Photography

Diane In Family + Children Portraits, Musings, Portraits, Tips + Ideas

Family Portraits: Edwin, Priscilla, Joseph, Joy-Anne and Isabel

After having done some outdoor family portraits, I realised that it’s not hard to make a photo session enjoyable for the whole family. Here’s some tips to make your family photo session truly a pleasure:

Let us know of the timing when your child is at his/her best mood. That way we’ll be able to work around the baby’s timing. Some babies are happier in the morning after a good night’s rest, while some are better in the evenings.

Bring sufficient drinking water & snacks. Since our Malaysian weather is hot and humid, staying hydrated is crucial! A thirsty/hungry child (or adult, for that matter) can get whiny. ;)

Be on time for shoots. This is important for outdoor shoots especially as we don’t want to miss the best lighting during the day. The best time in terms of lighting are between 7.30 – 9.30am and 5 – 7pm. It tends to get warmer after 9.30am, which might mean a cranky kid! It’ll also be a shame to miss out on good lighting for your shoot!

Talk to us! Communicate the ideas that you might have for your shoot with us. Some parents might like to have a picnic, while others just want a casual day in the park. Share with us the list of props that you have.

With all the above, I present you… Edwin, Priscilla, Joseph, Joy-Anne and Isabel.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Testimonials, Weddings

The Wedding of Son & Jil

We would both like to say how very very glad we are to have chosen Stories. It was the second largest expense on our tiny wedding budget (there goes the deposit for our home!) and as mentioned to Grace, we initially had doubts as to whether we could afford to spend that kind of money on just photos! However, I really fell in love with Grace’s work at first sight and watching our quick edit morning CD confirmed that it was worth the extra $$ we had to squeeze out for the photos! Everyone (including us) were so impressed by the professionalism and warmth exhibited by Grace, Ben and Andrew.

A special thanks to the team for the lovely shots (I really wanted the focus to be on the people, which Grace & team delivered beautifully), Ben for great editing (Son has burned too many copies of the DVD, my mum has distributed these to her entire village and Son has tortured our relatives and friends in Malaysia and Adelaide innumerably with it ‘cos he’s really pleased with how “yao-yeng” he looks in it) and we really really appreciate Ben and Andrew’s patience and understanding (in particular, Ben’s sensitivity towards Son’s nervousness at public speaking when he subtly suggested Son use the podium) during the loooong evening dinner.

Once more, we really really want to thank Grace, Ben and Andrew for making our special day all that much more special and we can’t gush on enough about how much we love Stories! :)

– Son & Jil –

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Kids Fashion Photography – Goodies Garment

Recently, we got commissioned for a different type of photo shoot – a lifestyle shoot for a new kid’s fashion brand, called Goodies Garment. Their website and business is still in the process of being finalized, but I would like to share some of our personal favourites from this shoot. On the day of the shoot, it was drizzling, but despite the weather, the kids followed instructions really well, and I am really pleased with the results. What do you think?

Diane In For Photographers, Musings, Tips + Ideas

Composing Your Photos Like a Pro!

I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with camera-gear talk. As much as I love gathering information about lenses and camera bodies, I also detest the thought that my gear is not good enough, even after spending a whole lot of money. It makes me and my bank account very sad. :(

While good camera gear helps add magic to photos, it only represents half the challenge (I mean, you don’t see us bringing little point-and-shoot cameras to our clients’ events!). Having an idea on how to compose a good image is key to a great shot, no matter the gear.

Since the year-end holidays are near and you will probably be traveling, I will show you some basic composition rules to help make your holiday shots better!

1. Rule of thirds

No, we’re not playing tic tac toe. :P

You’ve probably seen this grid in your smart-phone cameras. This is one of the most useful feature that you can have as it helps you align your horizon.

The other use for this is as a guide to place your subject at the points of interest, which are the points where the lines cross. Our eyes are drawn to these points, creating a pleasing photo.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Purple craze: Wedding of Chris & Li Yen

We laughed till our sides ached. It was a day when creativity met madness, and when friends dared to show their true colours. Chris and Li Yen’s wedding happened some time back, but I can’t help but share these images with the rest of the world. It was Olympics season and some of the heng tai games had an element of sport to it… namely synchronized swimming! Totally unique, completely fun, and we even got a little wet from all that splashing in the pool!

You might have seen Chris and Li Yen’s pre-wedding photos here on the blog before, and probably got a sense of their personality through the images. You can tell that they are a really fun loving couple and don’t mind doing silly things in front of the camera. Li Yen has a spunky personality and tells me that till today, they dispute about who invited who out to dinner first, especially on their first date!

Chris and Li Yen, though it’s been a few months since your wedding, I still laugh when I look at these images. It brings back good memories for us. All the best for the future as you settle in Australia… and keep in touch!