welcome...

Hi there! I'm Natt - a Sydney based wedding and portrait photographer. This space is for me to share my passion for photography, my latest work as well as bits and pieces of my life. I'd love to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email. Thanks for stopping by!
nattnee twittered...

out of office


Hey all. I'm off to Japan for a few weeks so if you email and I don't respond immediately it's probably because I'm visiting a temple or eating ramen somewhere =) It's not all fun and games though, I'm doing some photos for my dear friends who are getting married there!

See you in a few weeks!

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Hey Nat,

Its Chris, a fellow ex-ursa employee.
the website looks fantastic!
can't wait till i get hitched, im def going to give u a buzz! lol

btw, make sure u try some Natto in japland! (1 February 2010 17:19)  

jasmine star workshop


I still remember how blown away I was when I discovered Jasmine Star. This was at the very beginning of my career when I had just switched over from an office job to wedding photography and was blog stalking many wedding photographers. Her work inspired me greatly and whenever I felt unsure about my decision to switch career or felt like I wanted to give up, I would go and look at the stunning images on her blog and I was reassured that this is definitely what I wanted to do, what I wanted to become good at. I was blown away then and I was blown away now, after meeting her and attending her workshop.

Jasmine is so real. What I mean is, she shares a lot about herself and her life on the blog and I feel like I know her but then she is just somebody I read about, so what is she really like, you know? Well, I can tell you that she is very real and honest. She's down to earth and funny and just so...real. (And for some reason, something about her reminds me of Reese Witherspoon a little??)

This was my first workshop ever and I really enjoyed it. I was so captivated that I kept nodding like an idiot sitting there in front row! The workshop left me with a lot of food for thoughts in regards to the branding and marketing aspect of the business. As for the shooting, I was very impressed with how J* directed the models. I didn't shoot all that much and preferred to watch her at work. She really knew what she was doing and boy does she look fab doing it too!!

JD, her wing man and the love of her life, was also there helping out on the day. JD is seriously one of the nicest guy I've ever met and it was such a pleasure to meet and chat with him. Oh and I was stoked when he said they ate at Ichiban!! Ha! Out of all places in Sydney, they went to my fav little noodle shop =p

Before I share some pics from the day, I would like to give a big shout out to the people that made this wonderful workshop happen. So big big thanks to:
Jasmine Star + JD - For bringing your fabulousness down under.
Cathy Crawley - For hosting this workshop.
Lacy & Evan Shelton and Kristie Jane - Our beautiful models.
Daisy Chain Florist - For the pretty bouquets.
Catherine Colubriale - For the gorgeous wedding gowns.
Elle Vierboom - For the awesome hair and makeup.
and the lovely lady behind the bar =)

The fabulous Jasmine Star showing us how it's done!












































And lastly...the dorky little me with Jasmine and JD.





I hope someday I will meet the two of you again. For now...I'm happy as a clam. Thank you =)

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You are so not dorky Natt! I'm so happy that you could come along, it's always nice to see you :) I know you would have learnt a lot and I can't wait to see how you grow from this experience xxx (14 January 2010 10:23)  

Hi Natt, you don't know me but I come and check your blog often. You are not dorky at all! And I love your work, you have a great style and I like the calmness of the pics! (15 January 2010 01:48)  

Oh I just love your captures!! Wasn't it just a fab day, and weren't JD and Jasmine the most bee-you-tiful people. Totally gorgeous. I've still got a whirlwind going on inside my head. :)
Oh - and love your t-shirt! :) (15 January 2010 22:44)  

^^
I knew since you started to become wedding photographer that you made the right decision!

Don't feel unsure with your decision , you are great and I'm totally proud of you !! (18 January 2010 22:27)  

merry christmas


Hello everyone. I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Also a big thank you to all my photographer friends who have supported me this year...you know who you are! =)

See you in 2010!

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Have a fabulous New Year Natt. I hope 2010 is even more amazing for you than 2009 xxx (27 December 2009 21:47)  

dust storm


I woke up, looked outside the window and saw what looked like the end of the world. Ok I exaggerated a little but check out the crazy red sky from the dust storm that's hit Sydney this morning:





For those that don't live in Sydney, this was not a result of some funky antique photoshop actions. It's pretty much straight out of the cam. Gosh it smells so dusty even indoors!

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i had this once when i was in beijing back many years ago. the dust wasn't so red though. (23 September 2009 12:23)  

Hi, stumbled across your blog. Love the last previous post, really nice pictures with the umbrella. Wasn't it crazy today with the red dust? (23 September 2009 17:59)  

@mindy - thanks =) looking back at the photo of this morning, it just feels so unreal doesn't it? (23 September 2009 18:18)  

crazy dreams


Have you ever had one of those dreams before an exam where you find yourself in a large classroom, the clock is ticking really loudly and everybody's got their heads down scribbling away like mad while you're staring at the exam papers and you just don't remember anything you've studied? Well I had the photography equivalent of that all week before the wedding last weekend. I didn't just have one either...I had FOUR photography related disaster dreams. I thought I was going insane!

