生活点滴：我的画展

修改论文期间为了找些旧资料而无意间翻起了好些往事和记忆。

我还真忘了，我曾经有过个画展。

在二零零五年二月中至三月中，香港的一间书店里。

香港，除了那些在机场里红眼漫长的转机等待以外，我没去过。

所以那个画展，我也不在场。

是在大学做研究那几年认识的朋友的母亲办的。

是一个诗刊的推销展览，那期诗刊用了我的照片。

那时还是菲林时代，数码相机才刚刚兴起，又贵又没有现在手机里相机的品质好。

那些照片全是菲林冲洗后再用扫描器数码化的。

那就是我至今唯一的画展。

一个我没去的，我的画展。

生活点滴 |系列|

生活点滴：外游

星期天还要早起，真「阴公」。

和朋友约好到瀑布摄影和玩水。既是他们去摄影，我和家人去玩水的意思，嘿！

半昏迷死尸般等待用冲凉房（我最后）的时候给苏小妹发了个生日祝贺。

我醒了当然也要把别人给弄醒分担痛苦，呵呵！ =P

星期天大清早路上车少很好走。

当然啦，傻的才在周末早起，可以的话我是绝对会做睡到太阳晒屁股那明智的选择的！ =P

约好的早餐地点今天不做生意，所以临时改了个地方吃早餐。

早餐后大伙浩浩荡荡出发，耶！ ^_^

好一段车程后终于到达目的地，两个瓜已经兴奋不已。

见到第一个瀑布后摄影队马上开工，我这玩水队队长带着家人往更高处走。

当然是要去到越高越好啦，我才不要上面的人小便在我要玩的水里嘞！

（我要往高处去小便给下面的人，呵呵！） =P

原本只是想要拍一两张照片来给我那拖了好久的《摄影入门》手册的，但一开始了就起兴越拍越投入。

结果都没什么陪到家人玩，真是的。 =\

如果下次再去，绝对不要带相机去，要好好陪家人玩。

我那功能限制众多的老数码相机实在是叫人无奈。 -_-

但还有拍到一些可以接受的照片啦，只要要求不是太高的话，嘿嘿！

 

摄影队完成他们的任务后我们离开瀑布，一同去吃了有点迟的午餐。

午餐后大伙散队回家，下回是极乐寺！ ^_^

生活点滴 |系列|

I'll be back (4)

In this series: |part 1| |part 2| |part 3|

All photos in this series are presented as photographed, unless otherwise specified, the only image manipulations done were resize, crop and adding watermark.

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April's theme for The Light Room is 'Happiness'. A theme that leaves much to interpretation and space for creativity.

High-key lighting technique popped up in my mind as soon as I saw the theme. It's something that I have always wanted to try but never did get to, and I think the technique suits the theme.

how to show that reading while eating junk food and sipping chilled Coke is a happy thing for me?

tweak: contrast +5%

Ideas for subject that popped up include reading, writing, sleeping, chocolate, board game, card game, smiling face, kids with balloons, clasped hands with the wedding bands showing, clasped hands as foreground focus framing kids playing as out of focus background, toes of parents as foreground focus with kids playing as out of focus background at the seaside. All these with high key lighting.

 

my joy in writing, sharing, and a philosophical take on the theme

tweak: software change to black & white

I know I know, some of the things may not be happiness to others but hey, this is my photo! =P

The theme also reminded me of an entry I posted a few years back, for a hand made birthday present.

 

tried a few versions, not really happy with all the attempts though. Probably should have highlighted that sentence or printed in red or some other colour

tweak: software change to black & white

Took photos of board game, of my kids playing board game, of my kids smiling faces as well. But didn't like any of those.

I need a proper DSLR, a fast lens and a dedicated flash for the people's shot to get the effect I want. Since I don't have any of those, I settled for inanimated objects.

Deefer! My stuffed toy dog with a huge smile

Those clasped hands, toes at seaside, kid with balloons images would probably be real nice if I could pull them off. For now, they will remain in my mind in their perfect form. =P

 

this is the photo I submitted, I like the tilted head Deefer more ^_^

All original work on this site is copyright C.K. Goh and may not be copied or reprinted without my express written approval.

I'll be back (3)

In this series: |part 1| |part 2|

All photos in this series are presented as photographed, unless otherwise specified, the only image manipulations done were resize, crop and adding watermark.

