AroFarMeR

Little Nestling

2011-08-18T13:08:00.005+08:00

Dad brought home a little nestling found along the road. There were two... one didn't make it when it fell out of the nest. He buried it on the spot... R.I.P.

This little fellow survived.

Dad reckoned some bushes broke its fall... lucky fellow… and quite a hungry one too! Always wanting to feed!

Quite smart too… running over to you when you call out… anticipating food and it sure can run…!

Looking at this small and bubbly nestling, I can't help but marvel at life… how fragile and transient it seems and yet how strong and striving it can be.

Glad that this little fellow was found before some cats.

Welcome to the family little one… live well and may you be happy.

Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ F4.0 ~ 6.3
ISO: 200
Focusing: Auto
Lighting: Ambient evening sun

"Treasures"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-10-20T01:23:00.004+08:00

Thoughts
Throughout time, man had always treasured this shiny yellow metal... some swear by it, others will kill for it and many wars were fought because of it.

With the on-going debasement of the US Dollar as well as other fiat currencies, it had once again roused man's attention and interest. It may very well be the only safe store of value in these turbulent economic times and definitely a much loved treasure to those who understand money.

Getting The Shot
For the shot, I so happened to have this small one gram bar and some loose peridot stones and thus decided to use them. Macro was the concept and I wanted the tiny bar to fill the frame thus added the Raynox DCR-250 for the added magnification.

Used a cloth to wipe the bar clean of finger-prints and nested it gently into the peridot pile. A ruler was used to position the bar as well as the peridot stones at the base of the bar so that they don't block the essential bar details.

I wanted the translucent peridots to glow like gold nuggets so I gelled the fill flash with CTO and placed it just right beside the pile. The effect was very interesting and I like the golden touch created.

Hope you like the shot and with the gold price rising everyday, how I wish I have tons of these pieces...!! :D

Shooting Information:
Date Taken: 19 Oct 2010
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Add-on Lens: Raynox DCR-250
Mode: Manual - Av @ F11, Tv @ 1/125sec
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Lighting: Main - MT-24EX @ 1/8, Fill - 580EXII @ 1/16
Main Flash: Canon MT-24EX Macro Flash
Fill Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash with Sonia Optical Slave
Flash Gel: Rosco’s “The Strobist Collection” - #3401 Roscosun 85 (5500K to 3200K)

"Wide Angle"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-10-13T11:15:00.003+08:00

This... is Wat Arun.

Shooting Information:
Date Taken: 10 Oct 2010
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Crop Factor: 1.6x
Effective Focal Length: 27.2mm
Mode: Aperture-Priority with Av @ F8, Tv @ 1/250
ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto
Post-Processing: Exposure Fusion using EnfuseGUI, touch up in GIMP

"Street Photography"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-10-06T14:33:00.006+08:00

This may just be the toughest topic... not technically but psychologically. Taking pictures of total strangers out on the street is way out of my comfort zone. I admit... I'm scared... I'm afraid of being yelled at by irritated strangers... or even worse... punched up and camera smashed...

Maybe I'm imagining and preparing for the worst? My first negative street shooting experience (didn't know it's called "Street Photography" until now) came about when i was on tour in Europe some 3 years back. It was Christmas and I was at a Christmas carnival in Innsbruck. There was a beautiful carousel spinning and I stopped to take some pictures of kids having fun on the ride.

A man standing by the carousel came over to me and said "She's my daughter". I looked at him, smiled and complemented "She's an angel". He replied "Ya, delete it", pointing to my camera. I was stumped. "Delete it" he repeated firmly, pointing to my camera. "Ok" i shrugged and hit Delete. Satisfied, he walked away.

I don't think I looked anything like a pedophile... just an Asian tourist in Europe but that's one lesson learned... parents can be very very protective. Most probably that man was just playing it safe because pedophilia seems to be quite a problem in that part of the world.

That encounter can be considered my street photography "initiation". From that moment on, I became more aware of the environment and the people when I shoot street.

I try to be discreet and invisible... like a spy. That's the excitement... like 007 Bond coolly walking the street and "snap"... job done. I also find it "easier" to do street photography when I'm abroad in another country. The locals will just dismiss you as "another tourist".

I tried to be a tourist back home here in Singapore, mentally and physically, but it just don't gel for me. I still get the "What the hell is this guy doing?!" look on many faces... cover exposed. I even got a bus driver honking at me and gesturing "What's there to shoot in a bus interchange?!"

"I'm just TESTing the camera..." I tried to gesture back, waved and hurriedly walked away to avoid any more attention from the environment.

I shouldn't had worn a red T-shirt that day... I stuck out like a red beacon with my size-able DSLR. I'm now trying and learning to use my hand phone camera for street shoot. Its much more handy and less notice-able... but then again, people might take me for a voyeur :P

Shooting Information:
Date Taken: 5 Oct 2010
Camera: HTC Desire
+
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ F5.6
ISO: 400
Focusing: Auto
Post-Processing: Exposure Fusion using EnfuseGUI, touch up in GIMP

"Bridges"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-09-29T14:34:00.024+08:00

Thoughts

"A bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle such as a canyon, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed, the material used to make it and the funds available to build it."

The above definition is from Wikipedia and I find it very fitting. To me, bridges are often very under-appreciated structures. Most of us take them for granted in our daily lives as we cross them during our daily commune. Yet, we took no notice of them as they serve us silently over the many obstacles throughout our journey. They helped shorten travel time and provide a means of interaction between people from both ends. Without them, life would be very different.

Henderson Wave immediately came to mind for this week's DPS assignment. It is a very unique pedestrian bridge that connects Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah Hill Park and forms part of the Southern Ridges:

"Henderson Waves (Chinese: 亨德森波浪桥) is a 274-metre (899 ft) long pedestrian bridge. At 36 metres (118 ft) above Henderson Road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. It connects Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah Hill Park. It was designed by IJP Corporation, London, and RSP Architects Planners and Engineers (PTE) Ltd Singapore.

The bridge has a wave-form made up of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved ribs form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within. Slats of yellow balau wood, an all-weather timber found in Southeast Asia, are used in the decking. The wave-forms are lit with LED lamps at night from 7pm to 2am daily.^"

Being the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore, I wanted to show just how high up the bridge is. I also wanted to show how this lovely bridge is appreciated and enjoyed by the people.

Getting The Shot
The morning sky was dense with clouds and the morning sun was well hidden behind the clouds. Light wasn't good and decided to use Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) for post-processing later.

Because it was a weekday morning, the bridge was rather quiet except for some tourists and morning joggers. Managed to capture them on the bridge to add some "life", as well as for scale, else the bridge will look very "lonely". The bracketing effect also conveyed some motion.

From the shot, you can see some of the nearby HDB residential building on the left, the office towers of the Central Business District in the distant and even the PSA container cranes in the horizon. That's how high up the Henderson Wave really is...!

There are some cool altitude markers on the wooden floor at intervals along the whole bridge... this one reads "+64.20m above sea level".

Post-Processing
All the images were enfused. The technic is called "Exposure Fusion". It is NOT a kind of HDR (High Dynamic Range). In fact, it is quite the opposite - it creates a low dynamic range image from a series of bracketed exposures... LDR if you will.

The bracketed RAW files were first converted to JPEG using Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software, then dropped into EnfuseGUI for "enfusing". The enfused image was subsequently opened in GIMP for the usual touch up on Levels, Saturation, Un-sharp Mask and Cropping.

Personally, I prefer enfused images over HDRs. Enfused images look more natural... not so "fakey" like a HDR. Of course it lacks the 'Wow' factor of a HDR but in real life, subjects don't appear HDR-ed. The enfuse process is also much simpler... and faster, and you can even incorporate a flash exposure for enfusion. Not trying to convert you here... just a share of my opinion... anyway... this is MY blog ;)

Shooting Information:
Date Taken: 28 Sep 10
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ F11
ISO: 100
Tripod: Giottos MT9250
Ball-Head: Giottos MH1302 with MH655 Quick Release Base Plate
Post-Processing: Exposure Fusion using EnfuseGUI and touch up in GIMP

Simple DIY Gel Holder Version 2

2010-09-23T19:13:00.007+08:00

DISCLAIMER: As with any Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project, unfamiliarity with the materials, tools and processes can be dangerous. Posts here should be taken as theoretical advice and you perform these DIY projects at your own risk. The author will not be held responsible for any injury or equipment damage arising from any DIY project posted on AroFarMeR.

I wanted to try out the effects of the Skelton Exotic Sangria (Magenta) gel. Loaded the gel onto my simple DIY gel holder on my speedlite and started playing around with the speedlite's power output manually.

Took it to full power and fired about four to five shots consecutively. Picked up my speedlite to tune down the power and to my horror... i saw my lovely Sangria gel all crumpled up!!

The intense heat from the flash head busted the Sangria gel.

No doubt the gel can still be used but it had turned from a slick smooth piece to a crumpled old tramp. My simple DIY gel holder was... too simple... and there was no design consideration for protecting the gel from the intense heat of the flash head firing on full power consecutively! The gel was practically laid across the flash head in total contact for some big frying!

Of course, the simple gel holder worked very well when I was using it with my speedlite at lower power (up to 1/2) with sufficient cool off time between each firing (not consecutively). Nonetheless, I acknowledged that this is a design flaw and I need to rework it.

Back to the drawing board and re-examined Bo Boswell's design. I now understand why he had another fold of the plastic... to act as a protection from the intense heat generated by the flash head during quick successive full power firing. Initially I thought it was just to hold up the gel. Well... I was wrong.

