I Was Announced DEAD!

Have you ever thought of checking how your name would turn out in Google Search? well when i have nothing to do, i will sometimes key in my name as a keyword search and see how many results would turn out in either Yahoo or Google search engine. Guess what i found?

An Indonesian News Publishing Website wrote that... i... was... i.... died .... fell... from a 25th floor.... gee.... so eerie to read, yet its very funny to know that there are others with the same name as mine... who... was a bit unlucky for his day... (click this to read the article yourself)

If you key in my name, surely there will be more than 2 result. Partly because i have been active on the net eversince i learned computers, and partly because i love the net... hehehhee... seems like it doesn't make a difference at all.

SO? try yourself and see how many keywords would turn out by your name... happy viewing...

The Mosque

it was 7am (or was it 9..), i was on my way back to Kota Marudu from Kota Kinabalu. I was pretty exhousted that day (i remember) with lots of business while its bright, remembering a client once requested me to edit her wedding film-negatives with a mosque as the background, i quickly remembered that i need a big mosque picture in my portfolio. So i stop by the roundabout in Likas and took my tripod, levelling cube and camera gear... lari2 crossing the road and took some shoot. So atlast i manage to took one nice shot, but unfortunately i forgot to click in RAW... aiyo.. sayangnya...

Dantai Sunset Scene Part 2

Here's my part 2 of the previous Dantai Scene shoots. The first picture is somehow not really up to what i expected to be, however i wish to share it with you. I know you could get something better than this,yeep.. its probably not my luck to be on a beautiful sunset this time. Here's a lower angle, taken with a slow shutter speed of less than 1 second/f1' using a tripod. so here you are... enjoy my humble shoots.

Dantai Sunset Scene Part 1

Presenting to you some of my best shoots of ocean view that i manage to snap this week. I was very-very busy the whole week (although it was holiday). I had to drive back and forth Kota Kinabalu - Kota Marudu and attend the Dantai Sabah Wide Adventist Youth Festival Camporee from thursday,friday, and taking clients wedding pictures saturday night then driving back to Tawau for 8 hours with less rest on sunday. Not counting the days i've been busy on Mon-Tues-Wed too.

The shoots bellow were taken at Dantai sea shore. Not a very great scene with fantastic evening sunset cast on the sky, yet it is still something i manage to take despite the BUSY-BUSY days. I admire Jollence shoots of sunset, knowing that to have it right, you need to be on the RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE, and RIGHT EQUIPMENTS. So enjoy the two humble pictures, and hope you wont miss Graham & Erniwee's Wedding Shoots posted previously too.... REGARDS!

Graham & Erniwee Wedding

A tale of a Dusun girl venturing in a Scotish world

A normal portrait for both.

Presenting to you some shoots of Graham & Erniwee's wedding on the 23rd of August. Graham was from Scotland & Erniwee is a local. Both are wonderful couple to work with. They providing great cooperation during their day and we really did work out something "better" here.

I like how the lights fall on her.

Here are some sample of lightly edited pictures of their wedding.Oh,and the wedding venue was at Promenade Hotel Kota Kinabalu. How they meet was something very-VERY interesting. They get acquainted with each other through FaceBook. Wow,so internet virtual friendship is no waste of time actually. I believe they are among the hundred others who got their lifemate through the electronic medium. what a story....

Princess Ernie marching down

A lovely smile...

A Top view of how the hair-do was done..

I am quite impressed with the professionalisme of the stylist master...

here are some portrait shoots after the make up. Mostly done in the room alone, creativity plays an important role in choosing what condition and resource is available at the moment.

A good portrait of the two...

Dear Graham & Erniwee, if you're viewing this from Scotland, wish you a Happy Wedding Day..!!

Nikon is INFLUENCING me!!!

Just now i was browsing to some pro-photographers site, to name it Louis Pang's site and i found this small article on a pro shifting from EOS system to NX a.k.a Nikon. I was quite amazed on the facts and experience shared by Preston Mack on why he shifted from a profesional CANON EOS user to a Nikonian.

As i browsed throuh every word he stated, i'm really influenced by perspective and experience while using the two new Nikon brands-D3 & D300. So what am i planing?

Well i think i will go for.... bla bla bla... not to announce yet, but this is in my imagination range.. not yet sure ofcourse, but i will keep an eye on the current release of the two.

Nikon 24-70 f2.8, Nikon 14-24mm F2.8(photo by http://dpreview.com/)

Nikon 70-200 VR 2.8 (http://dpreview.com/)

Nikon SB900 (http://dpreview.com)

Nikon D700 (photo by http://kenrockwell.com)

So now i really will invest in a fast lens eh? yes, i think i really need the F2.8 number on lenses to get a spectecular Bokeh on everyshoot. And i can feel nikon D700 is gona feed me with it...

Rumours of Canon 5D MK2

I've been keen towards updates by Canon recently (when deciding which camera to choose from). After browsing a while in the net, i found this bluff but quite reliable rumours about the gona-be announcing nu-Canon EOS 5Dmk2.

