Ronnie Chung's Blog

Picture for today:

Beam of light coming through the doors of the building. - Taken with 1DsII and 50mm f/1.8. Copyright © Ronnie Chung. All rights reserved.

Till next time…

The quality of my images have gone down dramatically in the past month or so. I think I’ve lost my photographic eye because the images seem like those that I took about a year ago. I think I’m completely burnt out right now… I need to refresh myself photographically. The “A Picture A Day” project is one of the reasons but I won’t stop posting. So what am I going to do about this? This calls for a photo expedition, like going to the beach at 4am again. Like going walking in the park just randomly looking for shots. Like going out just for the fun of photography without any expectation of getting a single “good” photo. One of the most important things to remember about any hobby, just have fun!

Till next time, happy shooting!

I’ve done a good share of photo shoots now and each time I come back with mediocre images. Usually I have video or at least someone doing behind the scenes photos. Each time I review the tape/photos the blood pressure rises, a stream of profanity leaves my mouth, and birds fly away like a cartoon. Mistake after mistake, making sure I watch out for those mistakes the next time and yet I never seem to get it right.

Once the pictures are processed and ready for delivery, I’m like a kid that just finished drawing the shittiest picture ever and go running to mommy going “Looky what I did! Look! Look!”. Then realize they’re utter crap when others point out mistake after mistake after mistake. *Sigh* I’ve learned a lot since the first photo shoot and can see improvement with (almost) every shoot afterward. In the end, it’s all about the learning process. Photography is all about making mistakes.

Tomorrow, I will take out my camera with an idea in my head. I will setup the light stands, reflectors, flashes, and wireless remotes. I will pose my subject. I will light the subject and the environment. I will compose the shot in the viewfinder. I will set the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. I will fire off a test shot. I will adjust the lights, power output, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO again. I will take another shot, then another, then another. And at the end of the day, I will fail again. But it’s ok, it’s part of the fun. The reason why so many are drawn to the wonder that is photography/videography (videography is basically taking a bunch of still photos in rapid succession).

In high school, I shot with an AE-1 manual film camera and didn’t even know there was such a thing as a light meter let alone having one built right into the camera. Most of my exposures were completely off but a small percentage of those were spot on. Every time I took the roll of film to get processed, I waited nervously to see if at least one of them turned out to be properly focused and exposed. I was hooked. Every roll I developed taught me something new. “Ah, so in this situation I need to use a slower shutter speed” or “Hm… I need to open up the aperture more”. It was because of the mistakes I made in these days that allows me to get a ballpark exposure to within 2/3rds of a spot by just looking at my hand.

With digital, you don’t have to wait for the whole roll be to used up and then processed before you can “learn”. You just look at that picto-cube and go “f***! We need more shutter speed, Captain!” As a photographer, you have to be used to failure. It’s part of the job description… unless you’re George Hurrell that is. Don’t know who that is? He’s a glamour photographer and he’s known to be the kind of photographer that takes only 3 shots and each one comes out perfect. Anyway, keep at it. That’s the message I really want to send with this post.

Till next time and happy shooting, everyone!

Picture for today:

Failed attempt at mimicing sun light. 430ex triggered by 580ex II attached to camera with OC-E3 cord. - Taken with 1DsII and 17-40L. Copyright © Ronnie Chung. All rights reserved.

Till next time…

Canon released the specs for the new Rebel T1i and 270ex flash!

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=18385

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=141&modelid=18386

HD video and 15 MP on a Rebel series… interesting. That means the 60D will have HD video and perhaps 16.7 MP like my 1DsII????? And when is the new 1D and 1Ds Mark IVs coming out? I want the prices for the 1DsIII to drop so I can sell my 5D and 1DsII =P