Imaging

Hosting a LinkedIn Workshop

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Demos, Challenges. Things I've learned.
Two set ups x 23 people.
Didn't use strong enough lights for my set up.

Photographers: Lanli Su & Ziyan Zhang
MUA: Stephanie Santillan, Nicolas Dela Torre & Alison Roberts
Set up: Kyle Bennett, Jin Shen Wong, Steven Turner
Resources: Christian Soriano & Christopher Wang

Photo Studies

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It was a year since I used my camera. Decided to jump back into with a casual lifestyle photo shoot with Darlene and some studies. I spent a lot of time struggling with colors. I wanted to achieve an organic film look with richness in colors, a lot like my daily inspiration Joe Pugliese and Krystle Wright. 

Here are some edit overs I did for my friends:

Portraits by Andy Wong
Long Essay Post with Jemmie Truong
Landscapes by Tony Michaels

Workshops I Organized

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3d body scanning with Daniel Nassiri

HDR and HDRI Panoramas with Randall Jue

My first ever HDR that I did after the workshop! I photographed about 20 sets, and all but 1 were shot under dappled lighting so they didn't turn out well (example in last photo).

Photogrammetry with Thom May

NHM Photo Evaluation

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Following my DSLR workshop, a few people and I from the club went to practice at the National History Museum. This location offers a variety lighting obstacles, from under-lit and over-lit environments, making it perfect to practice exposure.

Photo by Wong Jin Shen

Photo by Wong Jin Shen

The photos above are my photos, shot with a Canon 5D Mark III and a Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD. But I never learned as much as by having to verbalize and show others how to do it. So for practice, I will be editing and evaluating the photos that Jin shot on a Canon EOS Rebel XS.

I love how he composed his shots of the dinosaurs, it's dynamic and energized. Jin's DSLR had the lowest range and built of the group. With barely half the megapixels count and 1.5% of the Mark III's ISO capacity, the problems he had to solve were different than others:

 

Scenario

Dark lighting condition requires more light entering the camera. This can be done by having a high ISO, slow shutter speed and/or wide aperture. 

Problem 1

Jin's DSLR had a confined 1600 ISO and a kit lens with max f/3.5 aperture. Under the exhibit's dark lighting condition, he would have to use a slower shutter speed to not underexpose the image. Problem with that is he didn't have a tripod, and any slower than a 1/60 shutter risks camera shake.

Also, there is a lot of image noise by having to use the max ISO.

Solution

Shoot in RAW. Underexpose the image a bit to avoid camera shake and do a post-edit.

Problem 2

Gave him my prime 50mm lens with a max f/1.8. The wider aperture allows him to use a faster shutter speed. But with that, the shallow depth of field became problematic when he wanted to shoot fully textured rocks (image 3-5).

Solution

He can take multiple photos with different focus range and do a focus stacking in Photoshop. It'd be better if he had a tripod. Or he can just stand further away from the subject, and then crop in edit. But with the camera's low megapixel, the resolution wouldn't be desirable. 

OVERALL

Jin should get a better camera... Haha.

If he wants to go pro. Because this Rebel XS is only good for consumer level. I mean, the iPhone 6 has higher resolution than this camera! For a prosumer level camera (not 'pro'), the Rebel t5i is best for beginning DSLR-users who want to produce media content.

But if not, then he should use a tripod and shoot in RAW so he has a wider editing range. Below is an example of editing a JPEG vs. editing a RAW. Notice how crunched the pixels are when not shooting in RAW.

 

 

A note to consider when exporting JPEGS to post on web:

If you're editing in Photoshop then don't Save As... JPEG. Instead, Export>Save for Web (Legacy). This will ensure your photos being the same colors on different viewing platforms, like on a mobile (look below).

If you're editing with Lightroom, then the image automatically exports as web legacy.

 

That's it for now. Till next time!

Becoming an Expert

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Hosted my first workshop today and boy, was it nerve racking! Using a DSLR comes as second nature to me, but having to break it down to teach others helped me gain more in depth knowledge for the craft. The protege effect was in full force here!

HOSTING A HANDS ON WORKSHOP

My problem solving skills to work under pressure were put to the ultimate test today. 

Understanding DSLR and photography lingo can be very confusing and overwhelming. I had only one hour to explain everything. I had to break it down into simple and concise steps, as if how I'd want someone to show me when I first started. I told everyone to bring their cameras to follow along with my live demo. It was essential that I can show how the numbers relationship in the works.

I spent a lot of time preparing for this and did run throughs in the room I was presenting. I found out I had to switch to a different room that doesn't have adequate equipment thirty minutes before the workshop. There were so many technical difficulties - the live cam and the computer programs kept on shutting down. As much as I prepared, I didn't plan for this. There is full classroom of people watching me and time was clicking. I improvised, disregard the techs after a few more tries and just went analog. I only allowed my mind to work out different solutions instead of wasting time thinking: "Crap, this isn't working and I am scared."

Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience. With more practice, I will soon to be able to speak more confidently and relaxed.

RUNNING A CLUB

I became President of the Gnomon Imaging Club three weeks ago. I was reaching for the stars and had to persevere through the intimidation. As a lower class man that barely started the program, I had to be able to structure the club to be beneficial to lowerclassmen and upperclassmen. It was difficult to create relevant events to Gnomon students because I had no prior experience to 3D, photogrammetry, texturing, etc. All I was sure of is that I love cameras. I have the eagerness to learn new things and I am passionate about bringing people together.

The objective of the club is to be a community for students to acquaint or strengthen their knowledge for techniques and materials that will aid them in cinematic storytelling. I create opportunities for students to share their area of expertise. I believe it helps students excel their craft and improve their professional presentation.

Being the first person to start something is scary, but I am fortunate to have a supportive peer and access to many resources. A lot of people helped me out to make the club happen. That's something I have to take a step back more often to remember.

After today, people came up to me about hosting their own workshop! It's really exciting! And the public media responded well to the event. Tomorrow I will take a few people to do location shoot to practice. I can't wait to see how much the club will evolve from now the following years come! And watch out, this isn't going to be my first demo! It's only going to get BIGGER and BETTER from here.