Fina + Izwan

It was a last minute arrangement. In fact i’ve never met either Fina or Izwan prior to the engagement. No face-to-face meet up, no paper signed, no deposits .. nothing. It was all based on trust.

Fina is an architecture student in Melbourne and she was actually on her break when both of them decided to get engaged. It was a sunny Sunday and everything went smooth despite they claimed to sort everything in a hurry. The ‘talk’ was conducted professionally with no hanky-panky and i was actually surprised to notice that the discussion ended in less than 10 minutes. The event was blessed with the present of their treasured nears and dears. Lastly, i must say that their ‘lauk-kampung-lunch’ was extremely nice! Tapi malu nak tambah .. hehe

Natasha + Viet

Natasha contacted me via email a long time ago when she was in Paris asking if i could photograph her wedding. At first i thought she’s a Malay girl and it shocked me to know that she’s actually a Chinese and getting marry to a Vietnamese gentleman, Viet. It was a pleasant surprise to have an opportunity to shoot a non-Malay wedding. Despite being in Paris, her faithful friend, AiQueen helped her in arranging her wedding including meeting myself.

The day started with a tea ceremony and prolonged to a dinner and ‘disco’ afterwards. Both bride & groom are working in Paris and their French friends coming all the way to celebrate their wedding day and they actually have their own ‘Yamseng’ version in French which was lovely. It was a splendid evening in Hotel Istana and i truly enjoyed photographed both of them.

Shahril + Idayu

I feel terrible that i haven’t uploaded this couple’s wedding which was held more than a month ago. The thing is that they and their family have been really nice to me. Not wanting to disappoint them, i decided to publish some pics from their Dewan Merak’s reception to sedapkan hati sendiri ..

SG Trip

We just got back from our short trip to SG. The idea is to bring Mia to experience a difference perspective of a zoo (against our local zoo) but nonetheless, i wish i could have my time for a nice layback time for photo snapping too. Eventually, what i’ve been planned didn’t turn out well as i seriously think i can’t enjoy my photography while having to stroller-ing and terkejar sana-sini nak cepat and do mia-chasing. Frankly, i feel i was overloaded with all sort of lenses during the trip while i’m actually only need one. Adios.

1. Mia behaving well in the flight..

2. Never leave home without her ipod ..

3. This is the room worth almost RM300 per nite. Damn shocked!

4. Mia having her moment in the MRT ..

5. Dah jadi model plak mamat ni ..

6. Parrots of the zoo ..

7. Kangaroos failed to excite Mia ..

8. Night safari? You must be kidding ..

9. We had our taste of murtabak SG here in Zam²

10. Nampak jek macam tak habis ..

11. The hands behind the murtabak ..

12. This is common in MY, but the ones in SG jugak yang nak amik gambarnye ..

13. Heritage rows of Kg. Glam

14. Their back alley is so clean, seriously! You should see Telawi’s ..

15. This one caught my attention ..

16. This kenit is soo ‘kesana-kemari’ nye budak while in the airport ..

17. Until i’ve to drag her into the departure hall ..

One free weekend

Last weekend, accompanied by lil Yazid & Co., we went uphill to the land of Casino. The idea is to spend days without laptop+internet+tv and it actually worked! (at least for me, unlike the ladies who preferred to spend their nights to watch downloaded tv series)
As usual, i won’t be in any picture as it’s almost impossible to have a nicely composed self-captured photo .. haha.
Ok, here are 3% of pics taken during our trip.

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10 Good Habits for a Digital Photographer

From the beginning i started with photography, PhotoM’sia has been very helpful in giving guides and guidances. The following tips were extracted from their forum and composed by DA, an avid photographer with loads of experiences (otai la ni). He is such a nice gentleman, i’ve only met him once tho

