My Photo appeared in NowPublic - 9 Feb 2009

Yesterday (9 Feb) marked the last day of the 15 days Chinese New Year celebrations. The full full appears and it was the first penumbral lunar eclipse for 2009. Getting the news from the local paers, I got my camera all set up to shoot this event.

Well, I was informed that it was not actually a full eclipse. It was just like the moon just grazing off the shadow of the earth. The change in the light could not actually be seen by the eyes but by light meter.

Nevertheless, I managed to have some good shots of the moon. I uploaded the last photo I shot before the dark clouds rolled in.

In the morning when I check my Flickr mail inbox and found a request to have my photo to be featured in their article in NowPublic.
NowPublic is a user-generated social news website. The company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded by Michael Tippett, Leonard Brody and Michael Meyers in 2005. In addition to content contributed by users, NowPublic has a content-sharing agreement with the Associated Press. (Source Wikipedia) One of the article was on the pnumbral lunar eclipse that is was observed through the world.

Without hesitation, I agree to have my photo to be available in their article.



You can visit the article via this link. Scroll the 4th photo and you will see this photo.

Wonderful view from Lookout Point

Ever have the chance to see how the night aerial view of Kuala Lumpur looks like? Well you can do that by taking a plane or a helicopter. But there is a easier and cheaper way to do that. Head on to Lookout Point.

Lookout point is located in between Ampang and Hulu Langat area right on top on some hills. There is a purpose built platform and also three restaurants there to entertain the people with the view of Kuala Lumpur while they chit chat, dine and drink.

Well I have seen some photos taken of the place and have wanted to go there. My children and I decided to head on to Lookout Point. I drove to Batu 9 Cheras taking the Hulu Langat way and making a right turn towards Ampang before I reach Lookout Point. You will not miss the place because it was a Saturday and there were so many cars parked at the foothills. We have to park our car quite a distance from the road leading up the hill.

Reaching there, we head on to the look out platform where I mounted my camera on my tripod to shoot the spectacular night view of Kuala Lumpur. We can see the stretch from PJ to Ampang and in the middle the KL Tower and KLCC were the prominent buildings.

Well here are some shots of it plus a panorama stich of 4 photos to cover the view which we can actually see from end to end.

To see larger size of the photos, please visit my Flickr album.

A panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur which is stitched from 4 photos. Click on it to see a larger view. I like this panorama view so much that I have made it my blog banner.

MIFC Finale - 29 August 2008

I would like apologize that it took longer to post these photos that I shot during the Malaysian International Fire Works finale which was on 29 August 2008. Actually, all the shots are already been uploaded to my Flickr site and I have chosen some to be placed here for those who do not visit my Flickr album.

Malaysian International Fireworks Competition 2008

The Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2008 is back again. This the second year that this event is held. The first event started last Thursday with the host nation being the first competitor. Last year, I attended all the events but this year I was hesitant to attend the event after having learned a bitter lesson of being caught in the traffic jam for more than 3 hours after the event. Another reason is that it was held on a week day where I need to get out from my office early to head to Putrajaya where the event was held.

After reading discussion forum from the members of a photography site, where it was mentioned that there traffic condition has since been much improved, I decided to head for the event on Saturday where Team China was in line for the competition. My children did not want to follow me because I would leave my house at 5.00 p.m. to get a nice spot to put up my gears to shoot the event.

So I drove off from my house and reached Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). At the entrance I was directed to head to the public car park where there are coached there to ferry the public to PICC. I parked my car at the carpark and there were already more than 5 coches on stand-by to ferry the attendeess to PICC.

I hoped on the bus and off I go to PICC. I was very early but there are people who are earlier than me. Tripods have been placed at the balcony area aiming towards the fireworks set-off site. I managed to make friends with a few of the photographers who were like me being early there to shoot the event.

Initially the event was scheduled for 9.30 p.m. ut I was informed that the event has been pushed to 10.00 p.m.. That means I have to wait for 4 hours before I can start to shoot the event. That does not bother me because time flies fast where more and more people arrived and were standing behind me.

