27. Why should you acquire digital imaging skills when you are young?

 DIGITAL IMAGING SKILLS

Acquire digital imaging skills through daily photography. You will find such skills very useful in your career and daily life. To do that, you have to be convinced that these skills are valid for your future. 

1.  DSLR CAMERAS OR HANDPHONES. Handphones are good but DSLR cameras give much sharper close-ups and zooms. Whichever you use, the important thing is to practise photography daily and process the photos to be good.

2. DOCUMENT your best photos in a blog for later references and to monitor your experiences. The reason for using a blog is that it has a 'SEARCH' function for your few thousand articles written over the year. 

3. Earn a PASSIVE income from photography. I started posting my best images at www.shutterstock.com/g/toapayohvets in Sep 2019. As at 14 Jun 2022, I have sold 1,064 downloaded images and 5 videos, earning US$326.15. If you are calculating, this amount is not worth the time spent as I have earned US$0.30/download! But I don't have to worry about maintenance, marketing and getting payments. 

My buyers are global. This is passive income which depends on the quality and type of images buyers WANT. My wildlife photos do not sell as there are much better ones from competitors and I am a beginner in wildlife photography.

4. Digital skills TO SHARE YOUR PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE.  I started around 25 years ago for my professional veterinary case studies and record the images in my website, www.toapayohvets.com when the world wide web or internet started. The webpages started as grey and white, but now, you get colours. Prospective clients view your case studies as you take time to share. 

CONCLUSION. PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS. Use the ‘P’ Mode as a beginner. Later, you will learn to use the Manual and other modes. For the birds shown as examples in this blog, I use the Canon DSLR EOS 90D, 18-200 mm lens. 

P Mode, AF, single point focus, continuous mode. Hand-held, bright 9-11 AM sunshine helps get good pictures. Focus on the bird’s eye.

SOME EXAMPLES OF MY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY OF BIRDS ARE AT: 

https://2010vets.blogspot.com/2019/02/3444-male-red-breasted-parakeet-pink.html

DATE OF PHOTOGRAPHY: 22 May 2019

Singapore Wildlife – Two or three Ring-necked parakeets flew by the Lentor Loop area. They ate pomegranates outside the two houses.

DATE OF PHOTOGRAPHY: 14 Jun 2022

Singapore Wildlife – One Ring-necked parakeet at Lentor Street's substation roof.

P.S. THOSE WHO WISH TO BUY SOME OF MY LARGE IMAGES

Large images for sale at Shutterstock

www.shutterstock.com/g/toapayohvets

26. You can take excellent photos using your latest handphone!

To: Young People

I encourage handphone owners to take a photo a day...not of themselves but of life around you - and learn how to take beautiful photos like this seaman who does not see his family for 9 months. 

Now he is on 3 months' leave. When the money is spent, he goes to the seas as earnings are around US$3,500 per month. At home, he may earn US$200 per month if he gets a job.

This handphone photo was sharp as shutterstock rejects blurry photos. Its size is less 

than what is required, so I add a white border around it to make up for the size.


The handphones below are NOT ACCEPTED by shutterstock
as they are not focused! 

25. How to take a sharp image of The Merlion.

ADVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – PHOTOGRAPHY TIP.
How to get a sharp image of the Merlion statue.

16 Jun 2022
--------------------------------------

PHOTOGRAPHY TIP from Dr Sing Kong Yuen

FOCUS on the eye of the Merlion

Bright sunshine at around 10.30 AM, Saturday is a favourable factor to get sharp images. Tourism has increased since land borders are open from 1 Apr 2022.

I focused Canon DSLR 90D on the eye of the Merlion and got this sharp image of the statue. "P' mode. Lens 18-200mm

Lean on a pole or some support, if any, to get sharp images of the eye.

A surprisingly sharp image of the Merlion - can see the black of the eye.

MORE PHOTOS OF THE MERLION AND TO BUY PHOTOS: www.shutterstock.com/g/toapayohvets

I take photos every day. At least one photo of the sceneries, street photography, buildings so that

I can better my skills over the last 10 years. Now I use Lightroom and Photoshop mainly. Such software was not so sophisticated 5 years ago.

24. Advices For Young People. Create, not consume

4 Dec 2020. 

There is the perception that the younger generation is not into hard work and sacrifices of time out of office hours to build up the business, especially inherited ones.

CREATE, NOT CONSUME 

1.  NEW SKILLS. 

If you are an employee, do know that your boss will hire a younger and less expensive replacement in time to come as intense competition makes pricing cut-throat.   

Make use of every second of your free time to acquire new skills by creating products or services, rather than spending a lot of time on computer gaming and watching movies. 

2.  TRAVEL INSIGHTS.  When you travel, be aware of the culture and businesses, rather than go from one point to another sight-seeing. 

For example, headwear sales in Chaung Tha Beach in Myanmar. The average tourist will do sight-seeing. 

However, if you look deeper, you will see the business aspects of the headwear sales---niche marketing.  How such sales person can earn a living. You have the sales strategy. Those people sells just one product or diverse products, doing cross-selling a related product and what customers are targeted.   

