.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

Well I don't know if I'd call myself a photographer yet...but I've just passed my second year in photography..

I got my Nikon D70s on June 7th 2006, 2 years ago last month. I had some cameras before that, an old Olympus mju 35mm film point and shoot and I got my first digital camera in 2001 (which cost me a fortune) - the 3.2 megapixel Canon Powershot A70.

It did me well and most of my earlier pictures on this blog were from that camera.

I'd say I started photography properly when I got the D70s, before that I'd just started exploring what I could do with with the A70 and was starting to find it's limitations in terms of speed, noise at high ISO, accurate white balance and fine tuning controls. I decided against getting a bridge or prosumer camera and to go straight for a dSLR.

My choices at that time were the Canon 350D, the Olympus E-500 and the Nikon D70s.

I hardly got chance to use the camera, and had only just bought my first lens other than the kit lens (A Tamron SP90mm Di Macro Lens)...and my camera was stolen only 3 months after I'd bought it.

That was heartbreaking to say the least...by that time I'd completely gotten the photography bug though so I couldn't give up...I had a choice to make between getting the Nikon D80, which had just been released or the higher model the Nikon D200. I went for the D200 for various reasons (solid build, more accurate metering, CF card rather than SD and so on) and I have to say I've never regretted the decision.

Anyway here are a few of my personal favs I've taken in the 2 years since I've gone from complete noob to slightly less noob.

With the Nikon D70s

With the Nikon D200

I've had a stranger buy one of my pictures though, I've been published in quite a few magazines and national papers, I'll have a spread in FHM August, I've shot a major musical event and I've recently seen one of my pictures on a billboard! I've got a lot of unpublished stuff, so perhaps I'll make an effort to get it on my blog. Also of course we started Shutter Asia to expand my learning and network of photographers for outings and trips - so far it's been great!

It's a start!

I've still gotten a long way to go though, only 2 years into photography...probably another 23 years to go before I get any good Most things take at least 25 years to master reasonably well.

So last weekend I was shooting a couple of Korean girls in TTDI, Taman Rimba Kiara park to be precise. You might recognise one of the girls

It was unfortunate that the whole week was glorious weather with beautiful sunsets...but that Saturday the haze came down and flattened the light. I had to play around a bit with a reflector and some off camera lighting (tried to make it subtle). A lot were shot with a SB-800 in a silver reflective umbrella gelled with a CTO gel to warm up the flash light. Rear/rim light provided by SB-600 naked on a stand (about time I got a decent snoot or some grid-spots...waiting for Honl!). Anyway enough photogeeking stuff.

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Some time last year I attended an event for Eibach and BBS track day at the car park for Shah Alam stadium, they had some of the guys over from Europe to talk about their products.

The morning talks were actually very interesting, there's an amazing amount of engineering that goes into making suspension and alloy wheels!

I think it was my first time covering an event and my first time trying out some panning, luckily it was a bright sunny day which made it easier - and I tried some whacked up wide angle panning!

The cars used were Naza Bestari and the tyres sponsored by Toyo, there were 3 cars, one with standard suspension, one with Eibach's normal upgrade (not too stiff) and one with coilovers (mega stiff).

BBS rims are very nice, but they'll set you back a fair amount (around 6k for a set).

After an introduction the press and dealers got to try out all 3 cars on the small carpark track to test the handling with the various types of suspension.

The red car was factory fresh, standard wheels and suspension and as you can see a considerable amount of body roll.

The silver car was fitted with the intermediate suspension and suffered a lot less body roll, but was still comfortable without being too bumpy.

The black car had much harder coilover suspension and cornered really well.

I tried both the silver and the black, I didn't bother with the red as I pretty much know what the factory ride is like.

There was a small slalom stretch at the start of the course to try out the handling.

I'd just bought my superwide lens then I think and I was going a bit mad with it! Can't blame me though right 10mm is damn cool.

I even did super mega superwide panning!

Looks wicked large on black.

Shooting at f/20 to get the slow shutter speed, this was the day I discovered an immense amount of dust on my sensor!

It was a pretty fun experience, it's good to practice shooting moving objects!

So in the midst of all the strobing I found time for a few natural light shots against the blind with the afternoon sun streaming through.

I really like how they came out, especially this one.

Longing

Wondering

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Full moon, super bright and round last night so I took a couple of shots to wish you all Happy Moon Festival.

Hope you enjoyed your lanterns!

Coming soon! So watch this space.

Fierce Style

Sexy Secretary

Silence

Don't forget to support her in Star Celeb (#34).

Apologies for the lack of updates, I was away in Jakarta for a few days, then I had food poisoning...quite badly...so spent a couple of days either in bed or on the toilet.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyway, a while back I went to The Eye on Malaysia, another waste money project sponsored by the G.

I went twice, the first time I conveniently forgot my tripod, so no decent shots..but thankfully there wasn't fireworks that night so I didn't miss anything.

I duly went back the next weekend, and camped out an hour or so before the show, and got what I wanted!

It was my first time taking fireworks, quite an experience.

The Eye on Malaysia

This 30 second exposure spent quite a long time as my wallpaper!

Do view Large on Black for details!

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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)

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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!

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The second picture in the series with Krystal.

View the Large 'Freedom' On Black.

Do you like it?

An attempt at Dramatic Portraiture.

Hope to process them all soon!