Photography part 4 : Entering the world of photography

Few of my friends i know who can draw pretty well eventually enter the world of photography, finally myself too. I guess it's pretty much because composing a picture by photography is way much easier than drawing.. hmm

After years of pushing my camera to limit, finally there is one day i was so inspired to get one after realizing that the amount of money will worth the investment, and was so obsessed with online camera reviews. With rounds of reviews and hands on to finally came up with a decision, i chose the canon 600d over 550d, 1000d, d3200 and d3100. Since i've used Canon all the while, i am sticking with canon =)

Canon 600d for RM 1.8k (July 2013)

I choose it because it is the cheapest DSLR with a tilty-flippy-screen, as described by Kai from DigitalRev, best for recording function ( which i believe i will do a lot recordings ) Canon 1000d and 550d is cheaper but 1000d is plastic-ky while 550d is a bit older. This DSLR came with 18-55mm IS2 lens, suprisingly it does creates bokeh effect easily compared to my previous cam, but something is still missing... yes the bokeh i always wanted!

Just within a week, after few research, found out canon has the cheapest 50mm lens, and got the 50mm f1.8 lens at the same shop, but diff branch for RM290. Thus, my DSLR is ready =D

A 50mm f1.8 attached in front

High speed action without boosting ISO to the max, only possible with f1.8 50mm 

Portrait Bokeh, but need to stand quite far

The key is timing! could be better if from another angle, and picture itself is enough to tell a story

As for now, i am still learning photography and hope to produce more memorable shots for time to come. As for me, my photography aim is still the same since the first time i enter, to capture all the moments in shots that could tell a better story and far more better than what they can remember, which is, the power of photos. 

When Life gives you lemons, other people just take it..

It was yet another day of work, chat with colleagues before a good bye, and head home for a rest. Upon stepping out of the office, hey, something wasn't right. It just a piece of empty land, funny, my heart suddenly felt emptiness too. Something is definitely missing.. oh. My ride home.

It was previously my father's car a decade ago, passed to my mom, and was left around the garage after both of them have their new cars. Since i decided to work in KL, shipping the car over here will be much cost saving and put old junk to good use. Gave the car a new coat of paint at spoiler, a new body part, some tune ups, servicing and new tint before it was shipped to KL.

Fresh out of the Container..

Sabah Car on KL road babe!

Touched down on KL and was so cool, looking at a Sabah car on KL land, its like really something others don't have! It brought me all the way from port klang to KL, four friends to Bentong up and over hills, countless trip to Setapak from Subang, new discoveries at Cheras, Ampang, friends around PJ and recently all the way to Kuala Selangor,.. it never let me down at all. It like my most trusted traveling partner. Just recently it started to have difficult in starting and brought if for servicing with a better than average package. Well, sadly, it ended there..

I had friend who lost his car and breakdown in front of me, thus i know how the cycle went. There is nothing you can do but to report police. I already foresee my car will be a target thus purchased a few high tech locks.. just that i didn't use it that morning. Telling myself there's no point to lose my self here, i just go back to my office and seek for help. My colleague drove me to do a report to the police at ss15 but it was supposedly made under Sunway. Luckily Ben is around later that night and brought me to Sunway. Jack was there too. Felt so bad that this is the 2nd time i find him for some bad news, of me. They are quite surprise why i don't seem to be so sad at first. Well, that was just the beginning.

I was quite calm at first, knowing that no point of being sad on what was loss. But no, eventually that's not easy.. thought i can just sleep it over to make things better. I hardly slept at all.. specially thought of how many things i did for the car.. 

