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| Saturday, 1-Sep-2007 02:23 |
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MERDEKA! THE 50TH PARADE!
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31st August 1957, Malaysia declared independance to the world. A new nation is born from the sultanate states of the Malay Peninsular. As I watched the TV programmes the films, dramas and documentaries commemorating the indepence day, I believe the message was rather unclear. The theme should not have covered only 4 eras. The struggle for independance was not just a diplomatic or political victory. It was blood and tears as well. Not just during the Japanese occupation but during the Portugese and British reign as well. Have we forgotten Mat Kilau, Tok Janggut, Datok Bahaman and the other patriots? Why are we made to believe the British saved us from the Japanese colonisation and we celebrate Merdeka day watching these films?
Nevertheless however history was written, today we are free but let us not forget the unsung heroes. As the national anthem is played, let us show our respect. Not just by standing still but let us sing along also and sing aloud. Make it echo to all corners of the city, through the streets and alleys as one voice...one glory till it reach the four corners of the world. Let the world not only watch but hear our pride. Let us not think that it's shameful to do all these for no one else will bother to glorify us but ourselves.
Selamat Hari MERDEKA!!!
#1: The Opening Stride. Showing off the colors.
#2: The waves of flags.
#3: Makcik bawak bedil.
#4: The best of the Bands. Rasanya ni la band paling rapi dan paling kemas persembahannya.
#5: Kereta berhias industri perladangan
#6: Ultraman. Pasukan kerajaan langit kot.
#7: Aci in space age. Agaknya ni aci yang kena laga dek lens Red tu lari merajuk ke beloh sini pulak.
#8: PDRM
#9: Respect the Antheme please. Lagu Negaraku di nyanyikan. Semua berdiri tegak kecuali beberapa pelatih PLKN dan rombongan Wanita UMNO selambe je berjalan lalu depan skrin tu. Appa la deme nih. Orang bangsa asing, pelancong pun diri tegak.
#10: Future leaders in the making. Masa muda dulu tak paham pun bila orang kata kita ni pelapis pemimpin negara. I hope these youngsters will dan akan lebih bersedia nanti.
#11: MERDEKA! They might not understand it as deeply as those who fought for it but they show the spirit well. That's very good!
#12: The young Patriot. This one doesn't understand a thing about merdeka. All he's concerned with is how his image will turn out with this pose. Also if one day his parents will allow him to fly one of the jet fighters he just saw.
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| Saturday, 12-May-2007 14:34 |
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Mana Lebih Best
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Cuba bandingkan dengan gambar-gambar di entry-entry sebelum ni. Agaknya yang baru ni ke best atau yang sebelum nih.
#1: The Complete Minang Picture
#2: Bermain di depan Laman
#3: Tasik Singkarak (Dok teropong aku plak dah)
#4: End of an era
#5: It's the Plane
#6: Ulat ( Ni bonus jek. Shoot di Pandai Sikek masa tunggu orang lain habis shopping aku masuk semak shoot ulat pandai sikek.
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| Tuesday, 8-May-2007 15:10 |
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Bumi Minang 3
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Tasik Singkarak Tasik Maninjau
There were 2 lakes we visited during our trip to Minangkabau. The huge Tasik Singkarak and the more beautiful Tasik Maninjau completes the beauty of this region. Like Danau Toba in North Sumatra the lakes here are actually volcano craters formed after a massive eruption ages ago. Small villages surrounds the lakes and unlike the lakes and rivers in Malaysia, the waters are very clean and clear. I couldn't see any polysterene packs, plastic mineral water bottles or chocolate wrappers at the road sides or by the lakes. Thunbs up to the locals. This is something we can and should learn from them.
Tasik Singkarak is the largest lake in Sumatera Barat expanding about 18km wide and to reach there we need to journey up and down through a winding road but it's worth the trip. See how beautiful the lake is.
#1: Lake Singkarak.
