.

Relocated

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:12:00 +0000

After two months of intensive slacking, I've decided to move this site to here.

I will start blogging from that site. ;)

Happy New Year folks!

Screwed

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Screwed up my blog's HTML. No updates till I figure a way to solve this problem.

Random Things

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Just came back yesterday(Monday) and I nearly missed my bus ride. Hahaa.

Not gonna blog much since I'm so tired and having Materials Science paper later.

But, here's some amazing discoveries during my trip back to Malaysia. The iPhone 3G which I bought in Singapore is not tied down to SingTel. This means that I could actually use other sim cards from other Telcos on the iPhone.

Here's a picture to justify my statement:

Notice the DiGi logo on the top left corner. :P

Stay tuned!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:33:00 +0000

Short Talk: Physics was alright. 3 down, 2 more to go!!

I'll be leaving on a jetplane soon. To catch my flight back to Malaysia to attend the wedding of the year. Well, partial part of the wedding to be exact.

Ever doubt the power of webcam?

I beg to differ. :P Taken using Macbook's Integrated iSight.

Yes, you may think that I'm narcissistic posting photos of myself all the time. :P

Anyways, it has been almost a year since my sister's fiance proposed to her and from planning to preparation and the actual date, 15th November 2008. A date which falls on a Saturday where they are going to get married. I'm seriously happy for them. :)

8 months ago, we embarked on a journey to authentic India for some pre-wedding photoshoot. It was an unforgettable trip especially when I was the assistant and slave for the photographer, Mr. Yeh from Wondrousvision.

You know what, besides switching the flash to slave mode, I turned myself into a Human Slave Lighting System. Heh, at least I'm more photogenic than the lightstand.

My eldest sister, Joanne.

Her fiance and my soon to be brother-in-law, Mr ~~Mucho~~ Marcus.

Can I still call you Marcus instead of brother-in-law? Cuz the term is so long and well, I'll get used to it, especially when the red packets go into my pocket. *winks winks*

Them, together.

Them, together again with the Taj's reflection.

Kay, that's my update for the week. Got to pack and catch my nap before my night flight. Stay tuned folks! It's going to be helluva wedding ceremony!!

In Dire Need Of Good Food

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Short Talk: Ban on yoga? What's next? Sex? Cuz the moaning resembles an evil chant. What the hell is wrong with these people?

Anyways, the title itself is self-explanatory. I am seriously hungry now and I want to eat fish head noodle.

No, not the one where I had to pay S$3 for some imitation near my hostel canteen.

I mean this!

Yes, this fish head noodle!

The one from Taman Desa Baru!! Damn it!!! 3 more days!! MOM you better get your cooking utensils ready!!! :P

Perspective much? I don't know, why don't you tell me about it. :)

Stay tuned folks. See you again next week. Gone ~~for the exams~~ fishing. XD

Absurd Site

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:11:00 +0000

This site seriously make me laugh at how someone can be absurdly prudish. Credits to Kennysia who pointed out that site.

Just visit that site and you will know what I'm trying to say. Basically, the author was busy gallivanting in this mall near his place. Instead of window-shopping, he was busy snapping photos of girls who apparently "violated" the law of the state by dressing sexily. ROFL.

The first entry from his blog:

Pembuka bicara

February 7, 2008

Tujuan blog ini diwujudkan kerana aku nak semua orang tahu dan sedar akan maksiat yang terang dan berani dilakukan di pasaraya besar di Kota Bharu ni, terutamanya oleh budak muda mudi pakai skirt pakai jeans londeh dsb. Dah bosan aku report sana sini siap SMS aduan kepada akhbar tapi hampeh.

Harapan aku agar pendedahan ini lebih membuka mata sebab internet lebih ramai yang dapat tengok, search sahaja dah jumpa.

Aku nak beli spycam satu dan ambil foto setiap kejelekan yang dibuat post kat internet, mata tu aku blurkanlah nanti malu mak bapak. Peliknya tahu pulak malu tu.

Jangan salah faham bukan aku nak burukkan PAS di Kelantan lebih lebih lagi dekat pilihanraya ni, sekadar nak bagi ada tindakan, aku sokong pencegahan maksiat yang dibuat MPKB-BRI tapi perlu lebih giat lagi, lebih lebih lagi tempat awam macam KBMall ni.