Back at KK before leaving, changed its fender, caburator tuned up, painted few parts, changed rear tyres, balancing, have a full windows tint, changed a new receiver set with new speakers, went through all the trouble for name change and shipping. The car was equipped for all purpose needs, set of tools, spark plugs, brake fluid, extra bulbs, jumper cable, flash light, custom pedals, additional fog lamps, recently a set of first aid kit, 2 T-rex branded car lock.. and even my online ordered Om-Nom plushy is sitting there..that day was supposed to be runnin with colleagues, my full set of running attire, NB running shoes which brought me over 100km or distance, Adidas pants as bday present from my Buddies, a very nice Rexona Men's Challenge Vest and Smartphone arm band .. woosh. Not even a bit left. The more i list down what has been lost, the heavier my heart felt. There was times my tears rolled a little when thought about this...

Just a year ago i was hit by misfortune, dropped from bike and was hospitalized. Thought came to KL and everything is becoming better, thought that i can finally find life.. sadly, reality hits you hard on the face. Even my mom once again encumbered my already heavy heart, blaming it's all my fault for not fully lock the vehicle, "ji kei zhap sang" and better off go home for losing the car. Just words alone drags me down. I can't really she's wrong by saying like this, just that i believe people needed support in this moments, what's the point of dragging them down under?

Once again, fell back into the depth of misfortune.. I always acted to be positive and optimistic about things going around, supporting people along the way, hope to inspire and motivate people while bringing my self up. The truth is i am just being too pessimistic. When life gives you lemons, other people just took it away from you.

I really don't know what to expect anymore.

* Update 23-10-2013*
My mom received a letter from the police stating that my car was involved in accident. I really thought my car was found involved in an accident and was now at police custody due to unclear messages. Upon reporting to the police station, i was notified that my car was involved in a hit and run at Bandar Putri, klang , and the plate number was directed back to me.. i just went there to acknowledge that this accident have nothing to do with me since i reported it as lost last month.

Seems like the unfortunate events doesn't end yet, everytime they involved in something, i gotta report.

Photography part 3 : Lighting the way

Having stuck with the CANON SX 130 IS, i decided that the only way to make use of it is to add additional flash! With such desperate mind and very impressed with friend's bounced flash, and saw few deals at Ebay, got myself the first cheapo flash...

Like a camera with a buddy!
A lot people wondered how does it connect to my camera? well, it doesn't, the flash have a very sensitive light sensor which activates when detect a bright flash, and yes any flash including flash from camera you don't know, or even lighting, have to be careful with that.

First impressions are great, superb bright flash, totally illuminate the dark places where my camera can't reach, but well.. there is some limit with that, direct shot, not be able to diffuse or bounce (self made diffuser is total rubbish ) the flash is too direct. There's is no option to adjust flash power output, thus the only way to compensate is to manual adjust the camera

Very bright, works better compared to just internal flash.

As you can see, although everyone is well lit, something doesn't seem to be right here, the unnatural lighing

Thus bounce is required, in which flash is bounced to a wall and reflect back to the object, creating a "artificial light" . Being so desperate and saw another cheap Bounce, swivel and zoom flash, i bought it just a few days after the previous flash (the item not even arrive yet), although the reviews and my friend advice me not to get it.. well, desperate measures plus cheap. 

Looks like a parasite and started to look ugly, some kinda growth @@

First impression are wow! it can zoom, good for wide lens or tele photo (since u can focus the flash) which no ordinary flash have this feature..well, because that feature is totaly useless. The dials behind are just a way to measure f-stop and not to adjust flash power..  not worth to mention at all. Sometimes it does not detect the flash at all, anyway i try to configure it, it just cannot beat a normal flash. It gave up after some time, not even made if for a proper indoor testing.

And finally, after friends advice and testing, i get a similar flash from Jackie for around RM250, and it works like totally what i expected, way better than the 2 previous flash with way more flexibility. WIth a built in diffuser and external diffuser, that's all i need. But due to a standard flash, the size is big and looks very ugly when mounted. I once bring it mounted for a shot and caught few cameramen attention. But i guess it wasn't a good one thus from that moment onward i use one hand for the flash, one hand for the camera. Flexibility ++

As you can see.. the flash itself is bigger than the camera, it won't look good ><

Using it as external flash, no problems at all!

