Photo: The isle of Pangkor
I’ve mentioned that I will be talking a bit about how to take this type of photo previously. First off lets start by having a look at the EXIF information.
F-stop: f/10
Could have been smaller to make sure that the whole field was sharp… Perhaps f/16 or something. I used the hyperfocal distance rule by which is defined as:
When the lens is focused on the hyperfocal distance, the depth of field extends from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity. Photography, Phil Davis, 1972.
This way I will be sure that the photo will be sharp at from 2-3 feet in front of me till infinity. Have a read about hyperfocal distance.
Exposure time: 6.7 seconds
The sea water is silky because of the longer exposure time it took for this photo. Having the shutter opens for 6 seconds allow the camera to record the movement of water. Of course to achieve this, you’ll need a tripod to keep the camera steady so that the only movement you’ll be tracking is the movement of water (and possibly the movement of clouds). I placed my tripod in the water for this shot (Which is not a good thing to do because the sand will get into the joint and it takes a long long time to clean it @@).
ISO: 200
I used a low ISO to keep noise out and to make sure that the quality of the photo is at it’s best.
Focal length: 11mm
Just wanted to take it more details.
That’s not all though. It was around 4-5pm when this photo was taken, and it was quite bright at the time. It would have been hard to get a 6 seconds exposure time at that condition so I used a ND8 (Neutral Density 8-stop) filter. This is basically a heavily ‘shaded’ filter which prevent light from entering and since less light were to enter I can use a longer exposure time to make the water silky.
Another important thing to keep in mind when taking landscape photos will be to have points of interest which directs the eyes of the viewer to explore the whole foreground and background of the photo. One can easily achieve this by placing something of interest in the foreground, midground and the background. In this photo I placed the rock in the foreground, and the tree trunk brings the eyes from the foreground to the midground and eventually towards the rocks and the island on the background. Of course, to be honest I didn’t plan it out this way as what was on my mind when taking this photo was to keep the rock at the foreground. But this shot works because to its ability to draw the viewer’s eyes throughout the whole photo.
It was a cloudy day so some white balance changes had to be done in post processing. Also… It was quite a hazy day by which I had to do a bit of ‘burning’ to darken the island in the background. I didn’t bring my graduated filter and the highlights of the original photo was a bit washed out at the sky but since I took the photo in RAW, I managed to darken it and made the clouds more prominent.
All in all, I believe the photo turned out quite well.
Happy shooting ^^
Some photos of the Super Moon
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It doesn’t really looked too ‘Super’ though @@
Making a difference this Lent 2011 (Compassion Walk)
~Roughly 350 youths walking to downtown KL.~
Some people today seemed to be unable to accept and to love these people who are living amidst them. They have prejudice towards these people just because they are ‘problematic’ and different. And they’ll have nothing to do with these people.
And I would say part of our objective is to make them aware that these people are still human, not much different from who we are. They are capable of feeling hurt, unwanted, lonely, and depressed. 
The mission was simple, to put on the shirt, and ask people to HUG us. But the message to me, to the youth who followed the walk… was a powerful one. For to put on the shirt was to admit that, I am an addict, I am HIV-positive, I have AIDS, or I am an alcoholic. We, who donned the shirt, was to be in the position of these people. I’d approached total strangers, said this to them: ‘I am an addict, can you give me a hug?’’ and wait for them to give me that hug.
And for much of the time, they just walked away. And it struck me. The people we are portraying were experiencing the same thing. People shunned them off/despise them/avoid them because they are different. How would you feel if no one were to love you, to care for you, to show compassion to you? How would you feel if you approached someone for help and that person just walked away, much like how many of those whom we approached that afternoon did?
I’ve learnt (first-hand) that afternoon that the world could really use more love and compassion. I’ve learnt that I can no longer feel indifferent towards the sufferings of other people. There are tonnes of other people in need of help out there, the people we have portrayed, the homeless, the orphans but what have we done to help them.
~Preparing food and drinks, feeding the poor and homeless~
I gave food to the homeless earlier that day, watch them eat and listened to their stories of how they lived each day taking one step at a time. And their day can be a blessing or a curse for them, depending on how that day turned out. They might be having a warm night sleep by the roadside or they could be soaking wet when it rains. Yet, I realized they are as human as the rest of us. They have parents, siblings and friends. They still have hope and dreams for a better life. Some managed to maintain their dignity by which they really didn’t like to be termed ‘homeless’ or to be found scraping food and materials out of trash. They didn’t like to feel ‘sympathy’ from others because of their dignity and yet they don’t have a choice most of the time. Sometimes they were even taken advantage of, when their employers refused to pay them for the work they’ve done. The world that they lived in was a world that I could have never imagine being in. And yet they are still optimistic about their life. The homeless guy my group talked with was cheerful and even sang bits of songs for us.
Some of the participants from my group did a short sharing session a week after the ‘Walk’ and the facilitator mentioned that they had visited these the HIV-positive/AIDS patients in the hospitals and some of these patients were actually reluctant to talk with them. It was as if they had accepted the reality that they will be shunned by society and that to me is just a sad case.
I think its really about time we start to accept these people for who they are and to welcome them into society with open arms. To show them the love and compassion they seek. Because the world could use more of it.
Will you be making a difference this lent?
