Housefly (Musca domestica)

Well everybody has seen this type of fly in their house, but seeing them up close is not common.



Here's a closer look (100% crop):




Although I hate them for being dirty and bringing diseases to us, but I gotta say I like their eyes. Magnificent~!

Adding Rainbow!

Here's a simple one.

Before:




After:



It is very simple to make this in Photoshop.

1) Open an image. An image with plenty of sky will do.

2) Click on the "Create New Layer" icon on the bottom right corner (just beside the bin).

3) Select Gradient Tool (or press "G").

4) Select "Special Effects" (second from the bottom) from the Gradient Picker drop-down menu. Select "Append" if Photoshop prompt you something about replacing the gradients.




5) Select "Radial Gradient".




6) Place your cursor on either side of the horizon, hold down Shift and drag your mouse pointer towards another end of photo. The releasing point is where you want the rainbow to appear. Try few times to get the optimum result.

7) An artificial rainbow should appear, and it looks fake. Select "Screen" blend mode instead of "Normal" (there is a drop-down menu under the Layer tab, beside the "Opacity" and "Fill" on your bottom right).

8) To make it more realistic, apply some blur by choosing Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the amount according to your taste. I normally use a higher value (I.e: 60+).

9) The rainbow now should look like this:




Its still fake though.

10) Select the gradient tool again, choose "Foreground to Background" (1st one) again. Select Linear Gradient (beside the Radial Gradient).

11) Add a Layer Mask (3rd icon from left, beside the "fx" icon).

12) Now hold your Shift and place your mouse pointer on the horizon of the landscape. Pull upwards to make the bottom part of the rainbow disappear. You may need to try few times to get the most natural result. You can always reduce your opacity if your rainbow looks too saturated and fake.

13) Your rainbow should look like this:




14) Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer, set the opacity to around 75% in order to add more vibrance to your photo.

15) Flatten your image and save.


Tips:

- Use brush to tidy up (after Step 12) any unnecessary rainbow that appear in your horizon.
- The direction of rainbow will look natural when it is bending outwards the source of light in your image. Bending inwards will look fake.
- If the rainbow looks too think, you can always use Free Transform Tool (Ctrl + T) to squeeze it smaller.
- Select a scene/picture that will most probably have a rainbow in it. For example, my tutorial picture is actually not very suitable as it is very hard to see rainbow during sunset.
- You can duplicate the rainbow and make "double rainbow" effect.

New Gears in the House X

I finally got what I needed - A wireless flash trigger.

This item is so hot that each time I visit the shop, it is sold out. Well this time I confirmed the stock availability with the boss before I even go there.





The package I bought is 1 transmitter + 2 receivers. And it is bundled with some sort of cord that I do not know what is it for. The receivers runs on 2x AAA Batteries (per receiver) while the transmitter runs on A23 Battery.

(This battery holder can hold AAA Batteries, CF Card & SD Card too)

The boss is a nice person, he even gave me a free battery holder for my AA Batteries (used for my flashgun).


Price: RM 160
Discount: RM -
Net: RM 160

Total spending to date: RM 5,902.75

Firts try on Macro

Since last week I bought my macro lens, I never really had a chance to test it out. So I have decided to take it out and play around with it.

(1:1, slightly cropped)

(1:1, slightly cropped)

(1:1, no crop)

(1:1, slightly cropped)

(Not 1:1, as its too far to reach)

(1:1, slight crop)

I do not know why after uploading to photobucket, the photo are not so sharp. Perhaps they compress it?

Focusing is again, very hard and I have shaky hands. Anyone have a cure for shaky hands?

Penang Trip

I went Penang with 3 of my friends on last Friday (the next day being Deepavali). I had to took a day leave for this trip.

Basically nothing much to see here as I do not shoot that much. And most of the photo contains my friend's faces so I will not show it.

(The famous Air Item Laksa)

(Very delicious Fish Ball Noodle in Pitt Street)

(Famous Cendol stall near KOMTAR)

(Air Itam Dam)

(Statue in temple)

(Shot this on a ferry, heading back to mainland)

New Gears in the House IX

This is my first 1:1 macro lens and first non-Canon lens. Lets welcome my 3rd lens in my lineup - Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di 1:1 Macro!

I bought this from a nice gentleman in the forums. This lens is highly rated for its sharpness and reasonable pricing.




If you wanna read the reviews of this lens, click here.

Thanks Alfred for treating me a cup of coffee and paying my parking ticket. =)

Here are some pics I have tried out just now:

(A dieing insect)

(1:1 size, no crop)

(100% crop)

Macro Photography is damn hard to master. You will need a lot of practice and patience. the DOF is so shallow that even 1mm movement will make big difference between "got it" or "miss it".


Price: RM 1,100
Discount: RM 100
Net: RM 1,000

Total spending to date: RM 5,742.75

Canon Photo Marathon 2009

Canon Photo Marathon is one of a major event in Malaysia's photography industry. This competition is open to public irregardless of what camera brands the participants are using. However, Canon users can join for FREE whereas others has to pay RM30.

I joined this event is only for the fun of it. I have never think of submitting my works as this would take whole day. Besides, I get a free T-Shirt and a cap.

I arrived the venue (Sunway Lagoon's Elephant Walk Entrance) around 7:20am. The event kicks offs officially around 10am. So, we basically wasted some time sitting there and waiting. However there are some gains...

I got to test some lenses on my 1000D. Canon set up a booth in front of the stage, providing participants to touch and play with some of Canon's newest and top-line camera bodies and lenses.

(This was shot using my 1000D body + EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens. The range of the lens is cool, but its too heavy an the IS dosen't seem to help much on slow shutter speed, i.e. 1/60s and below)

(This shot was taken using 1000D body + 70-200mm f/2.8L USN [non-IS] lens)

While waiting, I spotted this guy is shooting video using 5D Mark II (some sort of pimped up version + some unknown accessories). Well I know nothing about videography.





The 3 themes for today are:

1) Splash
2) Red
3) Shooting in Progress

I basically feel these themes boring. We are required to wear the T-Shirt throughout the event. So, this is what you see:







So I ended up hanging around inside Sunway Lagoon and exploring various parts of the amusement park. My favorite is off course the Wildlife Park. It's a mini zoo basically and I got to shoot some birds in close distance. I only have kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) as a zoom lens at this moment.

(I came across this funny monkey behind a glass, showing weird pose)

(Chick in drain)

(Flower Palette used to feed butterflies)

(World's longest suspended bridge @ 428m)

(How's the view?)


(My favorite shot of the day - Silhouette of a Pirate Ship)

Photoshop Fun

I was a Photoshop (PS) noob. I know zero about PS, until then I understood the concept of layers in PS. Well, I do not call myself a PS pro (yet), I'm more towards PS beginner now.

By utilizing layers in PS, I can do this now:







I know its simple for many of you out there, but for me, this is unimaginable. I never think that I can produce something like this.

Besides, I have learned some other techniques too such as Sharpening using High Pass, Portrait Skin Smoothing and etc.

PS is fun!