I was invited to conduct a photography workshop for the Association of Home Economics Teachers last Friday and managed to visit NIE for the first time. Gosh it looks a lot like army barracks as it is situated right at the periphery of Singapore where there is no HDB housing between it and the sea! Anyway it was good to see that the Home Econs teachers are now teaching photography as part of the course. I guess if you are a Home Economist, then taking photos of the family might be a pre-requisite skill nowadays, together to use of the PDA to do your supermarket shopping, Excel worksheets to do up the family finances etc.
Speaking of Home Econs, don't you all think it is about time that this course be renamed to something that reflects a more modern age? Like, Home Econs is soooooo yesterday. They were using Home Econs in the days when moms were called Housewives. Nowadays we call them Homemakers. In some households they might even be known as Chief Operating Officers or in the case of my household, Prime Minister. (I of course am the President - all show, no power except for Veto powers in the more dire of consequences). I reckon Home Economics should be renamed "Family Life Sciences" or "Home Integration Technologies" or something more sexy so that we can have more students choosing the course.
Anyway, we should all appreciate the fact that our Home Econs teachers are so motivated that they would travel all the way to NIE to attend a course during their holidays so that they can be better teachers for our students. Three cheers for our Home Econs Teachers! It has been a pleasure to conduct the course for such an attentive batch of students!
If your organization would like to conduct photography workshops, you can do so by contacting the EOS Academy. More details can be found at their website: goto.canon.com.sg/eosacademy/
So what do you think about renaming Home Econs to something more sexy? Any suggestions?....Read more!
Thanks to all the participants who came to the Photography workshop. I think we all managed pick up some tips as well as to eat some quite unique Dim Sum. This particular workshop was slightly different as our participants were also given the opportunity to practise their photography skills in taking photos of people as well as food, not to mention landscape photos since we were at the top of UOB Plaza.
As always, we held a competition at the end of the workshop in order to let our participants showcase some of their work. Here then are the winners of the competition.
1st prize goes to Alvin Kok. I think Alvin is one of those professional photographers who joined our class just for fun.
2nd prize goes to Peter Tan. I like the way he used the bamboo steamer to frame the shot as well as tilting the camera to give it a sense of dynamism.
Third Prize goes to Fang Ci Hui who despite having a half eaten Spring Roll in the foreground and the messy chopped shallots, still managed to capture a pretty nice shot!
Congratulations to all the winners and I hope the rest of the participants will continue take more photos of food!
I had a great time at the seminar last Saturday and managed to meet Thomas Ong and Mary Bukoh. I think we all went away learning a few more things that can be done with our Powershot cameras. Both Mary and Thomas were really entertaining (They are, afterall, entertainers), and I always managed to pick up a few more tips from Jino everytime I hear him speak. BTW, in case you are wondering, Mary Bukoh is Chinese. Bukoh is made up of the surnames of both her parents. Both Mary and Thomas take excellent travel photos! You can checkout their blogs at thomasongtc.blogspot.com (the tc stands for Tian Chye) and www.marybukoh.com. Thomas promised to upload his Bhutan photos soon. (You can also play your part and give him a bit of pressure!) For some really stunning professional shots, you can check out Jino's website at jinolee.com.sg.
All in all, it was a really fun thing to do. Many thanks to Canon for involving me in the seminar! Thomas Ong, Jino, myself and Mary Bukoh
Our next food photography workshop is going to be held at the Sichuan Douhua restaurant where we have made special arrangements for the Dim Sum chefs to create some excuisite Dim Sums to be paired with different types of teas. So expect some uncommmonly seen dim sum! This workshop is for anyone who wants to learn some photography techniques pertaining to food photography. It will be pitched at the beginner to intermediate level photographer and you will need a DSLR or a prosumer compact camera with some manual functions in order to get the most out of the workshop.
Here are the details: Date: 30 May 2009, Saturday Time: 2pm to 5pm Venue: Si Chuan Douhua Restaurant, Top of UOB Plaza, 60th floor Fees: $40 which includes food and tea pairing
Dessert Panda: Red Bean paste wrapped with glutinous rice skin
You can register online by going to Canon.com.sg. There are limited seats, so do sign up quickly.
Look forward to seeing you all there!
You can see what happened at the last workshops by clicking the following links:
You CAN take better photos with your compact camera!
