What would my world be without you?

a NEED, not a WANT.

Ice Age

"Erm, we'd need to take photos of your product" is equivalent to "Serve me one of those for free!"

The power of the SPH identity pass. click on for more ->

We said the above to 4 different shop owners selling 雪花冰, and they happily complied (who could resist free advertising). The problem is, it's ice. 10 bowls full of ice. All in a day's work. 8 hours to be precise. Must have broken some record.

Despite the variety flavours, all of them are cold. Empty stomachs don't like cold food. But out of politeness (and maybe greed), we (3 of us) still managed to stuff all the desserts down our throats. The last 2 bowls were especially huge, and despite being very tasty, we had a hard time finishing it. I wonder what other customers might be thinking, seeing the 3 of us dying in front of tasty (and expensive) food. Siao.

No more 雪花冰 for the next few months

Beauty and the Beast

Shit I'm getting very vain. Only bo liao or haolian photogs would shoot pictures of their own equipment. A search on flickr would throw up lots of pictures of fully loaded backpacks with sweet bodies/lenses spread all over the frame, and drawing silly comments on how cool their equipment is. I despise them. Now I *almost* despise myself.

The AIS lenses just seemed to have a different coating, and the reflections from the elements look wonderfully multi-coloured. Of course I couldn't help but mount it on my new baby and yes, it was shot using the d70 - still alive and kicking.

This is the closest thing to crazy i've ever did

It's nauseating to hand over large stacks of cash. Almost fainted when I saw my bank balance after the purchase. Felt real sick. It's buyer's remorse at the max. This baby had BETTER be REAL GOOD.

Else this shall be one of my last posts...

Goodbye to you my beloved

Dear Kit lens,

Being my first lens, you are very special and lucky. You accompanied me on many occasions, and even shot a wedding all by yourself back in 2006. Your versatile zoom range and light weight made you the choice lens for "one-lens" walkabouts. Your IR capability also opened up a new realm of photographic opportunities, enabling the creation of some extraordinary photographs. You took the most holiday, landscape, walkabout and huixun photos to date.

Unfortunately, you took the most abuse as well. Your over ambitious owner wanted to create professional results from amateur equipment, and subjected you to a professional level of torture. I often had no time properly settle you in the bag, not to mention putting on your cap. You had to brave sand and rain, conditions that were challenging even for your better built counterparts. Eventually, you fell ill with a stuck zoom. The lens doctor say you have a screw lose, and I had to pay for your medical bill. You were also said to have a weak motor, and is not fit for heavy duty anymore.

I'm sorry I had to sell you away. Blame me for being heartless, or even cruel, but I was afraid you could not take the stress and might just break down one day. I am also greedy, hoping to find a sharper, faster lens for my PJ work. I put my job ahead of your welfare. I apologize.

Hopefully, your new owner will not torture you so much, and you would have a better life ahead. During the 17 months under my ownership, you have given me an amazing collection of pictures that I will treasure for ever. I will miss you.

Your step-owner,
manpacker

One for the family

Panasonic TZ-3, 1 torchlight, 20 sec exposure

No one in the family wants to use my d70. I decided to recommend this cam instead. Easy to use, with a super versatile 28-280mm lens and true 16:9 aspect ratio, it is very fun to shoot with. But image quality.... is quite a disappointment. One must really understand the behavior of the camera in order to bring out its true potential.

I'm exploring the techniques of light painting. It is free (provided you own a camera and torch light), and fun.

Wife pastry

Find me a wife as sweet as this...

I'm so glad I'm finally getting better in lighting up food. Many people use window/natural light for such shots, but I had to resort to artificial lighting given the cloudy/rainy weather these days. My tripod isn't serviceable enough for long exposures as well.

This shot is a combination of 3 great "projects" i made recently. The first being the umbrella system, which consist of a cheap $2 umbrella i've been using all the while (without noticing the silver interior till a few weeks ago, shame...), mounted to my dying tripod using cable ties (talk about DIY). Shadows casted were very close to natural light, given its super large surface area in relative to the subject.

The second is my light tent, made from toys and tissue. Cost me nothing. Delivers studio-quality light.

Third is my soft box, a 4.5 x 6.5 inch contraption made from mooncake box packagings (yes, including the translucent grease proof paper). Doesn't make a difference for portraits, but a hell lot of improvement for food sized stuff.

