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It is 8.34 in the morning

A New Look

I have been wondering how to change my blog for a while. Not a fan of all the text and the borders but too bad I am not good with all the HTML thing. So I figured what if I just change the header.

It is such a pain for me cause I used to work with photoshop and stuff and the next thing you know you can't really upload transparency (or can I? oh well I told you I am not good with website stuff).
So I have to find the smartest way so the header can be seen without overlapping with the blog title.

Anyway, here it goes. Not so amazing, but at least I feel a little bit better (somehow it looks like Canon and Crumpler ads together). Meanwhile, I will think of something else better.. Will change again one day ^^

Owl City - a lesson to learn

I went to Jurong Bird Park last weekend to shoot and long time ago a friend of mine told me if I happen to go there, the owl section was nice but it is very difficult to take picture since it is very dark. Thanks to my memory loss, I forget about it. Added with my laziness, I didn't bring my tripod along.

Indeed the place was very dark and it is very difficult to take picture. Even using 50mm F1.8, you need to use very slow shutter speed and very high ISO. It was such a shame that I didn't get a chance to take a nice picture there. I should have brought my tripod along and the owl didn't move much so I guess it is fine if I used very slow shutter but not so high ISO.

So next time, if you plan to shoot owl, please bring your tripod (they don't allow flash since they are very sensitive to light). And below it is not a good example of noise and focusing. Ah.. I wish I can go back and shoot again.. My bad.. But I learn my lesson.

Glass Talk Part II

I always have an impulse to buy a new lens but I am still not sure which one I really needed. I heard some friends recommend this and that but still.. I always feel confuse. I don't need them urgently so I will slowly take my time to decide.

One way to know if the lens is good enough is to rent them.

I went to this camera rental shop at South Bridge Road for the second time (few months ago I rent a 17-55mm F2.8 IS USM here) and this time helped my friend to rent a 70-200mm F4L IS USM for an event he will cover. Since he is a good friend of mine, I got a chance to borrow it and try it myself.

Another friend told me to try this lens in Jurong Bird Park or Singapore Zoo. Since I went to the zoo twice, I decided to go to birdpark and snap away..
I was very pleased with the shoot. Weather was very nice the whole day. Very colorful pictures. And the best part was the lens. It was very sharp and the focusing was fast. Even though I was frustrated at first since my lens is not as fast and it took a while for me to get use to the focusing part (I kept missing my subject) but I really enjoy using the lens. All the images above were taken using 70-200mm.

So the next time you want to try any lens. You can check it out at http://www.camerarental.biz/

*For PR or foreigner they require deposit. It varies for different lenses.

Join the Club

About a month ago I joined the iphone club. YES, I am an iphone user now and NO, I am not an iphone freak. I don't spend my time staring at the screen and playing with the phone everywhere I go. I just a normal iphone user. Yes, I will play with the application once in a while but not all the time.

Anyway, I just want to share the camera capability of this phone 3Gs. For 3 megapixel camera phone, the images turns out not too bad. I didn't notice at first but one of my friend told me it can create quite a nice depth of field. Hey.. which camera phone can have a nice depth of field. At first I didn't quite believe that until I tried it. It indeed has a nice depth of field and the image quality is good and sharp as well.
But well, a camera phone is just a camera phone... You just don't know when the image is very sharp or blurry.

ps: I still love my DSLR more ^^

A heavy workout ( I really mean heavy)

So yesterday after a year of absence, I decided that I have to go for my morning walk again. Walk?? Yes. I don't run, I walk. I just don't run, it is interesting to some people, but yes, I only walk. Running is just not my kind of sport.

OK I will try to run, but slowly. I just start to exercise again. Guess after a full month of eating those festive food, I finally realize I need to be healthier.Anyway I always find the place I went for a walk is nice but I don't have my camera that time (yes, always the same excuse). So today during my morning walk I decided to bring my camera. A bad decision I can say. So no more next time. Morning walk with camera only happens once, next time I will only enjoy the scenery. Since I am not a nature photographer. I find out of 200 images I took only a few can pass. Have to practice more I guess, but not during a morning walk.

Triple 1 and Triple 0 (01.01.10)

Wishing you all a Happy New Year 2010 ^^

Before the Clock Strikes 12 Times-

I skip the new year countdown for last year since it is always crowded, hot, hectic and the list goes on and on.. Another thing, I don't have any SLR. The best thing I had was my point and shoot Olympus camera which fails to the max when it comes to take night photographs.

So this year I have my SLR and have the urge to take photos of the new year countdown. Thinking I can bear with the crowd and my other million reason to avoid Esplanade, I went down with my camera. This time is to try my photo journalist kind of picture. I hope I don't failed miserably (I did failed on the noise side since I don't have external flash. oh well.. what can i do).





ps: my extra 2010 resolution, to buy an external flash..

This is the last time..

Yes, I have to admit it. The title was taken from Angels or Devils song by Dishwalla. One of my favorite song I can say and I the first five words suit this post.

Anyway, it is the new year again. So this is the last time to take picture in 2009. Below are some of my last pictures from 2009. Enjoy..

And I'm back

Finally. That's the only thing I can say.
After few months of events and lazing around I finally decided to go out and roaming around the city to take picture again and somehow all picture I took this time are buildings.