Here's the Simple DIY Gel Holder version 2... the design is basically Bo Boswell's:

Did some testing and results were good for 3 ~ 4 consecutive full power firing. However, after 6 ~ 7 consecutive full power firing without rest, the gel started showing signs of crumpling. I believe this had to do with the thermal properties of the recyclable PET plastic used to make the gel holder. Maybe other harder plastics (acrylic?) with better thermal properties can protect the flash gel better? Or maybe the gel itself need to be made using material with better thermal properties? But then again, in usual photography usage, we don't normally blast the speedlites in full power consecutively without rest in-between :P

I sincerely apologize again for my design flaw in the first version and really hope that there weren't any gel casualty besides mine. For those who own flash units without the gap for insertion, you can actually secure the gel holder either on top or below the flash head using a rubber band like what I did for the first version.

Hope you appreciate this Bo Boswell's design and enjoy your flash gel photography!

Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ F5.6, Tv @ 1/125sec
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Lighting: Main - Alien Bees @ 1/13 (Between 1/11 & 1/16 mark)
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Diffusion: DIY Light Tent
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII
Flash Gel: Rosco’s “The Strobist Collection” - #3401 Roscosun 85 (5500K to 3200K)

"Portrait Photography: Couples"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-09-22T13:48:00.003+08:00

Thoughts
Its been 3+ years since we had been together and we haven't had any "serious" portrait together, except for snaps using Point&Shoot. She suggested we take it on my bed... and did we have fun...!

Getting The Shot
My room is small so angles are pretty tight. Camera was on tripod, set to 2sec self-timer, with remote switch attached. Asked my girlfriend to pose and got my focus which I then switched to manual to lock-in the focus. Light on camera's left, close to camera. Then its remote press... pose... and fun...!

Love You... Baby

Lighting Diagram

Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ F8, Tv @ 1/125s
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Remote: Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3 with camera self-timer on 2sec
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Lighting: Main - Alien Bees @ 1/4
Flash: Alien Bees B800 with HighSun soft-box
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

Quickleen-S Product Shoot... for F.O.F.

2010-09-14T00:46:00.007+08:00

Got a call from Joe asking if I'm ok to help his friend Peter take some product shots on goodwill. Peter want to use it for some brochures, emails, and possibly some blow-ups. Well... decided to do it as a favor to a Friend Of Friend (F.O.F.) and these are the results...

Thoughts
Two things of note here. First, the containers are all white. Next, the sticker labels are metallic and adhere around the container, creating a very wide family of angles that produces reflection.

A simple solution is to use a grayish background but because this product deals with cleaning, I want to give it a very clean look. I decided to use white background and go high key. Also, white subjects on a white background will offer Peter maximum flexibility in the composition of the piece during his advert production.

Getting The Shot
The first step was to thoroughly clean the containers with soap and soft sponge. They were covered with black smudges when Peter passed them to me. This was an important step because I didn't want to spend countless hours photo-shopping black spots away.

Next, with the help from my beloved girlfriend, we cleared the kitchen area and freed-up the dinning table for the shoot. Two pieces of white mahjong paper covered the table top, secured by Blu-Tack, while another piece went to the kitchen wall as background and adhered also by Blu-Tack.

Three lights were involved here.

The main came from the top, centered directly over the subject. I didn't have a C-Stand so I had to use a socket wrench to remove the extend-able top pole from my normal light-stand and tied it across the remaining vertical pole of the stand using a square lashing. The end of the now horizontal pole need to be tied down across the vertical pole to counter the heavy studio strobe + soft-box.

To prevent the light modified stand from toppling over, the base legs need to extend as wide as possible. After mounting the studio strobe + soft-box, the modified stand was centered on the working table and raised about a feet over the subject.

Because the main light will cast some shadows below the rim of the containers, a fill light was needed to fill in the shadows. The fill was from another studio strobe on the camera's left, placed about a feet away and just out of the metallic labels' family of angles to prevent direct reflections.

As I didn't have a seamless background, in order to achieve a seamless white all the way from the table top to the wall, a background light was needed to match the background white with the table top white. The background light was from a Canon 580EXII + optical slave, mounted on a monopod with base and placed between the subject and the white background, hidden from view.

Lighting Diagram
Using The Online Lighting Diagram Creator produced by London photographer NGUYEN DINH Quoc-Huy, I managed to easily create these lighting diagrams to better illustrate the setup. Million thanks to NGUYEN DINH Quoc-Huy!!

End Note
Well... Peter was happy with the result and that made me a happy man. Of course, there is always room for improvement and one such improvement is to place a black Gobo between the top of the subject and the main light to bring back the "disappearing" container top. Till next time...!

Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ F8, Tv @ 1/60
ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Lighting: Main - Alien Bees @ 1/11, Fill - Alien Bees @ 1/32, Background - 580EXII @ 1/8
Flash: Alien Bees B800 with HighSun soft-box
Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash with Sonia Optical Slave
Monopod: Manfrotto 680B with Manfrotto 678 Universal Folding Base and Manfrotto 234RC Quick Release Head
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

"Learning"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-09-13T16:57:00.008+08:00

UPDATE:
My entry for the week got first :) Thanks for the well wishes and here are the judges' comments as well as the first and second runner-ups: Learning (12 ~ 18 Sep 10)

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Thoughts
Many people all over the world are now learning the Chinese language to enable them to get on board the mega China economic train. Jim Rogers, the successful international investor, even said that "China is the only country that can dominate the 21st century" and he relocated his whole family to Asia (here in Singapore) in order for his young daughter to learn mandarin.

Of course, some beg to differ and think that China is a big bubble waiting to burst. However, the fact remains that more and more people are learning the language, even in America. As a Singapore Chinese, I remembered I used to prefer English over the Chinese language when I was young... because of its complicated characters.

From young, we were drilled to practice writing them over and over again and there is a specific order to the strokes... mix up the order and the characters will come out very weird and ugly. Its very telling when you made a mistake and in the olden days, the teacher may punish you by slapping your writing hand with a hard ruler :P

There is NO short-cut in learning how to write the characters... just got to keep practicing and drilling the individual characters into your subconscious mind. I confess that I can only manage writing simple common chinese characters like “我爱摄影” (I love photography) but I no longer detest it as much and had grown to like its form... and yes, I can proudly say that I am fluent in conversing and reading the Chinese language.

Getting The Shot
This was the original concept. I found this Chinese character practice sheet over at Arch Chinese and my girlfriend agreed to be my "hand model". A studio strobe with soft-box on camera left and a speedlite with diffuser + optical slave behind the hand on camera right for fill. The picture was static and frankly, looked very "posed".

Decided to include some hand writing motion and thought of using the rear curtain exposure method. Tried it using my studio strobe and to my disappointment, it didn't turn out. Researched the web (i'm learning... get it? Haha) and found out that I can't do rear curtain exposure with studio strobe unless I get myself an ~~expensive~~ PocketWizard gadget!

Robert Seale had a solution for this restriction but it involves moving the subject over a wider distance than what I intended here which is simply just some small hand writing motion. Finally, I got the solution to my problem when I found Gerard Maas' post "Wireless second curtain sync" where he explained the technicalities of the problem and provided a solution using an on-camera flash and another flash with optical trigger:

"The trick to achieve wireless second curtain sync is to use a flash on camera that will signal others with its flash burst at the right moment. Using an optical trigger on the 580EX II will allow it to sync with the timing of the on-camera flash, participating in the second curtain synchronized flash exposure... and for the best effect, choose a dark background and some continuous light source on the subject.."

For the continuous light source, I used a polarizing florescent lamp from 3M. Initially, I used my 580EXII on camera to trigger the studio strobe but it came out over-exposed even with the studio strobe set to it's weakest power @ 1/32. This was due to the white subject, bright lamp, as well as insisting on f4 aperture because I want bokeh all round with a sharp centre. Out goes the studio strobe and decided to use the lamp as main and the 580EXII as freeze & fill.

Because I have only one Canon speedlite (the 580EXII), I had to use the on-camera built-in pop up flash as a trigger. A DIY flash deflector was added to deflect the light from the pop-up flash (sending the light left, right and up) to prevent it going straight onto the subject.

However, the problem with the pop-up flash is that it will fire a pre-flash before the main one and this pre-flash will trigger the 580EXII pre-maturely before the required main flash at the moment of rear curtain closing. In other words, I will have two flashes, one in the beginning of the exposure and one at the end.

This will be a problem when using add-on optical slave because there may not be enough recycle time for the 580EXII+optical slave combo to be ready for the important main flash at the moment of rear curtain closing, especially when 1/2 or full power is required. The result will be one flash at start of exposure and a misfire at the rear curtain close.

For this subject, I was lucky because I just need 1/128 power from the 580EXII+optical slave combo. It was hand held near the subject to gently freeze the subject, as well as softly fill the shadows. The shutter speed of 0.3 sec was also more than enough for the combo to recycle. However, should I need the combo at 1/2 or full power in this kind of setup, it will not work... my test showed that it will work up to a maximum of 1/4 power before it misfire.

Well... this was certainly a very good learning (get the pun?) experience for this week's DPS assignment. In addition to practicing, constantly cracking the brain + researching are also important steps in the learning process. As the Chinese saying goes... “活到老，学到老” (Live till old, learn till old)... we can never stop learning :D

Shooting Information:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ f4.0, Tv @ 0.3sec
ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash with DIY Milk Bottle Diffuser
Light Setting: Main - Continuous polarizing florescent lamp
Fill - 580EXII Manual @ 1/128 power
Optical Slave: Sonia Optical Slave

"Cars"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-09-07T23:38:00.006+08:00

This is my attempt for the Digital Photography School weekly assignment and the topic for week 25 Aug ~ 8 Sep is "Cars". Again, many interesting posts by other forumers and some are very good.

After reading through the Car Photography Tutorials and Guide provided by the DPS forum moderator, I spent a few days brainstorming about the topic but most ideas need a dedicated car. Be it a ~~drop dead Lamborghini~~ sports car on asphalt track in the morning sun... an image of "Ready to burn rubber" ~~(my only Lamborghini is in PS3's GranTurismo)~~ or a mud stained ~~awesome Hummer~~ 4x4 on rugged terrain in the evening sunset... a picture of "Been there, done that".

