Google Mapping Bangalore India

Yes, plan has to be made for this upcoming work trip, and yes, its all again done on Google Maps. In fact, I have been a travel planner for others who value my interest to form up their trips all via this wonderful web tool. As said, this will be those one week short trip thing again, and so, too much planning is not advisable.

I anticipate only a day max to really be able to go round and shoot, so like my Kuala Lumpur trip, should generate about 250-300 shots for this trip. Next, comes the lens selection process. Outlook wise, it looks rather similar to a small KL, with links to both slums and high rises. So we are talking about cityscape sort of environment. 50mm is a bit too close for comfort in my perspective so probably a 35mm will have to do. High speed glass is critical as I do not think my Nikon Speedlight SB-900 will go with me on this trip. Plus, it's just too eye-catching carrying the whole camera/flash assembly unless that's my sole intention.

Insurance is a must for this trip as anything you won't expect to happen will probably happen there...O yes, blackRapid will accompany me for this upcoming trip (could not find it for my last trip) to facilitate fast shoot and disappear approach.

Boot Camp Come Early for Recruit Douglas

Run, climb, crawl and repeat them all over again. Douglas is slowly growing up to embrace physical training and fun into his daily routine. Of course, he has not been asked to do a 5-mile jog yet, nor a 1.2km swim in the pool. But he's no softie.

Here's an instance where he bit some sand on the sand pit, before continuing his cardiovascular set next. 800m farlac is next for the next 30 minutes after. No pain, no gain.

PS Just kidding. For the record, he really did trip on a sand pit before this shot was taken.

Plumbing & Heater Installation Adventure

Having a water heater in each toilet means needing to routinely replace one when it breaks. And it can be a real hassle if the new one is not a direct replacement model. How many of you actually keep redundant water heater at home? I don't as they break down only after four to five years.

Walls have to be drilled with a special drill bit if tiles are involved. Power cables have to be rerouted. Copper pipings have to be rerouted and resealed. Circuit breaker has to be activated. Water supply channel has to be shut off. The list goes on and on for a while...

And this is what I have done today DIY style to kill some time. It's great to do this every now and then, while rewarding yourself with a few hundred bucks savings off labour charges. And the whole process took me over two hours (this is not my profession, remember?). Just in case if you are wondering where I got the new heater unit, it's any of the super mart located in the North South highway of Malaysia. For a mere $70, you can readily get a proper make from Panasonic.

All in an day's work! Exceptionally rewarding to take a shower with it after a sweaty installation. Shot with my favorite micro lens - Nikkor 60mm F/2.8D, of the internal assembly of the new water heater. Very colorful indeed!

Asia National Geography Flagship Store Walk-About

It must be over ten thousand square feet in area and looks to contain more pictures and photos than an art gallery! Here, you mostly find stuff for sale, together with an artificial "freezer" room to get buyers to even try on their winter range of apparels.

Surprisingly, almost everything your eyes can see within the store are for sale, including a ten-foot tall wood branch-assembled wooden horse and other artistic work.

From the photographic perspective of things, I must say its one of the more photographer-centric place one can go once in a while.

The Last Few Pill Boxes That Was Never Used

As history is being recorded, the Japanese force never did invade Singapore from where the British thought they would - South. And the huge artillery howitzers erected preemptively along the south-facing beaches serve only as a reminder today, of a war that never really started.

The English surrender was swift against the bicycle-equipped Japanese infantry that came from the North. Not a single round was fired from those south-facing machine guns or howitzers. Well, at least from the bright side of things, some of them are beautifully preserved as a national monument today for all.

Nikkor 18-200mm lens with off-camera SB-900 on the left of camera.

Nightscape #1 - Night Shoot Conditions

It has been rather warm these few nights and the high humidified air is not helping in any way. With such weather condition only to remain, I think it's high time to begin doing some more prominent night scenes shoots scattered across the small island. This move will still allow me to exercise in the cool of the day while adding some night fun for the boys. Three objectives met within a single time frame. Nice...

OK. Nightscape #1 - Music theatre by the bay, AKA the Esplanade. Cool breeze, crazy fun! Decent scenes. Shot with the Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens.

Meet the Fire Fighters

As part of the fun, kids are given uniforms and head gears before being thrown into props that allow them to turn off valves, push buttons etc. all amidst jets of water being splashed against them. I must say it was fairly realistic.

The boys all looked dead serious in their quest to put out the digital fire on the screen while the blaring screams of victims can be heard off the stereo wall speakers.

The Nikkor 18-200mm lens was used, together with the SB-900 strobe. No pain, no gain! Hoooorah!

That ought to have taught them never to play with fire again!

The Business of Putting Out Fire is Tough Work!

I am OFF again today and this time round, it's for real. No more driving to the office and getting involved in more pen pushing activities. So, as a reward to myself, I thought it be a great idea to bring the boys out for a change, to somewhere that's both educational and fun.

And what better place than to bring them to the national fire station heritage center! There was water splashing, simulated fire burning, the whole works. Great fun! Attached is the older, stand-alone water pressurizer, where fire fighters use to channel unpressurized water into something more helpful during their fight against blazing buildings.

Fireworks and National Days

Techniques for shooting fireworks varies but its quite a safe practice to shoot manual when it comes to creating proper trail dusts off these babies. Some claim a 4 seconds standard shutter speed with a F/8 aperture, while some others prefer the bulb mode.

Speaking of which, I hope to be able to catch some of this off the upcoming National day of the country in August. O right, lens going beyond 200mm is also recommended.

