Hey there, and welcome to Aktashif.
I’m Amir De Leon, and I’m a photographer and a videographer
and I’m here to help you get started into your creative journey.
Aktashif is a unique programme that encourages the youth based in the Middle East
to follow their passion of photography, videography or printing
and it helps transform it into a career path that reflects who they are.
Designed and created to support the artistic vision of the youth
the competition is open to individuals of the age of fourteen, to twenty-five.
The final prize award to the winner of the competition, which includes AED15,000 cash prize, and AED15,000 worth of Canon products
and a year-long membership at a local entrepreneurship incubator
where he, or she, can start their new business.
The programme is divided into four Modules.
Collectively, these Modules serve as tools to help you through the process of designing and launching a successful creative business.
The first Module challenges the youth to find their artistic voices.
Modules two to four guide youth through the process of developing a business concept, portfolio and website.
The second Module of the programme is focused on helping you to get started on your path towards the creative journey.
Having a business concept is an essential step in the process of launching your creative career.
A business concept is a document that describes the most basic parts of a business.
What you’re selling, who you’re selling it to, and how you plan to achieve your business goals.
My role today, is to take you through how my business is centered on photography
and how you can use photography to help advertise or build your business.
Whether you’re an upcoming photographer, or a newbie, this video will have tips and tricks for you all.
I’m Amir De Leon, and I’m twenty years old, and currently, I create videos for social media
specifically, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. And I also produce videos for brands and businesses.
So, my role as a creator isn’t your typical photographer or videographer
I mainly produce trendy and relatable content that teaches you small camera tricks and hacks
and also inspire them to utilise the simplest things into a creative way.
So, what got me into photography and videography goes way back from when I was in school.
And all I can tell you is, it started out of passion.
Because I literally documented everything from going to school, coming home, hanging out with friends…
And all of this went up on social media, and because of that, I collaborated and networked with a lot of people
to the point where I had gotten a lot of opportunities, and this opened my mind to a whole different realm.
At the young age of twenty, I have shot videos and images for some big brands and companies
leaving my mark as an upcoming photographer.
I was constantly teased for being a child of mixed race, and also for being chubbier than others my age.
This pushed me to take up fitness where I would take videos of myself working out and literally document everything.
And that lead me to actually falling in love to making content than fitness itself
And from there, I just networked and my love just grew more and more.
I first started getting recognition on TikTok, where I started posting video tutorials and behind the scenes footage
to some of the amazing shoots I’ve done.
My top quality and easy to understand videos made me stand out on the platform.
The constant increase of my following and viewer engagement got my work recognised by top brands and people from around the world.
So, all the work on my platform includes a wide variety of content which consists of portraits, landscapes, automotive
and even in the last few months, a lot of quarantine, homemade photos and videos.
And from shooting all of those, that led me to hitting that viral mark which enabled me to reach millions and millions of people from around the globe.
And from that kind of exposure, that gave me the opportunity to work with brands such as Ford, Lincoln, BMW and Mercedes.
I wouldn’t say it was an easy task at all. Because all of it was practically a lot of trial and error
and experimenting with all sorts of content to get that one thing that I am passionate about.
So, the time I invested in making all of my content was well worth it
because it led me to actually gaining more experience, and actually earning a bit more money
which is not, technically, my main motivation on why I do what I do.
It’s just very essential to actually grow yourself as a creator.
At a young age, working as a freelance photographer and videographer, while in school, wasn’t an easy task.
But I was really confident enough from the passion that I have
and I really took that risk, which not many people would do, and that is drop out [of school.]
This is definitely not the path for everybody, but I was convinced that I had the potential to actually learn more
and be more creative outside of school, that can maybe, one day, lead me to a career.
Taking that risk was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made
and it opened up a lot of new doors for me when it comes to projects
and it even led me to having the platform that I have today.
Personally, I’m really humbled by the fact that people out there are taking my work as an example for their own creations.
That’s just pretty crazy to me.
Photography is important because it allows people to see the world from different points of view
and to admire the most different scenarios and situations captured in a frozen moment.
Photography is so powerful that it allows you to bring experiences to others in the form of images
and it enables the diffusion of information of things, as they really are.
Creating a good brand is a tricky and a subtle thing, and most of us don’t even have the benefit
of having a marketing team at our beck end call.
Your photos represent your brand, and when people want to visit your website or social media
they want to get to know you, and what is it that you can offer them that is different.
Having basic and etiquette skills, and knowledge in photography, can greatly help you not only in advertising and marketing your business
but it allows you to share your unique outlook and perspective with your audience.
One of the most important aspects of establishing an attractive brand is the ability to clearly convey
who, and what your business is, while offering your customers something that is immediately recognisable, as desirable.
The benefits of an engaged social media community that shares, likes and retweets your content are impossible to overstate.
Displaying professionally taken photos alongside your social media posts
make them far more likely to be engaged by your desired audiences
growing your brand and reaching more potential customers organically.
It’s important to connect with your customers in an empathetic way.
They already trust your brand, and digital marketing can make it easy to stay connected
when your routines are disrupted, or as your team gets ready to go back to work.
The Canon EOS M50 is a stylish, Mirrorless camera, equipped with a High-Resolution, Electronic Viewfinder
a large grip, and a Vari-Angle LCD Touchscreen, and a compact body.
So, this nifty camera right over here has a 24.1 Megapixel (APS-C) CMOS Sensor
and it has a native ISO range of 100 to 25,600.
It is also the first Canon camera with a new Digic 8 Image Processor.
It can shoot up to 10 frames per second (fps) into continuous shooting mode.
It has improved Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus (AF).
It has a 3-inch Vari-Angle Touchscreen.
And a 0.39-inch all LED, Electronic Viewfinder.