#2: Bukit Barisan
On the way to tasik Maninjau I noticed this nice view of Bukit Barisan which is a long row of mountains separating Sumatera Barat and Sumatera Timur and mentioned in many novels, poems and pantuns.
#3: Sungai Landia (Sg Landai)
On the way to Lake Maninjau we stopped at a small café. From there we can see a village below called Sungai Landia.
#4: House by the Tasik Maninjau
To reach Lake Maninjau, we have to travel up a mountain to a village called Embun Pagi before descending down a seriously winding narrow road named Kelok 44 where only elbow shaped corners are counted. Selekoh macam jalan lama Bentong tu tak kira. From Embun Pagi, we couldn’t see Lake Maninjau due to the thick mist and it was drizzling but as we approached the foot of the mountain, the mist cleared and there’s Tasik Maninjau known for it’s beauty and birthplace of Hamka.
#5: Tasik Maninjau near Hamka's house
#6: Tasik Maninjau
#7: Surau Hamka
This surau is not far from Hamka’s house. This is the surau Hamka went to when he was a kid. It’s still there but rather worn down.
#8: Rumah Hamka
I told my driver I must see Hamka’s birth place at least a glimpse. I want to see the environment that help form his views. I wanted to see what he saw. It was raining as we approached Hamka’s village. We ran in the rain, cover my camera with a wind breaker and took 2 hurried shots of the house which is converted to a small museum.
#9: View of the villages along Tasik Maninjau
It is quite dangerous to stop by the narrow Kelok 44 but I just couldn’t resist it. I must get a shot from this spot.
#10: The Complete Minang Picture.
At Lake Maninjau I told my drive to stop whenever he sees any 4 of 6 important elements together because I want to compose a shot which includes at least 3 elements. Any additional element will be a bonus.
1. Minang House with Minang roof.
2. A Kerbau
3. A Lake
4. Mountain
5. Sawah Padi
6. Bunga Pahit ( Very common here dan digunakan untuk rawat sakit perut lembu kerbau)
#11: Tasik Maninjau from the Air
This is a shot from the air craft as we left Padang. We can see Lake Maninjau there like a crater.
#12: Merapi from the Air
I looked further down and saw Merapi. There’s also a Merapi near Yogyakarta.
#13: Flying above the Clouds.
Looks like we are flying way up into the stratosphere.
So that completes my Bumi Minang trip. Question: Of all the images from the Bumi Minang 3 entries, which is your favorite?
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| Monday, 7-May-2007 10:31 |
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Bumi Minang 2
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Pagaruyuang Batu Sangka
Pagaruyuang is mentioned in the folk song "Ayam Den Lapeh" as the place where the dignitaries stroll. Truly enough it's the centre of the old Minangkabau kingdom where the majestic Istana Pagaruyuang once stood. I was deeply saddened when the guide told us that we can only see the skeleton of the once beautiful palace as it had burnt down after a lightning strike only last month. It had waited for centuries and we still managed to be late.
As the centre of the Minangkabau Kingdom, Pagaruyuang is a beautiful place. I believe it hasn't changed much as the roads are still narrow with beautiful houses at the sides. I can just imagine the dignitaries and warriors walking along the road and among them my ancestors. They have traveled across the Straits of Malacca and ventured inland to Pahang and settled along the Pahang river up to Pekan. That is probably why the Pahang dialect from these areas are somewhat similar to Minang though have changed through the years. They are mostly from the suku Piliang which as the guide told me is the only suku practising adat Temenggung instead of Perpatih. Suku Piliang used to dominate Batu Sangkar area of Pagaruyuang but not many of them are left nowadays. Many seem to have migrated or assimilated with the other suku. I asked Pak Halim, an old man I met in front of Istana Pagaruyuang about the suku Piliang and he said there're very few now in Pagaruyuang. He said they are scattered in Padang Panjang, some in Bukit Tinggi but many in Pahang. I couldn't stay long to ask more because I was still tied to the group I was travelling with.
