The Magical Pixel

Gambar dari siri "Infidelity"

Untuk orang veteran dalam fotografi, ini mungkin soalan mudah dan apa yang saya ingin kongsikan ini mungkin perkara lapuk, namun suka saya untuk berkongsi dengan mereka yang masih baru agar menjadi panduan dan dapat membantu mereka menghasilkan karya.

“Jangan sekadar ambil gambar, tapi cipta gambar!” ini ayat tok guru landscape fotografi saya iaitu Dr.Ali (2121studio.com). Kalau dalam bahasa inggeris ayatnya berbunyi “Dont just take picture but make picture”. Ayat ini sekiranya anda renungkan dalam dalam, ia akan menyebabkan anda susah untuk mengambil gambar.. Saya pernah lihat pada t-shirt sorang kawan tertulis “Shoot first, think later..” ini adalah falsafah sonsang bagi saya yang pernah menuntut dengan Dr.Ali.

Kenapa saya katakan sonsang? kerana untuk menghasilkan sebuah karya seni tidak kira dalam format lukisan, arca atau gambar, seseorang artis itu perlu berfikir tentang bagaimana karya itu akan terhasil, adakah ia akan cliche dengan karya yang sedia ada? bagaimana karya itu ingin dipersembahkan kepada umum? dari angle mana? dan berbagai lagi. Oleh itu, macamana ia boleh dipanggil hasil seni sekiranya ia dibina tanpa berfikir.

Lagi seorang guru saya ialah Dr.Jamal (tembeling.com). Dengan beliau saya belajar mengenai ketekunan dalam menghasilkan gambar. Sekiranya saya keluar outing bersama dengan beliau, beliau tidak akan berganjak dari shoot satu subjek sehingga beliau mendapat gambar yang beliau inginkan. Yang menariknya bila subjek beliau adalah serangga yang bergerak pantas dan sering melarikan diri dari pancaran flash. Dalam menghasilkan gambar yang baik, anda perlu tekun dan membuat banyak variasi gambar agar kemudian mudah untuk anda memilih yang mana yang terbaik.

fantasi Tenun Pahang Diraja

Kemudian satu perkara yang paling penting ialah cara berkomunikasi. Anda mesti menguasai cara berkomunikasi yang baik untuk menghasilkan gambar yang baik. Saya pernah mengikuti satu outing bersama rakan rakan dimana kami telah singgah diperkampungan orang asli. Jika hendak candid gambar orang asli memang mudah sekiranya mereka sudah biasa dengan kamera. Ada antara rakan yang cuba berkomunikasi dengan cara bergurau, berbual, meminta dengan baik dan mereka menghasilkan gambar yang baik. Namun ada juga rakan yang sangat teruk cara berkomunikasi apabila orang asli dipanggil dengan “heh.. heh” saja dan arahan yang diberikan kepada orang asli untuk memandang kamera beliau kedengaran kasar bunyinya.

Jika anda bercadang untuk mendapatkan gambar yang baik, belajarlah berkomunikasi dengan baik. Fahami hati budi dan kesesuaian subjek anda.

Kembali kepada soalan rakan saya kepada saya, bagaimana saya menghasilkan karya saya?

Satu aspek yang paling penting dalam penghasilan gambar saya ialah pengurusan. Sebelum satu sessi fotoshoot saya jalankan, bukan sahaja saya perlu memikirkan konsep gambar yang hendak dihasilkan malah saya perlu memikirkan pakaian, prop, lokasi, model dan effect bagaimana akan saya gunakan sewaktu post processing. Pertama sekali ialah Idea atau konsep atau tema yang hendak digunakan. Sebagai contoh, saya mahu membina gambar Lanun laut. Gambar bagaimanakah yang saya ingin hasilkan? lanun diatas darat? Lanun dengan peti besi? Lanun sedang berperang? Baik, kita pilih Lanun yang menjumpai peti besi berisi harta karun. Kedua ialah pakaian dan prop. Dimana saya mahu cari pakaian seperti lanun? senjata? Aksesori? kemudian propnya ialah peti besi. Peti besi mana akan saya gunakan? sesuaikah peti besi yang ada dengan konsep cerita? Ketiga, model yang saya gunakan. Siapa dia? sesuaikah wajah mereka? kulit putih? hitam? atau kuning? Kemudian make-up mereka? siapa yang nak menyolek mereka?