I thought that I wasted lots of time doing random things online. This guy somehow outrun me in that field of wasting time.

Wait till he comes to Singapore or at least NTU, I think he would die of severe heart attack. XD

Exam Preparation

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Short Talk: For a moment, I think my time is running out. ;(

With examinations hitting the doorstep in less than a week, I must at least do something before the "great flood" hits me!

This is my study table with the Mac switched on most of the time. I'm not good with jotting down notes during lectures. To make myself happy and satisfy, I will at least highlight a paragraph to show that I do pay attention. :P

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the other side of my desk.

I pity the printer and also Life Science Textbook being squashed by all the notes and Calculus. Please don't kill me for not cleaning up. Blame the exams!! XD

What should you do to overcome exam stress?

My solution is very simple, that is, prepare an ESK. ESK is an abbreviation for Exams Survival Kit as shown below.

A fridge with nothing but booze to boost your spirit during examinations.

Okay, I'm just joking. I bought booze just to finish off my shopping vouchers.

Photo of the day:

"Hard Decision" click on the photo for more details.

Stay tuned...

The Poratrait of a Mad Man

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:25:00 +0000

Just click and watch it! ;)

CA Week

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:54:00 +0000

Short Talk: Currently addicted towards Facebook's Texas Hold Em' All. Why? Check this out.

In the same day, from $100k, I managed to pull the figure down to $1000. Cool eh? Addictive I must say. :P

I am having another two Continual Assessments this coming Thursday which make it a total of three for this week. The stress, the poker game, the late night streaming of CSIs and Movies!! Arghhh....

You know when you're in this blur state of mind, you tend to wish for someone, a guardian or somewhat to come over and save you from all these stress. Unfortunately, mine hasn't arrived yet. :(

Hmmmmm,

well, at least examination starts on the 12th of November and finished on the 20th, which is way much shorter compared to STPM. Anyhow, stress is building up rapidly if you can see the tremendous amount of stress pimples on my skin. Need a closer look?

Here you go, make sure you don't freak out.

If you do, then Happy Halloween to you! :)

In less than a month's time, that exit sign told me.

The smell of freedom tingles my nose. :P

Viva La Shopping!!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:19:00 +0000

Short Talk: I have no idea why but tonight I feel like partying!! I'll get the beers, who's getting the chicks? :P

I have a feeling I have gone technical for the past few posts that already bored some of the existing readers. It's like attending physics lessons where on your very first lesson, the lecture explains equations in which your face expression would change from this (^.^) to this (@.@). *boinkers*

Anyways, I went shopping today. Not really shopping shopping but to accompany a friend to shop for his "thang" while I shop for mine although it wasn't part of the plan. Get it? Guess not.

Staying in Jurong West can be quite a b*tch because you would probably need to take an hour's ride to the heart of shopping. We are talking about orchard, marina square, bugis, suntec city and etc etc.

If two girls go on a shopping spree together, I would call that normal.
If two guys go on a shopping spree together, that my friend is somewhere between metrosexual and gay.

Now, what if two guys and a girl go on a shopping spree together?

Threesome would best describe the above situation. *meAw*
Man, I looked fat in the picture. :(

I'm not a good writer nor a patient one. Hence, in sum, Wern Chiet bought his watch from Suntec City.

From this point, people would bombard me with complaints on why posting so few pictures etc etc. Fine, point taken and hence I shall continue what happened next.

We decided to have tea at Food Republic while enjoying Royce chocolate.

I bought Royce chocolates again and I was the one who ate most of it. Guess I am really fat then. For the very last time, Royce chocolates are orgasmic!

One thing about Food Republics in Singapore, different branches have different themes and setting. In Suntec, I supposed that their theme is Library or something.

I guess they decided to use book as alternative source of heat for "dim sum" steaming. So what are we waiting for, burn some books and start cooking!

Oh yea, how can we forget those random names on the signage?

Unfortunately, I don't have money to dine on the Fortunate book-smoking "dim sum" Restaurant.

