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.

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.

Zoo Melaka revisited

Zoo Melaka.. such an amazing zoo, in comparison to others around Malaysia. I went there last time with the Zoo Raiders (Nicholas, Joseph, Liew) and said that I have to visit this place again..

Well, there I am, at the Zoo Melaka entrance again, this time accompanied by my wife since she never been there. She was playing around with my 350D paired with my 24-105L. I of course, had my trusted 40D with the 100-400L. Only 2 worthy shots this time from me.. pretty sure Nicholas gonna like it :D


'Wishful Thinking' - Chimpanzee

"Chimpanzees are an endangered species; their population in the wild has been reduced by hunting (primarily for meat), destruction of habitat from logging or farming, and commercial exportation for use in zoos and research laboratories. Lions and leopards also prey upon chimpanzees." - excerpt from www.Brittanica.com

... of it's freedom, it's survival and it's fate in this cruel world.



We then moved to the tiger section :D Lady luck is on my side, a Malayan tiger is having steak for lunch!


'A Tiger's Menu' - Malayan Tiger

"In addition to its usual menu of boar and deer, the tiger has been known to feast on the occasional monkey. While it cannot climb trees with the agility of monkeys, it has been known, in Malaysia anyway, that a tiger would work its way stealthily under a tree of monkeys and roar! A roar so loud that frightened monkeys would fall off their perches down to the waiting tiger." - www.malayantiger.org

Perhentian Island - Simply Magnificent!

After eagerly waiting for several weeks, the anticipated trip has come.. Perhentian Island. We reached there Thursday morning and spent 4 days there. It was a long drive up to Kuala Besut, Terengganu, but it sure was worth the wait!

Here are some of my Perhentian Island landscape series..


#1 - Landscape reflection


#2 - See thru


#3 - State of Tranquility


#4 - Untitled 1


#5 - Exiting ray


#6 - Conflicting path



I still need to work on my 'landscape eyes'. Lucky did some practice on landscape shots during my Penang trip. Will I come again? Without any hesitation.. YES!!

Next up.. will be sharing the faces of those who have joined the trip. Interesting shoot where direct flash was used to compensate harsh backlight from the sun creating an interesting effect..

Sunrise in Penang

There's a bunch of guys/gals celebrating ShutterAsia's 2nd anniversary in Penang over last weekend. Plenty of shooting involved. Went to Shamrock Beach nearby Batu Ferringhi with wife and Capix to shoot the sunrise.. A little rusty, especially with landscape, but it's a good practice for the upcoming Perhentian Island trip, scheduled third week of March.

Well, here's some sunrise shots.


#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

Malacca Zoo = SUPERB!

Last time I mentioned that we're going to raid the Malacca Zoo. We as in, myself, zio, macropixman and liewwk. Armed with our tele lenses, we left KL around 7.30am. After a decent sized breakfast, we found ourselves at the entrance of the zoo. Entrance fee is RM7, not bad. Stepped in, and we saw the parrots (macaw). We put on our gears, and the rest was history..

'Blue and Yellow Macaw'


'Black on White'


'Movie star'


'The Stare'


'The Chosen One'


'Baby G'


'Spikes of Trouble'

I loved all the shots I managed to take in this session, but the best shot (in my view) for me was this shot.

'Unconditional Love'

The shot depicts an unconditional love of a mother. The emotion portrayed by the mother, with her eyes closed, shows that sense of calmness in providing her child with the basic necessity, security and food. The child, on the other hand, with eyes wide open while breastfeeding, shows its curiosity, daringness to try and naughtiness of a young child, totally opposite of what is being portrayed by the mother.

In summary, Zoo Melaka was awesome! All animals seemed healthier and well fed, in comparison the the ones kept in Zoo Negara. We spent the whole day there (10am-6pm), and still missed on a few notable animals, ie. elephants. :P We will be back, for sure..

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!

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

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"

[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.