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This post is titled Honda Civic Mugen RR by author SoulJah.
Source: Officially Official: Japan gets Honda Civic Mugen RR
Source: Officially Official: Japan gets Honda Civic Mugen RR
Posted by SoulJah at 4:32:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled STPRI 50 Years Golden Jubilee by author SoulJah.
After a forum posting, we amassed our troops and deployed to STPRI celebrating her 50th Year Golden Jubilee celebration. Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha graced the event yesterday morning. A photo opportunity we all don't wanna miss.
Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600548890065/detail/
Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600548890065/detail/
Labels: News, Outing, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 12:00:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled STPRI's 50 Years Golden Jubilee Preview by author SoulJah.
More will be processed soon. Hopefully most pictures will be up tomorrow.
More will be processed soon. Hopefully most pictures will be up tomorrow.
Labels: News, Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 7:36:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Transformers Movie Review by author SoulJah.
Michael Bay being attached to this franchise made a couple of my friends nervous, and for good reason. He gave us the Bad Boys series, Miami Vice and The Island, and his contribution showed; slow mo sequences, outrageous fighting scene angles, gravity defying, intense car chase scenes, gun fights, the list goes on and on. And seeing his contribution, people might think that it'd be a whole two and a half hours gun fest in slow motion. You won't be further from the truth.
An origins storyline of sort, which is all the rage nowadays with comics to movies adaptations, it chronicles the arrival of Optimus Prime and most of his more memorable comrades from the Generation 1 TV Series. While a far departure from the real Generation 1 storyline, eschewing the storyline of the Autobots and Decepticons arriving on earth 4 million years ago, the storyline they've used here is well compressed for the average movie goer today.
The Allspark, a device that gives life to Cybertron, and sustain said life, was lost to the depths of space when a civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons erupted. The Allspark somehow lands on Earth, with Megatron following suit. He crash lands in the North Pole, and has been held in cryostasis the entire time until the events in the movie.
While convenient to the masses and they can dive in into the story immediately, fans of the cartoon series and toy line, which I can say almost all of us, are going to be a bit miffed at the liberties taken with the story. While it would have been cool to have the original storyline, the confusing and sometimes contradictory continuity with the different seasons of the TV series would be a hard sell to the average Joe. After all, they're coming for the action sequences.
And action sequence they will have. Gone are the lasers, and in come the bullets and missiles. Gatling guns materialize out of a bot's hand, while some body parts firing off missiles, all while going through acrobatic routines that would even shame the most agile of spider monkeys. They duck and roll, run and jump, and causing general destruction to the fictional city, blasting bullets back and forth and firing off heat seeking missiles. By the one hour mark, I bet you'll have action sequence overload not seen anywhere else before.
It's this overload that takes away your amazement the fifth or sixth time you see an Autobot or a Deception transform back and forth between their two modes. The first few times you see Scorponok chasing the human characters, Bumblebee transform into a robot, or Optimus Prime transforming from a totally awesome truck to a totally awesome 20 feet tall robot, a sense of giddy excitement comes over you. It's euphoric, even teetering on arousal. Towards the end of the movie, the action picks up so much that you can't savor the robots animation anymore. It's just two hulking mass duking it out in the middle of downtown.
I'm not saying that the whole theater didn't appreciate the animation sequences, which, giving credit where credit is due, ILM did a spectacular job by the way. 38 hours to generate a single frame is mind boggling to say the least. It earned the standing ovation at the end of the showing; and I wholeheartedly agree. I yelped in glee at the first sight of Optimus Prime, that's how excited I was, and I will not retract that yelp for anything in the world.
The selection of Autobots and Decepticons portrayed in the movie are purely for the purpose of making it easier to digest, and even satisfy fan's demand for their favourite 'bot to appear. While Soundwave won't be making an appearance for instance, due to the fact that they want to explain the mass shifting in future sequels (!), Starscream is a perfect choice as he has the biggest fanbase for a Decepticon, next to Soundwave. Even updating the vehicles they all transform to seemed like a blasphemous move at first, but you can forgive them for making the vehicles much more easier on the eyes.
Shia LeBeouf is a perfect actor to fill the role of Sam Witwicky, becoming the comic relief of the movie, while Megan Fox supplies the eye candy department. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are the military jarheads and John Voight deserves a mention as well as the US Secretary of Defense.
The best thing about the whole movie was that they've made an effort to sticking to the original material as best as they can, even to the point of getting the original voices for the original cartoon TV series to reprise their roles for the movie. They even went so far as to include Optimus' famous energy Ax in once crucial scene. It was fun picking out and pointing out what you remember from your childhood in this movie.
I'm giving this movie 8 Energon Cubes out of 10.
An origins storyline of sort, which is all the rage nowadays with comics to movies adaptations, it chronicles the arrival of Optimus Prime and most of his more memorable comrades from the Generation 1 TV Series. While a far departure from the real Generation 1 storyline, eschewing the storyline of the Autobots and Decepticons arriving on earth 4 million years ago, the storyline they've used here is well compressed for the average movie goer today.
The Allspark, a device that gives life to Cybertron, and sustain said life, was lost to the depths of space when a civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons erupted. The Allspark somehow lands on Earth, with Megatron following suit. He crash lands in the North Pole, and has been held in cryostasis the entire time until the events in the movie.
While convenient to the masses and they can dive in into the story immediately, fans of the cartoon series and toy line, which I can say almost all of us, are going to be a bit miffed at the liberties taken with the story. While it would have been cool to have the original storyline, the confusing and sometimes contradictory continuity with the different seasons of the TV series would be a hard sell to the average Joe. After all, they're coming for the action sequences.
