Explicitworks

Tutorial: Starting out photography on a budget.

2009-03-11T19:42:00.002+08:00

Seems like everyone these days owns a camera in one form or the other. With the advent of technology packing different big things into little packages, you’ll soon be carrying a kitchen sink that’s built into your phone/PDA/camera/recorder/washing machine.

But at the same time, you can’t afford a proper DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera? (Or are you just spending your dollars into one of those phone/PDA/camera/recorder/washing machine thingies….) So where do you start if you want to explore photography yet not want, or can’t afford, to buy a camera?

I personally strongly believe that a better camera does not make a better photographer (but it does take a better photo). If you’re interested in photography but are just starting off or on a budget, here are some pointers to start you off on the right path. And require that you only have something to shoot with.

1. Understand composition
The most crucial aspect of a great photograph that all the best equipment in the world can’t give. Read up on the Rules of Thirds. Understand it. Apply it. Then learn when to break it.

2. Look at paintings
From the classic masterpieces to modern digital art. Why? Because the painter is a master of his domain, in that she controls not only what appears in the piece, but also the angle in which the viewer sees it.

A great painting has all the aspects that a photographer can only dream to control: composition, lighting, color, subject, background and angle. The sum of which totals to one thing, the evocation of emotions from the viewer. Which leads to….

3. Shoot with you heart
A great picture, like a great painting, evokes emotions from the viewer. If you shoot a baby (with a camera…), and get comments like “That’s a beautiful baby”, then congratulations, you’ve got a beautiful baby, but not a beautiful picture.

As important as subjects are, learning to shoot with your heart to further express a mood is more important than ‘just another super model’.

4. Pick up an image editing software, and…
If you only learn one thing from it, learn how to Crop an image.

This is a one of the most useful tools in your quest to better composition because it allows you to reframe your shots, so you’ll know not to make the same mistakes again when you’re taking a shot.

Here are some resources you can start off with:
Gimp The best free photo/image editing software out there. [Free]
FastStone Image Viewer Great image cataloging (ala Adobe Bridge) with minor image editing . [Free]
Picnik Online photo editor. Easy to pick up and use. [Free]
Adobe Elements 7 Easy to use, great features, low price [around US$139]
Adobe Lightroom 2 It's like Photoshop without the bloat, targeted solely for photographers [US$299]
Adobe Photoshop CS4 The ultimate in image manipulation, editing and creation. I use this for my graphic work, image manipulation, photography and digital art. [US$699]

Seriously, if you're just gonna do photography, get Adobe Lightroom 2 (if you're intending to go pro) or Adobe Elements (if you're gonna be a serious hobbist). There's no need to shell out for Photoshop (or you can use GIMP!)

5. Save cash!
By the time you’re halfway through improving the above, you should either
a) have lost interest in photography; or
b) find that the image quality (not the image itself, you should have improved) taken by your non-proper camera simply suck eggs. So it’s time to suck it, throw out the bad egg, and shell out for a proper DSLR. (How many egg puns can I squeeze into one sentence?)

I hope you find this helpful and answer some of the questions you may have. Do you have something you'd like to share? What about your own experiences when you first started photography?

Photography: Dreams, in the Land of the Dead

2009-02-28T18:18:00.006+08:00

Dreams, in the Land of the Dead (2009)
(Street, People, Orton, B+W)

Only the young remember to dream, what the hell happened to us as we grew older?

We grow fat with complacency, get beaten into submission in the 'Rat Race', chasing the (insert country not threatened by war, famine, drought) Dream. We forget what it is like to live. We put things that could have gotten us nearer to our dreams till tomorrow... 'cause there's always tomorrow, ain't it?

Take a ride on the subway\metro of any major city during rush hour and you'll see dead people, standing, sitting, sleeping on trains with lifeless eyes. Shut in their own misery. Then you see this young boy, lookin' up, all glassy-eyed... Hey, fer all I know, he could be day dreaming of a super model or the lastest Xbox game. But I'd like to think there's more to his glassy-eyed look. I'd like to remember that there's more to just money to keep our world going. I'd like to remember that there's always hope, to whatever dreams we may have.

To all those still dreaming, those there are that much closer to their dreams, good fer you :D
To those already living their dreams, damn you!!! We'll join you soon. ;)

Photography: Hope (or Impending Doom)

2009-02-12T17:38:00.005+08:00

Hope (2009)
(Landscape, Nature, People, Orton Effect)

Was wracking me noggin' fer a title to this piece. My wife took one look and said 'Hope', so 'Hope it is. Fitting title?
Then there's the 'Impending Doom' suggestion from Rogue...