Dream #1 - This took place early in the week. I dreamt that I turned up to a wedding and forgot to charge my batteries and couldn't take any photos.

Dream #2 - My favouritest photographer, Jose Villa, came to Sydney to do a workshop and I didn't have any money to attend it. I was feeling extremely sad and he looked at me with a "you poor thing" expression.

Dream #3 - This took place a two days before the wedding. I dreamt that I went to a night time wedding, the bridal party was already in church and on the stage singing away. I went to that wedding with one camera body, one lens, one battery and a single 4GB card! I had forgotten everything at home and couldn't go back to get it.

At this stage, I was freaking out 'cos this has never happened to me before. Needless to say, I made sure I had everything packed and ready earlier than usual. Then...

Dream #4 - This took place on the morning of the wedding. I dreamt that I woke up at 3:24pm and had missed the entire ceremony.

I bolted right out of bed and was up well before the alarm was due to go off. Talk about going crazy!! Anyway, the wedding went fine and I didn't forget to bring anything =p

Here's a sneak peek:





And for anyone who thinks "wow your camera takes nice photos" (yes I have copped that before), this is what it looks like unprocessed (btw I shoot RAW so I'm not speaking for the JPG folks):





I went to the Hunter Valley the day after the wedding for an engagement shoot and a bit of hanging out with friends. I was looking through the photos today and I couldn't stop smiling. I'm definitely a people photographer. Landscapes and still life and other stuff is great and all but seeing people smile and laugh in my photographs is really what makes me happy. Too bad I can't hang those photos on my walls at home...that would just be bizarre and totally stalker like =p

Some pics of my "assistants".





Eric just loves to take out my reflector...even when I don't need to use it =)





Okies, I'm off to do more post processing!

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Man! I have crazy photography related dreams as well!! Glad I'm not the only one having it ;) It means it's normal then.

I can't wait to see the rest of Matt and Charissa's photographs!! :D That sneak peak looks so NATT! :D I LOVE IT! Love the long willowy grass!! :D (9 September 2009 09:07)  

Hahah I have those freak out I missed my alarm dreams every time I'm anxious about something. Looks like everything turned out gorgeous for your day...and who knows, maybe Jose might be coming after all :P (9 September 2009 14:54)  

I was holding them for someone else! Honest! (9 September 2009 15:24)  

Hi Nattnee, I'm a fan of yours since I saw Dee&Ed's wedding pix. Would it be ok if you could tell me how you get from the raw to the very beautifully balance photo (in photoshop)? if not, it's ok. They are beautiful photos. (11 September 2009 14:34)  

Haha I keep dreaming I'll turn up to something and turn my camera on only to find a "memory card not in" sign displaying (it's happened once before) I love your photos! The colours are great (12 September 2009 20:02)  

lovely!!! :) love your processing, and you are SO brave, posting your RAW file for everyone to see! i'd be too scared to do it! :) (13 September 2009 20:09)  

mandarin sky


The weather changed drastically early this evening here in Sydney. If you were around, you may have seen how crazy the sky looked. I took a piccie of it near my place:





You don't see clouds like that everyday!

I love the word "Vanilla Sky" but this is hardly vanilla. It looks more like blood orange hence the lame post title...if you were wondering =p

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I was almost tempted to get in my car and get to higher ground so I could see the sunset, I just knew it was going to be spectacular! I'm glad you caught it Natt, so beautiful! (7 August 2009 23:18)  

Beautiful shot!! :) Wish Canberra had sunsets like that... Looking forward to Jan! :) (10 August 2009 09:39)  

travel bag


What bag do you take when you go travel? I meant for your DSLR + lenses, not for your clothes!

I have 2 Crumplers and I am not overly happy with any of them. One is a side bag and is great for accessibility but it's so fat due to its shape and the heavy padding (which really protects your gear), making it a really cumbersome bag to carry around. The other is a backpack which is a lot easier to carry but not accessible since you have to take the pack off your back and unzip the thing wide open. The Crumplers padding is really good though.

I'm eyeing this at the moment - Lowepro Terraclime 100. It looks very travelly doesn't it =)
Looks light and accessible but the bag itself is pretty much just a canvas and offers no protection for the gear apart from that padded envelope thing which doesn't look like it'll wrap around much either - maybe a smaller DSLR.





It's tempting. I mean ultimate accessibility would be to keep the camera on your neck all the time so this has to be better than that. Anyone else got one of these or have any other recommendations?

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That looks like every other messenger bag except it has a MASSIVE Lowepro logo on it!

This trip I've given up and gone the other way, Lowepro Toploader 65 AW + Lens Case 1W strapped to the side.

