Chap Go Meh update

For those expecting some nice Kuching sceneries and street shots from me as per my usual schedule in Melbourne, I apologise for being a little distracted. Some beautiful creatures came my way ;)

Some folks find this first set a bit distracting due to the harsh blown out background.

Well there are several approaches to metering - and i took the liberty to expose to the right. Despite the blown out background, it has several functions:

1. to make the model's skin look fairer, hence more elegant.

2. blow out the background. there's a possibility to eliminate it in photoshop later.

I could've perhaps used an off camera flash with a softbox setup, such as the one below but this equipment is unavailable to me at the moment, so I make the best with what I have, aka. natural light.

This example has a large Wescott softbox to the right. I decided to meter the ambient light so that the whole scene would have a more cheerful air to it.

Other issues to consider:

1. choice of background. A telephoto lens could be used to find a background that would do justice to my metering, minimize DOF and not blow out the highlights, but that's not the way I prefer to work, though its perfectly feasible, especially from a wedding photographer's standpoint. A standard zoom works best for me at the moment, enabling both decent closeups and wide angles at the same time. I also find that the venues in Kuching are not as inspiring as the ones I've encountered in Melbourne (being sometimes dilapidated and old), but I guess it depends on each photographer.

An example of an image with a telephoto 70-200 equivalent, which I feel is a little static albeit being perfectly acceptable.

Example of a background with superb colour and architectural qualities, with a wide angle lens to induce some dynamism, although the model's pose can be definitely worked out a bit further.

This set uses more conventional metering techniques. Its hard to believe that the venue for this shoot is actually a 5 star hotel in Kuching, but lets bear in mind that Malaysian hotels have a different set of standards compared to their western counterparts ;)

As I've just returned from Melbourne, I'm still trying to find my way around regarding portraiture, because of the different environment and models. Of course, I'm not using this as an excuse for sloppy shooting methods, but an avenue to discover more possibilities in the future.

I hope to work with some of you in the future regarding portrait shoots. Till then, cheers, and happy Chap Go Meh~