Akhir sekali saya akan fikirkan tentang computer effect yang akan saya gunakan pada gambar nanti.

Jadi anda boleh lihat. Kerja ini bukan kerja seorang diri. Anda perlukan pasukan. siapa dalam pasukan anda? Jurugambar, Penata Cahaya, jurusolek dan model. sekurang kurangnya anda ke satu sessi photoshoot, anda perlu rancang dengan 4 orang ini. Dan 4 orang ini bukan mudah untuk berkumpul dan berbincang, jadi anda perlukan sekurang kurangnya 3 hari sebelum tarikh photoshoot untuk merancang lokasi, prop dan sebagainya.

Jadi, apabila anda bersungguh sungguh begini, maka gambar yang akan terhasil akan menjadi baik. Kerana gambar itu dlam kawalan anda dan dalam seliaan anda luar dan dalam. Oleh itu, bermula dari hari ini, jika anda ingin cipta satu gambar, sediakan pasukan anda dan binalah gambar yang terbaik! dan apabila post gambar di internet, jangan lupa letak credit kepada ahli pasukan anda. peace!

I’m imagining a new conceptual photographic work. Based on the title “Dreams” I want to create a sets of photo with heavy photoshop editing in it. My Photoshop is very rusty now, I have to attend classes to sharpen it back. But that will not make me stop. I’m going to have a photoshoot to create this dream land photo. So.. I need a model. I dont care how pretty or ugly or fat or skinny or pale skin or dark skin as long as you are willing to enjoy the photography session to the extreme.. then you can model for me.

If you are not too handsome, maybe I can make you my monster or Igor in the scene. That is a very important part, believe me. Nowadays, you can see from the TV commercial, no more pretty faces accept for the shampoo ad. Other than that you can be too skinny or too fat or too ugly it doesnt matters.. world has change.

Below is a few sample kind of photo that I want to produce..

So.. interested? If you do, please email to me at rejim3@gmail.com and dont forget to attach your picture with it.

Payment? no.. no money are involve with this.. everyone involved will get the picture. The model, stylist, make-up artist, photographer all will receive a copy of DVD of the photoshoot. You can do what ever you want with it.. most of the put the photo in their portfolio or send it to talent agency for casting. You might want to do the same

So.. email me ok.

H1N1 Fashion

H1N1 is a serious pandemic now. Everyone is affected either by the disease or by the influence of the disease. Something crossed my mind today when I see many people at my workplace are wearing a mask. But not as many as people who ignoring the pandemic disease.

Why do this people doesnt want to wear mask? I asked one of the cleaner lady, she said that it makes her suffocate. I ask another person, he said that he doesnt like it. This makes me think of Fashion. People sacrifice a lot for fashion these days. Either its a suffocating dress or unconfortable style, people still go for it.

The H1N1 Fashion

This idea come to my head. Why not do a print on the masks? like the handyplast printed with cartoon character or striking stripes. Kids love to wear the handyplast plaster even they dont get any cut. So why not do the same with mask. Print a funny faces on it, or pattern, or design or anything that makes people wear it for the sake of attention. This way the manufacturer can create huge income on the selling since H1N1 is here to promote it and people wears it just for the reason of H1N1.. not really, they wear it because of current fashion.

Mr. Moustache

This will help prevent the disease to spread out.  If I can find the manufacturer of the mask and ask them to print for me this kind of mask. I think I will make fortune. As for now, why not do some drawing on your mask just to have fun with it and give a smile to everyone who sees you.

Funny mask

The Jimbo

I have a cat, his name is Jimbo. He is 2 month old. He has a strong furr, very playfull. Sometimes Jimbo thinks he is a Hamster. He can hang on his claw to the cage ceiling for a few minutes. He also likes to pretend as a camel on the desert. When he become camel, he will play inside his shitbox and pretend all the sand are desert. Every night, my wife will take him inside to play with the children. Favorite spot to sharpen his claw is my leg. While in the house, he likes to play with the TV antenna cable. He will not stop until the TV is out of signal.

