BanHup Teh Photography

Making a difference in this world.

Banhup Teh — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:49:17 +0000

On the morning of August 25th 2010, my family went together with a local bank to embark on a mission to try to make a difference in this world. The mission was to address the concerns of global warming secondary to pollution and deforestation by planting 75 trees in a little known primary school in Dengkil, Selangor.

Do you know that each tree can absorb about 0.25 tons of CO2 emmisions over 25 yrs and that an average person emits about 7 tons of CO2? By planting trees, we have chosen to offset the environmental impact of CO2, promote plant and animal bio-diversity leading to improvement in soil fertility.

We arrived at SRJK (Tamil) Taman Permata Dengkil shortly after 8am and was received by some students of the school together with some members of the teaching staff. This school is mostly attended by children of low income workers (estate workers and daily paid labourers). Apart from primary education, the children are provided with daily lunch to sustain them, thanks to the generous sponsors of NGOs and good Samaritans. Although exhausted by the gardening work, the children were elated to be part of the event and were treated to a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) lunch that they truly enjoyed. According to the school headmaster, for some of the children this was the first time they ate KFC.

All of us left the school very happy knowing that we had in a small way make a difference in this world and especially to someone’s life. We would never forget the laughter we shared with those children and their smiling faces.

The rest of the photos will be posted at my Facebook account.

I am free!

Banhup Teh — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:15:02 +0000

Today is officially my last day of my day job, same day as our nation's Merdeka (Independence) day hence it is a nice thought that the whole nation celebrates with me on this national holiday. Many have and will ask why at such a 'young' age (ok, I am not old enough to retire) that I optionally retire given that as a pediatrician my day job was decently lucrative. The keyword here is 'optionally' because after weighing all my options this, I believe, is the best for me.

This will mean I'll have more time for photography and more importantly, for the family as well. I plan to travel more on my own and if any of you are keen, I'll organize more photo-safaris and even workshops. Contact me if you want any group or one-on-one post-processing workshops, and watch this space for more announcements on photo-safaris and workshops.

Time to 'rest'.

Ebooks now available in print!

Banhup Teh — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:21:29 +0000

Due to some requests my ebooks are now available in print. I will be printing this on demand which unfortunately adds to the cost. To make it more affordable I have decided to subsidize the printing of these books.

The books are printed by Photobookmart. I have seen and gone through the quality of the printing and the binding, and must say that I am more than pleased with them. I am also more than satisfied with the efficiency of this company. As an indication, the book will be shipped out within one business day and depending on where you are, you should get your copy within 5 business days via DHL courier service.

I have now listed the soft cover version at My Shop for sale. The hard cover version is also available on request.

Please go to My Shop for more details of the pricing.

PS Unfortunately I do not have the time yet to take some photos as I am extremely busy these few weeks. I will have them up as soon as I can take them.

A special portraiture post-processing workshop in Kuantan

Banhup Teh — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:15:52 +0000

'Special' because it is a special request by a photographer friend from Kuantan.

'Special' because we won't be shooting pretty models for a change.*

And 'special' because being a first of such workshops by me, I'll make it special.

(I prefer to do photo-safaris which I have successfully done quite a few.)

*We will be shooting everyday people in a fishing village in their natural environment.

Workshop details

Organizer : Wooi Shen (wooishen@gmail.com)

Date : Saturday September 18th 2010

Time : 8.00am – 6.00pm

Format : Shoot at Tanjung Lumpur fishing village from 8.00am till noon

with lunch break followed by post-processing session from 2.00pm till 6.00pm.

Subjects : Elderly man, elderly woman and children in their environment.

Fees : Early bird offer RM660/pax till August 31st. RM760/pax thereafter.

Max of 15 participants.

Note : Fully booked! Thank you to all participants for your support.

Please also note that no refund will be entertained. You will have to find your own replacement.

Who should attend : Those into portrait and/or travel photography.

Things to bring : Beside your camera, please bring along your laptop for the post-processing session.

Software I will be using is Photoshop CS5.

As a special offer to all participants who may be keen, you may buy the first ever soft-cover book versions of my ebooks at RM100 each.

I'll autograph it if you like.

