Nix Digital Photography

Get started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:16:00 +0000

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 has gone a long way and it is now a “must have” tools for photographer, especially those who shoot large amount of images. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 provides a sets of comprehensive tools for digital photography, with powerful one click adjustment to cutting edge advanced control. It simplifies image editing process and hence making batch editing easier and saves more time.
The full potential of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 can only be reveal if the basic functions and advance functions are fully understood. “Lightroom 4 UnMasked” was designed with a simple objective in mind, to learn the full potential of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 in a much easier and fun manner.

“Lighroom 4 UnMasked” is A Complete Guidebook to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 writen by Piet Van den Eynde. It consist of 312 spreads of PDF in full of high resolution screenshot, step by step instructions, tips, tricks and ideas that make digital darkroom work more productive and enjoyable.

What’s is this Adobe Photoshop Lighroom 4 ebook ? – Lighroom 4 UnMasked

‘Lightroom 4 UnMasked’ is written by an Piet Van den Eynde who is an Adobe Certified Expert. He teaches dozens of Lightroom workshops a year and therefore has a thorough understanding, not only of the application itself, but also of potential pitfalls beginning users may encounter.
· ‘Lightroom 4 UnMasked’ is aimed both at beginner Lightroom users and more advanced users.
· In addition to the 13 chapters, the eBook features 60 cases, giving step-by-step instructions on special techniques or workflow procedures. 10 of these cases are pro-cases aimed at more advanced users.
· ‘New in Lightroom 4′ immediately draw the attention to things that have changed between versions. There are two cases that deal specifically with what’s new in Lightroom 4.
· The eBook features dozens of tips, tricks and suggestions, some of which are unique.
· The eBook does not limit itself to Lightroom as it comes out of the box, but points you, the reader, to useful third-party applications and plugins that integrate well with Lightroom.
· The eBook focuses on Lightroom as an entire workflow application. There are thorough coverage of ALL the modules, not just Library and Develop.
· An entire chapter deals with the Lightroom to Photoshop integration.
· It’s up to date, all the way to Lightroom 4.2.
It is a pdf ebook, which give great flexibility in contain searching.

If you are interested to know more about this ebook, click here to read the full review
Download the Table of Contents

Close Up Photography – Roses

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:55:00 +0000

Recently I have been reading this book, UP CLOSE, written by Andrew S.Gibson for some inspiration and technique in macro / close up photography. After reading, I though I would give it a try. However due to my busy schedule, I was not able to do any close up photography for months until now.
I took a trip to Genting Highland lately for a short break with my family, escaping the city business and indulging into quite and tranquil environment.
On the way to the hotel, we drop by a farm, which got famous with its strawberry farming. Along side were other flora to attract more visitors and there were plenty of roses, lavenders, cactus and other flowers.

Due to that we arrived late in the afternoon, most of the roses were not at it best shape but with close observation I notice this two, which looks descend enough for some good close up photography.
On my first look at this two roses, I remember what I have read in Up Close and I try the technique suggested. It was not an easy shot, especially when I’m shooting without tripod and there were movement due to wind blow.
It took me few shot with various setting before I got this right. Of cause, the Tamron SP90mm Macro helps a lot in doing this job. Without a good macro lens, I guess it will be much harder to do this shot.
If you are interested to know more about macro / close up photography, UP CLOSE, written by Andrew S.Gibson is a good ebook for your leisure reading, as this book explain a lot of fundamental of macro / close up photography.
You can check out this book in detail HERE.

Ring Heart Shadow

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:15:00 +0000

Ring Heart Shadow

This assignment was given to me as a challenge to photograph a ring with correct lighting to product a ring heart shadow.

Initially it felt kind of childish to perform such setup but after going through the process, it does required certain amount of skills. It was not as easy as I have thought.

The main difficulty in this context is to get your lighting right, in order to produce the heart shadow. Here I have resorted to use a touch light to control the angle of the shadow and put light at where it should be..

Knowledge on photography exposure triangle certainly will give a big help in producing such control effect.

Picture of water droplets

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:28:00 +0000

It was a very sunny day and I decided to send my car for a good polish. It was shining like a mirror after the polish but then there comes the rain !! It was like a quality assurance test to show that how well the car was polished.

Looking closer at the surface of the car after the rain, there were this rain water droplets, all by themself, not holding on any surface, like small mercury lying all over the place.