The competition started right on the dot at 10.00 p.m. and the fireworks ended within 20 minutes. Immediately when the competition was over, I packed my gear and hop on to the coach which was already waiting and was ferried back to the public parking area. There were so many cars and the roads were packed jam with them.

This time around I was impressed. The traffic managed to move smoothly out of Putrajaya to Kuala Lumpur and I managed to return home before midnight.

The next even will be on 20 August by Team Canada.. I am still undecided where to go or not.

Here are some of the shots and more are available in my Flickr Album and also my Facebook.

Shooting at fashion shows over the week end

I managed to shoot three events over the the weekend.

On Saturday I was at Berjaya Times Square where the Fashion Fusion event was held. It started out with the presentation of the hair and make-up by the students pf APT Professional Team. The contestants were all dress and make up like .. how should I put it.. OUT OF THIS WORLD.. design and colours!! Here are some of the shots.






Then, I hop over to Sungai Wang where a more interesting event was happening. Its the Sloggi ( you know what is Sloggi?) Art of Humanity event was held. It's a body paint compettion where the model would wear a bra by Sloggi but their body are painted by the contestant from various graphic designer schools like One Academy and even TAR college. The event drew many people.. what else is new when you can get to see models walking around in their bra for free. Here are some juicy shots.





Today, I went to Berjaya Times Square again to attend the second fashion show of the day which starts at 4.00 p.m. The fashion show was done by Sembonia, makes of ladies handbags. Here are some shots for viewing.







More photos can be view from my Flickr Album.

Macro shoot out

For the past week I have been impressed by the macro photos taken by the members in a photography forum group. Objects, plants, flowers and insects shot in macro looks lovely. At the same time it takes good patience and techniques to be able to get a good macro shot.

I was interested in taking some macro shots since it would be a great thing to venture into apart from my usual events and casual photography (and also my current passion - HDR). The only thing stopping me to start macro shooting is to get a macro lens. A good macro lens will set me back at least Rm1,500.00 and I am currently not in a spending mood. I came to know that some of the forum members used a macro attachment made by a Japanese company called Raynox and the macro attachment used is a DCR250. I managed to come across a posting selling a used unit for RM200.00 but by the time I managed to contact the seller, he told me that the unit has been booked.

Only Saturday morning I managed to find another forum member who is selling the attachment, new unit. I SMS him to check out the price and his quotation was RM260.00 where I find the price reasonable (ShaShinki is selling the unit for RM280.00). We met up at USJ and I bought the unit from him.

Reached home, I quickly attach the unit on to my lens to experiment it by shooting the plants at my house. My son was also interested in what I was doing and he also got hooked in shooting the stuff around the garden using the macro attachment.

Today (Sunday) we decided to try some macro shooting at the Butterfly park. Before that we were to the National Monument because I have never taken my son there (12 years since he was born). He was curious how the National Monument looks like. Took some shots of the monument and then we took some macro shot of the flowers at the surrounding areas of the National Monument. The shots are posted below while the bigger versions of the shots can be seen at my photo blog and also at my Flickr Album.











The we drove over to the Butterfly park. There was already some foreign tourist lining up to get their entrance tickets. I looked at the price listing and I was shocked by the cost the of the entrance ticket - Adult RM18.00 Child below 12 years -RM8.00. It will cost me a total of RM27-00 (RM1-00 for my camera) for entrance fee. I felt that the price is too expensive and I told my son, we will not go in today. Wait till me have enough practice using the macro attachment before we go back there.

We then went back home to process the photos that we have taken.

New Photo Blog

I have just created a new Photo Blog called "Caesda Photos". This blog will be used to feature all my favorite photos which I have shot in large format. The photos are also available at my Flickr Album but you will need to click on the large image to see the details of the photos.

I hope you would enjoy the my new blog. Click here to navigate to the new blog.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

The image of my blog header is a picture of the scenery of Sam Rai Yot in HDR mode. HDR or High Dynamic Range imaging is a form of photography which is a technique that allows greater dynamic range of exposures between light and dark area of a photograph. The intention of the technique is to represent the wide ranges of intensity of an image during a shot.