You can carry a camera as a separate item to your carry on bag for plane travel - I figured I might as well take advantage of it instead of overloading my backpack like I normally do.

In the past if I wanted to stay incognito I used a normal bag/backpack, put extra lenses in their pouches, and wrapped the camera in a light jumper/towel for protection. (19 June 2009 10:45)  

I have this bag and use it for everyday camera bag when I'm going somewhere. Its great and it does not Scream Camera bag, but like you said does not really offer much protection and it does not fit too much other than the camera. (4 December 2009 07:57)  

lara croft shoots wedding


Shooting with two camera bodies can be a little bit of a pain in the butt. Slinging one over each shoulder sometimes results in a collision and as I stand and squat and move around, one would occasionally slide off.

Frankly, I wish I didn't have to hold anything. If the cameras would just float in the air around me at the ready that would be just peachy but unless I'm related to Magneto from the X-Men, that ain't gonna happen now is it (I checked ok, lifted the palm of my hand and concetrated real hard...nothing moved).

The other thing I thought of was a holster...yeah like for guns but it would be for cameras.

Exhibit A: Lara Croft
See, hands free, they just strap on to your body. However, this would require shorts (really short shorts) and shapely thighs.





Exhibit B: John McClane
Great idea, just gotta lose the dirty clothes and lower the holster a bit, wouldn't wanna be tucking a camera under your armpit now do you?





So anyway, I've always wished they made holster for cameras and lo and behold, they do! My friend just pointed me to the Black Rapid website. Check out this double strap:





It's exactly what I've always wished they'd make but now that it's available I don't know if I'd be game enough to wear that to a wedding. I remember one of the videographers had a big black vest on for strapping the video camera to himself and I thought he looked like he was with the bomb squad.

Honestly, it looks ok on a dude but on a chick? If you find any photos of this on a female photographer, do let me know! BTW Gizmodo appropriately called this double strap a "John Woo's take on wedding photography" haha.

I hope the guy in the photo never finds this post 'cos I'm about to say that it reminded me of this:





Very innovative but for now, I'll just stick to my slidey shoulders until I see it in action =)

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i think the video guy is using steady cam. my video guy use it while he was filming my wedding. but the strap thing for two cameras are cool :) (22 May 2009 17:09)  

how many problems would that double strap solve *sigh* I use only primes at weddings so it would be perfect.. if it didn't look so .. umm ... dude in the infantry! (25 May 2009 10:33)  

There's one more option Natt, these things: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/video-spider-camera-holster-is-a-little-bit-want-mostly-idioti/

Kim. (28 May 2009 20:51)  

Haha i love this post. I've been looking for something like this too. There's another option which is less "GI Joe" like: http://www.cameraslingers.net/ (22 August 2009 22:34)  

blonde moment


Oh dear. I did something mega stupid today. I've recently registered on Bride Online and didn't quite know how it worked so I decided to test their system and put in a test enquiry. I didn't realise this would hit the mail box of all the NSW - Sydney photographers listed on that website!

I'm TOTALLY embarrassed. I'm not trying to get info from anyone and if you're a Bride Online advertiser that's reading this now I sincerely apologize for my blonde moment.

I shall go hide under a rock now.

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Hi Natt, no worries about the blond thing. I've just been looking through your blog and site .. you do great work! Just out of curiosity, if I wanted you to do a logo for me, what would you charge and how many "ideas" would I be able to view? Kind regards, Sam, Wedding Stills. (20 March 2009 19:41)  

haahah I had a little laugh to myself when I saw your test message come through hehe! (20 March 2009 23:38)  

oh no! that is TOTALLy something I would do! (21 March 2009 02:19)  

Natt, that was so funny! I bet you almost fell off your chair when I emailed you straight back ;)

But seriously, don't beat yourself up about it. You'll see that those emails come through all the time :) (21 March 2009 22:22)  

who's your idol?


For me, the no. 1 spot in my (photographic) heart is Jose Villa (pronounced "vee-ya", although "vill-a" has a nice ring to it as well methinks). His work is absolutely beautiful, soft, sweet and elegant. His images simply make me feel like falling in love. If I could ever produce images like that, I would cry, die then go to heaven.

When I look at his work, I see two people ALWAYS. I don't mean that in the literal sense 'cos duh it takes two to get married. What I mean is, the work is never distracted by the place, the background nor the post processing, I always just see the romanticness and the love sweet love between the two people.

I deliberately used the word "romanticness" (which doesn't exist) and not "romance". I was trying to explain this to someone and I couldn't quite do it but there is something different that doesn't convey what I see/feel if I had used the word "romance". I'm probably not making much sense but "romance" makes me think of those night shots with video light and glowy effects.

It's also not about the photographer, the images don't scream "look at me and my awesome skills", there is no ego in it. It's just about the people and the elements of the wedding day, captured in a natural and beautiful way. Brilliant. I love it.

