Suggestion

[bukitimah]

I have joined this site for a while and met some friendly and helpful people. I think the objective of most of us are the same. We all love photography, share this same interest and some very willing to guide others.

For many newbies, we really like to learn how to improve and one of the ways is through seeing others works. I learn from looking at bro Luke's macro. :clap2:

Why don't you start a thread for competition of the week? Each week you come up with a tropic. For eg, water. All interested can shoot anything with water as the theme and post here. You will be required to explain what your photo is about and the settings. A number will be assigned for each submission.

Members will then vote for photo of the week. This will carry 60%. The moderators or shifus here give the other 40%. We will see the winner but no price lah. Just the satisfaction or maybe a delicated thread to post all past winners.

If 1 week too much work, then monthly lor. How?

[bluffname]

I have joined this site for a while and met some friendly and helpful people. I think the objective of most of us are the same. We all love photography, share this same interest and some very willing to guide others.

For many newbies, we really like to learn how to improve and one of the ways is through seeing others works. I learn from looking at bro Luke's macro. :clap2:

Why don't you start a thread for competition of the week? Each week you come up with a tropic. For eg, water. All interested can shoot anything with water as the theme and post here. You will be required to explain what your photo is about and the settings. A number will be assigned for each submission.

Members will then vote for photo of the week. This will carry 60%. The moderators or shifus here give the other 40%. We will see the winner but no price lah. Just the satisfaction or maybe a delicated thread to post all past winners.

If 1 week too much work, then monthly lor. How?


Errrrrr.... how about once a year :rofl:

More seriously, I visited the Nature Photography Society of Singapore (NPSS) website recently and they have a Photo of the month, plus nominated entries. I thought it was quite good.

The "trouble" with sgshoot is that it is too small and quiet to have a meaningful regular competition, some days like ghost town hardly anybody posts. But I support this idea. Maybe we can do it every two or three months for a start and once this place gets more crowded and busy, increase to once a month.

In my opinion, no need for themes, just whatever stands out during the period. But themes have advantages because they force us to shoot - or look through archives for - specific types of photos.

[bukitimah]

That is precisely why I suggest competition to generate interest :cheer:

Not only we want people to complete but also to share how they do it. This way we learn from others. Bro Luke's pictures are always very innovative. I think he has done all sort of shoots and is trying to create something different. This is how I feel about his style. :clap:

[yingbin1005]

AGREE~ AGREE~ AGREE~~!! :cheer::cheers:

[excelglsi]

That is precisely why I suggest competition to generate interest :cheer:

Not only we want people to complete but also to share how they do it. This way we learn from others. Bro Luke's pictures are always very innovative. I think he has done all sort of shoots and is trying to create something different. This is how I feel about his style. :clap:

Wow..thxs ten q bro... :cheers:

[KopiOkaya]

Some of you may already know that we meet at Peninsula Shopping Centre Isle Cafe almost every Saturday in the afternoon to discuss and share knowledge in everything related to photography. Those who of you who need help in Photoshop may seek our advice too. We can even help you choose your camera and lenses if you are buying them used or new. Just buy us kopi can liao. :coolnod:

[bukitimah]

Some of you may already know that we meet at Peninsula Shopping Centre Isle Cafe almost every Saturday in the afternoon to discuss and share knowledge in everything related to photography. Those who of you who need help in Photoshop may seek our advice too. We can even help you choose your camera and lenses if you are buying them used or new. Just buy us kopi can liao. :coolnod:

Dear Larry, it is very nice of you guys to offer tips and that is what attracted me to this site although I visit various other sites. Saturday noon or weekends are quite precious to me, not sure with other working members the weekends are the only window to enjoy our hobby after a long week.

I try to shoot at least once over the weekend and like last Satyrday afternoon, it rains! After shooting, we are not sure how we could improve. Some sites, generally members are very polite and they will say it is nice.

I also hope to see others works to learn about their settings. I know you can copy image and scan using lightroom to see that info but hearing from them their decision on why they choose a certain angle and setting would be very rewarding.

Can we give this a trial? Start with a quarterly contest first. Sept -Dec 2011. All pictures must be taken during this period. Max 3 submissions per member.

[bluffname]

I think the contest can be explored. Let's have more views on this. Saturday lunch time meetings are separate "events", which could also help new members learn.

[KopiOkaya]

Personally, I feel a contest is rather meaningless consider that most people PP their pictures nowadays. What you see may not be what the ACTUAL image looks like... Of course unless you specify cannot do PP. The best is to still become an apprentice to a photographer and follow him/her when shooting.

As for our meeting on Saturdays, a few members (for example Bro-EX and Sis-YAM) do have family commitment s. Most of us still find it okay to spend a few hours exchanging tips and sharing information in photography.

[excelglsi]

Personally, I feel a contest is rather meaningless consider that most people PP their pictures nowadays. What you see may not be what the ACTUAL image looks like... Of course unless you specify cannot do PP. The best is to become an apprentice to a photographer and follow him/her when shooting.

