Category / Photography
February 5, 2013
Hunting for food is one of the things I do very often, be it breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper. And if you haven’t notice already, I tend to share them across various platforms whenever I find a dish worthy of your taste buds.
Armed with a Samsung GALAXY Camera as my weapon of choice these days, I want to show you aspect of food photography which coincide with my favorite category in Samsung’s This is My Moment, Live campaign – the top down view of some of Malaysia’s Best foods.
I always love this angle of view when it comes to food photography, it represents the diner’s point of view when food is presented on the table. You get to see everything, the glistering fats, the contrasting colors, and sometimes even a hint of steam rising from the hot dish.
Here are five food photography tips using photos taken with Samsung GALAXY Camera, resized for this space.
1. Go Close
Sometimes you want to get close while still incorporating everything. The sambal, cockles, cuttle fish, prawns, tofu, noodle, and those coagulated pork blood all within the frame. It spells a delicious bowl of Penang curry mee (SS2 Restauran Okay)
2. Divide and Conquer
It’s often effective to snap photos of the dish after it’s separated to serving size. This makes the photo less busy and further enhances the main ingredient(s), in this example, the massive river prawns. (Pan Heong, Batu Caves)
3. The Little Things
Don’t forget the little things in your photo. The example above includes the chop sticks and sambal condiment, and sometimes you can crop away the dishes a little bit to avoid the photo looking dull. However, you should also try not to have anything irrelevant creeping into the photos, such as the glove at the top left corner of this photo.
4. Contrast
Contrasting colors make for visually striking photos. Red bowl, black table top, yellow noodle, and green chili featured in this wantan mee dish. (Jalan Brunei off Jalan Pudu, next to Caltex) The only missing major color is blue, which isn’t a color associated with food anyway.
5. Everything In It!
Lastly, the simplest way is to include everything on the table in one shot. This is especially useful when you want to convey the size of the dish, like this big breakfast set with two extra side dishes and a piece of pie at Antipodean (Bangsar). Try to arrange your dishes so it fits into the frame properly, and do make sure that there aren’t too many distractions (tip #3).
So if you’re like me who takes a lot of food photos to share, consider submitting them to This is My Moment, Live. Two person who’s 5 pictures submissions have been selected by Samsung will get a RM 100 cash prize!
Good luck and happy clicking!
February 2, 2013
A few weeks ago we were invited to a photography session held by Le Meridien and the KLPA. After a short briefing session we spent about an hour or so taking photos mostly at the lobby of the newly renovated hotel.
The new lobby is beautiful, and I noticed that there were many different types of chairs used here, so I thought of emphasizing them in my photoset. These photos were taken with Olympus EPL-3 and the 45mm F/1.8 lens. \
Criticism and comments most welcomed. Thank you for viewing.
relax, we have your neck
leather
the curves
side by side
sophistication
through the tunnel
seated up high
January 14, 2013
Over the years, I must have had more than a dozen different cameras in my life. Most are digital, a couple of them aren’t. There were point and shoots, SLRs, prosumer models, mirror-less cameras, GoPros, camera phones, you name it.
None of them had the same response as when I showed off the Samsung GALAXY Camera - “Is that the Samsung GALAXY Camera? Can I see it?”
And sometimes when I hand it over, I don’t see it again for a very long time.
It’s not difficult to understand why. This is the first truly connected camera from Samsung that runs on the Android Jelly Bean Operating System and comes with 3G data and WiFi capability.
Already packed with loads of features, you are able to further enhanced it by installing various preferred applications. This is really a camera that is virtually limitless.
With the instant sharing capability of the Samsung GALAXY Camera comes This is My Moment, Live. A photo-sharing social website created for those who love taking photos.
The site features four bloggers, with yours truly among one of them that participates in contributing to the many photography themes being showcased on the site. There’s a different theme every day for 28 days. Check out the site at thisismymoment.com.my
Anyway, lets talk about the camera, I want to highlight some of the features that I really liked about it
Panorama shooting mode:
The panorama features is perhaps the most fun to use, and one that is super easy too. Switch to panning mode on the on-screen dial and then just start clicking and snapping. I liked the fact that you can pan all ways, and in both portrait and landscape modes.
Batu Caves photography trip, Dec 2012
Arthur’s Place at Anilao, the Philippines
Sunset shooting mode:
One of the tricky things about getting a good shot of sunset is the short amount of time you have to get everything right. With the sunset shooting mode, the camera set the proper exposure and color balance to get a perfect shot every time. Brilliant.
sunset at Anilao, the Philippines
21x zoom:
The other very handy feature of the camera is the 21 x optical zoom. Compare the photo below to the one above. One was captured at 23 mm equivalent, and the other at 172 mm (at 7.5 x zoom). This example showcases how flexible you can be when it comes to composition.
taken at around 7.5x zoom
this taken while seated in the cafeteria upstairs, full 21 x zoom (483 mm equivalent)
Closed up shots:
While not 100% macro by any means, the GALAXY Camera does a good job in taking close up shots. Details and color reproductions are impressive, as with its resolutions. Look at the bottom photos of the coffee, and try to spot the tiny reflections on each individual bubbles.
beach made of corals & pebbles, Anilao, the Philippines
breakfast coffee, Meal Station
Full Manual Control:
Other than the various automated modes, the Samsung GALAXY Camera also comes with the three most crucial modes in any camera – Aperture priority, Shutter Priority, and Full Manual modes. With these, you can be as creative as you want in the control of the camera.
The panning shot of the Porsche Cayenne below is an example of what the Shutter Priority mode can achieve.