(picture courtesy of http://gizmodo.com/)

They say that some information had leaked into dpreview. Well,although i miss that information cause in seems like that information had been around since 10 march this year, i wouldn't bother about it much since what i'm really hoping is for canon to announced its camera officially in the nearest time.

The new pro-budget full frame by Canon is expected to have 15MP and other specs close to 1DsMK3 and 40D in terms of speed. Body wise, it has the same spec build of wheather sealing as the 1D. Others?

What i think will really be in great use for me is the

1st,High ISO CMOS noise control,

2nd, wheather sealings

3rd, Full Frame with 15mp (or as long as is within 14-16mp)

4th, Canon well acclaimed Sensor Quality.

5th, Integrated Cleaning system

6th, Shutter burst of more than 5bps

7th, Better live view option than the 40D.......... other specs will be an added advantage.

The expected price was announced to be around $3499 or somewhere around RM11,000..... Phew! but to think of the camera built and quality, i believe its worth an investment. For those who have been using EF-s Canon lenses eversince, you will have to set aside your lenses as this babe wont accept EF-s lens (as they say) like the Nikon D700, yet this is just what they expect and it hasn't been fully declared yet.

(Canon EF 28-300 f3.5-5.6 L IS USM, RM7995 avilable at http://shashinki.com/shop . Photo courtesy of Dpreview)

The cheapest reliable EF lens (EF is especially designed for Full Frame Canon Mount) is around RM3500 above (chech http://shashinki.com/). For an event photographer like myself, i think i will go for one wide angle and a tele zoom, perhaps the EF 70-200 f2.8 IS USM L lens. Or to be more convenient the EF28-300 f3.5- IS USM L Lens which cost somewhere around RM8000..

YET!!! its all about budget-budget and budget... i am working hard (i guess) to save RM20 000 for either a complete basic Nikon full frame system or perhaps a Canon system.

As stated in the last D700 review, i am still hoping for a great spec influence to help me choose which FF system to choose from. I believe both FullFrame system will give atleast 2-3 years of worthy usage just like how Canon 5D manage to withstand its title for 3 years.

All i can do now is hope-hope and pray....Will share my thoughts again later....

Shooting with my Compact Digital A540

How i started photography? I think i ever told this before. I was once just a point & shoot person, using old 35mm compact film camera, then just with Gods blessing, i owned my first digital camera which was the Canon Powershot A540.

I really explored a lot of skills with the M-manual, AV-shutter priority, Tv-Aperture priority settings. I only used green/auto function when i request others to shoot myself or wise i'll be using those three settings most of the time.

(shoot taken using my compact Canon A540 Powershot, i like the elegant feel of this photo)

Learning aperture,shutter and ISO and synchronising them is not an easy task. Its only by experiencing then you can only set it right. i started when i was 12, yet it wasn't a continuos one though. However i do come back at it sometimes to review the knowledge.

Lately someone came to me and told me that there are some who comment that my shoots before (with a compact) was better than now (with a DSLR). I agree with that. To think of that i was before a "no-purpose" who always shoot freely anything... but now i am much different where i use my skill for Commercial purposes.

(one of my best shot, taken with a Digital Compact Canon PowerShot A540)

Using a DSLR sometimes bother me a lot. Its so bulky,heavy and so inconvenient when taking certain shoots. (now im againts dslr). But when it comes to quality, DSLR is ofcourse the best option (aside from the crazy expensive digital back-Leaf,Hasselblad,bla3.....

I love taking travel photographs, recording places i have visit, most of my pictures will be posted at http://trekearth.com/members/tico_tic. But right now i have to put aside it first as i am doing less travelling and photographying people and places. But if you would like to see my photo's before i venture into the Wedding Photography Business, do spend some time to check this out...
(click to see my TRAVEL photos)

In regarding my friends comment, i have to say that i really have not much time to shoot outdoors and beautiful non-portrait shoots anymore, time really is constraining me. But worry not. I'll be outstation-outdoors throughout next week and perhaps... come back with some really good and beautiful shoots... I will... blink.... blink...blink...

Just wait for a shoot of the beautiful sunrise and sunset near the beach, and some macro closeups of the scene in the jungle... yea....

Eyeing on a Nikon D700

Man, i just feel my heart is beating more stronger as i think of the newly announced Nikon D700 few weeks ago. I was in my confusion and careful selection of which DSLR to choose from. my first intention was to spend on a full frame Canon 5D which should cost me somewhere around RM7k just for body only (actually less). But to consider its a 3 year (am i right) ago model, i must value things carefully since digital stuff really age faster.

(picture courtesy of http://dpreview.com/)

To look at the body built, it has the design of a Nikon D300, yet having a brain and eyes (IQ & Sensor) of a Nikon D3. Talking about quality, i am sure it has almost near proximity of a D3 quality yet not as cool as it. Perhaps slightly lower especially in noise control.

The Nikon D700 is surely a pro-budget camera for those unable to afford a D3. The current lowest price i can find in the net is RM8999 for body only and you can find it at http://shashinki.com/. Lens for a full frame format or "FX" would cost you at least RM5000 each. and thats the minimum. D700 like the D3 accepts a "DX" format which is normally for the D300,D80,D60 DSLR but that will require your image to be croped on a full fram sensor which will leave you in around 5mp only. Which means if you are using a DX format lens from the begining, you are still able to use it on a D700 & D3 but with less quality in Pixel number... still... a disadvantage....