Everything is well lit, but somehow there's the limit for the clarity. the camera is not made to optimize with external flashes.

Photography part 2 : Born of a Digital Camera

Continued from previous post, from film camera to mobile digital camera, skipped something in between, the digital camera! 

After the xia xiang event, i am inspired to own a DSLR but due to cost...i never thought deeply about it, and went for the closest substitute, a fully manual control digital camera whom my sis own and was said to have similar functions of DSLR. Since she rarely use it, thus I borrowed from her and started to enter the world of digital photography!

It was the Canon powershot A570 is, with 7.2 mp (double my phone) fully manual control, runs on 2 AA batteries, 60fps video recording, have built in viewfinder, which was a very powerful camera for me that time!

It was around 2010 while the cam was released back at 2007.. meant i was 3 years lagging... But that didn't stop me from fully explore the capabilities, from taking long night exposure shots to still shots utilizing all the Av, Tv and manual settings!

Canon Powershot A620

Panning shot, utilizing medium shutter speed while panning with the car movement, giving the effect of a fast moving action.

Utilizing the macro focus to simulate a 'bokeh' effect. (only possible with tiny objects)

Those still frame shots are actually controlled by shutter speed, normal digital cams do not have this option, only sports mode. This picture also shows the low dynamic range of the camera, blowing out the sky in white. 

It had been my companion for running events, trips until my sis wanted it back for her trip. I am sure i have taken more pictures within that few months compared to the years it laid on my sister's hands!

For the short period, i finally did a part time job at Brussel's Beer Cafe and had some income. Just get to know there was PC fair at one working day and went there, planning on survey a camera.. and just can't resist a good offer, a one year old model having cash rebate of Rm200 compared to the new one, and even the same powershot series! Having the budget at that moment, i proceeded to own my first digital camera, the Powershot SX130 IS =)

Compared to the old powershot, functions are all the same, have higher ISO, bigger black body (silver and small sized made it seems noob LOL ) 12.1 mp count, 12x zoom (not a priority), and full HD video, but they removed the view finder! (to replace a self pop up flash )

CANON SX 130 IS

This picture could be the proudest pic for this camera, using a CHDK (canon hack development kit) special for canon Powershots, this picture is possible and i am pretty sure normal DSLR will not be able to make this awesome shot !

 Another work of CHDK too, extending the shutter speed until 32s to compose this shot in 16:9 setting.

It is possible to have bokeh with this cam, but target need to be quite some distance away and only possible at day time. ( Aperture will increase when zoom and camera shake is imminent )

The Canon Powershot Sx130 IS is all good at first, but photo shooting at low light conditions are just not good enough.. ISO at 800 will result in noise and flash is not powerful enough. Day light shooting had its own problems too, dynamic range is quite disappointing, in which background will be too bright while subject is too dark, resulting in a blow out if trying to get subject to be visible. It's always to either sacrifice object or background to compose a shot, rarely the color of the sky was able to be captured. Oh, and one more thing, during photo shoots of people, especially cos players, it will definitely being looked down thus reluctant to pose for a shot -.-  

This picture highlights the few issue, as you can see she don't even bother to look at the un-professional looking camera.. just kidding, caught this picture off moment =). But it did show the low light performance where the walking person blurred the picture, even the subject is slightly blurred due to motion. Almost for every shot i took, i need to held my breath to avoid hand shake @@ 

Well, choose subject or background? i choose subject of course!

This pic shows the flash problem, it could not reach every corner of the frame, even with highest flash power output, the center will be blown out. Only way is to use slow synchronous flash, which requires a quite slow shutter speed, might as well just don't use flash at all. 

Photography Part 1 : Image Capturing Device

Well.. not particularly the history of cameras, just those i was born with =)

It started off with a very humble one, which my mom owned, a Yashica film roll camera. It was typically a point and shoot camera. Insert battery, pull the film across, slide open the lens protector and you are good to go. It doesn't require any settings, light compensation, white balance or stuff, focus (focus-free), just aim with the viewfinder, press the button, ka-chak! and the film rolls. Is the picture good? wait until you finish 24 or 36 shots, and wait again for it to develop.

