Woofing, wagging and we’re off to the whimsical wonderland.

And that was the tagline for this year’s dogathon. The 15th Dogathon to be organized by the VETERNAK & Zoologico Club of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UPM. Aside from being a meeting of all dogs, and a fun filled day for both dogs and owners and visitors alike, it also functions as a charity platform to generate funds for ProKasih in order to provide better stray animal welfare & to promote responsible pet ownership. Even though the weather during the event was gloomy and it looked as if it could have rained at any moment, it didn’t prevent gathering of the dogs and the games to be carried out. Here are some shots of the day:

~Dogs are still Men’s best friend~

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~Alice and her deck of cards~

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~A Pomeranian~

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~An assortment of dogs~

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~I think this is a Shih Tzu~

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~A variety of competition for the dogs. E.g: The obstacle course~

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~A Schnauzer going through the hoop~

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~A Chow Chow chilling out being massaged by its owner~

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~A tiny Chihuahua~

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~Go go go!!! The female category dog race~

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~Followed by the men’s category dog race~

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~And they’re off (Men’s category dog race)~

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~I think this Doberman was one of the winners for the Men’s category~

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~There were huskies running in the race as well ~

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~A Dalmatian followed by a German Shepherd~

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~You’re almost at the finish line… Lets keep going~

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~Tired but still in the race… Lets slow down a bit~

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~I may look tiny but I’m faster than the whole lot of them ~

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~A very lovely husky in the race~

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~Go get the ball, boy~

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~SIT!!!~

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~This beagle is staring at the food in the handler’s hands~

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~Huskies galore!!!~

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~Looking attentive ~

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~Fetching the stick ~

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~Saving the best for last Isn’t it the cutest thing ever?? ~

Kudos to the Vet students for another successful Dogathon event. Will be looking forward for next year’s Dogathon .

For more photos of this year’s Dogathon: Please visit my Flickr

Interested in seeing the previous years Dogathon photos: Please click on the following link: 2010, 2009, 2008 .

P/S: Lack of blog post recently… Was a bit busy… Might post a bit more from now on.

Filed under: Dogathon, Dogs, Pets, Photography ]]> http://minorsmajor.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/dogathon-2011-doggies-in-wonderland/feed/ 0 Alan Tan Dogs are still man's best friend Here's Alice and a deck of cards Pomeranian An assortment of dogs Shih Tzu The obstacle course Going through the hoop A Chow Chow chilling out I'm a Chihuahua Go Go Go Followed by the men's category The beginning of the dog's race (Men category) Winner Doberman A husky in the race as well Dalmation followed by a German Shepherd Almost there little one... Tired but still in the race I may look tiny but I'm finishing this race A very lovely husky you have there Chasing the ball SIT!! Beagle staring at food in the handler's hands Huskies Galore Wide eyed husky Playing a game of fetch The cutest thing ever http://minorsmajor.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/photo-the-isle-of-pangkor/ http://minorsmajor.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/photo-the-isle-of-pangkor/#comments Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:30:15 +0000 Alan http://minorsmajor.wordpress.com/?p=3375 ]]>

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.

Source

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 ^^

It doesn’t really looked too ‘Super’ though @@

~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?

Source

I’m quite sure that there will be a lot of conflicting opinions and ideas on this topic. However whatever I’m going to type here are solely my opinions so please respect them.

First off, I believe that life is sacred, even though most of us don’t appreciate it. We’re alive each and every day for a reason and any purpose to end our life or any other’s life is totally wrong. Even when you might think that you’re being merciful.

Secondly, I do believe that none of us hold authority over another person’s life, even if that person is on the brink of death or is in pain. There’s a reason why death comes if by age naturally, if by illness, mostly because that person didn’t treasure the sacredness of life, or by accidents, by which is just fate. Any act of ending a person life without consent is no different from murder.

Lastly even if it’s with consent, it’s no different from acknowledging that suicide is ‘ok’.