But for professionals who have been using D3 for their assignments, perhaps wedding photographers who have a wide range of lens option. The D700 is surely a big value for a secondary/backup camera for their D3. Or perhaps make it to do the Wide Angle job while the other one handles the telephoto works.... really convenient.

Lenses? wow, nikon really has expensive FX lens and i really am gonna think about shifting to a Full Frame Nikonian.. perhaps one day i guess.. but if i do, i surely will share my joys with you...

Tob & Pat's Edited Pictures

I know i am not a pro-CS3 user. As an amateur Photoshop user, i know i need a lot of testing, try and erorrrrr here and there before achieving the best result. But still nothing is perfet right?

Well, this is some samples of pictures which i edited and share it with you togather with the original shot. As you can see, the left picture is the original one and the right is the edited one. I adjusted contrast, brightness , soften the couples face and sharpen the brides gowns details. Not a really easy job but with photoshop, it can be done carefully and safely.

Here is another sample of the editings that i made. This time is during the dinnes session where i purposedly invited the couple to go to the back of the hall do some last photo shots since everyone is going home. I don't really like the black lines so i cloned the dark orange color of the wall upon the black lines. Still the result wasn't that outstanding so i added some blurr effect and did slight croping of the pictures.

This is another same spot where the same editing technique was applied... Not bad enough althout if you take carefull look and the pictures details, you will notice some defect.. i purposedly didn't care about it... mind if you can tell me which part?

Here's the last picture which i really did a lot of "PP editing" or Post Production editing. First of all, i played with layers, bringing the background in monotone. THen i blurred the background and soften the couples eyes. And like always, enhance the sharpness of the eyes, and teeth AND cropped the original picture to 8x10inch print because they requested their picture to be framed and printed. Huh... i really spent a lot of time for this one... because its going to be print big enough... and hang somewhere only the both of them knows....

So you see, wedding photographers always use final editing technique for their best production. Its not easy to get the perfect shoot in every event. Some effect can only be achieved using PP works.

I've been using Adobe Photoshop since its 6th edition for my art project. My first encounter was to do "super impose" technique which i choosed the theme "siput babi" or some call as Garden Snail. The word SIPUT in Malay means SNAIL and BABI means PIG. So you can just imagine how a pick a cute pig and superimposed it with a snail... very cute! i should have shown you .. (psst... my artwork got praises from the evaluaters, one of them even asked me a copy of my work printed and framed for her... hahahhaha).....

Tobbie & Patricia Wedding in Tawau

Happy Wedding day to my friend, (or should i say my uncle?). Like i said at my previous posting, i was called during the last two days before the wedding and he was lucky that i was free that time. I really didn't expect that it would be that fast. It took me a few moments to believe that their preparation was only 1 week, yet with the help of family members, the wedding was a succes.

To all my friends and whoever who knows this Man, please believe that the person in this picture is really-really him. hehehehe.....

Here are some humble shoots of mine for you to share. Its really been my pleasure working with them. Enjoy....

One of the sweet smiles given by this cutey flower girls...

Another cute lil girl with her beautiful lovely eyes. Just love to see them here...

Its MR Cool behind wathcing at you!!!

Eiyee.. didn't you read the sign? no touching the flowers....

Enough with the poses and portraits of the two couples during the day session. They had dinner with invited guest during the night. It really is my pleasure to be able to photograph and eat... nyum2... i like to try different types of cooking style from different restaurant, so that i can plan mine in the future (twink~)

You might wonder why the girl is wearing something not so costumed to the traditions of the locals of Sabah. Well the bride is actually a mix of Dusun and Teroja ethnic, two diferent but really unique culture. After doing a bit of light research on the brides background, i found out that the woman is a mix Dusun and Teroja while the groom is pure Dusun. As you can notice in the picture, both of them wears different ethnic attire, something really interesting. if you want to know more about the Teroja culture, you might find this link interesting ("TEROJA_WIKIPEDIA") .

Shooting in such insufficient light is really difficult. As my DSLR at the moment is not the ISO-Boosted CMOS sensor, i really had to shoot with great concern on technique and skills. That is where mind work really suffers in thinking the right exposure at the right time.

I don't dare to say the result bellow are the best. Sometimes the term "photography is not about the camera, its about the owner of the camera" doesn't apply here. Sometimes your camera really does matter when its UP TO ITS USAGE LIMIT... Thats why sometimes when you try to push it to the limit, your camera really matters....

Anyway, do enjoy my posting...

I saw your reflection... and it matters....

I dont think its chinese new year yet... but i like the lantern.....

I guess this is one of the Teroja Culture dance....

I like the moving effect of the girl... oh,by the way her name is Pauline...

I think he got impressed with the girls voice bellow... its really sweet... Oh, By the way the girl singing bellow is the bride's sister... she really has a lovely voice....

shoo