the Light Sculptors

Cameron Highlands 2010

2010-05-30T01:57:00.006+08:00

I was having a field trip to Cameron Highlands last weekend for some sample collections and thankfully i managed to retrieve some of my favourite photos of all time during the trip. Thanks to Nomis for his generosity to lend me his Canon 1000d equiped with Tamron 17-55mm lens, I had the chance to enjoy the wonders of taking photos with DSLR. Equiped with Canon 1000D and of course my same old Canon Powershot, this would be my post for the time being..enjoy=D

Hibiscus

Lilies

Flares of the morning sun

Fern leaves

The view

Against the sunlight

Dandelion up close

Greenery up close

Mosses

Snail resting beneath the leaf

Spider waiting for its next meal

2010-05-15 A photo trip to Sekinchan

2010-05-16T23:55:00.000+08:00

For this week post, I will post about my trip with HW and Teik Min to Sekinchan. We started our journey around 9 in the morning and reached our destination almost two hours later. Sekinchan is a nice place to relax especially your eyes looking at such a wide stretches of paddy fields..

HW and Teik Min

Pure Purity.. ^^

The bittergourd is nice! Haha! I do food photography too. =)

The otherside of Sekinchan is a fishing village like Pulau Ketam.

People go to Broga Hill for its famous lalang but actually we can find the lalang everywhere.. and I found them in Sekinchan too. =P

That's all I have for now. More photos to come..

Moses Moments

Eat To Live? Live To Eat Better XD

2010-05-09T17:59:00.002+08:00

Hey guys!!! Long time didn't upload post here d, how are u all?
Really sorry for those delays.... T.T

So, back to the topic that I post today, if you guys know me well, you will know that food always comes first in my mind, haha!!

For me, no matter its:

Chinese food

Western food

Korean food

Vegetarian food
(p/s: the char siew here is vegetarian oh!!)

or non-vegetarian food

As long as they are delicious, I will love them, wahahaha!!!

Monotoned

2010-05-09T01:05:00.001+08:00

Finally, my first post since a month ago (yeah, due to some arrangements in updating header and layouts, we delayed updates ^ ^). Today I'm showing some of the edited black and white shots taken from my old data. Sometimes black and whites are useful in showing us the emotions and mood, bringing out the feeling that there is some history or age in your subjects, and in some cases, it's just a great cover up for your over-blurred shots :P

All the shots above were taken in Melaka, personally like the last shots the most, after converting it to black and white..

A tree in the dirty backalley, covered up with black and white effects :p

That's all from me for this week.. Hope these photos aren't too bad to seasoned street photographers~ Ha ha ha...

Playing with Shutter Speed

2010-05-08T23:44:00.000+08:00

It is been awhile that anyone actually update this team blog. It is time to come with more photos to share and to encourage each other. I have been spending my time thinking about how to get this team blog moving. Thus, while waiting for the pending reconstruction and restructuring of the team blog, the lightsculptors, let's share some photos!

Since we do not have any specific theme or title to follow by weekly now.. I decided to share with all of you.. few of the photos that I have taken within the past 2months. The main basics in photography.. the important components that we need to learn and experience to coordinate are shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Whist, altering one of the components sometimes can lead to something interesting or creative. In this post, let me share with you the power of slow shutter. =) I still in the process of learning especially practising my panning shots and come out with a better skill that I have now.. in other words, keep upgrading myself.

Photo time!

I was shooting together with my friend, Abraham, at Putrajaya then we are greeted with a group of ppl that apparently cycling around Putrajaya so I quickly adjusting the settings to do a few panning shots and I got this one which is my favourite panning shot for the night.

I went to Old Railway Station at Pasar Seni with my regular photographer buddy, Kevin to shot some street and playing with shutter speed. He share with me the idea of making the subject the still meanwhile the train moving along.. it is wasn't an easy task without any tripod but it is definitely fun and creative. Thanks to Kevin that I have learnt something new and valuable. Photography is always a long term learning and sharing process to me.

More chances for me to practise my panning shots.. =)

Playing with the lights from traffic.. A very colourful night of light trails.

Everyone should try making the waterfall or stream.. moving like "clouds".. as it is one of essential skills of photography for us to explore and to have fun with slow shutter. I went to Hulu Yam with HW and Clust for a photo outing that we often do every weekend to fill our free time and to get us refresh from work. By the aid of a tripod.. this task is easily done.

That's all I have for all of you now. Thanks for keep supporting the lightsculptors. I promised to be more active and hope to share more and more photos with everyone.

Moses Moments

Texture in Life

2010-03-29T00:51:00.000+08:00

There goes, for the final themed update, Texture.

Structures of woven rotan chair

Texture of classic chendol with Gula Melaka

week 24: texture

2010-03-28T23:05:00.001+08:00

Texture shots from Pulau Ketam. The month of April is coming.. we will go into a new format that I will blog about it next week. Stay tuned for updates! Smiles.

Moses Moments

Silhouettes

2010-03-21T00:08:00.004+08:00

A bunch of kids playing at the beach under the evening sun

Kek Lok Cave...a shot similar to Moses's post

Silhouettes

2010-03-14T14:28:00.001+08:00

Silhouette shots are easy to get, especially against a backlit situation. Tune your shutter speed to higher ones and fires away, and there it goes. However it is always hard to get a nice silhouette, one that can send the message across and brings out the feelings it intended. I myself hardly shoot any silhouettes, and in some way, consider myself a lame silhouette shooter. Belows are a bunch of silhouette (or failed silhouette?) shots that I have in my old collections. Hope that they won't drag the quality of this blog down :)

Silhouette of the Space Shot (I think that's the name?) in Genting Highland

A group of people posing in front of the great Genting Highland banner

Port Dickson's scorching afternoon, ClusT is one of the subjects inside the photo

week 23: Silhouette

2010-03-14T01:21:00.000+08:00

Sometimes in order to succeed...

We just can't sit around and wait.. but we must start climbing up the stairs..

Sometimes we feel tat we are alone..

Walking along the road...

Just that we never turn left or right..

We have friends that walking side by side with us along the road..

Photography maybe a common hobby that everyone pursuit now.. but what's made each of them a photographer is passion.. the passion to willing to spend the free time (waking up early) to explore photography, willingness to learn and share and readily to challenge ourselves into the next level of photography to pursuit a better photo each time. For me, photography is not about snapping photos.. clicking shutter.. but also reading magazines (some read forum but personally didn't prefer forums) and books, see great and good photographers' photos and lots of "homework" to do such as photography knowledges. Smiles. For me, I still have a distance and lots more to learn and see and experience.

Moses Moments

A light sculptor sculpturing with lights

2010-03-09T23:18:00.001+08:00

I always love colouring instead of drawing since I am young. I fascinated by the world of colours. When first own my compact camera 4years ago, I very actively taking photos and very passionately involved in photography. I always tag my camera along whenever I go travelling and busy snapping photos.. posted in my blog. Well, I have done it for almost 3-4years? From friendster to multiply to blogspot and now facebook. For me, as long as passion is there, busy is not an exact excuse (but final year project and studies are still important than updating blog ya) for our passion to be stop and halted. As long as passion, busy is no longer an excuse? tired is no longer an excuse? I have seen a cancer patient fighting for his life yet he still go all out taking photo. (his link) Lately i stumble upon a good team photography blog from Canada (their link), it straight away cross my mind.. I really want to bring thelightsculptor into the next level. Not because I say so as I got a dslr. Regardless of dslr or equipment, photographers must fully utilise what they have.. to "paint".. to compose and to capture the moments. I didn't call myself a photographer but a painter tat work on film and electronic film. Smiles. Film and electronic film is my canvas.

One word, I want to push the team to the next level of photography. We will do a new format by next month and as mentioned earlier by HW, I will restructure thelightsculptors and new format start by next month. I know my own limitation, I might not be a good photographer but I am doing my best to be one of the best photographers. I also hope tat the team will improve together with me too to be one of the best team photographer. Smiles. Restructuring is a wake up call. =)

Photos for this week's theme:

Sculptured by me. =)

Sculptured by my sis. =)

Photography isn't about trying to win ppl's praises only but about touching ppl's heart. Photography is fun and addictive.. Everyone love to see nice photos. I hope tat the team will start to gear up for more challenges and restructuring. Smiles.

This week's theme: Silhouette!

Lights

2010-03-06T21:31:00.001+08:00

Lightings. An important element in photography where it is vital to achieve a nice exposure, effect or simply just for the camera to auto-focus on the subject (there are lots of cameras that have their fair share of problem to focus well under dark or badly lit conditions). Light can come from anywhere, a streetlamp, sunlight, moonlight, or even from a flash unit. I myself is not much of a flash-gun fan and prefers to utilize on nature lighting or from the surroundings (thus explain my lack of err.. interesting portrait shots?). Yet flash or no flash, natural or artificial lighting, it's again, up to the photographer to decide what's the best for the situation and compose for the best shot he can get. Without further ado, let's get on with a LIGHT heart to this week's feather-LIGHT theme of Light!!!

Captured these lights from within a plane when the plane was stopping on the runway

A church's window illuminated by bright midday light from without

The sun showed itself for a brief moment on this dark evening, and the rays sifted through the clouds

On the other hand, this blog now has only THREE (maybe TWO, no idea) authors instead of what we initially had. Just to assure other readers, the missing authors are NOT abducted by aliens, they are just forgetting there's such a thing as a blog that's belonging to them as well...

Bulbs and Light

2010-03-06T00:35:00.002+08:00

The statue of Kuan Yin at Octagon Pavilion..it seems as if light spheres are circulating around the statue

Inside a shining light bulb

week 20: SHINY

2010-03-03T23:30:00.000+08:00

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the late update from us as both me and HW started our working life yet to adjust to working life. But for me, I manage to have free time tonite as previous night was busy uploading photos from my church's activities and doing my revision for my machine training. =) As promised, SHINY...

I took the photos from nature side.. the reflection and penetration tru the leaf by the sun provide the best SHINY and it surely look pleasantly in our eyes. I didn't increase saturation for my nature photos but i just adjust slight exposure and black function in Lightroom Photoshop. Currently using Lightroom as my "darkroom" or playground with colours n tones. Haha! Photos time!

Lastly, I got this lovely flare accidentally.. wasn't sure the right way to get it.. I fascinated with it as I first time saw in the Lightedpixel's photos. Love this...

That's all I have for this round's theme.. and sorry for the delayed as currently we only have two active updates. Smiles. week 22 theme! This week's theme is LIGHT. Hope to see more updates. Smiles.

Moses Moments

A Chinese New Year Post 2 in 1

2010-02-22T23:40:00.000+08:00

This is a 2 in 1 post, why 2 in 1? Due to some feud with Blogger before Chinese New Year, I've got my account disabled by Google for nothing, and there goes a week of blogless life~ So this 2 in 1 post consists of the Chinese New Year decorations + my Chinese New Year experience.