We had lunch at a nice restaurant in the middle of a paddy field in Batu Sangkar. The Gunung Singgalang pic I showed in my previous entry was shot across the road from the restaurant. Later we visited the Rumah Gadang which means Rumah Besar. It's actual name is Istana Silinduang Bulan after the name of a Minang princess. It is called rumah gadang because it is used as a meeting place of suku leaders like our Dewan Undangan Rakyat. It was actually rebuilt some decades ago after the original one also burnt down.
I did manage to shoot many nice images here but unfortunately didn't have time to gather much information. Ikelah will probably have to continue the mission from here.
I promised more pictures and so here they are. None of the images are edited sebab malas but I think they don't require much editing pun kot. Scenery dia memang dah ori lawa.
#1: Batu Sangka. This is the restaurant where we had lunch. The specialty here is ikan bakar. It's in Pagaruyuang.
#2: Kulo kekenyangan tapi belum puas makan masakan minang. Sampai tak boleh bangun. Tu lidah masih dok korek celah gigi.
#3: Istana Pagaruyuang or what's left of it. Tinggal kepok beras di sisi dan tong sampah biru tu je. Tiap kali dengar lagu ayam den lapeh dan bila sampai part mention Pagaruyuang, teringat istana yang dah terbakar tu. Takanang juo.
#4: The Makcik outlived the istana. I was sorry sebab tak sempat tengok istana tu while she who have been seeing it everyday and now must be missing it terribly.
#5: Pak Halim sedang menjual seruling tanduk kerbau. I bought one for my son and he told some stories. he have a relative in Kg Dong Pahang and asked me to sampaikan salam. Mana lah nak cari tapi bila fikir balik, I am also doing the same thing. Mana la nak cari tapi cari jugak.
#6: Istana Silinduang Bulan. Beautiful structure. Dari luar nampak melengkung ditengah dengan tiang dan tingkapnya senget tapi di dalam, lantainya rata. Noticed a few children started playing at the gates and took some shots. This is the first shot and after noticing me they started to pose. Still beautiful but I like this one better.
#7: Bumbung Istana Silinduang Bulan. I just love the shape of the roof.
#8: The rock in front of the Istana Silinduang Bulan. Engraved is the history of the palace. You may zoom in to read what's engraved.
Next will be Tasik Singkarak and Tasik Maninjau, birthplace of ulamak terkenal Al Marhum Hamka.
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| Sunday, 6-May-2007 08:18 |
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Bumi Minang - Den suko orang minang den.
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Ayam Den Lapeh
Luruihlah jalan Payokumbuah
Babelok jalan kayu jati
Dima hati indak karusuah
Ayam den lapeh
Ai ai ayam den lapeh
Mandaki jalan Pandai Sikek
Manurun jalan kaBiaro
Dima hati indak kamaupek
awak takicuah
Ai ai ayam den lapeh
Sikua capang sikua capeh
Saikua tabang saikua lapeh
Lapeh lah juo nan karimbo
Ai malang lah juo
Pagaruyuang Batu Sangka
Tampek bajalan orangbaso
Duduk tamanuang, tido sabanta
Oi takana juo
Ai ai ayam den lapeh
Sikua capang sikua capeh
Saikua tabang saikua lapeh
Lapeh lah juo nan karimbo
Ai malang lah juo
Pagaruyuang Batu Sangka
Tampek bajalan orangbaso
Duduk tamanuang, tido sabanta
Oi takana juo
Ai ai ayam den lapeh
Finally we were in Padang the land where my ancestors were supposed to come from some generations back. I remember my arwah mother used to tell me that her grandparents were from Minangkabau but we are different from the Negeri Sembilan folks. They use adat Perpatih she said while we practices the adat Temenggung. That much I remember apart from the ban from marrying Negeri Sembilan girls. That's why all of us except P5 ended up marrying Johoreans. So during this trip I did ask around a bit to gather whatever information I can about where actually my ancestors come from. Who knows probably one day I can actually find a beautiful distant cousin over there or a distant uncle with beautiful neighbor daughters.