This boy reminded me of myself when I was a lot more younger, minus the spectacles.

Stay tuned!

Why so SerIOus?

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Gonna blog about something soon. Meanwhile, why so serious?

Let's put a smile on that face. :)

The Feeling Remains But I Moved On

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:54:00 +0000

Short Talk: Having continual assessment tomorrow for Economics.

For the past few days, I kept thinking of what I should have done to improve my shots in the Canon Photomarathon. I read something from Joe McNally's book in which he mentioned: "When you have a wide angle lens in your hands, feel free to go closer because the outcome can be beyond our expectations." He did mention that we should just stick to one angle in photography but try to experiment with different angles.

I read that way before the competition and I didn't practise it. The "dream" shot would be dramatic if I would just go closer to the subject like let's say an arm's length from his feet. I learnt alot from this mistake of mine and it really shows that 1 metre was the margin of error in that shot. I was 1 metre away from winning the grand prize. But oh well, life goes on.

This was my lab report for today in school:

That my friend, is called perspective drawing. And that took me 2 hours to draw. ARghhH..hH..h..HHh.h...

On a lighter note, I made a beauty dish out of aluminium foil and plastic bottle. Tested it the beauty dish out and found out that it's time to update my gear list. :)

Both the 85mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.8 arranged side by side.

And a personal portrait of the 85.. f/1.8.

More to come. Stay tuned!

Canon Photomarathon SIngapore 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:11:00 +0000

Short Talk: Currently in a bitchy mode, maybe I am just exhausted. Oh well...

I just came back from Canon Photomarathon Singapore 2008. The whole event lasted for more than 12hours, since 9.00am till 10.00p.m. Apparently, the amount of participant that showed up broke the Singapore Book of Records for the most number of participants in a one-day competition.

So what is a Canon Photomarathon?
Canon Photomarathon is a photo shooting competition organised by Canon which will practically last through the entire day. In each photomarathon, participants are required to complete three(3) assignments with their respective themes. Each assignment has to be completed in a period of time. In my case, we were given an average of 3 hours to complete each assignment, including downloading the pictures at the downloading booth.

Since it's a marathon, you're required to only take 5-10 minutes break in between assignments and after the break, head out and shoot more!!!!!

I was lucky to meet up with Herbert and his gang of friends. I joined the coup so that I wouldn't have to shoot alone. The gang was very accommodating and helpful. Basically, each of us had to come out with our genuine ideas about what to shoot. We will then helped out each other to accomplish one's task.

The Fellowship

Before I forget, the first theme of the day was CHANGE. My submission for the day was this:

In this photo, Herbert (the model) was a smoker and he decided to change his life by trying to quit smoking.

Second theme was DREAM. My submission for this theme was:

In this photo, the ultimate dream of the model (homesick) is to join the Singapore's Air Force one day. Noticed that he was wearing a shower cap and sunnies to represent helmet and shade. By the way, I bought them on the spot for this shot.

I was so close in winning the grand prize for this theme. I will tell you why once the official has uploaded the winning photograph.

The final theme for the day was FREEDOM. My submission for this theme was:

One thing Singapore lacks is the freedom of speech. In this photo, although the model(Herbert) is not a fussy person, but he couldn't resist the restriction on freedom of speech. Hence, he took the initiative trying to break the silent memorandum.

*For your information, I did not edit the photographs at all because we were not allowed to do so. All I did was resizing them in Photoshop.*

By the way, congratulations to Herbert for winning the best of shots grand prize for the theme, FREEDOM. Yes, he won himself a brand new 50D, a pixma pro printer, ipod nano, 4GB CF card, manfrotto tripod and many more.

Technically, I wasn't satisfied with the judges' decision. I may sound abit like a whiner or a sore-loser but do hear me out. In terms of creativity, true enough that some of the participants deserve the prize. But in terms of overall quality such as exposure etc etc, some winning photos were underexposed. Anyways, it didn't matter to me anymore because the experience I gained from this competition is just priceless.

Photography is quite subjective and you just have to admit it I guess. :)

I did bring home some prizes that I won during mini games between theme intervals. One of them is a Crumpler Camera Neck Strap with Canon embroidery on it.

