The Bon Odori is the Japanese version of the Hungry Ghost festival. It is celebrated around the middle of July. This year, the Penang Bon Odori will be held at Padang Brown on Saturday, July 15, 2006. Note the venue change, please.
Last year, I was there amongst the crowd and manage to get some very colourful photos because the dusk sky was a beautiful bright blue and pink. However, it was hard to squeeze through the crowds. From down there, I envied these bunch of photographers who got on stage to capture the drummers close-up.
Out of the bunch of photos I took, I think 60% of them were blurred because of the dim lights. These drummers performed before the sun went down and that’s about all I managed to capture. Those performances that appeared much later were all blurred. Duh!
Too bad I can’t redeem myself at this year Bon Odori because I won’t be in Penang this Saturday. However, if you are either in Penang or Shah Alam, go check out this festival. You will be able to snap many interesting shots of the Japanese expatriates in their traditional costumes, pretty girls (locals mostly) in kimonos and cute little Japanese kids.
Some tips to remember :
- Avoid using flash, whenever possible. You will get a nicer photos with its natural lightings instead of harsh lights produced by flash.
- Use the Night mode in your camera but do experiment with other programmes. Take a few shots and see which programmes produce the best result.
- When taking shots of performers on stage, watch out for those bright spotlights. Don’t face it and also don’t stay in a spot with too much shadows.
- Our digital cameras ‘cannot think’ and hence, it is hard for the camera to know what exactly you are shooting. Therefore, if your subject is in a darker place, don’t point your camera at something bright or else the aperture and shutter speed will be automatically adjusted for bright lights. Then, you will get a very dark subject.
- Sometimes, it is good to include a few heads in your photos to give it the ‘stage feel’. I.e. keep the performers in the top part of the frame and at the lower part, you can see the back of some spectators’ heads to indicate that you are watching a stage show.
- Taking night shots is tricky. You can’t afford to zoom too much because zooming in dark places will produce blurry shots if your hand shakes (which definitely happens). Therefore, try to get as close as possible to the subject. (Read my earlier post on night photography)
- Let’s say in a cultural event like these, try not to include too many things in one photo because all the colours and costumes will make the photo looks ‘messy’. Take bits and pieces to enhance the expression, details on their costumes and the mood.
All the above are based on my own trials and errors plus my observation of the general crowds taking photos. Hehehe, I do peek at the things people done wrong so that I can come back and write what should be done right. All in the name of blogging.
So, folks, don’t miss this photo opportunity at the Bon Odori. Oh yeah, there should be a marvellous fireworks too. Taking photos of fireworks is another tough job which I had not succeed so far. Let’s explore that next time.
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