Kasen's Birthday Party - Lego Farm

A beautiful afternoon, no rain & not cold, which was filled with fun to celebrate Kasen's 6th Birthday! The theme of the party was Lego Movie: birthday banner, decor, cupcakes and the birthday cake were around the theme.

 



 

Look at the birthday cake. Isn't it amazing?! Credit goes to Kasen's talented mom, Rosa.

 

 

She has made the delicious cupcakes too.

 

 

To our surprise, there were other guests to the party - animals. The backyard was set up as a little farm.

 

Everyone could feed them and touch them.

 

And, kids could ride the pony as well. Love their smiles.

 

Of course, the part that the guests would look forward to the most is hitting the pinata.

 

 

For more pictures, please visit my facebook page at:

www.facebook.com/GigiFanPhotography

 

and choose the album titled "Birthday Party - Kasen"

Don't forget to 'like' my page if you like my work. Have a great day!

Aggy's Birthday Party

It's finally the time to blog about Aggy's birthday party. She turned 4 in March and I was excited to be there. It was the first session that I used my new baby - a full frame camera. Not only I needed to learn how to use the buttons, but also needed to download new software. Now I can communicate with both the camera & the computer and here are the happy pictures.



 



 

It was a fun party. There were endless activities like catching bubbles, hiding under the parachute, passing the obstacle course, and on and on. I guess the guests had a blast. Look at their smiles. And looks like the cupcakes tasted pretty good. Nom nom nom.

Once again, Happy Birthday to the Little Big Girl Aggy!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all lovely moms :)

 

This year, I celebrate it with an additional monkie and the day went nice. The monkie boys got some crafts done at school. Last year, Little Monkie #1 said that mommy cooks the best rice and he's still saying the same this year. Little Monkie #2 did it right this year that it's Happy Mother's Day not Happy Valentine's Day.

 

After school yesterday, they got me a bunch of my fav flower - tulip & a cute mother's day balloon.

 

 

Last night before we went to bed, they told that they're gonna make me a breakfast in bed. This morning, they still remembered and this was what happened.

 

 

Little Monkie #2 was all excited about this 'surprise' and ran into my room with giggles.

 

Little Monkie #1 walked in happily and carefully with my breakfast. Of course, we wouldn't forget about Little Monkie #3 - all say "cheers" ;)

 

And here's my breakfast, see the pancakes were in heart shape. And they're really serious about it that they got a menu for this... so cute...

 

 

And this is behind the scene.

 

 

Needless to say, I finished it all with a happy smile. In the evening, it was my turn to be master chef for the two moms - my mom and mom-in-law.

 

Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

 

PS - thanks to dada for making this happen!!!

Natural Light

Can't believe it's been more than a season since the last post... when we finally gotta say goodbye to the super long & cold winter, it's about the time to write & shoot again :)

Now with more daylight hours, I took the priviledge of capturing some pictures of the monkies after dinner this evening, under natural light. It's already past 7:30pm and the monkies were running happily from one bedroom to another and along the hallway. I was at one end of the hallway watching Little Monkie #3 walking towards me with supports (yap... time flies and she's almost 1). When she past by my mom's room, she was nicely lit.

How could I have missed this?! I quickly got my camera, did a test shot and grabbed her back to the other end. Let her come to me again. And this is what I've got.

Light source from the left, it got through the hallway and bounced to the white wall on the right. So this is a natural reflector that could lit the other side of the face.

Little Monkie #2 would love to join in (he loves his sis veerrrryyy much).

 

 What a great pose and smile, too bad that Little Monkie #3 has moved, so she became blurry. Little Monkie #2 has also blocked out some light from behind, so his face is a bit darker than expected on the left. I still like it tho'.

The sun was rushing to go home that I got only a few minutes for "one round of crawling". Below is another fav shot. If the continuous shooting mode was set, instead of single shoot, this may be a better picture. Oh well, let me try again next time...

Flash II - Pop Up Flash

Happy New Year to you all and wish you the best in year 2014!!!

 

For the past few weeks, we have been experiencing extreme weather here in GTA. Hope that everyone is well. And we have wind chill warning on now... (shivering).

 

Well... for a photographer, extreme weather isn't a bad thing at all (if our house still has power). In fact, it's the time to shoot. My monkies had lots of fun playing in the snow earlier last month when we were hit by snow storm.

 

They had fun playing and I had fun shooting. Shooting in snow may be challenging because it's grey and dull. Your pictures may be under-exposed when the meter says it isn't. Look below.

 

 

Recently, I wanna practice more using flash. And this time, it's pop-up flash. I used the 70-200mm and popped, having Little Monkie #3 as the subject (she's sitting on her rocker by the patio door... yea... she's bored).

 

This is a classic example of why people don't like using pop-up flash - harsh shadow. This is simply because I didn't have the right distance between the subject and camera (and flash). Look at Little Monkie #2.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with it, except the reflective strap on Little Monkies #1's arm. I was gonna crop it, but this shows that the flash is doing its work :P

 

 Another challenge shooting the snow is where I shoot. I was hiding indoor by the patio door and got shot by snow balls. I got no where else to run... oh no...

Flash

It's been a while since I last blogged. Life has been busy busy with family and study. Now my 2nd last course of the cert program is done, so that I could have sometime to blog :)

 

Many photographers described themselves as lifestyle photographers who use natural lights only. I love natural lights as well. However, the courses that I've been through recently had brought me the new level of understanding flash. I wasn't a fan of using flash. An instructor said that it is because you didn't know how to use flash and he's talking about the truth. Once you know the tricks, it helps to create mood and enhance the photo.

 

Here are some examples.

 

This is one flash, off camera, that creates a more dramatic result. While keeping the exposure of the sky correct, the subjects are not under-exposed.

 

   

photo credit: Helena Chu

This one too. Kung Fu boy at Dundas Square :P

This one is my fav taken yesterday at the X'mas party with Santa Claus. It was taken at the basement with a bit of light from the sun roof. I forgot my 24-70mm f2.8 at home, so gotta use the standard18-55mm f3.5-5.6 with flash. This is basically done with pop-up flash. Got the right distance between camera and subject, got the right setting, there we go.

 

 

 

Last but not least, flash can also fill in the light on the subject that is seemless. When the subject is behind the sunlight, boom, Little Monkie #1 is a cool looking handman :)

 

Of course, when the subject is in indoor that has low light, flash would do its work too. This is simply flash set on the camera. My self-portrait... lol...

Little Monkie #3 Being Mommy's Model today

Little Monkie #3 is almost 5 months old and I'm half way through my 2nd last course to complete the certificate program in photography. Assignment is due tomorrow and I was almost out of ideas of what to do.

 

What's better when you have little ones at home? Have them to be your model at your last minute request. Today, it's missy's turn because her bros were at grannies' place for a bit of fun.

 

Having said that, I gotta set things up and be quick in pressing the shutter.

 

pic 1 "Mommy, are you ready? I'm getting bored..."

 pic 2 "smile? sure :)"

 

Just need dada to come back for the real shot. 1, 2, 3 cheers...

 

 

What's this about? Daddy and baby reading time - using flash.

 

How did it turn out?