I wouldn’t want to touch too much on this topic because its a fiercely debated topic… But I’m with euthanasia being unethical and unjustifiable

Source

Perhaps a few important things will be

1) Loads of food

What type of a party would not be complete without food yeah? Be it snacks such as potato chips or tasty BBQ chicken… You’ll always need food at the party!!! Remember though to get sufficient food. Nothing is worst in a party than a bunch of hungry mob chasing you down for their fair share of food. And noone will enjoy having to get extra food from the outside after a party. PARTY=FOOD. You can never call it a party without food. PERIOD!!!

2) Loads of music/entertainment

Now the funny thing with a lot of people is that they rarely can have a meal/snacks without having something else to do. They will be talking to someone while eating, watching someone else about their things at a distance, fiddling about with their fork or spoon, watching the TV and eventually repeat the cycle all over again. Now as the host, you need to provide the proper thing to keep them occupied while their eating, be it someone else to talk with, some loud music, some belly dancers… anything which will keep them entertained throughout the party. You wouldn’t want your guest to be yawning at your party (aside from the yawns you get after partying for hours).

3) Loads of people

You have the food… You have the entertainment… And you noticed something is missing… Where is everyone? Take important note to invite all whom you could invite to the party (relevance is a point of consideration as well). Nothing stinks at a party more than the lack of people where 30 minutes into the party, you’ll be noticing that you had finished talking to everyone. And deciding whether you want to go through a 2nd round of talking or just call it a night. It wouldn’t hurt to have hot hunks and babes as these are crowd attractions.

Simple right?

*The writer of this post holds no responsibility if your party didn’t go how you would expect it to go*

*Someone gave me a couple of topics to write upon and I chose this out of a list of other interesting topics… mainly because I’m at the age where all the people I know either had tied the knot or will soon to do so in the near future.*

I had a couple of friends who tied the knot in 2010. And I’ll most probably have another couple of friends doing so this year. I was asked… not once but twice about my relationship status (which is still very much ‘SINGLE’ btw) by my aunts and uncles while I was back in my hometown for Chinese New Year. The prospect of getting into a relationship, to go ‘steady’ for a couple of years and later propose had been something which had been playing around in my head for the past year or so…

As a Malaysian ‘Chinese’, I will think that my wedding will definitely be following a standard protocol.

It ‘might’ start off with me visiting the girl’s house with some of my ‘brothers’.

And we’ll be stopped by the girl’s ‘sisters’

And forced to do all sorts of things (which most probably involve something you’ll see in the eating games of Fear Factor)

Except I won’t be getting the prize money. Instead I’ll be getting  life-long love, perhaps? (AMEN)

Next when I finally pass the Fear Factor challenge, there will be a lot of kissing and photography involve.

At this point I’ll most probably be wishing I was the one taking the photos ^^

After that we will go to the tea ceremony which duration of time is proportional to the amount of relatives you have. And for my case it should be pretty LONG.

Finally we should be heading to the church (I guess either before everything begins or at this time). And there will be the wedding mass. And lovely flower girls. And perhaps some finger foods after that.

After this, the photographers will most probably want to take more shots of us (And once more I hope to be jumping in with the photographers as well).

And then fast-forward to the night, where there’s gonna be a dinner reception. (By which the dinner hall will be determined by how rich/well-known/capable the family is *SHUDDERS*)

And I’ll meet with A LOT of people I never knew existed. (Who’s that again?! That’s the daughter of your uncle’s wife second sister. @.@)

I’ll spend time shaking hands with a lot of people whom some I’ll most probably won’t be seeing after that.

And then, there will be performances, perhaps a few singers if I know them.

A belly dancer or two?

And we go on stage, cut the cake, pour the wine, give a toast, give a speech, kiss and thank everyone.

And finally perhaps, some rest and relaxation at the end of day.

~~THE END~~

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.

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But that won’t be my idea wedding if I can help it.

I’ll still follow the Chinese traditions of serving tea and so on… I definitely would like to have the exchange of vows as well. Perhaps overlooking the beach or something ^^ or at some small lovely chapel somewhere, attended by close relatives and loved ones. Yeah, note that I said by close relatives and loved ones.

