Playing Paparazzi at the Shine Youth Festival

July 5, 2011 Blog 2 comments

“Ready, 1, 2, 3…. strike a pose and smileeee!”

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop

Last Saturday, I had the chance to be a “press photographer” at the festival opening of Shine Youth Festival, thanks to the kind folks at Panasonic Lumix and Omy.sg

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop

Held as part of an event photography course taught by freelance photographer Sze Ping, I learnt several useful lessons:

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Sze Ping doing his thang…

1) The “A” in my digital camera stands for “Aperture”, and it controls the depth of field (ie how much details one can see). Wider apertures let in more light , but may result in a more blurry image and helps to increase the shutter speed hence avoiding a blurry image (thanks to “Sifu” Sze Ping for correcting this error of mine).

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Dimunitive girl group “Roses” striking a pose.

2) The “S” mode corresponds to “Shutter Speed”, and the faster the shutter speed goes, the darker (though clearer) the image becomes.

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Eric Guansing goes airborne with the leaping “Roses”

3) “Bokeh” isn’t a Malay word but instead, represents the “blurness” of an object. So now I can scold people by saying that you’re “bokeh like a sotong”!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
I guess its alright if the dragon is “bokeh”

4) When shooting events, take special note of the following photo ops:

– Pre-events (preparations/ opening)

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
A spinning dragon makes for dizzy dancers

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
“Flying gold fishes” making their debut

– Ambience (environmental and ‘capture the spirit’ shots)

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Don’t mess with us Cosplay heroes from Kamen Rider!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Magician charming his way into the hearts of 3 Cosplay princesses

– VIPs (not just Ministers, but the stars on stage)

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
“3…2…1… and launch!” (guess you can tell who two of the VIPs are at least)

– On-going events (using different angles)

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
No prizes for guessing what angle this is.

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
I like the double imagery in this photo of Kewei

– Audience moods/ candid shots

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
The girls and boys in blue are waiting for their idol Derrick Hoh to appear

– Closing/ group photos

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Our VIPs striking a pose for the camera with Panasonic Lumix marketing manager

5) The new Panasonic Lumix GF3 (yet to be launched) is a superb system camera, with lightning quick focus, fabulous images and a light and compact form factor.  Its awesome that we got to play with it BEFORE it is unveiled in the market.  Way cool!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop

6) You can learn everything you like, but still end up with “bokeh” images!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Ok, maybe a little blurriness at the edges is acceptable here…

After about an hour or so of theory, the group of about 40 amateur photographers were unleashed into *Scape as “Official Photographers”, allowing us to snap anybody, anything and anywhere we fancy.

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Us going for the “kill”

We probably took a gazillion photos of celebrities…

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Kewei and Daniel Ong

…Cosplayers…

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
“He” is playing in our cinemas right now!

…singers…

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Juz B is an almost all Malay group with a Chinese beatboxer

..pillow fighters…

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop

… and of course, one of Singapore’s most well liked CEO, Mr Yam Ah Mee of the People’s Association!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
“Pursuant to Section 49, Sub-Section 7E…”

Am I a better photographer after the session? Well, I think I learnt something although I’d probably need a lot more practice before becoming even a semi-pro.

Here are the rest of my photos for your viewing pleasure:

Stop Press: If you enjoyed my post and photos, do VOTE REPEATEDLY for my photo below at the Shine with Lumix contest on Facebook. Click the “Thumbs Up” (vote) button repeatedly enough and I’ll stand to win a brand new Panasonic G3!

Shine! Youth Festival and Panasonic Lumix Workshop
Probably my best shot of the day – a b-boy from Radikal Forze doing a handstand

Do help to spread the word too and many thanks in advance!  

By Walter
Founder of Cooler Insights, I am a geek marketer with almost 24 years of senior management experience in marketing, public relations and strategic planning. Since becoming an entrepreneur 5 years ago, my team and I have helped 58 companies and over 2,200 trainees in digital marketing, focusing on content, social media and brand storytelling.

2 Comments

  1. Nice post ~ You got some nice captures there!

    Just a correction:

    “Wider apertures let in more light but may result in a more blurry image” -> Wider apertures let in more light is a correct statement, but it doesn’t contribute in blurry image! In fact it helps to fasten the shutter speed (since more lights are coming in), thus avoiding blurry image.

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