That's all folks, I is tired. I sleepy and I need some sleeps. Good night and stay tuned!

450cc!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:29:00 +0000

Short talk: I just checked my phone bill and I nearly fainted. :S

No, I didn't get a motorcycle license to drive a 450cc bike. Instead, for the first time in my life, I donated 450cc of blood to the ~~sperm~~ blood bank. The satisfaction of the entire process, from registration to body scan to iron content test to the actual blood donation is just priceless.

The author preparing for needle penetration.

The sticker says:" Be nice to me, this is my first donation!".

Well, it may seem scary at first, but the I didn't feel the sting from the needle except when the nurse was injecting pain killer into my blood vessel.

In less than 5 minutes, I filled the whole bag with 450CC of blood. I guess it must be Benny Benassi's Satisfaction that catalyzes the entire process. You know, the sudden rush of blood every time he tries to "push me" and then just "touch me".

Took this picture on the way to the blood donation booth. Pardon the quality, it was taken with my 2.0MP no autofocus iPhone. Fine fine, I enhanced the picture's contrast and saturation with photoshop. :P That's the Quadrangle at NIE- National Institute of Education. Great place for architecture photography.

I tried a new approach in manipulating multiple strobes. I wanted to shoot a product and I felt that it would be kinda dull if I have to just shoot the product alone. Hence, I took three different shots trying to show the usage of the product.

Do click on the photo if you're interested in how the photo was shot and composed.

If you couldn't find suitable photos to manipulate your picture, why don't you shoot them yourself? This was what I did:

3 more days to canon photomarathon!!!!

Stay tuned.

It's The Final Countdown

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:23:00 +0000

Short talk: I just received the most terrible news of the year from my mom. That is, my house was flooded from last Saturday's torrential downpour. Read about it over here.

Have you heard of the Canon Photomarathon?

"ONE MARATHON, MORE THAN 2,000 PARTICIPANTS
Back for the second year, Canon PhotoMarathon Asia unites all amateur and professional photographers in the region by challenging them to complete a series of photography assignments under the pressure of time.

Your creativity and endurance to complete the marathon will give you a chance to win attractive Canon prizes and/or a Photo Clinic in New Zealand under the lead of a professional photographer. Click your respective countries on the left to learn more!

PHOTO CLINIC IN NEW ZEALAND
Be one of the two winners in your country to be selected for the photo clinic to South Island, New Zealand!

Soak in the natural beauty of South Island while you click away. Experience the Southern Alps while you are at Mount Cook – New Zealand’s highest peak. Or if you have a love for glaciers, be wowed by the Fox Glacier, the longest of the awe-inspiring West Coast glaciers. For a love of tranquility, Milford Sound – nestled in the World Heritage Fiordland National Park and described as one of the Nature Wonders of the World – is not to be missed.

Let professional photographer Triston Yeo help you hone your photography skills at this clinic. And make friends with fellow photographers from the other countries."

Extracted from the website.

I have enrolled myself for the event which is going to take place on this coming Saturday at Suntec City, Singapore. I am excited to join the event as this is my first time joining such big events. Did I mention, the prizes are even more attractive then the whole event itself?!?!?

Imagine taking home a brand spanking new DSLR, ipod nano, manfrotto tripods and many more.

Anyways, I have been very busy with school work, club work, yadda yadda.. you name it. To make matters worse, exams is starting in a month's time. For a moment, it reminded me of STPM, but this time, it's going to be multiple times harder. Questions are not too long but they carry lots of marks.

Months ago, I submitted my photograph for Digital Camera Magazine's Mission. And guess what?! No, I didn't win the grand prize which is the Sandisk Cardreader and CF card. My photograph got selected to feature on the magazine.

It might not sound like a big thing, but it does to me. :) I didn't know anything about it until one of my sister's friend messaged her if she knows a person by the name Patrick Kua, i.e. me. :P

Anyways, here are some shots for the week:

The two pictures above were taken during MSA Mid Autumn Festival.

I wasn't quite satisfied with this shot above because I reckoned that the lighting could be better. But oh well, practice makes perfect. So I would take the photoshoot as a lesson to learn.