Our guide Anto greeted us at the airport and took us straight to Bukit Tinggi which is about 2 hours journey uphill from Padang. During the first 2 days, we had to join another group and my freedom to stop and shoot is therefore limited. I couldn't ask the driver to stop the 25 seater bus whenever I wanted. But on the 3rd day I was given a Kijang for just the two of us and that's when i begin to shoot like crazy all the way from Bukit Tinggi to Tasik Maninjau and Padang. The only limitation left was the highland drizzle and morning mist but that's just minor.
The Bumi Minang is truly scenic. Paddy fields surrounded by mountains, yellow flowers everywhere, cinnamon trees, Minang roofs, water buffalows and great food.
Anto explained to us the Minang tradition where generally the girls will inherit all and the men only manages the property but cannot own any property. In a Minang house you can know how many daughter the family has by counting the number of rooms. If the house have 4 rooms, that means there are 3 daughters because sons don't have a room of their own. The sons will work in the fields, have lunch in the fields, have dinner at home and then off to sleep at the surau or mosque.
There are many suku or tribe in Bumi Minang and even sub suku. And the adat of the suku can vary from one another. For example in the adat of the suku Pariaman living not far from Padang, the women side will masuk meminang with a dowry. If any of you have read Hamka's book " Siti Nurbaya", that's how Siti Nurbaya got married. She's from the suku Pariaman as well.
The rest, I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.
#1: This is the first picture I shot in Bumi Minang during a short break on the way to Bukit Tinggi from Padang.
#2: The Lembah Anai water fall. Kabornya air tu awek muda macam Olay total effect but most probably without the whitening factor sebab orang sana tak de la putih benor walaupun duduk di tempat tinggi.
#3: Best food in Bumi Minang is at Pak Datuk restaurant in Padang Panjang. Padang Panjang is also known as Serambi Mekah before Aceh. All the food here especially the otak kambing is superb.
#4: Pandai Sikek is mentioned in the lagu "Ayam Den Lapeh". It's a village after Padang Panjang and famous for it's sikek or sulaman. So Pandai Sikek is actually pandai sulam and not pandai sikit. Ye ker?
#5: Tabek Patah is a village after Biaro. I had a jamu drink called Si Janggang prepared fresh for me. It's a place selling local products like cinnamon, kerepek, coffee etc.
See the kerbau there at the bottom right? My 70mm not enough lah.
#6: Gunung Singgalang. This is one of the mountains in Bumi Minang. See the clouds? It rains everyday in the highland.
#7: A typical modern Minang house will have the main building, ceper parabola sebab di gunung tu aje cara nak dapat siaran dan kolam dekat rumah untuk ternak ikan. In the background is the Bukit Barisan which separates Sumatera Barat and Sumatera Timur.
#8: A typical Minang mosque will also have a kolam nearby. Kolam ni dorang gilir ternak ikan dan tanam padi.
#9: A typical old Minang house in Pandai Sikek. Dasyat sungguh macam mana dorang sulam dinding tuh?
#10: A typical traditional Minang roof. Gambor macam ni boleh dikira sebagai tall structure ke Red? Boleh masuk fotochelien?
#11: A typical Minang wedding. Gambar pelamin minang ni diambil di Hotel Inna Muara Padang. Pengantin Minang kawin dengan Jawa.
#12: Jam Gadang ni simbol Bukit Tinggi. Gadang bermakna besar. Tempatnya depan Pasar Atas dimana banyak dijual telekung dan tudung. Tak jauh dari situ ada tempat Lobang Jepang yang sudah tak selamat dimasuki selepas gempa bumi tempoh hari.
#13: Gadis ni antara pelajar senior di sekolah sulaman Hajah Rosma di Kampung Baso, Bukit Tinggi. jenis sulaman yang di tengah buat ni ialah sulaman ayak. Mahal harganya.
