Somebody kill me!

I burnt a hole in my pocket, splurging on the most advanced flash unit nikon has ever made: the SB-800. It's hell ex... at $520 (a new one costs $620) for a xenon tube people will think you are SIAO. Some time i will make my equipment pay for themselves.

I figured i will be shooting more events, and realised the weakness of the SB-600 after the previous wedding shoot. It just isn't powerful/accurate enough. I have to levels up almost every pic and ended up with a whole lot of noise. Hopefully the new flash will solve the problem.

The worst part of this purchase is... i want more stuff! I'm now awaiting the new 55-200mm VR, and eventually i should go for the tamron/tokina 16/17-50mm f2.8.... and eventually i will be begging on the streets with a sign that reads "will shoot for food"

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Overseas wedding shoot

My second wedding shoot ever since i bought my d70. Taken in Kuantan, Malaysia, for my relative who isn't really particular about AD wedding pictures. I tried my best, but results aren't as good as i thought.

Biggest problem is lens changing. Taking my tokina out in the field for the first time, i sort of overused it and had much more "overview" shots compared to closeups. This is directly opposite to the first wedding shoot back in december. I also had a hard time anticipating when to change lens... i missed a lot of smiles and potentially nice portraits when my tokina was on. This is a major failing factor. (and that's why pros have 2 bodies)

Have to be thankful for the tokina though, as i couldn't possibly catch the grandeur of the wedding (held in a huge temple) without the wide FOV. I also managed to "widen up" the small room where the bride was making up, with the wide angle's optical characteristics. I'm not going to post those pics yet as i've yet to obtain permission.

To sum it all up, the shoot got all the necessary pictures, but nothing really spectacular.

A casual shot with the tokina at the beach:

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A new member of the family

On the first day of Lunar New Year, there came a new addition to my lens lineup. It's called the tokina 12-24mm f/4. Weighed in at 570g, and setting me back by $720, it's the most expensive lens i've bought so far. (this gives you an idea how newbie i still am)

Haven't really tried it out yet, but 12mm isn't as wide as i thought. Could have gone with a sigma 10-20mm, but anyway... I post this entry without a photo, just to keep it alive.

I guess my first outing with the tokina should come this weekend, provided it doesn't rain. I should be roaming the CBD area for some HDR architecture shots. Watch this space.

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Back from CT07

My first overseas exercise, a 16 day experience in Lopburi, Thailand. I regretted not bringing my d70... but come to think of it, i may not have the luxury of time to snap keepers. Anyway, my olympus c200z spoilt along the way. Here are the pics taken by the dying camera. None of them were keepers by pro standards, but they are precious memories to me.

Edit: Photos have been removed for security reasons.

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manpAcker hits the streets again

I've not been snapping for weeks. Bad weather? Heavy commitments? I dunno... thought they were just excuses for the lack of motivation.

Enough of the crapping. Here's the stuff:

The above image is the favourite from this trip. What strikes me most is the blend of both ancient and modern architecture.

I was freaking reluctant to wake up as the morning was so cool and comfy. Eventually i took the first bus down to marina bay just in time to catch the sun rise.

Its nothing spectacular. I've always wanted to catch a sunrise that has rays of light streaking across the sky. Guess its just another unlucky morning.

Nonetheless, there were quite a no. of photogs at the merlion park. Some even slept overnight! That's wad i call hardcore.



Darn sian lately. If anyone's interested in going out for a snap, feel free to let me know. (kindof lame to put this here... given the low viewership. heck) Enjoy!

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a Burst of Christmas lights

A very belated visit to orchard road, i missed most performances. Couldn't think of anything spectacular to snap, i tried playing around with long shutter speeds. By chance, i found this angle pleasing.

Nothing special... the same old Christmas tree sitting in ngee ann city.

Yes, it has been a really long time since i posted a photo. Very busy processing the pictures taken during Lt Ken's wedding, and hopefully he will allow me to share them online.

Be patient.

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IR @ marina south - Finally

Made it a point to visit this place during the weekend. I've noticed that it always rains in the afternoon, so i got there in the late morning.

The above picture is a composite of IR (background) and normal (sundial) pictures. The angle was inspired by a fellow CSer (forgot the name liao), but i lack the super wide lens he had. I decided to create an illusion by increasing the width of the picture, but fading out the sides... at least it worked for me.

I was quite shagged already when i shot this second picture. The weather was getting really hot.

The algae around the water didn't look special to me, until i converted it to IR. It now looks as if there were ice floating... haha. Now i know what picture to use for christmas cards this coming season.

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Baby small, Baby cute!

New born babies change extremely fast, be it size, colour or weight. Their behaviour are also very erratic. To catch these fleeting moments, one has to be very patient and gentle. Creativity is also required to come up with ways to attract their attention. At least these are tips i got from today's photoshoot.

Went to visit a relative who just had their first child. It was also the first time i'm using the classic nikkor AIs 50mm f1.4. Coupled together with an Emoblitz 328 flash and "a better bounce card" combo, i was impressed by the lighting, colour and resolution of the set up. One BIG problem though... it's really very HARD to manual focus on a d70.

Conclusion: I'm going to hunt for an AFD 50mm f1.8 now.

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Photo Retouching

Raining every other afternoon... soiled the plans for IR shoot. Have to postpone them for the weekends i guess.

Opened up photoshop and retouched some acceptable pics taken by a trip to china sometime ago. Credits go to my dad for taking them. (while i dangle from chinup bars in camp)

This photo a bit fake. Too much photoshop liao.


A critic would comment that the pic on the right lacks focus... What the hell... Anyway these pictures are not really my favs, so i resized them smaller.