*normal price RM150 (Beginners version) and RM180 (Advanced).

Please indicate your desire to get the books during your registration. I'll send you the invoice individually.

Topics covered

1. Monitor calibration.

2. Colour management in photography.

3. Available light portraiture.

4. How to see the light.

5. How and where to pose subjects.

6. Post-processing – Banhup's style. You will learn to process the following :

…and a glimpse on adding digital make-up.

For further inquiries please contact organizer Wooi Shen at wooishen@gmail.com.

Photoshop work on Sarita’s eye

Banhup Teh — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:54:34 +0000

After I posted some photos from the series Sarita in Red at one of the photography forums, one of the members suggested that the following photo may look better with the slightly distracting highlight from the round reflector being cloned out. I thought about it and gave it a try.

What I did was select and copy an area of her iris that I think is appropriate, mirror flipped it and processed it so that it blended nicely with the surroundings. Here is the result (click photo to see large version). So which do you think is better?

Before

After

Intha fishermen of Inle Lake

Banhup Teh — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:34:15 +0000

Inle lake is another attraction worth visiting by photographers. It is recommended to take an internal flight to Heho from Yangon (we flew from Mandalay) because apparently the roads linking these places are pretty bad. From Heho we were transported by car to Nyaungshwe where we took a fast boat ride to our hotel, Golden Island Cottage.

The Intha people who live in and around the lake have a fascinating way of fishing – they row with their legs freeing their hands to manage a conical-shaped fishing net. They usually work alone on their long canoes, on which they perch themselves on a tiny area at the stern. They are surprisingly agile even at that precarious position.

They start training them young.

At sunset.

More of smoking cherrot in Myanmar

Banhup Teh — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:28:56 +0000

I know this is an unhealthy practice but the uniqueness of smoking cherrot does make a lasting impression to the uninitiated, me included. I must add here again that somehow the number of female smokers of cherrot outnumbered the males from what I could see. I wonder if this is really true.

Taken at a local market in Bagan. Notice the tin can.

NB. Taken with the Nikon 24mm/1.4 Aperture Priority @f3.2

Sarita in red

Banhup Teh — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:19:03 +0000

Manuel Librodo and I had another shoot of the very beautiful Sarita Marlou one day after the June 5th workshop by Manny. We had another fun session and here are some shots taken that day.

Model/MUA: Sarita Marlou

Photographers: Manuel Librodo, Marl and Banhup

Venue: The Mines, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Manuel Librodo workshop in Kuala Lumpur, July 31 – Aug 01

Banhup Teh — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:30:55 +0000

Due to popular demand, Manny will be coming back to Kuala Lumpur on Jul 31st -Aug 1st to run another series of workshops. We will be having a morning shoot on July 31st followed by a morning post-processing session on Aug 1st (2 half-day sessions respectively).

The response is so overwhelming that the workshop is almost fully booked even before I make this official announcement. Half of the registered participants this time are repeaters from the last workshop. Thank you all for your support! Manny promised something special for you.

More details

Venue : to be announced to participants.

Model : Krystal Vee, model-cum-Hollywood actress (as in banner, more of her portfolio here).

Theme : Pre-nup theme.

This event is fully booked. Thank you all for your interest.

My take at Manuel Librodo workshop June 5th

Banhup Teh — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:45:10 +0000

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Before I knew it Manny and Krystal were on their way to the airport to take their flight home. Prior to the workshop I could feel it in my bones (pun intended) that this workshop, like the many before it, would be a blast. The photos shown by the many participants show it and the fact that the next 2-day workshop in Jul 31st-Aug 1st is already fully booked is testimony to the mastery of Manuel Librodo. And I have yet to announce this workshop officially! By the way if any of you are still interested in this workshop you may drop me a line and I'll put you on the waitlist just in case there are any withdrawals.

I told myself I would not be taking much photos during the last workshop as I already have so much on my plate from my last Myanmar trip which I have yet to finish processing. But – there is always a but – Manny's magic always draw me in and I just could not resist the temptation to shoot some. Here are the results of my attempts that day.

Click photo to get larger view…looks better that way.

Some on Sarita.

And finally Sofea.