Photography

Grace Tan In Musings, Relationships, Running a Business, Tips + Ideas

How to keep your photographers happy (& ultimately give you better photos)

How many times do you walk into a restaurant and think… “How can I make life better for this waiter?” If most of us are honest, we rarely, if ever think about those thoughts. We expect to be served, to be treated well, and when things don’t go the way we expect, we rant and complain. It is probably true for a lot of people working in the service industry… hotels, hospitals, tour operators…

And even photographers.

When I first started working in this industry, I knew that it was the little things that differentiated a good service from a great one. The client and their needs are always top on my mind, and I made sure to communicate that to our entire team… from our communications to the photographers on the shoot, and up till delivery stage. Someone told me once, that if you show genuine care to your clients, they know it. It has always been our principle to make sure our clients get the best experience from us. So it does sadden us sometimes when we get the occasional client who doesn’t treat us the same way.

I do admit, most of our clients are amazing. They are thoughtful, kind, generous… even when there’s a million other things to think about on their wedding day. It makes us feel so appreciated. To know that we’re not just another ‘vendor’, but that we’re treated as friends. Ultimately, we just want to do even better and more for these clients!

* The Stories team at work (left to right, top to bottom): Johan, Diane, Ben, Weiming, Felicia and Mark

Here are some simple ways that can keep your photographers happy throughout the wedding day:

1. Do remember to feed us – Being on our feet for 10 hours on your wedding day, carrying kgs of equipment is not an easy task. Most Malaysians are really hospitable and make sure that we are well fed during lunch and dinner. We do not expect to be seated at the table with your guests since we’ll be moving around a lot during dinner anyway. It’s always best to just order a vendor’s meal like fried rice or a burger from the hotel for the team. Sometimes though, there were days when all we got for dinner were soggy McDonald’s that were bought hours ago, or a pack of egg tarts for dinner. A hungry photographer can sometimes turn a little grumpy. Sometimes.

2. Please prepare a room at the hotel for us – This is relevant if you require a same day slideshow to be created by us. Our base is in Petaling Jaya, so sometimes it may not be feasible for us to travel 30 minutes from your home in Klang to PJ, work tirelessly without a break to create a slideshow and then drive another 30 minutes to a hotel in KL, all within 4 hours. Photographers hardly get any rest. It would make our life a lot easier if we didn’t have to spend so much time traveling, but can go to a dedicated hotel room just for the team to work, take a nap if necessary, and have a shower to freshen up.

This room should not be shared with other guests because it’s really difficult to work comfortably when we have people looking over our shoulder, expecting to see images or wanting to talk to us when we really have a deadline to meet. Sometimes, we are given function rooms to use, but that is not really ideal. Most of these rooms do not have shower facilities, nor proper seats to rest comfortably. I find it sad when a client or wedding planner expects us to shower in the public toilet at the hotel, or not freshen up at all prior to dinner. Even sadder when we are placed in a store room somewhere to prepare the same day slideshow (thank God this only happened once).

3. Do give us sufficient time for portraits – We know time is precious on your wedding day, but we want to do the best for you too. Do allocate at least 30-45 minutes sometime during the day for a portrait session for the both of you. We know that sometimes, this eats into your mingling time with guests, but we feel that it’s important to make time for it. Please be patient with us if it seems like the portrait sessions take a while, or overruns in terms of time.

4. Do tell us how you feel at the end of the day – We love to hear feedback! If you are happy with our service throughout the day, do let us know before we say goodbye. Those little words like thank you goes a loooong way! 10 hours (and sometimes more!) of exhaustion is worthwhile knowing that our clients appreciate our work and attentiveness.