For quite some time, it was the only camera i used throughout, from snaps of me in playschool uniform until end of my secondary school.. almost 12 years of service before it's motor died out. (Digital camera was introduced at year 6 of the camera life) Never thought of any new camera that time as we don't seem to need it.

Yashica Film Camera (Similiar but not exactly the same)

Secondary School Project

Just after secondary school, finally i owned a digital camera, well sort of, its actually a phone VGA camera, sony ericsson K310i. With resolution boost up to 1280x960 pixel, in a 15mb phone, i thought it was enough to serve as camera and was so satisfied with it, until being exposed to a standard 2.0 mp camera with focus capabilities. VGA cams are just crappy cameras ><

SE K310i (right) But there are some "effects" only a crappy camera could take (left)

After a 1.5 year, I finally get to persuade my parents for a new phone, and 2.0mp is too mainstream.. not enough! I went for one the highest mp count for SE phones that period, the SE k810i with a 3.2mp camera, carl zeiss lens with a built in flash! A badass camera mobile phone for that time. Used it as main camera for almost a year and slowly get annoyed with grainy pictures ( which is called high noise ) and a very weak flash. It still served good enough as a 'emergency, compact and okay-good' camera until the buttons start to jam and taking pictures became harder than before

With flash on and Grainy picture (Left) SE k810i (right)

All the while i am just taking pictures just for the sake of putting that object into a form which i can look back later, something to preserve as memory, pose at some background and reminds you of the scene.

After Hui Xiang at 2010, i was finally exposed and get my hands on a DSLR camera. It was a Pentax dono which model with a 50mm lens so called potrait lens, and from that moment, my mindset towards taking picture changed.

I started to realize the power of photos. A well timed, composed shot could tell a better story and are far more better than what you can remember. A good photo itself tells the story to everyone, not just those who knew what had happened.

Like this picture below, you can probably tell what do the kid thought about us upon our visit. 

And this one.. someone seems to be working too hard eh?

Just like what Kai from DigitaRev said, a 50 mm lens just make everything else look better. Both of the photos above are taken by a 50mm lens which blurs the background giving a soft feel and focused on the subject.

A New Life?

Almost been a year since i Graduated... and almost a year since the worst day of my life. I've no one else to blame but myself ( Although the damaged road itself is the main cause ). I still remember that day clearly like it was just yesterday. While everyone one is out there enjoying, pursuing their career dreams, i was stuck there thinking of all the things i missed out.

Imagine, staring at the same thing everyday, with your leg plastered and unable to move. I had always wished it was just a bad dream since the moment i fell, but no, it is not. Clusters of questions just pop out like a bubble blowing machine- only that they don't pop. What will happen next? How do i get help? What will happen to my stuff? Should I call parents? What will happen to the bike? What will happen to me??? You can never escape what had happened, your only option is to face the reality and start solving the question one by one. 

Fast forward to month of May, I've finally able to keep to my early made decision, after several months of delay, to leave my previous Job and comfortable life behind, (since i started the job actually ) just to seek for a better Future and Life ahead. All i needed to do is buy the air ticket, and decision is made.

I really have to say, the moment i touched down KL, I've been surrounded with a lot of pressure, starting with how to travel to my sis place, how to spend a night, how to settle meal, how to job hunt .. the consequences of staying inside a comfort zone too long. I knew this is what i want, and no point of stressing myself but to think of ways to handle it.

Not sure if this is the right decision, but there is no right or wrong decisions sometimes, everything go back to how you shape the way forward.

For now, it had been a great opening for this chapter of life, found work, having the opportunity to have our very own first travel since our Xia Xiang group which was formed back at 2009, and met her again after all this years, i just can never ask for more!

Hoping for a better life just won't do, one should always start to make it happen!