Photography: The Water Dragon

2009-02-11T01:07:00.007+08:00

A series of abstracts. These are macros of those water features that err... feature a huge ball that's rotating on water jets pumpin' from underneath.

The Water Dragon I (2009)
(Abstract, Macro, B+W)
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The Water Dragon II & III (2009)
(Abstract, Macro, B+W)

Photography: TheQshop

2009-01-30T00:45:00.004+08:00

Some highlights of a commissioned job for theQshop.
If you're into pool, billiards or snooker, this is the place to arm yourself with long sticks to poke huge balls into tight holes (enough innuendos?). If you're into that...

theQshop - Shopfront (2009)
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theQshop - Interior Pool Table (2009)
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theQshop - Interior wide (2009)
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theQshop - Cue Bags (2009)
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theQshop - Cues I (2009)
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theQshop - Cues II (2009)
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Greg, my bud and one of two owners of theQshop. Really nice guy, destroys all in pool (but then again, I suck). If you're lookin' fer a cue or even a table (and live in Singapore), theQshop is located at 261 Waterloo Street, #02-11, Singapore 180261 or call Greg at +65-90666091

Photography: Wicca Downunder

2009-01-29T23:56:00.005+08:00

Wicca Downunder (2008)
(Animal, Acid)

Here's something random. An old favorite, my magical cat Wicca pretending to be a rat. Try to ignore the hairy legs if you value your lunch (err... you might not have noticed till you read this line? Sorry). Taken with my mobile phone.

Photography: Macabre Mannequin Madness

2009-01-28T19:21:00.009+08:00

Macabre Mannequin Madness in Chinatown, Singapore (2009)
(Long exposure, night, street)

Gotta love the way they sell clothes using headless, armless and legless mannequins of little kids all hung up in a row. Ahhh... the festive season... Taken late at night, this scene was just downright creepy

Happy Lunar New Year! It's been crazy...

Photography: Chinatown by Night II

2009-01-16T01:46:00.001+08:00

A view of a street running parallel to yesterday's post, again during some ungodly hour. The contrast between this and the busy hours is amazing. I'd take a few shots if I could set up my tripod during those hours, but you'll only see a mass of bodies jammed up like lemmings on their way to a free fall.

Chinatown by Night - Playful Serenity (2009)
(Long Exposure, Night, HDR, Street)
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Chinatown by Night - Quiet Serenity (2009)
(Long Exposure, Night, HDR, Street)

Photography: Chinatown by Night I

2009-01-15T03:25:00.005+08:00

Anyone livin' in Singapore, or probably anywhere else in the world that has a Chinatown, will know the utter chaos that ensues during business hours come the Lunar New Year (that'll be 26th January 2006).

This is Singapore's Chinatown in the wee early hours before the chaos begins...

The Calm Before the Storm I (2009)
(Long Exposure, Night, HDR, Street)
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The Calm Before the Storm II (2009)
(Long Exposure, Night, HDR, Street)

Photography: Shanghai Photolog

2009-01-07T03:23:00.015+08:00

For a majority of 2008, I've been in and out of Shanghai on a job, out of which I've spent about half a year in total there. In the most populated city (over 20 million) of the most populated country in the world (1.3 billion), I felt totally alone. Especially when I can't even read the menu to order food...

A Collision of Generations (2008)

The colors of the pictures convey my mood during my stay there; that and the fact that the Shanghai in my mind hails from the 1920s. In reality, the Shanghai of today is anything but. With its salad-tossed mix of structures and infrastructures from different eras (1800s to modern sky scrapers), she is an enigma suffering from an identity crisis, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder.

She's part French, part British, part American and part Chinese. Having abandoned her traditional values for modern capitalistic beliefs, she's all dressed up in the sexiest trends but still clings on to her old-fashioned undergarments.

It all makes for a really exotic dame, full of excitement at every moment, the unknown at a turn of every street and alley... At least she isn't harboring a multitude of diseases (crime). ;)

Here she is in (not all) her glory. Save yourself the trouble of scrolling down by clicking on the link below to view it in a slideshow. Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them.
WARNING: Flickr slideshow displays images stretched to fit your screen. Should you find some of the images blurry or distorted, click on 'options' at the upper right corner of the slideshow and uncheck 'Embiggen small things to fit screen'.
Shanghai Slideshow

Or if you prefer to do some leg work, scroll on down. 22 pictures in all.