Chinese New Year, where red and gold dominates the houses of Chinese people all around the world, and people endorse themselves with feasts while gathering with friends and family. This year I found myself riding and walking all the way to Hatyai, Thailand. Why walk? Because the traffic is too heavy so I had to walk quite some distance from before Malaysian immigration all the way to the shops after the Thailand customs. Kinda suffering during the journey between the immigration offices, with a scorching sun glaring down on you while carrying close to 8kgs behind your back, with cars and lorries passing you by to leave you in the dust. Yet the trip to Hatyai has been a good one, with lots of delicious delicacies and opportunities for street photographies.

Yet this post has nothing to do with delicacies, so on we go, for the Reds and Decorations of Hatyai street in this buzzing Chinese New Year period. And some photos of the trip!

Start it off with a red colored bike seat

Very Chinese style lantern overlooking a Hatyai street

Another lantern shot, this one with different style and placed right under a fish shaped post. Signalling "Always something left for every year"?

One part of Hatyai street, tried to Lomo it...

A stall owner working hard

week 20: 大日子

2010-02-20T23:46:00.000+08:00

I can hardly find and see any festive mood in the big cities likes of KL but I am very sure that the CNY mood back in hometown is the best! For me, Kuching greeted my flight home with display of fireworks from the sky when i am still inside the plane as I am about to touch down in Kuching International Airport. I didn't have the chance to capture the splendour moments as I sit farthest from the window and just manage to witness using my own eyes. What an experience! Smiles.

Photos time!

After a night of firecrackers and fireworks display..

The bird singing to the start of spring.. before sound of firecrackers filled the quietness of the morning.

So how is your Chinese New Year experience this year in the year of Tiger? Smiles.

Week 21 task: SHINNY

Abundance
Moses Moments

Week 19: Responsibility

2010-02-12T22:29:00.000+08:00

Yup yup.. It's very near to the Year of Tiger. Just one day left.. Hope that the new year come with a new responsibility. Responsibility is most likely about commitment and effort. I only got one photo share in this post.

A father holding his son's hand. I took this shoot while shooting with Nomis, TM, HW and Robin at Teluk Batik, Sitiawan. It isn't easy to be a father I guess.. you can't be too strict yet you can't be too loose.. a father yet a friend. The photo to ponder upon the meaning.

Since next week is CNY and everyone will surely busy visiting and eating cookies and junk foods, week 20 supposed to be a free topic week but I have a suggestion here. Let's post about the spirit of Chinese New Year, the joy, the ties, the Year of Tiger... and hope tat do not post about food only but a mixture of contents with 7-10photos. Doesn't have to be a dslr.. but compact cameras, semi pro.. just recorded your Chinese New Year experience. Someone is going to Thailand next week so we might see some photos from Thailand. Haha! Week 20: My Chinese New Year Experience.

Have a great week, people! Enjoy the holiday and have a great time ahead! And... do not forget to update blog! Haha!

Happy New Year! Roar!
Moses Moments

Week 19: Chinese New Year

2010-02-09T22:27:00.000+08:00

We will be going into the Year of the Tiger in a few days time. I am sure that everyone is anticipated about having holidays and meeting relatives and friends. Thus, Week 19 is a week for everyone in the team to get into the mood for CNY and importantly served as "stimulus" for Week 20. Gosh! I still remember the biology terms that I learnt. Haha! Let see what I have for this week's assignment.

I had been to most of the major shopping complexes during previous weeks to gather photographs of the CNY decorations and peek into what's new in this year's CNY preparation. Some are disappointing.. such as Alamanda.. =P but some are good like Times Square (old streets decoration but I haven't taken any photos of them.. but soon!). I like the cute cats decoration at One Utama but I didn't took any photos of it either. Haha! But how far I will go for photography? Hmmm...

I took this scene at Seremban town. Yup. I travelled down south to Seremban with HW and CLust using ktm for street shootings and siew pau but in the same time i took this shot. Using lightroom to post processing, I want to create a feeling that everyone is eager to go back hometown.. the feeling of waiting is anxious.. just to go back hometown and spend time with family and friends during the big day. This year, i will be missing the reunion dinner with my big family due to my flight timing thus this photo resemble my feeling.. can't wait to be home for CNY. Smiles.

Something out of place.. Haha! As we at Seremban town, walking and wandering around, we saw a few cars fully red with advertisements from Giant. It must be competitive especially during the festive seasons. I actually want to try out panning shots but I put the shutter speed too fast. Haha!

The decoration inside Pavilion doesn't impress me as much as the decoration outside Pavilion. Haha! I just love the flowers decoration (although fake) and rows of lanterns especially during the night. Of course, I had try a lot of angle using my 50mm and this is one of the best that I got. Tips here.. try using F8, you will get "star" shaped glare instead of round shaped glare. I just prefer rounded glare in this case. Smiles.

I just love the flowers outshone by the sun. The blooming flowers during the spring.. but too bad that it is fake one as Malaysian weather impossibly can grow such a beautiful flower plant.

Wish that everyone a prosperous new year! "Every year blessed with fishes!" Haha!

That's all I got for this week's task. I know that it had been the pattern that I updating the blog quite late but let be punctuate from this week onwards. Gambate, team lightsculptors!

Moses Moments

Mizu

2010-02-08T14:45:00.002+08:00

The artificial waterfall at KL Aviary Park

Rain drops creating circular waves on the water surface...it was taken during my trip to Putrajaya with Moses, Han Wee and Nomis..pardon me for the noise as it was snapped using 24x digital zoom..lol

Reflection of buildings of Seremban on water surface...

Week 18: Water

2010-02-07T02:28:00.001+08:00

Water is common and we can find water almost every part of the world except some dry places such as desserts. In photography, water helped a lot especially with reflections.

I manage to capture this reflection during the gathering with my friends at the Curve. It is a rainy day and the pedestrian street along the Curve is surprising empty despite Friday night. With such rare pure luck and the rainy day give the reflection of the CNY decoration.. of the golden lantern on the floor, i quickly grab out my A300 and capture this scenery. I know that shooting with the setting of the aperture to F8 or F22 will give a better result but I didn't bring along my tripod and i shoot with F1.4 in order for to gain enough light for higher shutter speed without any handshake. Afterall, all i want is the moment. Smiles.

Water is one of the most essentials needed for survival.. without waters, there will no life.. no fishes.. no green plants.. but just sands and stones. I decided to post this photo.. due to the green creeping plants over the fence against a pool of water as the background that carried the meaning of the previous sentences.

Using a slow shutter with small aperture around F11-16? depending on scenarios, we can actually produce the moving silky water from a rapid moving waterfall. I guess that everyone with a dslr will try to capture the silky effect of waterfall. Haha.. It is one of the art of photography but so far, i haven't stumble upon the waterfall that can took my breath away. Smiles.

That's all I got for this week's theme. Next week's theme.. Week 19 will have two themes. The team can either to choose to do one or both themes. Next week's theme 19.1 is Chinese New Year Mood (can touch on festive mood, decorations, streets selling CNY stuff) and theme 19.2 is responsibility. Goodluck and all the best, team!

Moses Moments

"H2O"

2010-02-05T16:51:00.000+08:00

Water in our lives, comes in many forms, from the widest ocean to the smallest droplet of rain. It's an important source of life, and it is a great form of arts as well. For this week's theme, water, I've chosen the few photos below, the way water becomes a scene, a form of arts apart from our source of life...

Water droplets shot out through the fountain

Reflection of buildings from a small pool

A river that serves as an important part in the ecosystem, an a great scenery

Lights On

2010-01-28T15:24:00.003+08:00

This photos in this week's post was taken from 2 locations, my evening trip to Penang Hill and my latest outing with Han Wee, Moses and Nomis at attempting night shots of KLCC.

East side of Penang, the mainland and the bridge

Georgetown and Butterworth area

Buildings surrounding KLCC taken using Canon 1000D equiped with fish eye lense (both were borrowed from Nomis)

Playing around with the fish eye lense

Week 17: Passionate Shutters

2010-01-28T13:25:00.001+08:00

This week will be a rest week.. skip a theme this week and next week is week 18. I will announce week 18 at the end of this post. Smiles.

What's make a passionate shutters or shooters? We do not necessary need a dslr (digital single lens reflexs) camera to be one.

We can be a casual shooter using just normal digital compact camera or semi-pro camera like G10 to be a passionate shooter. We can even used lomo-camera or film camera to be one. Why i indulge so much into photography? Just one word to describe it.. PASSION. A burning one..

We do not need to be special to be a photographer.. Nowadays, everyone can be a photographer (just that.. whether amateur, professional or hobbyist photographer) with the price of compact camera and dslr are getting cheaper and cheaper with lots of entry level dslr marketed in the world. I do not denied that better lens (such as fisheye in the photo above) and better camera bodies produced better photos but the best photos come from the ability to know your own camera.. what's the strength.. what's the weakness.. what's way to overcome the weakness by using your skills and not by any equipments updates.

For me, photography is fun.. full of joy unless u force yourself to take photos then photography is meaningless. Even i am "working" part time photography or go out take photos with a group of friends, i will make the photography session a fun time.. a memorable moment itself that we won't seriously do the pose, find the right angle and right lighting only but photography is more than that. Photography is joy and fun. Photography is a time to relax and crack some funny shots. Haha..

Photography had so much to learn.. and it works the best through sharing from peer photographers. I truly blessed with lots of photographer buddies (yet to find a photographer lady friend that truly into photography) that i able to learn a lot from them about composition, colours, lighting.. and lots more. Some are fashion photographer, event photographer, nature photographer.. a lot of genre in photography as in music. It is not just plain photography but there are lots of genre inside. My strongest genre? Nature and scenery.. Haha! But i learning my portrait photography with dedication and hard work.

Photography is everyday life process.. we not only shoot in the day but also in the night. For me, as long as I put my eye unto the viewfinder, I am a different person with a source of powerful energy to drive me till the end of the photo outings or sessions. It sound crazy but that's the passion burning inside my heart to produce the best photos and enjoying what I love the most.. photography.

Even to the extend that i have to wear a pink robe.. Hiak~! Hiak~!

That's me.. Moses Moments.

I hope that the team can share their points on passionate shooters (Week 17 task) and for next week's week 18 task, we going to have the theme: Water.

Living the passions...
Moses Moments

Night With Light

2010-01-26T15:39:00.001+08:00

Night, where the sky is dark and the lights are on, the world turns into a spectacular scene. I myself has not been taking much night time shots, due to the laziness to deploy a tripod to get the hustle and bustle of the night. Below are a few photos I've taken during night time. Turn on the lights, let's brighten the night!

