Harris Hui's photostream  

Some people argue that portraits are better in B&W because colors especially the colors on the clothing and surrounding are distractions.

B&W may allow the viewers to be more focusing on the face of the subject.

Do you agree on this? What is your opinion?

I just tried to convert one shot of Jennifer into B&W.

Have a great weekend!

I have listened to a photography talk. The speaker referred picture taking or photography as a decision making process.

You pick your subject. You pick your viewpoint (position), your angle and perspective. You have to choose the aperture (depth of field) and your focus. You have to decide on your composition, the tones you like to show in the scene and last but not least the shutter speed.

Photographer is trying to compress, condense or convert the 4 dimensional world (3 dimensional space plus the time dimension i.e. 4 dimensions) into the 2 dimensional surface (a picture).

We have to remind ourselves the difference of exposures in 1/1000 second, 1/10 second, 1 second, 10 seconds or even 100 seconds. You will see different scenes when you have different time exposure.

We will be amazed to see the night sky when it is exposed with long time exposure say for example 2 hours.

I shot normal and regular B&W scene of Terra Nova before and I shot also infrared one for the same scene. The time exposure is different as a result of R72 filter and tones are different too.

Have a great Friday and great weekend!!

One of the popular job interview questions nowadays is “Tell me a joke please”.

Okay this is also a good test for portrait photographers. You need to tell good jokes and so your subject smiles and be happy!

I am not such a good portrait photographer. On the day it was the other fellow photographers who kept talking to Jennifer and made her smile so nicely.

I am known to be boring person both at work and private life. I will fail the “tell me the joke” test for sure! :o)

Have a great Thursday!!

I am the 5 legs guy i.e. two legs from my body and three legs from my cherished Manfrotto tripod.

I am the notorious tripod guy in Vancouver. No matter it is day or night, brightly lighted or in darkness, I have my tripod with me and I used it all the time.

The use of tripod is not only for steadiness and sharpness of the shots. It is more about slowing you down so that you can check more carefully and think carefully about the composition of the scene.

For those shots of fleeting moments, the tripod also comes into place. Usually I find the suitable setting or context and then I will set up my tripod and wait for the real moment to come. You will not be able to handhold the camera for 10 minutes (or even longer) in the same spot without feeling tired I think?

I want to share the quote by famous French photographer Marc Riboud today when he was asked about advice to aspiring photographers.

"The subject of the photography is less important than the picture composition.” – Marc Riboud

Happy Wednesday!

PS. Anyways this is a handheld shot. I did handheld shot too. But all the three shots before this post are all done with tripod. :o)

We had mixed bag of weather last Sunday. We had cloudy and overcast sky. We had snow and flurries. And we had sunny break too. Our leader Jacky said this is great day for an outdoor shooting like this.

I believe in his judgment on this. The late February snowfall did create a very special setting for our portrait shooting.

The snowfall is beautiful to look at anytime. But it is freezing cold out there. Jennifer is our model and she is amateur too. However she did pose for us professionally.

You could not imagine how she can stand the cold weather with such short skirt and little clothing. The photographers are all wearing down jackets at the time of shooting!

On behalf of the group, I would like to thank Jennifer for her great job and professionalism.

Hope you find the result pleasing. I am not confident at all with my portrait photography. Your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

Happy Tuesday!