With my Nikon D60, mounted with the Tamron SP 90 mm macro lens, I took a couple of shots at different angle and prospective. Reviewing the images, I notice that the depth of field was really shallow. Therefore In order to perfect my focus spot, I turned to manual focus and slowly catch the sweet spot.

Here are the some of the picture of water droplets I have taken.

I like some of this picture so much that I’ve made it available for sale. Below are two of the picture that I have made available for hardcopy purchase. It can be obtain from redbubble.com. Click on the images to go to my Redbubble store. It is available in posters, cards and various kind of prints.

If you fancy it on your Iphone, it is now available on iphone 4/4S Case

Sunrise from Swiss Garden Resort Kuantan

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:24:00 +0000

Kuantan is the largest city on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is also the nearest city to Kuala Lumpur that has beautiful sunrise scene.

I have the opportunity to be at Swiss Garden Resort and Spa for 2 nights stay, which is just about 15 mins drive from Kuantan town.

Being located on the east of Peninsular Malaysia, basically the sunrise moment is the most prettiest in this part of the country. Therefore it is worth waking up early just to catch this moment. There are many opportunity to watch the sun rising from the horizon from this part of Malaysia.

Here are some photos that were taken from this wonderful place.

Do you know why your photos suck?

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:25:00 +0000

Ever wonder why most of the photos you took with your camera are suck?, Is either too blurry, too dark or even wrongly focused? Do you ever wonder whether the camera that’s sucks hence you are getting all this rubbish? Or you ever regretted in buying some cheap unpopular brand of cameras instate of those well known camera maker?

Well don’t wonder anymore because none of it that are causing your photos suck. The main reason why your photos suck is because of yourself, the person who is shooting those photos.

A good or experience photographer will have the skill and know how to monopolise the capability of the equipment so that good photos can be produce. Check out this video and you will know why.

Given you an awesome camera, without proper skill and knowledge, do not expect any miracle to happen, you will still make suck photos, maybe slightly better in some sense. Therefore don’t blame it on your camera but put your effort in knowing what you do not know.

Everyone who is just coming into the world of digital photography have to start from somewhere. Basic digital photography technique such as exposure factor, ISO, Aperture and shutter speed information are abandon and easily available from the internet and photography books. This are the basic must know information all photographer must have, even if you are just using a point and shoot camera.

However there are more basic information that are not widely mention, simply because it was expected that you have already know it. Simply information such as have you know all the function and preset from your camera and what it does? Have you read and fully understand the operation manual of your camera? This are small details that make big different and spending time to do it will helps you in being a better photographer.

There are more to discuss in this area, that’s why I would like you to have a copy of this great report, produced by Learn Digital Photography Now. In this FREE report, it talks about everything you need to know about digital photography that is not commonly discussed. This Free Report will help you kick start your digital photography hobby and give you a much in-depth understanding about digital photography tips and tricks. Stop making your photos suck and start shooting awesome photos like the pros does it.

To get your copy of this free report, click the download button below.

I-City Shah Allam , The city of Digital lights

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:19:00 +0000

I-City, located at Shah Alam is famous with its enchanting LEDs lights. It is just a Technology park located on the outskirt of Shah Alam. At night the place comes alive with an amazing forest of man-made trees brightly illuminated with millions of colourful LED lights.

This photo, showing the ferry wheel is where the entrance is. Unfortunately the day I took this photo, the ferry wheel was not working, hence it was not brightly light up.

I-City Shah Alam

Congratulation to Nikon D7000 DSLR

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:14:00 +0000

The Nikon D7000 DSLR camera has recently received the European Advanced SLR 2011-2012 award presented by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA).

Further in in April, Nikon D7000 DSLR was also the recipient of the TIPA Award 2011’s Best DSLR Advanced.

Some of the major feature found in the Nikon D7000 DSLR were the high image quality with very low noise at higher ISO, fast autofocusing and solid body. A semi-professional camera that packed with high-end features that it inherited from D300 and D300s
Congratulation to Nikon for producing such great camera.

Singapore Marina Bay, Centre Business District

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:42:00 +0000

This is the last part of the journey, to view the Centre Business District from out side of the hotel.
Night scene was awesome due to the colourful lighting from various building.

Singapore night cityscape

Marina Bay Sand - By night

From far, opposite side of the bay !

That’s the last part of the story. Hope you enjoy.

Singapore – Marina Bay Sands SkyPark

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Continue from my previous post, The Skypark, which is the most talk about structure for Marina Bay Sands. It has a length of four and a half A380 Jumbo Jet and is situated right on the roof top of the 3 towers, offers a spectacular bird eyes view of Singapore Marina Bay.

