Where to buy your camera's / lenses

I had not been able to post for a while now as I have some major problem with my photo-processing software, not to mention the problem my pc is giving me.

Time to upgrade or change - mayby to a Mac?

This posting is not about the problem I am facing. Just wanted to alert fellow Malaysians who are keen to either upgrade their photography equipment at a fair price. There is a shop at KotaRaya (near to Pudu bus station) that will probably give you a price that is very reasonable. Catch is, just mention my name! Really.

The shop:
LTK Electronics
Lot 2.20, 2nd Floor
Kota Raya Complex
Jalan Cheng Lock
50000 Kuala Lumpur
03-2078 2339

Action shot

We were lucky to have seen this split-second power play. The tigers at the Taiping Zoo were all lazing around in the mid-day sun when all of a sudden these two tigers were chasing each other. Lamented the fact that I did not have the right settings for this shot. Could have been better. Then again, if I have a better, more expensive camera, I could immediately dial a high ISO without having to worry about grains.


Two tigers caught playing!



Bird Photography

I have some difficulty shooting birds in flight. Reaction too slow, lens not long enough, camera not fast enough, and a whole lot of other reasons.

So, I will start slow, shoot birds in flight later. For now, will do with birds fighting for their food. Even this is tough. Light was not very bright. Had to increase the ISO and used Aperture priority. Shutter priority might be better, in this case. Then again, feeding birds don't pose, and to capture the scene, will have to make do with whatever settings I have at that instant.

Two birds fighting over a fish

Possibilities with Weeds

I love nature. These series of photographs will probably tell you why.

I thought this might be useful for those of you who have just acquired a camera and don't know what to shoot. Again, I will let the photographs (taken with my trusty point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix LX3) do the talking. All taken at the same place, no colour enhancements, no additional sharpening - only cropping.

Walked past this patch near to Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC)

Used flash

without flash

Different angle, with flash

Just love the colour of the sky!

Same patch, only went nearer, and used flash

Beautiful creations by mother nature

Snapped this while waiting for the wife. Was in the centre of KL, not in a jungle, as a friend thought.

French Recipe Book - Cocktail Passion:Entertaining with Love

This labour of love, by Nathalie Arbefeuille and Jaen Ang with yours truly as the photographer will soon hit the the market. In fact, I expect to carry some books starting from next week. You can place orders with me.

The food was mouth-watering good. You can either buy the book and try out your hand at making some of the cocktails, or visit 'Nathalie's Gourmet Kitchen' located at Solaris Mont Kiara.

Cocktail Passion : Entertaining with Love

ISBN 9789833317790

Author : Nathalie Arbefeuille

List Price : RM135.00

Here are some of the teasers prepared by the publisher

Front Cover

Chef's Lovely daughter

Contents Page

Preparation

Tuna Bruchetta

Gorgonzola Toasts

Pineapple and chestnut verrine

Back Cover

Writing and photography – is a picture really worth a thousand words?

Hmmm. Rather profound statement. I had always asked myself whether I should just post photographs in this blog or write about the photograph that I post, or write a long story with a couple of photographs to illustrate the writing. Well, looks like I have found my answer in this article:

http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/aug/04/writing-about-photography-robert-adams

which was posted in Twitter recently. A good read

Photography Exhibition

Aptly called "First Exposure", I will have some photographs exhibited at the Nikon Centre in Kuala Lumpur for the duration of August and the month of September together with three other photographers - Chan Swee Meng, Paul Chan and Eunice Hau.

This is made possible by the centre manager, Alex Moh, who is already well-known in Malaysia as a photographer and curator.

Night photography

Did not realise I had been lazy. Only one posting in July? Bad, Bad

Now that I had chosen, edited, and submitted a couple of photographs for the BASF Petronas's Conscience Camera Award photo contest, I can settle down and plan for my next project. Will update once done.