1. Shoot in RAW– your digital workflow should be to have Master Files, Edit Files and Special Purpose files. Metadata processors, like Aperture and Lightroom are extremely powerful cataloging applications which double up as fast and efficient post processing tools. Editing with Lightroom for instance, will help you save Hard Disk space because a metadata processor stores only your editing instructions and not the huge PSD or Tiff files which Photoshop creates, for instance.
2. With Digital, shoot a little to the right of the Histogram. That is err on the side of slight overexposure rather than underexposure. This is because your digital sensor can capture more details in the highlights than in the shadows. During post processing you will find that you can effectively recover details in what appears to be blown highlights, while noise is the result if you try to pull details out of shadows.
3. Where possible, use a Tripod or a Monopod, and a cable release. Make it a habit to carry at least a light monopod. The rule of thumb is, you can hand hold a shot at a minimum shutter speed which is the reciprocal of your lens focal length. A great benefit of shooting with a tripod is that you tend to take more time in studying good angles and good composition. Because digital film is virtually free, we tend not to think carefully enough before we hit the shutter button.
4. Keep lenses, filters, eye pieces and sensors clean. P&S cameras which you keep in your pocket or bag, has a propensity for collecting thumb prints on lenses, filters an eye pieces. Nothing is more frustrating than to have a great shot ruined by a greasy thumbprint on your lens.
5. Use manual focus. Even though modern auto focusing systems are pretty good, very often your camera can lock focus on an inappropriate focal point, especially when there are no sharp edges within the frame. Get into the habit of using manual focus. It’s usually more accurate.
6. Use Spot or Center Weighted metering and explore various exposure alternatives and depth of field options. Don’t trust the LCD at the back of your camera because what you see there is only a tiny thumbnail which usually looks good. You should check the histogram for proper exposure, which means you need to go and learn and understand what a histogram is showing. When chimping what you ought to be looking out for, besides the histogram and clippings, is to look for proper focusing points, proper composition, colour casts, angle of view, cropping or space around your subject and preferred depth of field. . If you are shooting with the intention of converting to B&W, look also for texture, contrasts and lighting.
7. Use the lowest ISO setting possible. With the cheaper digital cameras that newbies usually possess, noise is a major issue when you push ISO above 300.
8. Bracket, Bracket, Bracket. When shooting unrepeatable shots, always consider bracketing the exposure, by at least half a stop on both sides of the exposure suggested by your camera.
9. Use Burst exposure to freeze fast action, and plan ahead for your shot.
10. Take the flash off the hot shoe when shooting with flash, Attach an extension lead for your flash or better still use a remote trigger.

 

OK, what caught my attention is the point no.2. What DA’s saying is true indeed. I’ve always facing problems to edit underexposed photos. It’s not as simple as adjusting the histogram level as underexposed photos tend to create more grain no matter how you adjust its level. In fact, if you have your shots a lil overexposed, it won’t do any harm. At least this is what i do while shooting weddings.

Nevertheless, the best thing is to get your histogram displays correctly (refer images below). You may asked the renown Syahrin, how does he come out with great edited photos. It’s all about the correct exposures (and lightings).

* rin, takpe ek guna nama ko .. kekeke

- Correctly exposed photo

- Underexposed photo

- Overexposed photo

- Photo with too much contrast

- Photo with too little contrast
 

 

Amir + Ira

It’s been a while since my last wedding entry despite having loads of pics stranded in my laptop waiting for further enhancements. This entry is dedicated for my adorable friends amir & ira which i’ve uploaded their nikah pics earlier.
The event took place in Keramat few weeks back and i was assisted by the talented Juju. In fact some pics you’re about to see are well captured by her with further editing done by me. There’ll be a long list of pics so those who are on Slowmyx (like me), beware!

…

I told u, the Dutch are good. Even France can do nothing to stop them.
Poor Swedish, they deserve a draw especially after a brilliant performance by the goalkeeper.
I didn’t watch the Greeks vs Russians, I was too occupied doing my album design.
Nevertheless, I still hope it’ll be Spain and Sweden to go thru.

Ok la, it’s 6.30am!! I need to sleep, I’ve a wedding at 3pm.
1. Dustless Camera - checked
2. Dustless Lenses - checked
3. Charged EN-EL3E - checked
4. 5 set of charged MAHA Powerex - checked
5. Flash transmitter - checked
6. Working SB800 - checked
7. Cleansing Tools - checked
8. dah ok kot!

Alamak, shirt blom iron! Ehm kautim, esok laa .. ngantuks!

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