Source

~Source

I always think of wedding as an occasion to celebrate the togetherness of two persons. But the trend of wedding nowadays have gotten very extreme. The Chinese way, being big dinners, performances, and a lot of ‘strangers’ who are really friends on your dad and mums and in-laws. However, thats not what I envision a wedding is suppose to be.

All I really want will be a memorable occasion, made memorable by those whom I hold close to me, and not by the people whom I barely know or the amount of people attended. And yeah, you might argue its a once in a lifetime occasion, but I would like to think of it as walking down the aisle daily, with the one I love. It’s not once in a lifetime but rather every day of your life. And its not the wedding day that is important but rather the days and years after it.

I have intended to write a lot more when I was first asked the question. But right now, I really do think that one word sums up what my ideal wedding will be: SIMPLE.

Of course, my turn at marriage will still be a long way. ^^.  And since we’re on this topic, here’s a lovely song about it.

Shutter priority mode is the mode which is denoted by a ‘Tv’ icon in most camera dials. It allows the user to control the length of time by which the camera shutter is opened. Its when the shutter is open that the camera ‘takes’ the photo. Any movements done when the shutter is open will cause the blurred movement effects you might see in night shots. With some thinking, you will most probably figure out that to get a non-blurred photo, you will need a fast shutter speed so as to freeze the movements while to include movements into a photo, a slow shutter speed will be used.

Certain more advanced point and shoot cameras have to option for the shutter priority mode but most (if-not-all) DSLR will certainly have the mode. The shutter speed ranges from a slow shutter speed (by which the shutter opens for a longer period of time… eg: 1 second or 2 seconds) to fast shutter speed (it closes off faster… eg: 1/60… which basically means its shut off in 1/60 of a second)

Another important thing to note is that when the shutter is opened for a longer period of time, more light enters the camera and hence your photo will be more exposed than usual. And the same applies for a fast shutter speed time. This is basically why night modes have longer shutter speed compared to action/sports/kids mode… Because we need more light to enter the camera at night to make the photo better exposed. In the latter mode, we need a fast shutter speed to freeze the movements of the action/sports/kids.

I sometimes find people asking me, what shutter speed should I use? Generally whichever you are comfortable with. Of course, I would start with a fast shutter speed and slowly make my way down to a slower shutter speed to compensate for the change in aperture or ISO etc. But a rule of thumb will be to ‘Not use a shutter speed which is less than the zoom range of your lens’ (or something like that). Eg: If you are zooming at 55mm (for a standard 18-55mm kit lens), make sure your shutter speed is not less than 1/55 (or rather 1/60 because 1/55 don’t really exist) and most of the time, it should be good enough. You can always try to use less than the zoom range, but it will be entirely up to your skills in handling a camera, the VR (Vibration Reduction) or IS (Image Stabilization) ability of your camera and so on. Still… The safest way of using a slow shutter speed is putting it on a tripod or some flat surface.

I would always recommend you to take out your camera right now and play around with the Tv mode settings. Eventually when you’re used to it, you can go into taking panning shots, light painting and also some creative usage of shutter speed shots.

~Panning shots like the roller coaster ride above allows you to implicate movements in the shots~

And eventually, you will be able to do something like this:

~This was taken during my trip to Pangkor last year. The smooth water and sky are due to slow shutter speeds. I will make a post on how this photo was taken soon~

Till the next update, remember that the best way to learn is via hands on experience. Keep shooting.

*Be advised that I initially planned to just show a few photos on this post but it turned into a ‘tutorial’ type of a post. I love photography as a hobby and whatever written below are my experience with macro photography. If I incorrectly describe some of the information, please do correct me. Thanks*

Shooting macro basically means shooting very minute things. When this mode is active you will be able to focus up very very close to the subject and take photos of it. Done correctly and you might see details of your subject which you won’t be able to see with your naked eye. For the point and shoot camera, macro mode is often designated by the flower icon. You should switch to it and try to focus up close on certain subjects and notice the difference. For point and shoot cameras, the amount of macro you can actually do is limited when compared to the DSLR.

~Look for this icon~

For DSLR users, you can shoot subjects in macro mode using a kit lens however to fully appreciate what your DSLR can do in macro mode, you might want to get into some macro dedicated accessories.