I have been enjoying myself taking HDR images when I first learn about it. HDR imgaes can easily be done by using a DSLR with bracketing functions. Three or more continous shots of different intensity is done. Using the sofwares of Photomatix and Photoshop, the three shots are combined to form the HDR images. The result of the combination is that the colour ranges of the shot are really "blown out". The photo can be views as though it is shot in a 3-D mode. Here are some examples of HDR shots that have been done by me.


1. Ferris-Wheel HDR, 2. PICC HDR, 3. Hawker Association Building HDR, 4. The Bund - HDR, 5. The Clock Tower, 6. Seri Wawasan, 7. Seri Saujana, 8. Thean-Hou_5 - Phoenix 1, 9. Thean-Hou_5 - Dragon 2, 10. Thean-Hou_4 - Dragon 1, 11. Thean-Hou_3, 12. Thean-Hou_2, 13. Thean-Hou_1, 14. Glow of the Egyptian Call, 15. SH_HDR_001, 16. SH_HDR_001, 17. SH_HDR_002, 18. SH_HDR_003, 19. SH_HDR_004, 20. SH_HDR_006, 21. SH_HDR_007, 22. SH_HDR_008, 23. SH_HDR_009, 24. SH_HDR_010, 25. SH_HDR_012, 26. PDG_HRD_001, 27. PDG_HRD_002, 28. PDG_HRD_003, 29. PDG_HRD_005, 30. PDG_HRD_006, 31. PDG_HRD_004_1, 32. Kemanan HDR, 33. Shells HDR, 34. Temenggong Lake HDR_1, 35. Temenggong Lake HDR_2, 36. Phoenix_HDR

Best wishes!!

Just want to add some photos of the lovely bride:

The Wedding of Demudu and Shim Yew Moi

On 7 July, I got a mail from Shim, who was my former colleague/staff in Public Bank attaching with three image files. The e-mails reads:

"Boss Boss……. ; ) ooops…..am getting married! Sent u an e-card, if you prefer to receive by hand, let me know k! Come n snap photos ler"

This is the first time that I have seen her in other dressing other than in a pair of pants

I was surprised when I opened up the attached to find out that the bridegroom if also one of my former colleague/staff Demudu. Why did I say surprise? I did not know that they were dating each other previously because I have not seen them together. At the same time, both their characters are different. Anyway, I am happy that they both have found each other, went through the courtship period and now its time to get married.

The wedding was held at the Sri Moogambigai Temple which was the temple which was "saved" from demolition with the developement of the Mid-Valley Shopping Complex. The temple was tucked away just outside the complex and is very popular with the local Indians.

Many of my former colleagues were invited to attend the wedding ceremony and I am happy to be able to meet up with them and chat with them. Most of my time spent at the cewremony was snapping away photos with my camera. At the end of the 2 hours ceremony, I have shot over 400 shoots.

All the photos are available for viewing at my Picasa Web Album(389 images) - just clik on the link or at my Flickr Album.

The lovely bride

Well I want to thank both Demudu and Shim who have invited me for their wedding ceremony and dinner.

Wishing both of you all the happiness as a new couple!!!

D700 is launched today

Even before I could get my hand on my own dream camera, the Nikon D300, D700 is launched today. Well the news of the the emergence of the D700 was around since a month ago. So it is perhaps the worst kept secret.

Anyway, the new D700 is actually a D300 with large FX sensor like the D3 which makes the D700 a full frame D300.

Would I get the D700? Well I guess no. Why? Because it is actually a full frame D300 where all the features of the D300 are present with the ability to shoot full frame. I am not a professional photographer and is not planning to be one to use a full frame camera. The price of 0f the D700 would cost between the D300 and D3 which is between Rm5,500 to RM15,000. The price I would guess would be around RM9,500-00 considering the price quoted in USD is USD2,995.00.

Well, I would not write much about it when you read more of it from Ken Rockwell. Follow this link.

