Some Macro at Cinta Alam
During the weekend trip I had the chance to do a little bit of macro, I did wonder into the trees but there were just too many mosquitoes...and damn they were hungry.
I had a little look around the compound but there weren't many subjects and it was super hot..I was of course using the cangih milk bottle diffuser!
The kitchen towel at the front was torn though so it was a little bit harsh, I might try two layers next time for extra diffusion..am out of practise too. Anyway here's what I managed to come up with.
Tiny Grasshopper
Shiny Spider
Long Legs
Colourful Fly, there was a blue one, red one, green one and this gold-ish one.
Green Damselfly
Fruit Fly or Wasp?
Soft Beauty
That's all for now!
12 commentsThe Shaolin Botol Susu Diffuser (Plastic Milk Bottle) For 1:1 Macro Photography!
Someone said I should patent it so I can become a millionaire and have a massive house like Gary Fong?
Anyway rather than buy an expensive R1C1 Macro Ring Light.....I thought I'd adapt my existing SB-800 to suite my macro taking needs. I got the original idea from Lord-V over on Flickr.
He has all kinds of cool stuff he DIY's himself, he uses mostly Coke Can diffusers now though.
Basically what I wanted is a 'device' that spread the light evenly and softly across the area where my Tamon SP90 focuses and extends to during 1:1 macro shooting, I scouted around for a while for bottles and found the ideal bottle. A milk bottle!
If you want to do something similar you'll need:
1) A plastic bottle
2) Kitchen Foil
3) Kitchen Towel
4) Double sided sticky tape or glue
5) Normal Tape
6) A sharp knife
That's all! Less than 10 bucks as you probably have some of it already.
I decided to use this bottle as I could have the top extend our further than the bottom to cast the light downwards onto my subject, so the first thing I did was hack the top out where the handle and the opening were.
Seiko Resistance IS Futile - SNFK11K Automatic Watch
My watch has been at the service center for quite some time...much to my annoyance, and my backup watch completely packed up in Krabi leaving me watchless...which for some reason I find rather uncomfortable.
I've been looking around for something in my budget, then out popped some new released by Seiko! The SNFK series.
Something like the Seiko 5 series (7s26 Caliber), but quite a different look - it's also an automatic watch.
A big face not much different from the rugged outlook of a divers watch (43mm without crown 53mm lug to lug).
It has a beautifully crafted knurled fixed bezel which brings the details of the watch out along with the crown which is also knurled - it's not screw down though.
KL Butterfly Park Redux - New and Improved with Milk Bottle Diffuser!
So I organised a trip to the butterfly park with Shutter Asia as I wanted to test out my refined skills in Macro photography plus my new Raynox DCR-250 closeup filter and my botol susu flash diffuser.
I have to say it was a success! I'm extremely happy with the pictures, probably the first macro set that I really like - I tried to concentrate more on composition and taking attractive pictures rather than just snapping away and taking documentary pics or trying to get as close as possible.
You can see the pics I took last time here:
Macro at the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park - Taman Rama-Rama
That was my first Macro outing back in December 2006.
I'll post some pics of the homemade diffuser up now I have a new compact camera - more about that later too 
Anyway on to the pics!
My favourite shot of the day - Up close and personal.
Creamy Orange
My second favourite - Feeding time
FRIM with Shutter Asia - May 26th
We headed over to FRIM again last Saturday with the Shutter Asia gang for some more crawling around in the jungle and getting all leeched up.
Don't let the guards rip you off, it's RM1 per person and RM5 per car. If you are doing commercial shoot such as bridal or wedding it's RM88. Just drive in with your camera in it's bag and you shouldn't have any problems.
We found a good variety of stuff this time (spiders, flies, damselfly, dragonfly, centipede and even a scorpion!)
Caterpillar
Spiny Spider AKA Jewel Spider Eating a MOTH!
Orb Weaver (Not sure which kind)
Macro Outing to TTDI (Taman Tun Dr Ismail) - Taman Rimba Kiara
Went out with a few guys for bug chasing in Taman Tun! Just behind the temple at Taman Rimba Kiara, sadly there was a downpour the WHOLE night before so the place was soaked and the bugs were pretty scarce.
Half of the group got bored and went somewhere else instead.
But we stuck it out and found some really interesting stuff, namely the largest robber fly I've ever seen, a few decent spiders and 5-6 different varieties of Dragonfly!
Garden Orb Weaver - On it's Web
Ant Portrait
Reflection of Life
Macro at the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park - Taman Rama-Rama
I went to the Butterfly Park around Jalan Parlimen area a while back in December to test out my new SB-800 flash and macro lens combination.
I was a bit noob then so my shutter speed was a bit slow as I didn't know how to change the flash sync speed (1/60s).
Macro is very challenging, especially on live things that tend to move around.
The shame is in the Butterfly park, the Butterflys are not very colourful and most have tattered wings due to being kept in captivity. I had far more fun shooting the Dragonflys which are quite static during late afternoon.
My First Dragonfly Shot
Moth Eye!
Macro Outing to FRIM with Shutter Asia!
We organised an outing to FRIM on Saturday morning over at Shutter Asia (Details here).
The Forest Research Institute Malaysia is a large park just North of the city towards Selayang, it's around 10-15 minutes drive from the end of the LDP after the Penchala Toll.
Welcome to the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, one of the leading institutions in tropical forestry research, both within the country and abroad. Founded by British colonial forest scientist in 1929, the former Forest Research Institute with Dr F.W. Foxworthy as its first chief research officer, became a statutory body governed by the Malaysia Forestry Research and Development Board under the Ministry of Primary Industries in 1985 and then in 2004, FRIM became a statutory body governed under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The 600-ha site in Kepong located 16 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur, is surrounded by the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve. The Institute, which has been awarded the MS ISO 9001: 2000 accreditation, is headed by Director-General Dato’ Dr. Abdul Razak Mohd. Ali.
We went there to mainly shoot macro and enjoy the countryside!
I came back with some shots I'm really happy with! This series is focused on Macro, I'll show some environmental shots later.
Termite Army!
Colourful Fly
Faber-Castell E-motion Boxed Set (Pencil & Ballpoint with Keychain)
Ah birthday presents are lovely!
This year I got a Faber-Castell E-motion Boxed Set with a pen, a pencil and a keychain.
E-Motion pencil with pearwood barrel in brown; matte finish metal cap & tip with metal clip, & E-Motion ballpoint pen with pearwood barrel in brown; matte finish metal cap & tip with metal clip.
Pussy and Pink
A while ago I was at Peter's place to help with his car, which was rather unsuccessful...so I took some pictures instead.
From now on I shall catch up with processing my pictures and uploading them as I am months and months behind. I've been too busy with other stuff lately.
Introducing Pussy and the Pinks.
This shot is my current wallpaper
