How many hours of sleep is 1 mark worth?
According to my calculations… at least 10 hours per mark… maybe more. Thanks for understanding. =)
漂亮的日落，却只能一个人欣赏，好遗憾。。。
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
To watch a Sunrise…
It’s a race against time.. to see who reaches the spot first… the sun or you.
It’s a bet against nature, your precious (and most comfortable) hours in bed, in exchange for a show that is unknown and unpredictable.
It’s test of endurance, to move around with no food in your stomach, but a sole purpose in your mind.
It’s a lesson on determination, to learn not to despair should you come back with nothing.
It’s an appreciation of life.
In summary.. it’s a great way to start the day with you =)
Monday, September 07, 2009
Sunday, September 06, 2009
嗡嗡嗡。。。
Insects are amazing… especially flying insects. The control involved in keeping such a lightweight frame aloft, to be able to react with such accuracy and agility… all packed into a processor measured in terms of millimeters… from an engineering point of view, the technology involved is simply incredible. It is humbling to know how backward human knowledge is compared to the power of nature.
First time using a dedicated macro lens (a borrowed sigma 150mm F2.8). It’s great to have AF, as it helps to save time when shooting subjects that vary their distance quickly. (and i can MF by just grabbing the ring to fine tune the focus) A great lens with beautiful bokeh, but I doubt I have the budget and time for macro anytime soon…
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Far far away…
Will we get there?
Third consecutive image taken by a compact. The convenience is tempting… my D300 must have been jealous.
This shot isn’t taken by me.
Update on 200809: It seems that Canon has finally woken up from it’s Megapixel dream, and recently released 2 比较像样的 compacts – G11 and S90. Both shoot RAW (yea!), and I’m enticed by the articulating LCD on the G11 (it’s damn useful.. not a gimmick at all), but none of them goes wider than 28mm (and offer uncropped 3:2/16:9 outputs). I love wide-angles.. and am hoping Panasonic would finally release something that’ll make me part with my mula…
Sunday, August 16, 2009
花香
花，有永久不谢的吗？只要是真的花，开得再灿烂，再芬芳，都有它凋谢的一天。它的存在只是为了完成更大的任务，任务一旦完成，它也就失去意义了。
人生也不过如此。
人有生、老、病、死。物有成、筑、坏、空，这是自然的循环理，没有必要执著于某个阶段。事来则应，事去则尽。只有这样才能达到逍遥自在的心境。
no more emo =)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It turns out that this looked better
This was made using Photomatix 3 (together with Lightroom). I was getting a little lazy to blend the exposures manually, and it turns out that the software is capable of some pretty nice results. I personally find this better than the one below (composition and colour wise), although it might be a bit overkill with so many sunset+water+boat pics these days. I should just remove the previous post.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
My first Panaromic HDR
On second looks, it doesn't even look like a panaromic image. But hey... 15 images, and some serious computing power were used in its creation. One day I'll lay my hands on that CS4 64bit. My HDD must be feeling damn angry that there's 1gb of ram slacking away while it is forced to thrash about.
I waded into the water for this shot, ankle deep in soft, greyish mud. It's low tide these days, so I hope not to waste the opportunity to get more shots like these. I'll be back!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
When the cold wind blows...
Today is not so sunny after all. Another day... perhaps.
Went for a walk in the park after the heavy rain, and found yet another casualty.
Monday, March 23, 2009
When time permits...
For the sake of blog revival, i'm posting this far from perfect picture.
After a long day staring at 2 screens of codes, it's a relief to have a beautiful sunset. Sunset these days are very colourful, and I will try to go for more pictures if time permits.
Now... back to coding.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
It's over... all over.
What a luxury it is to be able to doodle on 1 photo for the whole night =)
Read on if you have such a luxury too...
After sooo many days of inactivity, i wanted something special to refresh this blog. The weather these days are dry and hot. While i do curse and swear at how much floor mopping i'll have to do, its also true that the sunset is a lot more colourful.
Exams are finally over, after less than 20 weeks of actual schooling (not counting test/break). Kindof feels like BMT, intense training/studying and stress and then poof... all the weight off your shoulders, but with the lingering worry of what's to come next.
I have no plans to go anywhere during the hols, but intend to do a lot more photography. Every shoot feels like a little holiday trip, especially those that i go solo. Its just you, and your way of seeing, unaffected by convention. I get to think aloud, commenting my own pictures and in a way, get to know myself.
While shooting this pic, i realised that i've changed a little in the way i compose. I am seeing it more as a painting than a picture. I ask myself questions like: If you were to paint this scene, what would you include? Colour or monochrome? How dark/bright would u paint this area.. stuff like that. Photography, with photoshop, gives me the power to make such decisions =)
Technical data: 5 exposures digitally blended. 2 GND8 stacked (results in the nice vignette at the top). Tokina 11-16 f11 at 11mm.
Read on if you have such a luxury too...
After sooo many days of inactivity, i wanted something special to refresh this blog. The weather these days are dry and hot. While i do curse and swear at how much floor mopping i'll have to do, its also true that the sunset is a lot more colourful.
Exams are finally over, after less than 20 weeks of actual schooling (not counting test/break). Kindof feels like BMT, intense training/studying and stress and then poof... all the weight off your shoulders, but with the lingering worry of what's to come next.
I have no plans to go anywhere during the hols, but intend to do a lot more photography. Every shoot feels like a little holiday trip, especially those that i go solo. Its just you, and your way of seeing, unaffected by convention. I get to think aloud, commenting my own pictures and in a way, get to know myself.
