Monday 31 December 2007

2008 new year fireworks display (the moments)

Friday 21 December 2007

macro with 105mm f/2.8 vr (the journey)

macro is a totally new adventure for me. the 105mm lens is very heavy, causing mf with hand-holding at 1:1 very difficult to achieve. the woe is getting worse when we need to stop down for greater dof, which means a very slow shutter speed at indoor lighting condition. mounted the sb600, the setup becomes even heavier so it is almost unmanageable without supporting the arm.

finally settled with a tripod, instead of hand-held at 10s exposure, coupled with manual-firing of off-camera flash, diffused through a napkin from the top position (of the 1st photo). the rest of the photos were all taken with mounted flash using i-ttl mode. an off camera ttl-cord would be ideal in terms of macro photography.

few challenges of macro photography:
  1. extremely thin dof and placement of it at 1:1
  2. tough lighting condition
  3. hand-held manual focusing
after playing with my flash for a while, felt that the lacking of fv lock is very crucial, especially when dealing with event photography. a lot more ps job are required to achieve consistent exposure without fv lock. maybe it is time to explore manual flash metholodgy.

macro with 105mm f/2.8 vr (the moments)

Sunday 16 December 2007

Thursday 13 December 2007

i weep for my country

while choices are often discriminatory
people presevered, swallow the injustice

if this is democracy
i weep for my country

with such lowness of humanity
yet people still vote with insanity

for a country once a mighty
now left with inferiority

i weep for my country....

while it sank all the way into the sea....


*pardon my grievance, this is not the usual travel/photography post*

home alone? not again (the moments)

poor wife is working late again today. she will surely be delighted when she sees this post.

Wednesday 12 December 2007

105mm f/2.8 micro vr & sb600

bro smsed me yesterday confirming the purchase, now waiting patiently for it to arrive at my doorstep this coming saturday.

who took my bonus?!?! who else other than nikon.

Monday 10 December 2007

changi broadwalk (the journey)

finally i managed to locate changi broadwalk during my 2nd trip to changi village. you can access the broadwalk via two entrance points, at changi beach club and changi sailing club. the easiest way to reach the broadwalk is by taking bus 29 from tampines interchange and alight at the bus stop nearest to changi beach club. the broadwalk is connected to changi point walk so if you want a longer stroll, start from changi point ferry terminal and walk all the way.

did not manage to spend much time on the broadwalk itself due to my afternoon nap and the day was getting dark by the time i reached. definitely i will make a 3rd trip to broadwalk for another photo-shooting session.

more gloomy days ahead, wondering when will i see a nice setting sun.

Sunday 9 December 2007

Saturday 8 December 2007

Thursday 6 December 2007

Monday 3 December 2007

first portraiture session (the journey)

using the available light, diffused through my windows and curtains, i managed to take some decent shots which potray the moodiness. the mood is great, contrast ratio is excellent but subject sharpness is not desirable. sharpness issue is due to the weak available light, causing low shutter speed of 1/4s - 1/2s and unavoidable subject movement. all photos were then processed with soft filter effect to give a dreamy feeling as a workaround for sharpness issue. the other problem with weak available light is camera has to be tripod mounted, instead of handheld, which reduce the flexibility of photographer movement.

it is a good learning curve, and now i know the reason behind portrait photographer going for leaf shutter system that can sync at higher speed than 1/250s for freezing subject movement and most importantly, improve subject sharpness. as a start, i would need studio strobes so that i can utilize a higher shutter speed with my current camera system. alternatively, take portraiture only in outdoor location with bright sun light, apply blur filter for photos taken indoor or utilizing sb800 as a temporary solution.

wish list updated (16th September 2010)

as the interest progresses, new need arises and my wishlist also changes:
  1. pc lens - nikkor 85mm pc micro $1700
  2. fisheye lens - nikkor 10.5mm $850
  3. tele zoom lens - (?)

what i have already gotten:

  1. camera - nikon d90 $1350
  2. wide lens - sigma 10-20mm $650
  3. standard zoom lens - tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 $480
  4. macro lens - nikkor 105mm micro vr $1000
  5. angle finder - seagull 3rd generation (1x/2.5x) $60, used
  6. remote - phottix cleaon II $59
  7. flash - sb800 $600
  8. bag - kata DR467i $118
  9. tripod c/w ball head - manfrotto 725b c/w attached 484rc2 ballhead $90, used
  10. tripod - benro A500 $120
  11. ball head - manfrotto 488rc0 $60, used
  12. dry cabinet - digi-cabi ad050 $60
  13. slot in filter system - hitech gnd0.6, gnd1.2, rnd1.2, 2xnd1.2, lee cpl, lee holders and rings $1000

spending till date: S$5647

Sunday 2 December 2007

Saturday 1 December 2007

gloomy days ahead (the moments)

expected a nice sunset yesterday but the clouds thickened nearing sunset time. didn't manage to catch any exciting photo, just sharing one of the few shots i took at changi point walk. also managed to process one photo which i left out from the last changi terminal 3 visit.

Tuesday 20 November 2007

18-200mm vr (first impression)

i love the distance scale which is missing from my previous 55-200mm vr and 18-55mm, it is extremely useful for the application of hyperfocal distance. felt that the combination of it with d40 is a bit unbalanced due to the extremely light weight of camera body. i have never handled a lens which is more than 0.5kg before so i still need some time to familiarize myself with handheld shot at shutter speed of less than 1/10s. will try to post some shots this weekend if possible, currently thinking of doing the test shots at either botanical garden or sungai buluh wetland reserve. will also be getting a tent this weekend for a pulau ubi camping "expedition", probably next week or the week after.

brother is going to hk again next week, might ask him to try getting a 12-24mm from the usual shop if possible. very broke now, i have already pre-spent the bonus which is expected to be coming only in end of december. where is my santa claus when i need one?

Friday 16 November 2007

a friendly visitor (the moments)

2 days ago, i heard some noise out of my window, and realized that there are a few friendly visitors (or rather unfriendly) at my neighbour's house. they went in and out of the house, making lots of noise and by the time i picked up my camera, only one of them left. should have given more space to the right of the photo but was restricted by the windows, i have no intention to make it to government's statistic for those who fell off the windows.

18-200mm vr is coming!

my lovely wife helped me pick-up a 18-200mm vr from hongkong at great price yesterday. she was supposed to get the 12-24mm but since it was out of stock, she settled on the 18-200mm vr instead. can't wait for her to come home, i want my new lens! i am selling my 18-55mm and 55-200mm vr now in a local forum, anyone interested do drop me an email. both are great lens but i can't afford to keep changing lens when i am travelling, also for the limited compartments on my great offtrail2. With 18-200mm mounted on my camera body, 50mm f/1.8 and upcoming 12-24mm each fitted nicely in the 2 side pouches of my offtrail2, the combination is just perfect for light weight trekking/travelling.

18-55mm II is a very light, yet sharp lens when stopped down to f/8. as for 55-200mm, the vr is great which i can handheld at 1/5s and yet still produced a very sharp photo.

Thursday 15 November 2007

changi airport terminal 3, singapore (the journey)

changi airport terminal 3's open house has started on 12 november 2007 and will end on 9 december 2007. you can either do a self-guided tour at $1 or follow a guided tour at $3. The money will be donated to Singapore Cancer Society so it is really worth while if you have some free time to spend. construction works are still going on at most of the places so i would suggest to go at a later stage, perhaps first week of december when more works are done.

i spent 2 hours at public area for photo-shooting and since i am not particularly interested in architectural stuff, i did not make an effort to go for the restricted area tour. architectural shot is really not my cup of tea, did quite badly in perspective control. if you are interested to photograph the public area, i would suggest to go around 6.30pm or later when there is not many soul around.

visit this site if you want to know more about the new terminal.

changi airport terminal 3, singapore (the moments)

Saturday 10 November 2007