*Mother hen – Grace

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

A funky pre-wedding in KLPAC: Kenny & Grace

The 3 of us have something in common. Kenny, Grace and I. Of course, the fact that Grace’s name is Grace, scores like, 100 points with me. All Graces are cool. :)

But no, Kenny’s middle name is not Grace. The common ground we all share is the fact that each of us worked at the same place at one point in our lives. Many years ago, when I was a freelance video editor, I was based in a company called Edit House, and that was where I met Kenny for the first time. My first impression of him was that he was a really friendly and chatty guy. After my 2 month job ended, I left and we didn’t really keep in touch after that. Some time later, Grace joined the same company and that’s where they both met.

Sometime this year, I got a call from Kenny, and surprisingly I still had his number stored there! We chatted and he told me about his wedding and wanting to do a pre-wedding photo shoot – sorta gothic style, sorta street grungy and yet silly. When I met Grace for the first time, I thought…wow, they seem sooooo different! She came across as this sweet, gentle girl who spoke softly. Opposites attract?

But then again, as the shoot progressed, I realized she also had this funky and silly streak in her that matched Kenny’s. :)

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

A Star Wars themed wedding: Kell Jay & Siau-Wei

It’s not everyday you get to see Jedi knights, Darth Maul, and Darth Vader in a wedding (even if he’s a cake topper). We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Kell Jay’s and Siau-Wei’s wedding, to see all the groomsmen dressed up in costumes, ready to rescue the princess, Siau-Wei. We had heaps of fun at this wedding with lots of unexpected twists and turns as the day unfolded. Kell Jay and Siau-Wei wow-ed us during the evening dinner reception as they danced into the ballroom (and by dance, I mean, professional standards, as Kell Jay is a professional dancer!). Their first dance was nothing I had seen before, and for the first 10 seconds of them dancing, I almost forgot to click the shutter. I totally enjoyed it. Loved the fact too that their wedding dinner reception was really personalized with Siau-Wei’s sisters giving a song performance, and lots more!

You’ll see more in their wedding video highlight which we’ll post later, but today, here are some of my favourites from their wedding. Don’t forget to view their same day video and photo slideshow at the end of this post for more images.

Diane In For Photographers, Tips + Ideas

Bokeh Fun!

Don’t you just love the creamy background blur that Grace and the team get on our pictures? :)

I remember one of the deciding factors that drove me to purchase my first DSLR is the ability to produce bokeh. The word “bokeh” is essentially a Japanese word for blur. In photography, bokeh is used to describe the blur that is behind the focused subject. It is typically produced when one shoots with a large aperture, like f2.8 and below. Therefore, prime leses, such as the 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.2, 35mm f1.4 and others will give you pretty bokeh.

Normally bokeh is round, sometimes it’s hexagon, according to the shape of your aperture opening. Well, they are great, but boring. (Yawns) So I am going to show you how to change the shape of your bokeh to look like this:

You will need:

1. Cardboard. Go green, don’t have to purposefully purchase it. Use your unwanted cereal box. They work great!

2. Your DSLR with a prime lens. (the nifty 50mm f1.8 will do!)

3. Pen, marker, scissors, pen knife and clear tape.

Grace Tan In Maternity, Portraits, Studio

Studio maternity portraits: Amanda & Ivan

Now that we have our own little convertible natural light + artificial light studio, I am really quite excited to do shoots here. It is definitely a challenge when you only have 4 walls to play with. Shooting in a studio gives you flexibility in the sense that it can be pouring outside but the shoot still carries on. It’s air-conditioned and comfortable. Tomorrow, I’ll be shooting my first boudoir studio shoot and I am looking forward to it!

Amanda and Ivan are no strangers to this blog… you might have seen her family photos here some time back. She’s a good friend of mine, and I was really pleased to do a portrait shoot for her. It’s been quite a while since I posted some maternity photos here. Incredibly, I know so many people who are pregnant this year and targeting to have a ‘dragon’ baby. So, in accordance to that theme, I’ll try to post a few more maternity shoots in this blog soon!

Amanda has since delivered a healthy and gorgeous baby girl that I have yet to meet. :) Congratulations to the both of you and enjoy parenthood!