This one might look a little better... but lacks life in the scene. Very "documentary" like. For reader's info, this is a section of a stone bridge built across the sea. Quite a feat considering the technology they had in the past. The whole bridge spanned 2.5km. I've included the last picture as a reference.

Enjoy!

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Red November Sunset

Whole afternoon raining, nowhere to go. My plans for shooting IR @ marina south park gone down the drain. Thought it would be just another stoning day at home.

Looking out of the window, i suddenly see this big RED sun pop out among the clouds... I was stunned. I was a bit hesitant in taking a pic, coz i dunno how to compose.

Setting up my tripod takes 45sec (still slower than an RBS70 system haha), and the sun is going DOWN! Its really fast... time is short.

Snapping on the old AIS 80-200 f4 again, and calculating (should be aggarating) the manual exposure, i whacked this pic just in time before the glow fades. Lucky to get it in the "rule of thirds" position.

Enjoy!

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Lowzy

Bet this is the worst picture i posted here so far. Nothing spectacular.

Curse and swear that my tripod doesn't allow me to shoot at low angles. Out of 5 shots, only this turned out sharp enough.

Taken in a park just after a heavy rain. I thought i could catch droplets of water sparkling in the sun... none like that.

This is my first proper picture taken from an antique Nikkor AIs 80-200mm lens. Manual exposure, manual focus. I was surprised my estimation was spot on at the first try.

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Hazy Sunset

As the name suggests... nothing more, nothing less.

Photo taken during the hazy period. PSI was around 80+ i guess. One of the first few pics i took with the d70.

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Clean and Clear

I'm not selling any facial cream here.

Many people send their DSLRs to manufacturer for CCD cleaning, which ranges from $20-100 per clean. Its simply daylight robbery for me. Sadly, the extra money is spent purely for peace of mind.

I use a d70, bought second hand, and without any warranty left. The guy who sold me clearly did not maintain it well, resulting in a plethora of dust on the sensor. I was tempted to send it to nikon, but luckily i came to my senses and ditched the idea.

Got a pack of 50 lens cleaning sheets for 2 bucks, wrapped it around an ice-cream stick and taking a deep breath, swiped the sensor in one firm movement. To my horror, i saw a STREAK... i thought this was the end of the world...

Luckily, it was just some unevaporated lens cleaning solution. A test image showed no scratches, and much to my delight, less dust! I became bolder and swiped the sensor many more times, each time increasing pressure, till 95% of the dust is gone. (the world isn't perfect, its better to have 1 or 2 specks of dust than to have a scratch)

Now i'm glad my sensor is sufficiently clean, and i only spent 1 cent (i used 1/4 of a lens tissue btw)

Conclusion: Be brave my men! Don't let fear be your weakness.

Disclaimer: This information is provided solely for the reader's information and is not meant to be taken as an advice. The author will not be held responsible for any damages to the reader's camera and loss of warranty, where applicable, by following the procedures described in this article. The reader is taking his own risks by following these procedures!

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HDR power unleashed

In the past, i wasn't too fond of HDR, cos i'm a complete idiot at the "merge to HDR" function in photoshop CS2, as well as photomatrix pro's tonemapping. Neither of them generated the results i wanted.

While trawling the net for pleasing HDR pics, i saw even more unnatural pics. Some even seemed like cartoons. Eventually, i chanced upon really impressive ones. HOW DID THEY DO THAT?

Finally decided to DIY my HDR, using layers and masks. It gave me full control of saturation, colour and contrast of the various regions. I've yet to master the right feathering pixels, hence the obvious halos around the bridge. Nevertheless, i was very satisfied with this pic.

This scene was an inspiration i got last night, when i was brainstorming for a nearby location, time and framing to test out HDR. Although i reached a little late (had to fastmarch 25mins), i managed to catch most of the colours.

This second picture is more natural. In fact it is so natural i couldn't tell it is HDR. (success!) However, comparing it with a normal exposure, one could easily identify the superior colour vibrance and contrast exclusive to a HDR image.






In case you dunno what's the difference, take a look at the comparison image.

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Very Bo liao

Nothing better to do. Dragged my reluctant brother along to catch a sunrise at punggol, at 6am. The problem is... there wasn't anything spectacular. Colours weren't great, so i figured it would look better in monochrome.

Patience is key to nailing nature shots, and i guess i'll have to try again next time. 

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#4 an unexpected HIT

I wasn't expecting much good comments when i posted the IR pics at clubsnap forum. Much less with this picture. It was just a casual snap, with some underexposure. The colour, and contrast were all lacking. As this was a lousier pic, i posted it as the 4th (last) pic.

Much to my surprise, the post-processing i did to the pic made it quite a hit. Received many praises for this pic. Some even thought i had the patience to use long shutter speed to create the dreamy effects. I was paiseh that all i did was applying effects. Well, i guess its a trade i've acquired from experimenting with photoshop.

Enjoy! 

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Mad barrage of lights

Waiting to book in. Thought i could just upload some more pics to this blog.

This was taken during 9th Aug 2006, Singapore's National day. I wasn't prepared for the intensity of the fireworks and blew the highlights on my FZ30. The only presentable pic i got was this...

Hehe... to think someone thought the wcon-07 attachment i had on the cam was a fisheye. 

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Fort canning through the R72

The haze is away and the sun is shining. The shutter is open and signals flowing. Let there be light. 

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End of day debrief

I've posted quite a no. of photos tdy, coz most are from my collection of favourites. I will continue to shoot whenever i have time. Enjoy!

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Flowers in the sky

This was shot on 8th August 2006.

Went at 1630, arrived at 1730, considered lucky to find a spot in between bushes... This place is super crowded.

Waited till 2030 for the first bloom. The whole event lasted less than 15 mins, but to me, all was worth it.

This is my second trial at the fireworks festival, and this is one of the better pics. The first trial was a disaster.

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