I koe wat u mean.. But after shooting Bird park without pp, onli cropping.. Koeing ur equipment is so important .. But it can be done..") :cheers:

[KopiOkaya]

Understanding our tools is important no doubt, but this is just a small part of photography. With proper skills and techniques, even the most humble tools can produce good works.

[bluffname]

Maybe it is better is Bukitimah - and others - join an international photo site like www.jpgmag.com. They have weekly challenges on various themes and it is interesting to see how different people interpret each theme - and also interesting to see how the JPG team selects its "favourites" - sometimes the selections quite good sometimes, in my opinion, quite :knock1:

Within sgshoot, my main concern is that there will not be a lot of interest. Right now we have maybe 3 or 4 people shooting and posting regularly, plus another 5 or 6 less regularly. It will not be very meaningful if these few people keep "competing" among themselves.

=====

On a separate note, may I suggest that Bukitimah titles his threads with a bit more details, eg "Suggestion for photo contest" or "Questions about switching off camera". Otherwise, we have no idea what the thread is about until we read.

[KopiOkaya]

Maybe it is better is Bukitimah - and others - join an international photo site like www.jpgmag.com.

Agree!!! First of all, JPG has more members. Secondly, they have quite high standards. Thirdly, they have an international and multi-culture audience who can give fresh prospectives of our works.

[pengkhiong]

But don't divert the traffic away from this forum ma...
might not be competition, we can have diff themes every couple of months?
Bro Soon Hoe ever mention using only 50mm prime to go for a shoot...

A good example will be the bird park outing, we got to shoot more on the same theme during this period, i think it might be helpful if anyone posting the photo share the EXIF info for newbie like me to learn? (or is there a way to see the EXIF info on the photo from the posting?)

Another good reason is that we can learn to know why shooting for this corner, that corner, and not doing this and that on the spot...

[bluffname]

But don't divert the traffic away from this forum ma...
might not be competition, we can have diff themes every couple of months?
Bro Soon Hoe ever mention using only 50mm prime to go for a shoot...

A good example will be the bird park outing, we got to shoot more on the same theme during this period, i think it might be helpful if anyone posting the photo share the EXIF info for newbie like me to learn? (or is there a way to see the EXIF info on the photo from the posting?)

Another good reason is that we can learn to know why shooting for this corner, that corner, and not doing this and that on the spot...


Dun have to be diverted mah. I member of jpg but still give my focus and attention here :cheers:

Anyway I was going to say that outings are actually good - we all go same place shoot same things but come back with different pictures shot differently. That's the best way to learn.

Exif info, if have Photoshop or Lightroom, it can be seen. In Photoshop go to File >> File Info. In Lightroom, view in Library mode the info is at bottom of the right panel. Can also program lightroom such that when you view a pix, the exif info appears briefly in top left corner.

Anyway personally I dun think exif info is useful for learning. Even if you go back same spot to shoot same bird, the lighting condition will be different. I feel more effective to figure out for yourself. Eg Bukitimah first round use flash, second round did not, already can see significant improvement in his images.

[madmacs]

I have joined this site for a while and met some friendly and helpful people. I think the objective of most of us are the same. We all love photography, share this same interest and some very willing to guide others.

For many newbies, we really like to learn how to improve and one of the ways is through seeing others works. I learn from looking at bro Luke's macro. :clap2:

Why don't you start a thread for competition of the week? Each week you come up with a tropic. For eg, water. All interested can shoot anything with water as the theme and post here. You will be required to explain what your photo is about and the settings. A number will be assigned for each submission.

Members will then vote for photo of the week. This will carry 60%. The moderators or shifus here give the other 40%. We will see the winner but no price lah. Just the satisfaction or maybe a delicated thread to post all past winners.

If 1 week too much work, then monthly lor. How?

i think this is a good idea. however since there are no prizes, and i know good prizes are a dream at this point in time, perhaps we can term it as a "challenge" rather than a "contest". winner gets bragging rights until the next challenge. maybe we can feature the winner's photo on sgshoot main page. :grin:

some possible challenges could be
- best 35mm (or 50mm) shot, etc
- theme
- post processing
etc, etc

let me or littlegenie know if you need any support from us.

[pengkhiong]

Exif info, if have Photoshop or Lightroom, it can be seen. In Photoshop go to File >> File Info. In Lightroom, view in Library mode the info is at bottom of the right panel. Can also program lightroom such that when you view a pix, the exif info appears briefly in top left corner.

Anyway personally I dun think exif info is useful for learning. Even if you go back same spot to shoot same bird, the lighting condition will be different. I feel more effective to figure out for yourself. Eg Bukitimah first round use flash, second round did not, already can see significant improvement in his images.

Shifu, I mean the EXIF of the photo posted on the forum.
But again, I have to agree with u, I prefer more shooting to learn the thing by actually doing it.. :cheer:

[madmacs]

btw...maybe can also include those like jacob's "same cam, same film" as challenges. and one that i would like to do when i can find some time is "double exposure film shoot".

