visual impact. Subject isolation is important because it helps to direct your viewer's eyes to the portions of the frame to which you want them to pay attention. The better isolated your subject is, the stronger your composition becomes, and the less distracting any other potential unintended (or uncontrollable) elements in the frame are. Paying attention to subject isolation also makes you pay attention to the subject itself in the first place. You must know the subject of your photograph is, if not then you should really question why you are taking the shot in the first place.

Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 ASPH

This blog post is to show photographs made using the Pana-Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 lens. This is NOT a review of this lens. I've used the lens for about a year now and it is my most used lens on my Olympus E-P1 and OM-D E-M5. My goal for this post is to provide real world examples of:

• How the lens produced bokeh
• How it performed in low light
• High ISO
• Long exposure
• Portraits
• Flare
• And some black and white conversions

All photos on this blog post link back to my flickr account where you can see the EXIF data. Enjoy!

Balance, Symmetry and Use of Empty or Negative Space

Assignment 3 is done and it is getting more interesting and tougher. Ming Thein has been true to what he said since the beginning. No sugar coated comments and he is a very tough (extra tough, I'd say) critique with very detailed descriptions of why your submissions are good or bad. All that is great because it is meant for learning and nothing is personal. So what about the assignment, it is mainly to make conscious use of negative/empty space while maintaining balance.