Tag: documentary photography

Critical Appreciation – 001

Maria Bernadette (https://www.facebook.com/maria.bernadette.92) sent me this message;

“Hi Terrence, I hope this is not too much to ask for. I’ve uploaded some of my photos from Kochi and Munnar. Your comments will be much appreciated and please feel free to criticise as your comments would make me do better the next time”.

I am always hesitant to critic somebody’s work. When I was starting out I used to buy American and British photography magazines in which they had a column in where an expert or panel reviewed pics sent in by willing readers. The expert or panel will explain what he or she liked or didn’t and why. Also suggestions for improvements.

I felt I learned and benefited from it. With that in mind, I asked Maria if I can share the pics and my comments for the benefit of more people. She graciously agreed.

Send me a link or the pic if you wish to participate. It must be yours and not someone else’s. Don’t send a perfect pic just to show off. It is not a contest and done in fun.

Update: Found out the comment don’t show via Fb sharing,

So here it is: “I like that it isn’t overexposed adding to the air of mystery. Also the selective framing and cropping is clever in not revealing all. The trick with this scene is getting the exposure correct. Helps that the speed is slow enough to see the flames blown in the wind.”

#tvscapic

Troupers

Met these two young Malay lion dance troupers last year. As I was taking their pic, their Chinese and Indian teammates kept mentioning KFC.

Puzzled, I asked them about it. One of the boys appeared in a KFC television commercial near that time.

According to Albert Fong, lion dance expert and trainer on my Facebook, they are Hakimi Ismail (left) and Eskandar Zolkarnaine.

#liondance #cny #nfc #sonyalpha #a7r

Rainbow Clouds

October 2014 in Pahang. Spotted by Zyneste while on the old Bentong road. Exhilarating seeing it for the first time.This a series on rainbow clouds after news of its appearance over Singapore on 20th February 2017. See related links for more.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f6.3, 1/2000 sec.

Paddle Pop Parliament

It is not as rare or unusual as one would think, I photographed the occurrence of fire rainbows or rainbow clouds in our skies a couple of times previously.

Here’s a picture of the one I saw next to our Parliament Building in November 2015.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f16, 1/800 sec.

#rainbowcloud #iridescent #clouds #sky #rainbow #weather #cumuluscloud #malaysia #a7r #sonyalpha #zeiss #tbt

Lean On Me

Saw a post from Teluk Intan native Chong See Ming and decided to try out Facebook’s improved search of old posts. Found the image surprisingly quick. That it works will save me much time in finding the captions for my book. The original pic is in high quality PSD format.

If you are a Photoshop user, you may like to know that the free Faststone Viewer is the only image viewer or simple app that can display PSD files in a gallery. Even Photoshop can’t do that. Heh.

The Leaning Tower Of Teluk Intan.

The iconic landmark at the former colonial town previously renamed Anson Bay. Built in 1885 by a Chinese contractor, the pagoda functioned as a water tank and clock tower. According to tourist info, the clock was originally crafted by highly-regarded London watch and clock makers J.W. Benson of Ludgate Hill.

Photography Notes: If you want good light, you have to wait for the correct time, bad weather notwithstanding. No other way, really. With a little luck, the sky was a perfect blue the day I was there.

I didn’t just wait for good light but waited also for a cyclist to come along to include some foreground activity. Quite a long wait too, as it was an exceptionally hot day and everyone else stayed indoors. Coincidentally, the scrap cardboard collector’s cargo was also leaning and was going to topple.

The use of an ultra-wide angle lens here presented two challenges. I have to be very careful in keeping the horizon level so as to preserve the natural tilt of the tower. With a very wide lens, it is easy to tilt the camera instead.

With so much sky in frame, the foreground exposure was a little overwhelmed. A little kick from the camera’s DRO smoothened out the harsh dynamic range and preserved some details in the shadow areas of the structure.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 320, f11, 1/400 sec.

#streetphotography #landscape #landmark #telukintan #leaningtower #pagoda #menaracondong #telukanson #perak #sonyalpha #a7r #samyang