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| Sunday, 18-Mar-2007 22:46 |
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Tagged Again:
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I've been tagged to show what my desktop looks like by RaggedyAnne. I'm tagging:
1. Ikelah
2. Boogey
3. DoubleUkayes
4. Rosli
5. Arep
6. Red
Basically, on your desktop press 'Print screen' then paste on Paint or PS. Enjoy...
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| Saturday, 17-Mar-2007 21:53 |
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Arep showing the prowess of his new Sigma 10-20mm Ex
Dina no doubt enjoying her noodles
Sarah and Amar sharing Dina's fruit juice (sorry!)
Today, we met with our neighbours and fellow photo enthusiasts Arep and Dina. We drove together to Solihull, Birmingham and had lunch in Wagamama - a fusion Japanese restaurant (the Amai Udon is delicious!).
It was an excellent day - I had the chance to try out Arep's excellent new lens, a Sigma 10-20mm Ex. The lens was a pleasure to use and I can't wait to copy them from Arep later to review the pictures. It was a also the first time I've had the chance to fully acquaint myself with the new 24-105mm L. Above are but some of the results.
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| Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 16:58 |
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24-105mm F4L IS USM
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Just would like to welcome another member to the growing family 
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| Sunday, 11-Mar-2007 19:56 |
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Leicester Square
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| Sunday, 11-Mar-2007 03:29 |
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London Underground: Charing Cross Station
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A picture of Ikelah's son, while we were on the way to St. George's Hospital for his medical school interview (that's why Momad is in a suit). Taken at Charing Cross station, waiting for a Northern Line train for Tooting.
For this photo I used flash, bounced on the white billboards on the left of the picture. As for why Momad looks so peeved, and is staring at the phone, I'm not sure? Probably he was missing home but most likely he was mentally preparing for the interview.
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| Saturday, 10-Mar-2007 06:48 |
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Incandescent Amar
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Argh, okay I admit - this image is really over-processed. Only after seeing it today do I realise the colours are really garish. Anyway about this picture, it's of my son Amar playing in the garden one sunny day. Except that he was in the shade. I saw the beautifully textured plank leading the eye towards Amar, combined with the textures of the small pebbles - and attempted the shot.
I used flash, bounced on the (brick) wall on the left of the picture, probably casting an orangey tone, and focused just infront of Amar while keeping a relatively small aperture. My regrets are that (i) the background is untidy, and the highlights are clipped (ii) the colours are cranked too high. But I'm really pleased with the textures which I selectively sharpened to the maxxx.
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| Friday, 9-Mar-2007 13:34 |
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Gazing at the Tower Bridge
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This picture of the Tower Bridge is the poetic opposite of the picture I of the London City Hall I posted below.
As opposed to the previous picture, I'd only edited this picture using Picasa 2 - minimal edits, just colour correction, saturation, cropping and sharpening. Also, the Tower Bridge is located opposite of the City Hall across the Thames river. Another opposite is that in this picture the two subjects are looking away from the camera.
If I had more time I would've cloned out the silly pillar on the lower left hand side and that little bird flying over the bridge. I HATE trees are obscuring important landmarks - if it were up to me trees, electricity poles and other buildings should be BANNED from these landmarks.
PS
1. I'm sure this picture was taken by me this time, definitely 
2. I've ALWAYS thought that this was the London Bridge - D'oh! It was only till recently I learned that this is actually called the Tower Bridge.
3. I saw this scene of the mother & daughter looking at the bridge unfolding before my eyes as if in slow motion, and in that instant I readied the camera and took the photo. Alhamdulillah, it turned out okay. Have you guys felt a similar feeling of time slowing down when taking, literally, snap-shots?
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| Thursday, 8-Mar-2007 21:02 |
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London City Hall on a rainy day
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I had lots of architecture friends in University, and they have all made me see the art and thought process that go into designing buildings.
It is no surprise then that one of my interests in photography is architecture (also the reason why I like wide angles).
Well, the picture above is of the London City Hall - located near the Tower Bridge and just across the river Thames taken during my recent travels to London. The thing is though, I'm not that sure if this picture was taken by me - it may have been taken by Ikelah's son Momad --- I'm not sure.
However, since it was taken using my camera I'll claim the picture as mine - muahahaha . It was taken on a bleak, rainy day (I feared for my DSLR as it was getting wet with rain) and I had to really work on the photo to make it presentable.
Here's the amount of editing that went into the picture:
1. I replaced the grey skies with a blue sky (muahaha, was it obvious?)
2. Levels & curves to maximise contrast but retain detail.
3. burn shadows on the wet floor - especially of the "egg" and all the people - especially the people in the background being blown away by the wind.
4. Dodge the highlights on the "egg".
5. Increase colour saturation to the max, but stopping short (hopefully) of making the colours look garish.
6. I think that's it.
Here's the original:
PS
1. Notice how the guy in the picture is scowling at the photographer. People in this country really effing hate being photographed!
2. It saddens me to visit the city hall on a rainy day. I wished I had visited it at night. It lights up beautifully at night, with the blue spiral staircase visible through the glass windows. Take a look at the flickr images: just search London City Hall.
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| Tuesday, 6-Mar-2007 20:52 |
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Long Shadow
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| Monday, 5-Mar-2007 20:12 |
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Relative Speeds and Ghastly Shadows in Nottingham
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A photo at the nearby playground of my newly made friend Naim and his daughter Misha. Another extremely high contrast, difficult to light situation - the shadows are uncontrollable giving the father a phantom-wraith-like look (incidentally, Misha also had that Sadako look).
Again at 18mm wide setting, I was aiming to let the distortion to exaggerate Misha's speed on the swing. I also used a shutter speed of 1/20 in the hopes that Misha would be blurred and the father sharp - it more or less worked, much to my surprise.
However, I wish the shadows were more controlled (could toned-down flash have fixed this?) and the picture does look a bit overcooked in Photoshop in my opinion.
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whooops....