Smart Modes:
To make shooting simpler, there are a total of 15 smart modes in the camera (a few of which described above). They are - Beauty face, Best photo, Continuous shot, Best face, Landscape, Macro, Action freeze, Rich tone, Panorama, Waterfall, Silhouette, Sunset, Night, Fireworks, Light trace.
This makes getting the right setting for the right photo capture easy and fast. I’ll let you find out what exactly is the “Best Face” mode, it’s one of the biggest innovation to me.
Instagram on Camera!
Of course, one of the most important features of the Samsung GALAXY Camera is that it runs Android Operating System, which also means Instagram anywhere and everywhere with the WiFI & 3G connectivity.
If you have an account, follow me at @kyspeaks
Click on Samsung GALAXY Camera to check out the various other features and full specifications.
December 27, 2012
If you’ve been paying attention in the digital photography world, you’ve surely heard about the Samsung Galaxy Camera by now. It is simply a camera that changes everything with regards of how we share photos. After all, great photos are meant to be seen, and a photo that isn’t accessible isn’t one that’s very useful.
Samsung Galaxy Camera panaroma photo at batu caves
A short summary of the camera’s specifications:
- 3G/Wifi Connection
- Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
- 1.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
- Powerful 21X Optical Zoom Lens
- 23 MM Wide Angel Lens
- 1080P Full HD Video Recording
- 121.1 MM (4.8”), 308 ppi, HD Super Clear Touch Display
- 16.3 Megapixel ½.3” BSI CMOS
sample photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Camera
I’ve had the Samsung Galaxy Camera for more than a couple weeks now, and I gotta say I’m rather impressed by this more than capable gadget. Besides looking great, the most important feature of all is that it runs on Android (Jelly Bean) and has 3G capabilities.
You can now get the Samsung Galaxy Camera for as low as RM 1499 with Celcom’s First Data Lite plan, the camera is otherwise priced at RRP of RM 1,899, so that’s a good RM 300-400 savings. Check out the plan below:
With the data plan you can pretty much share your photos instantly from basically anywhere to all your favorite social networks. I’ve been posting to instagram (check out instagram.com/kyspeaks) almost exclusively with photos taken from this camera in the past couple weeks.
The photo quality beats mobile phone’s quality hands down.
More in depth review of the camera coming to this space soon. For now, check out Samsung Galaxy Camera with Celcom’s First Data Lite page for more info.
December 17, 2012
I’m a bit of a photography enthusiast, and constantly keep a watch on the latest cameras that comes along. My first digital camera was bought back in 2002, a full 10 years ago. It had a 3.2 megapixel sensor and uses a pair of AA batteries that won’t last more than 50 shots.
Over the years I’ve owned another 6 cameras (including SLR, mirror-less system, Prosumer, compact) and played with numerous others, but this Samsung Smart Camera WB150F that I have in my hands now is the one that packed the most surprises.
So here are a list of 10 reasons this camera is smart and packed with features:
1. Wi-Fi
This is the feature that is missing from most cameras out there, and one that is perhaps the most important non-photo taking feature that should be in every camera.
The Wi-Fi feature enables a lot of possibilities – you can now synchronize the camera with your computer wirelessly via the PC Auto Backup function, imagine not having to connect the camera via USB to the computer, ever.
You can also send the photo via email directly from the camera as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection, neat huh?
2. MobileLink
Without using a Wi-Fi access point, the camera can also transfer photos directly to your smartphone with the aptly named MobileLink application (available on Android & iOS devices).
Start MobileLink on the camera and on your smartphone/tablet, choose the images you want, and click to transfer. This is useful for those who are on the g0, and especially neat when you are running out of SD card space as well.
3. Remote ViewFinder
Another cool feature that uses the Wi-Fi technology is the Remote ViewFinder. Install the same application on your Android/iOS device and viola, you can place the camera basically anywhere within 30-40 feet indoor or up to 60 feet outdoor and snap photos from the application.
With a tripod, you’ll never need to get anyone to snap group photos for you anymore. Also, imagine the pranks you can pull with this feature!
4, Social Sharing
How often do we share photos on Facebook, Picasa and the like? You can now do it in an instance with the Social Sharing function whenever the camera is connected to Wi-Fi.
Video sharing via Facebook and Youtube is supported as well.
5. 18x Optical Zoom
If you love long optical zooms, this is definitely a camera you should check out. Just look at the example above, wide angle vs 18x zoom.
There’s optical stabilization on the Schneider Kreuznach lens, the zoom is equivalent to 24 mm – 432 mm in 35 mm format.
6. Live Panorama
The Live Panaroma function is among the easiest I’ve used, simply hold on the shutter button and pan the camera either on landscape or portrait format. It’s so easy you can even use it inside a car! Check out Carol’s Almeera and how we fit 6 people in “3″ rows in there.
7. Photo Filter
The WB150F comes with 14 different photo filters for plenty of fun effects. Fish eye, old film, soft focus, retro, miniature, zooming shots, and more.
You can also apply these filters after the photos are shot via the built in photo editor.
8. Split Shot
Photo collage? The camera’s got that covered too. There are 4 types of split shots you can take, and photo filters can be applied in these shots as well. This is a neat little features especially when you want to share a few scenes (or dishes!) in a single photo on Facebook, for example.
9. Artistic Brush
Then there’s artistic brushes. This feature is different from the photo filter. Not only a photo is snapped, a video is recorded that simulates the “painting” process as well. Pretty neat.
10. Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Full Manual Control
Last but not least (cos there are actually even more features, check out the full specification here), for those who are a bit more hardcore, you can shoot with Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and even Full Manual.
So how much do you think this 14.2 Megapixel camera with 18x Zoom & 3.0″ LCD costs?
RM 649.00
So if you’re looking for a cool gadget that can do a whole lot and does not break your bank, the Samsung WB150F is definitely something you should check out.
