Posts tagged portraiture

RadioPopper PX + Lastolite EzyBox Hotshoe

Lastolite makes plenty of nifty lighting accessories and the EzyBox hotshoe is one of them. I’ve been shooting with softboxes for sometime but they were studio lights requiring AC power. Needless to say, they aren’t easily setup or transported. Plus they need the all-important AC socket. Sometimes, those AC sockets aren’t easily available and I’ve a daisy-chain-able extension cord and sockets. In some cases, you don’t even have AC power so Lastolite’s EzyBox hotshoe comes to the rescue. Some samples here from Louis Pang. It basically allows you to use your flash in a softbox.


RadioPoppers – well, they’re those god-sent help for wireless remote flash triggers with full e-TTL (or i-TTL) capability. Don’t understand? Well, it allows simpletons like me to use the camera’s brain when calculating flash exposure when the flash is not sitting on the camera but hanging from a Justin clamp several meters away. Better yet, several flash units all over the place.

So what’s the problem? I want to use my Canon 580EX II with my RadioPopper PX reciever inside my EzyBox Hotshoe. Here lies the problem. I’ve searched, posted on Facebook and Twitter to no avail. I’ve asked a couple of other people here in Malaysia but still no go. Brick walls are roadblocks but any roadblock is surmountable…

Read further for the solution… Read More

My niece, Julia, OMF, Camerons

Children in some ways are easier to shoot that adults. Of course, there’s a different set of challenges and also not everyone’s the same. Like adults, some are more comfortable in front of the camera. Recently, I was at Camerons and while relaxing and also planning out some big changes ahead as well as a lot of calendar packing events — including a large photo seminar for university students as well as the upcoming Shoot4Charity fund raiser. My niece Julia was there and she’s a gregarious kid and rather happy to be in front of the camera. She proudly exclaims “I’m shooting pictures!”. Best part is she’s able to tell my 5D Mark II, battery grip, 70-200 f2.8 compared to daddy’s 500D and 18-200, “Your camera is much bigger than daddy’s!” Size does matter?

The OMF bungalow has a nice open area for kids to run around. It’s also a good time to think, reflect and plan for the future. Change is definitely on the horizon. Most of the shots were flash assisted with my RadioPoppers, even some of the daylight ones as I wanted more directional lighting.

Julia found the older kids (another group who was also staying in the bungalow with us) playing football (soccer) but they didn’t want her to play plus also they were kicking much harder. The only time we had was later in the evening about dinner time (around 7pm) when the kids went in for their dinner. I kinda of like those shots where I had to drag the shutter down quite a bit. You can see the slow shutter in the shots — I was going down to 1/30 at f/4.5, ISO 1250 in those shots. Some shots had 3 580EX IIs going off to provide enough light but as I didn’t move my lights around, some shots had to make do with a single flash (the others were off position).















Elyana and Family – Portraiture outing!

On a lovely Sunday morning, Elyana and family got together, dressed up and spent some quality time with each other. In addition, they brought us in to have a portraiture session with them. I must also say that Elyana’s mom really cooks well and we had a boxful of yummy dumplings to take home with us! Oh, congrats to Elyana and Roslan on their tenth anniversary! Many happy returns!

Anyways, we started in their cozy home in Bandar Mahkota Cheras with their family and relatives and then took a short drive out towards Putrajaya where we had great fun near the Putrajaya mosque and main boulevard. Great time for the kids to go out, parents, relatives, and grandparents had great fun too!

I’m actually quite impressed with the way this outing was organized and we wish more people would actually spend the time to take photos of their family. You may not appreciate the photos right now but years later, when you look back at old photos, the memories are priceless. A lovely outing with the family, quality time with the kids and get family photos to boot! Excellent combination if you ask me!

And here I am caught by my lovely wife shooting on the move 🙂

Yi-Lyn’s Birthday shoot

Malacca has always provided a good backdrop for a lot of our shoots and this time, it’s no different. Yi-Lyn’s first birthday also provided an opportunity for the family to get together, get some portraiture shots taken as well as just enjoy the moment. With the lovely backdrop provided by Everly Resort, there’s definitely a lot of fun to be had. As some family members had to rush off to Singapore and others to the airport, there was no time to have some fun shots in the hotel park and gardens and the lovely beach (despite the smell).

Irnny & Af’fan

In what was probably the coolest and best themed wedding (Pink Gothic!) that we’ve shot this year, Irnny & Af’fan, thanks for the honor and privilege to be part of your big day. We started off with a big dinner before the Akad Nikah ceremony at Irnny’s home in Seremban. Af’fan showed his loving and gentle spirit when he shed some tears reciting his vows and responsibilities. This guy takes this very seriously and I’m sure they’ll be a wonderful couple. I’ve never seen a pelamin covered with fresh roses before. The bersanding ceremony was held at 1388 Seremban Golf and Country club and the Pink Gothic theme was equally well executed.

Baby Portraiture

Over a belated Mother’s day lunch (blame Ericsson for that), we had a short baby portraiture session. These are my two favorites. No time to do more but you can head over to my other blog to see more if you’re interested. Of course everything shot with my 70-200 f2.8 …