Now I’m offering anybody who would like to adopt Jimbo to make a trade with me. I would like to have a Nikon D700 for exchange of Jimbo. Doesnt matter i’ts a new camera or used.

Anyone interested?

Another kind of project that challenge my ability in photography this year is this Photo Essay project. It’s another project granted by Pahang State Museum to me. The photo will be put in the Tenun Pahang Diraja (Royal Hand Woven of Pahang) book which planned to be launched on September this year.

The Museum team lead by the author of the book Mr. Ahmad Farid who is also the Director of Pahang State Museum are now on heavy task force trying to complete the 400 pages book on schedule.

Myself as the contributor of image are also being dragged in this busyness. Of course busyness means business. So I took the challenge. They require me to produce a set images like Annie Leibovitz, the famous Rolling Stone Magazine photographer who now working with Vanity Fair Magazine. Her photo was amazing. I have to spend time researching her starting from her video interview, books, productions and her post production style and method just to make sure I can get the same result.

You can check out here some of Annie’s work.

Annie's work for Disney Dream Portrait

Annie's work for Disney Dream Portrait

Amazed? yess.. Me too. All of her picture for this Disney’s set are telling us a story. In a single image, we know what’s the story is about. That is Photo Essay and sometime, photo essay come in series of images. It’s like a HDMI quality of comic book. The power of Annie’s photo come from the actor inside the photo are real celebrities besides her angle and post processing.

So, what story did I get fro my photo essay? I have been given a scene by the director of the book Ms. Kassandra Kassim. The scene title is “Girl & her Dragon”… The girl in my photo will dress like a princess in Tenun Pahang Diraja dress and inside the same photo there will be a dragon. The girl is easy.. The background is easy.. The lighting is easy.. But the dragon is a pain in my ass.

Where the heck can I find a dragon? is it like an English dragon? or more like Chinese snakey dragon? So, I’m confused. I ask her and she just asked me to put in an Iguana as a replacement of the dragon.  I tried, but the Iguana looks very.. hmm “manja”.  Well, lets try..

So I called up my friends, Tom Ramzul for lighting, Kirin for Make-up artist and the model Fiza. I also managed to borrow a few Tenun dress from the Tenun Pahang Diraja Butique. We do a photoshoot around Kuantan area. and the result came out like this… oh.. the word “This” can also be scrambled into SHIT!

The Girl & Her Dragon 1st trial..shit!

I have placed this image on a few forum for critique.. and I get a lot. The lighting on the dragon head is not right, the model pose is awkward, the mood is not helping.. btw, I get the dragon from google images.

I’m frustrated. I again do some research on Annie Leibovitz post processing and I had a discovery. A discovery that will change my way of post processing. Maybe it’s not the same like Annie’s but I like it more and the client loved it.

For my 2nd trial, I have again gather my helpfull friends. This time is different, I called it “Punk Tribal” theme. I have again called Tom Ramzul the Lighting expert, Dyana Sofia – a model from Dyana Beauty Academy, Gezzeg – The owner of Gezzeg Photography Studio and two of my bodybuilder buddy Saufi & Zam. I aslo called Wan Ermie to borrow his guitar and amp for props.

This time I shoot 100% in the studio with a controlled lighting.  After the photoshoot (thanks to all my friends) I sat and keep fine tuning the post processing technique and finally… a new achievement for me in post processing.

Scene 1 - Punk Tribal

Scene 1 - Punk Tribal B&W

So, yesterday I show this images to the client and they loved it. So now.. I have to record all the editing steps since I did not follow any tutorial to achieve this. My recce date for location have been set. I’ll go to Aryani next week to look at the location before the actual photoshoot.

So.. it’s worth it. Really worth it. oh I forgot to mention the models name that I will shoot for the photo essay. I’m not sure if it’s confirmed or not but there will be 3 model to model the dress in my photoshoot. It’s Nini Ramlan, Devakhi Nathan and The legendary Iman Abdul Majid.. David Bowie’s wife.