an interesting firefly ….

a bug that really make my day, we had a short night outing in a reserve jungle within KL …. within 2 hours .. we found few interesting model e.g. Spotted Litter Frog… , juvenile Spiny Turtle, Lovi’s Reed Snake & Marbled Forest Gecko

a nothing special while you see it at picture …..

 
 

... fireflies ? and it is ...

have a look how interesting is this firefly

 

I didn;t able to capture it’s head due to the environment … and would love to see it again

 

thanks Andy Paul for the ID
adult larviform female of a firefly from the lamprigera spp.

Bee Collection

Bee one of my favor object for MACRO photography .. as bee seldom stop for rest to it is a big challenge to capture it

1. very 1st bee found on my MACRO training ground

Bee in details

 

2. common honey bee that just need little patient

Bee in flight

 

3. 1st time saw it

Parasitic Bee

 

4. another Bee in flight

... did u ask for permission to snap my picture ?

 

5. a green bee from US

... litttle green bee ...

 

6. one of the cutest bee ever met … I call it “fat” bee

Long Tongued Blue Banded Bee still sleeping

 

7. call it green eye bee just same like #1

.. Good Morning ...

 

more bee collection click here

a steady Stand …

I share a Splash worth to share yesterday, where I do not able to stand firm on ground …

but today let share how I shoto at a place I stand real firm … or not easy to move 😀

where I shoot

 

think the picture I capture at this angle had been remove and I have one recent post one which need ~10 steps forward 😀

... still standing ...

 

* think you can see it in the picture above

it is too much fun to look for better angle in Landscape Photography … it just make me keep moving .. so if you like Landscape let move and let’s try some new place and angle ………..

a Splash shot worth to share …

a simple shot that may not come out easy…. just share one of my tough shot recently done at Kemasik Beach, Kemaman, Terengganu…

I was standing near the big rock waiting for the big splash …. my len filters keep splash by wave, need non stop drying , and myself wet too after few splashes that I feel not stong enough  and finally I got the splash what I looking for … then I got wet and have to run away from it …. have ~30-50 shutter press for this

running from wave

 

and this is a simple and happy shot with a lot of effort (for me ….)

... the Splash ...

 

a shot from previous East Coast Outing

and more Terengganu pictures click

Terengganu pictures

some of my Non-DSLR pictures

sometime we really enjoy the view do not mean we need a good camera to capture it .. it is always good to enjoy the moment, view …. and even capture with a Point and shot camera, we will still happy to see it

I always bring my Panasonic Lumix LX5 around … and few of my simply snapshot while I am shootnig with my SLR

... Golden Punggur ... | by Lumix LX5

 

and just outside the place I stay

... a good Start ... | by Lumix LX5

 

so enjoy the shooting today ….

Simply Stars chasing Outing on 30 April – 1 May…

Let’s have fun to shoot some nightscape, stars, star trail ….

... the Dawn full with Stars ...

or you want to increase some of yours shutter … you may able to make this

... We are rotating ...

 

if Lucky, we should able to see this

Milky Way

 

or

the Milky with Finger method
I will disclosure the location to those confirm attend ,,,
the location should be ~2-2.5hours travel north from Kuala Lumpur
do drop me message or comment if you interest
1. liewwk
2. shunfa
3. Seesy
4. Carmen
5. Nick
6. Abah
7. Melvin
(due to the location stand place limit, will have some control of the number …. ~25 max)
what to bring …
1. camera
2. wide angle/kit len (widest aperture)
3. tripod
4. shutter release cable
5. small torch light
6. snack
*** special pririty given to www.photomalaysia.com member .. and please provide me yours nick

Pantai Sri Tujuh, Tumpat, Kelantan

one of the stop of my previous visit to East Coast for details click here

never been a place so beautiful before, saw a clear Milky way while I reach … and it is like total mirror when the light is out … nothing I want to capture except try to show the beautiful and perfect reflection (someone is walking in the river …so actually not so calm while I shoot this)

even I only spent ~2hours there… I would rate this one of the best Landscape Photography spot for Malaysia .. the calm sea water with perfect reflection with angle toward ~135 degree south toward North west …. can do perfect fisherman life shooting, sunrise, salt water reflection …. I am sure I will be there again very soon ……….

milky through nake eye

... another milky way ...

– was using black card method/finger to shoot this where share it here

and the beautiful of the reflection

... the mirror ...

and will share more Kelantan pictures here

How I correct WB

Even I trust my 5d very much where I could say the AWB (Auto White Balance) accuracy is much better than what other body I use before … but in certain light condition, filter effect, and to have much perfect WB… I still correct my WB using 2 method below

*** before I start, I only shoot raw so these methods only apply with RAW and Photoshop , lightroom … (other software should be same concept but different interface)

A. look for white point

1at some case, I do not have time to shoot 2 picture (1 with grey card and the other without) .. then I will try my best to look for white spot in the picture

Blue cast due to filter

 

2. click on the WB tool on top

WB Tool button

 

3. simply use the pen point to the white point

WB after simple correction

the color seem more normal but still need little more work to bring back original e.g. contrast, saturation, ….

sample of coversion

simple white WB correction

 

B. Grey card, look for grey

I prefer this method where this can be useful to correct WB and even correct most of the color cast … but this need shoot additional picture with the grey card or sypder cube (come with white, grey and total dark)

picture with the sypder cube

2. use the same WB tool as A2 above, but this time point to the Grey card or gray part of the spyder cube

– remember the temperature and tint value to apply on the actual picture

where to point and remember

3. the correction

final WB

.. again, due to the blue cast…. we need little more work to bring back the other colors .. e.g. contrast, saturation …..

 

do drop me a message if any part of this not clear ….

*** again the final output still need further tune up due to the bad blue cast …

 

Exposures Blending

While we shoot landscape, to get right exposures for both foreground and background (sky) .. it is just not too simple … as discussed previously , we can either

1. GND filter

2. black card method

3. HDR

4. Exposures blending (where we will discuss here)

 

e.g. of 2 pictures

exposures blending1
exposures blending2

– normally we refer same sky but just different exposures but for this example … I got same position but the cloud actually cover the Starry sky

– how I do Exposures Blending

i. normally I will shoot one foreground 1st with right iso, exposure and sometime with light painting

ii. continue shooting the sky or background

iii. use software masking or blending both picture together

Manual masking - exposures blending

***for how I mask the 2 pictures click old link here

another test used Photomatix “Exposures Fusion” option

Photomatix Blending

 

*** not much editing done on the post blending picture