Photo review

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

Today, I would like to share on some photos and the review of them. This review is solely based on my understanding and my own opinion. Others may view them differently and have their own comments.  

 

The following photos of my nephew were taken several weeks ago while he was playing at varandah of the house (I was not able to shoot the other children as they were actively running here and there...).

 

Background 

 

We usually forgot to consider the background while taking photographs especially in having candid shots.

  

This close-up photo was taken such that the subject to fill the frame. The subject was placed at the center, defying the rule of third. The eyes was looking toward outside of the picture making the viewer to wonder what was he looking at?  

 

Aperture f/5.6 was used to get shallow Depth of Field in order for the subject to stand out from the surrounding. However, the flaw was in the background. The square, dark crystal glass on the wall seems 'protruding from his head'. I should have move to the right a bit and 'separating' the cristal glass from his head. :)  

 

Companion

Still with Irfan Naim as the subject, but the frame is zoomed out a bit to have bigger view of the surrounding area. Now, the viewer can see other subject on the scene. Looking at the Rule of Third, both subjects were placed near to the 'points of interest'. It seems that Irfan Naim was pictured with his Lego set at the porch.

 

But still with flaw in the background where the cristal glass seem 'attached' to the main subject. However, the impact might be less. And, there was no interection between the main subject and his Lego Set.  

 

Activities

Timing is important in taking candid photograph. Waited a bit longer and after a while he ignored my existance and continue with his activities.

  

The following photo shows the activities and interection of the subject (Irfan Naim) and his Lego Set. These make the photo seems 'alive'.

Thank you.

"Water Fall"

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

Many of us might have came accrossed photographs of waterfall with a nice smooth water flowing among the boulders. But how to capture the photo with the smooth water flowing effect? Today I would like to share my 2 cents experience on capturing those effects.

 

My visit to Japanese Garden at Bukit Tinggi had given me the opportunity to explore and experiment with photography. Lucky that I brought along my tripod during the visit.

 

The Japanese Garden is a garden with nice views, located about 3000m above sea level with cold weather. I was made to undestand that it was raining nearly everyday. A small stream flows through the garden, in between boulders and hard rocks, creating small waterfalls. Visitors have to walk through the garden to experience the beautiful scenary.

 

We came accross a small bridge crossing the stream with nice waterfall at upstream. Setting my EOS1000D on a tripod, I set the aperture to the smallest (f/22), lowest ISO that my camera have (ISO100), shutter 1/2 sec. and auto white balance. And the result... tadaaa....! :)

 

I wish that I have a Natural Density filter in order for me to get longer shutter exposure. Without the ND filter, shutter exposure time is limited. Longer than that, the image will be over exposed. For the time being, I satisfied with what I have.        

   

 

 

Waterfall view....
 

Thank you.

Rambutan

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

Rambutan is a native fruit of Malaysia and Indonesia and very popular amongst the local people. Rambutan ripen on trees with either red or yellow hairy skin, when peeled off exposing white sweet and sour juicy flesh. Yummy......

 

Details:

 

Aperture          :  f/5.6 (Aperture Priority)

Shutter            :  varies

Focal length    :  varies

ISO                 :  400

Exposure bias : +0.3 step

White balance :  auto

 

Big aperture opening was used to achieve shallow Depth of Field, therefore focus was given only to the subject with blur background (bokeh). Long focal length (between 100mm - 200mm) was used in order to have the subject to fill the frame. It is a close-up for the details.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you.

 



Oil Palm 2

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Oil palm a.k.a. sawit in Malay language. Slowly it become the heart and pulse of Malaysian economic activities. The palm oil industries become one of the major contributors in the export commodity of Malaysia, and yet many of the people who are fully involved in the industries (small players) are still left behind. May be due to lack of technology and still operating in a traditional way.  

The fluctuation of the palm oil price is beyond their control. So, when the price is high, the small farmers may enjoy the benefit, however when the price goes down, they suffer while the maintenance cost keep increasing. Something needs to be done in helping the farmers....     

left alone on the ground while the rest are taken away.....

Thank you.

The green....

 

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

 

It was Sunday morning and the sun was yet to show itself. The sky was cloudy. The earth was wet due to prolong rainfall the night before.