Meanwhile, here's one of my favourite night shots taken at the Merdeka Square a while ago

BASF PETRONAS' "Our Children, Our Future"

Just received the following e-mail. Another year just flew by. Gosh, would not have known of this if they forgot to send me an e-mail. If you have a camera, recommend that you submit your entry. Prizes are good!

The following is extracted from the email:

Greetings from BASF PETRONAS Chemicals!


We are pleased to announce that the Conscience Camera Award 2010, organised by BASF PETRONAS Chemicals is back with the theme "Our Children, Our Future”. This national photography competition is now in its fourth year and opens from June 1 to August 15, to all residents of Malaysia.

We fully support the government's campaign for children's rights in Malaysia and therefore would like to promote the appreciation towards our children, who are indeed our future. Entrants should tell a story to interpret the theme effectively and should not just be family portraits. Capture vital stories and tell our community about the importance of children's rights and convey the "conscience" message with a image and a precise photo caption.

A panel of judges will evaluate all entries received by the closing date of August 15, 2010. BASF PETRONAS Chemicals will present a RM5,000 cash prize to the First Prize winner, along with eleven other prizes, and an exhibition of the winning entries will be held in Kuala Lumpur.

For more information about the competition and the theme, visit us at our corporate website http://www.basf-petronas.com.my/ (http://www.basf-petronas.com.my/cca/cca2010.asp) and join us at Facebook (Conscience Camera Award).

What are you waiting for? Join us now!

KL Marathon - just a quick take

I wonder if these marathoners wake up as early as 4am each day to train. Understand that weas the time the race started. I did not bother as I thought it was more meaningful to have some shots taken with the KLCC Petronas Twin Towers in the background.

Here's one pix taken using my point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix. Waving at me is Edward.

How was this taken? Camera on the ground!

Mr Kuala Lumpur

This is not the one. Someone beat him to it. I had to leave before the winner was picked. Well, with luck and maybe quite a bit of work, will be back next year for the full coverage.

If you were at the competition site, you will realise that it is not easy to sculpt a body. With the many 'mamak stalls' that open 24 hours, it is rather difficult not to over-indulge in tons of carbohydrates and of course the often too-sweet tea that comes with your order of roti canai.

This is a sampling of the contestants before they appear and when competing on stage.

Just cannot image myself being a body builder, or as one senior body builder Mr Henry Lim puts in his card, "turn your body into a fat burning machine" - machine they look!

Last but not least, a very pretty lass who is also a body builder. Won't you like to see her ripling muscles. Did not quite get her name. Kimberly, I think. The secretary of the Kuala Lumpur Body Building Federation, Mr Vincent Ho in the picture, also did not show off his muscles as he has to make sure the event runs smoothly.

Dragonboat competition at Putrajaya

Time really waits for no man. Gosh, did not realise that I had not posted anything for such a long time.

This shot was taken in the morning.The sun was hiding, and the air was kind of hazy. Nevertheless had a couple of ok shots. Thos friends of mine who will be there tomorrow, do pay for better weather.

Wedding shoot

Had a blast covering the wedding of Edwin and Debra last week. Lovely couple, and of course, lovely wedding, reception, etc, etc. Since they have not seen the photographs, will not post until later (maybe...). But since this car, a Jag, that was used as the bridal car, was one of those that I had ever thought of buying, I cannot resist posting an image. Will write a little about wedding photography later.

Panning Shot - Easy rider

Panning is easy. But to get the right picture with 'oomph', it takes lots and lots of practise. Try by setting your shutter speed to 1/30 second on a relatively fast moving object.

In this photo, I snapped the photo of the motor cyclist from a moving car. The motor cyclist was travelling at about the same speed as the car I was travelling in. Not so interesting an image, but will do as a practise shot.

Don't forget to crop your photograph, if that helps to make it a better picture. As in most photographs of moving objects, ensure that there is more space where the object is travelling towards. It shows movement. Does that make sense to you? Take a look at the photo above and below and make your own judgement.

Shooting up!

