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bitplay Exclusive Interview - M.Y. Cheng

- Favorite Type of Traveling

Be an ambitious explorer

I am a city explorer. Since 2014, I started my doctoral study in Germany, I have always been attracted by the half-timbered buildings (Fachwerkhaus in German). Therefore, whenever I have free time, I always visit the towns, which might not be famous, but with picturesque half-timbered buildings. I like to capture the timeless vibe of these buildings.

- Skills in Travel Photography

Your best friend in photo shooting, the lights

Shooting photos is always challenging, especially the uncontrollable factors like the weather condition, the light, and the crowds. I prefer to be either an early bird or a night owl. Shooting photos in the early morning or during sunset is an optimal condition for me to avoid the crowds and, therefore, makes me concentrating on framing the shot. Furthermore, the light in these two conditions is relatively soft and gentle when compared with the light during noon, making the photos with warm vibes and reduce the unwanted shadow.

The photograph is always about how to play with the light. To get to know the light, you might want to have some convenient tools. I would recommend installing the apps which can show the position of the sun. By doing so, you know exactly when the golden hour or blue hour started. This strategy might also be helpful to arrange your trip plan so that you don’t need to carry your big camera with you all day long.

 

- How to Capture the Composition of Scenery?

Don’t be greedy, be picky

You are framing as you imagine. The sensitivity of framing should be trained as it can help you frame quickly and adequately in the long run. 

It’s equally important to create a picture in your mind as you take the picture via the camera. You can start studying the object you want to take a picture before your trip. For example, I often check on Google Map to see the buildings or the street I want to visit and try to have a picture in my mind before I start my journey. If I want to take the photo of a skyscraper, it’s helpful for me to find a shooting spot where I can frame the skyline. The more you familiar with your topic, the more you know how to put it in the right place in your picture.

- Favorite Photo-Edited App

Discovering the pixels

I use 90 percent of time editing the photos with Adobe Lightroom and fine-tune the photos before uploading to Instagram using their built-in tools.

 

- How to Select and Adjust the Tone When Editing Photos?

Focused but charming

Define the focus of your picture. Every photo has a focal point where you can highlight it. Firstly, I resize the photo to find out the frame in general. After resizing, I enhance the details of the focal point and try to increase the clarity of it. Then, I tune the photo with elevated shadow and deem the highlight to make it richer in color. To boost the contrast, I use the radius filter to soften the edge, making the focal point pops up. The rest of part is just playing around the hue, saturation, lumination (HSL) to tune the colors accordingly. Typically, I prefer warm colors than cold colors. Therefore, I usually heighten the saturation on yellow and orange on my photos. To add dramatic vibes, I often vignette the images to a certain degree. To fine-tune the colors, adjusting the vibrancy may be helpful to finalize the photos.

- Interesting Photography Experience during Traveling

Photo shooting can steal your soul? For real?

This statement might be hilarious to modern society but may not be true when the cameras were invented. There was an interesting experience when I joined the medieval festival in Germany in 2016. During the time of the festival, people just dressed and acted like the people living in the medieval time. They lived there with a tent and cooked the meals with the bonfire. When I was walking and approaching a group of men and took a picture of them, one of the men yield like “Don’t steal my soul!” Apparently, he tried to make fun with me. However, my German friend told me that, when the cameras just invented, many people did worry about their soul would get stolen by the mysterious box, the camera. This story reminds me a lot about how lucky we are nowadays to use the cameras without worrying about the soul being stolen.

 

- Reviews for bitplay Products

A trust-worthy & eye-catching partner in every journey

I use DSLR and iPhone. Bitplay products fill the gap as a hybrid system to bridge the image quality and extended demands on photo shooting. I often encounter the situations that I need a broader perspective on my iPhone during photo shooting. Whenever I put on my HD Wide Angle lens, I always feel I’m uniquely exploring the world. The HD Wide Angle lens just provides the unmatched sharpness and proper color rendering when I take the photos. It’s a perfect balance on the weight and the image quality, meaning you can explore the world with an ease that you’ve never expected.

The design of Bitplay products is also impressive. The slick case for the add-on lens is so practical and good-looking so that I can just use the case like a regular case. Not even mention when the lens is installed. I couldn’t remember how many times I caught people just peeking at my bitplay lens and asked me something like “May I know what is that?” 

 

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