First off, we have the macro lens. These lens can be used to shoot as normal but are capable of focusing very close to your subjects. The idea using macro lens is quite easy. Fit it onto the DSLR. Bump the aperture to at around f/16 to f/32. And focus (I would suggest manually) on your subject until you get the desired sharpness. It might also be handy to have a flashgun around since using such small apertures will limit the amount of light entering your camera. Adjust your shutter speed as required. And use a tripod if necessary.

One of the more popular macro lens in the market will be the Tamron 90mm f/2.8. In fact I have one with me everytime I go on any type of shoots because it can be used as an alternative portrait lens.

Next, for budget photographers, a macro conversion lens can be an alternative. These lens fit onto the front of the kit lens (but be aware of the filter size since it can cause vignette if improperly fitted. The upside to the macro conversion lens is that, its a lot cheaper compared to a dedicated macro lens and its also a lot lighter to carry it outside. However, since it is a fit-on lens, you should never use Auto focus (which I wouldn’t recommend as well even with a macro dedicated lens). The auto focus won’t be able to focus accurately because the macro conversion lens is fit on in front of the camera lens. If you’re new to macro photography, it might really take some time to get used to using a macro conversion lens. I have tried out the Raynox Macro conversion lens before and it really requires a bit of practice to get use to it. But when done correctly, you’ll be impressed.

Alternatively, there’s the reverse macro rings. These allow you to use the reverse side of your lens to take macro shots. Apply the adapter ring on your camera, apply your lens in reversed on the ring and shoot away. Of course, you won’t be able to use the auto focusing and you will have to adjust your distance (move forward and back) to get the desired focus. These will most probably be the cheapest alternative (I haven’t really tried these before though).

~This is a reverse ring~

Lastly, there’s the close-up filters. Fix it on like how you would fix on your UV filter and you have a pseudo macro effect. These filters have +numbers on them by which the higher the number, the better the closeup effect. The downside of this will be that the filter size are fixed, so if you gotten 52mm filter size closeup filters, you might not be able to use them on 67mm size lens without additional accessories.

~Close up filters~

All in all, to be good in macro photography, you will have to remember these few points.

1. Use a tripod if you have one. It might not be as flexible as you hope for it to be but it helps out a lot. Otherwise, use a fast enough shutter speed or bump up the ISO to compensate. When you are really close up to your subject, even the slightest move will cause blurriness.
2. Use a small aperture to get sharp and in-focus shots. When you’re focusing on something which is so minute, the depth of field plane changes as well. So if you were to use a large aperture (eg: f/2.8), the sharpness plane is so thin that you might not get the focused area entirely sharp. If you’re able to, use the depth of field preview button. If you don’t know what is that, its time to read up on that camera manual.
3. Use an external flashgun or ensure adequate lighting. While using such small aperture, you will definitely have a hard time getting your photo properly exposed. Adequate lighting will be key here.
4. As always, take more than one photo. Its better to have a lot of ‘under-par’ photos and one nice photo rather than one lousy photo.
5. Manual is better than auto. In macro photography, this is often true. Adjust the focus manually rather than to let the auto focus mechanism of the camera take over.
6. Have fun.

*Note: All photos (except those in the slideshow) are taken from their respected websites*

CSSUPM organized a trip to the Ruman Keluarga Kami orphanage home in Kajang a few days ago. They organized a Christmas party for the kids which was filled with sing-alongs, games, food and entertainment for the kids. Its good to remember that Christmas is a time of giving and to those orphans, giving the gift of love would certainly mean so much to them. Most of us are fortunate enough to have a family to spend Christmas with but we often forget about the less fortunate people out there especially people who would be grateful wholeheartedly to have someone to remember them by especially during the festive seasons. The kids there are very polite and lovely. Its hard to imagine what they have gone through before this.

I wasn’t really in the festive mood throughout December but I’m glad to have finally contributed something even though the Christmas season has already past. Perhaps it wasn’t really a bad Christmas 2010 after all.

Merry Belated Christmas everyone.