Ming Thein

On Assignment: architecture by night

August 16, 2013 by Ming Thein

Sometimes, one is given some pretty sweet assignments. Quite near the top of that list is a commission to photograph beautiful buildings by one of the country’s – arguably the world’s, too – leading architects with the rare thing of a completely open creative brief. This is the position I found myself in a couple of months ago, camera bag in one hand, Mother Of All (somewhat portable) Tripods in the other, and sheaf of permission letters and permits from Hijjas Kasturi Associates tucked away safe inside the camera bag just in case.

Photoessay: New York City urbanscapes

August 14, 2013 by Ming Thein

I honestly have no idea what category or genre this kind of photography falls into; it’s not quite abstract because you know what the subject is, though there’s heavy reliance on geometry, form, color and light; it’s not street even though it’s generally shot on the street or from the street; I suppose it could be travel, though they don’t really especially make you want to go visit a place. Flaneur, perhaps; the exploring observer. Or still life, except there are frequently moving elements. It’s not really cityscape or architecture either, because often there are no buildings, or they’re not complete, or the view isn’t wide enough to be considered an entire cityscape.

On Assignment: Retouching, and the difference between amateurs and pros…

August 12, 2013 by Ming Thein

Maitres du Temps Chapter Three in white gold. (Larger version) There are panels at 6 and 12 that drop down into the dial and retract to uncover day/night and second time zone indicators; there’s a moonphase indicator at 4.30, date at 2 and small seconds at 8. Like all watches designed and made by famous independent ACHI members – this one is the offspring of Kari Voutilainen and Andreas Strehler – if you have to ask the price…

An image like this requires a surprising amount of work: I’ve already talked about the mechanics of lighting horological images in this three-part series (beginning here). To be honest, I originally intended to photograph the set up and other b-roll for another on-assignment post, but the simple reality is that I’m usually so busy on the shoot that I just don’t have the time. Instead, I’m going to talk about the amount of work that goes in behind the scenes.

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Filed Under: On Assignment, Watches/ Horology Tagged With: ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, on assignment, retouching, thein, watches

One place left for the Prague workshop…special! (updated)

August 11, 2013 by Ming Thein

~~Prague – 2-5 October: one four-day seat left at a special price of $1,900 instead of $2,150~~ Now taken, thanks! Inevitably, last minute schedule changes and commitments occur with participants, so I am still accepting standbys though…

The syllabus will still follow the core fundamentals from the USA tour: throw everything you thought you knew about photography out the window, and start again. All you need is a camera and a couple of perspectives – one wide, one tele. It could be either end of a zoom on a compact, or it could be medium format and a couple of primes – it’s up to you. What I’ll be teaching is subject independent: make great images, any time, with any subject, any camera. Put it this way: it’s easy to spend thousands on equipment that you may use a handful of times a year, but what about the knowledge that lets you make the most of that equipment, in any situation?

The Singapore and USA workshop reports are here and here respectively.

For full details and to make a booking, click here. Thanks! MT

Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: amsterdam, europe 2013, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, munich, prague, teaching, thein, Workshop

Repost: It’s a visual world – the basics of making great images

August 10, 2013 by Ming Thein

This article was originally written for and posted on the official WordPress blog in two parts on 18 and 25 June 2013. I’ve reposted it here as I believe it makes a good primer to the science and art of making outstanding images – the full-blown article is here. MT

Ginza, Tokyo. Sony RX100 (I include camera info here solely to demonstrate that it really doesn’t matter what you use.)

When I was first approached by WordPress, I have to admit that I was a little worried about the magnitude of the task at hand: ultimately my own site is very much about what goes into the creation of outstanding images. And that’s a 600+ article, 1.3-million word work in progress. That’s obviously not going to fit into the length of your average post, so today I’m going to throw the rulebook out of the window and start again. I highly encourage you to do the same: regardless of your experience level with photography, do the same. Approach this article with an open mind and no preconceptions. I’m going to do the same.

