Testing whatever little knowledge I have on photgraphy on the Canon 350D; recently inherited from a good Samaritan.

I would appreciate evaluation and pointers for improvement from viewers. Thank you.



Clouds on Fire



Ominous-looking clouds


Re-creating the resort feel.
Spoilt by TNB's overhead wires.



My favourite time of the day to take pictures. The last moments before the sun disappears from the horizon



Rays of Hope
Like the rays shining thru' the clouds. Signifies hope in the face of adversity


This post has been edited by ??!!: Mar 15 2007, 05:44 PM

http://static.flickr.com/115/253026077_a8d0a7cc4c.jpg

Nice shot ... the sky is setting angrily, strong colours and high contrast.

http://static.flickr.com/99/253025900_fd633056a8.jpg

Haaa ... which BHP is this?

http://static.flickr.com/79/253026014_96654957b7.jpg

Dun look like clouds, like you shot the sky just as an alien ship about to enter our atmosphere

This post has been edited by ac98: Sep 26 2006, 02:34 PM

very beautiful mood colors... btw, may i know the time of the day when u shoot those photos?

re-creating the resort feel

besides tnb, the top left, bottom left n right.. get rid of those particles. would be much nicer

Thanks for the compliment. Some men were playing football with this setting sun. Altho' it wasn't really early, I just decided to sit on the grass and enjoy the scene.


Somewhere in M'sia



Yeah, it looks like a scene from the end of time!

Mostly between 1845 - 1915 hours

Yeah, saw that when i was uploading the pic; but too lazy to crop. Ok will do that .

This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 26 2006, 03:03 PM

i can never get the sky to go that red near my house. When the perfect time arrives, the sun is already behind the hills. Otherwise the sun is still too high and the sky is still bright.

Getting the sky at whatever color, shape or look really depends on LUCK guys.

yeap, it's best the visit one place 365 days to get the right colors then to go to 365 diff places. of course u must make sure nothing's blocking the sun

The movement of the sun at dawn and dusk are really quick. And the hues can change tremendously in a split second. Perhaps that's why I find it both challenging and interesting. There's never a dull moment.

Sometimes missing the scene we wanted may not be a bad thing; like this picture. I didn't intend to take this view; but the glowing ball of fire had moved so fast when I re-set the camera. The sun was a huge ball of bright orange. But,it sank very quickly into the horizon and was covered by the trees. However,..I still like this picture...



It was like these dragons (picture below) had swallowed it for safe-keeping to return it to the sky the next dawn. ( Copied idea from Egyptian legend re the sun )

Actually, these figurines adorn the top of an alter in my neighbour's garden. Never noticed it but the lens kept shifting the focus to these 2 fellas as i was trying to catch the sun.So, I thought ...what the heck...just shoot it! Tapi, exposure I dunno how to get it right.

P/S This is my version of "Dragon in the Sky"..similar to what you have.




After cropping, the resort-feel seems to be lost.


This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 26 2006, 03:54 PM

maybe no need crop...just replace maybe....since very small only....
hehe
PS....

this first pic here, seems like got dust in the top middle.

ahaha, don crop like. like what beehawk say, ps it out. use the healing brush. really a miracle worker

wow...sharp eyes....din really noticed got any dust there also.......
hehe

In the middle photo with the dragons, i think those are the oof leaves on a stalk.

Yes..those were some leaves in front of the dragons.

I thought Clemong was referring to the picture with the sun behind the trees.On close scrutiny there appears to be a spot of light grey at top middle of pix..Not sure tho', my mata seem blinded just looking at the bright orange scene.!

yea, d trees pic, not the dragon

nothing a little ps can't fix but need to clean the cmos too i think. how to do that?

nice shot ... keep them coming....

Belum belajar lagi PS.

Can use blower arh?..
I read somewhere, some ppl just use their mouth to blow!..It sounded harzardous!

Some more experiments:


After the rain

Aloe Vera



Canna



Wind-screen


Decorations Au Naturel--on fern.
Reminds me of X'mas tree deco.
Had problem focussing on the water droplets.Go nearer and it got all fuzzy. How to do it?