And action sequence they will have. Gone are the lasers, and in come the bullets and missiles. Gatling guns materialize out of a bot's hand, while some body parts firing off missiles, all while going through acrobatic routines that would even shame the most agile of spider monkeys. They duck and roll, run and jump, and causing general destruction to the fictional city, blasting bullets back and forth and firing off heat seeking missiles. By the one hour mark, I bet you'll have action sequence overload not seen anywhere else before.
It's this overload that takes away your amazement the fifth or sixth time you see an Autobot or a Deception transform back and forth between their two modes. The first few times you see Scorponok chasing the human characters, Bumblebee transform into a robot, or Optimus Prime transforming from a totally awesome truck to a totally awesome 20 feet tall robot, a sense of giddy excitement comes over you. It's euphoric, even teetering on arousal. Towards the end of the movie, the action picks up so much that you can't savor the robots animation anymore. It's just two hulking mass duking it out in the middle of downtown.
I'm not saying that the whole theater didn't appreciate the animation sequences, which, giving credit where credit is due, ILM did a spectacular job by the way. 38 hours to generate a single frame is mind boggling to say the least. It earned the standing ovation at the end of the showing; and I wholeheartedly agree. I yelped in glee at the first sight of Optimus Prime, that's how excited I was, and I will not retract that yelp for anything in the world.
The selection of Autobots and Decepticons portrayed in the movie are purely for the purpose of making it easier to digest, and even satisfy fan's demand for their favourite 'bot to appear. While Soundwave won't be making an appearance for instance, due to the fact that they want to explain the mass shifting in future sequels (!), Starscream is a perfect choice as he has the biggest fanbase for a Decepticon, next to Soundwave. Even updating the vehicles they all transform to seemed like a blasphemous move at first, but you can forgive them for making the vehicles much more easier on the eyes.
Shia LeBeouf is a perfect actor to fill the role of Sam Witwicky, becoming the comic relief of the movie, while Megan Fox supplies the eye candy department. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are the military jarheads and John Voight deserves a mention as well as the US Secretary of Defense.
The best thing about the whole movie was that they've made an effort to sticking to the original material as best as they can, even to the point of getting the original voices for the original cartoon TV series to reprise their roles for the movie. They even went so far as to include Optimus' famous energy Ax in once crucial scene. It was fun picking out and pointing out what you remember from your childhood in this movie.
I'm giving this movie 8 Energon Cubes out of 10.
Posted by SoulJah at 7:23:00 AM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Beach Barbecue, Strobist Style by author SoulJah.
Barbecue, at my favourite beach. Lots and lots of subjects, and room to test out some Strobist style photography. Who would resist?
The major food groups are well represented here.
The Chef's at work, and testing the effects of the Circular Polarizer on reflections. Mid: Max Effect, Right: Least Effect.
Sunglasses...
And more sunglasses, and cheating Macro from 1.5 metres away.
AWWW!!!
Kids having fun with the sand.
Love it when the technique goes right.
Bam! Bam! Bammm!
Set is at: http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600476537629/detail/
Don't forget the first pic; here: http://www.stupidlogic.com/2007/06/beach-barbecue.html
The major food groups are well represented here.
The Chef's at work, and testing the effects of the Circular Polarizer on reflections. Mid: Max Effect, Right: Least Effect.
Sunglasses...
And more sunglasses, and cheating Macro from 1.5 metres away.
AWWW!!!
Kids having fun with the sand.
Love it when the technique goes right.
Bam! Bam! Bammm!
Set is at: http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600476537629/detail/
Don't forget the first pic; here: http://www.stupidlogic.com/2007/06/beach-barbecue.html
Labels: Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 4:28:00 PM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Gadong Outing AKA Bandwidth Killer by author SoulJah.
Held an impromptu outing with Rano. Attendance list: Rano, myself, AnakBrunei, Jim747, Airbiscuit, Ucup, Ber, CPS.Brunei, Rezafaizal, Dr. Zul and RJ63 aka Ripin. Nikonian came by briefly with his bright necktie dealing something with Monteloo.
Oh hi, I killed your bandwidth again.
She easily found parking, on a frickin Saturday no less!
Haha somehow we all think this is kinda hilarious.
Negative and positive space.
Onwards, men!
Most of the photogs are in this shot.
Header silhouette, ala She-Shoots, anyone?
Obligatory Mall in the river shot.
Obligatory shooting people shooting shot.
Scrumtulicious, Golden Hour lighting.
Emmm... Fish and carbon...
The famous Honey Flavoured Banana Fritters, or Cucur Pisang Madu.
I love this shot for some reason.
Imagine, this is around Chill, so I was getting some weird looks from the patrons.
NekDonalds?
Yamaha Bike Girls.
And another shot.
Precious.
To top it off, barbecue at Mr. Syaf's house!
Awesome night. Awesome night.
Set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600477260574/detail/
Oh hi, I killed your bandwidth again.
She easily found parking, on a frickin Saturday no less!
Haha somehow we all think this is kinda hilarious.
Negative and positive space.
Onwards, men!
Most of the photogs are in this shot.
Header silhouette, ala She-Shoots, anyone?
Obligatory Mall in the river shot.
Obligatory shooting people shooting shot.
Scrumtulicious, Golden Hour lighting.
Emmm... Fish and carbon...
The famous Honey Flavoured Banana Fritters, or Cucur Pisang Madu.
I love this shot for some reason.
Imagine, this is around Chill, so I was getting some weird looks from the patrons.
NekDonalds?
Yamaha Bike Girls.
And another shot.
Precious.
To top it off, barbecue at Mr. Syaf's house!
Awesome night. Awesome night.
Set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600477260574/detail/
Labels: Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 2:39:00 PM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Gadong Outing Preview by author SoulJah.