Are you the type of person who buys stuff but never read the manual from cover to cover? Well, if you are, then don't always blame your camera if your photos don't come out the way you like. The problem might be because you still don't know all the functions of your camera. This is even more so if you own a Canon Powershot camera since these cameras actually have lots of functions which you can make use of to take better photos. Just take the photos above for example. When shooting under bright sunlight, quite often harsh shadows are cast, making the subject look quite dark. By putting the camera to manual mode and turning on the built in flash, you can have a much better photo!
This Saturday, I will be sharing some other useful tips on how you can get the most out of your compact camera. There are lots of new "intelligent" functions in the latest Canon Powershot cameras which can literally make the photo look better than the real thing. So if you are interested, please come join Thomas Ong, Mary Bukoh and myself at the "Power in your hands" seminar at the Raffles City Convention Centre from 2pm to 5pm. You can register by emailing to radiopromo@mediacorp.com.sg or call 63597716. It only costs $10 to attend.
BTW, I promised Jems I would try to get Thomas Ong's Hp numb... er... autograph if she came to the seminar. So if you are also after his autograph and the queue is too long, do let me know and I'll see what I can do. ; )
When I was in school, IT wasn't even a subject. Now it is an indispensable part of the curriculum. But teachers themselves might not be IT savvy, so how to teach the subject to students, many of whom are already blogging and online gaming?
As part of an effort to inspire the teachers, the IT dept invited me to conduct a lecture and workshop on Blogging and Food Photography. Around twenty teachers were in attendance and after the lecture, everyone got an opportunity to take some photos of the Sushi. It is interesting to note that the Sushi was eaten by some other teachers who came after the workshop and that none of the teachers who took the photos actually ate the Sushi...... I think this is the first time I got to teach teachers. I must say they were a well behaved bunch who didn't talk in class. Darn, I was keen to see if I can do what my Chinese teacher always threaten to do to us if we talked in class - "Go out and stand in the Sun!"
Many thanks to Eric, the Head of IT Dept of Dunman Secondary School for inviting me to conduct the workshop.
A big thank you to all participants of the 2nd ieat-Canon Food Photography Workshop. It was really fun to see so many cameras decending upon some unsuspecting Amaebi. The great thing about having so many avid photographers around is that everyone understands the importance of taking your time to take a nice photo so no one was complaining that they were hungry and wanted to eat soon.
A lot of the participants this time round were new DSLR owners and got the opportunity to explore all the functions of their new camera. I also got to play with the new Canon 5D MkII camera and was amazed by its capability in low light conditions. Now, this really is a camera that can make the food (or a person) look better then it actually is. No kidding.
Without further ado, here then are the prize winners from our 2nd workshop! 1st Prize: Alex Putin
2nd Prize: Foong Ching
3rd Prize Tina Tham
Congrats to all our prize winners. Please contact Jino to collect your Canon 5D MK II brochures and other goodies.
If you missed this workshop and are really interested to attend the next one, do write in to jino_lee@canon.com.sg and we will let you know when the next one is planned.....Read more!
First Prize Photo from Jimmy Lee one of the participants of the 1st Canon-Ieat workshop
Notice is hereby given for the 2nd Canon-Ieat Food Photography workshop. I know that there were some readers who couldn't make it for the first workshop, so this is your chance to come join the fun!
The workshop is targeted at anyone who wish to improve their skills at taking informal food photos. You will be getting a lecture on the technical aspects of photography from the resident Canon professional followed by my presentation on food photography. After that we put our new found knowledge to work by shooting photos of the food and then we get to review the food after that. There will be a competition to find the best food shot of the day with attractive prizes to be won!
Can eat, can shoot and can win prizes some more! Hope to see you there!
Date: 13th December 2008 (Saturday) Time: 2pm to 5pm Location: Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #01-70/71/72, The Central Singapore (Clarke Quay), Singapore 059817. Photography skill levels: Beginners Equipment: DSLR and Advanced Compact Camera (with manual control). Menu: Japanese Fee: SGD 70.00 Payment mode: Cash/NETS (payable at Canon Digital Lab) or Cheque (make payable to Canon Singapore Pte Ltd) Closing Date: 10th December 2008
Limited to 30pax only on a "first come first served" basis. You don't have to own a Canon camera to participate. In fact, two of the prize winners at the last workshop were using cameras of another brand!
One of the "Graduates" of the first workshop is our very own makan kaki, Wahcow who bought his first DSLR after the workshop. You can see his delicious food pics our forum by clicking Here.