On a lighter note, I travelled down to the heart of Singapore on Saturday to pay Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City a visit. The purpose of the trip is to invest on a very good book by Joe McNally.

The book is freaking good for both photographers and normal readers.

For photographers, the book provides substantial information on the lightning techniques.

For the normal readers, this book comes with dramatic photographs that will sure to amaze you.

That's all for today, I need to get back to making mugs (mugging). :P

Stay tuned!

I’m Going Silent this Halloween with Nokia XpressMusic

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:00:00 +0000

That's it, you got it right. Nuffnang organized parties coupled with Nokia as their main sponsor never fails to amuse me. I want to be there this time.

And so Halloween? What?! Oh Yeah,

Gimme a candy, trick-or-treat!

I still remembered my first ever Halloween party which i attended, back in high school, which was absolutely a blast. All the scary outfits, food, drinks, treats and all, brings back the old good memories.

And now, as for the main part, how in the World Nokia XpressMusic makes Halloween better?!

This had actually got me thinking for awhile. And after brainstorming and coming out with wacky ideas on how to do it, here my fair share to the question.

As we all know, Nokia XpressMusic Range of phones boasts a huge memory capacity, apart from being able to play any of our favourite songs just from our fingertips.

An added feature would be its bluetooth connectivity, which indeed means that transferring files between phones during the party would be so-super-easy.

Transferring anything would be as easy as 1-2-3!

On that night, I'll download scary tunes and rename them as if they were popular tracks, and my clueless party peeps would be eh, blasting these songs away in the Xpress Music Headphones,

And when they get scared the poop out, I'll know my Nokia Xpress Music Phone has just got the party going even better.

I'll hope to see you guys there. Cheers!

Sneaker Head

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:37:00 +0000

Short Talk: It's already October!! Exams are drawing near!! I am so lazy to study!! ARGH!! Okay, heck it.

How was your holidays? Or should I say how is your holiday so far?*To my Malaysia malaysian friends* Did you guys enjoy your one week break?

Sadly, in Singapore, we only get one day off from Hari Raya. One freaking day off compared to one freaking week from the Boleh Land. To make things worse, we have to replace our lectures on other days in other to catch up with the syllabus. :S

Despite being a short day off, I did enjoy myself during the festive holiday. I went to my sister's place in Novena the night before raya *an hour's ride of public transportations from NTU* to help her with her wedding album, which in the end, nothing was being done. :P

On the very next day, we I went on a shopping spree at Orchard!! I got myself a pair of Onitzuka Tiger since there was a promotion. Basically, they were trying to clear off the old stocks and hence, I got the shoe for S$107. Back in Malaysia, a pair of Onitzuka Tiger would cost me RM350-RM400++ (S$170 - S$200). On top of that, my sis bought another pair for me so that I could wear it during her wedding. *Thanks sis!* :)

Onitzuka Tiger Injector DX

*P/s: Technical stuff on Photography beyond this point*

Believe it or not, I took this shot with Canon Ixus 860IS. Thanks to the nice available light, I managed to capture the dramatic feel of the shoe in my sister's room. From this shot, I realized that in photography, is the manipulation of light and not the type of camera that matters relatively. What I am trying to emphasize is that the understanding of light is important before investing in expensive cameras. You can take good pictures with a point n shoot and an even greater picture if you use a DSLR once you gain full understanding of light art (photography).

Being inspired by Kinz with his sneaker product photography, I decided to give product photography a try. Most product photography uses light tents, light boxes and even white background to photograph various products.

However, I wanted to try something different. Instead of using a white background and light tent which I don't have, I decided to do it with 2 flash guns fired wirelessly.

Onitzuka Tiget Injector DX

If you do not own a light tent, fret not! Look around your room or just look around for interesting background. The background in the picture is the pin board on my desk. Those where you pin notes onto it.

Onitzuka Tiger Mexico 66

These shots were totally dependent on the flash guns. This means that the flash guns were the only source of light because I set the ISO to 100, aperture to 8.0-13.0 and shutter speed of 1/200.

Anyways, these values do not matter and you shouldn't be taking it into consideration. Read here for more.

Onitzuka Tiger Mexico 66

This is my strobe setup to achieve the three pictures above.