Well... I don't have a car so I need to go out and shoot one. Initially thought of borrowing a car from a friend but all of them ~~don't have a Ferrari~~ are busy people and I don't want to disrupt their schedule or trouble them. Decided to go out on my motorbike and try my luck.

A basic question popped during my brainstorm - do I want the car static or moving?

If i have a dedicated car, I can do it static in the way I want, the background i want and the lighting i want... following the many tips in the car photography tutorials. The sad fact is I don't, so I entertained the thought of shooting other people's parked car, and indeed went around and tried, but all of them do not offer any good lighting, angles or background, and many had distracting weird reflection on their bodies.

Next... motion... if I want motion, I want a sports car in motion. Decided to do panning shots on moving sports cars. Stationed myself safely along the East Coast Parkway (ECP), I tried my luck in getting a fix on some of the cool sports cars ~~rich~~ Singaporeans drive. The cost of owning a car here in Singapore is high and for sports cars, they can be in the stratospheric region.

Lady Luck showed up briefly when this sliver Mercedes Benz SLK came whizzing by as rain clouds began to gather. Shot it at 200mm, IS Mode 2, min focusing distance @ 3m for faster auto focus. Camera focusing mode @ AI Servo, Multi shots High.

The picture on the right is the original picture minus the license plate number. Many distractions are present, like the big road signboard, tree trunk, untidy stray branches from the bushes, leaf in front grille, white lane markings, etc. All these were removed using the "Clone" and "Heal" functions in GIMP (a free alternative to ~~expensive~~ Photoshop).

It was tedious and time consuming as I am not proficient in post processing. I always try to get the shot right first time and minimize any post processing work in my pictures. My usual post-processing routine goes like this: Auto Levels, Unsharp Mask (1.0 radius, 1.0 amount, 1 threshold) and Crop. So one thing I learned this time round was to scout for a good background even if it's doing motion panning shots.

Why Black & White? After a side by side comparison, I find the B&W version to be more contrasty... the car stood out immediately with less distraction. In the color version, I feel the green bushes and little red flowers do cause a bit of distraction and the car don't "come out" as much :)

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 70-200mm f4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Tv @ 1/125, f4.5
ISO: 400
Focusing: Auto
Monopod: Manfrotto 680B with Manfrotto 234RC Quick Release Head

"Books"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

2010-08-31T11:26:00.007+08:00

UPDATE:
I'm very glad that my assignment got a 3rd placing. To see the First, Second and judges' comments on the three works, click HERE. Thanks for all the compliments and let's work towards being better photographers!

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Took this picture for the Digital Photography School weekly assignment. The topic for week 18 Aug ~ 1 Sep is "Books". Browsed through the postings by other forumers and many are very interesting. I looked to my bookshelves to see if I have any interesting book to feature and "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" written by Sogyal Rinpoche caught my eye.

I have had this book, as well as the Chinese version, for close to 10 years now. The edge of the pages are uniformly stained by the high humidity we have here in Singapore and they gave some character to this well-aged book. I started to brainstorm as to how best to bring out the book's feel and thought of my 80+ year old ~~grumpy~~ granny and her well-aged hands. She's still reasonably healthy and had chosen to follow the Buddhist spiritual path some years back.

Asked her to be my model and promised her that only her hands will be in the picture and she willingly agreed. A black background and a short burning red candle completes the picture.

The small light from the candle itself wasn't enough to show the details of both the book and the hands. Following Joe McNally's example, I put a CTO onto my flash and placed it behind the candle facing the book to provide enough illumination for the details.

Here's a ~~ugly~~ sketch of the lighting diagram:

Please understand that I'm not trying to have any religious or moral debate here... just a short explanation on how I want my picture to turn out.

Although the book deals with dying, I don't want the picture to have a morbid feel. I want to give it a realist touch, that all of us will face death one day and one should not feel its taboo to read up on it. What we don't know or understand scares us and by reading to understand, fear of the unknown can be better handled or managed.

I decided to give the scene more light to:

1. Dispel any morbid feel
2. Allow me to shoot at f11 for more details
3. Allow me to shoot at my preferred 1/125s for sharp image
4. Allow me to use ISO100 for least noise

The 580EX II was fitted with the Sonia Optical Slave and was fired via a trigger flash by an old Sunny 500 simple flash (with DIY deflector) hotshoe mounted on camera.

I would have wanted a dark brown grainy wooden table top as the background but I don't have one at home. Chose black so that the mood is solemn. A short burning candle is used to project how life is constantly slowly burning away.

Spent some time in preparing the set and had some test shots taken to confirm the picture before inviting granny into my room for the shoot.

Because I had to close the windows and switch off the fan to steady the candle flame, the room gets warm & stuffy fast (here in sunny Singapore) and... she's rather impatient... so its better to have everything done up before getting her over and complete the shoot in less than 3mins.

I really hoped that I had managed to bring out the character of the book and one of the book's notion of "spiritual practices for the moment of death". This is really the first picture that I had given much thought, planning and preparation... all the while I'd been just a trigger happy "snapper".

Walking my journey to be a "thinking" photographer :)

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 125
ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto
Monopod: Manfrotto 680B with Manfrotto 678 Universal Folding Base
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash
Diffuser: Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal
Flash Gel: Rosco’s “The Strobist Collection” #3401 Roscosun 85 (5500K to 3200K)
Optical Slave: Sonia Optical Slave
Trigger Flash: Sunny 500 with DIY deflector

Sonia Optical Slave for Canon 580EX II

2010-08-22T23:00:00.016+08:00

I want to use my Canon 580EX II flash unit to light up a backdrop, or as a fill light, in conjunction with my Alien Bees studio lights and was wondering if there is any way to trigger an off-camera 580EX II (manual mode) via standard optical flash.

My question was similar to what Gabriel L asked in his photo.net forum post "580 EX II: optically trigger with standard flash (not Canon ETTL)?" Gradually, after some serious researching online plowing through many many forums & sites, it dawned on me that my Canon 580EX II ~~which nearly cost me an arm & leg~~ CANNOT be optically triggered by flash! Some less expensive third party flash unit can!

I believe I'm not the only one who's disappointed... just go ask Syl Arena... he's got a whole long list of Canon Speedlite Wishlist and many are really just plain common sense "should have" inclusion, especially for Canon's top end flash unit. Point number 10 says it all:

"10. Add a built-in optical trigger. It won’t take up much room. It won’t require a lot of circuity. Heck, it would probably fit right in where the relatively-useless thyristor photo-eye sits right now. An optical trigger solves a load of problems when mixing Speedlites with studio strobes. Studio shooters often want to a just a splash of light on set or to conceal a light within the frame. (Canon, consider this to be a perfect opportunity to sell more Speedlites to guys who are used to using lots of lights.) An optical trigger would also make a Speedlite more friendly in the midst of lights from other companies. Again, ease-of-use will drive users to the Canon system. Making the whole system proprietary means that few outsiders will want to change jerseys." --- Syl Arena

My next thought: Is there any available 3rd party optical slave I can add to the 580EX II?

Online research threw up some peculiarity about canon speedlites & optical slaves combo... many of the speedlites will jammed up after a single fire or misfire after attaching 3rd party optical slaves... : P

This is due to the unique working voltage of Canon Speedlites, as I found out from this blog article "The Truth About Canon Speedlites & Optical Slaves" by the same Syl Arena...

"An optical slave gets its power from the Speedlite rather than from a battery. With Canon Speedlites there is the peculiarity that the voltage does not drop far enough after the flash exposure to release the typical slave circuit. Essentially, the slave thinks that the Speedlite is still firing. With ordinary optical slaves, the result is that they will fire a Speedlite one time and then lock up. Fortunately, there is an optical slave with an added circuit that is made just for Canon Speedlites. And, luckily, this technology adds less than the price of a venti cup of fancy coffee to the cost of the optical slave (about $16 as opposed to $12)" --- Syl Arena

This is how I got to know about the Sonia brand of optical slaves, and also about FlashZebra, where I bought the optical slave from, SPECIFICALLY for the 580EX II.

My package finally arrived...

The purchase from FlashZebra was a breeze... very reasonable shipping rates, prompt shipping and excellent communication via emails. Bonnie's handwritten note adds a human touch and I really felt like I had just received a birthday present :D

Here's a look at the Sonia optical slave...

Eagerly, I fitted it onto the 580EX II and tried it out by firing an Alien Bees close range... it worked! Tried a few times... it worked! There was a time when the 580EX II didn't fire. Upon investigation, it was because the unit went to "sleep" after a period of inactivity. I then switch off the "auto-power off" function in the speedlite and "problem" solved.

Next, within my living room, I set them about 16ft (4.8m) apart (580EX II on Manfrotto 680B monopod with Manfrotto 678 Universal Folding Base), fired the Alien Bees and the 580EX II fired reliably. Fitted on a 20 deg honeycomb spot grid on the Alien Bees, point towards the 580EX II and tried again... it worked very well : )

I'm satisfied with the Sonia optical slave so far and have no doubt that it can now liberate the 580EX II for use in conditions not intended by it's maker. Like Syl Arena, I wish Canon can hear the ground and get out of the design box that they had encased themselves, which is really limiting the endless creative possibilities of their speedlites (sales, revenue, profits, market share....etc). Liberate future speedlites... PLEASE!

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 125
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Monopod: Manfrotto 680B with Manfrotto 678 Universal Folding Base
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

A Really Simple DIY Flash Gel Holder

2010-08-21T14:21:00.007+08:00

UPDATE:
There was a design flaw with this DIY gel holder and I sincerely apologize. See Simple DIY Gel Holder version 2 for the flaw description and updated design.

DISCLAIMER: As with any Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project, unfamiliarity with the materials, tools and processes can be dangerous. Posts here should be taken as theoretical advice and you perform these DIY projects at your own risk. The author will not be held responsible for any injury or equipment damage arising from any DIY project posted on AroFarMeR.

I got myself Rosco's "The Strobist Collection" 55 piece Cinegel Filter Kit and I need a gel holder for my Canon 580EXII flash unit.