It has a Observation Deck, which offer a view from Centre Business District all the way to Sentosa island. Hotel guess get to visit the deck for free while guests needed to pay to get entry.

Next come along was the 150m infinity swimming pool, which only open for hotel guests. Facing the Centre Business District offers the most beautiful scene of Singapore, especially from sunset to sun fall.

Other then this, there are a few small Jacuzzi pools for family to get along and a beautiful green park, which give an relaxing atmosphere while enjoying the cool evening breeze.

Here are the rest of the photos taken, with lots of crowds in it !!

Singapore – Marina Bay Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:57:00 +0000

The Marina Bay Sands is one of the most talk about hotel in Singapore. It is an architecture marvel which had changed the landscape of Singapore.
Google about Marina Bay Sands and you will find lots of information about it, including its premium room rates. Having a night there will be a dream come true for many average earner like me.
Well this dream did came true when I got a special offer to have 2 nights there with certain condition. So there was it 2 nights at the Marina Bay Sands with my family, a short holiday to Singapore.
Before the journey starts, we did lots of research about this place and through Google and blogs, this sound like an awesome place to visit and with that premium room rates, we are expecting something really 5 stars
So we drove all the way down to Singapore, with my Google map on hand and GPS running, journey to Marina Bay Sands is real easy if you are coming in from Taus (2nd link). However there was some confusion when almost reaching Marina Bay as my GPS and Google map show me different route.
Almost got panic there, so I switch to my instinct, which is look for the 3 tall towers. So there was it.. finally it was on the horizon and there was the exit from the highway as mention by Google Map.
As I go closer, I notice that the 3 towers wasn’t as tall as I’ve expected. Although it has 53 stories with a skypark on top of it, it still look kind of short to me. Well maybe that’s the power of advertisement, making something great look greater.
So that was I driving my old refurbish Proton Wira all the way to the entrance, I was greeted by some car jockeys. Being Malaysia, to pay SGD6 for per day per entry self parking while you are the guess of the hotel sound a bit ridicules but those jockeys does have some marketing skills that they manage to convince me to allow them to park my car for a price of SGD12 per day, unlimited entry. It was a big price to pay but it was a nice experience.
Each time when I need to get my car, they will kindly drove it up from the car park, and there was I noticing that most cars coming out of the car parks are luxuries cars except for mine, well that’s life and I’m happy with it.
Ok next to the lobby for check-in. Lobby was not as great as I have expected but they do have great hospitality, welcome drink was served to all guess who are waiting in line to check in. My check in was brief cause I arrived early. If I’m an hour late, it will be nightmare.

Now to the room. This is where the wow factor comes in, cause seldom I with my family stayed at such luxurious room. The bathroom was really huge, Beds were big enough for all of us and the TV, it was awesome. My son spent most of his time watching that huge 42/50 inch LCD TV and that’s the only thing that could keep him quite. Lastly, there is a balcony in our room. Something you don’t really expect.

The Bath Tub

The Beds

I got to say, with the kind of price that I’m paying, the greatest of all is the room. It is so conformable and specious, something that was not easy to find in Singapore. Off cause some added values are the skypark and the 150m infinity swimming pool. I’ll leave this to my next coming post.
Well here are some photos of the hotel at various location, mainly at the lobby area.

This is where we had breakfast

Direction to the Casino, Expo and Shoppes, which is just cross the street.

Direction to all 3 towers, just in case you lost your way!

Chinese lantern in front of a Chinese restaurant

My two little one

Continue to Part 2 of the journey – Marina Bay Sands Skypark

Catching sunrays clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Wed, 25 May 2011 12:50:00 +0000

Sunrays

To catch a sunray clouds, sometime it takes a bit of luck when finding the right moment to shoot something interesting. Like this sunrays clouds. It was not there 5 minutes ago and its only stay there for a couple of minutes before is all gone.

I was at a beach with my kids for an evening stroll when visiting my in laws, sitting by the beach watching the normal sunset, all of a sudden, I notice this huge cloud covering the setting sun and all of a sudden, here were the rays, shooting out from behind the cloud.

Looking at it I quickly draw my camera and start shooting with varies exposure setting. I know I do not have a lot of time to play with my camera to get the right setting because I know the cloud will just float away anytime, so i shoot it in RAW.

