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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Canon Imaging Academy Fast Track Workshop for Beginners


[Media Invite]


Since I started blogging in 2007, 70% of the photographs posted on my blog were taken from my mobile phone while 30% were extracted from compact cameras. I have always been a newbie in the photography arena and setting the camera to auto mode is the easiest and fastest (lazy) option for me to manage.

Thanks to Canon, I was invited to the Canon Imaging Academy Fast Track Workshop. The workshop is suitable for beginners like myself where you will have theoretical and practical experience within a short span of 3 hours. If you are a foodie, you will be delighted to learn that the workshop also includes a delicious lunch and more opportunity to take beautiful shots! The techniques that you will learn will not be restricted by the camera that you are holding.



Conducted within HY Califonia at Marina Bay Sands, our instructor Nugene Chiang gave the participants an overview of the various camera modes (P, TV, AV, M), aperture, shutter speed, ISO setting, exposure compensation and more. The slides are clear, concise and with Nugene's guidance, I was pretty impressed with the different effects you can create simply by adjusting the various modes and settings on the camera. 


While it sounded a little overwhelming, trying to remember the different possible combination of aperture, shutter and ISO. The outdoor practical experience definitely going to help me enhance what I have learnt in the session.

For the Fast Track Workshop, I used Canon Powershot G7X - a compact camera that comes with 20.2 megapixel and 4.2x Optical Zoom. To maximize the participants' learning experience, Nugene reminded us not to use Auto Mode function and attempt the TV, AV and M mode where we can adjust the aperture, shutter and ISO settings. 

Here are some photos that I have taken during the my practical hands-on session. 


Trying out the aperture settings with different focus point 


Plenty photo opportunities of the bees. For a person who is afraid of one, took me great 'risk' and ''danger' to take this shot. :)


AV Mode - adjusting aperture settings. While my hand remains in focus, the background can be blurry or clear by adjusting the aperture.


Next on - Panning shots. This one is really hard but fun! A group of us were standing along Helix bridge with our cameras targeting at the moving vehicles. I hope the drivers did not panic and thought that we are taking pictures of speeding cars.

TV Mode, ISO 100, 1/30 (ND Filter on for Canon G7X)


Maneuvering my body from left to right and then from right to left, trying to be in line with the moving vehicle before taking a snap shot is really tough (particularly under the hot sun). After multiple tries and attempts, the effort that we took just to take one good shot is extremely satisfying.


Next on - Jump shots! This is one of my most anticipated lesson of the day because I always wanted to take a photo of my children leaping in the air. Thanks to Nugene and Alvin who demonstrated the perfect way of jumping for us. :)

ISO 400, f8, 1/200

This is my first jump shot and I am sure there will be more to come!

After a fruitful outdoor photography session with our instructors, we headed back to HY California for our scrumptious lunch. Being a foodie myself, food photography is another arena that depends a lot on the lighting, composition and layout which requires more experience, practice and lesson.

Apprentice like myself,, it will take ages for me to take a good shot before my family can finally dig into the food. An area that I need to improve on in order to shorten the wait.

Taken with Canon G7x

Taken with Samsung S5 - Instagram

It was an fruitful and enriching 3 hours session as I was able to manage the settings of the camera more efficiently and I go back having a better understanding of the different camera modes as well as the effect of aperture, shutter and ISO settings.

If you like to learn more about the Fast Track Workshop, click on the following link.

This June, Canon will be conducting a photo walk and camera outing. Note down the dates if you are interested.


FAMILY PHOTO WALK AT SINGAPORE ZOO
Date: 18 June 2015, Thursday
Time: 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Venue: Singapore Zoo
Fee: $38/pax and one child below age of 15 (excludes Zoo entrance fee)
Click on the following link for more details.

COMPACT CAMERA OUTING
Date: 11 or 12 June 2015
Time: 2.00pm to 4.00pm
Venue: Around Vivocity
Fee: $20/pax
Click on the following link for more details.

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