Fun @ Putrajaya

It was Xmas day, and I wanted to plan for the upcoming outdoor wedding location at Putrajaya. What was supposed to be a survey trip, ended up becoming a fun trip. Made a few calls, and a couple friends were up for 'free-run' shoot at Putrajaya. Me+wife, my sister-in-law, Nfariz+wife and Capix decided to have some fun there since I brought my strobist kit along.

Haven't shot my wife's portrait for a while, so here's some portraiture of her @ Putrajaya.

#1


#2

Then, the sun sets and we started to set up the lighting. We've hardly do all these strobist thingy, so, we're pretty much 'infants' in this area =)

#4


#5


#6


#7


#8

I just realized how much fun it was doing these kind of outing. Will be planning for more!

Zoo Negara Part Deux

I've been a frequent visitor of the zoo this past couple months. Shooting animals in the zoo are interesting and requires patience. Most of the time, they'll be asleep. You can't throw your sandals to wake them up, so u gotta wait. This time, me and Joseph hit the zoo again and shoot selected animals, mainly the tiger and lions. Here are some shots of that day.






Next trip, we're hitting the road! We're raiding Zoo Melaka next!

KTM Station Street Shoot

There was a street shoot outing organized by a my good mentor/friend 'Zamrudku' last Sunday. A massive group outing with a combination of both ShutterAsia and PhotoMalaysia members. I was there to support and meet up with my friends and try out my street shooting skills. Street shooting requires your eyes to be observant in order to pick up great shots from something seen everyday. I didn't shoot much, in fact, I shot only 17 frames, but I was very happy with the outcome.

This would be my favourite shot of the day..

And some other shots..

For those who are interested in doing street shooting, gather up a couple friends, and hit the streets of KL. It's better to do street shoots in group for your own security. And yea, no need to cover such a vast area, just select a small area and explore deeper. Keeping the shooting area small would make you look harder.. be it patterns, emotions or a perfect urbanscape shot.

Daniel & Chen Hui's Wedding

Kurt and I have been given the honor by Daniel & Chen Hui to shoot their ROM. Daniel is May Kei's brother, whose wedding we shot recently. In return, we talked them into doing outdoor shoot at the Orchid Park. Outdoors are fun.. 85mm is fun too..

Congratulations to Daniel & Chen Hui, they're such a loving couple..

There's always the first time for everything.

It was my first Chinese wedding job.. I (and my team) was given the opportunity by my wife's ex-colleague to shoot her wedding dinner + the traditional tea ceremony. Full of happiness, laughter and love. Such a wonderful couple. Congratulations May Kei & Kok Song. Here are some of my shots..





Hope there will be more opportunities to come in the future :)

My New Toy

I recently purchased the lens I've been dreaming of, Canon's legendary macro lens - MPE65mm f2.8 1-5x. Ever since I started shooting macro, I've been inspired by the shots taken with the MPE65. This lens is capable of shooting up to 5:1 lifesize, which means, it's magnification power is 5x more than the other 1:1 macro lenses in the market. A 'must have' lens, at least for me..

Handling the lens is not as easy as it looks. It's a manual focus lens, so you need to practice to get higher percentage of success rate. The DOF is very thin, and at 4:1 and 5:1, there's an earthquake on your viewfinder even with the slightest vibration.

I pair this lens with my macro ring flash, the MR-14ex. Due to work commitments, I've only managed to take this lens for a walk only twice. At the moment, I'm only concentrating on getting the lighting and settings up to the level i wanted it to be. Composition of subject can come in later ;)

Here are some shots taken with this lens. I know I'm gonna love this lens... just like my other lenses :P

The Nifty Fifty Project #7

#7 - Delighted (ISO400, 1/60sec, f/2.8)

The Nifty Fifty Project #5 and #6

#5 - Make me work (ISO100, 1/320sec, f/2.0)

#6 - Look deeper! (ISO1600, 1/60sec, f/1.8)

My dad used to live here..

My father grew up in this house in Perlis. I believe that this house was built since the 1930s, if not earlier. Now, there's only the kitchen portion that remains. It'll be there for the next couple years before it bows down to earth..


I'm very sure my father has a lot of fond memories of this house.

PP-info - Multiple exposure shot (-2,0,2) HDR, converted into BW, then tons of selective curve adjustment plus selective sharpening on house details (thanks to Zamrudku for sharing his knowledge).

Shot with a 17-40 f4L on 40D.

Zoo Negara with EF100-400L

I just got a new toy. It's the EF100-400 f4.5-5.6 L. This lens has "FUN" tagged to it. So, I went to Zoo Negara and did some shooting with the new toy. Here's my best shot of the day..

"Mad Scientist"

The Nifty Fifty Project #3 and #4

#3 - At rest (ISO100, 1/500sec, f/2.8)

#4 - National Colors (ISO100, 1/800sec, f/2.8)

[BEHIND THE SCENE] SUNGAI CONGKAK OUTING

We had tons of fun shooting those silky water effect at Sungai Congkak. Here are the three photographers who went in and out of the water soaking themselves and their gears wet just to get the shots as they imagined it would be.

Master Zamrud looking for the sweetest spot

Master Fariz in and out of the water

and.. ME! Manfrotto ad wannabe :PSungai Congkak.. we'll be back with more photographers!

[NATURE] Sungai Congkak, Hulu Selangor

I've always wanted to shoot those silky water shots. Recently had the chance to shoot it when I visited Sungai Congkak, Hulu Selangor. Equipped with Cokin GND2,4,8 and a tripod, there I was with a few friends soaking ourselves in the chilling water trying to get the best angle.

This won't be the last time me visiting Sungai Congkak. I was mesmerized with the calmness and cooling atmosphere. I will be back for more shots and leisure, with family and friends.

The shots were post processed with Orton effect (you can download the photoshop action on the net). However, I didn't use 100% of the Ortonized output. I blended the Ortonized layer with the original layer with a 30-45% opacity.

The Nifty Fifty Project #2

#2 - Patriotism (ISO200, 1/4000sec, f/2.2)

The Nifty Fifty Project #1

I have decided to create a photography project for myself. This photography project is called the Nifty Fifty project because the all the photos in this project will be shot using the 50mm f/1.8 lens. All shots in the Nifty Fifty project will be using shallow DOFs, ie. between f/1.8 - f/2.8. The idea is to emphasis on certain details of a subject with having to complicate the interpretation of the photo. I plan to shoot 50 shots for this Nifty Fifty project before proceeding to the next project.

#1 - "Lentik" (ISO400, 1/125sec, F/2.2)

Test post.

Testing testing.. one, two, three...
Okay.. will be back with more posts :D