Good thing about shooting in RAW is you can still edit the exposure even though it did not come out correct from the camera. So there was it, a little bit of tweaking at the RAW files, I manage to get the right exposure for this moment. The SunRays Clouds !

Landmark from Tasik Perdana, Kuala Lumpur

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Mon, 16 May 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Tasik Perdana situated in the heard of Kuala Lumpur is one of the most favourite place to visit by many. Most people will go there to do their morning routine exercise, other simple go there and enjoy the beauty of nature and fresh air.

This is also a great place to bring your family our for a nice relaxing weekend.

The last time i went to Tasik Perdana was about 20 years ago. Since then, many has changes. The beautification that has been done to this place was awesome. In just a short 1.5 hours of photo shooting, i manage to shot some interesting picture that was not there 20 years ago, beside the parliament building of cause.

This auditorium was there for a very long time, if not mistaken but now it has a new roof top and a well design seating

A well laid out garden, neat and clean

I don’t remember seeing this part of the garden, but it leads to a large play ground. The kids would certainly love this place

Very spooky. Wonder is there any hidden treasure around.

You just cannot miss this, The Parliament.

Just before the day is starts and the surrounding is just peaceful and quite

The are more photos which was not posted here simply because it not within this topic. You can easily check it out at my flick page here.

Pasar Malam in B&W

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:49:00 +0000

This were taken during a holiday trip to Cameron Highland. Headed down to the pasar malam for dinner and was pleasantly surprise to meet come of this hawkers, who are friendly and not camera shy.

Maybe they are used to being in front of the camera all the time, since many tourist flock to Cameron Highland during school holidays.

Not to mention, they do prepare nice hot snack foods, just nice for a cool windy evening

Hardworking makcik

Hardworking young girl making pan cakes

Pan cakes in the making

Un-shy

Macro flower photography with Tamron 90 mm f 2.8 Di MACRO

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:04:00 +0000

Macro flower photography may seem like an easy task but when really giving it a try, you will encounter various challenges. In order to successfully make a good macro flower photo, good skills and technique is required, together with appropriate tools, and with a little bit of luck.

The photo you see here was taken during Chinese New Year in a shopping mall with limited tools and skill. I have to try out a few setting before I manage to perfect the shot. So how do I do it?

Before I explain on how I photography this picture, let understand what will affect the quality of your macro flower photography.

1. Movement

When come to shooting something in very close proximity, ie in macro or close up, a small bit of movement will cause blur images. Movement cause by wind, handshake or even the flipping of the shutter mirror will cause you picture to get blur. That is why a good steady tripod is important for macro flower photography.

2. Lens

A good macro lens is one that cannot ignore to have if you want to venture into macro flower photography. A good Nikkor or Canon macro lens does not come cheap, but if you are a beginner and wanted to try out macro flower photography, an alternative is to use 3^rd party lenses such as this Tamron 90 mm f 2.8 Di MACRO. Personally I found this to be quite a magnificent lens, despite the much cheaper price compared to the Nikkor version.

3. Lighting.

Good lighting gives vibrant to your photos. For macro flower photography, it is always best to keep ISO as low as possible. This is to reduce image noise. Further, we like to have fast shutter speed when we photograph, this is to eliminate motion blur.

So back to my photo, when I took this shot, I do not have the convenient of having a tripod as I’m in a shopping mall. Setting up a tripod photographing display flowers will look a bit silly, further the flower were located indoor, which also means poor ambient lighting. All I have at that time was a Tamron 90 mm f 2.8 Di MACRO lens, a Nikon SB600 flashgun and two hands.

So in order to get this shot right, I have to rely on my flashgun to give extra boost for lighting and reasonable fast shutter speed to countermeasure for hand shake. General rule of thumb, shutter speed should be about 1.5 times of the focus length, ie for my 90mm lens, I need shutter speed of at lease 1/125 s.

Next I have to decide the aperture to use. Bare in mind that at close focus distance, wide aperture will give shallow depth of field. This is very obvious, as you will see smaller area of your flower to be in focus and the rest are all blur.

In macro flower photography, we need to give sharpness/focus to certain anatomy of the flower while leaving the rest out of focus. This helps make the anatomy to stand out further. In my picture, it will be the Carpels (center part of the flower). Therefore I increase my f-stop to as high as possible without loosing exposure. I finally come to a f-stop of 16 for this photo.