Held an impromptu outing with Rano. Attendance list: Rano, myself, AnakBrunei, Jim747, Airbiscuit, Ucup, Ber, CPS.Brunei, Rezafaizal, Dr. Zul and RJ63 aka Ripin. Nikonian came by briefly with his bright necktie dealing something with Monteloo.
Click on the image to see notes.
Click on the image to see notes.
Labels: Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 5:29:00 PM
2 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Beach Barbecue by author SoulJah.
Strobist Info: One SB800 triggered from about arms length from camera left and slightly above. Triggered with CLS (someone borrowed my GI Triggers). I think this was triggered at full power to over power the ambient while at my max sync speed of 1/200. Diffuser was on.
Strobist Info: One SB800 triggered from about arms length from camera left and slightly above. Triggered with CLS (someone borrowed my GI Triggers). I think this was triggered at full power to over power the ambient while at my max sync speed of 1/200. Diffuser was on.
Labels: Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 5:14:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Why I was so happy yesterday... by author SoulJah.
Chat transcript:
-my shipment out of hongkong is getting shipped out
-my contact lens solution that's almost ran out arrived, and got two of those
-i found [edit: my] bluetooth mouse in my brother's room, somehow i sensed it was there
-and finally my shipment that i thought was lost forever, was finally found, the seller on ebay finally got in contact with me and we sorted that out
-its getting shipped out today
Confused? Here's the explanation.
-My Graduated ND Filter
-I wear Hard Contacts, so it needs a special solution
-I thought I've lost my $89 Logitech Bluetooth Mouse at work, but I found it at home in my brother's room!
-I got two SB-24 Speedlights from an eBayer, but somehow eBay didn't pick up the payment from paypal so she thought I had not paid. Tried getting in contact with her, but somehow my messages ends up in Yahoo Mails spam folder, and they've had a surgery for the past month. So in any case, she sent off the two Speedlights yesterday! Woohoo! More
-my shipment out of hongkong is getting shipped out
-my contact lens solution that's almost ran out arrived, and got two of those
-i found [edit: my] bluetooth mouse in my brother's room, somehow i sensed it was there
-and finally my shipment that i thought was lost forever, was finally found, the seller on ebay finally got in contact with me and we sorted that out
-its getting shipped out today
Confused? Here's the explanation.
-My Graduated ND Filter
-I wear Hard Contacts, so it needs a special solution
-I thought I've lost my $89 Logitech Bluetooth Mouse at work, but I found it at home in my brother's room!
-I got two SB-24 Speedlights from an eBayer, but somehow eBay didn't pick up the payment from paypal so she thought I had not paid. Tried getting in contact with her, but somehow my messages ends up in Yahoo Mails spam folder, and they've had a surgery for the past month. So in any case, she sent off the two Speedlights yesterday! Woohoo! More
Labels: Equipment, Not Categorized, Online Shopping, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 1:15:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Rozi's Wedding by author SoulJah.
Present photogs that I recognized were David Cheok, Wang Lai(I think...) and Ucingitam, and one more from their team which I didn't catch his name. The rest, around 2 or 3, including myself, were just taking photos for practice. And oh, I made sure I wasn't in David's line of sight.
Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600395676446/detail/
Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600395676446/detail/
Labels: Photography, Weddings
Posted by SoulJah at 3:51:00 PM
2 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Of Jing Chew and Go Karts... by author SoulJah.
Had a Jing Chew pow wow with Anakbrunei (w/ missus), Rezafaizal, Bandar360 and Nikonian, treat by Ber. Mainly, I was there to pick up my Maha Powerex batteries from Chee as he had some imported in for us photogs, and I have to say, the charger is awesome, but not as awesome as the batteries. Put some into my flash just in case I had the itch to shoot the wedding for my officemate later in the afternoon, and they performed great even out of the box.
Didn't have a lot of time to shoot the Go Karts and Scooters racing, as they only had the time trials on the morning session, and had to go by 11am to Empire Cinema for our rendezvous point for the wedding in Tutong. Present there was RJ63, Airbiscuit, Jim747, Rezafaizal, Aku and aku... as in me.
Didn't have a lot of time to shoot the Go Karts and Scooters racing, as they only had the time trials on the morning session, and had to go by 11am to Empire Cinema for our rendezvous point for the wedding in Tutong. Present there was RJ63, Airbiscuit, Jim747, Rezafaizal, Aku and aku... as in me.
Labels: Equipment, Outing, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 11:57:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Prettiful Flower by author SoulJah.
Haha, don't worry, I'm not gonna start to do Macro any time soon. SB600 on 1/64 Power on the left, and SB800 on 1/64 power on the right. Both a few inches below the flower. Background was an open garage.
Haha, don't worry, I'm not gonna start to do Macro any time soon. SB600 on 1/64 Power on the left, and SB800 on 1/64 power on the right. Both a few inches below the flower. Background was an open garage.
Labels: Experiment, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 9:39:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Product Shot: Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G by author SoulJah.
Setup shot here: http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/552079178/
Setup shot here: http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/552079178/
Labels: Equipment, Experiment, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 10:32:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer by author SoulJah.
I've never been a fan of the Fantastic Four series, comic, cartoon or movie wise, as they're lower ranked in the top tier of comic book superheroes. Having seen the first movie, I can see why the movie adaptations aren't the top of most comic book fans wishlist to see this summer season. But for me, it has a rater acceptable level of believability, as you can imagine them living their now newfound celebrity lives in New York.