There are so many awesome talents out there and I do my fair share of blog stalking, however, I only email somebody if I am seriously in love with their work. I mailed Jose today. He seems very nice in emails and I hope he visits Australia one day (I even offered to drive him all over Sydney...like, who am I and why would he wanna ride with me?). Anyway, I would so love to meet him and maybe rub shoulders in the hope that some of that awesomeness will rub off on me hehe.

So who's your idol?

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Sam Hassas. He's a god to me :-)

-Kim. (3 March 2009 21:03)  

@Kim - I do find Sam Hassas quite creative (3 March 2009 21:20)  

c3 branding


Where has the time gone? I can't believe we're in March already! Somebody hit the pause button or better yet, the rewind please.

Apart from photography, I also do a wee bit of graphic design and recently I've been involved with the branding for my good friend Chris's business - C3 Coaching College. The brief was to design a logo that is professional looking, modern and allude to "education" without being so obvious and traditional (like a logo of a pencil or a book). C3 stands for creativity, confidence and communication so the logo should also encapsulate these ideas (if possible!).

Here is the final design (two versions - colour and reverse out):




Like most of my designs, it's simeple with clean lines ('cos I don't really know how to get messy in my designs haha). The idea behind this logo is the "tree of knowledge". From a distance it also looks like a key - the key to unlocking your mind (this was an after thought but bonus!) and in a really far-fetched way it could also represent a kid with a brain explosion from learning and gaining so much knowledge (again, an after though but double bonus).

The logo relates to:
- creativity in the way the leaves are constructed out of the letters C and 3
- confidence in the strong upright structure of the tree
- communication...umm c for communication? =p

I think it's also easily transferable and I can see a whole bunch of stationery and merchandise in my head already - business cards, banners, bags, mugs, note pads, t-shirts etc. (I hope I get a t-shirt if they make one!).

Overall, IMHO, I think I've answered the brief well. Hopefully my teachers at Shillington are proud. At least the clients are happy and that's what matters!

I had a look at the quote I gave Chris earlier to see what was next on the list and I saw this "two logos and five revisions". I had a big laugh 'cos this was about the fifteenth design hehehe (you know it's 'cos I love you and Ken right?). Next is business cards and a new website.

Chris is opening a second branch in Auburn this weekend. I am so excited about this as they are putting up a billboard/banner with this logo on it and I've never had any work displayed like that before! I plan on posing proudly and cheesily with the banner when it goes up so check back for that hehe.

Off topic, I saw Slumdog Millionaire last nite. It's not the kind of movie I would normally be interested in watching but since it got so much kudos at the Oscar, I got curious. I really enjoyed the film, loved it actually (except for the toilet scene which nearly made me throw up). Great story line, check it out if you haven't seen it.

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I must have missed this post earlier, but awesome design. Really like the concept and the simple way it's been pulled off for so many messages hidden within it. Good work! (7 March 2009 23:01)  

go full frame!


As you know, I bought a 5D Mark II a few days ago from a store which I won't be naming names 'cos frankly I'm annoyed at their stinginess. I mean, I've spent a LOT of money with them buying the body and a new lens and they refuse to price match a measly little (overpriced) battery for me. Also when the camera just came out, their mark up was just so ridiculous. They were really taking advantage of low stock level. Yes, it's just business and they're not doing anything wrong at all, it's just that I knew them since they were just a little tiny store in somebody's apartment and now the bigger they got the less pleasant they and my shopping experience became. Anyway, I'm not the only one with that feeling.

Usually when you want to purchase a big ticket item, you talk to the sales guy, you ask for advice, you have a look at the stuff and you ponder about it, you might negotiate price, you might even go away and come back later. This was different 'cos I knew exactly what I wanted and so when I stepped into the store and the sales guy go "Can I help you?", I had nothing to say or chitchat about, all I said was "Can I get a 5D Mark II please?". Just like that, as casual as if I was buying for a bottle of milk at a convenient store. It just felt so wrong!

The 5D Mark II is veerryyy niceee...melikey!!! I came from the cropped frame world so the full frame effect is really impressing me. I took some shots around my desk and golly I nearly fell out of my chair. The shots are a lot wider and the DOF more shallow, even my humble 50mm 1.8 looked good! I have also upgraded my 50mm to the 1.4 version and my bank account has since filed for divorce on the grounds of splurging =(

"I would never need to go full frame", I stupidly and naively said that years ago when I started getting into photography. My friend thought it was the most ridiculous statement and now I know why he laughed at me. (BTW Es, I *knew* you were going to remind me of that when I told you I bought it...your memory is annoyingly good hehe =p)

So here's how much frame real estate you really lose when using crop vs full frame. Photos taken at same distance to subject







For this one, the shot done with the 40D had to be taken further away in order to get the two photos framed roughly in the same manner. The same settings were used but the DOF is less shallow on the 40D due to the distance.





