Peering in

Another shot of the giant brass urns in the Forbidden City. I thought it was pretty interesting that this guy was absorbed in his telephone conversation yet found the time to satisfy his curiosity to peer into the mouth of the urn! :) Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Perhentian Panorama

The photos for this panoramic was shot years ago, but it wasn't until tonight that I decided to revisit some of my old shots and recreate this.

These shots were taken when I was still a greenhorn at creating panoramas, and due to the slight exposure differences and the major distortion from shot to shot, I was unable to make a satisfying panorama from the shots.

However, a few years on, I decided to retry again with Adobe Photoshop CS3's new automate panorama feature and amazingly it came out nearly perfect on the first try. I did tweak it slightly after that but this is almost exactly how it came out in Photoshop CS3. There's still a bit of exposure difference near the joints of the shots, but it's actually not bad at all.

This panorama is about a 180-degree field of view. Do click on it to really appreciate the shot in larger size. Nikon D70, AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6

New category

For once a post without pictures. :) After a few years of posting photos, I realise that some of my nicest shots are now lost in a virtual deluge of other photos. Well, today, I went back and looked at all of them, chose the nicest ones and added them to a category called Favourites. If you don't have time to look through all of my voluminous collection, click on the link and check out the distilled version.

Generally I've resisted having a Favourites category for a while now because it's a lot of work having to go through every photo and add a new tag. Plus, it's difficult to choose the best since I like em all. :p

Anyway, it's here now, nestled amongst the other country categories, so click and enjoy. Remember to click on "Older Posts" when you reach the bottom of the page, since there are about 77 shots in total to see.

Fun with macro

A technique I've tried before, this is a shot taken with flash illuminating a translucent plastic table which the flower is resting on which provides all the light. The only thing worth mentioning about this shot is that it's a first test with an extension tube set I borrowed from Jason. The flower is actually only about a quarter the size of your fingernail. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 with Nikon extension tubes.

Anemone

I had the chance to visit the Berlin Aquarium while I was in Germany. Not that great compared to Malaysia's Aquaria but there were a few nice exhibits. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

D300 at IFA Berlin

Haha I just thought the look on this lady's face while she was looking at the Live View on the camera was funny. That's the all-new Nikon D300, by the way -- the new version for my D200 and I have to say it's a real nice camera -- autofocus was faster than on my D200, and the noise level at High ISO was incredibly low. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Conflict

There aren't that many historical buildings left in Berlin after the War, but in one particular place (I can't remember the exact place) there are still a few. This was shot from a moving double-decker open-top bus which I was on. Notice the incredibly blue sky -- I wasn't using a polarizer at all in this shot -- the sky was REALLY this blue. Sigh. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Dali on the bear

The bear is the symbol of Berlin and there are lots of statues of bears to be found all over the city. This one in particular caught my eye -- in case you don't recognise him, the artist featured on the side of this bear is Salvador Dali -- the guy who produced that famous melted clock painting. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Accordion girl

Foreginers of all kinds are seen on the streets of Berlin every day playing some instrument or other for money -- other than this girl I just missed the Scottish people in kilts playing bagpipes! Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Night rider

If I had a choice, I would have framed this shot better, but unfortunately, it was raining, I didn't have a tripod and I couldn't stand where I wanted to stand. :) As it is I only had the chance to prop my camera on top of a convenient rubbish bin and set it in self-timer mode. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Pictures

Part of the interior of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is used to showcase photos of Berlin as it once was. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Chained to the sky

This modern sculpture is only about 300m from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Here, I'm trying to shoot an unusual angle of it while giving a sense of its location (hence the inclusion of the Berliner name on the building). The interesting thing about any European country is that perhaps because of the more acute angle of the sun when away from the equator, the skies are always bluer. Sigh. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Watering the plants

This shot came out exactly as I had planned it -- I took great care to frame the little window in this modern art sculpture/fountain in the middle of Berlin right smack in the centre of the frame. As such the final image has a natural frame around the subject and I think the water droplets add a certain something to it. I converted this image to B+W for the simple reason that it looks more striking this way -- the original was in brown monochromatic tones. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Chairs

This colourful display of stacked chairs is the perfect subject for this kind of shot. When doing repeating patterns like this, I always try to shoot it from a variety of angles, both in protrait and landscape mode and then decide later which one works best. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Ceiling detail

The ceiling of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin has an astonishingly ornate ceiling which has survived the war. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Kaiser Wilhelm Church

Some 75% of Berlin was destroyed in World War II but still a few relics have remained standing and one of these is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Even then, only part of the bell tower survived but a new church was built around it -- the building on the top left corner is actually the new church, with tiny windows which allow light to shine through the stained glass windows (see below). Nikon D200 AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Seeing the light

