Black & White (Part II)

An image comprise of pixels described by RGB. I like B that stands for Blue, as this colour will turn blue to white when transformed into a "black & white" monochrome. While the red and green, will turn the image black and sheds of grey. Hence when i see a scene, immediately my mind will visualise a black & white version... and blue appears aplenty near the coastline with abundance of blue sky and sometimes a blue sea especially in the morning low temperature. Hope you enjoy my black & white images.


The above and below images are the same structure, a ruined dilapidated jetty in Pantai Merdeka. It has plenty of barnacles that provided a lot of contrast to the beige coloured shore, coupled with a storm-coming backdrop. Just a nice combination, god made

The next two images are captured in Teluk Tempoyak with a clean horizon (well almost, as I duly removed some sailing ships far away on the horizontal line). I tend to create more shadows with the slow shutter speed effect, whilst smooth creamy water is another side effect




Its under the Penang Bridge. I come here very often and every time there's a different kind of lighting especially the intensity and angle of the source. Fascinating, as I can revisit countless of times with many permutation of shots (need to buy a good pair trekking shoe as I keep slipping with the present one, heh)

Hopefully, part III is around the corner with a B+W ND#110...yay yay

Jerejak Pier

Immediately after the Penang Bridge International Marathon being flagged off in the wee morning of 16 Dec 2008 and runners bee-lined towards the bridge, i took the chance to capture the Jerejak Pier again for probably the 4th time.

The morning sun rose slowly as i lined up for my shot, tripod secured on the soil bank and as I triggered a 25sec shutter, the tripod sank slowly without me knowing. The final image is blurred beyond help of a post-processing but the scene is just too exquisite for deletion. I am keeping this image as a good lesson for me.. hu hu

Simplicity

These shots went out of the B&W conventions which normally require contrast and texture to enhance a monochrome image. Some say that rules are meant to be broken, and yes, these images below just did that. While most of the time rule of thirds plays an important principle in image composition, its cool to sometimes flaunt and see what happens.

This image is intended as a minimalist capture, it looks simple but I believe it carries a strong message of tranquility. When captured wide at 17mm, the scene looks busy but once the field of view is narrowed to 24mm a totally different compposition is achieved. Voila!

Here is another with stronger perspective feel. Cropping presented me with the option of isolating some distraction that appears on the left part of the original image.


This little boy threw his tantrum when his mother scolded him for some mischief. Taking advantage of his emotion and natural facial expression, I clicked a stream of shutters to capture every nuances he could provide. I find this image very amusing, and presented him a dollar upon which he gave me a wicked smile in return. Oh, how simple is his thoughts are, hence the title...Simplicity

Levels & Curves

I want to share my experience on post-processing a.k.a PP of digital images. As we all know, our eyes are the best imaging device one could have as it can capture almost all visible gamut and spectrum of colours, but a camera with all its might in digital technology is not able to reproduce what we see with our eyes. Perhaps, not as yet. While exposure, focus details and other light-technical capabilities can be manipulated by the camera sensor and their numerous lenses, an image that 'comes-out' from the camera would typically look like this

However, when a photographer shoots in RAW (digital negative) and PP for image enhancement using softwares like Photoshop, Capture NX, Aperture, etc, an image can be transformed closed to what our eyes can actually view (as per the scene in front of camera lenses). With a little bit of tweaking on colour casting and contrast through the process of level and curve adjustments, the image below is very possible to achieve...

As the final workflow, sharpening the entire image can be applied to enhance the details and clarity of an image as what one can see when they are 6/6 eye clarity index.

Hope i have sufficiently poisoned someone. Go buy Photoshop CS3 and an iMac 24" !!

cheers


Photoshop

Hakuna Matata

... (make life great, no worries)... from the silver screen Lion King


The 4th day of Syawal, I went out photo shooting with Brian Tan (his blog here) who recently dived into the realm of digital photography. He is now armed with a nikkor 70-300mm, apart from his kit lens 18-135 (under repair) and a prime 50mm to barrel his nikon d80. It was a drizzling saturday morning when we arrived at the fort cornwallis. This image i dedicate to the increasing enthusiasm of Brian...