The main antagonist for this movie is of course, the titular character, the Silver Surfer. Played by Doug Jones, but voiced by Laurence Fishburne, a tall well built silvery being goes around the universe on his silver surf board. Once known as Norrin Radd, he's forced to serve Galactus as a Herald in order to save his own home planet from destruction. While doing Galactus' bidding all over the earth, he finally meets the wise cracking team of Fantastic Four and does the noble-change-of-heart things villains would do.
While being a badass in the earlier part of the movie, he exhibits the traits of the Silver Surfer as people know him. A confident, no nonsense, powerful being that can take on the entire Fantastic Four team all by himself, but ultimately foiled in one of those "A-ha! That's the answer!" pseudo scientific moments. But man, him surfing through the streets, tearing everything apart around him gave me goosebumps all over. It's the one time where the now obligatory flying-through-crowded-streets-scene l0oks almost realistic. Almost.
But then that's the only highlight of the movie. If you can conjure up the running time of the movie, it stands at a disappointing 1 hour 30 minutes, which to me is too damn brief to tell any meaningful story that all the older comic book readers would appreciate. I just hate the fact that they have stooped down to the lowest common denominator of the movie going crowd, satiating the segment of people that want movies to end right at the 1 hour 30 minutes mark. The kinds that complain and whine about a 2 to 3 hour long movie. I want my money's worth, and at that running time, I'm getting gipped on an extra half hour or more storyline, and the fact that they crammed a wonderful trilogy into a compressed Cliff's Notes on the events in the trilogy.
It's not a bad story per se, as the comic performance between the Fantastics can be funny at times, but man, another dancing scene in another superhero movies? Does Stan Lee have anything to do with that I wonder? And they had to have another naked Jessica Alba scene just to induce some laughs and some erections.
A good light hearted action romp, and doesn't take itself too seriously with moral quandaries and philosophical heroes spouting one line too much, you'd hate it that you paid full admission to see a brief, unsatisfying movie, and wished it was half price so you could like it more. It's like... An Episode of Heroes mixed in with Armageddon and Blue Crush (with the surfings and everything), and you're halfway there.
The main antagonist for this movie is of course, the titular character, the Silver Surfer. Played by Doug Jones, but voiced by Laurence Fishburne, a tall well built silvery being goes around the universe on his silver surf board. Once known as Norrin Radd, he's forced to serve Galactus as a Herald in order to save his own home planet from destruction. While doing Galactus' bidding all over the earth, he finally meets the wise cracking team of Fantastic Four and does the noble-change-of-heart things villains would do.
While being a badass in the earlier part of the movie, he exhibits the traits of the Silver Surfer as people know him. A confident, no nonsense, powerful being that can take on the entire Fantastic Four team all by himself, but ultimately foiled in one of those "A-ha! That's the answer!" pseudo scientific moments. But man, him surfing through the streets, tearing everything apart around him gave me goosebumps all over. It's the one time where the now obligatory flying-through-crowded-streets-scene l0oks almost realistic. Almost.
But then that's the only highlight of the movie. If you can conjure up the running time of the movie, it stands at a disappointing 1 hour 30 minutes, which to me is too damn brief to tell any meaningful story that all the older comic book readers would appreciate. I just hate the fact that they have stooped down to the lowest common denominator of the movie going crowd, satiating the segment of people that want movies to end right at the 1 hour 30 minutes mark. The kinds that complain and whine about a 2 to 3 hour long movie. I want my money's worth, and at that running time, I'm getting gipped on an extra half hour or more storyline, and the fact that they crammed a wonderful trilogy into a compressed Cliff's Notes on the events in the trilogy.
It's not a bad story per se, as the comic performance between the Fantastics can be funny at times, but man, another dancing scene in another superhero movies? Does Stan Lee have anything to do with that I wonder? And they had to have another naked Jessica Alba scene just to induce some laughs and some erections.
A good light hearted action romp, and doesn't take itself too seriously with moral quandaries and philosophical heroes spouting one line too much, you'd hate it that you paid full admission to see a brief, unsatisfying movie, and wished it was half price so you could like it more. It's like... An Episode of Heroes mixed in with Armageddon and Blue Crush (with the surfings and everything), and you're halfway there.
Posted by SoulJah at 1:04:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Show Us What You Drive Competition Winner by author SoulJah.
Turns out, I caught the winner before!
The article is here:
http://www.dst-group.com/simpur/photogallery/competitions/drive/index.htm.
And my post was posted here:
http://www.stupidlogic.com/2007/06/night-crawling.html.
What a small world afterall!
The article is here:
http://www.dst-group.com/simpur/photogallery/competitions/drive/index.htm.
And my post was posted here:
http://www.stupidlogic.com/2007/06/night-crawling.html.
What a small world afterall!
Labels: News, Outing, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 10:54:00 AM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Pelangi on Stage by author SoulJah.
It was raining, and the ground was muddy. Sapped the excitement right out. Well at least for me the highlight of the night was to see the gyrations of Adinda.
Rano interviewing the emcees for the night.
Zul F had a great performance that night.
Even these lads did. The Claws was it?
Ah, yummy Adinda.
Gyrating.
Writhing.
Whirling.
And general tomfoolery kinda made up for the night.
Jim... Rim lighting plus flash! Haha!
Direct head on flash nuking.
Emm... Burnt food...
Present were Ranoadidas, Airbiscuit, Nikonian, Jim747. Ucingitam and Bandar360 we met afterwards.
Rano interviewing the emcees for the night.
Zul F had a great performance that night.
Even these lads did. The Claws was it?
Ah, yummy Adinda.
Gyrating.
Writhing.
Whirling.
And general tomfoolery kinda made up for the night.
Jim... Rim lighting plus flash! Haha!
Direct head on flash nuking.
Emm... Burnt food...
Present were Ranoadidas, Airbiscuit, Nikonian, Jim747. Ucingitam and Bandar360 we met afterwards.
