Superstar ...

Literally.... I was experimenting with the camera metering when I took this picture not long ago.

Daydream...

Lately no time to snap photos ... daughter was sick last weekend and this weekend hubby's away for a cycling event... desperate for some posting... here's one from my archive...Just loved those white clouds floating the clear blue sky. There are times when I looked out to the sky during working hours and saw magnificent clear blue sky and told myself "I should be outside photographing those glorious sky and not stuck in this office!".

My new toy

Got myself an AF 85 mm f/1.8D after resisting for 2 months. Original plan was to get a 50mm f1.8D as it was the cheapest good bokeh lens affordable. Then again, I figure that it's no point getting the same lens like brother's as we won't have the chance to explore other lens' capability ( unless super rich lah...then can get entire Nikkor lens collection...money don't grow on tree unfortunately ).

So tahan-tahan the pain to my pocket and buy the 85 mm ( after all, we suffer so much at work mah...gotta pamper ourselves a bit ). So now can share-share use with my brother, especially since he's doing wedding photography too ... might come handy. But of course the 85 mm and 50 mm is different genre of lenses and angle view. Let's see what this lens can do as I do more shots with it...

Some samples of shots with this new lens ... yummy bokeh ...

Little Red Elk as my subject

Hubby's roadie ... bike already so handsome,

use 85 mm lagi handsome lah... :)

My first potrait with this lens... The Artist @ Work again..

Walkabout in Georgetown

Took the opportunity to snap some photos as Monday was replacement holiday for Saturday's Governor's Birthday. Haven't really got the chance to do this as weekends are normally spent for family matters and cycling.With my daughter off to kindy, I can slowly take my time to do my shots. Hubby is my driver for the day ( studying "pakthology" at the same time ...hahaha ). Here are some shots of the place we seldom get to see... I didn't even noticed the monument in front of the High Court before this!

Sun Yat Sen Museum/ Memorial Centre, Macalister Road

Close-up view of The Three Patriots Statue

Who are The Three Patriots ?

Entrance of the Memorial Centre builiding

Menara Centennial Methodist, Madras Lane. Just loved the dark grey and tall structures. Simple yet majestic.

Chinese Methodist church, located just next to Menara Centennial Methodist

SRJK(C) Hu Yew Seah - Almost 100 years of history

Logan Memorial opposite Penang High Court - I never noticed this structure before until now ! Tribute to the contributions of James Richardson Logan Some of the inscriptions on the biography have been eroded Another view of the memorial

Fort Cornwallis -

Ready for action ... but I think cannot fire lah the cannon :) The infamous Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower near the Langkawi bound jetty

More photos of Penang's Heritage places to come as I'm planning for a photography outing with my friend, Swee Fang.

Kill 2 birds with 1 stone...

Taking a gamble to bring my D90 with me on my long distance cycling as I desperately wanted to cycle and also snap some photos. Saturday evening threatened to rain and call off my Sunday morning ride plans with my cam. Thank God ( Hallelujah ! ) by morning, the drizzle has stopped and what greeted me as I looked out of the windows is the sight of the rising sun at 6.30 am. Quickly got ready and started out... cool crisp air... Below the sight that greets me at my apartment's clubhouse.

It's a sunny day after all !

Route taken :

Desaria - Jln Tun Dr. Awang - Jln Yeap Chor Ee - Green Lane - Youth Park - Jln Bagan Jermal - Gurney Drive - Esplanade - Jln Gereja -after that lost track of the roads in town ( it is an experience riding in Georgetown where normally there's lots of cars ) -Penang road - Jelutong highway - passed Jerejak Resort jetty - Queensbay Mall - cut through Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa - PSDC - Jalan Tengah - back to Desaria.

Met some really nasty drivers at some junctions whereby I wanted to go straight ( and I put my hand out to signal I'm going straight ) and they still they sapu corner despite seeing cyclist already halfway thru the juction. If I've had it my way, probably I'm dead by now... there are also drivers shooting out of junctions without taking a look for on-coming cars/bikes/ cyclist. That is why you will never see me"fly" down the slopes on the roads with junctions as I'm afraid of meeting this breed of people. For all you know, they will just leave you to die there if any accident happens.

1459 kcal and 49++ km later, this is what I got... phew...not as easy as I thought and I don't think I will do it anymore for the time - reason being ...

