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| Friday, 2-Feb-2007 01:36 |
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Macro War - Expansion to the Under World
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This was the first time i'm going to Batu Caves and the first time I'm really getting into the Taipusam crowd. So when Red talked about the Taipusam photo outing I was quite excited. Even more excited then when we were joining the Canon test out. I invited Pang5 and Ikelah also and posted a thread in the community section of fotopages to invite more people. Ikelah couldn`t join and instead tried to psyco me out of it saying there are many hantus and all those ghost stories freaky things. Pang5 also couldn`t join because he is still in the OKU status. So it`s just me and Red again and we agreed to meet at Melawati at 6:00 am 1st February in front of klinik Dr Amin and from there I`ll tumpang motor Red to Batu Caves. We did meet at about 6:00 am in Melawati but I only tumpang his motor in front of Giant Batu Caves sebab dia takut motor dia tak larat bawak kawan jauh-jauh. Ceh! We arrived there at about 7:00 am and started shooting like crazy and lost each other. Red went to cover outside the temple where they pasang the Kawadis and I slowly proceeded towards the stairs and whoooosh up the stairs and into deep earth. I didn`t have an external flash, the light was low but I managed to get some good shots.
It was crowded inside the cave and it got more crowded each minute and my SD card is also almost full. I sms Red to check where he was and agreed to meet at the main gate. It was a great experience. It was like entering a totally different dimension and I was like a child captivated and jumping here and there, climbing the grills and sneaking under the railings with my camera. Nobody gave a damn about me because I was wearing a Bernama T shirt but another probable reason is they might thought I was possessed.
After viewing the images at home, I wish I have faster lenses. The camera body doesn`t matter much but good lenses will make a big difference especially in low light. And of course I have to get another SD card and learn more about PS2. Cheaper things first.
Ikelah had a dream. To fight me with his Wushu kids doing circus stunts with pedang tumpul and kayu penyapu. Well, you asked us to masuk and we masuk with a never ending procession but where are your wushu kids now?
The high priest alone without any escort. Most of them have their families around. I have to read books on Taipusam to better understand the meanings.
The MANA bearer.
The walk of the possessed. They are possessed right? They look possessed. This image need better editing. My pc needs better calibration.
I don`t know what this flame is for but I just shot it.
The Stairway to a new dimension. I shot this from the bridge on the way home. Turun kejap dari motor Red and snaped the last frame. Then balik rumah, makan and tido. Fully satisfied. Alhamdulillah dapat jugak tengok menda-menda yang selama ni tengok dalam gambar aje. Terasa macam nak pergi lagi tengok but with better equipments.
So people of the world. Next time come join us. It doesn`t matter if you only have a PnS or cheap lenses. You can still shoot good images. Even if you don`t, one day you will. Practise makes perfect. What`s more, it`s the fun of doing it that`s important.
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| Sunday, 28-Jan-2007 11:34 |
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Macro War - The end game
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I was down with denggue for almost 2 weeks. I just slept until I was sore all over, I had to force myself to eat and drink plentiful of water despite the constant bitter taste in my mouth. Ikelah told me to makan bubur nasik without salt and yes that did work and I managed to eat much more. Only 2 dissapointing thing about thes denggue. 1. I ate very little but lost weight only in the arms and legs but not the tummy area. 2. I still couldn`t get a macro shot of an aedes mosquito.
Now that i`m up again and Red is going full force with flower shots, I`m posting in some rama-rama shots to take down the flowers. This morning I took the kids to Taman rama-rama and taman burung for some change of air. Dah 2 minggu terperuk di rumah tak ada siapa bawak jalan-jalan. The kids couldn`t get enough of it and didn`t want to go home walau dah menguap-nguap kepenatan. I too was not that anxous about going home but kesian tengok Kulo dah tak larat sangat dah. Hahahaha.
I did get some good shots but after viewing the images on the pc, as usual I still say I could have shot it better. Well, next time I`ll shoot again and it`s ok as long as each time I shoot better. Maybe next time I ask Red and P5 to join in.