While shooting this pic, i realised that i've changed a little in the way i compose. I am seeing it more as a painting than a picture. I ask myself questions like: If you were to paint this scene, what would you include? Colour or monochrome? How dark/bright would u paint this area.. stuff like that. Photography, with photoshop, gives me the power to make such decisions =)
Technical data: 5 exposures digitally blended. 2 GND8 stacked (results in the nice vignette at the top). Tokina 11-16 f11 at 11mm.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Barking up the tree
This was an opportunity shot. I wasn't there to shoot chameleons. I just thought this chap's position allows for an interesting composition. I was in WCP for cycling, trying to feel some wind from an otherwise hot and humid day. Although there is no autumn in SG, the amount of dried leaves and flowers is still substantially more. Stopped to have a second look at a particularly beautiful angle when i noticed this sunbather. Glad i brought my cam along.
The bigger version is a must see. I love the colours and details one can extract from shooting NEF.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Bankruptcy - Some people just don't care
Humans create their own problems. Let them die for all I care. As long as the sun still rises tomorrow, I will be here to embrace it.
Every sunny afternoon, these guys will be there for their spa. Always. I've made it a point to carry my camera with me today, and i think i'll do so more often.
Barely 200m long, this path to school never fails to surprise me. Rain or shine, there's always something interesting, if you've been observant enough. One day i shall stick a fisheye into one of these lizards' face. Until that day... For now, i'll look forward to school.
Every sunny afternoon, these guys will be there for their spa. Always. I've made it a point to carry my camera with me today, and i think i'll do so more often.Barely 200m long, this path to school never fails to surprise me. Rain or shine, there's always something interesting, if you've been observant enough. One day i shall stick a fisheye into one of these lizards' face. Until that day... For now, i'll look forward to school.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Yet another fishy walkabout
Bear with me... i just love to see the hexagonal light bursts from this fisheye. Best of all, there is no flaring even when pointing at the sun!Thursday, July 24, 2008
Warp my world
5 exp handheld HDRIn case you haven't notice... the above image is way wilder than usual. What happened? Make a lucky guess =D
Hmm... isn't that hard to guess eh? I gave in and bought myself yet another lens - the Tokina 10-17 FE. It's a fisheye zoom... first of its kind for DX sized sensors, and can be used on FX from 15mm onwards. (talk about future proofing)INTRO TO FISHEYE
This lens is a SPECIALITY lens. Which means it is only useful in a few situations. Used too often, viewers will develop vertigo, and it might just turn them off. But when used the right way, it is able to get you ASS-KICKING perspectives no other lenses can.
Fisheyes have geometric instead of volumetric distortions. That is to say, objects retain the same area in the picture no matter where it is placed. Rectilinear lenses, say the 12-24, have volumetric distortions, stretching objects placed at the edges, making faces and bodies look wider than they are supposed to be. However, fisheyes curve any lines that doesn't pass through the center, so there are subjects that you shouldn't shoot with a fisheye under normal circumstances (ie buildings/landscapes).
COMPOSING WITH FISHEYES
What i love about this particular lens is the wide-ness. It's sick. You get the full 180 degrees FOV, meaning that EVERYTHING in front of you will be in the picture. That includes part of your feet or maybe your shoulder, but more commonly, your shadow. The widest rectilinear lens at the moment is the sigma 12-24, but that is only about 120 deg FOV. Imagine how much wider this is! The extreme wideness and unique distortion means I have to learn to compose in a very different way.
To get use to this new persective, I stuck the camera to my eye as i walked around the park. With the distortion, I have the ability to "bend" objects, warping them to aid my composition. This also means that how I frame my picture will be more important than before. You can't simply crop the image in post.HANDLING & BUILT
The 10-17 is a very compact and light lens. Despite its solid metallic body, it only weighs 350g. (the 12-24 weights 750g). It is only slightly larger than a 50mm prime, making it an ideal walkabout UWA, provided you can accept the loss of corner detail when pictures are de-fished.
PERFORMANCE
Wide open, this lens is not very sharp. Purple fringing is evident, even after the Expeed processing. But stopped down to f8 and sharpness is much more acceptable, although still not as sharp as any other lens I own.
Edit: I made a serious mistake on leaving AF Fine Tune ON. (Apparently D300 doesn't allow fine tuning of different 3rd party lenses) With it off, I get much better results. This lens is surprisingly sharp all the way to the edges from f5.6 and above!
It is surprisingly resilient to flare though, and the 6 aperture blades give me very nice sunbursts. This is important as the lens is so wide you almost always get the sun in your picture.
Matrix metering will go wild outdoors, due to the super high contrast of the scene. Use center weighted, manual, or if possible, HDR like what i've did. (it helps if you can rattle off at 8fps hehe)
IN CONCLUSION this is a very unique yet versatile lens. Lightweight and compact, I believe it will be with me for the non-important social gatherings, or walkabouts more often than the 12-24.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
The world is a miraculous place
122s exposure, f/4, iso800Stars above, darkess all round. At the edge of the cliff I sat, alone, feeling as one with mother nature. Holding the shutter open, I let my camera do its magic, the magic of describing this beautiful experience with a thousand words, or in this case, with one solid picture.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Written in the stars
2 nights on Pulau Tioman gave me some chance to experiment light painting. With the sky full of stars, I used a torchlight to "paint" the coconut trees to add in some foreground details.
Do note that working on an uncalibrated monitor, it is possible that some of you might not see as much details in the sky. There are many faint little stars and milky ways visible on the original pic.
Do note that working on an uncalibrated monitor, it is possible that some of you might not see as much details in the sky. There are many faint little stars and milky ways visible on the original pic.
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