#14: Ni kelas di sekolah Hajah Rosma. Ada seorang awek Malaysia dari Selayang belajar sulaman di sini. Yang duduk di sebelah awek baju hijau tu.
#15: Deretan hidangan lauk di restoran Pak Datuk. Berbagai jenis ada di sini dan semuanya lazat. Memang the best berbanding masakan Padang di Kg Baru, depan Sogo, Restoran Sederhana Desa Pandan, Sari Ratu, Garuda di Medan, di Solo, Yugyakarta, malah restoran lain di Padang dan Bukit Tinggi. Apa rahsianya ye? Adakah kerana pemain biola di pintu masuk restoran tu? Peminat masakan minang mesti suka. Cuma saya perasan satu benda la. Masakan Padang ni tak la sepedas masakan negeri Sembilan.
Di entry akan datang insyallah saya akan pamerkan gambar-gambar yang lebih cantik.
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| Tuesday, 1-May-2007 00:32 |
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Cicak
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Cicak
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A different image to keep you people busy for a while.
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| Monday, 30-Apr-2007 14:58 |
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Year Of The Dragon - The Territorial Dogfight!
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I was born in the month of the Bull and the year of the Dragon. Today I celebrate my birthday with a new entry on recent interest - Dragonflies.
I've taken quite a number of dragonfly images and have identified almost all of them. It hasn't been easy to take a decent shot of these fast creatures with excellent eyesight using a Sigma 17-70mm with 1:2.3 macro capability. I had to get as close as possible to get a decent shot and reduce the need for mega cropping. I started with perchers or dragonflies which perch on twigs and leaves and only darts out to attack a prey or when they feel threatened. After some weeks, I finally managed to understand their habits and shooting them isn't much of a problem anymore.
Shooting a dragonfly in mid flight is more difficult. Some say it's impossible. I agree it's very difficult but it's not impossible. We just have to get the right timing and very fast with our focusing.
Well if a flying dragonfly is difficult to shoot, try shooting them during a dog fight. That you can say is close to impossible but with some luck, correct timing and most important an understanding of their behavior, we can anticipate those golden moments.
Dragonflies are very aggressive and territorial. Each have their own favorite spot, private hunting zone and breeding area. So from time to time we can see them fighting over these things. I have also seen a fairly big yellow dragonfly fell into a pond after being attacked by 3 dragonflies for violating their breeding area. There are many styles of dogfight and they happen very fast and very short. N. ramburii is quite different. They seems to be taking a challenging position first before engaging.
Here I shall publish some images of these beautiful predators including some territorial dogfight I managed to shoot.
#1: Zygonyx ida
One of the big Dragonflies from the Libellulidae family. A hawker by hunting behavior.
#2: Zygonyx ida
At rest after a good hunt. See the beautiful metallic colours.
#3: N ramburii ramburii in a "I dare you" mode before engaging.
#4: N. ramburii ramburii and D.hemaetodes fighting over a spot.
#5: The strategic spot is about to change hands again.
I'm off to Padang and Bukit Tinggi for a few days and will only return next week. There won't be any updates till then but as a compensation I'll shoot some nice images from there to share.
Terima kasih kepada semua yang mendoakan sempena ulang tahun hari lahir saya. Semoga yang mendoa akan mendapat kebaikan yang sama insyallah.
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| Thursday, 26-Apr-2007 10:58 |
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Dragonflies Flight Mode
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Dragonflies capability to out fly any other insect making it the most successful predator in the air is mainly attributed to the anatomy and how they can maximize the use of their flight equipment.
As we all know, dragonflies have 2 pair of wings and with them they can create a variety of maneuver with a basic of 4 different flight style:
1. Counter stroking - Front and back wings move 180deg out of phase.
Usually observed when hovering or during low level flying where less thrust but more lift is required.
2. Phased stroking - The back wings move 90deg or quater cycle before the front wings.
Generates more thrust and less lift for use during patrol flight.
