04/29/10 by Michael Lee | Event Photography | 2 Comments »
Last week BMO held a small charity event in their office downtown and needed a photographer to take some photos of the event. There were a few cheque presentations and handing out of gifts to the various charities that BMO supports in the local Vancouver area. Everyone in attendance was pleasant and friendly and they did a great job of setting up the space.
For the below photos I was shooting with my flash attached for the portrait shots. The cheque presentations were shot with an off camera flash just right behind me. Advantages of using the off camera flash:
- Gives me consistent flash exposure. Shooting with an on camera flash would give you varying exposures unless you shoot in manual.
- No time wasted going from shooting portraits to the cheque presentations. I won’t be the reason why the event is held up.
- Allows me to simply point, focus, and shoot. No worrying if the photo was under or overexposed
- Only had to re-shoot a photo once because of a blinker
- No post processing needed for these shots. Quicker editing time.
The poster behind them and above their heads wasn’t my idea. I like the backgrounds as clean as possible but they wanted to make sure a person looking at the photo would know it was a BMO event.
04/24/10 by Michael Lee | Event Photography | 1 Comment »
BMW Canada launched the new 2011 5 series at Auto West BMW in Richmond on Thursday. The new car takes its design cues not from the previous generation but the one that ended in 2003, the E39 5 series. The new car chassis takes on the “F” designation whereas all previous generation models were classed with “E”. This is the longest model 5 series in the history of the BMW 5 series. Packed with a lot of technology this car is more like a mini 7 series than a 5. The styling is much more like BMW than the past series. The past series is probably one people will forget about. I don’t think there was much to like about that one, even the ///M5 didn’t look all that great. The E39 set the standard for the mid-class sedans and the new F10 series should do the same.
There was a nice assortment of exotics at the event.
Attention to detail. Check out the lights in the handles. Great for finding the handle at night.
04/19/10 by Michael Lee | Wedding Photography | 1 Comment »
With the Vancouver wedding season around the corner I thought it would be a good idea to go through last season’s wedding photos. We were busy with wedding photography in Vancouver last year, every weekend we were out shooting during the months of June, July, and August with some back-to-back. I actually still haven’t had a chance to go through and edit some of them (I shoot on a contract so the studio usually edits what they want to present to clients). I’m slowly going through them and picking a few to put on here.
Going through last season’s photos gives me an idea of where I did well and where I have to improve. It also gets my head back into wedding mode, not that it’s hard to given the number of ones I’ve done over the last three years. I also like to look at other people’s portfolios and blogs for inspiration.
This year I’m probably going to focus a lot on using off camera lighting. Last year I started using more of it and getting comfortable using it in different situations. For example indoor as a main light, outdoor as a fill, or using it to add another dimension to the photo. I use to mainly only shoot in available light with light modifiers such as reflectors. Shooting with off camera flashes really gives you a lot more ability to shoot anywhere.
The below photo is a great example of off camera lighting. The venue also has to be lit well enough for the camera to track focus. If the place is pitch dark except for some strobes it’s hard to get a clear photo. This was shot in a one of the ballrooms in Richmond.
More to come…