Labels: Outing, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 10:34:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Death Star by author SoulJah.
Labels: Outing, Photography, Royal Wedding
Posted by SoulJah at 10:05:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Prelude to a View 2 by author SoulJah.
Labels: Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 12:14:00 PM
2 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Set Images to Stunning by author SoulJah.
Present were Jim747, Airbiscuit, Ucingitam and Zadm. Laughing like kids we were. Everyone likes fireworks. Taken at Damuan.
The rest are here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600341548579
Present were Jim747, Airbiscuit, Ucingitam and Zadm. Laughing like kids we were. Everyone likes fireworks. Taken at Damuan.
The rest are here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600341548579
Labels: Outing, Photography, Royal Wedding
Posted by SoulJah at 12:20:00 PM
4 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Set Image to Automagic by author SoulJah.
Whoops. Wrong set declaration there.
EDIT: Oh Poop. If it doesn't bring up the thumbnails down at the bottom, press left and right on your keyboard.
Whoops. Wrong set declaration there.
EDIT: Oh Poop. If it doesn't bring up the thumbnails down at the bottom, press left and right on your keyboard.
Labels: Experiment, Flickr
Posted by SoulJah at 3:51:00 PM
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This post is titled Brunei Royal Wedding Procession Part 2 by author SoulJah.
Trying to do the Photojournalism type of shot here. The "Blurred people passing infront of the interest piece" type of thing.
Jim747 and Zadm, as they were walking from the general Istana Area towards Bandar.
The Photogs after a long day. Battered and bruised.
Click on the images for the bigger pictures.
The set is at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600334533356/
Trying to do the Photojournalism type of shot here. The "Blurred people passing infront of the interest piece" type of thing.
Jim747 and Zadm, as they were walking from the general Istana Area towards Bandar.
The Photogs after a long day. Battered and bruised.
Click on the images for the bigger pictures.
The set is at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600334533356/
Labels: News, Outing, Photography, Royal Wedding, Weddings
Posted by SoulJah at 1:25:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Brunei Royal Wedding Procession Part 1 by author SoulJah.
I've basically put up this post especially for these two ladies. I saw them at the Royal Regalia junction waiting for the procession to start, around 10.30 am. Trouble was, their flight was at 12.20pm and they needed to be at the airport at 11.00am and they definitely gonna miss it. So I told them they could catch the pictures here. If you ladies are reading this, definitely leave a comment, ok?
I've basically put up this post especially for these two ladies. I saw them at the Royal Regalia junction waiting for the procession to start, around 10.30 am. Trouble was, their flight was at 12.20pm and they needed to be at the airport at 11.00am and they definitely gonna miss it. So I told them they could catch the pictures here. If you ladies are reading this, definitely leave a comment, ok?
Labels: News, Outing, Photography, Royal Wedding, Weddings
Posted by SoulJah at 10:49:00 PM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Night Crawling by author SoulJah.
Night outing in the run up to the Royal Wedding celebration that's going to be held on 10th June. In attendance. David Cheok. Wang Lai. Eyan from Pause By Bald. Mizi from MiziGoneLoco. Jim747. Airbiscuit. RJ63. AnakBrunei. Bandar360. Puzian. Zadm. Pg. Emran. Me.
EDIT: Forgot about Ucingitam.
EDIT2: Dammit. Forgot one more. G-Ferro has a nice shot of most of the photogs.
Sexy, no? The legendary 85mm f/1.4.
Man, I missed going wide like this ever since selling my 18-135mm kit lens.
Strobing from across the road. Man, that little bugger can put out a lot of power.
Tried to do something here, but didn't want to put up a stand, because cars were buzzing by. So left the SB800, tried some shots, didn't like it, and ran back while my friend was looking after the camera. Immediately as I ran, the strobe came a-flashin' and that almost disoriented me. Turned out he took this shot. Looks cool.
The who's who of wedding photography. I love the skies in this one.
Was aiming to strobe the bins, and wasn't even chimping my light levels yet, and then this kid just run up and threw something in. So I just took the shot anyway, knowing full well I was shooting in RAW and can adjust the exposure later on. Adjusted it -1 EV.
Whee. Lemon Tea.
Didn't have the space to switch to my 80-200 so I just used the 17-55.
Kinda, hot. The soup I mean.
Long throw hard light as she was quite a ways away. Was using the 80-200 at this point.
Taken by Jim747.
Tried some long throw hard lights here, but it wasn't looking well. So I just fired off a couple of shots without it and this looked the best. I love how the light column come from the top.
Tried a couple of shots for this, chimping the strobe down until I get it just right. This was straight on long throw hard light, but turned out great in lighting the whole frame.
I was a long way away, and tried lighting the guys up as I walked behind them against the lightshows, this came out a tad right, still a silhouette but bringing up the details in the sleeves and collars.
Had one more go in lighting up the whole thing. The flash was on camera, so it was coming from the left as you can see.
I thought I set it at Rear Curtain Flash, but hey, it looked kinda great anyhow. Reduced the exposure by -1 EV. Initially it lit up the road and the car, and the reflective sticker was really overblown.
The set is at http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600328220825/
EDIT: Forgot about Ucingitam.
EDIT2: Dammit. Forgot one more. G-Ferro has a nice shot of most of the photogs.
Sexy, no? The legendary 85mm f/1.4.
Man, I missed going wide like this ever since selling my 18-135mm kit lens.
Strobing from across the road. Man, that little bugger can put out a lot of power.
Tried to do something here, but didn't want to put up a stand, because cars were buzzing by. So left the SB800, tried some shots, didn't like it, and ran back while my friend was looking after the camera. Immediately as I ran, the strobe came a-flashin' and that almost disoriented me. Turned out he took this shot. Looks cool.
