Photo Editing/Presentation

In the past few weeks, Kritasha and I have been utilizing some online Adobe Photoshop tutorials to help us play around with our photo editing. We are mainly adjusting the lighting, contrast, saturation, exposure, etc. rather than adding effects or warping the images. Here is an example of how we used Photoshop to enhance a photo:

Since finishing our editing, we have met several times in the past two weeks to work on putting together our final photo essay as well as our presentation. Both are now completed, with just a few finishing touches left (such as improving the visual appeal of our powerpoint, doing a run through of the whole presentation, etc.)

Finishing the Photography

So far, Kritasha and I have visited the majority of our planned locations. Although we are a bit off-schedule, we still have a bit of time to finish up our visits and to put together the final product. Since the last post, we have visited Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mui Wo, and the fishing village in Lantau. The fishing village was completely different from anything we have seen thus far in Hong Kong, and was an interesting experience. There were houses built on stilts and this village is considered "the Venice of Hong Kong". We plan to visit Central on a Sunday to catch the massive crowds of helpers on their day off. We have yet to visit the Peak, New Territories, and Lamma Island. We may also add in a few more if we have time. So far, we feel we are on track and things are running fairly smoothly. Here are some shots of us in action, taken with the Lumix:

Kick Start

In the past few weeks, we have really started to get on with our photography, although we are a bit behind schedule due to bad weather and conflicting commitments. So far, we have been to Stanley, Shek-O, and the Central/Soho area. We also took a few videos of our journey. In the weeks after interim, we hope to get to some parts of Kowloon, the Peak, Mongkok, and other islands surrounding Hong Kong finished. Below are some shots we took in Stanley, Shek-O, and Soho

Theory and Practice

Today, Kritasha and I met to finalize a schedule and also practice using the SLR camera - working with automatic focus, manual flash, etc. We took a trip down to the balcony of Kritasha's building to take a few pictures of the flowers and scenery there. Here is an outline of our schedule thus far (it may easily change based on weather conditions and our personal schedule conflicts):

February 18th - 20th:
Shek-O Beach, Times Square, Central, Soho Escalators, Happy Valley, Pok Fu Lam

February 24th-27th:

Kowloon, Mong Kok, New Territories, Lantau

March 2nd-4th:

The Peak

And here are a few photos of us on the balcony (taken with the Lumix)

These are some of the test photos taken with the Canon:

Lull

As of right now, Kritasha and I have yet to visit and photograph any locations and have only discussed our plans to do so. In the weeks leading up to the Chinese New Year holiday, we experienced a sort of lull where nothing was really done. One problem we have been experiencing is a conflict in schedules with Kritasha's father, who is our mentor for learning about camerawork. We are having difficulties finding a time to meet with him as he is very busy travelling for work. However, now that the break is over, we are ready to kickstart our project. Hopefully, we can get out to our first location this weekend or next, as well as to meet with Kritasha's father to at least learn the basics of using an SLR camera. Most likely, we will start by visiting one of the closer locations in downtown Hong Kong versus the more suburban areas. We plan to start with the easier, more familiar locations first and then branch out to the more unexplored areas.

Planning

Over the holiday break, Kritasha and I met to set a plan and deadlines for our project. We selected the locations in Hong Kong we would like to visit to photograph, as well as a rough schedule of when we should do so.