3.Synchronized stroking - Front and back wings move in unison.
Generates maximum thrust for attack and sudden change of direction.
4. Gliding - All four wing stops beating either with wings closed or open.
Some in the form of free gliding with wings closed, some for a few seconds they just stop flapping and females glide when in tow during mating and leaves the flying task to the male.
Well, taking into consideration that each wing blade are also capable of doing different things than the other half means they can create impressive flight agility. All dragonflies achieve their mastery of flight by varying what each of the four wing blade can do.
To provide such agility, the flight mechanism in dragonflies must be rather complex. The wings are powered by muscles attached directly to the base of the wings. Big muscles for the rough work and fine muscles for the fine tunings of course. The corrugations in the wings hold an aerofoil of air around the wings to reduce friction and the wings can flex around several axes, responding both to muscle action and inertia effect. The pretostigma on the leading edge of the tip is a weight that causes the wing tip area to flex during a wing stroke providing better aerodynamic efficiency.
The power/weight ration of dragonflies are also respectably high. using high speed video recording, dragonflies are seen to be capable of creating an acceleration of 4G in a straight line flight and 9G when making sudden turn as they pursue or breaking off attack on a prospective prey.
Since I have already learned how to shoot perchers which have already become quite easy once we get familiar with their habits, I decided to polish some skill in shooting the hawker types. The hawker type seems more challenging since as the title suggest, they don't perch but hovers in the air sometimes high, sometimes low and moves quite fast. I spent half a day last weekend to observe these wonderful creatures in flight. There was this dragonfly hovering above a stream at an altitude range of 3 - 5 m and with the morning light coming from across the stream, whatever small objects in the air is nicely illuminated. I have my 17-70mm which isn't good enough to get a decent shot and I don't think a 150mm macro would do any good either from a distance of about 10m. It's definitely a hawker Anisoptera but from that distance, it's impossible to make out the family group. The time was 11 am and this beauty is at it's hunting time patrolling a small area within an altitude range of 3 - 5 m above the stream. Below him percher dragonflies can be seen darting in and out.
The hawker dragonfly hovers in the morning ray accelerating, spinning, diving and even attacked the perchers entering it's hunting zone. I believe decision making whether to attack or not is also fast because it once accelerated for attack towards a falling leaf but broke off once it got close.
Despite knowing it's absolutely futile, I still attempted some shots but the result is as expected. However I did manage to capture some dragonflies in flight on my way home. It was hovering at a lower altitude and in a shady area. Must be a different species then. It's still tough to get a good shot but we have to start somewhere first before we can improve.
I'm still waiting for confirmation of the species but I believe it's also from the Libellulidae family.
#1: Orthetrum sabina. Just a possibility until a confirmation is recieved from the dragonfly society.
#2:
#3:
#4:
#5: Hydrobasilieus resting.
I couldn't get a proper front profile yet as it was moving very fast. My AF was also not fast enough and had to rely on manual focus. For this stage I'm quite happy with the images and will improve insyallah in time.
#6: Just to show what pterostigma is. Here it's seen clearly as the short yellow strip near each of the wing tips. If the dragonfly is red, it's dark red, if green then dark green. All dragonflies have pterostigma.
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| Sunday, 22-Apr-2007 09:57 |
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Spider Identification
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My Dragonfly series will take a short break to make way for a few spider images which need some identification from Red.
I was shooting some dragonflies in Ampang today when I stumbled upon some spiders I haven't shot before.
So here they are a few images which are not so good but I believe clear enough for proper identification.
#1: This was shot by the dragonfly pond.
#2: Size doesn't matter for this spider.
#3: Wolf Spider? The prey was still struggling for escape.
#4: I have no dea what spider this is but it's quite big.
#5: This thing looks like an Argiope but the abdomen is larger than the ones I've previously shot. It looks poisonous.
So Red, what spiders are these? Care to enlighten us?
