Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year 2009 everyone! Thank you for your support and trust in me. May 2009 be a prosperous year to all of us. Best wishes.

Cheers!

Azhar Ariff

More of Fadil & Ayu

It's really something when I come home with really nice shots. As I imagine some pre-visualised shots that I want to get during Fadil & Ayu's wedding reception on the 6th of December, 2008 on an outdoor shoot at The Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur, nature took it's toll and set rain on us.

We were stuck in the Bandar Baru Community Hall at around 5pm. The reception was done, and the caterer's were packing up. We were supposed to head off to The Lake Gardens but it started raining. Ayu was feeling bad about it because she really wanted some good shots, after the session I did in Kuchai Lama. It is situations like these that I love. I was put off-balance from what I planned, and I love working under pressure. It's sort of an adrenaline rush for me. First thing on top of my head was to look around and made use of the available environment. I have a speedlight with me with a remote radio transmitter, and it was my saviour (I carry this all the time for my weddings). With one light, I'm confident that I can shape the light in any way that I please.

I got some ideas and informed Ayu & Fadil what I had in mind. Ayu was relieved after I convinced her that we can still get good shots around the hall, and even more so after viewing the shots on the LCD. After a while, the rain started to slow down and we just headed to The Lake Gardens for a long shot. Turns out it stopped raining at the Lake Gardens! Thank God! We took some shots that we wanted there and head home on time at 6.30pm. All this within 1½ hours (inclusive of 20mins drive from Bandar Baru Sentul to The Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur). Pretty amazing in my opinion. My credit goes to Nazir, who was kind enough to asssist me during these shoots. Cheers!

This is somewhere on the top level of the Community Hall. It was an open space and I wanted to create an industrial feel to it, with all the metal beams and rafters on the roof structure.








Shot just near the hall entrance.




Just luv this classic "peek-a-boo".


Here's some shots taken on the nearby staircases. The steps makes nice background.




One of Fadil's friends said that this photo looks like they were out in a middle of the jungle.




Taken on the nearby bridge in the park.

Our GOYA (Get Off Your Arse!) Strobist outing last night

Last night, a few of my friends and I got together to go for a short strobist outing at Kelana Malll, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia. The point of this outing is to exercise our off-camera flash technique, and also have some fun! Thanks to Kyrol for organising this event, and Fahim our talent. *Note: The talent in these examples is Jidin, a fellow photographer who's kind enough to be a stand-in.

This is the final image of something worthy of editorial use that we intend to achieve, and I share with you the following post shows how I did it. Cheers!

*Image above: Application of Strobist shootout is a sample Editorial Spread for a music magazine. Inaugural TT Strobist Kelana Jaya, Malaysia. Image processed exclusively in Lightroom 2, applied slight cross processing preset+contrast.

Shadow fall-off test. Shadow fall-off is within the subject's face. Reject. No separation from background. Shot at ISO200, 1/125s at f11, slightly underexposed.


Shadow fall-off test. Shadow fall-off just nicely off the subject, gives separation from background. Shot at ISO200, 1/125s at f11, slightly underexposed.


Shadow fall-off test. Move the light so that the shadow falls off the frame. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11 corrected previously underexposed at 1/125s.


Test shot 1: Light test. One light, no fill.
Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 1 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, no fill light. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


Test shot 2: Fill light test. Fill light too bright.
Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 2 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light at camera left, 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


Test shot 3: Fill light test. Fill light just nice to reveal shadow details.
Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 2 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light at camera left, 1/64th power, zoomed at 50mm. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


Shadow fall-off test, with correct fill-light. Shadow fall-off just nicely off the subject, gives separation from background. Fill-light just nice to reveal shadowed area. Notice that you can still see his ear, although it's in the shadows. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11 corrected previously underexposed at 1/125s.


Jump test. Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 2 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light at camera left, 1/64th power, zoomed at 50mm. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


With gels: CTO only.
Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 2 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm with 2x CTO gel, fill light at camera left, 1/64th power, zoomed at 50mm, bare flash. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


With gels: CTO + Blue
Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 2 x SB-800. Key light on camera right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm with 2x CTO gel, fill light at camera left, 1/64th power, zoomed at 50mm with blue gel. Shot at ISO200, 1/80s at f11.


Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 3 x SB-800. Key light on far right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light far left, 1/64th power, zoomed at
50mm, grid snoot in the centre at 1/8th power to fill-in Jidin's face when he does the breakdance move.


Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 3 x SB-800. Key light on far right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light far left, 1/64th power, zoomed at 50mm, grid snoot in the centre at 1/8th power to fill-in Jidin's face when he does the breakdance move.


Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 3 x SB-800.


Setup of Jidin's editorial shoot using strobist technique. 3 x SB-800. Key light on far right 1/8th power, zoomed at 50mm, fill light far left, 1/64th power, zoomed at
50mm, grid snoot in the centre at 1/8th power to fill-in Jidin's face when he does the breakdance move. Jidin walks to review his shots.


The dudes of 1st TT Strobist outing Kelana Jaya, all worked out. Pancit and ready to wrap up. This is almost 12.30am, I think. Jidin reviews his shots taken by Ananamri.


The dudes of 1st TT Strobist outing Kelana Jaya, all worked out. Pancit and ready to wrap up. If you notice on the bottom-left-corner, you can see the ghost of Jidin
passing by. :)


Commercial Break: Hafiz on left & Kyrol with the Sekonic L-308s lightmeter. Test shoot with ringlight adapter. Not significant. It's crap. No halo shadows.


Commercial Break: Hafiz on left & Kyrol with the Sekonic L-308s lightmeter. Test shoot.

I'm shooting paintings!

Last weekend, I had a full session photographing Sabri Idrus' (one of the best Malaysian Contemporary Artist) paintings for his upcoming exhibition in Johor Bharu at the end of this week. These photographs will be featured in his catalogue at the exhibition, and also kept for archiving purposes. When photographing art work for archival, colour accuracy and high level of detail needs to be captured in the photograph, at the highest resolution as possible. I wished I could shoot it with a 4"x5", but for this purpose, Sabri mentioned that a DLSR would be suffice, as long as the colours are right.

I'm honored to be awarded an assignment, a while ago to photograph at the complete works exhibited at the Young Contemporaries Awards 2006 at the National Art Gallery Malaysia (Wow! That was a while ago). It is my responsibility to photograph them in their natural, accurate colour. For this matter, I've used a target colour calibration card called QPCard and also Whibal. All colours are calibrated, and my monitors are also calibrated with Spyder3Elite.

At the time of photography, I haven't got the chance to find out what the titles of the span of work. I'll find out soon when the catalogue is out, but in the meantime, here they are. If you're interested in purchasing them, please contact Sabri Idrus directly at +(60)12-3828642 or email him at sabriidrus@gmail.com.

Here are some of Sabri's selected works I'd like to share.

Cheers!




One of the hardest bit in photographing fine art is the control of reflection. There are some parts you need the light to reflect, in order to illustrate the silver materials. I love this piece. :)


This painting might have more meaning on an indivual...*grin*


I took a shot with the colour target for calibration.


Just to be safe, I shot another frame using the whibal card for accurate white balance. Thanks to my faithful & reliable assistant, Kyrol for holdin' up the whibal card. Cheers mate!


Here's the final piece, all calibrated, all good to go.



Nice warm tones & textures


Sabri mentioned that this piece is one of the most difficult to produce, due to the sensitivity of the resin.


The white spots are silver (reflective).


In pink...





How do you illustrate a white painting? Here it is.