Left: A Collision of Generations II (2009)
Right: Streets of Shanghai - Wired III (2009)
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Left: The Pauper Piper (2009)
Right: Of Billboards and Golden Facades II (2009)
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Of Billboards and Golden Facades I (2009)
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The Man Who Sold the World (2009)
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Streets of Shanghai IX (2009)
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Left: Streets of Shanghai - Wired II (2009)
Right: Incoming (2008)
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Left: Alleyways of Shanghai IV (2009)
Right: Alleyways of Shanghai I (2008)
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Left: Alleyways of Shanghai III (2009)
Right: Streets of Shanghai - Wired I (2008)
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Alleyways of Shanghai II (2008)
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Backstreets of Shanghai I (2008)
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Backstreets of Shanghai II (2008)
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Backstreets of Shanghai III - The Bamboo Wars (2008)
Also known as They Save Jackie Chan
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Backstreets of Shanghai IV - Not Bird Watching (2009)
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Backstreets of Shanghai V - The View from Below (2009)
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Backstreets of Shanghai V - Twilight(2009)
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Backstreets of Shanghai VI - Rising Star (of consumerism) (2009)

If you're interested in my mindless commentary on these picture, just click on the image. The entire collection can be found on my Flickr Photoset here

Please vote for my blog if you've enjoyed it at

Pimping: Parka Blogs

2009-01-05T17:11:00.003+08:00

For those of you interested in Art Books from movies, games and artists, forget the reviews on Amazon and check out Parka's Blog.

He and his partners in crime raid the shelves off these books and reviews every one of 'em. Each detailed review includes a video 'flip-thru' of said book, photographed highlights, notes on paper stock and binding, a written review and a convenient link to Amazon.com.

Shop smart, shop Parka ;)

The Ghost of New Year's Day (after)

2009-01-05T17:06:00.004+08:00

The Ghost of New Year's Day (After) (2009)

This little ghost came a knockin' at my wardrobe door...
Happy New Year all

Photography Backlog: Urban Panorama, Singapore

2008-12-29T00:46:00.010+08:00

My last backlog photo...

Singapore, A non-Touristy Panorama (2008)
(Panorama, Urban, Night, HDR)

Click on the image to view it larger. The original final panorama spans a little more than 1.8m in width.
[Edit: Link now workin'. Thanks to Marc of Creativespark for pointing out this gross oversight. My Flickr account was set to only allow my contacts into the big pictures.]

Experimental image composed of 9 different shots of 3 exposures each. This HDR panorama is made up of a total of 27 shots and brought my computer to its knees... A seldom (if ever) seen cityscape of Singapore with not a single tourist landmark.

I was thrown out of the building where I took this from when security caught me. At least they were nice enough not to confiscate my CF card.

Photography Backlog: Urban, Singapore

2008-12-27T01:43:00.010+08:00

Urban Contrast (2008)
(Urban, Night, HDR.)

Arab Street, Singapore. Between the towering modern 'scrapers and the retro shophouses of Singapore's Arabic sector. Featuring not a single tourist landmark and my favorite building. Feels like a desert creeping into a forest of trees. Sadly, it's the opposite that's true.
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Singapore Bay, a very very very typical tourists' (and locals') view (2008)
(Urban, Night, HDR.)

Singapore River(Bay), Singapore. This view doesn't get anymore typical than this. There're tons of shots with the exact same framing. Just hopin' my treatment of colors gives a different spin to it.

Photography Backlog: Streets of Malacca, Malaysia

2008-12-26T00:37:00.005+08:00

Taken on a day trip up to Malacca, Malaysia. Malacca's a Portuguese colony back in the 1500s (1511 to be exact) and is a World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 7th July 2008. More info can be found here.

Across the River. Malacca, Malaysia. (2008)
(Urban, Street, HDR)

Row of shophouses (living area on the 2nd floor and above, commerce on the ground floor. Very common in Asia in the 'old' days).
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Jonker Walk by Day. Malacca, Malaysia. (2008)
(Urban, Street, HDR)

This is a one source HDR created from a single RAW photo. Jonker Walk (Jalan Hang Jebat in native the language, Malay), only truly comes alive at night with good food, drinks and much merry making.