1) My sunglasses got all fogged up when I stopped to take photos ( doesn't help that I'm short- sighted and have to keep my glasses on to take photos ) 2) My bagpack isn't really build for storing camera - taking out the cam proves to be kinda pain in the neck experience cos I put my cam in ziplock bag just in case in rains )

3) My camera almost suffered bodily injury when I took out from the backpack- luckily I have the habit of holding both the strap and lens... else you won't be able to read this post :) My lens got dismounted from the body ( must've accidentally unlocked the lens when putting back the cam into the bag earlier on ).

Anyway, after Esplanade I stopped taking photos as I find it too cumbersome following the 3 reasons above. Also wanted to head home earlier as the sun is up.

The newly erected entrance of Youth Park.

The Gurney Drive roundabout

Low tide at Oriental Restaurant end of Gurney Drive.

Trying my hands on silhouette shot at the other end of Gurney Drive.

E&O Hotel ...celebrating it's 125th years anniversary...

City Hall building at Esplanade

Lastly, reached Esplanade just in time to see Star Pisces docking at the Swettenham Pier.

Panning ...

Panning is photography technique that gives the photo shot a feeling of speed and movement. The basic working principle is to pan your camera along with moving object and get a RELATIVELY sharp image with blurred background. It always fascinates me before this on how this type of image is created and now I learned thru here and below are some of the results ...

This toy car is actually moving really slow

but look what panning did to it!

Can you spot the difference ?

Can you spot the difference between picture A and B ? Ah, the beauty of DSLR .... it can change the way you look at things - simply by manipulating how much lights are captured... the photographic of triangle as Bryan Peterson puts it... aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Setting each at different ends will bring out different results. It all depends on what you want to see ... or do not want to see.

Picture A

Picture B

p/s : Don't you think rims without spokes looks unique? Maybe this will be a reality in future !

My earlier work with D80

Some of my earlier practise shots using my brother's D80 with 50mm f1.8 lens. Superb bokeh and not to forget my daughter's beautiful masterpiece drawing :). I am considering getting this 50 mm lens soon ...one of the most affordable lens with good bokeh and most importantly big aperture to capture low light scene. Artist at work...

The masterpiece...

Addicted to bokeh...

When I first started using my brother's D80, I was severely addicted to bokeh. Ken Rockwell's website clearly defines what good bokeh should be, not just any blurring on the background... I didn't know that till I read his website. I think that bokeh is among the pulling factors for all DSLR beginners ... the quest for blurring backgrounds as the mark of DSLR work ... Reading photographer Zeckson's interview in Photo Malaysia, his advice to beginner's really describe the experience I'm going thru as one... Below are excerpts from the interview ... I'm guilty of the first 2 offences.... equipment and bokeh... :) Q: Any advice for aspiring PhotoMalaysia members? Lots of them. I will separate into different categories. For Beginners / Amateurs> • Stop being a gear head. Equipment is not everything. • Stop your bokeh hunting. Having bokeh does not mean your portrait is good. • Learn your photography fundamentals first followed by complete understanding of your camera. Know what your camera will do under different situations. • Learn your portrait basics, i.e. What is framing, angle, composition and tilt and how you can use them to take portraits? • When you got hold of these fundamentals, you can then move on to the intermediate level of enhancing your portraits with lightings. What is available light? What is the relationship between incident light vs reflected light? How to create light using flashes? • You also have to get knowledge of how to pose your model, how to communicate with your model, effective poses, etc. • When you are good with all these, then you move to the advanced level of creative techniques where you will need to think about lightings, styling, themes, make-up, wardrobe, location, logistics and most importantly resources! The above are all technicals where you can easily look for over the Internet, bookstores, YouTube and other sources. But what you cannot find is the art direction and sense within you that governs all else. Ultimately, you want to create an image that has strong visual impact, big WOW factors and rich in emotions, moods and feel. All these can only be achieved by using your very own art form of expressions which no one can teach you. You have to develop this within yourself. Always remember this – Technology can NEVER create art but art can MAKE USE OF TECHNOLOGY to create things that is only limited by your very own imagination! If you have see an image that you had never imagined before, that only means you are not imaginative enough. For the established photographers All of the above mentioned plus the following: • Be humble • Cultivate a good inner self • Be helpful (in the correct and wholesome way) As for me, I never dare to admit I am a photographer. I am just someone that loves shooting. I am on a never-ending quest to constantly improve myself in my genre of photography. I hope to reach the level I wanted in time to come. All I can say right now is – The road is long…

