Category: Photography

Oil Painting Of An Iranian Bride

While looking through my archives for a picture of low water at Batu Dam, I saw this forgotten capture. I stumbled upon a beautiful bride from Iran doing her wedding photo shoot by the lake shore. So I asked her and the photographer for permission to take a picture. The takeway here is if you ask nicely and state your intentions clearly, most people will oblige. Also, do your shots as quickly as you can.

First, I explained the pose I had in mind. I then took two shots in under 10 seconds, congratulated the couple and left. An oil painting effect and canvas texture was added. A soft filter was also utilised for the dreamy, magical look.

If you are planning to come to Malaysia for wedding photography, find your hotel here http://www.mycen.my/. Nicest hotel on the way to Batu Dam is KIP Hotel.

Olympus E-PL2, ISO 200, f10, 1/500 sec.

#bride #iranian #weddingphotography #oilpainting #iran #malaysia #batudam #lake #olympus #m43 #epl2

Memories of Qingming – Part 3

A Love Story From The Graves.

On a gloomy and windy day, a frangipani landed on the edge of a tombstone. Perhaps, it wanted to be near the fading, hanging red hibiscus it was admiring and longing from the treetop? Will the impending rain separate them again? Or will they wilt together? An ant and silent, invisible souls around them will bear witness.

The frangipani or plumeria is known as the “graveyard flower” locally and the trees are found in abundance at Chinese, Malay and Christian cemeteries. It was in bloom during Qing Ming 2015 and the fallen flowers were scattered beautifully on top of graves.

The frangipani tree is the national tree of Laos and the flower is the national flower of Nicaragua. The hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia, South Korea and Haiti. It is also the state flower of Hawaii where the plumeria is used as one of the flowers for the Hawaiian Lei or garland. Like the hibiscus, the plumeria comes in a variety of colours.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 3200, f9, 1/640 sec.

#qingming #grave #love #flower #plumeria #hibiscus #nature #cemetery

You’re A Big Big Girl In A Big Big World – Part 13

Palacio de Sal in Bolivia, South America, is a hotel built out of salt blocks. It is located at the edge of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, located near the borders of Argentina and Chile. A salt flat is a desert like expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals. The site is near the famous antique train cemetery. Book this hotel or others at http://www.mycen.my/ Picture from Agoda.

Halo There

The sun rising behind the Palace Of Justice, the Federal and Appeal Court Complex in Putrajaya.

This is the first time I am seeing the three signature domes as silhouettes with a halo glow. The architecture incorporates Islamic, Moorish, Palladian and similar Neoclassicism elements.

The amber colour reminds me of the tobacco colour introduced by the French Cokin Filter System.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f8, 1/125 sec.

#landscape #sunrise #dawn #morning #dome #architecture #putrajaya #palaceofjustice #silhouette #halo #sonyalpha #a7r #zeiss

The Smoky Bandit

The Smokey Bandit

Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) MiG-29N are nicknamed Smokey Bandits. One of its more famous pilots is lady top gun Major Patricia Yapp Syau Yin who flies solo. She’s Asia’s first female MiG-29 fighter pilot. The squadron based in Kuantan were at the LIMA Air show.

Aerial display and aerobatics do not necessary require a very long lens, unless you want to lock onto a solitary aircraft. For formation flying, a 70-200mm lens (of 35mm format equivalence) should be adequate. And another common myth is that one must get near or into the airport.

Langkawi’s terrain is hilly and that means you can find better spots on higher ground for a better vantage point. The back perimeter fence of the airport is good too because you can also capture the carnival-like atmosphere created by the villagers.

I must warn you that if you get your schedule wrong or if a session is cancelled, you won’t be able to get out from there. The narrow road will be jam packed with villagers, motorcycles, cars and hawkers.

Morning directional light is a good time for both white and colourful contrails. Even the black exhaust of the MIG 29N looks better. This was photographed during LIMA 2011.

Olympus E-3, ISO 200, f11, 1/800 sec.

#lima #lima2015 #lima15 #rmaf #tudm #mig29 #airshow #smokeybandit #contrail #langkawi #olympus