Here's the final setup:

Anyone wanna sell stuff online?

Clearing off before my long awaited ORD date, I find myself with lots of free time for some handicraft. I've always wanted to try a little product shoot, taking pictures of little things around the house. The best way to achieve even lighting would be a light tent. One can either buy a ready made one, or if you are game enough, DIY one. It costs me nothing for this light tent, maybe just 2 hrs of construction. (i admit i made use of old toy sets, so i'm not exactly starting from scratch)

I'm currently obsessed with snapping stuff around me. Will be trying some creative lighting effects too. So anyone wants to sell items online can look for me to put ur stuff in the best light =)

My camera is hungry

But i'm a noob at food photography. This picture doesn't do my mum's cakes justice. My next project: a light tent for food/product shots. Who wants to sell stuff on ebay?

The stuff dreams are made of...

When I bought the tokina back in February, I'd never have thought of another big ticket purchase for the rest of the year. However, life is unpredictable... or should I say my lust is uncontrollable. This is "hopefully" the final addition to my arsenal.

Every photojournalist has 3 main lens - known as the trinity. For Nikon FX format, they are: 17-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm VR. They are the bread and butter of any working pro, and cover 99% of the situations. Previously, I only had 12-24mm (~18-36) and 18-70mm (~28-105). What's more, they are all significantly slower at f4 or f4.5. I had to resort to the MF AIS 80-200mm f/4 for any range shooting/portraits. This is a serious handicap. I needed a tele zoom desperately.

To make matters worse, my uncle whom is getting married in Nov has requested me to shoot his wedding. My evaluation of previous assignments revealed that I had been seriously lacking close-up expression shots, which only a tele could provide. I initially thought of renting a pro lens (80-200mm f/2.8) just for the occasion. It costs $30 a day... which would add up to $180 for the assignment (including some overseas shoot). Not really worth if you ask me.

Buying a tele would be a better solution. My choice was between 55-200mm VR, 70-300mm VR, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 and nikon 80-200mm f/2.8. I almost purchased the 55-200, as it is the ideal travel zoom for amateurs, being light and pretty sharp with VR. However, being slow at f/5.6, I was afraid i couldn't get any sharp action without resorting to pumping ISO. Ditto the 70-300. This leaves the sigma and the nikon. Sigma is cheaper, and supposedly faster focusing. If i get a sharp copy, it would be well worth. But being 3rd party, there might be compatibility issues. It also doesn't hold its value as well.

I began trolling the net for any good bargains of used sigma/nikon, when this deal struck me. This baby costs only $1000! A new one retails for 1.6k... which means I could probably buy and sell and still make money! It's insane! Condition wise, there are a couple of user marks, but purely cosmetic. Optics are excellent... sharp as a tack. Focusing was surprisingly fast and accurate for a motor drive lens. In case you are wondering, this lens is easily as fast as the kit 18-70mm.

This is the first pro-caliber lens I own. Made of aluminum alloy (maybe stainless steel?), it is solid and heavy at 1.3kg. It would probably take some time to get used to the weight, but hey, i'm still young! In case you're still unclear, this is the legendary Nikkor AFD 80-200mm F2.8 ED. Hehehe.

MAF food

I decided to mark my mid autumn festival with a food shot of the signature delicacy - Moocakes. The setup was lame... I had no square white plates in the kitchen, so i used tissue paper instead. Absorbs oil from the mooncake too... and disposable as well.

Let there be lights!

This might well be a revolution in my photographic life. First, the "discovery" of the SU-400 remote flash mode hidden withing my SB800. I now have 2 lights, the first being on camera, and a second, the flash. This allows me to side/back light me subject, with the on camera for fill. However, the built in flash is still very much restricted as it is.. well.. built in. Direction is still flat

And then, after digging out my old Emoblitz 328, I guess I hit the gold. This little $50 gadget has a built in slave trigger, allowing it to be triggered remotely! Now i can have lights on different axis of the subject, creating eye popping imagery I'd never dream before. One catch though: The emoblitz has no manual mode. I gaffer the thyristor to let it fire at full power, varying only the distance to subject.

The only things I lack now are hands. I'd probably go hunt down for cheap light stands and umbrellas.