 

After we were done with some exercises, I let my children enjoyed themselves playing at the playground adjacent to the lake of Taman Tasik Shah Alam while my wife prepared some breakfast. The photo below was shot afterwards.

 

Details of the shot:

• Aperture: f/5
• Shutter : 1/80 sec.
• ISO : 100
• Focal length : 50mm
• White balance : cloudy

 

 

I like the green floor..... the green background...

Thank you.

Sun Halo

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

It was a sunny day on 2 Oct 2012 when suddenly I recieved a call from my wife describing a rainbow forming around the sun.

 

I checked the sky. It was nearly half past one and the sun was very bright with clear sky. Obviously I saw a circle of 'rainbow' arround the sun. It was a sun halo.

 

Based on my search in the internet, halo effect is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating coloured or white arcs arround a source of light. In the case of the sun halo, it may caused by ice crystals formed in the upper cirrus clouds (5 to 10km high) at troposphere region. The crystals act like prism and mirror, refracting and reflecting the sun light that create the beautiful 'rainbow'.

 

As I didn't bring my DSLR, I had to utilize whatever possible gadget in hand. Lucky that I had my handphone with me, thus I used my handphone camera to capture the event. 

 

The last two photos were shared by my friend. Beautiful shot using handphone camera.... Credit to my friend.... :) 



 

 

had to shield the sun to have a better view...

From another angle...

Sun halo: a good framing...  

From another angle...... credit to my friend
 

Thank you.

The Crow

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

The crow (or some may call them raven) is common in Malaysia and can be seen almost everywhere.

 

During our morning visit to Taman Tasik Shah Alam, a crow flew down from the nearby tree to the steel railing not far from where we were seated when my wife started to prepare the sandwich. This was followed by a flock of the bird, they seems to be attracted to the food that we have.

 

Ignoring their presence, we enjoyed the food and I took some photographs of the bird waiting for some food. My son started to throw some bread on the ground, not far from the bird. It became a feast session for the birds, enjoying the bread presented to them.

 

Below are one of photos of the birds. Notice the different on the background effect with different aperture setting.    

 

 



Shutter 125 , Aperture no. 5.6, ISO200

 

Shutter 30, Aperture no. 11, ISO200

 

Thank you.

Happy Birthday to my children...

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

It was Danish Iman's birthday on 6 September 2012. He is now 5.

 

On 9 September 2012, we held a small gathering for Danish Iman and his little friends to celebrate his birthday. We wish him the best.

 

 

Birthday cake for Muhammad Danish Iman..... he likes football

Looking with eager in his eyes...

Special moment for mother and son....

 

And yesterday, 14 October 2012 was the 10th birthday of my daughter Nur Alya Safiah. We had a dinner at Pizza Hut Klang to celebrate her birthday.

We wished her the best and success in her future.

 



Nur Alya Safiah's birthday cake...

Posing for the camera....

Special moment for my family.....

Thank you.

The Cat

 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

Today, I would like to present to you the model for the day..... 'The Cat'.

 



 

Thank you.

Glory of Fruit

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Malaysia is blessed with abundant of food and variety of fruit, either from local fruit as well as imported.

 

This photos were taken during the wedding of my cousin. Look delicious.... :)

  

 

Thank you.

Lady Photographer





 

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

 

Nowadays, many of us can afford to have DSLR as the price has gone down due to high competition amongst the giants such as Canon and Nikon as well as many other players in the market. And the products offer features that are user friendly which are good for average customers. However, only a bunch of people will go deeper into photography as it needs passion and patient.... :)

 

I like to shoot candid. In candid photos, the subject will look natural and not 'posed'. Candid photos can tell us a lot of stories. In an event, there are a lot of subjects to be shot and an opportunity for candid shots. Part of my favourite subjects are the photographers themselves.

 

So..... enjoy the photos below.... :)

 

 

 

Thank you.....

Musician (2)

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

An indoor event normally being held in a hall that are full of lights. Even then, man-made lights were not the same as the natural day-light sourced from the sun itself.

The following photos are photo of 'Hari Raya Fiesta' held at the Banquet Hall of Persada PLUS. As the hall was full of tungsten light, I had to change the white balance setting inside my EOS1000D to tungsten light white balance to ensure the colour produced to be as close as possible to the original sets.