Photography Blog: X'mas Bird

2008-12-25T03:14:00.006+08:00

It's Christmas, so here's a bird. It's not a dove, but it'll do (afterall, a dove's but a white pigeon).

Flight over Ladenhall, London (2006)
(Street)

This is a really old piece taken on a lonely deserted Sunday in Ladenhall, central London. Had my camera set on servo with a fast shutter priority and when around the streets swinging my camera, makin' these damn birds fly (or at least tryin' to, they weren't too cooperative) while pressing the trigger. This is my favorite lucky shot.

Merry Christmas all :)

Wiki'mas 2008

2008-12-24T15:44:00.011+08:00

Wikipedia, we've all used it. Professionally in our work or just for kicks over curiosity of what exactly a durian (South East Asians need not apply) is. So this Christmas, give a little back.

Wikipedia needs your help (did you know there're only 23 people on staff at Wiki?). This is an appeal from Wiki's founder Jimmy Wales.

Ignorance is NEVER bliss, but too little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Photography Backlog: Still Life

2008-12-24T00:08:00.004+08:00

Continuing my backlog on the past year's work. Today I dig out my Still Life pieces:

Manual Lever (2008)
(Still Life, Macro, HDR.)

This dangerous looking mechanism is the operating switch of a dumpster (equally dangerous in my opinion). I kept hearing a voice repeating "press the red button, press the red button" but my sense of smell got the better of me. So much for logical decisions.
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Guidance (2008)
(Still Life, HDR.)

This lamp was found hanging at the Elephant Show at the Singapore Zoo. Taken with a zoom lens, just before dumbo sprayed the audience with a trunk full of water (at least, I'd like to think it was water...)

Explanation of my photography

2008-12-23T02:43:00.007+08:00

There's not much to say, but the key thing would be I'm not interested in capturing reality. There's enough of that everyday. What I'm trying to do is turn what I capture into a painting-like thingie... thing... err...

The techniques employed include tuning of colors, usually to desaturate (tone down) colors and HDR (High Dynamic Range, a technique that has roots in Hollywood film making).

I come from a black-and-white photography background and it took me quite a while to 'like' color photography. So I guess that explains why the pictures are usually void of colors.

HDR is a little trickier to explain, but simply put, it's a combination of three or more exposures (shots) of the exact same scene; one taken in optimal exposure, one over exposed (to capture details that an optimal exposure would have missed because it's in the shadows) and one under exposed (to capture details that the optimal exposure would have missed because of burn out).

These three shots are than combined using a HDR program. It's really easier than it sounds.

Photography Backlog: Streets of Singapore

2008-12-23T02:33:00.005+08:00

Light Dance on the Streets of Amoy (2008)
(Urban Street, Night, HDR.)

Amoy Street, Singapore. I love how only one side of the street is lit. Guess they short-changed the light people by half...
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The Temple of Heaven's Bounty (2008)
(Urban Street, Night, HDR.)

Amoy Street, Singapore. This temple is no longer functional and instead acts as a tourist spot. Temple of Heaven's Bounty is a rough translation of its original Chinese name

Photography Backlog: Portraiture

2008-12-22T03:18:00.021+08:00

Got nothing new to start this... err... blog off so I thought I'd showcase some of my personal faved photos of 2008

Simple Pleasures (2008)
(HDR, Portraiture Candid. Night photography w/o flash made it slightly blur.)

Not wanting to disturb the gentleman, this piece was shot blind, with the camera on servo. The resulting shots were all off except this. Later re-cropped and touched-up in Photoshop.

Sometimes, a simple cup of tea is really enough to make your day...

About Ivan O.

2008-12-20T23:07:00.005+08:00

Ivan O. (the O. in his last name stands for -wait fer it- Oh. Go figure...) would like to think he is an artist in the fields of design, illustration and photography, in no particular order.

He lives and works in Singapore and can't seem to settle down on a particular field. His past, and possibly current, designations (aside from the above mentioned) include Creative Director, Journalist, Marketing & Business Development Manager and Systems Engineer (IT). he's worked for Reuters, Siemens Advance Engineering, IAHGames and The New Paper.

He has a beautiful wife (who drives him mad) whom he loves dearly, and a magical black cat, who thinks she (the cat, not the wife) is a rat.

He finds it condescending to write about himself in the third but isn't famous nor rich enough to have someone else write this.

If he ever wins the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant, he'd wish for World Peace. Both of which he thinks are equally unlikely to happen, sadly.