This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 27 2006, 10:39 AM

the aloe vera looks yummy.....hehe
nice shots of water droplets........

How about manual focus? Otherwise too near for the lens to focus properly, must use PSS2IS supermacro liao (0cm).

0 cm macro???..

Any other easier method for a gundu before i learn how to go manual?

Moon-light


Full Moon...well...almost. First shot of the moon, handheld using the 90-300 mm. After cropping, not very sharp liao.




1 night later...and we can see the difference in the shape of the moon


Candle-light

Curi idea from WildPiew...hehe

wah~!!!! handheld 90-300 mm
haha candle shot nice try try use 2-3s n fan abit the candle to capture the movement

woah, you beat me to it. I was going to post a photo of a crescent moon i took yesterday. Was just getting to do a write up on it. And some night shots from last night too!!
Here's a preview...

I'm going to delay that upload for a few days now...

This post has been edited by gold3knight: Sep 27 2006, 06:11 PM

Haha..I took so long to get the right speed/exposure, the assistant I recruited to be the flame-blower gave up on me due to the 'panas' factor.

Will try to fan the fire with the next experiment.

No need to delay upload mah. Quick, quick upload!

haha ??!!, u need to fan it slowly first then press the button
wut w/b u using hor? Auto w/b? coz bottom right that candle colour tone more on blue leh.

haha panas leh, last time i also feel damn panas leh.

U mean...no need helper?. I fan and then I press button? Or 1 hand hold fan , the other hold camera?...Kenot balance lah like dat!

U know ar...grandma coordination not very good one.


Cannot remember. Checked properties and it says Manual W/B; But I don't remember it as such.

Anyway, the blue tinge is due to I itchy hand go and adjust hue to give it the blue blame; like Shell and Esso used to claim in their advertisements that blue flame = good flame!


Aaahhh...the things we do for photography!

This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 28 2006, 12:13 PM

yup, S2IS and S3IS have 0cm marco mode

even the PS A430 can do 1cm macro

u can set self timer ger ma 2 sec maybe.

I know about this topic better then you all-lah : Get wet, get dirty, climb up and down, bukak baju, kena lumpur, kena rain ... sigh ... these are the times you get so upclose with the subject and your camera. When you finally decided to part with the camera to upgrade, hati soooooooooo sakit, why? Becoz the camera been thru so much wih you

This post has been edited by ac98: Sep 28 2006, 01:20 PM

Hmmmm...wonder how 0 cm macro works. Lighting must be damn tough. Technically, me think it can't be zero distance, maybe some micron of a mm; but not zero zero.

Ya hor..how come never thought of it?

The love affair of an artiste and his tools! Yeah, I know where you are coming from.

I will relate those stories to you all from time to time ... experiences are very precious, but it's good to share.

Is it me or is dSLR's macro distance is much much further? Can someone pl enlighten me?

It was about 6-7 pm when these pix were taken. Would it had been easier to focus if lighting conditions were brighter?

After what seems to be like a hundred or more shots of flowers, these are about the most focussed that I have:







This was taken 2 days earlier than the above pix, before the full bloom. I prefer the soft pink of the buds.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5240/img3236hvg2.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6918/img3237hpt9.jpg
These 2 photos taken with S2 supermacro, first one maybe 0.5cm, second one about 1cm
This one at 0cm.
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?act=ST&f...dpost&p=7971236

what lens were u using? using a non-macro lens.. there's a limit to how near u can focus.

OK..now I know I need real macro lens to take those real close-up shots. The so-called macro function with the flower icon is a different kind of 'macro'.

Yellow Fever

Not the medical condition, but my obsession with yellow flowers. For starters, I am not so into flowers,but a yellow one will surely lift my spirit.

Is it my eyes or again the close-up focussing thing? While the flowers seem to be in focus, they don't seem to be as sharp as what ii would get from my Coolpix or Camedia.













This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 29 2006, 04:16 PM

??!!, any bug/insect macro shots? Can you pls do it with the kit lens? Wanna see how good it could be.. I haven't got my DSLR yet...