The who's who of wedding photography. I love the skies in this one.
Was aiming to strobe the bins, and wasn't even chimping my light levels yet, and then this kid just run up and threw something in. So I just took the shot anyway, knowing full well I was shooting in RAW and can adjust the exposure later on. Adjusted it -1 EV.
Whee. Lemon Tea.
Didn't have the space to switch to my 80-200 so I just used the 17-55.
Kinda, hot. The soup I mean.
Long throw hard light as she was quite a ways away. Was using the 80-200 at this point.
Taken by Jim747.
Tried some long throw hard lights here, but it wasn't looking well. So I just fired off a couple of shots without it and this looked the best. I love how the light column come from the top.
Tried a couple of shots for this, chimping the strobe down until I get it just right. This was straight on long throw hard light, but turned out great in lighting the whole frame.
I was a long way away, and tried lighting the guys up as I walked behind them against the lightshows, this came out a tad right, still a silhouette but bringing up the details in the sleeves and collars.
Had one more go in lighting up the whole thing. The flash was on camera, so it was coming from the left as you can see.
I thought I set it at Rear Curtain Flash, but hey, it looked kinda great anyhow. Reduced the exposure by -1 EV. Initially it lit up the road and the car, and the reflective sticker was really overblown.
The set is at http://flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/sets/72157600328220825/
Labels: Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 10:29:00 AM
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This post is titled Prelude to a View by author SoulJah.
Tried to bracket the shots, but wasn't bringing my tripod. So no go fo' HDR-o.
Tried to bracket the shots, but wasn't bringing my tripod. So no go fo' HDR-o.
Labels: Not Categorized, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 9:44:00 AM
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This post is titled Header change by author SoulJah.
Just to make it more PG-13.
If you want to see the usual header, click on Alternate Layout to the left.
If you want to see the usual header, click on Alternate Layout to the left.
Labels: Not Categorized
Posted by SoulJah at 2:07:00 PM
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This post is titled Thundercats Movie Coming soon? by author SoulJah.
Warner purrs for Thundercats
Wow. This either gonna be totally awesome, or totally bad.
It all depends on who'd they pick for the role of Cheetara.
We all know the one playing Cheetara would require acrobatic antics, stamina of a... well... Cheetah, and a body so hot, it makes you feel like you've just hit puberty all over again. Halle Berry could pull it off, but her recent run ins with the feline kind on the silver screen left a bad taste for some.
We all know Jolie would is a superb fit for this role, but normal Joe would be confused as to why does the Tomb Raider chick dressed up in Cheetah body paint?
Jessica Alba is can fit into this role as well. She hits all the buttons proper, but you'd imagine a warrior feline-woman would not sound like a whiny little girl.
I'd pick Eva Longoria in a heartbeat if it the role didn't require a tall, Amazonian, lithe physique. Why would I have chosen her? I want to watch as much of Ms. Longoria as much as I can.
So I have to settle for Eva Mendez. I don't care if she's not jumping over people's head and bashing their heads in with the staff. She can just stand there proudly chest out and holding the staff for all I'd care.
I know you people don't agree with my choices. So, what's the best that you can come up with?
Wow. This either gonna be totally awesome, or totally bad.
It all depends on who'd they pick for the role of Cheetara.
We all know the one playing Cheetara would require acrobatic antics, stamina of a... well... Cheetah, and a body so hot, it makes you feel like you've just hit puberty all over again. Halle Berry could pull it off, but her recent run ins with the feline kind on the silver screen left a bad taste for some.
We all know Jolie would is a superb fit for this role, but normal Joe would be confused as to why does the Tomb Raider chick dressed up in Cheetah body paint?
Jessica Alba is can fit into this role as well. She hits all the buttons proper, but you'd imagine a warrior feline-woman would not sound like a whiny little girl.
I'd pick Eva Longoria in a heartbeat if it the role didn't require a tall, Amazonian, lithe physique. Why would I have chosen her? I want to watch as much of Ms. Longoria as much as I can.
So I have to settle for Eva Mendez. I don't care if she's not jumping over people's head and bashing their heads in with the staff. She can just stand there proudly chest out and holding the staff for all I'd care.
I know you people don't agree with my choices. So, what's the best that you can come up with?
Labels: Not Categorized
Posted by SoulJah at 1:45:00 PM
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This post is titled Lighting 102: Light Controls Overview by author SoulJah.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/06/l102-light-controls-overview.html
- Varying the Position - as anyone who have seen my recent outings, they will know that I've been experimenting with this. But as my left hand is attached on my left hand side, therefore my lights are coming from... well... the left. That's the disadvantage working without a model. But anyway, even the basic act of taking it off the camera, the flash is already giving a much more deeper dimension than on camera flash can ever give.
- Varying the Apparent Size of the Light Source - even with the flash on camera, I've been using reflectors covered with grey reflective gaffer's tape, so the light source is looks much bigger. My umbrella haven't gotten much use though, gotta get out and use it more.
- Altering the Relative Intensity - David's quote: "This is a sticking point for a lot of people, so we are gonna hit it hard." I've only used -2 underexposure for most of my shots, but I'm betting I can get more better pictures with a proper ambient ratio.
- Restricting Light - This is the most fun I have with cereal boxes and coroplast sheets. I've been making a number of snoots and gobos and grids during my free time or during boring TV shows so it's rather an added benefit to me.
- Refraction and Reflection - This one I'm most excited about as I haven't had a chance to go into details into this topic.
- Altering the Color - I'm guilty in this regard. I usually leave off my gels in the bag pack, so I'm excited for this one as well.