A night view from the place I stay

View of Petronas Twin Tower, along with other skyscrappers

Another block of UTAR's Kampar campus in the night

Week 16: Night Scene

2010-01-26T15:32:00.001+08:00

In Week 16 task, we have the choice between night life and night scene and I had chosen night scene. I had been taking photos and photos for almost everyday for the past week to fill my free time. So now talk less and photos time!

Random street shot.. along beside Pavilion. Taxi drivers waiting for customers.

First time trying panning shoot.. and at night somemore. Using shutter speed as low as 13-15seconds trying to capture fast moving cars without boosting the ISO and aperture as high as f2.8 using my 50mm. I gain something while talking with my experienced photographer friend as he stated tat panning shoot whether day or night time, the best panning shoot usually using tripod as u swing.. the smooth panning effect will be created. Let's go out and try again! Haha!

The Curve and i adore the reflections. Smiles.

Mini night vendor at Dataran Sunway.. ermm.. maybe one day, i will organise a photo outing to Pasar Malam. I wonder how will be end-result of the street photography from Pasar Malam.. it is night time and it will be challenging to beginner and intermediate level dslr, semi-pro camera and compact camera. *cross hands*

Previous post.. my week 15 theme post, i did mention a bit.. and this photo in week 16 theme post, i posted a photo.. there are the tips for week 19 and week 20 themes. Team better start get ready the photos but i will announce the themes of course. No worries. Keep anticipating. I will announce this week, week 17, later in the next post in lightsculptors. Stay tune!

Moses Moments

Week 15 (Free Theme -SPIDER)

2010-01-26T15:04:00.001+08:00

Recently kinda busy with photo outings and interviews but as promise, I will post the photos up once I am free. This week is less hectic than previous week thus i will post the themes that I had missed from the past weeks. week 15 is a free theme week so I had chosen the SPIDER as my week 15 theme. I didn't use any macro lens for the spider's shots but just a normal kit lens, 18-70mm.. that served me well especially the spiders are extremely BIG sized! Haha.. Thanks to the sit-in admin last week for the updates on week 16 theme. Thanks a lot. Let's go to the photos.. I will only posted two photos. Smiles.

The spiders really BIG sized. I do hope that I will own a macro lens one day so that I can go out into the forest for macro hunting for the beautiful and unique insects especially butterfly and dragonflies. Have anyone saw Midvalley decoration? It is dragonfly's theme. Smiles.

Reactivated

Moses Moments

The Night Is Still Young

2010-01-23T22:10:00.002+08:00

Night life is part of some youngsters and even adults. Although sleep late at night is a bad habit, peoples are still doing it, especially students. For people like us (actually its for me), we don't have enough energy anymore for night life...... Unless we are doing on calls or night shift la...

Since the theme for this week is night, I will try to post up something related, but not those classic night scenery kind of photos.

Enjoy.

I think most of the TARCians and UTARians know where it is in this photo. Classic dark sky of night.

Night is the best time for people to meet up and have a gathering with their friends.

I think..... this is also related to night...... XD

Mimicking Lomo Effects + Week 16 Theme

2010-01-19T13:14:00.000+08:00

This is a late post for week 15's free topic, and I've decided to post some of the fake LOMO style post-processed photos of mine.

Hallway of Kellie's Castle in Ipoh

An old trishaw

Some macro shots of decorations

Last but not least, I am the sit-in admin for the week, and this week's (week 16) theme shall be... NIGHT. Yes, night scenes and night time shots. Let there be night!!!

Kek Lok Si Temple

2010-01-11T22:57:00.003+08:00

As there aren't much of skyscapers in Penang as compared to KL, I'd decided to post some of photos taken from the reputedly largest buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, Kek Lok Si temple. With the abundance of gigantic concrete monastries, sculptures, and pray halls the Temple of Supreme Bliss is no doubt one of the symbolic landmarks of Penang.

Kuan Yin statue with the Octagon Pavilion under construction..Taken during Chinese New Year

The Pagoda of ten thousand Buddhas..also taken during CNY

The monumental Octagon Pavilion

Week 14: Concrete Jungle

2010-01-09T20:29:00.001+08:00

A rare view of KL city.. anyone to agree? And.. anyone to guess where i took this view from? Beside Han Wee.. Haha!

Ignore the pole. Haha!

Can trees co-exist within the concrete jungle?

In the end, concrete jungle is a place full of hectic lifestyle and stress.. that slowly entrapped us lost in time.

Smiles.

A jungle in the concrete

2010-01-09T17:08:00.001+08:00

The old Prison in KL is located just beside the hustle and bustle of Bukit Bintang area. This historical landmark consists of high concrete walls built since 1895.

The building has long since been evacuated and deserted, and the inmates relocated to a newer, tougher prison that is further away from town.

This old prison contains the largest piece of concrete jungle u can find in the whole Klang Valley area. ~~Back then the criminals were very artistic, once in a while they're led out of the prison to paint their masterpiece on the prison wall itself.~~ However due to higher land prices in Kuala Lumpur, this prison is going to be demolished and give way to newer commercial buildings, which is kinda sad, that we should lose a piece of history in our nation. ~~Guess that since Malacca and Penang are so nicely preserving the historical landmarks that they have no place to develop, we should destroy other landmarks elsewhere to compensate~~. Anyhow, here's my late post of the prison walls, the true concrete jungle.

A row of ''concrete jungle''

The weathered paintings, the weathered flag

Christmas Deco + Week 14

2010-01-02T00:25:00.001+08:00

I am pretty sure that everyone is busy in the end of the year and beginning of the year especially those that can take the break during the holiday seasons. I didn't manage to go out this few days except bringing my relatives around Kuching and helping out with my cousin's big day.

Do Christmas bell ringing at your door this year?

Our life is just like a merry-go-round.. after Christmas, it will be anticipated with another new year and life still go on with just our age increased obviously.

I will post more photos for the next week's task. I will announce this week's task to the theme: "Concrete Jungle". Thanks for the efforts and hope that more updates to see next week. Smiles.

Christmas Decorations 2009

2009-12-29T22:33:00.001+08:00

Christmas, a festival celebrated not only by Christians in Malaysia, but also by people from different races and religions across the nation. Every time when Christmas draws near, shopping districts are showered with an abundance of Christmas decorations. Below are some photos of Christmas decorations taken in Berjaya Timessquare, KL and also in Ikano Power Center at Damansara.

A snow shaped sticker on the window

A "portrait" of two snowmen

Shot of a snowman in the fake snow

Close up of a Christmas tree decorations

The Christmas themed seahorse

That's all from me for this week, hope everyone ends the year with a smile!

Random Red in Danga Bay + Week 13

2009-12-26T09:50:00.001+08:00

Previous weekends, I was away in JB thus I'll post a few random photos from Danga Bay that have connection with the task, RED.

It seems that Bugis and Danga Bay had something in common. Haha...

All the 3photos were taken by my compact camera, DSC-T10.

Now let's proceed to Week 13 task. Since it is the jolly seasons, this week's task is Christmas Decorations. All the best, team!

Random Reds

2009-12-25T22:22:00.004+08:00

Red Trishaws along the street of Bugis ...even the MPV is red

Fallen red petals

The crimson F1 Ferrari race car

Bloody Red

2009-12-23T00:18:00.002+08:00

Red, always represents the very basic element of life - the blood. It represents life, desire, instinct and ambition.

and without it, basically it means lifeless, or dead.

and red also represents violence, explosive, fire and caution.

Pretty scary post huh?? :P

Fiery Red

2009-12-22T22:29:00.002+08:00

Red, for someone, means fire, fierce, powerful as it will burn all the things up, even your emotion. However, red means festivals for me. Everytime when I saw a red thing, it reminds me of festive seasons, especially the time between December and February. Thats why I love red. (Another reason is red reminds me of Ang Pow [red packet], okok... I admit its the money inside that attracts me....) XD

Below are the compilation of my old and new photos from different camera, but all of them are the same theme = red.

Red zinc house which is common in villages around Malaysia.

Most of the mailbox are red in colour, including this.

Our nation flower, the Hibiscus, its red colour represents the courage and bravery of our people.

Red plant decoration taken in The Gardens, KL.

The Reds Around Us

2009-12-21T21:51:00.001+08:00

Red is a color often used by the Chinese society, as a color that indicates happiness, festivities, and appeared a lot during celebrations. To other cultures however, it often represents passion, aggression, and other less "soft" emotions.

During Chinese New Year even the least "chinese" society decorates the streets with reds decorations. Take this red lion corridor on the street of Bangkok, for example.

The old church at Malacca with its famous red colored walls, a color not often seen here for a church.

Red is common among the parrots, a wise and smart species. Oh, and they are from the order Psittaciformes :P

Week 12

2009-12-18T22:00:00.006+08:00

Week 12 theme is colour based. This week's task is RED.

Currently outstation. This is a scheduled post. Good job to the team for Week11 task. Keep it up the passion and spirit!

Moses Moments

Cloudy with a chance of sunlight

2009-12-18T12:26:00.003+08:00

Living in a tropical region with at least 300 days of sunlight, clouds are often perceived as a temporary shade on a hot sunny day. Driven and carried by the wind, these masses of fine water droplets constantly display everchanging shapes and sizes that filters the sunlight that nourishes the ground.

Threads of sunlight shining through the clouds

Storm clouds engulfing the evening sun at Mahsuri Mausoleum

Evening Clouds

2009-12-15T22:25:00.002+08:00

Whenever I study abroad in KL, the thing that I miss a lot is the evening skies of Kuching and starry nights. The photos that I shown in this post are taken within this two weeks period and no post-editing is done except putting my signature.

Golden clouds.. Waiting for the right timing of the late evening, I captured this moments.

Another angle. Both photos using 50mm.

I captured the following photos today using my Sigma 70-300mm that had autofocus problem but I can still use it manually.

Raging clouds of late evening.

On the other side, it is the clouds fully dense with heavy rain ready to pour down.

But behind the clouds, there are glimpse of lights, the sight of good weather tonight. A good metaphor to the night..

That's all I had for now. Smiles.

Sculpturing with lights
Moses Moments

Cloudy calmness

2009-12-15T22:05:00.002+08:00

Ever changing, ever flowing, clouds in the sky. Every cloud is unique, shaped and hued differently from one another, clouds are fascinating subjects to be photographed. If ever there is a time for a person to sit at a wide, quiet place, looking at the sky and staring at clouds flying across the vast horizon it will be one of the most peaceful moment that person will experience. Looking silently at the sky and various clouds is calming, if not soothing, to one's mind.

It doesn't take much to photograph the magnificence of the sky. A phone, a slim camera, or a DSLR, whatever it is, the every shifting clouds are always there ready to be captured. Without further ado, here is my photographs for the week. Cloudy it is, and cloudy indeed!

Clouds across a transparent roof

Clouds can feel so close above your head, when you are standing hundreds of feet above sea level.