And let’s not forget, it also shoots 4K.
One of the best things about this camera is that it’s really light.
And the grip allows you to hold the camera comfortably in your hands.
One of the user-friendly features of this camera is the M-Fn button
which is conveniently positioned to the bottom-left of the Shutter button.
You can set this button to be a shortcut to your most frequently used function.
The EOS M50 is the first EOS M Camera to feature Dual Sensing IS
which enables better image stabilisation, which means you can avoid getting that really, really shaky shot.
The new photographers suddenly became more intimidated by their DSLRs, as they thought
in order to be like the Pros, they needed to forgo the camera’s Automatic Modes and shoot Manual Mode, only.
So, now we’re going to talk about Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed.
The Aperture is a small set of blades in the lens that control how much light will enter the camera.
The blades create an octagonal shape that can be widened, or closed down to a small hole.
If you shoot with the Aperture wide open, then more light is allowed into the camera
than if the Aperture is closed down, it’ll only allow a tiny hole of the light to enter the camera.
Aperture sizes are measured by F-Stops. A high F-Stop, like F-22, meaning that the aperture hole is quite small
and a low F-Stop, like F-3.5, meaning that the Aperture is wide open.
The Aperture also controls the Depth of Field.
Depth of Field is how much of the picture is sharp and how much is blurry in the background.
The Shutter is a curtain in the camera, that quickly rolls over the image sensor
and allows light to shine onto the sensor for a fraction of a second.
The longer the Shutter allows light to shine onto the image sensor, the brighter the picture, since more light is gathered.
A darker picture is produced when the Shutter moves very quickly
and only allows light to touch the imaging sensor for a tiny fraction of a second.
The duration that the Shutter allows light onto the image sensor is called the Shutter Speed, and it’s measured in fractions of a second.
So, a Shutter Speed of half a second will allow more light to touch the sensor
and will produce a brighter picture than a Shutter Speed of 1/200th of a second.
Keep in mind that the Shutter Speed is also responsible for controlling the amount of blur in a picture.
Alright, so let’s talk about the ISO.
The ISO controls the exposure by using software in the camera to make it extra sensitive to light.
A high ISO, such as ISO 1,600 will produce a brighter picture than a lower ISO of ISO 100.
The drawback to increasing the ISO is that it makes the picture noisier.
Digital noise in photos taken with digital cameras is random pixels scattered all over the photo.
It is a similar effect as grain in film photography, and it degrades the photo quality.
Okay, so now let’s talk about one of the most important factors when shooting photos and videos, and that is Focus.
One important technique to understanding photography, especially when you’re starting out, is the concept of Focus.
And in every photo you take, there will always be a Plane of Focus.
This is the region and space, the potential to be as sharp as possible in a photo.
Focusing can be easy or difficult, depending on your subject.
Like a non-moving landscape, versus a fast-moving bird in flight.
Autofocus (AF) systems use a motor in the camera, or lens, to focus on a subject you’ve selected manually or automatically.
So, just press a button on your camera and it will focus on your chosen subject.
Or, choose one for you, if you prefer.
Still, Manual Focus stuck around for a reason.
If your camera is having trouble focusing, such as in a dark condition, Manual Focus lets you override any issues
or make any precise adjustment that the camera may have missed.
And if you set your lens to Manual Focus, you can lock focus for a series of photos in a row.
Okay, so now let’s talk about lighting set-ups.
The key to great portrait photography is understanding portrait lighting.
This is true for natural, ambient light, as well as artificial light.
These lighting patterns and positions, and explanations, are designed for beginners
but are also great reminders for advanced photographers.
Butterfly Lighting. Also known as, Paramount Lighting.
It is named after the butterfly-shaped shadow that’s created beneath the nose.
Place the main light source above, and directly behind your camera, point it down, slightly on your subject.
Butterfly Lighting creates a shadow underneath the chin, nose and around the cheeks.
When the subject is turned in an angle, it can create more dramatic shadows underneath the cheekbones.
The higher you position the light behind you, and above the subject, the longer the shadows will get underneath the nose and chin.
It’s flattering for most faces.
Rembrandt Lighting, named after the Dutch painter who used this style in his work.
Rembrandt Lighting is pretty similar to Loop Lighting.
In Rembrandt Lighting, however, the shadow loop of the nose is long enough to connect with the shadow on the cheek.
This traps a triangle of light on the cheek.
Profile Lighting, also known as Rim Lighting. It’s sometimes used as sports portraiture because it looks kinda heroic.
The most common type of application of this kind of lighting is to position your light behind your subject.
This creates an edge around your subject, giving them definition and separation from the background.
Consistency and dedication played an important role in my career, in my growth as a creator.
And being able to consistently create content, collaborate and experience different skill sets has really gotten me far.
But the most important thing for me is to have an open mind, keep trying new things. I mean, practice does make perfect.
Use other people’s opinions on your work constructively, and never let that affect you.
Ultimately, you will find your own style in creating content.
This will introduce you to so many business opportunities for you to expand yourself, financially and professionally.
This competition is a great opportunity to kickstart your creative business
and even to support you with the tools that you need to create. It’s a headstart.
The competition runs to the end of December, and in the months leading up to the deadline.
Participants will complete tasks assigned to them over four Modules.
To enter the competition, simply follow the guidelines in the website and check in for regular updates.
Go to en.canon-me.com/aktashif-programme/
The grand prize winner will be awarded with AED15,000 cash prize and AED15,000 worth of Canon products
and a year-long membership at a local entrepreneurship incubator, where the winner can launch his, or her, business.
Additionally, Canon will select twelve Module winners throughout the year
who will each receive an award, and a Canon M50 camera.
Winners will also be featured on Canon’s Social Media channels.
Best of luck, participants.