Badminton World Super Series Day-1

Here's another shoot taken at the BWF-BAM-Yonex-Sunrise-World Super Series Final held at Likas Badminton Sports Complex. Again I would like to thank the organizing commitee who entrusted us the opportunity to shoot for this event. I can't imagine myself shooting for such prestigous event before, but now its a reality. Man... what matters most is the experience to be shooting side to side with established photojournalist + being live in the real world of WORLD CLASS SPORT... Here are some of the pictures I LOVE to share with you. Just Remember that

1st. You can copy them for your own personal use, however publishing without consent is STRICTly prohibited.
2nd. Remember that these pictures are protected under the COPYRIGHT act.
3rd. If you feel like using the pics, do contact the photographer for permission.

Psst.... I'll try to upload and keep some short updates of the event. Do stay tune to http://www.friscod.com/
Enjoy

It's really tired being a sport photographer. When I look at how huge,big, heavy their lenses are, I was like.. PHEW! thats surely tiring... But everything is worth it. Doing+Working with the works that you love is no hesitation.. you do it coz its FUN... "there's no boring when there's fun"...

Badminton World Super Series- Sabah Masters Final 1

Here are some pics to share with you on my latest task to shoot for the Badminton World Super Series- Sabah Masters Final from 17th-21st December 2008. The event will take place at no other than Likas Badminton Sports Complex...The final will be on the 21st from 2pm-7pm. Cheapest ticket price will be RM105 for the finals. You can get the tickets from http://www.ticketpro.com.my/ or call Ticket Pro hotline at 6-012-8307193.

I will be photographying the event for the organizers. so meet you there....

Taufik Hidayat- World Top Players

Chris Edcock

Lim Khim Wah

Peter Gade

Danish players... or I should say Denmarkians... hehehe

Between Color & Monochrome?

I've been testing my wireless triger while having my vacation camp in one of the beaches of Sabah. I'm trying to master the SB900 in low light situations like sunset. It is pretty tricky to get a ballance of natural light and flash light. One of the best shot is this one. She's a good model ain't she? Well forget about her being a model, what I want to share is the dramatic scene captured. Without a flash, your subject could go dark, but with flash, your subject become more appealing. What more if its a sweet subject like her... Uhum-uhum..

***Color Photo***

Lets see about my theory. I purposedly posted two identical photo for you to judge which look better. I love the color of the first blueish photo, but the black and white isn't bad to in terms of bringing out the tones. I feel the dramatic feel of the monochrome conversion has much heavier impact than the color photo. I think its mainly because the distraction (which is the color in the photo) is cast away, and all you see is mono-tones, lines, and texture-shape. Thus,the brain translate the condition of the photo by interpreting the picture itself. argh, I better learn psychology to get a confirmation on this. I'm trying to relate how the brain percepts art in colors and monochrome... guess this could turn out to be a good thesis... hehehe.

***Black & White Conversion***

For a person who loves color and is untrained to discern the main particles in art, then a monochrome would be boring. For me, I love both. The colored photo has its own artistic side, so is the monochrome conversion. Do you think that the clouds are much intense in the monochrome photo? Do you see that the model/subject is more in contrast than the colored photo? I can see another beauty in Monochrome... and as I say, Monochrome and Color has its own... attraction

Another New Lens?

At last, My dslr is almost perfect. Perfect as for what? perfect as I got one of the near perfect lens to attach on the D700 body. As a wedding photojournalist, this is one of the vital items on my full frame body. So what was it? well...

One of the big issue with wide zoom range such as the Nikon 18-200mm is that it has some softness on the focussed subject at certain distance. I can't prove it here since I don't have the lens to test and make a review, but according to most reviews which you can easily find via google, wide zoom range has some tolerance in sharpness. Kenrockwell has one of the best review I ever read. His experience and reviews on most lens are worth reading and believing. I find my decision to choose certain lens and accesories are halfly influenced by this site. SO whenever you get across camera reviews by kenrockwell, dont simply ignore it.

So what lens? its the 24-70mm f/2.8 that cost about $1800. Man this is hugely expensive for me 5 years ago, but right now, when photography is most that matters, I could no longer tolerate with focussing accuracy and I need to get it right! This lens sure did ate my wallet away, but I'm going to get it back.

Performance? it matched very well, and is actually a must buy for full framers... You can't never get the best out of your full frame if you don't let it work along with the best equipments. Sharpness is admittedly damn darn great (by experience handling it for just 3 days). Low light shooting was also easy at ISO400-800 with no fear of shake. Focussing speed? fast enough to lock accurately under dim light.

Disadvantage? well ofcourse its the weight. It is almost twice heavier than my Pentax K10D with 18-55kit. And coupled with a D700 body with the MB-D10 batery grip, it really requires strong muscle for a 10 hour daily lift. I think I need to do more hand workouts later... phew!~

But aside from the weight, everything else was darn good. The weight itself was good for stabilizing the camera and thus reducing handshake. I counted blur takes was nearly less then 10% for shutter speed at 1/30. most of the time it went sharp. as expected.

Even so, I'm still lacking another lens. I need another "skodeng-zoom"(hehe) for distance shoot. There's sure limitation for a 24-70, but 70-200 will do the Job. When coupled with the least D300, it can reach the length of around 300mm in APS-C format sensor (mostly Nikon d90-d300). Another lens I need is an ultra wide angle zoom and a APS-C sized Nikon body. I think I'm going for D90 with Tokina's wide angle 11-16mm f/2.8 for its outstanding performance and perfect U-wide angle match.

Why D90? well, I can go wide with a cheaper quality lens Tokina 11-16mm and go long with a 70-200mm which will turn out to be a 105-300mm when used on D90... so its all... perfect I should say. I know I couldn't afford another expensive D700 or D3 (perhaps a year from now), but just wait... someday...

Javeniah & Donny's Wedding

I should have posted this first then the outdoor session. Here are the actual wedding + reception of both couple in Malangang,Kiulu - Tamparuli. Still equiped with two body- pentax K10D and Nikon Dxxx, a wide angle prime lens and a 50mm f/1.4 fixed lens, I got to get the moment well framed. All throughout the event, there were mostly singing and less music accompaniements. Very romantic and different indeed. (except for the marching in of the flower girls and ushers). The weather? was very hot! But overall, I like what is produced. So here are the result. Check it out.

Javeniah & Donny Wedding - Outdoor

I should have posted the indoor- event first to let you see their wedding event before the outdoor, however it was the outdoor that I edited first. The wedding was in Malangan Lama-Tamparuli. I am quite happy to work with this couple. They are very cooperative, kind and friendly. They are also cool and cooperative when asked to do certain pose. So here are the pictures.