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| Tuesday, 17-Apr-2007 11:00 |
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The Big Family : Libellulidae
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Scientific Classification :
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Epiprocta
Infraorder: Anisoptera / Zygoptera
Family : Libellulidae
Shooting macro on dragonflies is not an easy task but it gets easier as we start to understand their various characters. What’s more difficult is identifying their type but that’s where the actual fun is. Currently I’m in the process of identifying the dragonflies I shot and compile them for proper sampling. Proper sampling means I’ll have to identify their species, take observatory notes on the details of their habits and habitat. To fulfill the purpose, I now bring along two junior assistant, one as a spotter and the other as a marker, a log book for observation notes and some refreshments to keep my assistants happy. My assistants have acquired enough knowledge to correctly identify the different families and sometimes even the species by cross referring to a guide book. Before studying about dragonflies, I have always thought red dragonflies must belong to the same genus or at least the same family. I was very wrong but we can say dragonflies from the same family can have quite similar habits. For example most dragonflies in the Libellulidae family are perchers or darters. Meaning they perch on twigs or branches and darts out to catch a prey and almost always return to the same twigs because they are very territorial. Some perch with their abdomen lying horizontal, some rather vertical, some with their wings open flat to the side and some open almost to the front like the N.ramburii.
In this entry I’ll post images of some dragonflies from the family Libellulidae which is also known as common skimmers. Libellulidae is the largest family in the Anisoptera infraorder and including a few endemic, more than 75 species can be found in Peninsular Malaysia.
Dragonflies from the Libellulidae family can be identified as having a thicker abdomen and a unique anal appendage but the most distinguishable characteristic is unfortunately very minute and difficult to spot unless carefully observed. The males have brighter colour than the females and sometimes the colour and pattern are totally different and lead us to think they are from different species.
For this entry just the red dragonflies within the family. Some of them look alike but belongs to different genus. Some looks totally different but actually the same species but different gender. Example images are shown below.
#1: Neurothemis ramburii ( Red Darter )
Within the Libellulidae family there are 4 dragonflies from the genus Neurothemis. The most common one is shown below known as Neurothemis ramburii. The color is dark red, small to medium size, when perching all four wings held forward and the tips of all four wings are transparent in color. All dragonflies from this genus share the same characteristic and the easiest way differentiate which species they belong to is by looking at the shape and size of the transparent area on the wings.
All four species are quite common in Malaysia and can be seen near ponds, lakes, swamps and near drains. They prefer sunny spots and very territorial. You can see them engaged in dogfights among themselves for territory.
#2: Diplacodes hemaetodes ( Male Scarlet Percher )
I almost thought this is a Crocothemis servilia because this species is not recorded in Peninsular Malaysia but common in Australia. Notice the red streaks on the wings? I realized it’s a Scarlet Percher after reading that the female is yellow in color with black markings on the abdomen.
#3: Diplacodes hemaetodes ( Female Scarlet Percher )
The female is not as brightly colored yet as beautiful. Amazing how the male and female can be of different colors which can mislead us into believing they are from a distant species even genus.
#4: Crocothemis servilia
We can compare the diference between D. hemaetodes with this one from this image. Notice the difference?
#5: My young assistants helping out in labeling the samples. When they can’t find a match in the book, they’ll scream “ Ni species baru “. So, there were a lot of species baru discovered during the first outing. Those in the books but can’t be found near the pond were labeled “ Dah habis mati, macam T. rex”…and so with the birth of new species many species became extinct to make way. Is that so?
#6: Genus : Orthetrum but I can't manage to determine the species. Have to capture and look closely beneath the abdomen and examine the wings also. Notice the thorax is not red. Both below are from the same genus for sure.
#7: Genus Urothemis. Species unsure. This darter is a beauty. Can be differentiated from other similar genus by close inspection but apart from that we can also roughly identify it from the 45 deg tonggek. 
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byk lg kena blaja tu. 
dah terbakar bulan lepas? ya allah ruginya.... ntah bila agaknya nk dibgnkn blk ni.