Cycling...my other passion

Cycling has also been my long time hobby. Our family bicycle, a Raleigh, serve us for a good 12 + years before being retired. I started re-indulging in cycling again in December 2008, my first event being the Fellowhip Ride 2008. There's this sense of freedom when you ride, breathing in the crisp morning air. Feels like a bird soaring in the air... I had my first offroad mountain biking event experience in the "unforgetable" Kayuhan Warisan Taiping 2009 a.k.a KAWAT 2009 . My younger sis, Ann, accompanied me to this event...just in case I didn't make it out in one piece :) Thanks sis. Those who went to this event will surely remember it well... Sad to say, my poor horse suffered serious injuries due to the poorly planned riding terrain . Most of the participants will describe it as a hiking trail rather than a mountain biking trail... with almost 40 degrees hill climb with lots of tree roots ( ??? ). I was sticking to a pack of cyclists which includes a 70 years old Malay uncle... was so worried he might suffered a heart attack in the middle of the jungle !! Thank God we all made it out safely although we only managed to complete 2 out of the 4 checkpoints . I am grateful though for the experience gained from this event... it made me a stronger rider physically and technically ... I still can't combine cycling and photography for now like Adi Harriman . Before the ride...

After the ride

Which DSLR to buy ?

Technical comparisons ... read on... Nikon D5000 or Nikon D90? Nikon D90 or Canon EOS 550D ?

Live your photography dreams !

Photography has long been my interest since I was young. I'm always intrigued and mesmerised whenever I see a good photo. But I don't have the money then to invest in a SLR ( no DSLR yet back then) . How could I possibly ask my dad for money to buy one when he has to feed his 4 kids and wife? My first camera I remembered very well the first camera that I bought with my own money. It was an Olympus compact film camera and cost me RM 120. Served me very well and was a constant companion to all the events that I attended. Our family's first digital camera When I was in uni, brother decided to get a digital compact camera - we got the Nikon Coolpix 4300 costing RM 1800 ( that's a lot of money then.... ). We sure have lots of fun snapping photos with it since it's digital... don't need to develop all the photos. I was using that camera to photograph the development of my daughter since she was - 4 months old ( yes, since she was still in my tummy ), her birth and till 3 +...good old cam...but my daughter is running faster than the shutter speed each day !! Good excuse to upgrade :) My own compact digital camera Well, actually I have been eyeing the Nikon D90 then but felt the price of RM 4k was way over my budget ... not only that, where am I gonna find the time to juggle life as a mother and photographer ?? So I bought the Nikon Coolpix S640... just so that I can continue photographing my daughter's childhood memories ... My DSLR life begins... My brother, seeing that I'm so interested in DSLR loaned me his D80 to explore and I began to fell in love again with the capability of DSLR to take photos the way I want them to be. Thanks bro... If it had not been you who help "poisoned" me, I would't have made the decision to get the D90 ( besides the the RM 600+ price drop factor ). So now, my photography dream has became a reality. So my advice to all budding dSLR photographers out there who are still thinking of settling for compact instead of DSLR, please please, don't do that. You will end up regretting... just like me ... Live life with passion.... Who knows, you might have that hidden talent. p/s : The Nikon S640 has since found new owners ...my parents... to take over Coolpix 4300's job of accompanying them to holiday tours... They need to keep up with technology too !

Reading up on photography

Recently bought some photography books from http://www.acmamall.com/ to brush up on my skills. One of it is Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Photography Field Guide". I only managed few chapters so far and it's been really informative. I would recommend this book to any DSLR beginners as it not only talk about photography techniques but explains the fundamentals of digital photography like why it is advisable to save files in RAW format and not JPEG, 16 bit mode file editing etc...

Front cover of the book

First page of contents

Second page of contents

A day at the beach

Went for an outing at the beach as my daughter has been requesting to build sand castles ... Simple pleasure of life for a 4 years old ...

Wave was quite strong on that day....

We found a live crab at the beach

( too bad it's too small, else it will end up in my wok !! )

Caught a sight of a father and son spending quality time together.

Nothing beats a good beach run.

Come build sandcastles with me ...

My first unofficial "assignment"

"Self invited" myself to my daughter's kindy water play event to get a feel of taking photographs of an event and as a practise session since I'm off on that day.... with permission from the Principal of course :). Thanks to Christy.

Was nervous as I arrived at destination. Didn't know what to expect... JUST SHOOT... I told myself... the kids were really awesome, enjoying themselves to bits though wary of my presence there. Need to work on my framing and angle...as commented by sis and buddy... well, still lots to learn.