Sorry, none of this is really new info but I was just testing it all out for myself.

One of the best thing about the 5D Mark II is the screen. OH MY LORD, the screen is fricken amazing especially compared to the atrocious rectangular blueish thingy they call a screen on the 40D. Thank you Canon for the lovely lovely screen.

The high ISO is really great too. Here's a couple of quick shots (in dark condition obviously):





100% crop of the shuffle:







So yeah, love the 5D Mark II. It's hard not to when you've always used a cropped frame! Oh the downside would be the file size. I shoot RAW.

As for the 50mm 1.8 vs 1.4, the 1.4 has better build quality for sure, however, the images don't look hugely different to me but I've only done a couple of close up test shots though - definitely not a throughly tested expert opinion there =)

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Always..thought that u shooot all ur subjects with full framer...what about the video?how good is that? (22 February 2009 13:22)  

@aaron - haven't played with video yet but i'll post something when i do =) (22 February 2009 16:22)  

Didn't I give you my dealer's details? They were sooo much cheeper than everyone else. I could have sworn i did..........did I? (1 March 2009 23:36)  

tragedy - we can help


I had a really good sleep thanks to the weather. The temperature cooled right down today and the sky is filled with thick clouds. Sounds gloomy but that depends where you are. Here where I live, surrounded by white buildings and greenery, the overcast weather only made this place look whiter, clean and peaceful. I love today's weather.

Walking home from the gym, I breathed in and enjoyed the cool air. My eyes looked around comfortably at all this clean whiteness and then I thought about Victoria. Images of burnt cars and black ashes that was someone else's home filled my mind. What a stark contrast.

I am saddened by the tragedy that has hit Victoria - the deadly fires that claimed so many lives and homes. I can't imagine what the survivors are going through right now. I can't imagine losing everything in a blink of an eye. I can't imagine the magnitude of suffering those that died had to endure and those that live are pushing through. It's devastating. It's awful. It's horrific. It's senseless. It's undeserved. Life isn't fair is such a huge understatement.

If you are reading this, please help. We can lend a hand right here in front of our computers. Please visit the Red Cross website and make a donation to the Victorian Bushfire 2009 Appeal. It doesn't matter how big or small your donation is, every little bit goes towards helping somebody.





I wish all those people will find hope and happiness again really soon.

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Here here Natt :) It's just so senseless and horrific. I can't believe there are so many stupid, hateful people who would deliberately do this. It's up to all of us Aussies to band together to help in any way we can. (9 February 2009 23:56)  

twitter and a small request


Who isn't on Facebook these days? I do think it's a good way to keep in touch with people and while some update every bits and bobs available on there, adding all sorts of applications and playing games etc, the only frequent (and it ain't all that frequent by most people' standards) activity I'm engaged in is updating the status and reading others. One line can potentially give you an idea of the other person's state of activity and/or mind.

So 'cos I like the status thing, I thought I'd add it to my blog (see that little bird above) via twitter. It looks so simple, just a little welcome message and a box for my twitter updates but wouldn't you know it? It doesn't work properly on Internet Explorer.

IE is my pet hate. All the coding I've done for this blog and any changes I make to it always work perfectly for Firefox and Safari. The reverse is true for IE - never works the first time and there's always extra tweaking to do. Right now, after adding the little twitter message box, my blog is stuffed on IE so if it looks that way to you it means I'm still trying to fix it.

That brings me to my tiny little request. If you are using IE, please consider moving to Firefox or Safari or Chrome. Seriously, they're loads better than IE (and I'm not just biased for my own sake). Also please do drop me a mail/comment if you ever see anything that looks out of whack on this blog. Ta muchly.

P.S. There are two different Nattnee on Facebook. This is me.

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Who says it doesn't work for IE? Works absolutely perfectly fine for me |-) (4 February 2009 00:56)  

website & email outage


Hey everybody, my website, blog and email were down since Saturday morning until now. Please resend your emails if you have not received any response from me. Thanks! =)

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new website


Howdie all. Nattnee Photography finally has a proper website. Please check out www.nattnee.com and have a poke around.

It's fairly simple and I have yet to populate more images and write the "about"section.

Please let me know your feedback (good and bad) so that I can improve my site. All comments and suggestions welcome.

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Absolutely love it! (24 November 2008 11:39)  

simple yet elegant website. More photos please!!..Those travel photos are awesome!! (24 November 2008 13:21)  

Congrats Natt! (24 November 2008 15:58)  

Really nice and simple I like it!! The only thing I miss, "next" and "back" buttons. If I want to go through on all photos in a sectin, I always use those buttons. Clicking everytime on the small photo-icons is not the best way to do it. Hope this helps. Love your photos! (24 November 2008 20:03)  

ooh good feedback...thanks...i'll see if i can add those buttons in =) (24 November 2008 20:12)  

image retouching


Yes I'm still processing the last wedding. I'm processing an entire wedding instead of the usual fav 30 odd images so it is taking a bit longer than my normal speedy posting.