   

Thus I had to increase the ISO to 800 and set the lens aperture to the maximum in order to have good exposure and at the same time freezing the subject movement....

Please enjoy the photos..... :) 

Thank you.... :)

A photo is worth a thousand words...

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Many said a photo is worth a thousand words.... true isn't it?

Thank you.

The running water...

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

During our ground verification survey at Gua Tempurung area, we stopped by at a creek, which is part of the famous Lata Kinjang in Perak. 

I have seen several photographs of waterfall taken by professional photographer and I really love the smooth effect of the running water when photographed using longer shutter speed. And I am keen of producing one of my own. Unfortunately, I didn't brought my tripod which is one of the important element in waterfall photography.

However, since I was there, I tried my best to steady the camera while taking photographs of the running water. I sat on a solid rock, put both my elbow on my knees forming a 'tripod'. Tried to stay still, hold my breath and snap the photo.

And the following are some of the result.... 

Exposure time 0.6 sec

Exposure time 0.3 sec

Exposure time 1.6 sec

Thank you for viewing.

Night Photography: Tg Harapan, Klang

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

I would like to share some photos that I took two months ago. The location: Tanjung Harapan Klang a.k.a. Tanjung Gila as some would say.

It was about an hour after sunset. My brother in-law pays a visit with his wife and invited us to join them having dinner at Tanjung Harapan, Klang. The location is located about 12 minutes driving from my house. Seeing that as an opportunity for night photography, I grabbed my camera and joint them together with my wife and children.

Tanjung Harapan is located on a riverbank beside a seaport, with a lot of ships 'sails' the water and commercial fleets (lorries and prime movers) on the land, bringing goods. However, Tanjung Harapan also have sea food restaurants along its muddy bank (overlaid with rocks and concrete surface).

While waiting for the meal, I set up my gears, looking for some views to be recorded. I managed to take some photos of the beautiful night view when suddenly a scream bring shock to my heart. It was my children; Iman and Alya, both fell on their back due to slippery concrete slab, when they walked towards the water. The water was subsiding, exposing slippery, muddy concrete slab.

Despite my warning to the children for not to wander away from me, they just ignored me without realizing the consequences that they might encounter. I witnessed my boy fell to the concrete slab, twice, when he tried to walk away from the area after the first fall. And he injured his chin. Lucky that the rest of his body was not seriously injured despite some scratches and bruises. He was shocked and so did Alya.

Thus, I had to cancel my photography, to comfort my children, and hoping that they will learn something despite the bad experience.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the photos....           

Looking to the west, we can see seafood restaurant serving the customer...

View to the east, the replica of a sail ship, become tourist attraction at Tanjung Harapan...

The opposite river bank....

Thank you.

Gua Tempurung: icon of Ipoh

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

Gua Tempurung is one of the famous icon in Ipoh, Perak. Formed million of years ago, the limestone majestic structure clearly marked the land while one entering Ipoh valley from the south via the North-South Expressway. 

The limestone formation originated from seabed that experienced up-lifting process millions of years ago. Observing the site, looking towards the east, one can clearly identify the cause of the up-lifting process; the granite intrusion forming mountainous range, protruding upwards can be seen on east of Gua Tempurung formation, namely Gunung Chantek of Perak.

From time to time, the up-lifted limestone formation being exposed to weather and rain, and the water slowly dissolving the minerals from the stone, creating weak and hollow stone structures. The gravity then take charge, pulling down the weak structures, left crumbled at the toe in which then forming the low land and soil sediment. That is why we can see clusters of the limestone hills formation in Ipoh valley having more or less the same height. In fact, they are buddies from the same parent rock.     

The chemical reaction between minerals within the limestone and water from rainfall, also resulted in formation of caves with beautiful abstract structures carved inside the cave. This can be seen inside the Gua Tempurung (and why it is called Gua Tempurung) which is famous with its beautiful structures. SO... feel free to visit Gua Tempurung and see them by yourself.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the photos of Gua Tempurung from the outside.   

Gua Tempurung viewed from the North-South Expressway (from low angle)...

another view of Gua Tempurung

At the toe of the hill formation...

The granite formation at opposite of Gua Tempurung , form part of Titiwangsa Range.

Thank you for viewing.