Super GT Race in Sepang

I think I am rather late in posting this. The event happen on Sunday, 22 June 2008. Well, one of my colleague had bought his ticket to attend the Japan Super GT at Sepang on Saturday and Sunday. He was accompanying his friends who were there to shoot the Race Queens of the Super GT and the Super GT cars too. He told me that that he would be going on Saturday and may not go on Sunday. I did not choose to join him because the cost of the ticket was rather high and I had an appointment to attend a clean-up exercise at Ulu Yam with my other colleagues.

On Sunday, I called him to check out whether he would be going for the Super GT and I was trying my luck just in case he do not want to go, I will take his ticket to see whether I can shot some photos of the Race Queens and the cars. Sadly, he told me that he enjoyed himself on Saturday and his friends had invited him to go to Sepang again on Sunday. He then told me me how exciting it was and I even saw some of the Race Queens photos he had posted in his Facebook.

I hesitated and changed my mind to go to Sepang for the photo shoot. I invited my son to join me and my daughter, Carrie over heard my invitation to his brother. She said that she would want to join me. Hearing that his sister will be going for the event, he changed his mind and also want to come along.

I grabbed by camera equipment bag and we were on our way to Sepang International F1 circuit to attend the Super GT. Nearing to the circuit there were many cars which were also heading the same way as I am. Parked the car and headed to the ticket counter.

Guess what? The cost of tickets was EXPENSIVE!! Ticket to the Grandstand cost RM150-00 each, luckily, Carrie brought along her student card and managed to get a discount on the cost of the ticket to RM75-00, another RM75 goes to the ticket for my son.

Then, the cost of the entrance to the Pit Walk where the Race Queens and the GT cars will be parked at the pit stops. That ticket will cost RM100-00 each. I thought of just buying one Pit Walk ticket while my son and daughter would wait for me at the Grandstand. Both of them were reluctant and wanted to go for the Pit Walk too. Wow.. there goes another RM300-00. Altogether, I have to foot out a total of RM500-00 for 3 Grandstand tickets and 3 Pit Walk tickets.

Off we go into the Grandstand where at the entrance was the Nissan stand. There were a few units of Nissan Fairlady and some GTRs. Nice, good looking and fast.. I LIKE IT!!

Then the time came to go down the tunnel from the Grandstand area to the pit stop. I was surprise and amazed by the number of people that have bought the Pit Walk ticket all carrying their cameras to shoot the cars and queens!!!

Once the gate of to the pit stop was opened, all of us (me and the rest of the people that are holding cameras) rushed to the pit stop where the Race Queens were there waiting to greet us. They were standing in front of the GT cars waving, smiling, posing, carrying their umbrella while all of us rushed to snap their photos. It was a mad, mad rush where I needed to pushed into other people sweating and smelly bodies to be able to get a nice angle to shoot the Race Queens. There were instances where I have even crawled my way under these people just to be as near and close to get nice shots of the Race Queens.

The result.. spectacular as you can see from the photos of the below.

After the Pit Walk session (which lasted for 40 minutes) we all have to get back to the Grandstand to get ready for the start of the feature races and the Super GT race. The first feature race was the Aston Martin race and the second was the Formula V6 (F1 wannabe cars).

Then at about 3.50 p.m. all the Race Queens were lead out on to the track and the GT cars were all fired up. The GT cars left the pit stop and took a warm-up lap around the circuit and came back to the Start/Finish line where the respective Race Queens were standing. Another round of photo session took place, this time it was called the Photo Safari (which cost another RM100), where the photographers are allowed to be on the track snapping away the cars and the Race Queens while they were "parked" on the track.

After, the Super GT race event started in a rolling start, there were so many cars which I could not count and I do not know who are the drivers and their teams. The engine sound was loud and ear piercing. Took some photos of the GT cars and I decided to go home since we did not have lunch at the circuit due to the exorbitant cost of food at the circuit. We left the circuit at about 4 p.m. where the race was scheduled to end at almost 7.00 p.m.

It has been an experience attending the race firstly because it has been the most expensive event that I have ever paid and secondly I was able to shot those Race Queens who if they did not come to Malaysia, I would have to go to Japan to have to chance to shoot them.

Here are the photos of the Race Queens that have the most number of views at my Flickr Photo Album: