Wedding in Kuantan

Wedding #2 Coffee Table Layout

Another special opportunity for me to learn, a wedding of my relative. Unpaid... of course, given the amatuerish pics i took. Anyway, i decided to make a quick debrief to myself.

Biggest mistakes:

• overuse of wide-angle, resulting in obvious distortions
• Constant underexposure resulted in obsessive noise during PP. May be due to underpowered flash though
• Lack of focus on capture of expressions and mood

Improvements over previous assignment:

• More accurate white balancing
• Better lighting for group shots

Personally i'd rate it a $250 job... compared to $150 for the previous wedding. When will my next wedding opportunity come?

Somebody kill me!

I burnt a hole in my pocket, splurging on the most advanced flash unit nikon has ever made: the SB-800. It's hell ex... at $520 (a new one costs $620) for a xenon tube people will think you are SIAO. Some time i will make my equipment pay for themselves.

I figured i will be shooting more events, and realised the weakness of the SB-600 after the previous wedding shoot. It just isn't powerful/accurate enough. I have to levels up almost every pic and ended up with a whole lot of noise. Hopefully the new flash will solve the problem.

The worst part of this purchase is... i want more stuff! I'm now awaiting the new 55-200mm VR, and eventually i should go for the tamron/tokina 16/17-50mm f2.8.... and eventually i will be begging on the streets with a sign that reads "will shoot for food"

Overseas wedding shoot

My second wedding shoot ever since i bought my d70. Taken in Kuantan, Malaysia, for my relative who isn't really particular about AD wedding pictures. I tried my best, but results aren't as good as i thought.

Biggest problem is lens changing. Taking my tokina out in the field for the first time, i sort of overused it and had much more "overview" shots compared to closeups. This is directly opposite to the first wedding shoot back in december. I also had a hard time anticipating when to change lens... i missed a lot of smiles and potentially nice portraits when my tokina was on. This is a major failing factor. (and that's why pros have 2 bodies)

Have to be thankful for the tokina though, as i couldn't possibly catch the grandeur of the wedding (held in a huge temple) without the wide FOV. I also managed to "widen up" the small room where the bride was making up, with the wide angle's optical characteristics. I'm not going to post those pics yet as i've yet to obtain permission.

To sum it all up, the shoot got all the necessary pictures, but nothing really spectacular.

A casual shot with the tokina at the beach:

A new member of the family

On the first day of Lunar New Year, there came a new addition to my lens lineup. It's called the tokina 12-24mm f/4. Weighed in at 570g, and setting me back by $720, it's the most expensive lens i've bought so far. (this gives you an idea how newbie i still am)

Haven't really tried it out yet, but 12mm isn't as wide as i thought. Could have gone with a sigma 10-20mm, but anyway... I post this entry without a photo, just to keep it alive.

I guess my first outing with the tokina should come this weekend, provided it doesn't rain. I should be roaming the CBD area for some HDR architecture shots. Watch this space.

Back from CT07

My first overseas exercise, a 16 day experience in Lopburi, Thailand. I regretted not bringing my d70... but come to think of it, i may not have the luxury of time to snap keepers. Anyway, my olympus c200z spoilt along the way. Here are the pics taken by the dying camera. None of them were keepers by pro standards, but they are precious memories to me.

Edit: Photos have been removed for security reasons.

manpAcker hits the streets again

I've not been snapping for weeks. Bad weather? Heavy commitments? I dunno... thought they were just excuses for the lack of motivation.

Enough of the crapping. Here's the stuff:

The above image is the favourite from this trip. What strikes me most is the blend of both ancient and modern architecture.

I was freaking reluctant to wake up as the morning was so cool and comfy. Eventually i took the first bus down to marina bay just in time to catch the sun rise.

Its nothing spectacular. I've always wanted to catch a sunrise that has rays of light streaking across the sky. Guess its just another unlucky morning.

Nonetheless, there were quite a no. of photogs at the merlion park. Some even slept overnight! That's wad i call hardcore.



Darn sian lately. If anyone's interested in going out for a snap, feel free to let me know. (kindof lame to put this here... given the low viewership. heck) Enjoy!

a Burst of Christmas lights

A very belated visit to orchard road, i missed most performances. Couldn't think of anything spectacular to snap, i tried playing around with long shutter speeds. By chance, i found this angle pleasing.

Nothing special... the same old Christmas tree sitting in ngee ann city.

Yes, it has been a really long time since i posted a photo. Very busy processing the pictures taken during Lt Ken's wedding, and hopefully he will allow me to share them online.

Be patient.