The inside of the new part of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is amazing -- what looks like a million little TV sets behind christ are actually little stained-glass squares which let the outside light shine through. I had a very clear idea that I wanted the man to be sitting on the right corner of the image, but there were quite a few people walking around inside, so I had to wait till most of them moved away from the left side of the hall and quickly snapped this shot. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Things are looking up

Sometimes a scene like this just comes along and begs to be photographed! I don't know what trishaw guy was looking at -- probably on the modern art Mt Fuji at the Sony Centre (which is where this was taken)! :) You'd think that I switched to continuous burst shooting for this shot, but actually I didn't -- I'm from the old school of shooting and I like to try to shoot without having to go into machine gun mode. In fact, this shot was the middle of just three shots I took as I panned the camera to follow the trishaw's movement. Don't let it be said that cameras that shoot a large number of frames in a second are needed for action and sports shots -- I've always been able to get by without. :) Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Sunburst

What a difference a bit of sun makes -- this unusual roof at the HUGE Sony Centre in Berlin is supposed to look like Mt Fuji from the outside, but I noticed it also looked really good from the inside. I took a few shots and while they looked okay, it wasn't till the sun suddenly burst through the clouds, illuminating the blades that the photos really popped!

Here's nearly the same photo taken a few seconds before:

Walking the rooftops

I find I'm always doing various takes on this theme, i.e. a person walks by in front of a bizarre background, although you may or may not have noticed because the framing is often different. Like with most of these shots, it's actually more difficult than it seems because it's always shot from a moving vehicle (shots like this tend to pop up for me only when I'm in a cab/bus/train) and the background is a small area of usually only one building block in size. This was shot in Berlin, Germany. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Wasp

I took this shot at home, where this lone wasp was building a nest or trying to salvage it. This shot is the only reasonably sharp one out of quite a few I shot handheld. It's slightly cropped on top -- I wrestled with a variety of framing options (cutting more off the left, or more off the right) but I eventually left it mostly uncropped and this is the result. Any suggestions? Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Chimping

I saw this Buddhist monk using a digital camera and I just HAD to take his picture! In case you're wondering what the title for this post means, click on the Wiki on Chimping. I thought this shot was pretty whimsical from a number of perspectives. :) Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Umbrella...ella...ella

Okay I'll never look at another umbrella again without that silly song playing in my head. This shot was taken at a very strange structure in Putrajaya. I'm not sure what it is (it actually looks like a missile silo complete with missile) but it seems to be some kind of monument of the major events in Malaysia since its inception. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.
This is what the whole silo looks like

Adam's apple

In case you're wondering, this shot was taken at the Floria garden exhibition in Putrajaya recently. The exhibition is a sort of garden decoration contest -- however, the few shots I did take of the entire display were not that impressive, so I opted to go for more macro shots. The warm toned and dim fluorescent lighting in the halls were not great for available light photography, so I had to resort to using my SB-600 flash in wireless mode. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Framing the flower

Yes, it's back to flowers again. I suppose I keep coming back to flower and bug shots because they've always fascinated me. It sounds easy to take a good macro shot but in fact it requires a lot of technical skill -- for example, framing is very important and you really have to consider every element that appears in your shot; then there's depth-of-field (DOF) -- in this case I played around with my DOF preview button on my camera till I got just the right amount of out-of-focus in the background while keeping the foreground flower as clear as possible. A macro lens helps too and focus is quite critical at these short distances. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Silly cute dog

My silly little dog likes to hide under the cushions. :) He looks so foxy don't you think? If you look closely you'll notice that the noise levels are pretty high in this shot -- I was only using ISO320, but the shot came out grossly underexposed because the flash didn't recycle in time to get a full burst. There was a lot of tweaking in Nikon Capture NX to get it to an acceptable level. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Shadow play

Shot on assignment at a hotel recently. I found this shot a little whimsical as the speaker's shadow seems to be, from this position at least, more animated than he is. And it looks like the shadow is pointing at him. Nikon D200, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

A hint of copper

To those 3-4 people who actually visit this blog, my apologies for not updating in a while -- have just been busy with work and stuff. Anyway, this shot is of a beetle that came into my garden one day -- I picked him up, put him on a flower and started shooting away. After I was done I put him back. I was quite fascinated by the bright green and copper colour of the underside, and took loads of photos but in the end, I just couldn't get a good enough angle that really made a good composition. This is the best I could come up with. As usual, the camera was set up on a tripod, with remote flash enabled and an aperture of f/16 for a bit more depth-of-field. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8