- Time - I'm not very familiar with this one, but I've been experimenting with Repeating lights, Rear curtain syncing off camera etc.
Never have I felt giddy to start a class before in my life.
Labels: Photography, Series, Strobist, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 12:06:00 PM
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This post is titled Infra Red by author SoulJah.
That's me taken from a Night Vision Camera. Taken during a lull during the Bridex Showcase.
That's me taken from a Night Vision Camera. Taken during a lull during the Bridex Showcase.
Labels: Outing, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 11:30:00 AM
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This post is titled Lighting 102: Introduction by author SoulJah.
I'm planning to take up Lighting 102 this year conducted on Strobist, and follow along the lessons with my photos taken with techniques taught on each subject to be posted here. Discussions will be held on the Strobist Flickr group with course materials available on the Strobist Flickr pool.
Wanna take a class with me?
Wanna take a class with me?
Labels: Experiment, Flickr, Photography, Series, Strobist, Techniques - Strobing
Posted by SoulJah at 11:00:00 PM
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This post is titled Filters, filters, filters. by author SoulJah.
To me, this is my least understood topic when talking about photography. Sure, I've put UV filters in front of my lenses whenever possible, but do I know what it really does? And what with the different brandings and versions, it gets complicated really fast.
There's two divided camps when it comes to using UV filters. As it does nothing really to drastically change the images taken, (unless you're using a really, really inferior UV filter), the debate comes down to lens protection. One side claiming it's better to leave in on to protect the front element, and it's easier to clean a relatively cheap filter than a lens; another side claiming it degrades image quality, and even if the filter breaks upon impact, it might scratch the lens anyway.
I fall in the former camp, because I do preach what they say as well. But do remember not to choose a filter that degrades the image quality so bad that there's no point to have it on. Any coating is better than no coating as this will allow more light to pass through, and of course multi coating is better than single coating, denoted famously by Hoya's HMC or SHMC lines. I have a UV(N) HMC on my 50mm f/1.4, and I have to say, I love the colors it lets through. On the other hand, I have a UV Guard Coated on my 77mm thread lenses, and sometimes the colors are disappointing once in a while. And if pixel peeped really, really close, the image quality is seriously degraded if you know where to look. Made me regret not to choose a 77mm filter carefully, as that was all I could find when my 80-200mm arrived. Will rectify that soon with a new filter purchase.
Here's an example listing of UV filters, and as you go down the page, the price drops and the coatings become less and less, making for a lot less light to pass through, and generally worsening image quality. Generally, the more coating the better, and also be on the lookout for vignetting effect on your images when attaching a filter when going into your widest setting. This is why there are other options such as Thin filters, purposely engineered if you experience vignetting effect going wide.
Oh, remember, for night shooting, when shooting directly at lights, if you're getting ghostings and flares, just take the UV filter off. It will reduce it immensely.
Another set of filters that help in digital photography are Circular Polarizers. Why? Linear polarizers will sometimes mess with your Through The Lens (TTL) metering system employed in dSLRs and give a wonky reading. And that is why Circular Polarizers are selling for top dollars, and this spurred me to write up this article to get a better understadning how it works. While other filters can be emulated in post processing, this filter type has the most unique charasteristic that can't be emulated in post. Basically it removes the extra light that has been reflected off of surfaces, such as foliage, water surfaces and windows.
I know there are certain angles which makes the Cir PL filters more effective, but reading through Wikipedia doesn't offer much help in illustrating this fact. This page explains it the best as I have found out, and makes me can't wait to go shooting in bright sunlight to see the effects myself. Basically the maximum effect of removing reflection is when the reflection is incident at 30 degrees, and you are pointing 30 degrees from the opposite side of the incident. Another way is to have the sun perpendicular to where you are pointing the lens, to get the maximum effect.
Now we get to the "Hard to Swallow" part. As I said, the more coatings it has, the more expensive it becomes, so much so, for instance, a Pro 1 Digital HMC Circular Polarizer filter can reach upwards of USD200. That's why sometimes people, including yours truly, will skimp on this vital thing until we know what's the true purpose of these extra bits of glass. But if possible, get the best you can. You can skimp on other things, you shouldn't really skimp on something that goes infront of that thousand dollars lens.
And now for the fun part, using filters to alter the colors and exposure in your photograph. While there's times you just want a cool effect of the sky looking a different color with a Skylight 1B filter, there will be times when using a filter is important to get that shot otherwise impossible to get. Some might be familiar with using a Neutral Density filter to bump down the exposure of a scene while retaining a slower shutter speed than otherwise normal, or allowing the aperture to open up without overexposing the entire scene. Now imagine that effect for part of the frame.
Graduated ND filters are a godsend to landscape photographers the world over. A brief overview of the wonders of Grad ND filters are found here, allowing you to compress the dynamic range into something manageable for a dSLR. You might remember exposing for a shadow area in bright sunlight giving you overblown surroundings, while exposing for the sunlight might leave dark harsh shadows on your subjects. Imagine this for landscape photography, where the sky might be too bright while your foreground subjects are in the shadow. Rotating the ND side to the sky and the clear part for the foreground will make exposure for both to be correct.
Grad NDs come in 1, 2 or 3 stop variants and either in hard or soft gradation between the ND side and the clear side. Singh Ray has a complement of these for the Cokin P filter holders, so that may be on my wishlist for the time being. These are not cheap mind you, and for a specific purpose, you better be taking a lot of landscape pictures to be investing in the Cokin P system and a bevy of Singh Ray filters. B+W has a selection of these in normal, filter ring form, which to me, a 77mm 1 stop soft ND filter might be nice to invest in, as I'm not really gonna be doing landscape shots, that often, but it will be nice to have for the occasional hikes-up-a-hill-at-4-am-to-catch-the-sunrise.