First Real Assignment - Food

Well, this thing came out of the blue today, where one of my dear friend started talking about his restaurants during lunch time. Being aware that I have recently dived back into the photography world, he quickly remarked that I should help him with some of his latest fusion menu of his restaurant!

Why not, since I am exploring how the Nikkor 60mm F/2.8D will work on food. I am flattered. And so I agreed. This should be fun, but as agreed, I can only help him out over the weekend, where I will be free. Interesting development indeed!

Now, this is, to me, my first real deal, and quite an exciting one too! Let's see how this turn out this coming weekend. Will keep you all posted.

Sunset of Singapore

Its something Asians have abundant access to - Sunlight. And as any day will end here, we have the opportunity to capture it in image.

And that's what one of them look like yesterday, amidst a calm and collected Saturday, where sea port activity come to a grinding halt over the weekend. As the sun rays broke out from the clouds, so did my hands to the shutter.

Quite a pleasant shot with the Nikkor 70-300mm G lens again. I'm tellin' ya. Its an understated lens that can deliver at the ideal conditions.

Flickr Group Setup Completed!

Here we are, folks! Our first flickr group! Prep and ready to roll.

Well, I have not got round to playing with all the knobs and dials of Flickr and will be improving the overall interface as we go along. Meanwhile, we are located [here]. Please help yourself and may we enjoy some fun with our first mini project - Home Shoot.

Weekend in A Catheral

On my baby sit schedule this weekend, I brought my two boys out for lunch and a photo shoot. They will now cheerfully chirp "Nikon D90" whenever daddy drives out the drive way with a camera in the front passenger seat.

Today, we went to an old-made-new Anglican church. And there we spent about 30 minutes. I absolutely love the Nikon 18-200mm lens that was in use this afternoon.

Slums of Kuala Lumpur

For your eyes only, there is still a large part of the capital of Malaysia covered below the poverty line. Their houses and shops are all made of tin sheet metals, together with what we know slums are made of.

This shot was taken next to one of the train network stations in KL.

Home Shoot Entry - #1

So I started today with an opening shot - a toy that one of the boys left on the table in my apartment. If I can recall, its one that granddad (mum's side) bought in Disneyland Hong Kong.

I am still divided as to use a new Flickr account or picasa account for our uploading...please be patient. Will update everyone when one is properly setup!

Prerequisites for Home Shoot - Macro Performance of Nikon Lenses Reviewed

I think you know where I am getting on this one. Home shoot does not merely mean wide-angled snaps of living rooms and turfs but also often mean a little of macro photography. Not all lenses I own are cut out for this job and a little review is required before an attempt is made on any close-up shots.

OK. I have only five lenses, so this should be quite easy. The Nikon 35mm F/1.8G lens goes as close as 0.3m but has only a MRR of 0.16 (or 1:6.25). Next, we have the Nikon 50mm F/1.8D prime at 0.45m and MRR of 0.15. The Nikon 18-105mm kit lens goes as close as 0.45m and a respectable MRR rating of 0.2. Second last on the list, we have the Nikon 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 VR II at 0.5m and a MRR figure of 0.22! Well, forget about using the Nikon 70-300mm F/4-5.6G. Its minimal focus distance of 1.5m is urrrrh...just out of the league.

Looks like the Nikon 18-200mm is the best lens among my small collection of glasses to do macro photography. Unless I go buy that BR-2A reverse mount for my 50mm prime, nothing comes close to it to do the close-up job. Obviously nothing in my bag comes close to the Macro lenses like the Nikon 60mm and I am not about to rush out the door to get one.

Project #1 - Home Shoot

Home is where the heart is, and it may be the place that you would spend most of your life in. And won't it be rather sad if we can only shoot everywhere else except your home? So that's my little project I have setup for myself - to shoot at home and deliver a top 50 best shot showcase of my home.

To make this as a prelude to our post processing discussions, I will now attempt to shoot only in RAW (of Nikon NEF format) for each shot. This will allow me to adequately prepare on using these photos with software like Aperture or Capture NX or Photomatix Pro or whatever you fancy there after.

I am ready to be surprised! Now, to make it a tat more interesting, we will open this mini project to any photo enthusiasts! And what better place to do that in Flickr! Stay tune...

Walk-A-Shoot - KL Plaza to Nikko Hotel KL Malaysia

The shuttle driver says its too long a walk for the liking but I thought it be a good workout after a big dinner! So from KL Plaza (near Bukit Bintang LRT station), I decided to cut through the Pavilion, a bridge, couple of main streets and KLCC to walk back to the hotel.

The walk-cum-shoot workout turns out to last approximately an hour, and I was able to catch a few glimpses of decent opportunities of the nightscape of Kuala Lumpur.

Petronas Twin Tower KL

Some say its a must-visit place to go when you are in KL. So off I returned. Anyway, the Nikko hotel is just a stone throw away from it and the free shuttle bus just makes it a too irresistible deal to refuse.

To keep everything razor sharp, I have decided to shoot with an F/8. Besides, the sunny day is not making it any easier. Shot at ISO 100 F/8 with a EV -0.7 adjustment (I am heeding Joe Mcnally's advice here).

Just for Fun - Architecture Shoot

Well, opening my hotel's full-length windows, I thought this building presents a rather nice shoot opportunity. It just happened that this building filled the entire frame of the Nikon D90. Thought the symmetry of the shot has a certain appeal.

I am really driven by what my eyes can see for this trip... A EV-0.7 was introduced to absorb a bit more details in the scorching sun. F/2.8.