Photography

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!

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding: Chee Onn & Debbie

Everyone claims that they are not good in front of the camera. I don’t blame them, because most people would not have taken professional photos of themselves prior to their wedding day. Studio photos of you blowing your 1-year-old birthday cake candle doesn’t really count!

It’s the job of the photographer to make you feel comfortable in front of the camera. To make everything look natural and not posed (even though it was!). To make it seem as if the photographer was non-existent, because the image should be about the couple and the moment they are sharing, not drawing attention to the person behind the camera. There are times when I ask the couple to look at the camera, but most of the time, their eyes are on each other. Just as it should be…

I totally enjoy photographing couples in love. Connection is something that cannot be forced. Of course, living in an Asian country, where most people have some ‘issue’ with public displays of affection, it’s normal to feel awkward initially kissing in front of a photographer! In every pre-wedding or engagement session, I tell my couples that it takes a bit of time to warm up, but once they do… they end up having a great time!

Debbie & Chee Onn:

Debbie didn’t really sleep the night before the shoot because she was really excited! It was kinda awkward at the very start because we are both not really the photo taking type. Grace, it was good that you were around to get us warmed up! We did not know what to expect on that day so we were just following your lead which was very good. After the shoot, we were pretty anxious about the pictures. We were afraid that we didn’t prepare enough for the shoot.

But after seeing the pictures, all worries were gone because it was good and you captured the right moments! We loved the black and white photos too, cause it gave a very retro feel to the pictures which we like a lot.

Thanks once again, for making the shoot memorable for us. :)

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships, Running a Business

Onward, preggie mummy!

* Credit goes to my hubby, Alex Lam for taking this photo of me. Of course, with a little guidance from the ‘bossy lady photographer’!

It’s now the 18th week of my pregnancy, and I must say, it’s been a good 4 months so far. Initially, I was really worried about how my body would fare, balancing pregnancy and photography. I am happy to report that I pretty much breezed through my 1st trimester…

I only had minimal bouts of nausea. The top 2 things that would trigger my nausea were the floor detergent used in my studio and the restaurant cooking steamboat downstairs from the studio.
I only vomited four times in my first trimester. And the toilet was not too far away too! Yay!
I didn’t have any cravings. Unfortunately, this meant that I deprived Alex of the privilege of buying roti canai for me at 3am in the morning. Oh wait, I did have a craving once. I insisted on having a Peranakan Itik Tim soup for lunch one day.
My taste buds did change though. Everything I ate tasted too salty or sweet. Until… I passed that phase and wondered why every dish my father-in-law cooked tasted bland.
I didn’t feel overly fatigued, though I did sleep slightly more than usual.
Finally, I had to buy new bras & clothes, but hey, who’s complaining when it comes to shopping!

Thankfully, I managed to get through all my shoots for the 1st trimester without fainting in exhaustion. It was great to hear feedback from my clients too, when they said things like…

“Grace, even though you are pregnant.. and assigned us a third photographer, we felt that it is very professional of you to help us capturing all the great moments of the day and all the hard work that you put in making that day unforgettable for us. We were sort of a little worry for you as you trying so hard capturing some of the great moments for us in the church. Make sure you take it slow in your upcoming photo shooting..

We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for providing us with such beautiful memorabilia of our most precious day of our lives, erm.. even though we didn’t have a chance to glance through our photos yet… and every one is asking for it already!!!!”

– Amy & Enoch –

“Dear grace and team, thank you for those wonderful n absolutely gorgeous pics (ourselves included)! :) When we first met u, we were indeed taken back by ur TnCs (have to say v onerous :) ) but we saw what u can do and glad to say that we couldn’t be happier. So thank u for you and ur team’s profesionalism (ur pregnancy didn’t hamper ur ability, the mozzy didn’t affect ur team s spirit (mostly ours…hehe)..thanks!”

– Wilson & Elaine –

So now that it’s the 2nd trimester, people tell me that it’s the ‘honeymoon’ stage of pregnancy. I would feel healthier, stronger and better. The months pass by so quickly. I am indeed cherishing every moment of my pregnancy!