mingthein.com – Ming Thein

Review: The Nikon D5500 (or, a solution to the compact 50-e problem)

December 21, 2015 by Ming Thein

IMG_9409b copy
Yes, it still balances. Not taped up because I hadn’t gotten around to it at this point.

I’ll be the first to admit this is an unusual camera for me to bother reviewing, and an even more unusual one for me to land up buying and using fairly extensively. But I think all will make sense by the end of the post. The D5500 is the fifth and latest in the line of consumer-grade articulating-screen Nikon DSLRs, starting with the D5000. It has a single control dial, a fully tilting and reversing touch LCD, the 24MP AA-less Sony sensor of its senior D7200 sibling, 5fps 14bit (compressed, though) shooting capability, and the lightest, smallest, most compact body of any Nikon DSLR to date. Did I mention it has a carbon fiber monocoque to keep weight down and rigidity up?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews Tagged With: 50mm equivalents, compact, d5500, fun, gearhead, ming, mingthein.com, nikon, nikon d5500, review, thein

Photoessay: Details of Aalen

December 19, 2015 by Ming Thein

_7R2_DSC1196 copy

For a relatively small town in Germany, Aalen has quite a few little interesting architectural details – certainly enough to make for a morning’s worth of abstracts in the right light. For the curious, though I mostly shoot in this ‘abstracted form’ style* for myself as eye training for still life or structuring product shots, the architectural details are also frequently commissioned by clients – so there is some commercial applicability…

*All elements decompose to just color, shape and light

This series was shot with a Sony A7RII, Zeiss Batis 1.8/85, and Contax Zeiss 2.8/35 PC Distagon.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: On Photography Tagged With: ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, photoessay, photography, thein

The portfolio

December 17, 2015 by Ming Thein

Screen Shot 2015-09-16 at 13.06.01

MT’s architecture master portfolio

Following on from the previous articles on curation and how to approach a project, I thought I’d conclude with a slightly different look at the same thing: the portfolio. We hear that word bandied about quite a lot amongst photographers and clients too: ‘Send me your portfolio’, or ‘That image is good enough to go in the portfolio’, or ‘Here’s my client portfolio’. What does it actually mean? How can we use it to our advantage?

Photoessay: Gold and Silver Forum, Schwäbisch Gmünd

December 15, 2015 by Ming Thein

_7R2_DSC1277 copy

During my previous trip to Zeiss HQ in Oberkochen, the group was taken to the nearby town of Schwäbish Gmünd for a demo session with the new lenses; I passed on the models and wandered around the town with Lloyd Chambers instead. Needless to say, this rather unique building caught my eye I and landed up producing a series of studies of it. It is the Gold and Silver Forum located on the banks of the Josefsbach stream in the centre of town; I was made to understand that the reason behind it was the area being historically a centre for fine metalsmithing several hundred years ago. Today, it serves as a public space to take in the sunshine and a meal. Personally, I think the most interesting part is the way the faceted facade reflects light and simultaneously creates the illusion of having many layers and great complexity thanks to the play of projected shadows on the underlying building’s core. This was accentuated by the hard light of that particular day. The facade itself is quite a challenging subject simply because it’s difficult to fully abstract without focusing overly on a single set of apertures, and pulling out loses the shadow gradation on the structure beneath. Enjoy! MT

This series was shot with a Sony A7RII, Zeiss Batis 1.8/85, Contax Zeiss 2.8/35 PC Distagon and a Leica Q. Postprocessing was with the ‘commercial’ technique in Making Outstanding Images Ep.5: processing for style.