A question of clarity

August 8, 2013 by Ming Thein

Photography as an artistic medium is limited: by and large, the structure of your image is restricted by what exists in reality. Sure, you can alter that representation of reality by changing the light, your composition, your physical position, focal length, perspective, white balance, saturation, or a thousand and one other technical and artistic parameters. But ultimately, it still remains both interpretative and approximate. This is a good and bad thing: it means that assuming there is no post-capture manipulation of content going on, a photograph can be used as a relatively accurate representation of something; there is an assumed level of integrity in a photograph that isn’t present in an impressionist painting, for example. However, photography as a medium isn’t really encouraging of the same interpretative latitude as other media where one starts with a blank canvas/ sheet of paper (forget three dimensional and mixed media for the time being, that’s something which photography will never be able to replicate).

FD Shooting with the legends: the Nikon AI-S 58/1.2 Noct-Nikkor

August 6, 2013 by Ming Thein

The Noct-Nikkor is perhaps one of the most legendary – if not the most legendary – of the lenses in the Nikon pantheon. Hitting the market in its first AI version in 1977, it was designed to do two things: firstly, be shot wide open, and secondly, push the limits of the F mount’s relatively narrow diameter with a lens that would collect enough light to shoot relatively slow film at night, and without a tripod. Although based on a traditional double-gauss design, the lens incorporated one enormous technological advance for the time.

FD Shooting with the legends: the Leica M6TTL

August 4, 2013 by Ming Thein

Advance disclaimer: I’m not a full-blown Leica M nut, so most of my opinions are just that: opinions. But I’ve used a few of these things in my time, both professionally and for personal work. These images predate my recent DIY film efforts, so you’ll see a mix of color negative and slide film in there – I was mostly shooting Provia 100 and Velvia 100F at the time. The vintage of the images is also given away by the early watermark…

The Leica M6 series is perhaps the most accessible film Leica for most; I mean this in terms of both usability and price. A very large number of these cameras were produced in several key variants from 1984 to 1998; this volume means that prices on the secondary market have stayed relatively affordable. For not much more money over a ‘classic’ M2, M3 or M4, you can have something with slightly updated materials – likely resulting in longer service intervals – and of course, most importantly, a meter. With any of the classic M bodies, you need to use an external meter or an experienced eyeball to determine your exposure. Ignoring the design oddity that was the M5, the Minolta-collaborative CL and the more recent (and expensive) M7 and MP, we’re left with the M6 for most people if you want a film M camera with a meter.

News and some B&H deals that came in the mail…UPDATED

August 3, 2013 by Ming Thein

I’m sure some of you might find these interesting, so I’ll pass them on very briefly. The ‘Shooting with the Legends’ series continues this weekend. I’ll also be at the Kuala Lumpur CEX show on Sunday 4th speaking for Olympus at 1230pm – please drop by and say hi if you’re in town. Have a good weekend everybody! MT

Blackmagic Cinema Camera EF and M43 mounts – $1000 off, now $1995 – here

Up to $550 off DSLR + lens bundles – Nikon is here, Canon is here

Ricoh GR now in stock, here

Price drop on the original RX100, now $598, here

$100 off M4/3 lenses, here

$150 off OM-D kits, here

$50 off the E-P5 body, here

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The 2013 Maybank Photo Awards are now open!

August 2, 2013 by Ming Thein

You’ll probably have noticed the new banner on the right sidebar: following last year’s very successful Awards – nearly 20,000 entries and a couple of industry prizes for best campaign – Maybank are back again for 2013, this time bigger, better, and now open to all ASEAN residents – not just Malaysia, with the theme “Inspiring Asia”. Those of you who’ve been following the site since last year will know that I served as Head Judge for the inaugural contest; I’m pleased to announce I’m looking forward to resuming the role and working with them again this year.

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Filed Under: Competitions, On Photography Tagged With: maybank photo awards 2013, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, thein