Did some research online for almost all the commercial and creative DIY designs currently available:

GelHolder.com

LumiQuest FXtra

How to make a simple strobe gel holder

DIY Flash Gel Holder

Studio DIY: Gel Holder for Flash

Lighting 101: Using Gels to Correct Light

DIY Flash Gel holder

DIY Flash Gel Holder & Storage

DIY Flash Gel Holder

DIY flash gel filter holder-Quick and easy

How to build your cheapo lighting modifier system

Who Says DIY Gear Looks Cheap?

I finally settled on my own design consideration:

Must keep gel in place on the flash unit (obviously!)
Must allow easy insertion and fast removal of gel
Must allow use of the 580EXII original built-in wide panel and catch-light panel without obstruction
Must be compact on the flash unit so that it will not hinder any possible add-on (e.g. a flash diffuser, bounce card, grid, etc)
Must be compact to just leave it on the flash unit without having to remove for pouch storage

Here is my attempt and is very much inspired by both Craig Colvin's and Bo Boswell's DIY designs. I pretty much like it and want to share with fellow DIYers...

First, get a piece of simple clear plastic - I suggest reusing clear plastic packaging. Got this from my purchase of a screen protector for my hand phone. Just make sure the plastic is not too flimsy as we need it to hold up our gel, or too hard because we need to bend it without breaking.

For easier working, cut out the main plane of the plastic to be used. Cut the plastic using only the middle of the scissors for a smooth edge. Using the tip of the scissors will cause the plastic to break along the edge as shown below:

Place the plastic over the flash head and trace the dimension of the flash head using a highlighter. (its easier to wipe off the highlighter markings with a cloth later). Leave about an inch for the bottom part of the holder.

Cut the plastic to size and bend to shape. Trim the sharp corners of the plastic holder using scissors or a nail clipper. This is how the gel holder should look like:

Place the gel holder onto the flash head and secure it using a rubber band around the flash head. I use the black rubber band that came with my Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal diffuser...

To insert the gel, just run the corner of the gel along the small gap between the gel holder and the flash head, then slide the rest of the gel firmly into place:

The gel will sit nicely in place throughout the use of the flash. As seen in the below picture, the gel will have some extension on the sides of the gel holder/flash unit. For removal, just grab the extended gel and pull it out.

Design Notes:
I decided to attach the gel holder via the bottom of the flash head because the bottom edge is much straighter as compared to the top which is of uneven shape. Also, in attaching the gel holder via the bottom of the flash head, the original built-in wide panel and catch-light panel can still be used without obstruction.

In addition, the gel holder is completely flushed with the flash head so any add-on like a flash diffuser, bounce card, grid, etc can be easily added to the flash unit without any problem except for one... the extended gel itself.

Solution is to trim the gel down to size but always remember to leave a small gel extension so that you can easily grab and remove the gel from the holder.

No worries even if the gel is trimmed down without an extension because the gel holder can be quickly detached to remove the gel and re-attached almost instantly for the next gel.

Hope you like this simple yet useful gel holder design and make one for yourself. It really cost nothing except for your time in getting the material and making it.

Enjoy!

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 4 ~ 11, Tv @ 125
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

Rosco's "The Strobist Collection" 55 piece Cinegel Filter Kit

2010-08-20T13:00:00.009+08:00

Below is the book that got me interested in the world of flash gels. Its by Joe McNally and is a very very good photography book. Here's a review by Strobist David Hobby - Joe McNally: The Moment it Clicks (Verdict: Awesome)

And this is the picture from the book that got me introduced to CTO:

"Take this to the bank when shooting candlelight: ISO 400, 1/15 second, f/2.8-and-a-half. Give or take a smidge (technical term). Flash settings: dial –2 EV (exposure value), and put half-cut of CTO (an amber/warm gel) over the flash head. That’s it. Looks like candlelight.

Just remember to stay close to the candle. And remember, the candle is warm, yellow light. The last thing you want to do is blow that away with a strong, neutral white light. If you do that, you are setting up a psychological disconnect for the reader. Instead of getting involved in the photo, the reader says, “Huh?”

Lighting is all about feel and color, and in this soulful, quiet situation, you feather the light in, and you stay away from the settings on the strobe that say “jackhammer.” --- Joe McNally

Simple common sense stuff from one of the world's best photographer. How can I not be intrigued to learn to use flash gel to improve my own photography?!

Very quickly, I'm now a frequent visitor to Strobist and of course, a willing customer of Rosco's "The Strobist Collection":

I'm definitely a satisfied customer and is very much pleasantly surprised that each gel comes with a white paper backing printed with color temperature technical information (even color temperature chart!) of the individual gels! This is very useful information for a flash gel newbie like me. Here's a review from diyphotography.net

Ok... now i just need a gel holder for my lovely gels... should I build? or should I buy? Hmmm... let's try building one.

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 4.5, Tv @ 125
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

Head On by Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡國強 @ National Museum of Singapore

2010-07-25T23:00:00.010+08:00

Went to the National Museum of Singapore and in the Exhibition Gallery 2 at the basement, I was greeted by an impressive sight... 99 life sized wolves leaping up through the air towards a gigantic piece of glass in an all black gallery room...

Head On is created by Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡國強 for his solo exhibition of the same name at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. Although the Berlin Wall is long gone, and the former East Germany and West Germany have reunified, there remain deep and intractable historical issues between the two sides.

The 99 life-sized wolves are leaping en masse towards an unseen wall, with those at the front falling from striking the wall while those bringing up the rear continuing surging forward, undeterred. Seen from afar, the leaping wolf pack forms an arc full of force and power, their fierce courage and spirit of warrior camaraderie seemingly serving as a reminder to people: humanity is easily blinded by a kind of collective mentality and action, and is destined to repeat such error to an almost unbelievable degree.

The crux of this installation lies just before the glass wall, as the artist reminds people: invisible walls are the hardest to dismantle.
(Source: National Museum of Singapore)

The whole exhibition consists of three parts: the eponymous installation Head On, where replicas of 99 life-sized wolves run fearlessly and collide one after another into a glass wall; Illusion II, a two-channel video installation that also documents the explosion project by the same title; and Vortex, a gunpowder drawing depicting hundreds of wolves chasing one another in a circular motion.

The installation of the heroic wolves first premiered at the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin in 2006 and has since been exhibited in many institutions around the world, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and Bilbao, the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum before traveling to Singapore.

What makes the installation at the National Museum of Singapore unique compared with the work's previous presentations is that it is shown in a gallery completely painted in black. Not only does this dramatically complement the wolves' silvery mane but it also invokes a new way of seeing the piece. (Source: National Museum of Singapore)

I like the exhibition. Nothing compares to seeing it personally. Invisible walls are everywhere in our society... corporate, politics, religion... you name it. And herd mentality is so prevalent... especially when humans, citizens, electorates, investors can't be bothered to think for themselves and submit to convenient propaganda.

About the Artist
Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡國強 was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China. Cai was awarded the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, the Seventh Hiroshima Art Prize in 2007, and the 20th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2009. He was also Director of Visual and Special Effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2008, he was the subject of a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. He has lived in New York since 1995. (Source: www.caiguoqiang.com)

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 2
ISO: 3200
Focusing: Auto

The gallery was black, littered with spot lights and "NO FLASH" signs. Just as well because I didn't have any flash unit with me (I don't like using the build-in pop up flash on my camera).

I'm very glad I had my fast 50mm prime with me as I can use a much wider aperture in this dark condition, yet was also restricted by the limited field of view as the installation spanned across the whole gallery. I had to go right to the corner of the gallery to get my picture and glad it didn't disappoint :)

Noise was a problem as I had to bump up the ISO to 3200 to get a decent shutter speed (i.e. 1/30) without camera shake. Noise reduction during post processing helped to alleviate much of the noise problem.

ASUS EAH5850 1G Replacement GPU

2010-06-03T03:20:00.003+08:00

My PC's original Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) had gone cranky back in April. Its an ASUS EN8800GTS 640MB bought from Sim Lim Square back in 2007 and had been in good service for nearly 3 years until these problems started showing...

Problem Scenario 1:
• System hang after start up
• Blue screen of death
• PC auto restart
• Many funny characters on Boot up screen
• Many vertical streaks of white, yellow or blue lines on screen
• System hang after start up
• Same blue screen of death
• PC auto restart
• Hang, blue screen & auto restart cycle continues

Problem Scenario 2:
• System hang after start up
• Display flashes non-stop
• Need to turn off PC manually
• Upon start up, many funny characters on Boot up screen
• Many vertical streaks of white, yellow or blue lines on screen
• System hang after start up
• Cycle continues

Notes:
• Problem alternates between Scenario 1 & 2
• Able to run in safe mode but with streaks of vertical white, yellow or blue lines.
• Sometimes PC auto restart even in safe mode.
• Already updated driver to the latest version - nVIDIA ForceWare 197.45
• Tried cleaning out dust & dirt from PC and GPU blower blades.
• Tried re-arranging internal chassis fan to improve heat exchange airflow
• Currently PC running ok but afraid problem may come back

With only a few months of the 3 years warranty left, I decided to send in to Ban Leong, the local distributor, for a thorough check.

After a month, the call from Ban Leong finally came and as suspected, the GPU was beyond repair.

Because it is an end-of-line model, a new replacement GPU comparable or better than the old GPU specification was given to me... only this time, the chip-set is not from nVidia but from ATI... the ASUS EAH5850 1G.

"It seems that this card is highly overclockable and offers a better price/performance ratio than other mid range to high end cards."

Borrowing the above quote from ocworkbench's review of the GPU, i fully agree that this is a good card. It's operating temperature is also much much cooler than the previous EN8800GTS... 45 degC vs the old 70degC!

It is now sitting nicely inside my case and doing its job very well.

Shooting Notes:
Camera: HTC Desire

My New Phone... HTC Desire

2010-05-27T02:04:00.003+08:00

This... is my new phone.

The HTC Desire.

I got it from Singtel online and it arrived at my doorstep - no ticket numbers, no queues... just click, click, click and wait for the delivery man to come at my indicated date and time. Hassle-free.

The HTC Desire will be replacing my current worn out SonyEricsson Cybershot K800i which had developed a handicapped navigation button - I cannot get it to go "right". The camera is also erratic - sometimes I can save my pics, sometimes I can't.

Here's some unboxing pics...

The HTC Desire is indeed... very nice... very slick... very responsive.

I like it :)

Shooting Notes:
Camera: SonyEricsson Cybershot K800i

Dear's Last Wisdom Tooth

2010-05-19T22:07:00.009+08:00

This... is my Dear's last wisdom tooth :)

She wanted a pic of it so she can post in her facebook. It had been a very very very long time since I took any pictures and decided to have some fun shooting this small subject and posting it here.

These are my attempts:

I'm still very much amazed and excited when doing macro photography simply because of the vast amount of details showing up in the pictures which our naked eyes cannot see.

Looking at the great details of this wisdom tooth, I can't help but to marvel Life's greatness and mystery.

A playful streak suddenly hit me and I tweaked the levels of the picture and VOILA!! I have a decayed tooth... LoL!!

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Add-on Lens: Raynox DCR-250
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 250
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Flash: Canon MT-24EX Macro Flash

Humble Room Studio Portrait Session

2009-07-13T22:00:00.004+08:00

"Can you help me take some pics for my resume?" asked my bro.

"Hmm..." i thought.

The hassle of setting up the two big diffuser soft boxes, two light stands, two studio flashes, sets of power cables +remote, bamboo pole + clothe pegs + ikea white linen for back drop, clearing the room of junk to make space... etc (read - WORK) came into mind.

"Okie" - I agreed... winning over my laziness.

And here's the result from my humble small room studio setup...

Took about 50+ pics and chose these. Still a noob at doing portraits, the session let me realised that we need patience and time in doing portraits. Both the photographer and subject (i.e. my bro) need some time to relax in the setup environment and warm up to the camera.

Even for my own bro whom i'd lived with for so long together in the same room, we still need some time to get into the mood... and for him to "come out" for the camera.

Hair - I found it to be a very important aspect.

Had to make my bro apply more gel so that his hair stays away from his forehead and that no major stray hair sprout from his head. Yes, we can always use post-processing to stamp or clone out any stray hair, but its time consuming and results are dependent on our post-processing skills. Get it right first time saves time.

Our little photo session caught the attention of our dad and he came in to take a look.

"Need your pic taken for you passport renewal?" i asked him.

"Hmmm..." he hesistated.

"Okie lah" he decided.

Jokingly, i requested,"Show us how u posed in your younger days?!"

And we have a classic here : )

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 5.6, Tv @ 200ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Soft Box: HighSun
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

Here's two pics of how i squeezed everything in my room:

Becos of the limited space, i wasn't able to play around with the placement of the flashes. Maybe next time try to play outside in the living room... haha.

Samui Swai Mak Mak!!

2009-05-15T15:06:00.016+08:00

Spend 5 Days & 4 Nights over at Koh Samui staying at Chaba Cabana Beach Resort and had such a wonderful time!!

Got in Samui Island on Bangkok Airways and they only have one 8 pm evening in-flight from Singapore... if only they have a morning flight then we wouldn't need to "waste" a precious day as it was already about 10pm when we reach our resort.

The resort was about 15 mins from the Samui Airport and the setting was Afro. Our Room 230 was on the 3rd floor and thankfully the porter helped with our luggage (getting our luggage down when we checkout need a bit of workout :P).

We were pleasantly surprised by two little towel elephants on our bed welcoming us and we spend quite a fair bit of time snapping their pics & appreciating them!

The room was big, clean and have a small cozy balcony. There was even a hanging rack for wet clothing by the side of the balcony, a very simple yet thoughful inclusion.

The bathroom is clean and spacious with a bath tub. A 40" LCD Samsung TV with the usual cable channels like Discovery, MTV etc provides ample entertainment in-room.

The next day we woke early to have our breakfast and to check out the resort and of course... the BEACH!!

I miss the beach...! The water's clear, the sand's fine and Chaweng North beach stretches very far out at knee depth on low tide! You can walk out 100m and the water will still be just ankle deep!

We went out and just laid there on the shallow waters enjoying the sun... with small fishes swimming around us! Will definately go back again if $$$ and time permits and you should too...!

And here's a panorama of Chaweng North Beach taken outside Chaba Cabana Beach Resort that consist of 35 frames stitched together by the Autostitch software (Demo version).

It's a damn good software for panorama as it does everything automatically for you and the stitching is flawless!

Should you find any flaw in this panorama, I take it as my OWN poor photography skill - the software is really damn good! Now i'm very very tempted to purchase the full licensed AutoPano Giga!!

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Add-on Lens: B+W 77mm MRC Circular Polarizer Filter
Mode: Av @ 8
ISO: 200

Panorama Shot Details:
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Add-on Lens: B+W 77mm MRC Circular Polarizer Filter
Mode: Manual - Av @ 8, Tv @ 200
ISO: 100

* Note: All "DSCF" labelled pictures are taken with Fujifilm FinePix J10 @ Auto Mode with flash suppressed.

2009 River Ang Bao

2009-01-31T18:19:00.004+08:00

Finally got the time... and mood... to go down to River Ang Bao held at the Marina Bay Floating Platform. Brought only my 50mm. Yes... only tat with my 40D. No wide angle, zoom, flash or tripod.

A good way to describe the setup was "to train myself on a prime lens". Another way to look at it was - i'm just plain lazy to carry ALL those gears... :P

I sure had to leave my comfort zone using a prime... walking more to get the subject in frame rather than just twisting the zoom ring... haha. And had to use my brain more in finding suitable angles for the subject due to the angle restriction of a prime.

But its fun and challenging, and i like the picture quality of this prime. The wide aperture also serves well for night photography : )

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 1.4 ~ 2.8
ISO: 400 ~ 800
Focusing: Auto

Golden Cross-Back Dragons

2008-12-16T15:57:00.007+08:00

Had a chance to view these beautiful golden dragon fishes (arowanas) up close in two very big glass tanks and wasted no time in capturing their grace : )

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Add-on Lens: B+W 77mm MRC Circular Polarizer Filter
Mode: Manual - Av @ 4, Tv @ 80
ISO: 3200
Focusing: Auto

The place was a challenge due to very low light and many visible reflections from the lights of the many other glass tanks in the area. The subject tank itself was only lit by one source placed above and thus shooting angles & spots were limited.

My lens is also not fast enough (max @ f4) and with a polarizer, I had to bum up the ISO to 3200 (my camera's max after expansion :P). Maybe my 50mm f1.4 will be a better choice but alas... i didn't bring along. At ISO 3200, noise is very evident and all i can do is to try my best to remove the noise post-process. Glad that i managed to get some decent shots out of the 70 odds i took :P

Joe & Annette's Wedding

2008-11-25T00:13:00.004+08:00

A new Begining... a ForEveR Bond.

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 4
ISO: 200, 400
Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash
Diffuser: Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal

Behing The Scene - Joe & Annette's Wedding Shoot

2008-11-24T20:10:00.003+08:00

Promised Annette not to disclose her wedding gown pics till after her Big Day... and i kept my promise : )

Wasn't a perfect day for a photo shoot and i quote their photographer Amos "First time i have rain on my photo shoot!!" (Something along that line... : P)

But Amos is good and professional - he rescheduled another day for them amid his very tight schedule.

Here we have the newly wed...

ForEveR LoVE

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 2.8
ISO: 200, 400

Sunset @ Seletar Reservoir

2008-11-08T20:11:00.003+08:00

A hot and sunny afternoon at the seletar reservoir ends with a fascinating perfect sunset...!!

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Add-on Lens: B+W 77mm MRC Circular Polarizer Filter
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 8 ~ 11
ISO: 100 ~ 400
Focusing: Auto

Inaugural F1 @ Singapore... Nite Race!!

2008-10-06T17:37:00.007+08:00

We went... soaked in the vibe... witnessed drama... and became part of history...!!

There were some side races prior to the main event. Here's the Formula BMW Pacific race...

And we have the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia too...

Of course... the mega main event - 2008 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix.

Enjoy we did, and many others too...!!

End with beer in hand & gig by The Wailers!!

And nope... we didn't get flat out like him : P

For the full photo series, click HERE.

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM w/o Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM w/o Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 4, Tv @ 250
ISO: 400, 800
Focusing: Manual
Monopod: Manfrotto 680B with 234RC Head Quick Release

Forgot to bring my lens hood... bad. Manual focusing spot was wrong and resulted in many off focus pics... bad bad. My 200mm max zoom is still short and the fencing could still be seen... bad bad bad. Guess its time to get the Canon EF 100~400mm IS L USM?? Hahaha...

Mid-Autumn @ Singapore Chinese Garden... Kitty Land!!

2008-09-23T00:16:00.004+08:00

Haven't been to the Singapore Chinese Garden for many years (like 20yrs?) and only very little trace of childhood memories remained...

Just remembered that my dad used to bring my bro & me over here with our mum for photo-taking when we were like 8 or 10yrs old... and now i'd brought my girlfriend there for some photo-taking... and it was her first time!

Paid the entrance fee of S$15 per pax for the Lantern Festival which i find was a bit steep. Just to mention - on non-event days, its free entry to the Chinese Garden. Immediately upon entering the main gate and crossing over the bridge, we saw massive dark rain clouds looming in the distant from our left...

Sure enough, it started to drizzle... then rain :(

But luckily the rain seized up just when night falls and we were able to leave our shelters... and with the lantern lights all coming alive, we waste no time snapping up the lovely lanterns...!

You can actually call it "Hello Kitty & Friends Lantern Show" because almost 99% of the lanterns on display were of characters from Sanrio, creator of Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, Cinnamoroll, My Melody etc. There wasn't any "Mid-Autumness" about it.

I actually overheard a Caucasian asking his two Japanese female friends (i guess they brought him there) what's the relation of these characters to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

The two girls were a little dumb-struck and explained that the characters are actually Japanese cartoon characters and have nothing to do with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival...

Guess they should have brought him over to the central instead where the lantern displays were more traditionally chinese, oriental and FREE to view!!

Nevertheless, the Hello Kitty & Friends' lantern displays were all very nicely done and beautiful, with many themes like Sailing, Cycling and biggest of all - Grandprix Racing... most probably in tune to the coming F1 Grandprix racing end of the month.

As for the two of us... we had fun snapping pics, playing with lantern... and of course, lighting up candles...!!

Click HERE to see the whole picture series.

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 11
ISO: 100, 200, 400
Focusing: Manual & Auto
Tripod: Giottos MT9250
Ball-Head: Giottos MH1302
Base-Plate: Giottos MH655 Quick Release

Mid-Autumn @ the central

2008-09-19T17:50:00.008+08:00

Heard from dad that there were many nice colorful lantern displays lining the banks of Singapore River on the side of the central shopping mall. Decided to go with my girlfriend and enjoy ourselves ; )

It was a good trip indeed and all the lantern displays were beautiful! Its oriental themed... with many chinese opera figures, the twelve chinese zodiacs, the legendary monkey god and even a tall gigantic pagoda! A very deep reflection of our Chinese culture & roots... and a good way to impress upon the young ones.

Besides these static lantern displays, there were shows and dances too... and even a lantern walkabout. And without fail, both the lion & dragon dances garnered the biggest crowd.

While we were leaving and crossing over the bridge to clark quay , they released fireworks! Damn... should have checked the program schedule. Didn't managed to snap any nice fireworks... only this (handheld/bulb mode):

But hey... no worries! Had a great time snapping & sapping up the mid-autumn mood and hope to be there again next year!

Click HERE for the full photo series.

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 11
ISO: 100, 400, 800
Tripod: Giottos MT9250
Ball-Head: Giottos MH1302
Base-Plate: Giottos MH655 Quick Release

Cozy Mid-Autmn Celebration

2008-09-19T17:50:00.007+08:00

Cozy
In the quiet night we sit
Just a handful just a knit
Talk of old tales
Laugh at old days
In a cozy corner we went
Down our old memory lane

Sep 2008 by arofarmer

Shooting Notes:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 16, Tv @ 25"
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Giottos MT9250
Ball-Head: Giottos MH1302
Base-Plate: Giottos MH655 Quick Release

Gone To Seed

2008-09-19T17:50:00.005+08:00

Gone To Seed... that's the topic chosen by last week winner, Fay, for this week's Creative Minds Photography Contest. Well... here's my upload:

It was the mid-autumn festival last weekend and mooncakes was one of the many festive goodies. Sweet, rich, dense and baked in the round shape of the moon.

This one is vegeterian and full of seedy goodness... almond seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds etc. Gone to seed... gone to stomach : )

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Av @ 11
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release

Found this little red seed alone on the ground... scratched and bruised yet still vibrantly red. Most probably travelled a long way from its mother plant... and fulfilling its destiny one day. Ain't we the same?

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 125
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Flash: Canon MT-24EX Macro Flash

Hope I get first and then we can all play Black&White!! (My suggested topic for next week) :D

Forlorn Dream

2008-09-12T14:40:00.003+08:00

Forlorn Dream

Dreaming beyond reality
visions of “us” embrace.
Shores of forbidden pleasures
in another time, another place.

Captivating sediments
desires to be fulfilled,
joining as “one”,
emotions began to spill.

Restless mired forethoughts
slumbering enchanted beyond words,
whispers float softly
beckoning to be heard.

Distance noises echoes
penetrating, awaken with alarm,
panic rises from within,
and the dream becomes forlorn.

Copyright 2002 Tracey L. Hardie

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 4
ISO: 100
Focusing: Auto

Mid Autumn @ Chinatown

2008-09-10T21:17:00.012+08:00

Had a fun evening walking along Chinatown with my girlfriend and snapping up the brightly lit Mid-Autumn Festival decorations along the streets...

The beautiful Chang Er is at the centre of Eu Tong Sen Street welcoming all of us... to her fairy land...

These big red lanterns caught our attention (and most people's too) and we decided to venture into the red lantern world...

Many festive goods line the streets... like mooncakes, lanterns & pomelos... hmmm... giving us that feel of mid-autumn... yummy!!

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM with Hood
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM with Hood
Mode: Av @ 11
Focusing: Auto
Tripod: Giottos MT9250
Ball-Head: Giottos MH1302
Base-Plate: Giottos MH655 Quick Release

Lost Beetle

2008-09-10T15:09:00.005+08:00

It came crashing onto my keyboard... in the wee hours of the morning. i was going through the many pics i took at chinatown last weekend with my girlfriend.

Dazed and disorientated, it tuck its feeble wings, steadied itself and started to explore its surroundings.

Between lazily ignoring it and hardworkingly setting up my macro gear, i chose the latter after overcoming some lazy inertia : P

And glad i did!!

It was calm (maybe in shock after my heavy flashes?!) and allowed me several shots before spreading its wings and took off...

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
Add-on Lens: Raynox DCR-250
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 250
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Flash: Canon MT-24EX Macro Flash

My SG F1 PaSS!!

2008-09-04T16:22:00.008+08:00

"WoW!!"... that's my first impression after i opened the envelope and starring at the little black box...

2008 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix... neatly printed on the little black box. In white, all the race details are tastefully scattered around an outline of the race track... on top of a F1 car graphic. Nice.

The box is fully sealed and you need to tear away at the back of the box at the perforated tab (like a breakfast cornflake box). Lying there neatly awaiting is the Sunday Walk-about F1 Pass... color printed, credit-card sized, with a red lanyard and a hologram security label. Neat.

When i click "confirm" to purchase the inaugural F1 night race here at home in Singapore many weeks ago, i thought i was gonna get a paper ticket stub mailed to me.

So this little package came as a great surprise... maybe just to me but i really appreciates the design work put in to create such a nice & neat pass - worth a collectable status! It cancels out the frustration & dismayal that many fans (both local & international) faced during the initial online ticket sale where the sale system hang due to heavy traffic.

Great job done by the team behind our inaugural F1 race and kudos for bringing such a prestigious event to Singapore!

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11, Tv @ 125/250
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Tripod: Manfrotto 190XPROB
Ball-Head: Slik 800 Quick Release
Flash: Alien Bees B800
Soft Box: HighSun
Light Meter: Sekonic Flashmate L308BII

Waking Up From A Lazy Slumber + Canon Photomarathon!!

2008-09-04T00:13:00.005+08:00

Been lazy for a month now... haven't touched my camera, haven't process my big backlog of RAW holiday pics, haven't read my newly purchased photo books nor read all those subscribed photography forum threads...

Just plain lazy... lazily playing games (Portal, Crysis, CallofDuty4, TeamFortress2) and dating :P

A friend (cr8tion) sms me today and asked if i'm interested in joining the Canon Photomarathon. "What on earth is that?" was my first reaction upon reading the sms, and how i felt out of touch with the photographic world...

"I had been too lazy" fills my head as i went to Canon SG website to check things out before replying him a big positive yes after i had registered for the event.

Thanks cr8tion for waking me up from my lazy photographic slumber... appreciates it : )

And now time to get busy with my camera, process my big backlog of RAW holiday pics, read my newly purchased photo books and read all those subscribed photography forum threads!!

Oh yes, do sign up for the Canon Photomarathon and have fun!! There's no restriction on the type (i.e. Point&Shoot/DSLR) or brand of camera used so owners of Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Casio etc can join in and have fun!

But i think film is out because the competition is centered around digital and downloading, as what i understand from reading the rules on the website. You might wanna check with Canon if you are a die-hard film fan ; )

Operation Smile - WAFF Carnival

2008-07-14T17:21:00.005+08:00

Everyone should be gifted with a beautiful smile... : )

"WAFF stands for “Warm And Fuzzy Feeling”, which is the theme for the carnival, in conjunction with our tagline “Feel The Fuzz, Take The Step, Bridge The Gap”. This represents the three main aims that we hope to achieve from the carnival as a whole – that the public feels enthusiastic about doing charity work; that youths will be able to step up to the challenge of organising charity projects; and to spread the awareness and understanding of cleft lip and various craniofacial conditions to the public."

Source: uspstudent.nus.edu.sg/waff/about.php

For the whole series, click HERE.

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Mode: Av @ 6.3
ISO: 200
Focusing: AF

It was a good day with great light. Slightly cast within the tentage. Atmosphere was waffy (warm and fuzzy feel) and all out to do their bit for raising awareness & funds. Had fun that day and tried seeing things and events happening with my heart... : )

Thanks Tracy, for informing & inviting me over for such a great time!!

For the whole series, click HERE.

How The Blind Take Photos

2008-07-04T16:34:00.003+08:00

The news header caught my immediate attention as i was doing my usual news header "surfing" of a newspaper yesterday.

The Blind... taking photos? Hmmm...

Blessed with the gift of sight, i guess i will never be able to fully comprehend the blind world, not to mention how a blind can actually take photos with a camera.

As i read the news story, i was touched by the effort of Mr. Hiroshi Suga (an award winning Japanese photographer) and how the blind students developed their own methods to overcome their disabilities. i can imagine the many possible doubts, rejections, scepticism or maybe even cynicism when this whole thing first take root.

"Eyes of the Heart"... these kids have it and its time i start to discover my own eyes within my heart. So often we see with our eyes but not with our hearts, speak with our mouths but not with our hearts and hear with our ears but not with our hearts.

Gotta use my eyes of my heart the next time i shoot... join me :)

Mad Hatters' Garden Tea Party!!