Young people to create, not just consume for their future 

when they are no longer young and strong to be an employee

Beach goer with children

Focus on one product to sell

More sources of revenue hopefully

Beach goers---younger generation and families

Different category of products for beach wear

Beach goers

Create your products to sell.

Focus on a niche market e.g. headwear in this example
Know who are your competitors and customers 
Product diversification

Cross-selling
Don't expect instant success. Many failures.
Hard work and perseverance

23. Advices For Young People. How to acquire digital photography skills.

ADVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - HOW TO MAKE E-GREETING CARDS.

 
It is good to acquire digital photography skills, as in this example. 

I went to Hub Spoke Cafe on a Sunday morning. The sky was overcast. I saw around 2 butterflies in this small patch of flower plot in Terminal 2, Changi Airport. Singapore is urbanised and seeing a stationary yellow butterfly at eye level with bright 10 am sunlight on it is a rare opportunity.  Most yellow butterflies I see in Singapore, seldom stop fluttering. I always carry my camera with me as such occasions happen suddenly.  

Seeing one in good health (no tattered wings, colours vibrant, not dirtied by wear and tear) and sipping nectar, at eye level, under bright morning sunlight, is a rare sighting. 

The dark clouds parted and the sun rays shone on this bougainvilla flowers, directing me to this beautiful butterfly.  I took 3 shots from around 15 feet away. It flew off as I approached it.

Original photo, not photoshopped. Square format

Sunlight rays shone on butterfly at around 10 am
Focused on the eye, Handheld.

"P" mode, Image stabilisation, single point focus, autofocus
Canon DSLR EOS 90D,  18-200 mm EFS lens

I crop photo 16:9

No photoshopping in this image as the lighting was excellent

A photo from the internet. Be aware of copyright or trademark infringement. 

 

I used Photoshop 2021. "Select and Mask".  Click "Subject". 
Save as .PNG file (transparent background).
I use "File" --- "Place Embed" above .PNG file into the 16:9 file.  See the file below:

In conclusion, the "P" Mode permits you to take most photos without the need to use the "M" mode and to set ISO, Aperture Priority, as the subject butterfly may not stay still anytime. 

Focus on the eye and shoot. This is the only photo that does not need any Photoshopping as almost all photos need to adjust contrast etc.  

The smartphone is not able to focus on the eyes as compared to the "single point" "high continuous speed" setting of the DSLR camera. Hence, your smartphone is unlikely to get a sharp butterfly photo.

Another tip.
Use Photoshop 2021. "Filter"---"Neural filter". You can get a different image as follows:

Hard work and lots of practice are needed to succeed in any field. If you have any queries, do let me know.

 

MORE BUTTERFLY PHOTOS FOR SALE AT:

https://2010vets.blogspot.com/2020/11/3428-photos-of-butterflies.html

22. Advices For Young People Series started in 2010.

INTRODUCTION

In 2010, I created the series "Advices For Young People", using an image with text. An example is as follows:

Image taken in Australia

I am not a coach on working life. Therefore, it is difficult to write more articles in this series as such advices can be unwelcome as I am not "in the same situation".

Young people have different lifestyles and priorities in life. For example, the following tattooed visitors in Patong Beach, Thailand will not be keen on a desk job or permanent employment.

Original image of young people in a beach in Thailand

In 2022, I re-start writing in this blog. Older articles had been confined to veterinary interns. See the links at:

http://www.toapayohvets.com/2018Advices_Young_People.htm

http://www.toapayohvets.com/2019Advices_Young_People.htm (this webpage)

21. Be a Proactive, Value-Adding Employee

ADVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.  Be A Proactive, Value-Adding Employee

Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow)   6 Aug 2020 chat with Stephanie Cara Ng 

Dear Stefanie,

42 years ago, the founder of Chew’s Agriculture, now producing 500,000 eggs daily, consulted me as his hens were laying fewer eggs. The eggs were misshapen, soft-shelled and had watery yolk. I was his extension vet from the AVS (ex-AVA, ex-PPD).

His layers suffered from a viral outbreak called Egg Drop Syndrome 76 (EDS 76). “A commercial vaccine has been available for 2 years and used in Europe,” I spoke to the Vaccine Lab vet. “Why do you not approve its importation?” “It needs to be proven to be efficacious in Singapore,” he replied. His colleague had confirmed the presence of the EDS 76 virus from blood tests. How could I help the farmer and the hens? 

“Should I use the vaccine illegally?” the sun burnt congenial farmer consulted me. He was losing his pants. “Mr Chew,” I said. “Would you mind doing a vaccine trial?” 50% of the vaccinated layers in one house laid normal eggs but not the other half. Mr Chew was joyful and so was I.
  
I hope this story and our various chats on office relationships would motivate you, as an employee, to devote every minute of your short stay in Toa Payoh Vets to acquire in-depth veterinary knowledge. Not just assisting the vets and be an observer. Be a proactive, value-adding employee. Do research and record real-life cases for discussion. 

In this way, your veterinary studies in Australia in 2021 will come “alive” to you and so will James Herriot’s novels about his clients and farmers.