Ming Thein | Photographer

How my photographic journey began – a short autobiography, part one

September 27, 2013 by Ming Thein

You’d think that after 13 years of this I’d have mastered the art of camwhoring for decent self-portrait, but no. At least the collage shows two things: firstly, a relative progression of personal style over the years, secondly, that file sizes have continued to balloon…all of these are at the correct relative size to each other. Also, that I’ve gone through a hell of a lot of gear. You might even spot a Canon in there if you look closely enough.

Today’s topic is a rather personal one, but something which has been asked with remarkable frequency: how did I get into photography in the first place? I’ve been shooting seriously for the better part of thirteen years; taking commercial assignments on and off since 2005, and full-time pro for the fourth time since the beginning of last year (2012).

Going manual

September 25, 2013 by Ming Thein

Three controls. Take control of the two that normally get delegated.

Following on from yesterday’s less is more article, I wanted to spend a bit more time about the implications of cutting your dependence on electronic nannies and going all manual – for both metering and focus. It’s actually nowhere near as intimidating as it sounds, and you’ll find that after getting over the initial hump, your photography will be both significantly more satisfying as well as compositionally stronger. You’ll get younger and lose weight, too*.

*Not guaranteed; results may vary from person to person. And you’ll have to walk a lot with heavy cameras to lose a significant amount of weight…

Less is more: what does a camera really need?

September 23, 2013 by Ming Thein

I’ve long been threatening to post a photograph of a toilet as an example of a minimalist everyday object made interesting – its basic form has been decomposed down to the bare minimums; ornamentation isn’t necessary, nor does it sell more toilets: less is more. Appropriately, this was also shot with a minimalist camera: an iPhone.

Here’s an interesting question: how many of you have given some thought to the bare minimum of what a photographic device needs to be used as an effective camera? The problem today is we’ve become far to accustomed to camera makers stuffing in additional software features in order to sell devices; none of which are useful, most of which don’t even work properly. Think back to when you last used one of the headline ‘new features’ of your last purchase – pano stitching, for instance; or 10fps tracking; or the ‘supergreen national park-like foliage mode’. Probably only once – shortly after unboxing it – and then never again. I’m willing to bet you can’t even remember which combination of button presses is required to activate it. But judging from current product offerings and advertising, the concept of selling a camera with less features in it is one that simply makes no sense…or does it?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, On Photography Tagged With: article, how to, less is more, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photography, technique, thein

Book review: On This Earth, A Shadow Falls by Nick Brandt

September 21, 2013 by Ming Thein

Spoiler alert: my product photos in no way do this book justice. Not even close.

This article is going to be much less of a review than a gushing of praise; if you have a single photographic bone in your body, enjoy fine art printing, or photo books, or nature, or animals, or Africa, or any combination of the above – I think you’ll be blown away by this book. And at current discounts, it’s a steal for what you’re getting. I’d actually held off writing the review for some months simply because I wanted to a) have another chance to really study the images without the initial awe (it didn’t work, the awe is still there) and b) find a way to adequately express how they make me feel, as the audience.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews Tagged With: a shadow falls, book, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, nick brandt, on this earth, review, thein

The line between art and photography

September 19, 2013 by Ming Thein

Here’s a provocative question: is this image art? Why? Why not? Have a think about this carefully, for a moment. Today I’m going to crack open the lid of one of the biggest cans of worms in the whole of photography, peer inside, give you my 1.53 cents* and try not to fall inside.

*Devaluated from two cents since 2009 due to underdeclared inflation, quantitative easing, foreign debt and other economic screwups

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, On Photography Tagged With: art, article, essay, fine art, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, opinion, photography, thein

Olympus OM-D E-M1 review updated with thoughts on RAW quality

September 18, 2013 by Ming Thein

Now that ACR has preliminary support for E-M1 raw files – amongst a whole load of other cameras – in ACR 8.2 (available here for Mac and Windows), I’ve gone through and reprocessed a few to assess the RAW quality of the E-M1’s sensor; I expect to have more thoughts on this in the longer term after I have a chance to put the camera through a greater variety of scenarios. Sadly, my loaner went back yesterday, so further updates after this one will have to wait until my own cameras arrive in October.

The full updated review is here. MT

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews Tagged With: acr, e-m1, gearhead, micro 4/3, micro four thirds, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, olympus, om-d, raw support, review, thein, update

FD Photoessay: In the garden

September 17, 2013 by Ming Thein

Contrary to popular belief, I do shoot pedestrian subjects. Quite often, actually; it’s one of those ways you can condition yourself to see differently and pay more attention to light, form and composition. At the end of a long assignment some time ago, I took one of the Hasselblads, the 120/4 CF Makro-Planar and a few rolls of Acros out with me for a quick excursion to the Kuala Lumpur Orchid Park; I’d evidently gone at the wrong time of year since nothing much seemed to be in bloom. Still, I came back with a few interesting images from that outing – and all in all, was pretty satisfied with the output especially given that I hadn’t shot any film for going on two months at that point in time*.

*Work really does get in the way sometimes.

New video workshops: How To See Ep1, and The Compact Camera Masterclass

September 15, 2013 by Ming Thein

Thanks to the fantastic response to the first two workshop videos – ‘The Fundamentals’ and ‘Making Outstanding Images: Episode One’, we’ve now produced two more – ‘How To See Ep1: Kuala Lumpur‘, and The Compact Camera Masterclass.

And of course I’m putting on special pricing for the launch month – see below for trailers and details!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: compact camera masterclass, how to see, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, teaching, thein, video, Workshop

Lens review: The Olympus 12-40/2.8 M.Zuiko PRO

September 13, 2013 by Ming Thein

Announced and available together with the new OM-D E-M1 (reviewed here), the 12-40/2.8 M.Zuiko Digital PRO (24-80mm equivalent) is the first in a new line of M.Zuiko Digital PRO lenses. Development of an equivalent-grade f2.8 fast telephoto zoom was also announced, with a 2014 release. Thanks to the folks at Olympus Malaysia, I’ve had the opportunity to use this lens together with the new camera for some time now. Read on for my review.

Advanced warning: Flickr will apparently be down for maintenance for a little while on Friday 13/9, so if some images don’t appear, it’s because they’re hosted there…

Coming soon, redux!

September 12, 2013 by Ming Thein

Two of the workshop videos we shot at the start of this month have now completed production and will be available very soon – by popular demand, “How To See, Episode 1: Kuala Lumpur”, and a after the break, a curveball: “The Compact Camera Masterclass”. Tomorrow we return to the regular business of reviews with the final instalment of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 trilogy – the 12-40/2.8. Enjoy! MT

Edit: trailers have been updated with less noisy versions.

[Read more…]