Project thinking

December 13, 2015 by Ming Thein

_7R2_DSC0929 copy
From Paradise Lost – the former forefront of military hardware in old age and thinking about better days

It is quite common to hear a photographer or artist talking about work on ‘x project’ or ‘y project’ – in practical terms, it means that images are being made to fulfil a certain objective or idea. For the longest time I’d stayed away from doing this because I felt frustrated at the limitations it would impose at the least expected of times. I also didn’t feel that I had the time to commit to pursuit of a single idea. But at some point in 2013, that all changed for me for various reasons. Outside commercial work, I now find myself working in a few major themes.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, On Photography Tagged With: article, curation, essay, ming, mingthein.com, opinion, photography, project, projects, thein

Photoessay-challenge: A single location, revisited

December 11, 2015 by Ming Thein

Only the clouds are truly free, II

During the last ten years, it’s quite possible that I’ve photographed in just about every accessible (and some inaccessible) location in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Many times, I’ve revisited the same location multiple times at different times of day and in different weather conditions to try and get something unusual; the more often you go, the more likely it is to be a bust – that’s just the law of probabilities at work. One location I don’t go to very often – mainly because of weather and its one-trick-pony nature – is the KL Tower; 421m to the top of the spire, about 335m to the outdoor observation deck, and a little bit more altitude (50m? 70m?) by virtue of being on top of another hill in roughly the highest part of the city. There are two challenges: one, good weather at the times of day when the sun is still casting interesting shadows; two, there’s always some degree of atmospheric haze or pollution, visible especially with distant subjects even if you’re on the roof deck with no glass in the way. My challenge for this visit – on the spur of the moment to make the most of a break in the schedule and a clear morning – was to try and make something different… MT

This set was shot with a Nikon D810, AFS 80-400/4.5-5.6 VR G and PCE 45/2.8 and processed with PS Workflow II.

Curation, judging and objectivity

December 9, 2015 by Ming Thein

_7R2_DSC0662 copy

Let’s start with three critical thoughts for any photographer: 1. You cannot show what you have not shot. 2. What gets seen is only what you choose to show. 3. What you choose reflects you as much as what you shoot. The more I think about it, the more I think what differentiates a really great photographer from a mediocre one – at least the perception of greatness – are their curation choices. I’ve written about curation in the past but not said that much about the criteria I use to determine in or out – that’s the purpose of today’s post.

Announcing the Lisbon Masterclass, 9-14 March 2016

December 7, 2015 by Ming Thein

_64Z4767 copy
From the Venice Masterclass

Lisbon is a new destination for me, which is why there’s no header image from there. This means unlike the previous Masterclasses, I’m also going in blind with no experience. I will experience the same visual overload as you, and you will in turn have the benefit of seeing how I work in a completely unfamiliar environment. Note that I am also reducing the number of workshops this year due to my commercial schedule – one per quarter is the aim. Please read on to book and for more information. Places will go quite quickly as the class composition is usually 30-50% returning participants.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: 2016, lisbon, masterclass, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, portugal, teaching, thein

Tokyo Masterclass: student works

December 5, 2015 by Ming Thein

Today’s presentation comprises photographs from Tokyo, but they’re not mine: instead, with permission from the photographers, I’m proud to present a curated set of work from my students’ portfolios at the end of the week. I leave the individuals responsible to claim credit or responsibility…but I think you’ll agree that it’s both a very diverse and accomplished set! 🙂 MT

Name links are to portfolios or flickr where applicable.

Reminder: Opening party for ‘Un/natural’, tomorrow (5/12) at 4pm

December 4, 2015 by Ming Thein

02_8B29473-5 v3 crucible
Crucible

Hope those of you who are in Hong Kong are free tomorrow afternoon – a gentle reminder that my exhibition ‘Un/natural’ with Stephen King opens tomorrow at Alisan Fine Arts. The reception is at the gallery from 4-6pm; hope to meet you there! MT

The full press release for the exhibition can be found here.

‘Un/natural’ runs from 5 December 2015 to 9 January 2016 at Alisan Fine Arts, 2305 Hing Wai Centre, 7 Tin Wan Praya Rd, Aberdeen, Hong Kong (+852 2526 1091). Sebastian Turner and
Daphne King Yao are representing me for this series of images, and all are limited to an edition of eight pieces each. The opening reception is from 4-6pm on Saturday 5 December; I’ll be there and all are welcome – please drop in and say hi if you’re in town.