Strobe setup

The S$30 flash was being diffused with a translucent paper because I couldn't adjust the output manually. This means that I will get full blast from the strobe for every shot, which is something very irritating when your subject is very near to the flash.

Stay tuned for more!! Have a nice weekend folks!

Light Experiment 101

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Short Talk: Damn, the description of "Recess Week" is really deceiving. Recess is suppose to be a time where kids get to play and enjoy their lunch boxes at the canteen. In university, Recess week basically means holiday for one to get out of the hectic routines and indulge in leisure/pleasure~~/pressure~~ indulgences. However, in Singapore, Recess literally means accomplishing more work during the holidays than schooling days. :S WTFKNNCCB Raya is around the corner!! Sadly, we only get one day off. :S Le Sigh

The assignments, tutorials and Continual Assessments are killing me! But, in the midst of busy-ness, I still manage to do the things I like to do most and NO, it's definitely not fantasizing.

Remember in the previous post I posted about flash guns that summed up to S$85? I actually took some shots with them once I got back from the tech shop. Unfortunately, I was too ~~lazy~~ busy to post it up. xD

However, being "hard-working" again, I've decided to post up a lil' experiment of mine.

Photography basically means the art of light. The statement is short but the theory and understandings behind that statement is so profound that if you fall into the ditch of photography, you're worse than falling in love. *Okay, I have no idea of what I have just said".

Creativity is when one bends the rule and manipulate its artwork into another dimension/perspective yadda yadda yadda.

*I am typing these nonsense just to ensure that my post is not as short as my ordinary posts.*

iHalo

In this shot, I used three flash guns.
- One being attached to the camera to trigger the other two slave flash guns.

- One slave flash gun being held right above the iPhone to give it a Halo-like effect.

- One slave flash gun being placed in front of the subject at the bottom right corner.

The downside of the flashes I bought is that both of them shoot at full power. This means that I have to play around with the distance/aperture in order to achieve the correct exposure and not screwing up the photo.

iPhone Yoga

Similar to the previous shot, I used three flash guns.
- One being attached to the camera to trigger the other two slave flash guns.

- One slave flash gun being positioned at the subject's thigh area targeting the iPhone.

- One slave flash being fired from the top right corner of the picture.

Yesterday, my school club had a photoshoot for the main committee members. We rented 3 180W studio lights that came with stands and umbrellas for S$60 per day. I thought that it was inexpensive and a cost-saving way to have the corporate shoot.

I was one of the photographer for the photoshoot. Joining me was Ming Wei, a senior of mine who was very accommodating in helping us to get the job done efficiently.

Self Portrait

Two studio lights were being used.

- One being positioned right behind the subject to create the hairlight*glowing hair* effect.

- One being fired 45 degrees and reflected by an umbrella at the top left corner of the photo.

Coverboy

*the above subject is Ming Wei by the way*

Two studio lights were being used.

- One being positioned right behind the subject to create the hairlight*glowing hair* effect.

- One being fired 45 degrees and reflected by an umbrella at the top left corner of the photo.

Stay tuned for more!

What slave? Optical?!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:18:00 +0000

Short Talk: A sudden change of the blog header was being inspired by this particular tutorial created by a friend, Rames. You can visit the site here.

I am going to attend OBS, abbreviation for Outward Bound Singapore in less than 4 hours. It is going to be a 3-day trip from Saturday till Monday evening. During the duration of the camp, mobile phones are required to be handed in to the personnel in charge for safe-keeping. No tele-communication for the next three days I guess.

Right after my last CA paper, Life Sciences, I decided to reward myself in a walk down the gadget malls near Orchard. After walking for more than two hours in Peninsular Plaza, I managed to get a good deal from different stores.

One thing I noticed about shopping in Singapore is that gadget merchants tend to be snobbish and ignorant at all times. They tend to know everything and be your gadget consultant. In fact, they may be wrong.

Before I quote you the example, here's a summary of what I encountered yesterday. I bought an optical slave hot-shoe adapter and by hot-shoe, I'm not referring to those that you actually put on your feet. I was looking for a secondary flash so that I could do wireless flash photography. I shall continue the story in the dialogue below.