This post has been edited by zephyr: Sep 29 2006, 04:57 PM

nice flower....

u need a macro lens for macro shoot else cant focus it near

Got some pix of some bees and bird yesterday, but with the 300mm zoom. With kit lens arh...aku tak berani lah...With the zoom also takut that fella mengamuk and come after me!

I can u/l the pix for you.But not so nice, cloudy skies and those fellas keep moving around non stop.

The birdie lah tak payah cakap, just go a bit nearer..all cabut loh.

Frankly, I feel the kit lens is lauyah one. I believe most ppl end up buying other lens soon after they buy the SLR. My intention initially was to trade in the kit and buy the other lens straight away.

OK..just trying my luck with the zoom. Macro lens can wait.Let me get my wide-angle first.

Edit:

Zephyr,

some of the flowers were shot with the kit lens

This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 29 2006, 05:41 PM

ya, get a wide angle lens first!

300mm zoom use "three legs cat"(tripod)

haiz...I was trying so hard to get away without the tripod. But nampak nya, no chance hor?

But for some shots,like the flower one, how to use tripod?..I was practically lying prone on the ground...well, almost.

How much did you pay for the 300mm? Hrmmm.... Wanna count my budget.. Thinking of either get a 350D or 400D.... Since you also just got your 350D, hope you can teach me a thing or two...

Btw, you mentioned that you could 'u/l' the pix for me.. What's u/l? Upload?

hahah good prone on the ground, sniper huh.

in the follow the photo game, i posted a photo of a mosquito, tajken using 350d w/kit lens.

Yes..u/l = upload

the lens dunno the pc leh. I got it FOC This wk i may go to the shop, i'll check for you ok?

Whether to buy 350 D or 400 D depends on yr budget. If i were you, and budget tak dah problem, go for the 400 D.

Teach you ?...aku pun blur and binggung queen. Tapi can share share lah apa sikit yang tahu. We all here are sharing and learning.

Haha...itu plant is like 2 ft from the ground only

The Birds and The Bees

This little birdie always fluttering around the garden. The beak looks like those of the sun-bird,used to extract nectar from the flowers.



That's the partner, high up on the wires



The common burung pipi
Very nimble fellas, flew off before I could creep up on them.Had to use zoom and kept my distance.



In Conference
These gang of very talkative birdies are a real noisy lot. Their favourite chill-out venue...the TV aerial



A bee (looks more like hornet to me) having a feast on the bud of a Canna




Full frontal view




Food from the dead
Wondered why it's sucking juices from the decayed flower.



Back-side view. Pl excuse me!



Final curtsy before I say good-bye.
This is one voracious feeder. It was feeding for at least 5 hours on the same plant. Didn't check how much longer it stayed on the meal.



This post has been edited by ??!!: Sep 30 2006, 01:22 PM

your bee/hornet shots are amazing! Share your secrets!!

Thx for the compliment.

Secret? No secret leh.

To me I feel we must be on ever-ready mode. Keep our eyes open for photo opportunity.

The bee shot was taken on my way out to work. Saw the bee hovering back and froth , so quickly got back to the house, grab the camera and shot shot shot. The weather wasn't good. In fact, it was a very cloudy morning with threatening rain clouds.

I also dunno what setting to use. Just experiment and change settings and look at the outcome. The countless shots I took using different combination of settings to see the results! Also shifting the angle a little bit may just make the difference in the way the lighting hit the subject.Of course, all of this is not visible at the time of taking the pix.So I just take the kia-su attitude,just snap with different settings, different angle . Just don't know what may just turn out.

Happy experimenting!

nice macro on the bee..i love the "Food from the dead" very nice...

the bird head abit OOF of me...mayb next time focus on the head more..

Nice DOF for the insect shots. But the pictures have too much noise for my liking, and you could have D&B'd the details of the insect. The huge flower in the background of the first insect shot is immensely distracting though, and the last two a bit boring (for my taste, anyway)

http://static.flickr.com/120/255502209_77df02fe60.jpg

Chill-out takpe, those buggers all berak on your aerial, on the rooftop .. if got car at the bottom mampoi, kena bomb

http://static.flickr.com/96/255502288_dabc110c37.jpg

Dun mind me asking ... at what shutter speed did you manage to freeze the wings? I know my photography but my science sucks ... errr ... or a bee dun flap their wings when they're on a flower?

This post has been edited by ac98: Oct 3 2006, 09:22 AM

i think no he freeze the wings but the bee flaps its wings hehe

i think the bee din flap the wings.

yes, the focus ended up nearer the body. This little birdie was so fidgety and small (about 7 cm) and I had to keep my distance before it flew away. Conclusion - it's damn tough trying to capture a pix of a flying insect.

D & B= ??

The high noise level- could it be due to the post-processing and cropping?

Despite the 300 mm zoom, I was terrified of this mean-looking bee and kept my distance. The plant was in my neighbour's compound, separated by a concrete fence; so could only take picture from my side of the garden. Sky was over-cast. Add my lack of skill, so I actually had quite horrible pictures in it's original form.



hehe;not my aerial. The aerial is mounted on the roof, so no danger of damage to cars parked on the road.



shinchan & clemong are right. I didn't freeze the wings with the camera. Just had a very cooperative bee which didn't flap its wings. I was very surprised too that the bee was just spreading the wings wide open as if to balance itself while having its breakfast. Perhaps it was trying to get some warmth from the little sunlight that was coming thru?...very much like the butterfly.

D&B = dodge and burn.

I seriously doubt it is a bee, I think it is a fruit fly or something of that sort.

I don't think it's a bee either, but am calling it 'a bee' as i don't know what it is. In my mind , that's a hornet.


Food, Glorious Food

Satay- All time Malaysian favourite



Ayam Percik
Make sure you remove the burnt parts before eating. It seems they cause cancer.



Murtabak and roti telur, roti bawang,etc...All the versions of roti canai or roti pratha that are a hit with any M'sian anytime of day


Mee Siam



Cathay Laksa
This is one dish that apparently can only be found in JB. True blue orang JB will die for it.

satay! i shouldnt keep seeing galleries in lyn.. always food only.. make me wanna go home nia

What to do...M'ian is a food haven. Never mind lah you quai quai belajar bersungguh-sungguh, we all makan on your behalf ok?


.....some more.......

Duku



Moon Cake



Pulasan
The Rambutan look-alike. Has to be pulas-ed to remove the skin; thus the name..pulasan

wah se....food again.......very hungry adi....
but nice pic...and nice food...

My salute.

now this is cool pic , can see the smoke.

aaron, gold3knight, WildPiew

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement!

Some pix of the Moon Cake Festival.

Conditions were kind of challenging for a newbie like me. Windy conditions blowing the lanterns around and of course the haze. The better pictures were taken just before and right after sun-down.


The rising moon



Discovered that using tripod, dapat star effect from the lights

Lanterns galore. Any shape, colour size and type






This post has been edited by ??!!: Oct 7 2006, 01:27 PM

Muhibbah spirit
The light of Ramadan standing side-by-side with the strung-up paper lanterns




The star of last night's photo session.

Anticipation.
Eagerly awaiting jie-jie to light up his lantern




How to set camera to take pix without flash where there are some low light (like from the lanterns) and dark surrounding area?
Tried with some low-sync flash; but results are not good either.


This post has been edited by ??!!: Oct 7 2006, 01:25 PM

The Rising Moon is beautiful.
Lanterns are fantastic.
I usually try with 2nd curtain sync flash when I want the lights to stand out, and still have some of the surrounding lit up, like below. Otherwise I would just use the max iso then pp to darken what i didn't want to show and highlight what i want to emphasize.
I hope i'm not imposing for posting my photo here.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Thanks Knight for the tip! ..and complete with pix too!

U know what? I actually had a similar picture with the shadows formed by the gate reflected on the floor. Of course, my pix comes without your lovely daughter in it.

The haze and now the monsoon rain has put a stop to my experiments.

Some of them experiments I did last month .

Actually, was experimenting with lights and movements. Was trying to get that 'out of this world' feel like those of space craft zooming around in outer space. But as you can see, it ended up more like


My Tequila series..... Progression (rather, should be 'regression') of sight after Tequila.

