GRATIFYING MY ITCH

I'm well aware i promised meself not to do any photoshooting of events or outing until after 9th June, my final paper for my foundation in law. But heck, my right index finger had been itching, a sign from the withdrawal of my trigger-happy-syndromme. An opportune moment to gratify it arrived when Justina told Nic to cover Taylor's Talentime on behalf her Taylor's Marketing and Communication Department. Naturally, i was invited.

The event, organized by the Final Year Students of Hospitality Management course, would contribute a whooping 70 % to their finals. So technically, their degree certificate was at stake here.

Venue was at the Taylor's Multipurpose Hall, (which was rather small, if you had attended any of TAR College event :D ) Being a fanboy here... Nevertheless, 600 attendees crowded the hall.

Ok screw description, im here to post photos. As tj had said, give up on posting legal post as no one gives a flying farq about what i wrote; and or they don't understand. Arhahahaah...

By the way, this event would signify the first official usage of my new lens :D Haven't been using my 50mm f/1.8 for proper function.


One of the contestant that made it to the finals, awesome steady guitar plucking skills and superb voice. No doubt he could can make girls go "Aaawwww........"




Few significant things you would be able to notice in Taylor College. Every girl seemed to dressed, whao... Tastefully. And less material also, if you had to ask :D

And apart from that, everyone seem to be holding a DSLR. OK, maybe not everyone, but atleast ONE in EVERY group. And there were atleast 6 formal photographers for the event (excluding me and Nic), all mounting >100mm zoom lenses, and a large flash gun. Here we go again~

As foreseeable, few of these retards were blasting their eye-blinding flash like no ones business. Gosh... Farqing annoying. Events should band photographers from using flash. It disrupts the event, it disrupts other photographer's photoshoot whose settings are not set for flash.


I can't remember what she sang.

I would comment that the event flow wasn't smooth at all. There were too much technical problem in between contestants. Nearly every e-guitar or semi-acoustic guitar player had to have an additional 5 mins to fix the cable connection which render their guitar from producing any sound.

The time management was appaling. The event started 'officially' at 4 p.m, and only ended at 11 p.m. Correct me if my maths is bad, thats around 7 farqing hours. Seriously overkill.


One of the few bands that performed.

Of the 21 groups that participate, nearly every group did very well. The thing is, they did not divide the contestant's talent into groups/genre. Everyone just naturally went up and performed. There were a few crappy hip-hop wannabes, one magician (who calls himself an illusionist as if it makes a difference), way too many guitar performers, few solo singers and 1 handfull of bands. All competing on equal grounds to be in the FINAL 5.



Bored of shooting with my 50mm, i mounted the kits lens and attempted some zoom-burst.




Another chrismatic guitar-player.

Before the event, Nic had told me to keep a weather eye on one dude whom is gonna do e-guitar solo. He performed the classical Canon in a rock verion. Youtube CANON ROCK to have an idea what he played.



The Canon Rock player. Totally mindblowing. The crowd sceamed like there was no tomorrow.



After 6 hours of preliminary rounds, the FINAL 5 had been choosen. Sadly, the guitar solo dude did not make it. But seriously, i have no idea how the China-mui in black from the left manage to enter the finals.
Dude in grey won the talentime with amazing singing voice.

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Now with me little 'expertise' in covering event shots, here are a few pointers for those of you whom uses a DSLR WITHOUT A FLASH:

1. Remember, it's low lighting, therefore you would seriously want to shoot at a wide aperture, or atleast as large as your lens can support. I was shooting with f/1.8 throughout the event.
2. If you're lazy to monitor the shutter speed changes due to the event lighting, set your camera to APERTURE PRIORITY MODE, then tweak your ISO setting to a reasonble figure in order that it won't result in a super low shutter speed, around 40-800 perhaps? I still prefer to shoot in FULL MANUAL MODE.
3. Shoot in RAW if possible. You can adjust under-expose shot later.
4. Normal movement/ Action of any person can be locked at shutter speed of 1/50 and above. Dancing, jumping and those hip-hop crap however, need shutter speed of atleast 1/100. These was my observation lar. So make sure your ISO and Aperture can compensate for the lack of light.
5. Apply RULES-OF-THE-THRID as always.
6. Close in on your subject as always.
7. If you seriously want to use flash the built in dslr flash, use moderately, with a home-made-diffuser. Just place a paper cup on the built in flash, it should spread the blinding white light to a substantially wide area, and it would be less harsh. I still do not recommend flashing in events though.
8. Enjoy. You won't like what you do unless you enjoy it. :D


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Just for LOL. Check the shot below. Nic dispersing aggro randomly once again.

P/S:
My law paper is this coming Friday. Wish me all the best. :D