Jam Learns to Snap

Romantic Lighting

jam — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:32:05 +0000

Who does not like to dine in romantic atmosphere? Romantic atmosphere can be easily set up by using soft and romantic lighting as shown in the picture below.

Aperture = F8, Shutter Speed = 1 sec

Is your home or apartment romantic enough to seduce your date? Just replace all the light bulbs in your house with lower watt bulbs. Romantic lighting will make him or her feeling more relaxed and both of you could have a romantic time together. If possible, replace all your light switches with dimmer switches! Then you will have the ultimate control of creating soft and romantic atmosphere to seduce your date!

Custard Apple

jam — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:47:41 +0000

To be honest, I have not seen a custard apple before even though it is widely cultivated in this part of the world. Yes, custard apple is a tropical fruit! The fruit tastes sweet, much like the custard, hence the name. The custard apple is also known as bullock’s heart, bull’s heart or even Buddha fruit because of its outlook. I grew a custard apple plant in my backyard garden a year ago. The plant bore fruits in recent weeks. When ripe, the fruit is brown or yellowish. And it has attracted a lot of ants due to its sweet flavor! Have you seen or tasted a custard apple before?

Aperture = F2.8, Shutter Speed = 1/180 sec

Lanzhou Lamian

jam — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 08:47:11 +0000

Had you eaten Lamian before? Lamian, especially Lanzhou style Lamian is my favorite. Restaurants serving Lanzhou Lamian can be easily found in China, but not here in Malaysia. Lamian literally means “pull noodle”. As the name suggests, Lamian is made by taking a lump of dough and repeatedly stretching it to produce many strands of thin and long noodle. I ought to order a big bowl of Lanzhou Lamian whenever I come across any restaurant selling it in China. I prefer my Lanzhou Lamian to be served in beef flavored soup.

Aperture = F5, Shutter Speed = 1/13 sec

Hostelling International

jam — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:46:46 +0000

Formerly known as International Youth Hostel Federation, Hostelling International nowadays has over 4,500 affiliated hostels around the world. Hostelling International is a non-profit membership organization thrives in developing and promoting hostelling. The hostelling movement began in the year of 1909 by a German school teacher, Richard Schirrmann who saw the need for affordable overnight accommodation for school students in both the countryside and cities of the world. Today, hostel can be found virtually in every country in the world and contributes billions to tourism industry worldwide every year. Jam too likes to stay in a hostel when traveling overseas, how about you?

Aperture = F5.6, Shutter Speed = 1/250 sec

Huangshan Pine

jam — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:29:48 +0000

This is Huangshan Pine, a pine species which can only be found in the mountains of eastern China. Huangshan Pine gets its name from Mount Huangshan in eastern China’s Anhui Province. In fact, Huangshan Pine has been known as one of the 5 wonders of Huangshan Mountains. The main characteristic of Huangshan Pine is its broad, flat-topped crown of long, level branches. What really makes Huangshan Pines stand out from other pines is the fact that most of them do not grow on the earths but root on steep rock cliffs which are approximately 800 to 1,800 meters above the sea level, as shown in the picture below.

Beautiful Huangshan Pine

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

jam — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:47:35 +0000

If there must be 1 reason why I miss Shanghai so much, it is the Xinjiang lamb skewer. Xinjiang cuisine is considered rare in Malaysia, am I right? However, these Xinjiang lamb skewers can be found in any Xinjiang restaurant throughout Shanghai as well as other major cities in China. It is actually lamb kebab slide through bamboo skewer and then grilled on charcoal. The Xinjiang lamb skewers are spicy, coupled with the flavor of garlic and peppercorn. Tell you what; these lamb skewers are very additive! Xinjiang lamb skewers are best eaten fresh from grill.

Aperture = F4, Shutter Speed = 1/25 sec

The Bund, Shanghai

jam — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:50:25 +0000

The Bund is a waterfront area in Shanghai, China which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Jam had set his foot on the Bund when he traveled to Shanghai last year. The area is famous for buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance and Art Deco, just to name a few. Besides, the Bund also faces Pudong, which gives some excellent views of Pudong’s skyscrapers. Come to the Bund after sunset and you will be rewarded with this beautiful panorama night view!

Night view of the Bund, Shanghai

Notice Board

jam — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:46:40 +0000

Who does not have notice board in your workplace? Personally, I find notice board very informative. I tend to look out for notice board wherever I go, may it be office and hostel when I go traveling, or in college and university back in my schooling days. This is a notice board inside one of the hostels I stayed in China last year. Well, the notice board was not purposely decorated, but I still found it attractive enough to take a snap shot. Perhaps I was just trying out with the aperture setting of my camera!

Aperture = F2.8, Shutter Speed = 1/60 sec

West Lake of Hangzhou

jam — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:05:16 +0000

This is West Lake, which has been enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. West Lake is a big freshwater lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The lake has since many centuries ago, featured in Chinese paintings and literatures for its natural beauty and historic relics. Check here for 10 best known scenic spots on the West Lake. West Lake is subdivided into 5 smaller lakes by 1 hill and 3 causeways. It has a total surface area of 6.5 square kilometers and a circumference of around 15 kilometers. Despite large surface area, its average depth is only approximately 0.8 meters!

West Lake, a beautiful freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China

Fireworks Shooting

jam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:00:48 +0000

This was my second attempt to shoot fireworks. You can read my first attempt on fireworks shooting here. Last time around, I chose to use shutter speed priority by setting the shutter speed low and let the camera to set aperture value automatically depending on light condition. I did not use a tripod back then, so the pictures were kind of shaky. Last night I had used the manual exposure setting of aperture F8 as well as shutter speed of 2 seconds. I had also used a tripod when taking the picture. How you like the outcome this time? Shall I use external flash? Any tips to shoot a perfect fireworks picture?

Aperture = F8, Shutter Speed = 2 sec