Sunset on 30,000 feet above sea level casts vibrant colors across the horizon. The thin, shredding clouds are actually lower than the plane's height!

Cotton Candies

2009-12-15T18:41:00.003+08:00

For most people, clouds are like cotton candies, one of our childhood memories. Its ever-changing shapes makes it unpredictable. This week's theme also reminds me the funny part of the movie - storm warrior 2 which I watched last week. What the malay subtitle wrote for the 'Cloud' is 'ABANG PENJEJAK AWAN'!!! Really speechless after reading those subtitles. =.=

Below are some of the cloud pictures that I took by both my compact camera and dslr. C&C are welcomed. ^^

Clouds covering the hills around Ipoh.

Special texture of clouds with clean blue sky, taken at Penang.

Redang's sunrise. I love the colour of the clouds reflecting the sunlight of the rising sun.

'Jesus light' caused by the clouds. Taken on MRR2 while on my way for Storm Warrior 2 movie XD.

An isolated cloud which looks like a ....... caterpillar? Haha! Just love the blue sky and the white cloud in this photo.

Guang Zhou + Hai Nan

2009-12-14T18:55:00.004+08:00

Here are some photo I took in Guang Zhou and Hai Nan island. I fixed the ISO at 200 to avoid noise and to compensate that the camera made the shutter time pretty slow. So I kinda train how to hold a camera still XD

A random door in Guang Zhou (f/3.5, 1/15s)

A random alley in Guang Zhou (f/3.5, 1/50s)

Sunset at the NanHaiGuanYin Temple @ Hai Nan island (f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO-80, taken using sunset mode)

Grandpa's old house at Hai Nan island (f3.5, 1/200s)

Traffic jam at Guang Zhou (f3.5, 1/400s)

(f3.5, 1/200s)
The Five Goat Statue at Guang Zhou

Week 11

2009-12-13T01:32:00.001+08:00

Sitting at kopitiam for lunch with sifu, sifu pointed to the sky and say, "see.. see.. the clouds look like a cat." Well, sifu is my teacher in finance things. Haha.. But she share with me about the clouds and skies as we talk about nature and photography.

The clouds are temperamental.. it can be moody, can disappear (clear skies), it can be orange, red, purple instead of normal white or grey coloured. Every moments that you look upon the skies, will you start to play with your imagination? The clouds can resembled lots of things such as animal and nature. But every time you took the moment away, the clouds are different because clouds always changes and we never ever to catch the glimpse of the similar moment of the clouds again. I had started to observed clouds even at night, in the bright moonlight, we can see clouds too together with the stars.

This week's task is...

CLOUDS
I took the photo above using Sony DSC-T10 one and half a year ago during my hiking trip to Bukit Tabur with Simon and Teik Min. It was slightly dawn as the morning already broken when we at the first peak. I took this photo at the third peak while we are resting and having our breakfast. Haha!

Hope to see good inspiring photos for this week's theme. Let's give your best, team!

Imaginations
Moses Moments

Island Escape - Langkawi

2009-12-12T22:51:00.005+08:00

My apology for the late entry in this week's post as I'd just spent my entire week with my uncle and his family touring around Langkawi. Despite bringing back duty-free chocolates and liquor, I still managed to retrieve some nice images from most of the must go attractions of this island paradise...enjoy =)

Broadcast Towers at Gunung Raya the highest peak of Langkawi

The Kuah Town viewed from Gunung Raya

Crystal clear water embedding the pristine white sand at Pantai Cenang

Langkawi Cable Car

Telaga Tujuh Waterfall

Front entrance of Eagle Square at night

The huge eagle sculpture

The paddy field at Ulu Melaka

Tanjung Rhu

Air Hangat saltwater hot spring

Han Wee's View on Camera

2009-12-10T23:36:00.024+08:00

Nowadays an abundance of so called "photographers" took to the streets with their huge bulk of a DSLR in hands, shooting with whatever that appears within their sights without second thoughts. Many in the community believe, that "photography" is the equivalence of "big SLRs with big erections of a lens". Yet none of them realise a very very important point in photography, at least to me, I solely believe that a camera can only be as good as the photographer is.

In this case a camera, be it a point and shoot, a LC-A lomography camera, or a DSLR, serves only as the tool to deliver what the photographer sees and feels, and what the photographer intends to capture. There is never a camera too cheap, or too weak to be used, only a photographer who cannot brings the most out of the camera and adjust himself to make the camera performs to its maximum capacity. Capturing a photograph has never been easier, raise your camera, press the shutter release, and there you go. Selecting a best angle and opportunity, or waiting for the right moment to appear, is the part that is hardest to achieve in photography, and many photographers, correct me if I'm wrong, failed miserably in these. Even if they equip themselves with, say, a Canon 5D Mk II, they failed to be able to capture precious moments or beautifully composed angle of a subject.

Of course, it is not to say that having DSLR is pointless. It helps a lot in low light situations or when that extra power is needed. Yet depends on the need of the user, one may not need to get a SLR to do what one wants the camera to do. DSLR gives better colour? Certainly it is, yet advancement in technology has changed so much nowadays, that the new series of point and shoots produced are able to give photos so nice that they can beat most entry level DSLR at ISO1600, see Canon Powershot S90, Sony's new slim camera (TX-1, if not mistaken).

I myself shot a lot in bright daylight, outdoor, and sceneries. And currently what I capture doesn't require a gun as big as a SLR, yet. To compensate for low light or night scene, I usually resolve to use a tripod, and shooting over a longer exposure to get all the lights needed.

Taken at F4.5, 15 seconds, ISO200 with almost no light around

As my camera also comes with a build in ND filter, I tried it out during my trip to Ipoh last time round in broad daylight. The filter lowered the exposure, allowing creation of motion blurs in bright conditions.

Taken at F5.0, 1/60 seconds, ISO100 with ND Filter

In my opinion, it is more important to understand your own camera, and brings it to perform at its limit, and learn to look for angles and opportunities, rather than trying to have the biggest piece of machinery on the street. It doesn't matter if your camera is the most expensive one, the only thing that matter, is whether it suites your need. That's all for this week, and if my view seems too odd, please do not mind it too much :)

Old Railway Station

2009-12-10T01:02:00.004+08:00

Everytime I pass Pasar Seni LRT station to either KL Sentral or Bangsar LRT station, I will notice the old railway station just beside Pasar Seni. I went for a photo shooting with HW for that particular day that ended in rain cats and dogs. Haha.. I will only post 15photos that converted in black and white version. I hope that you guys will enjoy the photos.

That's my feeling right now

I seldom do selective black and white photography. ^^

One of my all time favourite photos taken by myself. =D

HW full of inspirations.. =P

Another favourite photo of mine. ^^

This photo is slightly blur but I still like it. =D

That's all I got for Week 10 post which is free topic. Hope that you like the photos and be inspired by the team's posts too.
Lens used: Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 and Sigma 70-300mm DG f3.5-5.6
I want Tokina 28-70mm f2.6-2.8!!!!!!!
Sculpturing with lights
Moses Moments

Indulgence

2009-12-07T19:13:00.002+08:00

Everyone must have at least one thing that they induldged to. For me, it will always be FOOD!! So I decided to post up photos about FOOD in this post. Hahahahahaha.........

White-coloured Wan Tan Mee at Bukit Mertajam Market.

Side dishes at Seo Gung, SS2.

Teok Bok Gi at Seo Gung, SS2.

Lastly, a picture from a place which peoples of my university should have know. With the best Malay Char Koay Teow in Kuala Lumpur.

Hope there will be more great foods that I can taste and share with others. ^^

Week 10

2009-12-05T22:36:00.004+08:00

Before I proceed to Week 10, I want share one more photo for last week's theme, "Symmetry". I didn't realise about this photo when I browse through my random shots. I decided to add a layer of vignette after learn two valuable methods from HW on applying layer of vignette using Photoshop. I never apply vignette before on my photo but applying vignette is one of the way to present our photography. Enjoy the photo.

Well balanced "circle" symmetry.

Good jobs to teammates that trying their best to update on last week's theme. This week's theme is a FREE topic week again. The Light Sculptors are running 4weeks of themes + 1 week of FREE topic. We might be lucky to see some photos from Guangzhou, China when Kae Vin is back from China trip during this FREE topic week. Kae Vin, please do post up the photos from Guangzhou when you're back? Haha...

All the best team!
Moses Moments

"Symmetry"

2009-12-04T12:17:00.002+08:00

Symmetries are all around us, found almost everywhere in our surroundings. And yet we often didn't notice the fact that they are there, or we simply won't point our camera towards them. They are too common that we often tend to ignore them. Raise your hands and you'll see that you have symmetry just on your hands, our palms are symmetrical! Look downwards and you'll discover that the trousers you're wearing and your feet are also symmetrical. They'll go unnoticed until we start to look into more details at our surroundings.

This is a steel frame besides a restaurant. Even though I didn't capture everything in it, the symmetry is still observable

Patterns on a white table showed symmetry as well

Tomato and Chilli sauce found in a restaurant

Bilateral Symmetry

2009-12-04T09:48:00.000+08:00

Wat Chalong of Phuket..please ignore the road lamp..Lol

What a Coincidence....A cactus resembling a cute doll

Another coincidence..mating butterflies..Well strictly speaking I shall refer this as pseudo-symmetry as they arent really splitting images but due to the limited choices in my collection, this is one of a few symmetrical photos that I have

Diamond shaped tiles which was taken from the floor of my living room...what shapes can u see from the pattern?

The Art of Symmetry

2009-12-03T20:43:00.002+08:00

It's been a quiet week in theLightSculptors but without any more further excuses or delay.. let's proceed to this task.

This photo was taken at UTAR, Setapak during a photo outing with HW a few days after our final exam of the final year final semester. This is the only photo edited in this post. I just altered slightly the levels using CS3. If you notice properly, it is not only the doors that are symmetry but the two trees beside the door handles are also symmetry. Unique?

This photo is unedited but just put a signature there. Leaves often fascinated me as they are identical to each other most of the time when they split into halves. I saw this well symmetrical spread of fern when walking down the hill of tea plantation in Sungai Palas, Cameron Highland. It amazed me and I just stop awhile and snap.

This photo is also unedited. I took this photo a day before my friends' wedding together with Kevin as we are planning something special because in every wedding, there will be special ring shots either with flowers and etc. It is Kevin's idea that we took the photo of the rings together with music instruments as both of friends are great musicians in our church. The shoot was fired using flash and it is my first time using flash for real photo shooting.

All the 3photos above are taken using 18-70mm f3.5-5.6. It is always inspiring when I can use a simple lens to take good photos until I ponder upon myself.. I dreaming of getting myself a full-frame dslr next year but am I qualified to use such advanced dslr with my skills? It is always the simple and humble tools that make us work extra hard for better photos. A food for your thoughts..

Sculpturing with lights
Moses Moments

Week 9

2009-11-28T11:53:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the late update of this week's assignment. I was quite busy with my designing works and assignments this week. Lots of concepts and ideas need to think of with my current work in marketing and advertising areas.. Haha.. I will soon will share about diffuser (external and build-in flash) especially d-i-y designs but yet to come out with design for compact camera (oh yes.. there are diffusers for compact camera's flash too) Haha..

Let's proceed on this week's assignment..

Week 9's theme!

is

"Symmetry"

I will post up a photo for easier understanding of this week's theme.

A photo taken using my Sony DSC-T10 but post edited using level adjustment in CS3. The Petronas twin towers served as symmetry to each other here although the angle inside the photo slightly make another tower look taller but I just want to post the photo for illustration purposes and understanding. Smiles.

p/s: Do anyone of you notice something special about the photo above? Haha..

Scupturing with lights
Moses Moments

Graceful fliers

2009-11-25T00:35:00.009+08:00

Insects. Wherever you are, there will be insects around you. Yet to spare the faint hearts of viewers, I decided to go for one of the most graceful insect in our life ~~because they are the only insect shots that I have~~ . The butterflies. For this I went to the Butterfly Park of Kuala Lumpur, located within walking distance from the huge KL Bird Park and Hibiscus Park at Taman Tasik Perdana. For starter, each camera is required to pay extra RM1 for entrance fee and tripods are charged accordingly. The park ~~which looks like an unattended backyard stuffed with flowers trees and some ponds~~ offers various species of butterflies, though capturing them is a pain. Here I will show a few shots taken at the butterfly park.

The majestic Malaysian icon, Rajah Brooke butterfly. Ignore the strange lighting, I got frustrated with
low shutter speed that I used flash :P

This is a I-don't-know-what species of butterfly, kinda common in Malaysia too.

A white colored butterfly looking for nectar on this flower.

Hardly notice it when I passed by due to its light color shielded by the grey rock behind.

Arthropods

2009-11-24T20:27:00.003+08:00

Most of the photos on insects was taken during my visit to Penang Butterfly Farm last Saturday. The farm is similar to the one in KL but Penang Butterfly Farm exhibits more variety of insects and animals like birds, reptiles and even horse shoe crabs...lol. Furthermore, the farm in Penang was well maintained as compared to the one in KL as there were unsightful weeds and bushes overwhelming the plants and the wings of many butterflies were damaged during my trip there with HanWee...But anyway enjoy the pics..=)

Butterfly

Long Horned Beetle

Dragonfly

Stick insect

It's a BUG life

2009-11-24T20:14:00.001+08:00

To my surprise, I had taken quite a number of insects' photos since my trip to FRIM till now. I am yet to improve on my macro shoot as the previous shoot mostly done using my Sigma 70-300mm (within 200mm-300mm had macro function) F3.5-5.6. Most of the photos appear to have slight noises as I am force to boost up my ISO to ISO 800-1600 and using smaller aperture.

Taking insects' photos in a forest or outdoor is a great task. Firstly, we need to be observant.. to look on each every leaf and monitor for movements. Secondly, we need a good macro lens (F2-F2.8) with an external flash. =D

My trip to FRIM (May 2009)

*An external flash fired might be helpful as the forest is dark and build-in flash produce unnatural and fake colours without diffuser.

Trip to Cameron (July 2009)

*Both photos are taken using normal kit lens, 18-70mm, with build-flash fired that mounted with d-i-y diffuser for the first photo.

My trip to Broga Hill (August 2009)

This photo also taken using 18-70mm and taken slightly before it started to rain. Haha.. During the trip, my friends are busy climbing and enjoying the scenery but I was hunting for grasshopper then I saw this "sharp-headed" grasshopper. =D

My house (October 2009)

This photo taken using my tripod to act as my "monopod" with external flash fired..

It is time to start saving and invest in a macro lens if I am considering to be serious in insects' photos hunting. =D Haha..

Thinking of Macro
Moses Moments

Week 8

2009-11-20T16:20:00.001+08:00

A quick update..

Week 8 Theme...

It is small small world.. It is a bug's life!
"INSECTS"

Happy "hunting" INSECTS! =D

It is a BUG's life
Moses Moments

the SUN

2009-11-19T00:25:00.000+08:00

I decided to post two photos from my past collections. I had posted before, the sunrise in Sg Lembing, in my blog so I won't repost some of the photos here in the Light Sculptors. Haha..

I captured this using my DSC-T10 (it wasn't mine anymore actually. Haha.. I had given it to my sis) during my trip to Penang Island. For this photo, I did bit of editing by increasing the shadows then desaturate it. The reason that I desaturate this photo, I want express the waiting of late evening by the two lady friends that sitting on a swing by the beach. Smiles.

I took this photo using A300 fit unto a tripod. No editing is done as I already love the original tones. The setback is I woke up early in the morning to see thick clouds blocking the part where the sunrise supposed to move up. But I still adjust the setting and fit my dslr unto the tripod and capture the moments. Photography required a great deal of patience and patience. =)

Hope that you had enjoyed this short post. =D Any suggestion for Week 8 theme?

Playing with lights
Moses Moments

On A Sunny Day~~~

2009-11-17T21:49:00.002+08:00

In this post, I shall portrait the photos of the sun in the morning, afternoon, evening....enjoy=)

Morning sun behind the crowds at Broga Hill.....

The sun shining through a tree in the afternoon

Pendaflour light against the evening sun

The sea painted in orange by the evening sun

I end this post with the photo of an eclipse(not a full one though) captured through a welding mask..=)

The Sun from Mt Kinabalu

2009-11-16T02:52:00.003+08:00

This was taken 2 years ago in year 2007. I was using Olympus C100 back then. The fastest shutter time it could go was 1/1000s and the smallest aperture could go up to F8.0.

If I don't remember wrongly I took this photo with these 2 settings of shutter time and aperture :P

Sunset from the middle of Mt Kinabalu

Sunrise at the peak of Mt Kinabalu

Sunlight, sunshine.

2009-11-15T21:35:00.005+08:00

The sun, magnificent ball of light hanging high in a portrait of blue. Sending down rays of light upon the world, creating the perfect lighting for all photographs. No matter which angle or at what time, the sun can be recorded in so many different appearances, that it serves as a fine subject to be captured by camera.

The sun hiding itself behind a curtain made of clouds

A midday shot of the sun through the tree

Sunset casting golden light over the sea

The sun going down towards the horizon at Tg. Sepat

The Origin of Light Spectrum...

2009-11-15T21:19:00.002+08:00

Usually I don't take photos of the sun too often as I am just using compact camera. the sun will spoil my sensor...

So what I can get is this photo, taken in front of one of many caves during my Ipoh trip recently.

Rainbow

2009-11-14T12:07:00.002+08:00

Sorry for being late in updating. I just came back from Hong Kong. XD

When I first saw the title rainbow, I thought it must be SEVEN colours in one photo. Manatau u all posted 7 photos! lol

Anyway these are the photos I took in Hong Kong

One of the MTR station :P

The Hong Kong night view from Avenue of Star

The Space Museum

and this one was the photo I took in 2005 XD

Week 7

2009-11-13T23:01:00.003+08:00

I was browsing through one of the photograph magazines that I had bought and thought of a suitable theme for this week's task. I share the idea with HW and we both agree that it is a good theme.

I was reading a small column on "What are expected to be the most photographed things of all time?" and the first on the list is.. The most photographed object is.. try to guess? Haha...

The SUN as in sunrise or sunset.. Haha.. I am sure that everyone love sunset or sunrise photos and had their photo collections of sunset or sunrise especially when they visit beach or hike a hill.

This week task is.. the SUN (do not post any photo of the SUN newspapers, alright? Haha.. )

I took this photo using my trusty Sony T10 during Kae Vin and friends' visit to the East. I just touch up the tones to create bit of shadows and silhouettes of three of them walking towards the sea.

Point to ponder upon, it remind me when Kae Vin once told me that Point and Shoot camera if can, try to avoid shooting directly to the sun because the colour quality of the photo produce by the camera will deteriorate or "run away" over time if keep shooting directly at the sun. I actually do not understand the reason but I just found out the reason few months ago. It is because the aperture setting in Point and Shoot camera is automated (not the same as dslr that controlled by users). When we point our camera towards something bright, the aperture will be automated into smaller aperture ("hole") then something darker, the aperture will be automated into bigger aperture. Thus, when we shoot subjects like trees and suddenly point and shoot the sun directly, we are forcing or stressed our Point and Shoot camera to work extra hard from changing bigger aperture to smaller aperture immediately. If the process is repeated frequently over time, the camera will lost its sensitivity in the automated aperture. In the case of semi pro or dslr cameras, we manually adjusted the aperture for shooting or the aperture is fixed. So, if anyone that want to use a Point and Shoot to shoot the sun directly especially when it is burning brightly.. use it wisely as the life span of the camera maybe shorten. If I am wrong about the info, please do correct me. Smiles.

Hope that the team will give their best in this week's assignments.

Sculpturing with lights
Moses Moments

The Spectrum by ClusT

2009-11-10T23:17:00.002+08:00

Red lanterns embracing the wishes and prayers from buddhists at Kek Lok Si Temple during CNY

Fibre optic decoration at Hard Rock Hotel Penang

Yellow flowers distiguishing themselves from the orange ones

Greenery in a cave bathing with sunlight from outside

Sea water reflecting the blue of the sky

A fluorescing jellyfish which appeared to be indigo in colour

Purple grape like flowers displaying itself under the morning sunlight

Colours of Light

2009-11-10T17:14:00.004+08:00

As we know lights made up of 7 different colours. These colours, whether noticed or ignored by us, are the most common colours which becomes the basic of our world. In this post, I will share these magnificent colours the light brought to us. Enjoy.

Red - Red House, Melacca

Yellow - Flood Meter at Gurney Drive (Unexpected guest at the background, hehe)

Pink - Bougainvillea, taken in Ipoh.

Green - A temple at Pulau Ketam. Weird eh?

Orange - G Hotel Logo, Gurney Drive.

Purple - Porridge with purple-coloured bowl, taken in Chowrasta Market, Penang.

Blue - The blue sky behind the thick cloud. There is always blue sky behind the clouds no matter how harsh the weather is.. So is our life...

Rojak. Mix all colors.

2009-11-10T00:55:00.003+08:00

The task of the week given was Rainbow.

To this I've decided to mix everything up, even going back to some nostalgic scenes back during the Final Year Project period of my biochemistry course. From living, thriving organisms to artificial objects, this is one rojak post filled with colors. (In case you don't know, "rojak" is a local delicacy with vast variety of contents...)

An example of "One grain of rice tastes twice as good"? Red and Orange sighted in this Chinese New Year decoration in a shopping mall.

Yellow flower at Taman Tasik Perdana, Kuala Lumpur

Tea leaves at Cameron Highland represent Green

Blue light emitted by bioluminescence bacteria. Brightness adjusted to show the agar plate more clearly in this photo.

If this can't be counted as Indigo, then count it as blue. Agar for microorganism growth.

Purple orchids

Count this as a cheat, whatever. All the colors needed should be found here among these balloons!!

"Colours of the Rainbow" in Nature (cheap-skate style)

2009-11-10T00:10:00.001+08:00

I guess this week's task really hard and tough.. Ok ok. Next week's task should be easy as eating ice kacang. Haha.. It is actually hard to combine 7colours together in a post with a certain theme. We can post cars with different colours.. etc.. etc.. Haha.. I decided to do the this week's task in Nature but in cheap-skate style. Haha..

I had fruits.. Red yummy sourly strawberries..

I had beautiful Toucan (Am I right with the spelling?) with amazing orangish beak.. Tat's bird..

I had beautiful yellowish weed.. from Broga. Haha... Although it is slightly golden and brownish in colour..

Chinese call this plant.. "step by step to success". May everyone's career and studies be successful! Haha.. the leaves arranged themselves in steps like staircases.

I got a blue "fish"! Haha.. That's why I mention earlier.. cheap-skate style. Haha.. Got fish somemore. Japanese culture..

Next...

Pink Panther!!! Ta lang.. Ta lang.. Haha.. Pinky Kancil.. You guys must be thinking that a girl drove this car but in fact a guy drove this pink Kancil. Haha!

Lastly... Lovely purple flowers from Cameron to sign off..

If you guys wondering about the colours, I just did a minor adjustments on the shadows and highlights tuning as I more biased to vibrant and sharp colours. Wink!

Hope that you guys enjoy this post.. Smiles.

Cheap-skated! =D
Moses Moments

Just thoughts

2009-11-06T01:58:00.002+08:00

Before i started anything.. I do agree with what my sifu told me, photography is personal and differ based on individuals.
Some photographers prefer their photos to slightly desaturated..
Some photographers prefer their photos to filled with vibrant coloured..
Some photographers love their photos to be overexposed..
Some photographers use the colour of lighting that they like instead white balanced everything..

It really depends on individuals..
Some thinks that only dslr can produce the great photos..
Some thinks that compact cameras are better than dslr..
Some worship full-frame dslr like "God".. Haha..
But in my opinion, photography is not really based 100% in term of quality and originality..
How about the feelings?
How about the compositions?
How about the angles?
How about tones?

Back to old times, photographers tend to wash their film after they took photos.. in order to produce the tones and quality of the photos, they used different levels and mixtures of chemicals.
Back to present times, photography had become something digital. So photography is just about going out for a photo shooting then after the outing, just keep or store the photos. How about the "digital darkroom"? How about presentations?

Presentations merely based on photographers' style.. either to be desaturated, just like that.. original, vibrant coloured and etc.. The overexposed clouds or skies against a beautiful garden.. that might be disappointing? Add a ND filter then you will get perfect blue and white skies with your garden shot but in the end, people will still ask you.. HDR? Photoshop? But to "poor" photographers that can't afford to buy a RM200-300 ND filter, photoshop is their solution. How ironically?

In my personal opinion, I have no rights to critic or judge other photographers' photos or styles. Why i say so? It is because it is their master piece that they decided to share and present the photos (although it may be overexposed, blur, underexposed or edited) because they like the photos and want to share with others. A friend of mine from Singapore, she asked me, "why you like this photo of mine? Do you know that it is taken by a lousy compact camera? And the photo is not clear?" when I clicked "like" at her photo in facebook. My simple reply is.. It simply because I think that the angle is great to me, the tones is nice and most importantly i like the feeling of the photo so I do not care whether the photos are taken using a dslr or a full of noise camera phone.

Photography is like a light sculptoring.. is like art.. just need bit of creativity, pieces of knowledges, drops of wisdom and the love of your heart for photography thus a great photo is born. It is actually isn't hard.. But however, you guys can disagree with me. Smiles. Since the definition of a great photo also vary on person to person. For me, feelings are the most important. Looking at Cloverpig's post for Week 5, he used a compact camera yet he touched his cousin's heart as his cousin remembered the good times that she had at the old house. Smiles.

Btw, almost 90% of top photographers in the world, edit and tone their photos.. Name one top photographers that do not edit or tone their photos? Sometimes, professionals also need to tone and edit a bit but not much for a better looking photo. Smiles.

After babbling so much, in the end, I still agree with my sifu.. photography is personal and differ based on individuals. Smiles.

Have a great day and do not forget Week 6 task! Haha..

Just thoughts,
Moses Moments

Cheating

2009-11-05T17:27:00.003+08:00

Sorry guys but i have really been a little bit busy to post up anything here. (plus the title odd one was really a challenge :P)

Since we are free to post up anything, i'll now introduce a bit on what i am good at.

Definitely not photography, it's photoshop! XD

Sometimes it's frustrating that a compact camera is so restricted and limited in a lot of ways (I believe I do not have to further elaborate on this :P)

So I have to know a little bit of photoshop to compensate the limitation of a compact!

Let me show you 4 boring photos that I took during the trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Photoshop can do wonders :)

Just burn the photo a little bit

Edit the photo into grayscale and leave the poor boy alone. :) Gaussian blur and screen the photo to hide the fact that this photo is a little bit overexposed :P

Blur the right place to give the photo some depth.

Play with the hue.

I know photoshop is a big nono to serious photographer but hey, I am only using a compact k? :P

Enjoy!

A hill called Broga

2009-11-05T14:10:00.005+08:00

5-am. 14th June 2009. A wet and cloudy morning to start off the journey towards the ever famous Broga Hill in Semenyih, Selangor with my classmates, including ClusT and Nomis of this blog. Located behind a vast palm oil plantation and not far from Nottingham University's Malaysia campus, this small grass of a hill had attracted photographers and hikers alike from all across the state for its somewhat amazing scenery that can hardly be found in Malaysia. Covered with a vivid color of green and yellow compared to the surrounding hills that have nothing but trees, it does stands out from the others.

Our knowledge of Broga Hill were limited back then to photos all on the web and blog, thus we didn't anticipate the lack of scenery on the first half of the journey. Barren, uninteresting, slippery and muddy, not even ONE blogger ever told about that and not even ONE photo showed this. A proof that photographers will only show what they expect you to see, and hide whatever that will ruin his composition. LOL! We stopped when we reached the second summit and decided to wait for sunrise there. The sun did appear, through thick clouds and strong mists.

Misty, isn't it?

And then came the most unexpected encounter for us. Crowds. You can almost describe them as swarm because, yes, all the hilltops were full of crowds. It became extremely hard to find a spot to set up your tripod, and every place you point your camera at, you will get at least a person in your viewfinder. Speaking of scenery huh.

This is one of the summit

I like this photo a lot despite the swaying of the grass in the wind. Only one small spot of the grass was focused while the rest got blurred.

That is another macro shot, the blue creature behind is Nomis

Another macro at Broga Hill

The grass that makes Broga Hill special

The light bouncing off the grasses that makes Broga Hill special

With the amount of crowds increasing by the hours, we decided to start our descend and went off for a nice rest back home. In terms of scenery, Broga Hill does provides one magnificent canvas for photographers to work on. Yet In terms of specialty, well, I've found the exact kind of grass back at my hometown, a whole field of them on a much deserted field that can create an almost similar effect during sunrise and sunset, if you don't mind walking through the bush and let drivers on the road to look at you with amusing face.

UniQuEly Singapore

2009-11-05T12:20:00.003+08:00

Since this weeks theme is free and easy so I shall post some photos from my partially free and not so easy trip to Singapore last September...lol

Marina Barrage at Marina Bay

Singapore Flyer the world's tallest Ferris Wheel..pardon me for the reflection of my camera..=.=

Ngee Ann City at Orchard Road

Newly opened ION mall at Orchard

The city at night..this shot was taken from Esplanande

Week 5 by Clove

2009-11-04T18:57:00.003+08:00

So.. since this week's topic can be anything, I decided to post some of the old and new candid photograph taken.

Candid photography, which I love best.... although I am still a beginner and I still can't get the feel I want in my photos.

In this post, the photos had undergone some minor tuning on the shadows, highlight part and the temperature (excluding the B&W photos). Hope that you all will like them.

Enjoy.

Some people are enjoying their life.

Others are old, but still fighting hard for money,although they will be happy when they saw the face of satisfaction of other people. ^^

We always miss out some nice scenery on the path of our life. So why don't just stop and look around if you are too tired. You will discover the unknown which you ignored day after day.

Pray hard. Not for myself but for my childrens and descendants. May them have a great life.

Reminiscing Tanjung Sepat

2009-11-03T12:56:00.003+08:00

Week 5 is a free and easy week cum the team can choose any theme or post anything about photography. They can blog about what is photography to them, what they had learned and etc.. anything about photography. Even film! Haha..

HW and CLusT went to Tanjung Sepat with their friends last weekends. Browsing through HW's photos, it reminiscing my memory as I went there before with my friends too.. a big group of friends from MCMC. Tanjung Sepat is my first day time photo outing as we went there for food, fun and fishing too! using fisherman's net. Haha! But I still not into photography.. I still searching for my own styles.. the compositions, the feelings and the natural lighting.. Looking back 6months ago, I had learn a lot and still have a lot to learn and improve in.. Photography knowledge is a never-ending learning process.

Reminiscing Tanjung Sepat.. I decided to post a few photos in Sepia mode. Something that I seldom do when presenting my photos in facebook, flickrs or my blog. In the process turning the photo into Sepia, I only use Picasa 3 to edit and tune before using CS3 Photoshop just to add the signature of Moses Moments. It always amazed me that Picasa 3 also can produce great results. All that we need in photography are little of creativity, bits of knowledge, drops of wisdom and lasty our heart. Smiles.

That's all I had for now.. Hope that you guys had enjoy this simple post. Smiles. I am looking for next week.. Week 6, The colours of the rainbow.

p/s: Do you guys interested in Sepia photography? But i still prefer and biased towards black and white photography. Smiles.

Simplicity of Sepia

Moses Moments

Street Photography & Week 5

2009-10-30T22:33:00.010+08:00

A month had passed in the Light Sculptors, the team had been putting up their best effort to accomplish weekly task. I am amazed with the team's effort and creativity for Week 4's theme, the ODD ones. Haha.. Keep the passion burning!

Street photography for this week's theme? Haha.. I just want to share with all of you a street photography organised by Canon in conjunction with the release of their Canon Powershot S90.

THE POWERSHOT S90 STREET PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE

The website had a link on street photography guide that I found useful especially for those that are new to street photography (like me) and want to improve their street photography (like me too).

Main Website: http://www.canon-asia.com/pss90/streetphotography.html

What is street photography?: http://www.canon-asia.com/pss90/streetphotography_07.html

10 Quick Street Photography Tips: http://www.canon-asia.com/pss90/streetphotography_07b.html

Any cameras can be used.. not only dslr but semi-pro and compact camera too. And even film! Excited?

Any streets of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.. but only limited 3 entries per person.

So what you guys are reading this and waiting??? Grab your camera and start go out seek your inspirations.. in the streets!

Ok.. let's get back to Week 5. Hmmm...

Week 5 will be a free-will week.. where the team is allow to showcase and post any photos of vacations, food and etc.. but there is a limit of maximum 15photos. Smiles. In the future, the Light Sculptors will go through 4weeks of tasks and a week of free-will posting to give the team a break to allow them to recharge for another 4weeks of tasks. Smiles. So good and relaxing.. Haha..

But..

But..

I will announce Week 6 task now too.. Shock and surprised? It is because Week 6 task need process of compiling and time consuming.. Week 6 task is..

"Colours of the Rainbow"

Let me get into more details.. It is not about shooting rainbows.. but the team need to present their post in 7photos. 7photos that each represented by one of the colours of the Rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Purple. This is a real challenge? A real deal? Haha! It is getting more creative with the task.. Haha! (p/s: Indigo can be replaced by Pink) Exciting 2weeks ahead.. I will repost Week 6 task next Friday as a reminder to the team before they start posting Week 6 task.

All the best! It is best advised to start your planning before shooting this time for Week 6 task.. Wink!

It's getting tougher!
Moses Moments

What are the Odds~~

2009-10-28T12:44:00.003+08:00

Well, this week's theme is about the odd ones so the first thing that came to my mind would be the images that were captured from objects and corners that don't usually caught much of our attention. However, once we're observant to our surroundings, there are sights that would eventually stand out and tell their own stories. The photos in this post was taken from beach, hill, and pond in which the existence of these objects weren't noticeable yet prominent at the same time..hope u guys would enjoy =P

This wood looks odd to me due to the fact that its drifting right in between the water surface and the bottom of the pond while collecting fallen leaves from trees above

Acorn barnacles on a rock at Batu Feringgi beach...some are empty(dead i suppose) and some are filled (thriving)

This was captured during my trip to Broga Hill with Han Wee and Simon(nomis) where i noticed this tiny little spider on its web waiting for its prey. This looks as if its hanging in the middle of the air

The Odd Ones

2009-10-27T16:03:00.004+08:00

The odds. Something strange. Something unique. Something special. Something that stands out from its surrounding that can turn your head. The odds. Something that is not even in number. Whatever it can be. Here's the odd things for the odd theme by me. Another post on this Odd Date on 27th.

A cute little duckling among a flock of chicks

What's that thing doing in the pool??

A withered tree beside a thriving one

A single red colored plastic chair among the other wood furniture

Normal Yet Special..

2009-10-27T13:57:00.003+08:00

Nothing to say for this post.... (psst... yo.. u... its u... tell u wat.. the topic is getting tougher all the time)...... XD

Just try to enjoy this 'odd' post ^^

Half piece of popiah between other whole piece popiah... (is this odd?)

Umbrella's. There are 2 odd things here, one is the short umbrella within the long ones, the other one is the shiny blue-coloured umbrella among those dark-coloured.

An orange shoe among blue and white shoes

A plant... growing on a stone?

uNiQuE Odd ones

2009-10-26T20:40:00.004+08:00

I started to think that this week's theme is the hardest so far among the previous tasks because the team will usually start updating with two or three posts by Monday's morning. Haha! I shall have the first honour to update the light sculptors for this week's task, "the ODD ones".

the ODD ones.. the special one? or the alienated one? Haha.. but how if i use the ODD ones to convey a message of hope?

I used my trusty compact camera, Sony DSC-T10, to snap this photo while i wandering around Sibu town during my last weekend's working trip to the town. Spot the ODD ones if you can! =P

Well, it is a bicycle among the "herd" of the motorcycles. Smiles.

The green parrot had been bullied by the red parrots gang. Haha! I snap this photo during one of my early photo shooting outings when I first got my dslr. I went to Bird Park with Han Wee and Teik Min (CLusT) for a day trip photo shooting.

This photo is snapped at flowers heaven, Cameron Highland. Well, it don't show any alienated different coloured flowers but it does show the ODD oneS. Haha! The hisbicus are uniquely with different colours that do not show harmonised result but an odd versatile result.

The next two photos are one of my favourite photos in my collections..

In the world of rusty things, there is a beautiful thing that still exist.. I took this photo during my day trip with my friends to Pulau Ketam. When I first saw the beautiful colourful "wind toy" among the rusty things, I knew that I must take this photo as I sense the feeling of hope and faith. Smiles.

The outstanding bright "shinny" green leaf among the dead leaves.. that reflected the morning ray that penetrate through the thick forest in FRIM, Kepong (KL). It is also one of my earliest photo outing with my friends but my last visit to FRIM. Hope that I had the chance to go in FRIM for photo shooting again. I sent this photo to try Petronas CCA 2009 (my first competitive photo competition entry) but didn't manage to win anything. Haha.. it is a good experience for me and I shall try harder for next year's CCA. This year's CCA photo exhibition and award ceremony will be held in Ikea this coming weekends.

Do you all feel inspired by the photos? I hope that you guys had enjoyed this post. Smiles.

Uniquely,

Moses Moments

Week 4

2009-10-23T22:42:00.001+08:00

It is the time to reveal the theme for Week 4. Feel excited? Haha.. Have all of you enjoy the Week 3 theme, Black & White Nature Photography? It is not an easy task but the team keep pouring out their best efforts and good jobs, team!

For this week's theme, let's try something different..

Something more abstracts..

Something with concepts..

This week's theme:
The ODD ones

A week will be given to the team and let's await for their photos. All the best!

(Taken from my recent post in my own blog as I just copy the html coding directly from my flickrs account)

During my first street photo outing in Kuching, Sarawak with my friends, I took this photo or art in the form of photography. A thousands of people might have passed through the streets in front of this buildings daily but do they ever notice the odd ones?

Most of the times, photographers will be aware and observant of their surrounding / environment where they are shooting. They will notice the details that people do not pay attention much to or notice. From the unique detail, they transformed it into abstract arts using their photography skills. Often after i captured a photo, a friend will exclaim, "eh, when did you took this photo? How come i never notice it?" It is truly that a photographer see something differently from others using not only their eyes to see but with their hearts.

A photographer's world,
Moses Moments

MONOCHROME - PEOPLE

2009-10-20T17:03:00.008+08:00

Hi guys, sorry for not contributing all these while. This is my first time posting up. Hope you all like it. Have been busy lately, and didn't really have much time to touch my computer at all. Since this week is black & white week, I would also like to share some photos that I've taken. I'm not particularly good at landscape, but I've been working with people most of the time.

Model shoot in Bukit Jalil Park

Trying out on CLS: Creative Lighting System (correct me if I am wrong)

EMO look trial 1: Trying to capture her emo look... =P

EMO look Trial 2: Guess I failed the attempt, no feel...... -_-

Close up 1.

Close up 2.

Most of the time I shoot more on wedding occasions and events. Here is one shot in original black and white directly from the camera...

YUUUUMMMMM SENG!!!

Black and White: The world of Nature

2009-10-20T15:15:00.002+08:00

What will happen to the world? If there is no colours.. No colours to paint the biodiversity of the nature. Will our world of nature will be beautiful and majestic with just black and white? The colourful flowers might ended up looking the same.. just black and white. Thus, this task, mentioned by Han Wee in his post, it is really a pain in the ass. Haha.. It is because it is quite challenging to remove the colours of the nature as some of the feelings might be lost during the process of taking photos in or converting photos into black and white.

As a photographer, I personally love black and white photography especially scenery and portraits but I seldom do black and white nature photography. It is a new challenge for me and the team for this week's task but looking at their post. They are doing well. Hehe.. I will post a total of 10photos for this task that edited using Photoshop CS3. There might have duplications of one or two photos as i will post up photos from FRIM and Broga Hills too. Let get things started...

Black & White Nature (Animal)

I took this photo during my recent visit to Semenggok Wildlife Centre with my friends. I love the intense feeling inside this photo of the baby orang utan cuddling strongly to its mother orang utan.

This photo is taken at Mini Zoo Kuantan during my Pahang trip. I am not sure the real name for this primate but i am sure that it desire for freedom instead of being caged at the park. Smiles.

Photo taken at Jong's Crocodile Farm, Kuching. This is the only photo in this post edited by Picasa 3 with blurry effect is cast to the surrounding to create more focus into its eye. Haha..

Black & White Nature (Broga Hills)

This photo reminded me of the bedtime storybook, The Withering Heights. It is unique as certain parts of the Broga Hills that full with the "lalang"s, the trees are withering.. and dying. Curious... Smiles.

This photo is taken and its quality quite poor as it is blur due to strong winds that keep blowing no matter how long i waited at the spot but i still love the feeling that created by the winds in producing this photo. Like i wait for the wind to stop, it seems an endless waiting..

Black & White (Fern)

Previously i posted this photo of fern in the Week 1 task, GREEN, with its colour of course. Haha.. I wonder how is the effect of converting the photo into black and white and the result is good and stunning to me. Smiles.

Black & White (FRIM)

This magnificent top view from the bottom had been posted by Kae Vin in his post for this week's assignment but I can't help myself to post because I actually decided on this photo last Friday after posting the task of the week. According to 360Degree by AirAsia, the magnificent sight of the view is created by the Pokok Kapur. Pokok Kapur are unique territorial trees. Why i said so? Its edges of the leaves from the branches will not touch other edges of the leaves from other Pokok Kapur thus creating this magnificent view. Smiles.

How about morning sunray that penetrate through the trees that shine upon the leaves in the bottom of the forest?

Black & White (Cameron Highland)

How about photo of flowers become monotoned? Haha..

White rose converted into black and white but however the contrast is not obvious but i love the purity of the white rose in this photo..

Lastly, i use the bright orange reddish rose (the one I used for the Light Sculptors' header) and convert it into black and white. I just love the result.. The colours of love in perfect pureness of black and white.

That's all.. All 10photos for this week's task, Black & White Nature Photography. Hope that you guys will enjoy the photos. Smiles.

In Love with Black & White,
Moses Moments

BMW? No, its B 'n' W....

2009-10-20T14:36:00.002+08:00

Greetings!! So this week is black and white week, I hope that all of you readers did not have a week full of only black and white.. ^^

Here are some of my photos, so sit back and enjoy!!

*p/s: I don't get lots of nice B&W photography, so these few photos are what I have got... sigh...

I don't know what these flowers are called... Its a common flower red in colour and kids love to suck out the nectar inside the flower. ^^

Chilli padi in black and white.. look not so 'spicy' rite?

Old photo taken @ Segenting, Batu Pahat.

Black and White: The Absolute Contrast

2009-10-18T23:26:00.006+08:00

Lalang at Bukit Lalang(Broga Hill)

Mangrove trees at Tanjung Rhu Langkawi

A butterfly resting on a bench

A worn out store at Lebuh Pantai Penang...this picture was captured at night so it kinda gave me a chill when I first looked at it...LOL=P

Monotoned

2009-10-18T23:09:00.002+08:00

Chemang Waterwall at Bentong, Pahang.

A troop of ants at Japanese Village, Bukit Tinggi

Anyone know where is this? The first one to get it right will be rewarded with.....some candy :P

The first photo I adjusted the Levels of it and then I reduced the saturation close to -90. So if you see closely there's still a wee bit of colour. As for the second photo, I adjusted the exposure and colorize the photo so that it looked brownish. The third photo I adjusted the saturation and levels and I duplicated a Gaussian-blurred one to soften the over-exposed light and it created some dreamy effect.

Peace out. :)

Nature Mono-toned

2009-10-18T16:52:00.006+08:00

Black and white photos are being used quite commonly in portraits and artistic shots, in which everything was reduced to a single color, while the lighting and contrast become the most important part of composing a good black and white.

I am using Adobe Photoshop CS2 for the editing of my photographs, due to the lack of "Black and White" function, I resolved to using the Channel Mixer function instead. While the results might not be sensational, they were (are) better than just desaturating the whole photo into a flat product. Selecting the photos from my collection had been a pain in the ass, as nice natural color photographs might become total failures in monotone mode, and after various trial-and-error testing of the photos, I've ended up with these photos.

A colorful butterfly in black and white

Water lily

Lone chrysanthemum at Genting Highland

And I'll end my post with a portrait shot.......

...of a duck!! :P

Black and White Editing Technique & Week 3

2009-10-16T01:00:00.000+08:00

A few of my friends had been asking me on the differences of the black and white taken by monochrome effect of our camera and the black and white that modify by photo editing software; how to produce not a flat result of black and white photos and what type of software that can be used. I decided to do a sharing on black and white photography that mainly about editing technique processes. I am not a professional photographer either photoshop editor but just a learning photographer and photoshop editor want to share with my humble 3cents knowledge on black and white photos. Hope that it is useful. Smiles.

1st question: The differences of the black and white taken by monochrome effect of our camera and the black and white that modify by photo editing software?
Actually, in my opinion, shooting in monochrome mode using our camera will give unsatisfactory black and white results. Why i will commented such as a way? The black and white photos edited and modified by software such as photoshop will mostly trigger its contrast, highlight, saturations and selected its best suited and filtered black and white mode for the photos. Few months back, I am very curious on black and white photography when i was given a black and white film by a photographer friend, Kevin. Thus, i prompted him a question. "What's make a good black and white photo?" as that time i eager to try out black and white photography. He simply replied me, "High saturation, the distinctive difference between the black and white but nothing beat photos produced from black and white film rolls even editing can't produce such effect." Thus, from that moments, i started to think of my life in black and white world.. to go really into black and white photography.

Question 2 and 3: How to produce not a flat result of black and white photos and what type of software that can be used?
I used two software for editing photos although i had four software for photo editing. Haha.. I used complicated photoshop CS3 and simple Picasa 3. I will show the processes using both software. (Sorry for the cropped part as I do not want to make it shrink to make it hard for viewing purpose)

I will use this photo that was taken during my previous trip to Pulau Ketam in August this year.

If we directly convert the photo into black and white photo using photoshop or any software without much editing, it will happen "flat" and dull just as being captured through monochrome mode of our camera.

It look dull and "flat"?

Photoshop: Black and white editing technique

Image > Adjustments > Exposure

Then, we adjust the gamma correction to make the darker parts of image look even darker in tones before adjusting the exposure to the parts of image brighter but the dark tones still exist. Note to remember, the dark tones are important to complement with the brighter tones.

Next, Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights

We can choose to skip this step as it played a minor role (in my opinion). We adjust the shadows to make the whole image slightly darker to make the brighter object look visible and adjust the highlights to make the whole image look brighter to make the background look less visible and less clear.

Then finally, Image > Adjustments > Black and White

It had selective filters for each of the main colours. By adjusting the tones of each either to make certain selected colours by appearing bright, normal and dark. It created the feeling or the look of the black and white photo that it do not appear normal or "flat" but seems "3D" with different tones of black and white colours. Smiles.

This is the additional step that i seldom used but useful. We might create a total old black and white photo feel by creating a tint (just click at the tint "square") then adjusting the colour and its saturations.

The end product. A "wow" satisfactory result? Some professional photographers even add noises to their editing to make their black and white photos even stunning and really similar to those black and white photos taken in the film era. Smiles.

Next, I am going to show the process using Picasa 3. Smiles. I used Tuning a lot in editing black and white photos to create a darker tones mixed with brighter tones and vibrant colours.

By altering Shadows first, the darker part of the image will become even darker and the image become slightly darker. But by balancing Shadows with Highlights, the whole image slight become brighter produced a striking dark and bright image.

Effects

We may sharpen the photo that just be tuned with the tones first and reduced or increase its saturation slightly before proceed to the final few steps.

We select Filtered Black and White instead of Black and White in the Effects.

Click on the square with rows of colours and a dopper will appear for us to choose the tones of black and white colours on the photo that we wanted. The effect similar as Black and White function in Photoshop but less sensitive and less filtration. Once satisfied, click ACCEPT then saved. Done!

The end product. Another "wow" satisfactory result? Although Picasa 3 is not as professional as Photoshop CS3, I am able to use simple tools of Picasa 3 to produce a "wow" result. So do not look down on simple tools. They do make photos look great too after editing. Smiles. Agree?

If you wanted something different, we can adjust the Colour Temperature in Tuning to make the photo look slightly old and faded. Smiles.

So how's the sharing? I hope that my knowledge of photo editing and black and white photography able to inspire all of you to have deeper meaning on black and white photography. I usually edit my black and white photos with my feelings. If any of you include the readers had suggestions on black and white photography, please do not hesistate to share with us and feedbacks. I am willing to learn from you and sharing everything. Smiles.

Week 3 had arrived and I will be annoucing this week's task earlier for few hours because I will be slightly busy as I will be travelling to Sibu for a working trip this Saturday (tomorrow). I did this sharing for a purpose..

Haha.. This week's theme is....

Black and White Nature Photography

It will be a challenging task this week as taking away the colours from the flowers and the dominant green colours. I wish you guys all the luck and all the best with this week's task! Everyone had done well in their Reflection's task and I am very proud of the team for their efforts. Keep up the good works! Good job! But most importantly.. Keep the passion burning!

Living in Black and White
Moses Moments

Reflection @ Clove

2009-10-14T02:30:00.003+08:00

Sometimes things can be different when we look at their reflection (sounds eerie, lol). For me, I can see the world from the other way round via reflection (don't ask me how because I also don't know.... =.=). In this post, there are mixtures of old and new photos and hope you all enjoy them. ^^

Reflection from a river at Kukup National Park

3 lonely sticks watching at their own reflection... taken at Segenting, Batu Pahat.

Reflection of sun via the sea... taken at Segenting, Batu Pahat.

Sunset at Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

OK! So I have done with the normal reflection photos, now for the creative + 'abnormal' reflection ones.....

Reflection of a house via the lense of camera...

Reflection of moon on the sea... taken at seaside near Batu Pahat.

Reflection of myself......... via TV.... haha...

Reflection may have show us the look which is also seen by others, but can we notice our inner self via reflection? Does it what we saw is true, or it just shows us wearing mask?

Thx for reading... ^^

Reflection: Reflectors

2009-10-13T16:01:00.001+08:00

Reflection is one of basic concepts of photography. Bloggers often take photos of themselves in the mirror of the toilets or anything that might reflect. Smiles. As a photographer and blogger-self, I often found myself amazed in reflections. From, a simple puddle of water after the rainy days to a man-made mirror that reflect almost everything..

As i walk around the house garden last Saturday, I try to take the reflection of part of my neighbourhood from the car's mirrors. The effect wasn't up to my satisfaction but i still like it. Haha..

The following photos are taken from my photo collections..

I had a wedding assignment previously to assist the official photographer for the day. I believe that almost every wedding photographer will capture the reflection of the bride from the mirror while doing her make-up. I feel that it is one of the common yet important photos to take during wedding.

I took this photo while waiting for my flight together with my mum at my dad's lab. I always wanted to capture the moments of the nurse, doctor or patient's relatives walking alone in the long hallway of hospital's corridor and its reflection on the shinny hospital floor. Smiles.

How about a spiderweb as a reflector? Unique.. I took this photo during my last visit to FRIM around May 2009 and it happen that i took the right angle and the spiderweb gave a rainbow effect from the reflection of the morning sunlight. It remains as one of my favourite photos all-time. Hope that all of you will enjoy this post. Haha.. Smiles.

Moses Moments

Reflection by KaeVin~

2009-10-12T22:01:00.004+08:00

Tasik Bera at Pahang

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap.

Perth City, reflection on Swan River

Only the perth one is uploaded from my pc. The other 2 I left the original file in the portable hard disk in KL (currently in Penang) and I took the address from my blog. So please pardon the picture size. Enjoy!

Reflection: Symbol of Tranquility

2009-10-12T12:05:00.007+08:00

The photos in this post display mainly on the reflection of sunlight, greenery and architectures on still and calm water surfaces. Hopefully these images would somehow carry the sense of serenity and peacefulness to viewers. Most of the images was captured from several locations in Langkawi except for the KLCC shot so hope you guys will enjoy. =)

One of the river banks of Telaga Tujuh Waterfall

The lake on Pulau Dayang Bunting (The Isle of the Pregnant Maiden)

Sunset at Tanjung Rhu

Sunset at Pantai Tengah

Reflection of the Petronas Twin Tower

Reflection: Playing with lights

2009-10-12T10:46:00.005+08:00

Reflection is everywhere. From windows to mirrors to water and clouds, be it synthetic or natural, reflection occurs all around us. More often than not, sunlight provides one of the best element for a brilliant reflection, and through the unexpectedness of when the sunlight will show, or how strong will the intensity of the light be, sunlight often plays a great role in creating an unexpected effect upon a photograph. All of these photos shown in this post utilized sunlight as the main light source, while elements of nature and architecture acted as the mirror for the reflected light. Note: It is important that your screen resolution must not be set less than 1024 x 768 to fully view the photos.

Sunlight reflecting off water surface

Dense clouds bathed in sunlight casting a hue of white and yellows

Petronas Twin Towers through a steel globe

A brief rain early in the morning created this mirror on the sidewalk