Thought I'd show a before and after post processing images. I'm not sure how far people go in terms of retouching but I really can't stand distracting bits and pieces in the image. Not talking about the usual touch ups of baggy eyes here but I have done things like removing distracting spotlights from the ceiling (obviously they weren't on) and even a whole pram from the background of a shot. It is time consuming but I can't help it as I prefer clean images the way I like it.

I saw the kids playing by the fence and so I ran up to them to get a quick snap. I asked the kids to move along the fence a little bit as they were standing in front of distracting background. I didn't pose them but I love how the little boy just refused to stand with the girls =)





Because this was done pretty quickly, I didn't notice the barb wire running across one of the girl's face. It really didn't look right at all but I didn't want to throw this image away so along with the normal processing to make it a bright and happy snap, I had the annoying barb wire removed. Here is the RAW shot:




I know the wire does add to the framing of the subjects and I do like it but I guess I'm weighing it up against having it cutting across her face which doens't feel so pleasant. What do you think? Prefer the wire gone or not?

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Nice shot Natt ! (4 November 2008 16:34)  

That's great retouching skills you got there!! :D But that's also such a Nattnee shot too! (4 November 2008 19:43)  

Gone baby gone! I like your retouching work, I know where to find you if I need you! (7 November 2008 23:28)  

jane chan - celebrant


Jane and I went to school together but we didn't really keep in touch until some time last year when we bumped into each other in the streets. Funny out of all the people from high school I could bump into, it happened to be Jane who is also in the wedding industry as well.

Jane is a marriage celebrant and here's some quick shots I snapped of her before we had the worst Korean lunch last week. I'm so picking the place next time =p









Check out Jane's website if you need a marriage celebrant or some info on getting hitched in Australia.

Ciao!

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adventure of a noobie strobist


"I specialise in daylight photography". I used to always say that 'cos other than sticking the speedlite on my camera when I needed to, I didn't wanna think about it. I'm shooting "school portraits" for students of a ballet concert soon and while I'd love to shoot in natural light, that might not be possible and so I thought I'd dabble into off camera lighting. I have also been blog stalking Laurence Kim a bit and his wonderful work really inspires me to experiment as well.

So a quick visit Strobist and I got my shopping list. First and easiest thing to get was a light stand. I decided on the Manfrotto 001B for its compactness. Quality Camera Sales Australia had the best price that I found and gosh it was such a speedy delivery!

Next was clamp and umbrella. For this particular Manfrotto lightstand, the 43" Westcott was recommended. I mailed around a few local stores and nobody stocks them. B&H had them and for the Photoflex Multiclamp and a 43" WestCott umbrella (mine doubles as reflective soft silver and shoot through) the cost was just over $50USD. That sounds ok except shipping was $60USD!!! Whaaaat?! The shipping costs more than the goods? Plus the AUD has been tanking and that really sucks!

"What triggering system are you going with?", a friend asked. I opted for the Elinchrom Skyport which I also got on B&H.  The shipping was the same so now I'm err spending more to save. (BTW it's actually cheaper to buy them here which I forgot to check 'cos I was so fixated on the freakin shipping cost - always check StaticICE people!)

I was constantly checking my order status on UPS website (sad I know).  The package came on Friday and straight away I unpacked the box and started putting it all together.

Uh oh, my speedlite 580EX doesn't have a pc socket. Serious?! Quick googling led me to believe I needed a hot shoe that has a pc outlet. I looked around and Digital Camera Warehouse had one. I called up the store and asked for the Hama hot shoe adapter. The sales person asked if it was "Adapter 1" or "Adapter 2". I told him Adapter 1. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Yeah yeah I'm sure and I'm coming to the store NOW".

It was 45 mins before the store closed but I was so excited that I had to go get it. I drove like a maniac down to the store and was freaking out the whole way through as the petrol indicator thingy (I'm real techincal) was dangerously close to "E". I made it to the last 5 mins of the store opening hours.

Guess what? It was the wrong hot shoe *sigh*. The dude was right, I needed the Adapter 2. Back to the store I went this morning to get it along with a Pocket Wiard female pc to mini plug (that tiny tiny thing is $29!). The store only had ONE of each of those items as well so that was lucky!





I was sooo happy when I fired off the flash on the lighstand. Woohoo! Mission accomplished.
Haven't played around with the umbrella and all that too much yet but here's some shots of this little paper Japanese boy.







Nothing exciting right now but that'll come later.