No Tequila


1 Tequila


2 Tequilas


3 Tequilas


No more Tequilas ..anythime soon!
Does the brain matter look like this as well after a few Tequilas?

very nicely artistic zoom shots.
since outdoor experiments are interrupted, do indoor experiments...

dun drink and drive and dun drive and shoot

Love the 'Tequila' shoots man! LMAO

Thx Knight for the words of encouragement. Those weren't meant to be artistic shots. But it doesn't hurt that you see them as such

Glad you had some laughs out of my pix.
So, Shifu, any tips on how to get the "Startrek" effect?

Yeah...should have stayed with this instead



Or the absolute sober option..."Coke Is It"
*Will i be slapped with a plagiarism charge?*



For the so claimed healthier version..Coke Light
*It tastes funny*



I still prefer this.
*Would you like to have a tiny sip of LongJing? *



This post has been edited by ??!!: Nov 28 2006, 10:21 AM

I have a mini clay teapot too, a gift from my jiang nan local tour guide, but it wasn't very pretty.

for the star trek effect, I think you need to mount the camera on a tripod to minimise camera shake.

The handiwork of the ones I bought (think it's from Shanghai area also) are quite fine. Each one is about 1 - 1.5 cm height, c/w detachable lid!



I read somewhere...they move the camera back and forth while on slow speed. *Am now thinking of those camera-man sitting on a stool mounted on a rail...like filming a movie. *

The sky cleared after 2 days of incessant monsoon rain. Couldn't resist the itchy fingers...just had to take out my camera altho it was like 7.15 pm

Rising Moon
Only noticed the rising moon after I reviewed the picture!



This one taken on a different day. Short respite from the monsoon rain, and the clouds got back in ...real quick!



Like the red glow of the setting sun on the cloud

i can also see specks of dust bunnies, fibre even.
But very nice colours

I know of a big blob...(as big as my rising moon in the picture) always appearing at the same spot.

But fibre?...chai na li?

Couldn't resist taking a snap of the Beautiful cloud formation this morning on my way to work. On closer look, discovered the moon is still visible!

Just want to share this glorious morning with all of you. Have a nice day!









And a Rainbow too...thanks to the polariser

Whoa, boleh tahan jugak your dust bunnies hor?

u need to do some blow job...





















i mean, blow away the dust

aku takut nak mess with them bunnies, nanti dapat heart attack, notwithstanding that they aren't the playboy version.

naughty boy ....don't make suggestive remarks to ah-mah

ah mah, time to go to bed, otherwise tomorrow this morning cannot wake up for work.

Young man, don't worry for ah-mah. Old ppl don't need a lot of sleep 1.

Better stop all these nonsense else the ? in our post count jadi macam ini

??? +

u only 788 post count but already got the ?, i need to respect u, i got it since last week only

I think this ?, everyone also ada lah.

Back to practice time, this time... Silhouette

Silhouette of boy at the playground at sun-down




Outline of petrol kiosk formed by the rays of setting sun, peeping thru the clouds



Silhouette of palm tree on the glass of car's windscreen...reflection of the last rays of the setting sun



This post has been edited by ??!!: Dec 13 2006, 01:03 PM

how come the back of the car is like blured heavily??

wake up liao, can comment

i like the first two, but the dust and fiber on the photos sort of spoil the mood

and yes, how to blur the edges? Blow hot breath onto the lens?

"Guys...shall let the secret out?" * deja-vu *

Ok..lah I don't jual mahal one.

Blowing hot air, or letting the cold weather frost up the lens is one way to get that dreamy effect. But I did it the easy way, use Picasa, there's a blur function.



so how leh?..see Nairud's(or is it Zephry?) case, makin blow/clean makin teruk! the problem!

Nairud, not me... Me not pro enuff to blow and stuff..

But your dust bunnies semacam besaq lah ah mah.. Very the obvious oredi...

Ya..lah inherited them bunnies with the whole system. Perhaps should go visit the auntie at Canon?..BUT some one here had a $@#% time with her.