The final setting I used for this macro flower photo is as below

Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)

Aperture: f/16.0

Focal Length: 90 mm

ISO Speed: 400

Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Metering Mode: Center-weighted average

Light Source: Flash

The last bit of thing that I need to do before I press the trigger is to avoid camera shake

from my body movement. So I apply a technique where you place both your arms closes to your body for extra support and hold your breath when you press the trigger.

This above macro flower photography technique was acquired through my own experience and many trial and errors. Hope you enjoy this tips.

For more macro flower photos, feel free to checkout my Flickr set Here.

By the way, do you love photography? and wanted to pursuit a degree in this subject? Learn more about Art and Design degrees NOW !.

2011 Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:22:00 +0000

The 2011 Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon fiesta has just ended last week. This year, the event was held during the school holiday, so it was just great for me as I can bring my family to this event without too much difficulty.
Last year I manage to catch the morning action with my camera but without my family, so they missed out all the great moment. This time, I make sure they wake up early enough and be at Putrajaya as early as 7am on the first day of the event.
It was an effort well pay off, cause on the first say, the weather was good and the release was successfully. Subsequent day was not as good as the first due to inconsistence weather condition.

To view my photo shots of this event, please feel free to head over to my Flickr account by clicking on the Flickr logo below.

Enjoy yourself there.
If you like to have some of my photo for your desktop or screen saver, feel free to download it from Flickr. High-resolution version will can given upon request.

Window of Tranquillity

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 08:18:00 +0000

Previously I have posted my holiday trip to Pulau Redang, here a shot taken from the hotel’s restaurant looking toward the ocean.
With the traditional Terengganu style window frame, it help put the uniqueness into this frame. Hope you like it.
Photo is taken from Laguna Redang Island Resort

Sunrise from Redang

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Being located at the east cost of the peninsula, it is a perfect place to watch the sunrise.

Woke up at 6.30am just to get myself prepare for this shot. Seems like there are many other who willing to wake up early just to witness such beautiful scene.

Photo for free - Colorful wooden sandals

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:41:00 +0000

Chinese has a traditional way of making wooden sandals and it has been widely used for generation, up till today. With its wooden base, it make a beautiful clark-ing sound as you walk.

This photo is free from your download. The downloaded version will not have the watermark in it and is in full resolution.
Download

Photo for free - Absent

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:06:00 +0000

Time for a break and make your self absent

Here’s another photo free from your download. The downloaded version will not have the watermark in it and is in full resolution.
Download

Architecture from the pass

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:10:00 +0000

“ An Old Looking Village Style Wooden Window”

Do such kind of architecture still exist in today’s modern living world? The beauty of simplicity, with its own artistry yet effective, not mention low cost !!!

Photo For Free - An Old Rail Joint

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:29:00 +0000

A close up view of an old railroad joint.
If you like this photo, you can download this photo for free at full resolution by clicking on the photo itself or click HERE. File size is about 3MB
Remember to drop me a comment while you are downloading it.

Laguna Redang Island Resort

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Took the opportunity to have a holiday at Pulau Redang with my family, just to get away from city life and be fill with cool breeze, white sandy beach and crystal clear water.
Laguna Redang Island Resort was ideal for my family because it has a big swimming pool, and kids enjoy it very much. Only thing that we did not enjoy was snorkeling, which I missed the most.
Here are some entrance shot of the resorts.

From a distance

Welcome sign

The beach in front of the resort

Panoramic view, click on photo to view the actual size

Sleepy Kitten

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:56:00 +0000

A kitten knows what is comfort in life. This sandal is just perfect for her while she takes an afternoon nap.

Equipment : Nikon D60 with Tamron SP90

EXIF : 1/160s, f/3.2, ISO400

Pulau Langkawi Cable Car

noreply@blogger.com (Tan Yong Hui) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:54:00 +0000

Langkawi Cable car is one of the must visit when you travel to Pulau Langkawi for holiday. It is one of the most trilling cable car ride I ever has as it needs to travel a distance of 2.2KM from the foot of the hill to the peak of the hill.

The scene from the cabin was awesome and the scenery when reached the top was amazing. The most must see when reaches the top is this cable bridge, connecting 2 mountain peaks. It takes some effort to hike to the bridge but when you are over there, cross over it to feel the thrill of hanging in midair.

However, before you head over to Langkawi cable car, please check on the this website for further information Langkawi Online.com. This is because on certain time of the month, the cable car station will be close for routine maintenance. So make sure your travel itinerary does not fall into this date.

Here are some pictures that I love the most and was taken from the Top Station.

The Top Station

The Sky Bridge