There are a slew of other kinds of filters, such as diffusion filters or cross screen filters, but you will rarely come across these unless you're specifically into that kinda thing. I believe UV and CirPL are the most important filter knowledge you need to have, and at least I can give you a bit of reading jump off point so you can learn more how to effectively use filters.
There's two divided camps when it comes to using UV filters. As it does nothing really to drastically change the images taken, (unless you're using a really, really inferior UV filter), the debate comes down to lens protection. One side claiming it's better to leave in on to protect the front element, and it's easier to clean a relatively cheap filter than a lens; another side claiming it degrades image quality, and even if the filter breaks upon impact, it might scratch the lens anyway.
I fall in the former camp, because I do preach what they say as well. But do remember not to choose a filter that degrades the image quality so bad that there's no point to have it on. Any coating is better than no coating as this will allow more light to pass through, and of course multi coating is better than single coating, denoted famously by Hoya's HMC or SHMC lines. I have a UV(N) HMC on my 50mm f/1.4, and I have to say, I love the colors it lets through. On the other hand, I have a UV Guard Coated on my 77mm thread lenses, and sometimes the colors are disappointing once in a while. And if pixel peeped really, really close, the image quality is seriously degraded if you know where to look. Made me regret not to choose a 77mm filter carefully, as that was all I could find when my 80-200mm arrived. Will rectify that soon with a new filter purchase.
Here's an example listing of UV filters, and as you go down the page, the price drops and the coatings become less and less, making for a lot less light to pass through, and generally worsening image quality. Generally, the more coating the better, and also be on the lookout for vignetting effect on your images when attaching a filter when going into your widest setting. This is why there are other options such as Thin filters, purposely engineered if you experience vignetting effect going wide.
Oh, remember, for night shooting, when shooting directly at lights, if you're getting ghostings and flares, just take the UV filter off. It will reduce it immensely.
Another set of filters that help in digital photography are Circular Polarizers. Why? Linear polarizers will sometimes mess with your Through The Lens (TTL) metering system employed in dSLRs and give a wonky reading. And that is why Circular Polarizers are selling for top dollars, and this spurred me to write up this article to get a better understadning how it works. While other filters can be emulated in post processing, this filter type has the most unique charasteristic that can't be emulated in post. Basically it removes the extra light that has been reflected off of surfaces, such as foliage, water surfaces and windows.
I know there are certain angles which makes the Cir PL filters more effective, but reading through Wikipedia doesn't offer much help in illustrating this fact. This page explains it the best as I have found out, and makes me can't wait to go shooting in bright sunlight to see the effects myself. Basically the maximum effect of removing reflection is when the reflection is incident at 30 degrees, and you are pointing 30 degrees from the opposite side of the incident. Another way is to have the sun perpendicular to where you are pointing the lens, to get the maximum effect.
Now we get to the "Hard to Swallow" part. As I said, the more coatings it has, the more expensive it becomes, so much so, for instance, a Pro 1 Digital HMC Circular Polarizer filter can reach upwards of USD200. That's why sometimes people, including yours truly, will skimp on this vital thing until we know what's the true purpose of these extra bits of glass. But if possible, get the best you can. You can skimp on other things, you shouldn't really skimp on something that goes infront of that thousand dollars lens.
And now for the fun part, using filters to alter the colors and exposure in your photograph. While there's times you just want a cool effect of the sky looking a different color with a Skylight 1B filter, there will be times when using a filter is important to get that shot otherwise impossible to get. Some might be familiar with using a Neutral Density filter to bump down the exposure of a scene while retaining a slower shutter speed than otherwise normal, or allowing the aperture to open up without overexposing the entire scene. Now imagine that effect for part of the frame.
Graduated ND filters are a godsend to landscape photographers the world over. A brief overview of the wonders of Grad ND filters are found here, allowing you to compress the dynamic range into something manageable for a dSLR. You might remember exposing for a shadow area in bright sunlight giving you overblown surroundings, while exposing for the sunlight might leave dark harsh shadows on your subjects. Imagine this for landscape photography, where the sky might be too bright while your foreground subjects are in the shadow. Rotating the ND side to the sky and the clear part for the foreground will make exposure for both to be correct.
Grad NDs come in 1, 2 or 3 stop variants and either in hard or soft gradation between the ND side and the clear side. Singh Ray has a complement of these for the Cokin P filter holders, so that may be on my wishlist for the time being. These are not cheap mind you, and for a specific purpose, you better be taking a lot of landscape pictures to be investing in the Cokin P system and a bevy of Singh Ray filters. B+W has a selection of these in normal, filter ring form, which to me, a 77mm 1 stop soft ND filter might be nice to invest in, as I'm not really gonna be doing landscape shots, that often, but it will be nice to have for the occasional hikes-up-a-hill-at-4-am-to-catch-the-sunrise.
There are a slew of other kinds of filters, such as diffusion filters or cross screen filters, but you will rarely come across these unless you're specifically into that kinda thing. I believe UV and CirPL are the most important filter knowledge you need to have, and at least I can give you a bit of reading jump off point so you can learn more how to effectively use filters.
Labels: Equipment, Photography
Posted by SoulJah at 11:16:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This post is titled Merlin by author SoulJah.
A Merlin I think.
Look closely, You can see silhouette of a man, running towards the back.
Set the camera on the widest setting on long exposure and just strobe the whole length of the chopper at around 1/8th power I think.
A Merlin I think.
Look closely, You can see silhouette of a man, running towards the back.
Set the camera on the widest setting on long exposure and just strobe the whole length of the chopper at around 1/8th power I think.
Labels: Experiment, Outing, Photography, Techniques - Strobing