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This is all so exciting to hear. I really want to get a lighting rig set up sometime... Still thinking of what to get... Thanks for sharing!!! (12 October 2008 17:23)  

You are seriously hilarious! I need to get something like this too, but it's all seems so hard! Maybe I'll just copy you. Oh, and isn't Stu and QCS the BEST! Talk about fast service, I have bought everything in my kit from him ;) (14 October 2008 17:44)  

hey nattnee, congrats and welcome to the world of off-camera flash! looks like you're off to a great start. (23 November 2008 16:17)  

new toy: iphone


It seriously feels like I've been waiting for this thing forever and finally I have it in my hands. I designed a small logo for hubbie and invoiced him with an iPhone hehe. Very fair I am =)





Needless to say, it's awesome and I lurrrrve it!

Thank you hon!

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gotta keep the wife happy. A happy wife is a happy life :) (19 September 2008 15:41)  

Must've been some logo! (19 September 2008 15:46)  

I think I see the black edge on the left, I thought you would have gotten the white model Natt? (Kim) (19 September 2008 20:46)  

Woo hoo, everyone seems to be getting one of these bad boys! Congrats :) (30 September 2008 10:46)  

Since you have an iPhone now, when is the iPhone formatted version of your blog going to be available? (11 October 2008 16:39)  

it just wasn't me


So lately I've been experimenting with post processing a lot. There were two completely different styles that I was attracted to (story of my life). One is a really fresh, vibrant, clean and crisp. The other is more glamourous with lots of dodging and burning, vignetting, glowing whites etc. 

Since I couldn't decide what I really wanted, I thought why can't I offer both? Or mesh them together somehow. So I tried the meshing and the result turned out like the images this post. Then I went further down the glowy, dodging and burning track and ended up with images in the last post.

Right after I finished the last post, I realised that it wasn't me. All that heavy post processing and dark looking images. It's not the photography that I love.

What do I love? I love what I actually started with a long time ago. The colourful, bright, cheery and happy photos. Someone once looked at my website (which is getting revamped at the moment) and commented that "your photos are too happy"...well I want that back!

So I'm going back to making images the way I used to. The images that made me fall in love with photographing people in the first place. The kind that makes your heart happy =)





I'm glad I finally worked out the style dilemma. Big yey to another self discovery as a photographer =)

Oh as for this cute little blondie, more of her photos are coming up soon.

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from the pros


Picked up Capture magazine today (wedding special issue) and as I was reading "best & worst business decisions" from the top photographers, some stuff struck a chord with me.

Marcus Bell: Believing in myself was the catalyst for helping make my business a success. It gave me confidence to be the photographer and business person that I wanted to be. I believe that the decision to be more confident underlies everything.

Graham Monro: Don't try to formulate what the client wants, but rather always stick to the style you shoot.

Rocco Ancora: As you grow, understand that establishing a style is not a destination, but a journey. Understand what sorts of imges you want to create and be very open-minded.

The article also mentioned "shoot and burn" photographers. They are the ones that shoot a lot of weddings just to make a bit of cash and just give RAW files out to clients. I didn't eve know people do that. Give RAW files and straight out of the camera shots to clients???

Back to reading...

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new toy


I drove to North Sydney to grab some lunch wtih hubbie today. We bought two boxes of pasta, a coke zero and for dessert we (well me) bought a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8.

My new toy:





I think a lot of people have the 70-200 f/2.8 but unless Canon is going to donate me one, I really cannot afford that right now and so this is my best bet. It's affordable (ahem coughs hubbie), has max aperture of f/1.8 which is a HUGE difference compared to the f/4 and very sharp. It won't reach as far as the 200mm but well I still got my legs. The whole world says it's a great portrait lens so I shall test that out tomorrow.

I am feeling a little guilty about this so I really shouldn't call it a new toy. It's more like a new necessity =)

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YAY! You got the 85mm!! :D I hope you really make the most of it, so your hubby doesn't feel so meh, about it... (28 June 2008 11:02)  

yay! Just sent you an email :) (28 June 2008 12:30)  

actions and cards


My business card arrived today and just in time for the deadline I had set myself.
Like this blog and most my other design things, it's clean and simple and did I say clean? So clean in fact I think I probably should have put some blurbs on the card such as what kind of photography I do. Too late now =p





Next on the agenda of today's post is Photoshop actions. I have been struggling with the idea of buying actions for a while now. I have always wanted to do everything on my own. I wanted to say all my end product is 100% Nattnee made. It's some sort of artistic integrity issue whatever thing that got suck in my head.

Over a long period of time (I hear someone says six months?), family and friends have been telling me over and over that at the end of the day it is about working smarter. It's about the end result and do I want to be limited by my own knowledge of Photoshop and maybe figure out all this stuff some years down the track or do I want better images TODAY. A friend equates the thinking of this is artistically cheating to the invention of autofocus. He says it's just a tool like anything else.

So far I have been proud of what I can produce on my own but if you look at the end result of the likes of Jasmine Star, who is my idol btw, will I ever get that kind of end result on what I know? Maybe but probably not.