S = Seller, M=Me

S: Hi, what are you looking for?

Me: I'm actually looking for a secondary flash which I can use it as a slave.

S: Oh, which brand of cameras are you using by the way?

Me: I'm using a Canon 400D with 580EXII Speedlite.

S: If you're using Canon Speedlite, you should use back flash guns from Canon such as 430EX and bla bla bla.

Me: Yes I understand, but as you can see, I bought this optical slave adapter and all I need is just a cheap flash gun to put onto it.

S: Trust me, if you use flash guns from other brands, it won't work because the moment you start to snap a picture, the Canon flash gun will do a pre-flash, and the slave flash will fire during the pre-flash and not the actual flash.

Me: I know, but I'm not going to lock my exposure, hence, a pre-flash will not be fired.

S: Most of my customers encountered such problems, if you do not believe me, then it's up to you.

Me: Alright, I don't mind. Could you show me the cheap flash guns from China. *Wait till I prove you wrong, ignorant tard.*

*Puts on the optical slave adapter to the cheap flash gun and tested a few shots with my camera.*

It really worked! The flash from my Canon Speedlite actually triggered the slave flash without doing a pre-flash. The trick is to disable the use of exposure lock by not using it at all. Change the mode of the flash to Manual and you can snap pictures without doing pre-flash.

The seller was wordless when I showed him the little experiment of mine. In fact, I actually educated him that if he locks the exposure, then, a pre-flash will fire. Then he was like: "Ohhh, so you shoot with Manual?. My answer was like: "Yea, from the beginning I was telling you that I won't lock the exposure."

THAT WAS SO RIGHT ON HIS FACE!!! Muahahahaha.. I am so mean.

So what's the good deal I got?

I got the two flash heads and the optical slave hot-shoe adapter for S$85 and 8 eneloop batteries for S$40.

The two flash heads being triggered by my on-camera 580EXII.

I went back to my hostel full of excitement to those babies into test and they worked perfectly fine!

The ring flash adapter which I designed on my own. Made out of pure cardboard!

Here's a picture of me with the flash guns.

More to come when I'm back from the camp!
Stay tuned!!

A Break From The Books

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:58:00 +0000

Short Talk: I'm so excited for the F1 Night Race to start in Singapore. It's going to be one hell of an experience!

Continual Assessment a.k.a. CA is starting soon next week. Am I prepared for it? NO is the answer. I practically drowning myself into late-night "My Heroes Ability" in Facebook with my roommate. As they say, Facebook can be quite addictive. Suffice to make one stay up to the wee hours of the night to do random activities like "throwing a sheep" or "tossing a drink".

I can't wait for recess week which is coming soon, 20th September to be exact.

On a lighter note, I still keep in touch with my cameras which I devoted most of my time in it for the past 12 months.

Recently, I helped a club with their committee photoshoot. I'm quite impress with the effect delivered by the on-camera flash despite not having a set of wireless triggers(to do off-camera flash).

On a lighter note, Wen Chiet likes to camwhore given the opportunity.

Stay tuned!

DIY Ring Flash

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:24:00 +0000

Short Talk: This is how I looked during the Merdeka Night organised by MSA.

Thank goodness I'm not going home anytime soon. :S

I wasted 3 hours yesterday trying to build a Ring Flash Adapter.

After the completion of making the ring flash, I decided to give it a try and pulled my roommate in to be my test subject. He obliged obediently and I thanked him for his willingness. xD

*P/s: Please click on the pictures to read the descriptions! Thank you. ;)

We even took a picture together because I would like to see the effect on me.

And for a sudden spur of the moment, I thought I was a supermodel and kept asking my room mate to take photographs of me. :S

This photograph is extremely overexposed. But I just like the mood of the picture.

And last but not least, the very vain part of me.

I can assure you that it wasn't my intention to take such pictures. :S

Stay tuned!

Random Excavations

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:27:00 +0000

Short Talk: Losing the momentum to blog can be quite deadly. I am constantly facing such death threats. Le Sigh..