We started our day with roti canai in Transfer Rd before proceeding to the esplanade in a Fiat Punto Cabriolet. Seen here, in his italian marque pride (se ottenete annoiato con Fiat Punto e volete donare per libero, lascilo prego conoscere huh)


(I hope he can click on the pic to extract the bigger image for his keeping....nahhh I am sure he is smart enough to know that!). There was nothing interesting to shoot in the fort cornwallis... even the wall of the fort looks a 2nd worthwhile image to capture

We rounded the day by visiting the Khoo Kongsi in Georgetown, and of course whizzing around with an open-top cabriollet. Cheers, to Brian

Pulau Aman

Pulau Aman is an island off the coast of Bukit Tambun (Seberang Perai) somewhere close to the southeast of Penang Island. An idyllic Malay fishing village, Pulau Aman is known for having the oldest Sukun (breadfruit) tree in Malaysia which can be found in abundance perhaps more populated than the inhabitants themselves. A short 10mins ferry boat ride is really exhilarating under fine wheather and for a small fee of RM6 for a return ticket is just worth an outing. The above picture was one of the many scenes that I captured during an organised photowalk with about 15 other photography enthusiasts from ShutterAsia.


The kampung of Pulau Aman is located on the northeast side of the island and a network of cemented walkways make you on track to wherever you intend to go. Really, the place isn't big, and you are unlikely to get lost. While walking I wonder what a simple life it must be on the island as the residents are really easy-going lot, and I am afraid that once the village island gets to be more developed like having more chalets (pic below) the island would lose its transquility. The island's name has to be changed then!

Shore Line Series

Shore line images captured off Penang eastern coast in the tranquility of an early morning 9 August 2008. The image was supposed to be converted to black & white but the lure of dawn light was too luscious to be removed.

This image is classical of David Burdeny's type of photographic work which Malaysia has aplenty to offer to shore line enthusiasts.

Two images below are nearby coastal scenes and I hope you appreciate them, and more will be uploaded soon into my flickr

Tips for composing black & white images

Capturing black & white images are not easily achieved if one does not understand key prerequisites that need to seek for. Below are 3 snapshots that I personally feel able to manifest the concept of mono image and outshine the colored version.

Basically a photographer need to pre-ascertain; 1) high contrast in an image, 2) existence of patterns/designs, and 3) texture within the fore or backround. These are the three vital ingredients that can make a black & white photo exquisite looking and when captured in color, looks less dramatic. Imagine the above image of a bowing shelter to be in colour where the sea colour is dull green with wash-out sky makes an uninteresting color rendition. Similarly the photograph of a lone kayak has all the textures that makes a good b&w under the silhouette

sunrise of Putrajaya. In this image the backlighting is pretty obvious and do not worry as it can easily be adjusted with (selected) levels adjustment in Photoshop. The image below presented another challenge as it lacks contrast but has all the conditions of a good black & white image. When you are confronted

with this situation, you can opt to dodge (whiten) or burn (darken) on selected parts of the image. Here you can see the bundled weeds (top) is dodged to lighter pixels and the folded attires are burnt to make a nice deep contrast. Click here if you need enlightenment on Photoshop CS3, and a good website for further reference is by KenRockwell

Next tip: Cropping for good composition

Camera Wishlist

With outlet counters full of brand spanking new camera models on offer, creatives have never had so much fun in choosing...

Fortunately, the spectrum of digital cameras has never been so wide, and with it the scope of affordability has increased. As most individuals are moving on their second or third model, the market has adapted to meet the demands of the tech savvy consumers. The technology within compact cameras has blossomed, offering higher quality images and feature-packed menus in units that make their predecessors look like WW2 tanks. The prosumer compact market has swelled to meet the growing demand of photography enthusiasts looking to step up from an everyday compact to a model with more manual manoeuvrability, but who are perhaps not ready for the complex areana of DSLRs. (* DSLR - digital single lens reflex)


The DSLR market, traditionally reserved for an elite scattering of manufacturers, has now been penetrated by other successful brands delivering a wider range of bodies at more affordable prices.

In the recent months every camera manufacturer has released a new model, some offering dozens of products. The key is to plump for an option that reflects your personal workload and purpose. For example, for large poster printouts at maximum resolution your focus should be guided to the DSLR quadrant; alternatively, if your work is purely experimental and photography takes a back seat to Photoshop artistry, it may serve you well to get a grounding with a reliable compact camera.