Shooting up - I meant the angle in which a photo is taken (very low angle)

Many a times, we find that a building that we want to snap, or a statue that we want as our background object, are just too high that we cannot have both our subjects and the background objects in the picture.

Sometimes, for a different effect, we do that too. Otherwise, all your photographs will not be any different from those taken by any other tourist or photographer.

Just like these two photographers. One lying on his back, and the other squatting and shooting 'blind'. Forgot to check with them how their photographs turn out. Probably pretty good, if they had used their flash (or they want to have silhouttes).

Two photographers taking photo of anchovies being fanned out to dry, in Pangkor Island

Show jumping

Now that my website has some semblance of a functional website, I guess I can afford to spend some time uploading some images.

Received quite a few emails about giving some pointers and tips at this blog. Although I am still a novice in front of some masters, I will try to do that starting next week. As one of my good friend relate to me his experiences, it is not always the technically strong photographer that captures the best picture, for the best picture is akin to the phrase, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". The best image is the one that evokes some emotion from the person seeing the picture.

Am I right or am I right.

This guy was almost knocked down by the horse. Heard that he designs the jumps. Must have been sleepwalking.

Revisiting prints on canvas

I am surprised that there are still quite a lot of people who does not know that they can print on canvas the photographs that they had snapped. In fact, have just created the following montage that I rather like. If my client likes it, you can see it being displayed at her restaurant somewhere in Mont Kiara.

By the way, it is not too expensive, at approximately RM0.20sen to RM0.30sen per square inch, depending on the size of the print. Stretching the print would cost around RM6 per foot run.

Website and programming

I tried to tidy up my website, http://www.yongcs.com/ and made a mess of it. Had been working on it for about a week now. Well, some improvements, in my opinion, but the Homepage is still 'work-in-progress'. A huge black box staring at you where it was the slideshow - and I have problems removing it.

Hope to get it back on its feet in a couple of days. Yes, hope...

Birds - fighting for a mate

Very fortunate to be at the right place and the right time, equipped with the right camera. A point-and-shoot will not do for this sequence of pictures. Fast shutter speed and rather high ISO.

We chanced upon a cluster of feathers. Upon closer examination, we saw three birds, apparently having a discussion!

Then the action started. Looked like three birds having a free-for-all. Wings fluttering, chirping, and beaks locked for the longest time I have ever seen.

Then one of the birds, apparently the female, took a break and the two male had a beak-fight.

The loser stayed for a while, then stepped away when the noisy pairs seemed to be chasing it away

Quiet moment!!! Bliss?

An afternoon at the races in Ipoh

A good friend managed to secure for us an entry to the race in Ipoh. Not very often do we get a chance to be about 10 feet or so from the horses during a race.

The weather was not very encouraging as there were scattered drizzles occassional lightning and thuner. To top that off, the sky was a featureless grey. Nevertheless, we had a great time 'shooting' the horses and riders. Some of the images to share with you:

Riders and horses going round a corner. Just love the speed and gait of the horses (and riders)

Right off the bend

... and coming towards us.

before heading for the finishing line. A photo finish!

Here's the winner (from a different race)

Saluting the photographer?

Shot most of the above on rather high ISO setting (1600) and shutter priority (1/2000s)

Fill Flash and fun at Sunway Lagoon

Most of the time, I would find flash photography casting shadows that look very harsh. As such, I hardly use them. For this occassion, however, if I had not used the flash, the subjects (happy school kids) would probably just appear as silhouttes against the bright sky.

Had fun asking them to be themselves. Happily spending a wonderful afternoon at Sunway.

... and who would not want to catch such a lovely kid

Portraiture - Iveta

Finally found some time to review some photographs that I took a couple of months ago. Here's one of the images. A couple of others can be found at this site

She's happy, he's happy

Love her smile, and his too

Always expect the unexpected

I was on an assignment last week, taking photographs of a cathedral, when I chanced upon this beautiful bird. A 'cross' that is all natural, and really beautiful.

and the cathedral?

Here it is. Sorry that I cannot showcase the best image - that goes to the cathedral.