2008-07-02T22:55:00.004+08:00

I was cordially invited to Wanying's MAD HATTERS' GARDEN TEA PARTY!

Was a balmy Sat evening at the Singapore Botanic Gardens... with my Cap on, i shot... n she shot... n he shot... n they all shot...

And our dear Tracy brought her two little cousins... ain't they cute & lovely?

And what fun we all had playing with sparklers!!!!!!

And our little boy knows how to shake his bonbon to the music too!! Don't play play ah... cos he's the real player!!

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Mode: Av + Manual
ISO: Varies 200 ~ 1600
Focusing: AF + Manual
Flash: In-built
Diffuser: Tissue Paper + Rubber Band

To be honest, I wasn't really in the mood to shoot that day... perhaps I was drained by the wedding coverage in Thailand. I was even to the point of being lazy - bringing jus my 40D + 50mm prime... I even forgot to bring the puffer diffuser for my built-in flash and had to resort to folding a piece of tissue paper over the flash and secured with a rubber band : P

But i remembered to bring along my hand towel for it was a balmy day and i sweat easily. I figured i wasn't gonna be there to look pretty, but to shoot. Running around shooting makes me sweat, especially in such a humid country like Singapore, not to mention that we were at the botantic garden.

The evening lights were good that day and the pics turned out ok. Going into the nite, i was experimenting with low light shooting - Manual mode + manual focusing. The last few shots of our cheerful boy shaking & dancing were done that way and the results didn't disappoint.
The hardest part was to focus fast, and the dim viewfinder is a big challenge... intuition and practice is the key. I guess my manual macro focusing practice helped : )

THAI SUPER STAR WEDDING

2008-07-01T14:23:00.006+08:00

Flew over BKK - Chachoengsao Province (Thailand) to attend Jeff & King's wedding with the intention of doing some simple candid wedding shots of the couple and their well-wishers but ended up being the accidental "Official" wedding photographer...

Loooong story short:

1. Original photographer opt for film & wanna charge by the rolls.

2. Jeff, disbelieved that in present digital age still wanna go film, felt possible rip-off coming.

3. Disengaged photographer and task King's younger sis to shoot using simple digital point & shoot camera (The couple is not particular about pictures).

4. Happen to be there with my DSLR gears... thus landed the "JOB".

Well... its my first time (virgin) covering a wedding, and a Thai wedding which I have NO prior experience (with the proceedings), thus was nervous (naturally) yet excited.

The morning started early about 7am, yet not as early as our typical Singaporean wedding that usually starts about 5am at the bride's place where the bride is readying with her hair ceremony and make-up.

From our hotel, we took the mini bus over to King's aunt's house where we had a simple breakfast, while some last minute preparations are still going on.

The whole place had a very simple yet joyous kampung feel... very different from all the Singaporean weddings that i'd been to. While the Bride and kids were busy in the room getting made up, the Groom and relatives were busy making sure everyone was settled and everything was in order.

It suddenly poured and everyone sprung up to help, keeping everything dry, especially the fire crackers...

As if the heavens acknowledged the wedding, the sky slowly cleared in time and off we went to get ready for the wedding procession...

And off we go...!!

Challengers & obstacles were awaiting Jeff at the door...

With more in the house...!!

Our dear Bride could only wait... wait... & wait...

And finally... Bride & Groom meets...

The newly wed and everyone then went over to a newly built room (just for the wedding) for the traditional Thai ceremony. The ceremony was simple yet meaningful, with everyone giving their blessings & well-wishes and the couple thanking them.

And here's one for the camera!!

The couple also held a Christian ceremony back at the hotel and here are the highlights:

The wedding dinner was at the hotel's restaurant and here's some pics...

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17 ~ 40mm f/4L USM
Mode: Av @ 4, ISO varies
Flash: Canon 580EXII
Diffuser: Gary Fong Universal Cloud
Mode: ETTL

As I mentioned very early on, this is the first time that I'm shooting a wedding and overall, I find the 17-40mm very useful, especially for wide crowd shots. Many a times I ended up in situations that I had to hold my camera overhead and jus snap while hoping for the best and the USM fast focus didn't disappoint.

During the dinner, I made a mistake by using f4 for group & table shots. The pics didn't turn out as sharp as I wanted... should have used at least a f8. Will learn from this.

As for Jeff & King... they are happy with the pics and I'm glad too. Of course there are many things that I still can improve on... such as angles, Av used, exposure, etc.

Forever Love... Jeff & King.

First Attempt At Commercial Shoot

2008-06-11T07:58:00.002+08:00

Finally back from my 3 weeks Call Of Duty to the nation and here's the pics that i shot for a friend's herbal drink stall (located at Holland Ave) a few days before entering in-camp:

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm Macro f/2.8 USM
Mode: Manual - Av @ 16, Tv @ 250, ISO @ 100
Flash: Canon 580EXII + Canon MT-24 Macro
Diffuser: Gary Fong Universal Cloud
Mode: ETTL

This is the first time that I used the 580 + MT-24 flash combo. Spent quite a fair bit of time trial & erroring. The 580 was mounted on a monopod stand off-camera above the subject, with the MT-24 on camera providing fill & shadow play.

All the product ingredients were painstakingly cleaned out & arranged, and were shot over a few days. Some were rejected by my friend and were re-shot. Submitted all to istock but only got 2 accepted - The rest did not meet their lighting requirement. Will learn from this and improve along the way : )

As for my friend? He's a happy customer when he saw the final printout result (slightly larger than A0 size). I haven't got a chance to see it myself but according to him, passerbys were asking where he got the pics when he's carrying the printout home from the printers... i'm happy : D

Small Spider Lunching On Fly

2008-05-25T01:41:00.006+08:00

_MG_5215 - Spider Eating Fly On Leaf, originally uploaded by -AroFarMeR-.

Took these macro spidey pics some time back just around my place but haven't had the time to process them. This big one gave me a shock when i saw it... i nearly walked into it:

It took me a while to notice that there was another small orange spider sharing the web with Mr. Biggie. Mr Tiny wasn't obvious at first sight... it even looked like Biggie's wrapped up food when it was all curled up.

The interesting one is a small spider which i found on a leaf. He was eyeing a fly that had jus landed on the leaf. In a split second, he jumped forward, caught the fly in his powerful jaws and hurried away under the leaf to enjoy his lunch... under the leaf to be safe from predators.

I guess i was lucky to be trailing him when he was having lunch becos he moved much slower and stopped more frequently which allowed me to snap him... with his lunch still in his jaws:

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm Macro f/2.8 USM
Mode: Manual - Av @ 11~16, Tv @ 125~200, ISO @ 200
Flash: Canon 580EXII
Diffuser: Gary Fong Universal Cloud
Mode: ETTL
Ring Light: MCGILL MCLS-1 Macro Ring Light

This is the first time that I used the MCGILL MCLS-1 Macro Ring Light in the field. It is NOT a flash - it is actually just a small fluorescent tube powered by 6 AA batteries.

The light is not as powerful as a dedicated macro flash but is sufficient in already well lit areas where you want that extra brilliance on the subject. Just check out the circular catchlight in the spider's eyes:

A Prawning BDay Celebration for Marcus & Joe

2008-05-19T03:23:00.006+08:00

After driving about half the country (via CTE, PIE, TPE) towards the EAST, we reached Pasir Ris but tats where we started our amazing race to find the prawn farm... it's nicely hidden along Farmway3 with its entrance kept 80% in the dark, save for a small wooden board with hand drawn "Fishing" nailed atop : P

The place is quite cool, with 3 major ponds - Fishing, Prawning & Catch/Release.

Surprisingly no mozzies... and the place is relatively clean. Prices very reasonable and the beer is cheap! At S$3.00 per can!

The place is opened 24hrs and it gets more crowded into the night.

Our group's first catch was by our prawning couple - Jessie & Wade! They have such good prawning LUCK! I think they got a total of about 6 prawns thru the nite!

On the other side of lady luck is our Joe & Annette... luckless.

And they finally got a catch each at the end of the nite! Jus see how happy they were!

The others? They all have a prawn each to their name : )

What's the hardest part in prawning? i think its not about whether did you land a catch... personally i feel is the emotional obstacle that you have to overcome in cooking the live prawns you caught.

Skewing the prawns and placing them on top of the fire while their legs are still kicking is a rather unpleasant experience to many.

Our dear top prawner and rugged Jessie (Jus look at how she's gripping the prawn..!!) didn't stomach even a single prawn : P

I did... simply becos i don't want them to be sacrificed for nothing and be wasted... and they are deliciously good : )

Shooting Notes & Details:
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Mode: Av
Flash: Canon 580EXII
Diffuser: Gary Fong Universal Cloud
Mode: ETTL

The diffuser dome garnered a lot of curious looks and friends even suggested using it as a saucer... haha. Don't really matter to me becos i want the best for my pics... how my equipment looks is secondary.

This is my first time using the flash + diffuser in such a poor lighting scenario. I had to bump up the ISO to 1600 which i don't like. I like my ISO to be below 400 for my 40D as noise is prevalent when viewed at 100%.

Even at 1600 and at the widest aperture of f4, my shutter can only manage a 1/13 ~ 1/50 sec which i find is rather slow and prone to camera shake. Maybe i should explore the other f/2.8 Canon lenses... hmmm...

The diffuser works great! Skin tones and backgrounds are captured nicely without those ugly flash-out looks : ) Will keep exploring & experimenting with this interesting diffuser.

Grain Beetle... amidst my china barley : P

2008-05-16T02:04:00.002+08:00

_MG_1076 - Grain Beetle, originally uploaded by -AroFarMeR-.

Surprise surprise... to find our little pesty friend alive and kicking in a sealed packet of china barley which my friend bought.

The china barley is for me - to shoot his herbal drink stall "Barley Drink" pictures and out tumbled the tiny grain beetle as i poured out the content.

i thot it was dead at first sight, all wrinkled and motionless... but as i was preparing the china barleys for shoot, this tiny black spec suddenly moves!

