A Yellow Night

At night when exposure is a #$%^#$%^, to me, it is the best time to capture the color, yellow.

Here are two that I find somewhat acceptable... Super fail in terms of skill, that I needed quite abit of photoshop to save... Really need to up my skill. Any more skilled photographers can help teach me?! /sighz...




























I like the perspective of these two. Simple.

Botanical Garden's Trip

A few pictures that I took at the botanical gardens. Seems like only 1 fit my theme...

A dying flower, at the peak of its colors... Natural Color Saturation...

I like this shot for its myriad of colors. I've got slight hints of blue, black, brown, green, white, and yellow... Quite a mouthful, but all nicely stacked in (or seems to me, anyway).

This, to me is a heartwarming shot. A mother and her child, sitting out and enjoying the beauty of nature.













I like these two shots mainly because it gave me the feeling of looking at someone in love. The happiness of knowing where you belong. From my perspective of taking the photo, it almost seems like I'm the loving father looking at my wife and child. Hahaha...

Themed Shots

Its a few hours before I go out shooting, just thought I might post something on.

Themes. Often the restricting factor for most people. It doesn't really matter if you're doing music, design, or photography, people dislike doing themes, and more often than not decide on the theme only after the whole event.

Some events don't allow them to do that, and thus they find it restricting.

Quoting from my cousin "Find A Theme before Anything Else!". Now I firmly believe in those words. I don't find themes particularly restricting. Sure, I can be only shooting a particular theme, such as sunlight, but if I see a great family shot, I'll still take it. Themes, in my opinion, creates direction, and forms a certain level of focus. To me, its like an insurance policy that, even if I do mess up a trip, I'll have most of my photos themed at something, and with some wacky photoshop-ing (photographers are gonna hate me for destroying the shot), interesting things (such as a usable wallpaper, or a MSN display picture) may very well come out of it.

Not to mention, when you take an awesome shot outside of your theme, and its a shot that just hit you in the face, isn't the story so much more inspiring to tell...? ^.^

Oh by the way, going to the Botanical Gardens after school today to practice. Haven't really thought of a theme as I'm typing this... but I think I might just stick with... Red.

Hahaha.... We'll see how that turns out...

LensPen

Now, one of the greatest worry of any photographer with DSLRs, or basically anyone who cares much about their lens equipment, worry about the cleaning and maintenance of their lenses.

I've never really been updated with camera equipment advancement, so when I was given a DigiKlear by LensPen, I did a quick google, and I was told that the brush was useful, but not to use the carbon part. Being the careful, afraid to damage anything sort of person, I left the carbon part alone.

It was not until today, when I went shopping for a dry cabinet, that I thought, "Hey, I might as well get a UV filter for my 50mm, since its been seeing more light of day than my 18-105mm kit lens." So off I went to a said shop, got the shopkeeper to let me open the case and see the filter itself (only after pulling out my card, and telling him that yes, I'm buying).

Oh, My, God. You would think that out of the box, it will be in pristine condition. It has tiny hairs on it, some small smudges all over the place. Unhappy, I showed the shopkeeper. How am I supposed to judge if there isn't any flaws when I can barely make out the hairs from possible cracks? Kindly, he tried cleaning. But it was through this cleaning process that I noticed a tiny hairline scratch. *PHEW* Close shave...

The next one he pulled out, SAME SITUATION! So being the guy in a rush to get out, I used his blower to shift whatever I suspected possibly to be cracks or flaws, to ensure they are simply hairs, before making my purchase.

Back home, with dirty filter, I asked my friend for solution (pun unintended). Our conversation went somewhat like this.

Me: Hey, any idea on how to remove smears?
Friend: lenspen.











Me: Yep, I got me one of those. So I just brush?
Friend: Yep.











Me: Oh btw, what is the carbon part for?
Friend: *links to lenspen product site*.











Me: OMG!!!

Basically, the google site that told me never to use that part, was horridly wrong. Removing smears is as easy as drawing circles all over your lens with the carbon part. If its just hairs, then use the brush. WHAT AN AMAZING TOOL~!

So, now you know... I never leave home without it.

*edit* From my friend, always brush first, before using the carbon part. This is to remove fine particles that might scratch the lens when you use the carbon part. You've been warned!

Welcome!

Alright, since I got my DSLR, I decided maybe should have a little blog to, in a sense, record my journeys through learning how to use a DSLR. Maybe it'll serve to help others, maybe not. My point is basically to record my own learning journey, and hopefully when I look back, I can have several good laughs ^.^

Lets start out with some AWESOME stuff.

1. Buying a DSLR
My choice was rather obvious, I knew what I wanted to use it for, and I knew which would perform best at the lowest budget. Product / Still life shots, with the availability of expansion = Nikon, D90.

2. Where to buy
Connections, connections... I know people, who know people, who are good friends with people... (you get the flow) The end game is, get to know people = get to have great deals.

3. Know what accessories you need to start off with
Friends who are already photographers (thanks a mil don don) help alot in telling you what you need, for what you wanna do. Stuff from cleaning gear, to tripods to lenses... etc.


Well, From now on its pretty much practice, practice, practice... and well, more practice... I'm only starting to get used to my camera, able to somewhat find my buttons more quickly, and change my settings a little faster... Lets see where this will take me ^.^