Not having a proper lighting system, I was worried about the available light. This is one of my earliar shots.
This one is shot near noon. I couldn`t get a good enough position tough. This is one of the shots that I said I could have done better.
This one should have been shot with a proper macro lens. When can I afford a Tamron Sp90? At least lah kalau tak dapat 105mm Nikkor pun.
This bird was trying to pull some attantion.
Hello! I have a point here! Cummon listen up you people!
But nobody is paying attention. They're busy feeding the fish yang dah memang gemuk tu.
The commotion is all about a chick. This is what you have to go through when you don`t have heavy weapons like the 28-300mm L IS like I had at the Zoo. You have to sqeak, flash your colours, do circus stunts just to attract someones attention. Burung betina tu aku tengok tak de la cun sangat pun. Or is it sebab hati baik berbudi bahasa punya cerita? Birds were told that same thing ke when you don`t have the looks?
So from all those images, which is your favorite?
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| Tuesday, 16-Jan-2007 12:33 |
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Nikon Goes to Dinner
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She`s Iranian.
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Nick name Mendosa. That`s not Iranian.
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The waiting lounge next door.
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Two nights before the Canon shout out at Zoo Negara, I attended a dinner at the Le Meridean Hotel near KL Sentral. It`s my forst time there and it`s beautiful. The dinner was sponsored by Qatar Airways and I was expecting some kenduri kambing and nasi arab but they served european instead. Still the food was delicious and unlike the government dinners that I sometimes got to get invited, there were no long speeches. It was a very enjoyable dinner and there was Harith Iskandar doing the stand up comedy and everybody laughed non stop reaching for the napkins to wipe the tears and there was also a belle dancer whirling from table to table. The belle dancer was beautiful but too young and too in shape I think. They should be a bit flabby but not too much, not like Michelin. For the sensitivity of some viewers, I`ll just show a few selected images. I wanted to take a closeup from below to get a better lighting effect since I was just using my built in flash but
she was moving too fast for that.
So that`s why we must always bring our camera everywhere we go.
Very stubborn red-eye. Does thick contact lens do that?
Most stubborn red-eye here. Had to use a brush to get rid of this one.
No flash was used. Low shutter, self timer and a lighter to tilt it while everyone was eating.
This is the small room where we waied before we proceed to the dining lounge. Not so big because there was only some 50 of us.
There was also some lucky draw but as usual I didn`t get anything. I only get something when everybody else also get it.
So, thanks for the dinner.
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| Monday, 15-Jan-2007 00:39 |
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The Giant and the Dwarf
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Yesterday I was at Zoo Negara with a group of photography enthusiasts. They are mostly amateurs as they are not making money full time in this field except maybe once a while when asked to do events or wedding photography tasks.
I couldn`t get a proper sleep the night before as the adrenalin was already pumping high to test the Canon equipments. I woke up very early, had breakfast in Melawati and was already at Zoo Negara and be the first to register outside the entrance at 8:15. Red arrived some half an hour later and Ikelah was still in Kuantan. He couldn`t make it.
I was not really happy with the arrangements. I requested for 400D but got a more crappy 350D instead. However I managed to get the 28-300mm L IS lens I requested. Some others was eyeing the monster lens also but I made it clear to them that I requested the lens much earlier. Since my Nikon uses SD Card, I don`t have my own CF card and had to ask from Canon. They were very generous to give me a 128Mb CF card and with it I only managed to take about 30 odd frames after adjusting to Jpeg small.
I wasn`t impressed by the 350D with the unfamiliar dials, not happy with the 128Mb but the lens was wow. It really makes you look manly, it makes you feel great, it was very sharp, it covers a wide range and the focusing was very fast. You have it, and you don`t need to bring any other lens for an outing. So, with the 50mm prime and considering Canon have a total of lens, the accident frequency rate is 2.8%.
This is the Grand Pa of the Storks. Very old and very garang.
At the Flamingo area I was still fumbling with the Canon dials. Why is the zoom ring so stiff? Why isn`t the autofocus functioning? OOO? There`s a custom button? Where`s the spot focus? Where`s the light metering? Aiyyooooo....