Anyways, the campus is organizing a photography contest called "Connect Nanyang". I couldn't think of what to actually shoot but obscene images keep floating in my sea of thoughts whenever I come across the word "Connect". :P

First off, I would like to feature Ming Wei, a Biological Sciences student and also my senior. He's actually quite funny especially when he put a reflector board in the toilet just to go on a comfort shoot around NTU.

He asked me to dump the picture because he thought that his face was horrible, but I thought otherwise.

I didn't manage to snap much photographs because the lighting wasn't right and too harsh to actually get correct exposure at desired aperture and ISO.

What makes photography fun in NTU is actually its greeneries.

It's already 3 in the morning. I seriously need some quality sleep. Hence, I shall end this post with this picture:

Good night everyone! More to come!

iPhone 3G

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Short Talk: Had the best experience of my life yesterday!!

I don't know why but everyone seems to be in the rat race of getting the iPhone 3G. I think it is in a way, overrated. Yes i know, you are going to say that I am contradicting my own desires. Everyone wants to get an iPhone no matter how long is the queue. But on the other hand, N95 has more functions than iPhone itself. Due to copyrights, there are many restrictions when it comes to using the smartphone. E.g. you're not allowed to forward your sms to other friends. The bluetooth function is for headset usage only and not for file transferring and etc etc.

The picture above shows the waiting area for consumers to join the 4-hour long "marathon" race to purchase the iPhone 3G.

Here comes the question, why is everyone so obsessed with it including the author himself?
Maybe it's because of its edgy design, or perhaps, its sexy touch features. Seriously, I can't find any other good points about the phone besides having 8GB ipod touch, GPS and 3G.

Seems like I am criticizing the iPhone. Well, here comes the plus point of getting the iPhone. The true fact is that, the phone is actually cheaper than the sony ericssons W810i when I bought it almost 2 years ago. After conversion with the current exchange rate, the iPhone 3G is estimated to be RM825.65. Now tell me, is there any Nokia phone that has almost the same functions cheaper than that price?

Besides that, getting an iPhone from Singapore is also another plus point! This is because the phone itself is unlocked upon purchase unlike those purchased from the US. ~~In other words, you can still use the phone even with other sim cards.~~

I can sense something is coming!

Yes, I have to admit the queue yesterday was total madness. I queued for more than 3 hours just to lay my hands on the new iPhone 3G. The time I spent, the energy wasted and at times trying to get the urge of using the toilet out of my head were in fact torturing.

Guess the endurance finally paid off when I could really do this:

Stay tuned for more!

*P/s: Special thanks to my sister, Ms. Joanne Kua for being so accommodating. She actually accompanied me in the final one hour to purchase the phone. On top of that, I'm using the line registered under her name in order use IDD function as I am underage. Thanks alot sis!! :)

*P/ss: I thought Roxy Summersplash was crazy. This event was even crazier!!!

Expect the Unexpected

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Short Talk: 22nd August 2008 (Today) will be the grand launch of iPhone into the Singapore market. Supply and demand!

I realized that I left the blogsphere for quite a while. My apologies for the lack of updates and pictures. I have been very busy juggling between studies and campus activities. Hence, I can't seem to find time to go out for a photoshoot. Maybe, if I am not too lazy, I might follow the photoshoot trip organised by the campus' photography club.

Meanwhile, I looked back at my photo folder and decided to post two more pictures from my India trip. Descriptions on the photos are available in my flickr site. Therefore, do click on the photos! :)

On the other hand, the "one" that everyone is crazy over at is launching soon in Singapore.
What am I saying?

Does this picture ring the bell? :)

If everything goes well, I am going to blog more about it soon.

Stay tuned!

Random Update

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:57:00 +0000

I bought myself a Fuji Xerox Workcentre 3119 Laser Printer for my everyday notes-printing convenience.

I wouldn't think this machine is cheap but heck, it works wonders. You can print, scan and copy for only One-Seventy-Nine Dollars.

Yup, S$179 for this machine and the best part of all, it comes with an Armani-like trolley which you can carry the printer around like the SIA air-stewardess. *This was the exact sentence the promoter gave me yesterday.*

On a lighter note, I finally found a Singapore version of "Here in my home - MAFU~~lat"~~

Well, they are not entirely the same, but they share almost the same meaning behind the song.

Stay tuned!