More Landscapes in Vietnam

Taken: 11th to 14th Nov 2011
Location: Vietnam
All pictures © all rights reserved.
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More lanscapes in Vietnam. Please enjoy!

Sunrise at Mui Ne

Suoi Vang Lake

Bao Loc

Bao Loc Sunrise

Bougour Waterfall

Bougour Waterfall

Landscape in Vietnam

Taken: 11th to 14th Nov 2011
Location: Vietnam
All pictures © all rights reserved.
Click pictures to see large

I am currently on a trip in Vietnam with awesome photographers from five countries. It has been extremely fun and we have lots of opportunities to shoot. There are still thousands of pictures I have not reviewed but here are some landscape photos I have processed. Please enjoy!

Sunset at Ke Ga, La Gi

Sunset at Tuyen Lam Lake

Suoi Vang Lake (Golden Stream Lake), DaLat

Sunrise at Bao Loc

Sunrise at Mui Ne

Deepavali Sunrise

Taken: 26 Oct 2011
Location: Lower Seletar, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

Happy Deepavali Everyone!


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A Chinese Opera Story

Taken: 30-Sep and 1-Oct 2011
Location: Chong Pang, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

I was invited by a couple of friends to visit a Chinese Opera Troupe. It was a very enriching experience. Seeing the performers backstage, talking to them, getting to know them is simply wonderful. It helped me understand and appreciate my heritage so much more. It was very heart warming to see art like this still around. However we are also sad that this traditional cultural art-form is going to be gone in a few years, as the younger generation shun Chinese Opera for mega pop stars and modern music. Most of the performers are not getting any younger and there are only but a handful of younger performers to replace them. With no funding from cultural heritage groups nor the government, many members of the troupe will not be able to continue this as a livelihood in the future. Sad to hear.

Nikon 1 Launch

Attended the official launch of the new Nikon 1 system yesterday night. I have to admit that, initially, I was not very excited nor impressed with Nikon's answer to the mirrorless camera market. But after some hands on time as well as glimpses to what is to come in terms of accessories, I have to say I am pretty impressed with what I have seen. Here are some pictures I took of the event.

Nikon J1 body in hand.

Stylish and beautiful white Nikon J1.

Nikon V1 with 10mm F2.8 pancake.

F-mount adapter allows AF with current AF-S lenses.

Prototype Movie Shooting Kit and Close-up Ring LED Light. Other attachments presented (not show here) includes a touch controlled LCD panel, Projector, mini LED light, Joystick and a Network Adapter.

LED Light attachment.

Silicone case for J1.

The Nikon 1 cameras offers continuous shooting up to an amazing 60 fps. They are also capable of shooting slow-motion videos of up to 1200 fps! Here is a clip of a slow motion clip shot at the launch by Mr Alex Ortega (at 400fps):

All pictures © all rights reserved.

And they say our country is prosperous

Singapore is a small little country that has seen tremendous growth in Gross Domestic Product. New shiny buildings, expensive cars, branded stores and million dollar apartments abound in this country. But we only need to readjust our viewing wavelength a little, we will see poverty staring back in our face. Perhaps many of us chooses not to see certain people or things.

#1 - And he walks on by. How many times did we choose not to see and walk on by?

On Holy Ground

Taken: 17-Sep-2011
Location: Little India, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

I visited a Hindu temple recently in Little India right here in Singapore. It was an interesting experience observing the happenings and emotions flowing in that place. Here are some pictures I captured in the temple. Enjoy.

Revenge of the HDR

Yes I did say I did not like HDR. I still don't. However, there was a request for one and I processed a very old series of photos (four exposures, to be exact) to produce this. Not that bad looking after all, but I still do not like HDR...

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Correcting WB in Photoshop with Curves

This is a helpful tutorial on using Curves in Photoshop to correct White Balance. Hope you find it useful.

Shootsac

A new product that is interesting for shooters on the go. The name can really use some work though. And the price is not cheap...

The S-Fourteen

Taken: 19-Jul-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Samyang 14mm/2.8
Location: The Promontory @ Marina.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

Kenneth is back from Shanghai and I met up with him to shoot some landscape. It has been a long time since I seriously shot any landscape and I am getting rusty. Decided to take my new UWA prime for a spin. It is a manual focus lens so I set it at close to hyperfocal distance fired off some shots. Looking at the result, I was blown away by the image quality. I am a believer now. The fourteen from Samyang is indeed cheap and good.

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Nothing in this Life is Hard

I never shared video links in this blog since it is a photographic blog. In view of several events happening in the lives of people around me, I just wanted to go a little off-topic and share a couple of videos to encourage everyone reading this. Life as we know it is not that bad, especially when compared to these couple of people. If they can be strong and pursue their dreams despite their hardships, so can we. Stay strong, brothers and sisters.

English translation of the lyrics to Nella Fantasie,
the song sung by Sung-Bong Choi in the first video above:

In my imagination I see a fair world,
Everyone lives in peace and in honesty there.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like the clouds that fly,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

In my imagination I see a bright world,
Even the night is less dark there.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like clouds that fly.

In my imagination there exists a warm wind,
That breathes on the cities, like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like clouds that fly,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

Storm over Shanghai

Taken: 25-Jun-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Nikon 16-35/4
Location: The Bund @ Shanghai.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

Woke up real early to catch the summer sunrise at the Bund @ 4:30am. Was greeted with storm clouds and strong winds instead, no thanks to the coming typhoon. Did a few exposures and packed up.

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Landscape Photography talk @ Singapore Art Museum

I will be speaking on Landscape Photography at the Singapore Art Museum. Please drop by if you are interested in learning more about Landscape Photography.

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Promontory Outing

Taken: 16-Apr-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Tokina 11-16/2.8 @16mm + Tamron 28-75/2.8 (portraits)
Location: The Promontory @ Marina, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

We organized yet another beginner's sunrise shoot sharing session yesterday morning. Turn out was pretty big and most of us enjoyed ourselves.

Black and White - click pic to see large


Color - click pic to see large


Group shot of the sharing session

Kallang Sunset

Taken: 24-Mar-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Tokina 11-16/2.8 @16mm
Location: Kallang Bahru, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.
Click picture to see large.

Bedok Sunrise

Taken: 12-Mar-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Tokina 11-16/2.8 @16mm + ND8 + GND8
Location: Bedok reservoir, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.
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Flash Diffuser Shootout

Pictures taken with Nikon D300s + Tamron 17-50mm/2.8 + SB600
Aperture priority mode @ F5.6. Flash on TTL mode.
No EV compensation, no FV Compensation, Auto WB.
Auto-ISO base 200, max 1600, min shutter speed 1/80s.
All pictures are shot in JPEG(Basic) straight out of cam, resized with no adjustments.
All pictures © all rights reserved.
Click pictures to see large.

I have been asked on several occasions on my take on the flash diffusers on the market. Flash diffusers, like many other camera equipment or accessories are more of a personal choice. It is also a little hard to describe how the final result will be for the differing products. So I decided to do a quick unscientific comparison between the ones I have, and see how they stack up.

Here are the three diffusers all cuddled up with Mr Beetle. From left to right: Gary Fong Lightsphere II, Demb Flip-it Jumbo bounce card and Lambency Cloud diffuser.

Diffuser-less

First I start off firing the SB600 direct without any diffuser. Hmmm... not very nice.

I then fired the SB600 straight up towards the ceiling. This is also known as the traditional bounced flash. Result looks good, but there is some slight shadows under the nose of Mr Beetle.

Gary Fong Lightsphere II

Next up is the famous Gary Fong Lightsphere II (GFLS2). The way to use the Lightshpere is to fit that humungus thing onto the top of the flash and point your flash and the opening upwards towards the ceiling. The result, I have to say, is quite pleasant. Compared to the bounced flash, the shadows under the nose are lifted very slightly, and the light is a little more even.

I added the white cap to the top of the GFLS2. Mr Beetle definitely got more light, but this is at the expense of light that is a good bit harsher.

Lambency Cloud Diffuser

Now it is Lambency Cloud's turn. Lambency is a cheap brand from China. I would say it is definitely trying to look and work a lot like the Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud but at a fraction of the price. Anyways, I fitted it and shot it open, pointing towards the ceiling. The result is nice and soft but slightly stronger than the GFLS2.

Following the same flow, I added the white cap to the top of the Lambency. Result is very similar to the GFLS2 with the cap on. Brighter but hasher light.

Demb Flip-it Jumbo

Now the final contestant is the Demb Flip-it Jumbo bounce card. It is attached to the top of the flash using an elastic velcro strap. The angle of the bounce card can be adjusted according to your needs. In the first try, I left the bounce card totally vertical. This push more light forward. Although brighter, it is not as harsh as the Lambency or GFLS2 with the caps on.

According to the Demb instructions, the most optimal for nice diffused bounced light, is to bend the bounce card back very slightly around 10-15deg. When I did this, the result gave me very nice soft diffused light, with enough forward fill. Beautiful light.

Conclusion

So there you have it. As I have said before, each photographer have to determine what works for them. So take a look at the pictures and see which diffuser suits you better. If you ask me what I have in my bag on event shoots, I will tell you I use the Demb most of the time. Why, you might ask? It is simply because it stores flat and is a lot lighter than the other two UFOs flying ontop of my speedlite.

The Light at St. Andrews

Taken: 27-Feb-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D700 + Tokina 11-16mm/2.8 + Big Stopper
Location: Potong Pasir, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.
Click pictures to see large.

Went to shoot at the river that runs through St. Andrews Junior College and High School. Kept getting this weird light under the bridge. I don't think this light was captured by Alvin or Kevin who were shooting right beside me at the time with the same view. Much later into the sunset, I finally caught a decent capture as we were about to leave.

#1 - St. Andrews sunset. Shot without ND filters.


#2 - Weird light (under the bridge) kept showing up in my shots at this view.

Pipe dreams

Taken: 21-Feb-2011
Pictures taken with Nikon D300s + Tokina 11-16mm/2.8 + Big Stopper
Location: East Coast beach, Singapore.
All pictures © all rights reserved.

Late afternoon yesterday, I managed to steal a couple of hours to chase some pipes and shoot some long exposures.