Have Youself a Merry Little Christmas

Just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Hope you have a blessed one ^^

ps: I wish for at least 50mm prime f/1.4 so I won't have a harsh blur. 50mm prime f/1.2L will be nice though ^^

Foodies not always means goodies

I always want to try food photography but I haven't got a chance to try it. It always amazed my how photographer can capture a really nice food image when it is actually err.. I can say not really nice to eat.

A lot of us were fooled by nice food photos but when we ordered the food and taste it, it's just OK, so so.. or even not nice at all. I guess the restaurants have to thank these photographers for their great skill to make the food looks interesting.

Anyway I still want to learn how to take food photo though I will fool people who thought the food looks nice ^^ Below are some of my food photo from my Christmas lunch and dinner. Did I fool you? umm.. I don't think so... Have to practice more..




ps: my friend said it is a torture to be a food photographer. Especially when you are hungry and the food smells so nice but you are not allowed to eat it

Goo goo gaga..

One of my good friend just gave birth to a baby boy. When she was still pregnant I told her I want to take picture of her pregnancy and the baby after he is born. Too bad I was too busy and every time I met her I didn't bring my camera along. I was too also too busy to go to her place and take picture of her, so yes.. I miss the pregnancy part.

Anyway. She told me she gave birth to a very healthy baby boy and I thought, "OK this time have to take picture. Can't miss this one since he is her first child and I never take picture of baby."

I have to admit, I love taking picture of baby. They have sooo much expression and it is quite a fun time taking picture of him. Though he is only 10 days old, he is very alert of the camera. Few times I realized he was staring at me and my camera for a while.

Anyway, here are some picture of him. A very adorable baby boy, Isaac.
Once again, congrats to Adrian and Sophia!! ^^

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Christmas is always been my favorite holiday since I was a kid. It is nice to see all the decorations during Christmas and I can say Singapore Christmas decoration is quite amazing (the amount of electricity they used is quite amazing too). If you want to see the decorations, you have to come to Orchard Road after all the lights are light up. During the daytime it can be quite ugly.

ION Orchard joins the rows of decorated shopping malls this year by placing a purple Christmas tree in front of it. From far it just like normal Christmas tree. But once you come closer, you notice that you can actually go inside the tree. Yes. INSIDE. No kidding.

the normal outside
bubbles

Once you step inside the tree, it feels like you are in outer space. The decorations looks like thousands of sparkling stars and planets. Though it is pretty, it is quite hot and bright inside so you can't really stay for a long time. It is quite an experience, imagining you are at the outer space (maybe I just dream too much..)

the outer space

The Glass Talk

It has been a while..
I realize my last post was last month and since then I was quite busy every weekend. Literary running around.

Yes. I now work as event photographer every now and then. Weekends for most of the time, with weekdays every once in a while.
No. I am not complaining that I am tired. In fact I am quite happy since this is the job that I like.
Hope next time I can upload some of my event photos here as well.

Anyway lets move on. Every now and then one of my friend will tell me "Go and buy 17-55" "It is a very good lens" "At least you can try to rent it first."

Rent?? Never think of that. But maybe it is a good idea.
He told me about this place which let you rent all different kind of lenses, studio and even camera body. From Nikon to Canon. I admit I open the website for quite a few time and think which lens should I rent. Just to feel it before I decide which one I should buy. But at the back of my mind I was thinking how is the lens condition? Will it be scratch? Loose or something even worse than that. Well... it is a rented lens so you can expect these kind of thing since a lot of people use it. And when I ask my friend he said he has the same thought. He never rent their lens as well so he also doesn't know how is the condition. He did suggest to rent it for one of my event but I feel there is no need to rent one for event (you try to earn money you see, not spending more than what you earn). So the opportunity come when one of my friend come over to Singapore. She asked me to do a prewedding photo for her, but it is more for fun. not a serious one.

Canon EF-S 17-55m IS F2.8 it is. Yes finally I rent the lens. Get the last one since I didn't book it much earlier (you have to book for those popular lenses. They get booked very fast) but lucky I get one. I can say I was quite impress with the rental. At first I was thinking, "don't tell me it is only the lens without hood and UV filter. How am I suppose to shoot with only the lens. I am so dead... And it is for my friend." turns out they have the uv filter and the hood on. And the lens is in a good condition. They will try to find similar lens and deliver to your location if the lens you took failed you. Nice service from the rental. If anyone interested, you can go to http://www.camerarental.biz/ and check the items they have (nope I am not advertising for them. Just to share so maybe when you need to rent a lens or camera body, you know where to go). And one more thing, they have a Super Value Saturday; they are giving away 50% discount on selected equipment every Saturday. It is a good way to save your money I guess.

Moving on to the lens. 17-55 is indeed a good lens. Very good I can say. Very sharp, the bokeh were nice and basically I felt like I want to throw my 17-85 away (duh.. wrong comparison). Anyway it was very sharp even after I resize the file and upload it in my crappy mobile phone, the image is still nice.

Sample of image taken by 17-55

The down side of the lens is that it is an EF-S lens so not all Canon body can use it. The lens that I rent also showed some CA in the images. Not quite sure the lens is like that or it is actually because it is a rented lens. But my friend and i tried different exposure and it still turns out like that. But the CA only appears in the images with my friend in his white shirt. Anyway, maybe I will try one more time before I decided to buy one for me or not. It is not a small amount of money anyway.

For now I can continue dreaming about the lens...