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| Monday, 5-Mar-2007 00:07 |
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The Grass is Greener in Nottingham
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These photos were taken in Nottingham taken yesterday during the weekend just gone by. During the London visit, I realised that using flash from the camera resulted in frontal lighting making my subjects look kind of flat so, this weekend I was experimenting with side lighting - this time not using any flash. Side lighting does make the subjects appear more three dimensional, but I'm afraid the pictures turned out too contrasty. (The original images were even more contrasty, so much that I had to open up the dark areas in Photoshop using a "contrast mask"). This time I used the +1 saturation setting on the Canon 400D resulting in these ultra saturated looking images.
These images were all taken "just" using my 18-55mm kit lens. You see, I've been so reliant on using the 50mm F1.8 prime lens that I found myself awkward and de-skilled using the old Kit. So, I've made it a point to increase the usage of the 18-55mm more!
PS
I later read Ikelah's comment that the way to reduce contrast is by using a reflector on the opposite side. We learn new things every day!
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It seems that I have been tagged by Cibilzsonic. Okay, here's 6 weird things about me:
1. I am a tea addict. I drink probably around 10 cups of tea a day. I used to drink a cup of tea right before going to bed, but since the new years I have stopped drinking bed time tea except for weekends. I'm also cutting down. I dislike coffee.
2. I like making lists, like this one.
3. I have lived most of my life overseas - although most of my family is in Malaysia.
4. I was a video game fan, though right now I am too occupied with the family and work to play games anymore. However, I still occasionally buy games for the PS2 and I have left them either unplayed or unfinished.
5. I have A LOT of interests and hobbies, in fact I remain interested in one hobby only for a limited time (the average is a year). Photography and Photoshop being my last two interests. Occasionally, I relearn to like my old hobbies.
finally,
6. I used to really like music especially while driving. However, nowadays I could barely tolerate listening to any music. Instead, I listen to podcasts (you know, radio shows in the form of mp3s you could download from the internet for free).
Now here are the 6 people I'm tagging:
1. Rosli Othman
2. Ikelah
3. Boogey
4. Red
5. Arep
6. Anden
Rules:
>>People who are tagged should write a post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.
>>Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your entry.
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| Saturday, 3-Mar-2007 10:26 |
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London Visit: St George's Hospital
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Picture taken of the main entrance to St George's Hospital in Tooting, London. I took this while waiting for my friend to go through his interview - three hours long! The day at that time was nice and sunny, allowing me to use very small apertures - thus both the lion statue in the foreground and the building in the background is sharp.
I really love using wide angle, by getting close it really gives subjects the "oomph". Another reason why I love wide angle is that whole buildings would fit snuggly into view. What I don't like is the extreme distortions...
Anyway, after the recent travels I am seriously considering getting the Sigma 18-200mm (and if the reviews are good I may get the new one with Optical Stabilisation, yet to be released I'm afraid) especially for the wide 18mm end. With the wide zoom range it'd be cool not having to keep changing lenses.
Any recommendations?
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| Friday, 2-Mar-2007 23:14 |
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London Visit: Trafalgar Square
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Sorry for the long silence, but as usual there's a reason behind it. Recently, I was travelling around London with a blog friend's son - featured in the above photo. It was his first time in the UK, and he was visiting the UK for an interview at St George's Hospital, London. I accompanied him on the trip and managed to take quite a few photos in the process 
The above photo was taken at Trafalgar Square, London. To the immediate left of my friend is the National Gallery and the statue you could see on the far left is called "Alison Lapper Pregnant" based upon the famous British Artist who was born without limbs. The statue is on display only until April 2007, so do visit if you have the chance.
As a photography note, I used a technique I only recently learned: using fill-in flash in daylight to remove shadows and "lift" the subject against the background.
More photos are cooking in the oven, hopefully I'll update the page soon-ish.
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| Friday, 23-Feb-2007 09:30 |
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My wife has been quite into photography lately, taking lots of pictures of especially food and the kids. Above is actually a picture taken by her but edited in photoshop by yours truly.
Below is the original:
Not much was edited, just:
1. cropping
2. clone tool to remove my son's arm on the right side of the picture
3. levels and curves to manipulate contrast and to adjust colour casts
4. a red filter to add colour to Sarah's pink pyjama
5. a sepia filter to add colour to her skin
6. resize
7. unsharp mask.
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| Thursday, 15-Feb-2007 13:30 |
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Early Morning Portrait
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| Thursday, 8-Feb-2007 22:11 |
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Coventry in Snow
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It has been snowing heavily since early hours of this morning, and for once in the past few years the snow settled on the ground - in some places as thick as 6 inches! The last time it briefly snowed was around a year ago.
It's a once a year occasion and unfortunately due to working during the day, I could only capture nightscapes of the snow:
Most of these images were taken using ISO 100 (some are even ISO 1600, see if you can tell the difference), with apertures not bigger than F8 on a tripod. I was horrified that the slush would do all kinds of damage to the lens and 400D so I had an umbrella over the camera (note that the only umbrella I could find in the house was my daughter's small and pink Barbie one).
As I am absolutely tired from the day, all the images were post processed just using Picasa2 (mainly colour correction and sharpening).
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| Saturday, 3-Feb-2007 22:53 |
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Little Miss Sunshine
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| Tuesday, 30-Jan-2007 21:34 |
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Night photos of my work place
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A few photos of the place where I work, taken only just now. I love night photography. The evening just now was just fine for night photography - the skies still retained some colour while the buildings were illuminated with light. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have my trusty tripod with me (I wasn't planning to take these pictures), so these pictures were taken at very high ISOs (above 800) and handheld, thus the somewhat blurry & noisy quality.
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| Saturday, 27-Jan-2007 19:40 |
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Experimentations with the Orton Effect
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I kinda like this Photoshop technique called the Orton effect, hmm may use it for future photos. Again, a picture of my 1 year old Amar in his Eskimo gear.
Update:
The link on how to do the Orton Effect is here.
This is the original:
Yes I know the original looks flat and devoid of colour. That is because, there was a time when I experimented using the "natural" setting on the 400D. Now I've switched back to "standard" because I think the contrast and colours lost when using the "natural" setting is difficult to recover in Photoshop.
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| Thursday, 25-Jan-2007 22:09 |
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Borakphoto Assignment Completed - Leading Lines
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"Leading lines" is my favourite topic!!! Here's a slew of pictures as my submission for the "leading lines" homework:
Coventry is simply THE PLACE for capturing leading lines:
The Blue Bridge heading towards the Coventry Transport Museum features attractive blue fins and unique metal work, with sinuous curves that draws the eye.
Having walked the full length of the Blue Bridge, one will encounter the majestic twin arches of the Whittle. Especially beautiful at sun set.
At night, the Blue Bridge and the Whittle Arches lights up in various neon colours - becoming the centre piece of attraction in Coventry.
Let's not forget the Coventry Canal. Here, the zig-zag white bridge draws the eye and points towards the Canal House.
Very near to Coventry is Birmingham, featuring this unique Selfridges Building in the market place, or, the Bullring. The blue "appendage" on the top right corner is an elevated bridge connecting the carpark to the Selfridges building.
Hope you guys have enjoyed that tour of Coventry and Birmingham!
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but eh mynn nice shots!