Anyway long story short, I bought TRA2 and Essential Color Pop actions to try them out. I had a look at the steps involved in the actions themselves and OMG there was no way on this planet I would have thought to do all that stuff. No freaking way.

In terms of artistic integrity, theses are not things you can use to get desired result in one click. I don't mean they're not good. These actions will certainly make your photos look better if you just use them straight on the rocks but in terms of knowing what to use and in what combination to get what you want, it's not one click of a button. You still need to develop your own style and have a vision of what you want as the end result. Just because they are available does not mean you will get great photos and believe me I have seen overprocessed (in a bad way) photos. Also let's not forget the fundamental things about photography that Photoshop will never fix!

All in all, I am glad I bought them. I have been an idiot all this time and now I know I was never going to be able to figure half that stuff out. I am satisfy with the artistic integrity issue 'cos I know for myself now that I have them doesn't mean my photos are suddenly better.

What I have to do now is spend some time working all these actions out and see how I can best use them to achieve what I want. In the meantime, check out this sample of my bro. It's got some Grandma's Tap Shoes from TRA2 applied to it.




That was a long rant but an important one for me.

Esmond, if you have read this far, stop rolling your eyes and dude you can't give up on your friends! Next time I'll try to listen about three months sooner =)

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from what I know, jasmine star uses the colour pop actions from the boutwell's TRA1, and some from the Kubota Volumes :) I've seen her post some of her tutorials on some forums and thats what she shared with us. Jessica claire uses the same method ;) I've found that the Nichole V ones too saturated at times, while great for travel photography, a little too time consuming for wedding photos where u need to edit hundreds/thousands at once :) Just my 2 cents :) (27 June 2008 11:22)  

you can only achieve what you dream of doing...dream big and the end result will surprise no one more than yourself! :) (29 June 2008 06:58)  

stylin new blog


Hooray! After picking up a CSS book last week and spending many many late nights coding up the new template for this blog, I have finally finished! Tada!

I had fun coding it but boy am I glad it's all over. It has been totally consuming my life for the past few days. You may think meh it looks a little plain but I'm happy with what I've achieved considering I just picked up CSS and no I ain't touching it for a while!

BTW this wasn't done with the new blogger layout thing if you were wondering what's the big deal with this simple layout. This was all hand coded and perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing to do but hey I learnt new stuff =)

As plain and simple as it may be, it sure looks a lot better than what I had before! I'll need to get random pics going for the header at some stage down the track and find out how to add a search but those can wait for a while. I need to get on with other more important things!

Please let me know if you find any bits of this blog buggy, I'd really appreciate it. If an issue is going to come up it'll be in IE6 I bet you so if you're using that, go on, convert to Firefox or Safari =)

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Love the layout Natnee... It's so clean. I feel like if I touch the screen it's going to smudge it... (obviously it's going to smudge the screen), but, I mean, the layout.. :P Anyways, loving your work! Keep it up! (25 June 2008 23:49)  

logo - the verdict


Last week I put up a few logo designs and asked family, friends and even strangers to tell me which they thought was the best logo. Everyone liked totally different designs! There was no clear winner apart from maybe the original which I still don't like. I was getting so much headache and thought it was best to not play around with it for a bit.

Today, I picked up where I left off and finally found the winner! It's not even on that last batch but it's something I'm happy with. I only asked for a couple of opinions this time and that's probably a good thing. So here it is:





It's not the most unique, flashiest, greatest, whatever-est but I'm happy with it and happy to move on with life argh! Next bit is business cards and revamping the site and blog.

Thanks to Sylvia for pointing out the little details. Now don't you dare tell me you still like the original! You can think it but you can't say it hehe =p

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anything will do


It's been a while since I picked up the camera and my hands were really itching today. I just wanted to take photos of something...anything! Looking around the kitchen while I was making a cup of tea, I spotted some garlic. Well why not garlic?





After a couple of shots, I thought hey my macro lens has been lonely for quite some time now. Let's get it out and give it some exercise.

I grabbed the macro and a jar of spice found in the pantry and went about setting up my shot. The jar of whatever spice (somebody tell me what it is please) was placed on a stool in front of a large window. I pulled the thin white curtain across to diffuse the sunlight a little. I kneeled, I squatted, ok this is not comfie so I pulled up a lower chair and placed it in front of the stool. Perfect, I can lean on the stool so I didn't even need a tripod hehe.

Anyway, these ain't earth shattering photos but I just wanted to shoot something ok? =)














p.s. The logo poll ain't helping at all. Everybody likes totally different logos and the most annoying thing is may liked #1 which is my original logo!

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wonderful set , beutiful like you your blog. its glad to have you , and you are shearing as very nice and informational photos . thanks alot , i saw your photos on fliker then i come to meet your blog.
if you like to see my photos
www.fliker.com/photos/basirseerat
or
www.basirseerat.blogspot.com (1 June 2008 22:58)