[KopiOkaya]

Shifu, I mean the EXIF of the photo posted on the forum.
But again, I have to agree with u, I prefer more shooting to learn the thing by actually doing it.. :cheer:

Not that I always agree with Ah Bluff (sometimes we don't), but I have to say EXIF information doesn't tell us much about an image. As you know, exposure, white balance and even focal length can be "tweaked" during PP. So what if the final image looks good. The original may look absolutely crappy. :knock1:

Furthermore, I disagree with the claim "the more we shoot the better we become". This is not true... I had experienced this myself. You see, I have been photographing more than 10 years prior going to the United States to study photography. Till then, I realised I did a lot of things wrongly. Nobody told me how to do it correctly and properly before. Ultimately, you still need a trained teacher to guide you. Prior to my formal training, I learned photography mainly from my father and his photo kakis. Sadly, that was blind leading the blind. I mentioned yesterday the best way to learn is still to become an apprentice to an experienced photographer.

[KopiOkaya]

Many of you know that I haven't been shooting for at least 2 months liao. The last time I used my DSLR was at CosFest. Even though I don't carry a camera nowadays, it doesn't mean that I have stopped practising photography. In fact, I am "shooting without a camera" - also known as previsualization. This method was made popular by Ansel Adams. You see, photographers like Adams shoot with a large format camera, which is big and very bulky. Before they even take out their cameras, they have already projected a mental image of the final picture. This allows the photographers to setup their cameras quickly, establish the correct shooting angle and to use the appropriate focal length lens for the given situation. Try it... I am sure you will be surprised how fast your photography can improve. :coolnod:

[bluffname]

Many of you know that I haven't been shooting for at least 2 months liao. The last time I used my DSLR was at CosFest. Even though I don't carry a camera nowadays, it doesn't mean that I have stopped practising photography. In fact, I am "shooting without a camera" - also known as previsualization. This method was made popular by Ansel Adams. You see, photographers like Adams shoot with a large format camera, which is big and very bulky. Before they even take out their cameras, they have already projected a mental image of the final picture. This allows the photographers to setup their cameras quickly, establish the correct shooting angle and to use the appropriate focal length lens for the given situation. Try it... I am sure you will be surprised how fast your photography can improve. :coolnod:


Like how Bro Ex shot the pix of the bird flying through the paper "ring" at the Bird Park Show. He must have seen it (many times) before, planned the shot and, when he went back, he knew which camera / lens to use (NEX-5 which could give him a burst of five frames per second, his other older cameras cannot), where to position himself, when the action will happen, etc etc.

[KopiOkaya]

Like how Bro Ex shot the pix of the bird flying through the paper "ring" at the Bird Park Show. He must have seen it (many times) before, planned the shot and, when he went back, he knew which camera / lens to use (NEX-5 which could give him a burst of five frames per second, his other older cameras cannot), where to position himself, when the action will happen, etc etc.

Exactly... If got free time, it is better to go recce the place or the event first. Sit at one spot and lim kopi or teh halia. Look-see what is around us. Chit-chat with the people. Study the lighting there. In fact, this is what National Geographic photographers do on every assignment. They NEVER photograph straight away.

[bluffname]

Exactly... If got free time, it is better to go recce the place or the event first. Sit at one spot and lim kopi or teh halia. Look-see what is around us. Chit-chat with the people. Study the lighting there. In fact, this is what National Geographic photographers do on every assignment. They NEVER photograph straight away.

But.... if never photograph straight away sometimes miss some special action, or unusual lighting etc mah. Not every scene will repeat itself and certainly not in the same light. And not always got free time :knock1:

[pengkhiong]

GOOD ARRRK.. everyday I learn something new here :thumbsup:

[bluffname]

My version of what KopiOKaya says would be "If got free time go back and shoot again" rather than "If got free time go to recce first"... :rofl:

[bukitimah]

My version of what KopiOKaya says would be "If got free time go back and shoot again" rather than "If got free time go to recce first"... :rofl:

For me, shoot first, talk later. :happy1: Theory is one thing, practical is something you cannot replaced. Read so much but don't hands on, when you need to use them, everything rusty. Once you have done it before, it is just trying out again the steps.

When I see the manual, I want to sleep. Most times, I dont even touch it unless I have a compelling question that need immediate answer. I like youtube where you get visual guide on how to set certain things. You also get to see the end results.

What I am saying is, Visual is more important to me than words. :)

[excelglsi]

For me, shoot first, talk later. :happy1: Theory is one thing, practical is something you cannot replaced. Read so much but don't hands on, when you need to use them, everything rusty. Once you have done it before, it is just trying out again the steps.

When I see the manual, I want to sleep. Most times, I dont even touch it unless I have a compelling question that need immediate answer. I like youtube where you get visual guide on how to set certain things. You also get to see the end results.

What I am saying is, Visual is more important to me than words. :)

Its important to koe ur camera inside out.. I faces problem when I was using Nex5 for the first time in the bird park.. I wasnt sure of the setting.. When lighting change I wasnt fast enough to reset the setting... Also.. When during the Bird performing try not to be greedy.. Focus on wat u wan to shoot... U cant have it all.. :cheers: