Bib the Graffiti Girl..

Went shooting with the usual suspects.. The Bears Photoworks. This time, the theme is Graffiti Gal. The talent is Bib, my colleague, and this is her first time modeling for a shoot.





Strobist info
1 430ex bare 1/4 power 45 degrees behind model left
1 SB600ex bare 1/4 power degrees behind model right
1 SB900 honeycomb 1/2 power on top of model
1 580exII softbox 1/1 power camera left.

Here are some other shots of the photographers.. hehehe.. we want to be models too! :P

Eddieputera the Rockstar!

Was invited by a fellow photographer, Eddieputera to shoot him at his studio in Shah Alam. He wanted a rockstar theme. We started off with some simple shots, then we moved onto the hardcore ones..

Here's the shot of him that I like the most.





Here are the rest of the series.







We used between 3-5 lights for this session. Combination of studio strobes and speedlights and lots of light modifiers.

Click at the photo to view it larger on flickr.

Sekinchan landscape.

ShutterAsia organized an photo outing to Sekinchan. For those who don't know, Sekinchan is a beautiful place full of paddy fields in Selangor. I took my 5D, 350D(IR) and Yashica together with me to have fun shooting landscapes there. Here are some shots from my 5D and my 350D(IR).


Valley of the Snow Beasts


To the Rescue!


A Halted Climb


The Colors of Nature



For those who haven't visited Sekinchan.. don't waste your time, go quickly as the skies have been sooo blue the past few weeks (especially if it rains the night before your trip!)

A self portrait

I have recently purchased some flash accessories kit. Eager to test it out, called up Nfariz and Beruang Putih to join me for the session. We set the lights up, and walla! A self portrait of me. Shot courtesy of Beruang Putih, pp by me.





The lighting setup involves 3 lights.

580exII with softbox on top of me, 1/2 power.
580exII with barndoor behind my left, 1/8 power.
430exII with grids behind my right, 1/8 power.

Malaysian MotoGP 2009

I was very honored to be given a complimentary ticket to go to the Malaysian MotoGP by Canon Malaysia as a representative of ShutterAsia.

There I was on Saturday afternoon, with NFariz and geared with my toys. I can't recall when was the last time i shot motorsport action (probably never), but it was a great opportunity to learn how to pan. Took me about 30mins to adjust my swing following the biker's pace, then I'm all good :D

Here's a couple shots that I took. The rest of the series can be seen on my flickr.


Jorge Lorenzo of Team Fiat Yamaha




Dani Pedrosa of Team Honda Repsol




Valentino 'The Doctor' Rossi of Team Fiat Yamaha




It was a great experience for me, thank you Canon Malaysia and ShutterAsia. You guys ROCK! I'll end my post this time with another panning shot..



:P

Red Kebaya - I die the day you went away...

A new theme planned a couple weeks back.. The Red Kebaya. After a location scout on Saturday, the shoot follows the day after.

Team members involved - myself, Raz@Jeepang, Maestro, Sarip@GMan and Cis@BeruangPutih. Props were prepared by Mr. Raz@Jeepang. Thanks for providing us the the antique radio, the umbrellas, the violin. The red kebaya was provided by Alin Azmi, worn by the beautiful and talented Nurul.

Hope you enjoy the series!

Visitors not welcomed!


You left me alone.. aimless.. what's left are memories... and the very last roses from you...


I miss those beautiful music you used to play for me..


The radio.. used to play your music all the time.. keeps me close to you.... where ever you are..


Why? Why do YOU have to take him away from me?!?!?


I have no more reason to live in this world.. bye bye world...i shall be with my loved one...



We had a blast with this theme. There are more themes coming up, some very very interesting and challenging! All in the execution queue. Stay tuned!

Strobist shoot - Nov 5th, 2009

Had the idea of shooting a willing model with musical instruments. A good friend, Raz has volunteered to provide the musical instruments - guitar, sporano and a bagpipe. Crews who made the shoot successful would be the usual, NFariz, Capix, Cis and Raz himself. We had a blast!




Strobist info :
- 1 580exII on camera left with silver brolly (1/2 power)
- 1 580exII behind model at 45 degrees for left side kicker (1/8)
- 1 430ex behind model at 45 degrees for right side kicker (1/8)




Strobist info :
- 1 580exII on model right with shoot-thru brolly (1/1 power)
- 1 430ex behind model at 45 degrees for kicker (1/8 power)
- 1 reflector on model left to lighten the shadow on left face

Will edit this post and add lighting diagram once I've done it.

Tip of Borneo - Stunning!

The Tip of Borneo is located at Simpang Mengayau, Kudat about 190km North from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The journey takes about 2-3 hours, depending on the drive. For those who aren't used to the small and winding roads, you might get a little bit dizzy, but overall, the journey should be manageable.

There hasn't been any development done at the Tip, and hopefully it stays that way. The Tip is such a beautiful place. All the exhaustion suddenly went away the moment you feel the windy breeze and the breathtaking view of the place.

Here are some shots I have managed to shoot on my day trip to the Tip. I know one thing for sure, I'm going back to this place, and spend more days for more photographic opportunities there... soon!




The Tip on a high tide. As the tide goes lower, more of the Tip can be seen, up to another ~50m.




Beautiful colors.. simply magnificent!


Yes, dear. You're at the Tip of Borneo :D

Venturing into the World of Infrared Photography

I've always admired the effects and mood created from infrared photos. Recently, I have taken the plunge to send my third body, a 350D for a full infrared (IR) conversion. The reason I did this is to add another tool in my gear lineup to create certain effects to my works. With this tool, I hope I'll be able to realize some ideas that gives the sense of mystical, ethereal or dreamy look.

I'm still familiarizing myself to the post processing aspect of Infrared photography and have been trying to understand how to achieve what colors throughout the whole pp cycle.

Here's my first IR shot, a shot taken in Genting.





Then, the camera was used during my KK trip. This was shot at the Tip of Borneo, Kudat, Sabah.





Another shot at the same place. Shot by my wife, pp done by me.





And recently, this was shot in Putrajaya.





I really like the post process for the last shot. I'm spending a lot of time trying to understand about the channel swapping, color balancing, etc. in the post process step. I will share any information that I have learned or experiment in my blog.

[KK trip] A beautiful Sunset

I recently went for a quick getaway trip with wifey just to get ourselves out of the hectic life in KL. It's a 4d3n vacation in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. On the day of arrival, we were greeting with a couple of my schoolmates, who are 'locals' there.

On the first day there, we were taken to Third beach in Tanjung Aru, a usual spot for people to view the sunset. The sunset seen from there was probably one of the best that I've ever seen. Magnificent view!

Here's some of my fav. sunset shots from that trip.


"Touchdown"


"Romantic Sunset"


"The Afterglow"


Do click on the images for larger size. :D
More on KK to come, soon ;)

Evon T - The Special One

I've finally completed editing my Evon T - Pretty in White series. The last photo to be edited would have to be the one given careful thought and plenty of brain squeezing activity. During the photo shoot, there was this one particular shot towards the end of the session, with Evon posing in a graceful pose in the bridal gown with her shadow projected onto the wall. I knew that shot was special. Well, 2-3 nights ago, the creative side of the brain got into a working mood.. popping up that "light bulb". Tadaaaa..

After a few days of editing (a couple sessions, not 72 straight hours :P), the final image has been born.. yes, this is my favorite.. and it'll remain "Untitled" for now, as I am still looking for the right words to portray what I have envisioned, in a subtle way.

"Untitled"





Wrapping up the series, I would like to thank Steph again for inviting me as part of the team, good planning, art direction and execution. Evon T, you're one great model to work with, am looking forward to work with you again. Prettyinwhite.com, for the awesome looking bridal gowns, and last but not least, Roo!! Remember me.. Uncle Barney! :P

Evon T - Pretty in White

Felt guilty of not being able to write for such a long time.. damn.. it's been almost a month. Anyway, here's the continuation of the Evon T - Pretty in White series. A session organized by Steph Tan, Art Direction by Steph Tan. The gowns are from Prettyinwhite.com. The model would be the lovely Evon T.

Evon T - Pretty in White

Was invited by Steph to a fashion shoot at the luxurious Dua Residency penthouse. Had a great time. Gowns were provided by PrettyInWhite and art direction by Steph. Evon T was the model of the day. She's very cooperative and experienced. It was a pleasure to work with the bunch :D

I've processed a shot, will be adding more later :D

Introducing Yoshida

Yoshida Shigeyuki - A 29 year old Japanese, is in Malaysia on a business (+ leisure) trip. He loves to pose in front of the cameras, and from his poses, he seems like he has potential. This shot was taken on a morning session of the day that he's supposed to depart Malaysia back to Japan. A mix emotion from him suggests that he has fallen in love with Malaysia (or a Malaysian) and is having a hard time to go back to Japan..


Yoshida - Leaving on a Jet Plane

Back to the Nature

I haven't shot nature macro for quite sometime. After a drive from somewhere, reached home and noticed that there's a jumping spider on top of my car. So I decided to shoot the spider with my macro gear. I've always wanted to shoot 5x on my MPE65, so this time, I had the chance to do it..


#1 - This was shot at 4:1 using the MPE65. I just love that water droplet on his head.


#2 - This was shot at 5:1.

3 different versions of 'The Lone Tree'

I don't know why, but I've been getting this urge of shooting something that has element of emptiness, darkness, eeriness, gothic, scary or horror. Maybe it's because my mind has been clogged with ideas on a gothic shooting theme that I was supposed to do with Steph. The session got canceled because Steph had an accident. Steph, hope you recover from your injuries soon. Take good care of yourself. Once you're back in your hyperactive mode, lets get some unfinished business done. :D I need to get this gothic theme out of my head :P

Anyway, there I was at UPM's Farm, with a friend whom just started his photography hobby, another friend and my wife. We went inside, shot a silhouette of the tree on top of the hill.. for the post processing of this shot, I decided to give several different treatments to it.

Here's one with the sunset (that I normally do) look,



Here's on with a twilight or midnight with moonlit (this is experimental) look,



Here's another one in B&W, but to get this, I had to combine 7-exposures of the same shot, injected with HDR treatment to get the tones, and converted to B&W plus some dodge and burns.



I love all three versions of this. Don't know what to do with the threesome. Maybe I should do a triptych, print it large and hang it on my wall.

An Urban Sunset with EF100-400L

Went to the Ampang Lookout Point with Zamrud recently. Had a blast waiting for the sunset to come. Since the subject in mind is a few kilometers away, I decided to mount my EF100-400L on the 5D. For those who have never or rarely shoot sunsets, make sure you reach there early, set up your tripod, etc.. and wait for the moment. The 'sun setting' timeframe is very short! So, once you can see that round ball of light starts coming down, its time to shoot, shoot and shoot! Remember to vary the shutter speed to get different effects.

Here's my take.. I like it so much! This shot definitely ranks up there among my top 10 shots of 2009.

'An Urban Sunset'



View it large here.


Thanks Zamrud for the guidance :)

The Living Fossil

I apologize for not being able to update my blog any sooner. During this time, I have visited Zoo Melaka twice. One creature that really grabbed my attention this time is the iguana. Me and a couple friends went to the iguana enclosure and spent a good hour there. Yes, an hour inside the iguana enclosure. Hard to believe, but when me and a few photo-crazy guys go to the zoo, we'll be there from the time they open, until the time they close! Anyway, the lighting from above was dramatic and my brain starts working.. Dramatic light + Iguana's beautiful details = B&W!


#1 - "The Living Fossil"



Click here for bigger resolution of this photo.

#2 - "The Living Fossil 2"



Click here for bigger resolution of this photo.