Isn't it amazing to see so many DSLRs snapping away in a restaurant? I wonder what the restaurant manager would have done if our group had arrived unannounced?
Last Saturday, 30 kakis gathered at Shin Kushiya restaurant at Vivo City for the very first ieat - Canon food photography workshop to "EAT" and "SHOOT". The session started with resident professional, Jino giving a presentation on the technical aspects of photography followed by my presentation on food photography.
After getting some tips to work on, we unleashed our hungry photographers onto the unassuming food. If this had been a war movie, it would look like a scene where hundreds of canons (pardon the pun) are being fired upon a flock of sheep! Anyway, our photographers all exhibited the marks of a true food photographer, patiently snapping away at the food rather than succumbing to the temptation to eat it first.
After the session, our photographers submitted their best photos for the competition. So without further ado, may I present the winners of the photo competition!
Taste in food is subjective, so is taste in photography. So let me just state that the judge's decision is final and blah blah blah.......and so on and so forth and so fifth.
1st Prize - Jimmy Lee
This is the runaway favourite. Very nicely composed picture. The backlighting highlights the translucency of the shallots and the shadows give the picture a very dramatic feel. The steam rising from the miso soup is very difficult to capture and Jimmy managed to catch the moment beautifully. Perhaps the only thing is to pay more attention to the arrangement of the crockery in the background.
2nd Prize - Wahcow
I like the bokeh (the blurred bits) of this photo. Wahcow managed to get the rim of the bowl plus the rice on the chopsticks in focus and the background is a very pleasing arrangement of bowls which tells you the story of what is happening. This picture would have scored higher if the rice grains on the chopsticks were a little more accentuated. The top is just slightly overexposed. Would also be nice to see a little shimmer on top of the rice.
3rd Prize - Michael Luthi
The thing that is most pleasing about this picture is the balance of colours between the yellow cheese cake and the blue plate, accentuated by the green mint leaf. There is also the nice inclusion of elements such as the texture of the lemon slice and the fork. The contrast between the yellow surface of the cheese cake and the shadows on the sides accentuates the corners of the slice. Would be nice to see a bit more of the red on the top right corner.
OK, so those are the winners. Next let me post some of the consolation prize winners. Sorry guys, you don't actually get a real prize. But since you won the "Consolation" prize, here is the "Consolation": "There, there, its a good effort. You'll do better next time!"
Photo by: Kerk Sheen
Nicely composed. I like placement of the grilled pork skewer over the rice which gives the picture a point of focus. However, there are 2 things that can be improved. The chopsticks are overexposed so we can't see the texture of the wood grain. The pork looks dry, probably because it was left for too long before the picture was taken! So sometimes have to be quick to shoot!
Photo by Terrence Yap
I was attracted to the colour balance of this picture. There is the blue on the right top corner, the green on the left, bit of golden yellow from the tungsten light reflecting off the plate and the translucent grey jelly in the middle contrasted on the black plate. The problem is that the cream has melted so it looks unappetizing.
Photo by Denison Tan
I like the highlight on the legs of the crab which tells you straight away that you are looking at a crab and the way the legs draw the eyes diagonally across the picture. However I think the photo was not cropped properly so it is not so well balanced.
Photo by Wilson Tan
This photo demonstrates quite nicely how backlighting can show translucency of food, in this case, the salmon flesh. It would be nice to also capture the shimmer of the surface of the flesh. One way to do this is to have the salmon arranged in such a way that it has one surface horizontal to catch the shimmer and the other vertical to catch the translucency.
Photo by Brandon Yeo
The diagonal placement of the skewers lends a dynamic edge to the photo and the red coloured prawn heads with the charred legs immediately gives you that feeling of crunching the crispy legs in your mouth. I think it is slightly overexposed and may look more balanced if it not cropped so closely. Also it would be better if the legs and head of the first prawn was all in focus.
Now, I was pretty busy that day to really pay attention to all the food. But the one item that really stood out were the Kushiyaki. They specially import "White" charcoal from Japan to grill the skewers which results in a nice smoky flavour that is crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. The pork Kushiyaki was something I can eat quite a few of. 4.25/5
Conclusion
I thought it was an enjoyable session overall and I also learnt a lot from it. It's always nice to meet with like minded people!
Have a look at the pics and let us know which are your favourites and why!
Thanks to Shin Kushiya for helping to organize the event.
Shin Kushiya #02-120 Vivo City 11.30am to 11pm daily
This session was made possible by the nice people atCanon.
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