why GND and RGND ?

did a quick compare into single image .. for why we use GND and RGND

left … – no filter while foreground correct expose but the sky will look over

Center – with GND 1.2, the sky will be balance as reduce light go through on the top part but the horizontal level still look over due to the light source from there

right – the filter transit from center to top (darker at center) so managed to block more light at the horizontal level and maintain the details

there is no right and wrong in photography .. but using different filters will give you how your picture look like …..

and if you look for Lee Filter .. Singh-Ray … i may have some stock available

http://liewwkphoto.com/blog/?p=398

most beautiful dusk for 2011

18 days to say good bye to 2011 .. but base on the recent weather .. I almost can say … my landscape gear need to be rest for the moment .. the weather just bad for any outing , most of the time we just have grey but nothing …

and really hope to see the dusk like this

.. dusk @Tanah Lot ...

how close will you go ?

was away for few days for Jul-Aug Nightscape and Correct Exposure workshop and thanks all for this success workshop + outing ….

I didn;t shoot a lot except last day while I saw my lovely wave … and thinking of how close every can go toward the wave splash … and am happy almost everyone got “wet”

and while I was there… ask again myself and other .. how close will you go and because of beautiful pictures will you go close to rish your gear for wet and malfunction ?

 

thanks Erica for few capture how I capture the wave

How I shoot 1
How I shoot ?

 

and one of the picture capture …..

... the splash ...

 

so how close will you go ?

as close as this ?

too close !!!

 

more Terengganu pictures

Terengganu Series

sometime … it is the view make the picture …

there are some place is so beautiful , as long as you are there .. then you will be attract by the view … many places are like that and one of the most beautiful places I ever view .. “lao Zai Shan” from Yangshuo

nothing much angle can be capture if you use wide angle the view is like

阳朔 Yangshuo 兴坪 老寨山

or the video

兴坪 老寨山

it is not a common tourist area as it need little hike .. if you know Bukit Tabur in Kuala Lumpur, it is almost same mountain but it is steep (60-80 degree average) for ~ 1 hours hike …. but it worth every single effort put in

the map
warning signboard
the layers

and similar shot using my lx5

simply beautiful view with PNS camera
the path up ...
path
for ppl like these (hike Mount KK few times a year...) this is Sap Sap Water hike
for city girl .. can see not really real tough one
aiya only 385m

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

How I shoot Landscape – black card method (use finger)

I actually want to share this “black card” quite some time ago .. but I always forget and not really able to get some good result to share … and while I am doing this , one of my gang actually notice me shaking my finger around the front len .. and she did ask what was I doing … 😀 and here you go ….

what is black card method and when will we use it ?

when we having different exposures, I normally do GND filter, exposures blending, black card, HDR …(we not going to discuss all here but share some sample)

 

A. GND filter

this is just like GND filter, most of the time we have big dynamic range/different between sky and foreground.. it normally have different from 2-9 stops …. e.g. for standard sunrise/sunset/magic hour environment, we face 2-4 stops different between foreground – sky… to resolve this we normally use GND to single frame picture have the correct exposure among foreground and sky e.g.

1. without GND

Magical moment - no GND

2. GND

... the magical moment ...

– the sky is ~4 stops different from the foreground…

– I use GND.9s for above picture and do some PP trick to make the right exposure

 

B. HDR (seldom do this …but think we still good to know this)

Cold Reflection

– why I choose HDR … this was shoot use my SIGMA12-24mm which cannot fit any filter

– it was too cold to think which method to choose so I simply shoot 7 exposures back 😀

 

3. black card

– seldom use this as I am not really experience

– filter much easy

– need a lot of try and error but the good light could be disappear any time

original shot without any filter, blending, black card

– why I choose black card, the environment was dark, not sure how/where to apply GND

– multiple exposures will take double or even more times for single shot

– the exposure different >3 stops

for me I know the area that make me concern as below

the over expose portion

– so what I did was, use my fingers block the over expose area

– allow only ~2-3 seconds exposure over 30 seconds exposure, so I block it until last few seconds and I remove my finger

 

so I get

... another milky way ...

 

most of the time we just need try and error, where some fail sample .. think only expose for ~1s

wrong timing to shake the black card/finger

I will discuss more on other method in future … but let’s try and error on black card 😀

 

Patient to wait …

it is always difficult to have what you wish to have in frame (except we make the story to capture ….)

A good example, I was looking at the beautiful reflection on beach

Kemasik Beach with reflection

*** above picture is ~1.5minutes after picture below but it look about same before too

and what I have with the “magic minute” moment

The wave "took" over the reflection role ....

with the wave, I have no choice to capture it as leading line instead what I original plan to have the beautiful reflection … so do not change yours position even something change but we make the change into our final output …..

 

**** it is always difficult but we still try our best to capture the beauty of the nature … enjoy ……

my East Coast visit | April 2011

since last year July till now, I had travel to Malaysia East coast for 4-5 times but it never slow me down to make another visit but it rather make me feel I should visit there more often as a Landscape photographer .. it is a “heaven”, I would say I only explore <5% location up to Kuala Terengganu from Kuantan…. 31 March – 4 April 2011, me with other 8 friends decided to make a quick trip from Kuantan –> Pantai Kemasik (sunrise) –> Kuala Terengganu (Pantai Pandak & Masjid Tengku Tengah Zaharah) –> Kota Bahru (meeting www.photomalaysia.com event, Sri Tujuh…) –> Dungun (star, sunrise ….)

 

short 5d4n trip, we traveled ~1500KM, managed to capture beautiful sunrise, sunset, reflection, stars …. and Milky way from 2 places …

it going to be slow to share all pictures .. but let’s start this thread and I will be slowly post up the pictures into Terengganu series.

but let’s me start with 1st capture at Pantai Kemasik …

... under the Starry sky ...

and another after sunrise shot before we continue our journey …

... different interest ...

 

stay tune for more update pictures from beautiful East Coast, Malaysia

 

Update 6 April 2011 – everyone seem success capture the Milky way … congraz …

Milky Way by everyone in the trip
Update 9 April2011
Morning Wave at Pantai Kemasik