Quickly, i got my macro lens and trailed it. It went around and occassionally spreading its wings. i guess it's warming up... after spending who knows how long in the sealed pack!

Finally, with all its bodily juices pumped up, it spread its wings and took off...

Farewell... and good luck ; )

2-IN-1 Celebration!!

2008-05-13T00:25:00.002+08:00

_MG_1023 - Family BDay Cake, originally uploaded by -AroFarMeR-.

1. It's my Dad's birthday!
2. It's Mothers' Day!

So we went for a dim-sum lunch at Lengkok Bahru and had our fill. After that, a stroll at Esplanade... a first time for my granny.

She has a very weak and curved spine due to osteoporosis so she's home bound most of the time. Walking requires much effort from her and she needs to sit often to rest her tiny frame.

Well, she's still a hard woman in her 70s now and still mentally sharp... even my mum lose to her in this aspect : P

Both are women of substance and like most mothers - they form the backbone of the family. May all mothers be happy... and appreciated... aways.

My dad... retired... relaxed... and enjoying life. I wonder what wish he made for his bday... strike 4-D? Toto? For us all to be healthy and well? Hmm... i think that's about it :D

This is the first time i tried out the Gary Fong Puffer Flash diffuser. Its a snap on diffuser for the in-built camera flash and great for simple occassions like this where you don't wanna lug a big external flash around.

It mounts onto the hot-shoe access of the camera and you can adjust the height of the diffuser. The effect is quite good, as it eliminates the typical in-yr-face flash-looks and the skin tone is more natural.

And it won't burn a hole in yr pocket... else you might wanna DIY one using the handle of a translucent milk bottle. Saw it in one photographic magazine.

Cut out the handle, cut a strip opening along it and just slide the whole piece onto yr in-built camera flash. Then cut to size ; )

The Lost & Found Couple

2008-05-08T02:15:00.005+08:00

_MG_0672 - Joe & Annette Lost & Found, originally uploaded by -AroFarMeR-.

Had a fun day out doing some FUN Shots with Joe & Annette... the Lost & Found couple.

They lost each other... after 10-yrs, he found her... re-united after a decade... now they ooze happiness & bliss!!

Wish you two all the best... always. Cherish moments... love life : )

You Can't Touch This

2008-05-06T02:12:00.001+08:00

You Can't Touch This, originally uploaded by -AroFarMeR-.

Our little Jizelle is a very very obedient girl : ) She curiously watches the mahjong game with great intend and observing every action on the table.

I wonder what goes thru inside her mind... hmm... interesting... : )

This little clip was made using the Windows Movie Maker software available in the Microsoft OS - VISTA (Home Premium Edition).

It's a very easy software to use - all you have to do is drag & drop any bits of picture or video clips into a video timeline graph, add in your desired sound track, pepper in some transition effects, throw in the starting & end titles/credits, and you got yrself a homemade movie. That's technology for you : )

Little Darrell's Baby Shower

2008-05-06T00:03:00.004+08:00

Close To You - by Carpenters

Why do birds
Suddenly appear?
Everytime you are near
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

Why do stars
Fall down from the sky?
Everytime you walk by
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

On the day that you were born
The angels got together and decided
To create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moondust in your hair
Of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

Here's Little Darrell's Elder Bro Cedric looking COOL in shades...

Cedric & Darrell's little cousin... ain't she cute with her two front teeth?

Daughters of Jeremy & Clara - Jizelle & Jaelyn. Hmmm... Cedric's & Darrell's future fiances? Hmmm...

Gotta ask our pretty mummy Clara's permission then... :P

I like photographing children... you never know what to expect. Many a times they will display their usual care-free selves, especially after they have 'broken-in' with the new unfamiliar environment, new little friends and a strange-looking Uncle with big strange-looking camera.

But sometimes, you might just catch them in very adult-like moods or expressions. Young as they are, they too have moods n stresses.

I'm beginning to love my Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM - it allowed me to snap Baby Darrell without any flash (wouldn't want to use flash on a baby) in low light condition. Now i really appreciate the f/1.4... imagine what the high-end 50mm f/1.2L USM can do!!

This is also the first time i tried out the Gary Fong Universal Cloud Dome Diffuser on my 580EXII flash in an indoor portraiture setting. The results are great but somewhat unpredictable... not consistent to what i had in mind.

Will get more practice in this area and learn to use the flash+diffuser combo more effectively. Florence & Alicia, thanks for being my models for the day! : )

New Photo Friend @ Labrador

2008-05-03T01:08:00.005+08:00

Raymond350 - that's the nick of a new friend i met at Labrador Park today.

A young man in his early twenties who is passionate about photography. His passion eludes as a matter-of-factly when he told me he went up Mt Faber and then over to Labrador... On FOOT... just for the sake of photography... cool.

Here's his Flickr Photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raymond350/

Below's some pics i took at our historic Labrador Park during my 2 visits - last friday n today. Will head there again to sharpen up : )

Help!! I'm Cornered!!

2008-05-01T13:02:00.011+08:00

"Help!! I'm Cornered!!" exclaimed the House Lizard. He stayed still... very still as any movement would bring more attention to himself and reduce his survival chances drastically. He is now in bare territory, without the cover that had hidden him comfortably.

Just minutes ago, he was safe there... lying in the dark, until a bright light came on with a gigantic strange creature running in who made some splashing noises, filled the space with pungent odour and kicked his cover abruptly... revealing his concealment.

He ran... with all his legs, trying to find a possible escape route but alas, the pungent odour must have got to him, for he was disoriented and couldn't get out. All these while, the gigantic creature just sat there watching his every move before making a final loud splashing noise and went away.

"It's gone. I'm safe" he thought to himself but security was short lived as the gigantic creature returned with a strange big black thing that looked like a very big eye. Big Eye was trailing him, nailing his every move with a "cliiiiccck" and blinding light that added to his confusion.

He can only stay low in the open and bid his time. Trapped and Cornered.

Suddenly Big Eye wasn't trailing him anymore - "Now's the CHANCE!!" He scrambled towards the crack that he had noticed while bidding his time... and he's gone.

Peeling...

2008-04-30T14:43:00.007+08:00

I'm PEELING... naturally - who wouldn't peel after a FULL day out in the sun WITHOUT any sunblock on? Hahaha

Here is me on Monday, 1 day after the Formula DRIFT event on Sunday... all RED:

Here is me now... 3 days after:

And here is a piece of my peeled dead skin... you can see the skin contours, cell lines, pores... HAHAHAHA

And this is the first time i'm trying my hand on taking a self-portrait. Not that clear cut as i initially thot - need to make many adjustments and reviews.

I tried using a mirror with the camera pointing at an angle (abt 45deg) towards me and it work ok but focusing is tricky, especially when i want my eyes to stay sharp.

Using a remote controller and setting the AF point to the diagonal square, I managed to get my eyes focused after many trial & errors.

I tried another way - which is more direct - and that is to setup my camera with my pc and using the remote shooting function. Via my pc, i can focus the lens and get my eyes sharp.

I wonder how do all the great photographers get their own portrait taken... by themselves? or by fellow great photographers? Hmmm....

Formula Drift SG

2008-04-29T15:39:00.015+08:00

What a HOT SUNNY DAY at the inaugural FORMULA DRIFT SINGAPORE event held on Sunday 27 April 08 at the Singapore Airshow Grounds in Changi!! By the time me and friends left the place, we were totally TOASTED!

But it was worth it, to be able to see top class drifting action from the Pros and our local guys battling it out. The top spot goes to Team USA's RYUJI MIKI with his RX7, Team Malaysia's TENGKU DJAN and his AE86 claim the 2nd spot and Team New Zealand's MIKE WHIDDET got the 3rd spot in his RX7.

Wanna know more about the event n what's drifting? Check these out:

Formula Drift SG - http://www.formuladrift.com.sg/index.htm
Straits Times on Formula Drift SG - http://www.straitstimes.com/Video+News/Singapore/STIVodcast_4086.html?playid=4086&type=Singapore

It's my first time trying my hand on sports photography – also virgin use of my Canon EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM at a motorsport event. The IS (Image Stabilizer) works GREAT... you can just feel the gyro working and stablizing your viewfinder vision... neat especially when panning n hunting the drift machines.

However, the LCD didn't provide much help in determining picture quality becos of the glaring sun but luckily all my pics turn out good and i'm happy. I have also tend not to trust the LCD nowadays becos I had instances where it looks great on the tiny LCD but blurred when view on my monitor. .. haiz.

Should i use ONE-SHOT or AI SERVO auto focusing mode for this kind of event? That was the question ringing in my head when I was out there in the field. I tried both and find that both seems to work quite well. I do get some blurry shots in both modes and I attribute them to my poor handling skills – Don't blame the equipment for yr poor skills... read it somewhere online... Hahaha.

To see more of the action, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiek6654/sets/72157604798059443/

Finally made it as an iStockphoto contributor...!

2008-04-24T22:46:00.009+08:00

After 3 failed attempts and tries, i finally made it as a contributor to iStockphoto, which is to me, one of the best stock photo/video/vector site on the net - thus this first blog entry!

It feels like getting my driving license at the 4th attempt - happy and very much relieved. (Incidentally, i got my real driver's license on the 2nd try... haha). Very much relieved becos it means that i do have some photographic sense after all... haha.

But i do know tat my photographic journey ahead is still long and much practical practice and learning is still awaiting me - just like having a driving license doesn't make me a good driver - it only allows me to drive on the road.

To be a good driver, i still have to keep all pointers in mind, put into action good road practices and improve my driving skills over time.

This is very much similar to photography. Being a contributor is only the first step - it doesn't mean that i'm a good photographer. To be good, i will still need practice, practice n more practice... improving my techniques and skills over time.

Alright, these are the 2 pics that qualified me as contributor (ID: AroFarmeR) and do check out my portfolio at http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&userID=3040692