Photography Archives | Tea For Tammi

Guide to Photography: The Rule of Thirds

Photography Tech June 29, 2015 3 Comments

Wayyyyy back in the day, when my parents gave me a disposable camera so that I could take pictures on a primary school zoo trip, I took some really badly composed pictures. I took my mother’s advice to “put people in the middle” too far, and it turns out that it really didn’t quite work when composing a photograph.

So fast forward 10 years, and I get my first lesson in photography: The Rule of Thirds. The golden rule of composition that is taught to all beginners, and still works for me, even to this day!

Guide to Photography: Aperture

Photography Tech June 22, 2015

Part of what I love about fancy schmancy cameras and lenses, is the ability to shoot at wide apertures. It adds an extra dimension to my photos, and it allows me to do so much more than I could have with just a point and shoot.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

But aperture, like any other tool, can be heavily misused, and trust me, I’ve made those mistakes along the way. So after writing about how to start shooting in manual, I thought it might be a good idea to share a little bit more about what I learnt about Aperture, so that maybe it could help you in your photography journey too!

Guide to photography: Saturation

Photography Tech June 15, 2015 1 Comment

Sometimes, photography can get so cluttered with techniques and illusions that it can be very hard to know where to start if you wanna improve! So I thought it might be nice have a little practice session: to just focus on one tool that photographers use, and how it can completely change the way you take photos!

This time, it’s all about saturation.
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Guide to Photography: Keeping it simple!

Photography June 1, 2015

Source: Mark Boughton Photography

I’ll admit it. I’ve been guilty of over styling a photograph. SO GUILTY. You know when you keep adding props and textures because you feel like the photo looks a bit empty? Yeah, that.

Well sometimes it’s hard to concentrate on the photography when there are so many elements to consider, so for this week’s Guide to Photography, we are going to take a look at something so simple, the techniques really shine through. Best part is, you probably have the tools on hand to practice it yourself!

I’m a photographer, and you should be one too.

Musings Photography May 25, 2015

I started photography as a 15 year old looking for a reason to use Photoshop. Photo editing was one of the first things that made me feel like I was artistically expressing myself, and the challenge of restoring old photos seamlessly really got my juices flowing.

But I saw something recently that really made me angry: An acquaintance decided to rail about how food bloggers shouldn’t be taken seriously and how they should shut up about copyrights because they aren’t “real photographers” anyway. And that, was not cool.

10 Instagram Food Photography Tips for Beginners!

Photography May 18, 2015 1 Comment

I am an Instagram addict. No, not in a bad way (says the addict, haha), but I am a really huge fan! It’s become such a huge part of my life that most of my day is spent on Instagram, drooling over stunning photos and the amazing life adventures of my friends.

The simple, straightforward approach also presents a really inspiring challenge for me: shooting photos for the square format, and telling stories, one picture at a time. I like to think that I’ve come a long way from badly lit photographs of half-eaten food, and I’ve learnt so many tips and tricks from this amazing community about food photography that I’d love to share.
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Guide to photography: Bowl of Fruit!

Photography May 11, 2015 1 Comment

Maybe I’m being cocky, but I think I’ve come a long way since my first food photo with a tiny Canon Ixus 5 point-and-shoot. I LOVE taking photos of food – not just because I’m Asian! – and there is just so much going on behind the scenes when trying to create a beautiful food photo!

It can be hard to know where to start though, and one of my favourite ways to learn about styling, is to study photos that I find beautiful, and copy these techniques in my own photos!

This week, it’s all about this simple but gorgeous photo I found at Cooking Pleasure. It’s essentially a bowl of fruit – nothing too exotic that you can’t find in your local supermarket – but it’s so beautifully styled and photographed that I can’t stop looking at it! Here’s why this photo is this week’s photography inspiration!

Top 6 Tips to Photograph Children!

Photography May 4, 2015 4 Comments

Top 6 Tips for Photographing Kids! Photo by Gebala on Flickr

For a long time, I was the only one of my family to move to Sydney. Most of us live in Singapore, with one cousin I’m very close to in Melbourne. Soon, the next generation came along, and the reality of being a long-distance aunt means that the kids aren’t as familiar or close to me as I’d love for them to be. It’s even harder because I just love capturing moments in photographs, and it’s a little hard to do when the kids are a little wary of you.

Sometimes, it can be hard when photographing kids, especially when they’re not feeling cooperative, or they’re just a little shy. I didn’t want to miss out on these fleeting moments with my family, so I had to figure out what to do, fast!

Here’s what I’ve learnt: my top 6 tips to photograph children!

Week 16: Photo a day challenge

Photography April 21, 2015

It’s that time of the week again, and after what’s been a relatively busy week I don’t know whether I’m proud or ashamed to say that I’ve completed 4 of the 7 days of this week’s Photo A Day Challenge by FatMumSlim. It’s 1 more than last week, but I really thought that I’d be more on top of this!

Either way, these were the prompts that inspired me the most, and got me clicking!

How to start photographing in manual

Photography Tech April 20, 2015 4 Comments

Screen showing manual functions in a camera

So you’ve read all about composition, colour and styling, and it’s now time to use your camera in Manual mode, like the “pros” do. But where to begin? Manual mode leaves all the controls entirely up to you, and all those buttons and options can sometimes get confusing.

Well here’s a quick starter’s guide to using your camera in Manual mode – and perhaps help demystify those strange settings!