This one is after the feeding time. This stork suka kemang and showing off he`s got an extra fish.
This is sharp and great colors but the beak is somewhat overexposed.
See what I mean? The girl finds me more interesting than anything else. She`s stalking me. With the lens and stuff, I must have looked irresistable.
I was looking for RED when I came across another stalker like himself.
This is the spider RED submitted. He`s finishing off the dragon fly. Nothing much left of it.
It`s really a huge spider and I shot this using myNikon with the Sigma 17-70mm.
Another look at the spider with the mandibles free. Much clearer now and don`t talk about bokeh mokeh cause I set this at f8 for better resolution.
Conclusion is the Canon testout at Zoo Negara was worth the high fever I had last night.
I also learned that the EOS system provide easier migration which means I could have chosen 5D and the level of difficulty in getting familiar with the system would be the same and once I have gotten used to it, even 1D wouldn`t be a problem. I also learned that if you want great lenas, you need to spend greatly. The lens I was using is RM 8+++. It`s sharp, covers a wide range and most important attracts girls. You get this lens and you don`t have to buy any other lens except maybe another one if you`re into macro. But then you`ll have to buy a Canon System. Now that`s a tough decision. So for the existing Canon users out there, I highly recommend this lens the 28-300mm USM L IS. The IS is 3rd generation. If you have the dough but no chicks, this is the ultimate fail safe eye popping, heart throbbing device, If you don`t have the dough, wait for another Canon tryout. I just can`t wait for a Nikon tryout.
Come to think of it, Probably I shouldn`t have tested the 28-300mm lens. Now I find my Sigma 17-70mm less interesting.
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| Thursday, 11-Jan-2007 13:15 |
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The Capt Hornet devouring his lunch
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Colors of the day
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The Stalker again. What? That`s cheating!
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This coming Sunday I'll be joining a group of photographers to test some Canon gadgets at Zoo Negara. Red have also registered in and at the last minute Ikelah have also registered in and I hope he can be included in the final list of testers. Canon have never been a favorite to me but I`ll give it a try. Being an amateur, I`ve made a modest request to test the 400D with the new 28-300mm USM L IS lens which I believe will serve my objective in taking out the flamingos. I did not ask for the 1D or 20 D because this is the first time I`m getting my hands on a Canon DSLR and I don`t want to spend the whole day figuring out what button is for what. I know Canon make great bodies and I was impressed by what I read about the CMOS. Who knows if this 400D can impress me, I`ll switch to Canon when decide to upgrade myself to a higher level.
Before that, just before I move to a different category of photography, I`ll post in the Capt Hornet Red have been waiting for plus some images of my trip to Trengganu. That will conclude my macro adventure.
The next entry will present some images from Canon. It`s the start of the big game safari. Let`s see what`s the big 7.
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| Wednesday, 3-Jan-2007 09:04 |
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Macro War- The Full Fledge Assault
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A Predator
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Near Big Bob`s house
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What?
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Since the skirmish attack early this morning received no response from neither Red nor Ikelah, I decided to just drop in a few bombs to wake up Ikelah from his deep hive and bury Red together with his Zuico. Maybe I`ll bury his Zuico deeper but not too deep because 'Deep Earth' is Ikelah`s dormain.
Let`s see how Red and Ikelah shall respond to this entry. Probably he`ll let a 70mm speak on his behalf?
I`m actually very new in macro photography and I find it very interesting indeed. With a Sigma 17-70mm lens with macro capabilities, I can explore a bit what macro is all about. It`s not very difficult though. The easy part is finding the subject. The difficult part is getting them in focus because they are small but move a lot. Again the easy part is, great light doesn`t matter much as long as it`s bright enough and if reflectors are needed, you can just use a piece of paper. Difficult part your hand can shake, the wind also can shake the subjest. Easy part is you can take beta blocker and can ask Ikelah to block the wind. The easy part is it`s the quality of the lens that play a very important factor. The hard part is: Macro lenses are very expensive.
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| Wednesday, 3-Jan-2007 00:27 |
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His name is RED. He is a stalker...
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RED in Action. Stalking the prey.
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Scanning the area for the rare songket bug.
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AHHA! In front of children some more ha?
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Yes...the name is RED and he stalks for money. You don`t want to be stalked you pay up and he get`s a new lens.
Although only partially true, RED is truly a stalker. I was back in Kuantan for my Raya and new year hols and we went for a macro safari together. In contrary to Ikelah`s claim that it`s too windy for macro in Kuantan, we had a rich outing with hundreds of beautiful images. Of course with my half macro, I can`t beat the superb sharpness and clarity of RED`s Zuico macro lens but I`m still in the race. If I can`t beat the sharpness, I just need to be extra alert for interesting compositions such as bees in motion, a hornet eating another insect etc. A half macro have many limitations and often make me think " If only I have a 105mm VR or at least a Tamron SP90 I can make these bugs look more beautiful than Miss Universe". Well, insyallah one day when I have the budget and when I stumble upon a good second hand one. Meanwhile, I`ll just take them bugs with this half macro and let my imagination wander a bit more further than what my lens can produce.
Let`s get back to RED a truly dedicated bug stalker, a passionate outdoor photography, a generous macro shooter who will call everyone to also shoot what he finds but a MB stingy photographer if you want him to shoot pose pictures of humans. If he takes your photograph, you might want to check if there`s a bug on you. A fly, a mosquito or a kutu rambut?
I took over a hundred of RAW images and deleted almost a hundred and keeps the rest for the macro war I`m having with RED and Ikelah. Oh yes, I almost forgot Ikelah is also in the Macro war. He`s still hibernating inside his bunker I guess after the heavy bombardment from me and RED. Now with the new images we have, he`ll have to dig a deeper shelter to hibernate. I heard he`s looking at some great macro lens. If that is so, I`ll have to prepare a good excuse to hibernate.
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| Sunday, 24-Dec-2006 09:26 |
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Macro War WIth Half Macro
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This one gave quite a chase
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Tug O War
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The first shot
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I was at Taman Bandar Permaisuri or Tasik Bandar Permaisuri or something like that. The one near the Wisma Zelan. I had to go there tiday because someone posted some macro shots and I can`t be left behind. So I voiced the idea of an outing to a playground to the kids last night and everyone agreed. I was so happy having some 10 - 20 hectares of area for my macro. Now sad to say, I only covered barely a quater of an acre. There`s nothing much to shoot there. Not many insects, no spider but lots of kerengge. I can`t see any birds as well.
Found 2 moth, chased and shot both of them. It`s not easy. I must really get a real macro lens. Probably a 105mm 1:1. This macro thing is quite exciting.
Anyway I`m looking forward to next week end whwn we`ll be going back to Kuantan. I made a plan with my cousin to see some land in Pesagi and Sg Leng which is near Maran. That`s the wild zone. Surely got giant spiders and huge insectes there. Wild enough to be inside a tiger territory. Paw prints of 3 tigers were reported some time back in Pesagi. With luck we can come across them and shoot some wild real images. Without luck, they come across us and ........
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| Thursday, 21-Dec-2006 08:28 |
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Full Macromania with half full macro
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The macro challenge continues whether Ikelah is hibernating or not, whether Nikonian or Olympian or Myopian. Here`s my piece of wood to keep the fire burning.
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| Sunday, 17-Dec-2006 08:17 |
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Macro Here and There
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Ok lah. Since all of you are publishing your macros, ni kawe bekallkan sikit beberapa pos makhluk-makhluk yang kita boleh lihat di taman. Sempena cuti ni, ada lah masa sikit untuk aktiviti luar. Yes I agree it`s quite difficult capturing macro shot of live insects and outdoor some more with the winds. So, it took some time to get some good images and also have to take many shots and then select the best ones only.
I chose the metallic bugs as they don`t move so fast. They are the lembab boyok type like the ladybirds.
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ni la hasil kat zoo hr tu ek. tabik spring sama bro.. 