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Let me first state that most of this month's photos actually had their brightness and contrast tweaked using image manipulation software. Tweaked in the way as if I had used a graduated filter, that is, darken the sky and in some cases brighten the foreground. Contrast adjustment, if done, was to retain the original after the brightness change.

the very first photo I took, and my favourite of the lot. Contrast was increased 2%

I used Paint Shop Pro 7 for image manipulation, its brightness adjustment function doesn't have a unit, while contrast is in percentage. Most of the brightness changes I made were in the -5 to -10 range on the sky, the few changes on the foreground/land were in the +5 to +10 range. Contrast adjustment was between 2% to 5%.

sun breaking the horizon

tweak: sky brightness was reduced by 5, contrast increased by 2%

March theme for The Light Room was Landscape (Sunrise or Sunset). Yup, landscape specifically at sunrise or sunset hours.

less than 2 minutes after the above shot

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%

So after two months of photographing things I set up in the comfort of the house, this month I finally got my lazy arse out and about, all in the name of photography. =P

sun was still rather high in the sky for a sunset shot

I didn't have a DSLR this month so it's back to my ancient Canon PowerShot S2. It has aperture and shutter priority functions, it allows me to manual focus (rather cumbersomely), it even has exposure compensation to help so I was good to go!

the huge brightness difference between sky and sea/land made me wish I had my graduated filter, manually holding it in front of the lens

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 5

No filter adapter though, so I had to live with the huge contrast between sky and sea/land and resorted to post-capture image manipulation, oh well.

if only the sun's reflection was also in the foreground water...

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%

Made three attempts on this month's theme, two sunrises and one sunset. Can't say I didn't put in the effort. =)

that 'lump' on the beach is a dog =P

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 5, contrast increased by 5%. Sea brightness increased by 5, contrast increased by 3%

I like my twilight shots more, but since the theme specifically says sunrise or sunset, I ended up choosing one with the sun still visible.

this is the image I posted to the group

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 5, contrast increased by 5%

It was really a shame that the cloud formation was either non-existing or not really all that nice on my three attempts.

I kind of like the wave breaking on the beach

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 5. Sea/land brightness increased by 10. Overall contrast increased by 5%

Wifey snapped a beautiful sunrise photo using her mobile phone in between the days of my attempts, it has fantastic cloud formation. Life's so unfair. -_-

doggie was enjoying the sunset ^_^

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%

Anyway, it's good to be passionate about photography again. It's a nice feeling.

this is a crop to make panorama

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%

If only more of the group is as passionate, and take the monthly 'assignment' more seriously.

this is the photo from which the above was cropped from ^_^

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%

I was hoping the group will provide me with the motivation to get back to, and stay motivated in photography.

found this log after the sun has gone down, it makes good foreground interest

tweak: sky brightness decreased by 20, contrast increased by 10%. Foreground brightness increased by 10, contrast increased by 5%

So here's hoping interest will pick up, cause it can be rather discouraging when the others don't put in the effort. It's supposed to be a group thing.

second sunrise attempt, after the end of my night shift

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 30, contrast increased by 15%

Anyway, hope you like the photographs. Feedbacks and comments appreciated! =)

exposed for the sky for the colour, but the foreground was underexposed too much for my liking

tweak: sky brightness reduced by 10, contrast increased by 5%. Foreground brightness increased by 30, contrast increased by 15%

All original work on this site is copyright C.K. Goh and may not be copied or reprinted without my express written approval.

Earth Hour 2013

Reminder: Earth Hour 2013 is 20:30 to 21:30 hours (8:30 - 9:30pm) next Saturday, 23rd of March.

brownie point if you spotted the blue round shape representing the Earth ^_^

Turn off all non-essential lights and electrical appliances during that hour to show support. And do be conscious of what this is all about.

Sadly I won't be participating this year, unless they are going to turn off the lights during the wedding dinner, which I don't really object to. =P

Well, at least I can do my part spreading the awareness.

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In this series: |2010| |2011| |2012|

I'll be back (2)

In this series: |part 1|

All photos in this series are presented as photographed, unless otherwise specified, the only image manipulations done were resize, crop and adding watermark.

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February theme for The Light Room, that's the group for photography enthusiasts I started early this year, is Speed.

The person who set the theme this month said Speed, not Motion, but I interpreted it as motion anyway and got my grey matter working on possible motion shots. =P

I narrowed down to three techniques to try: (1) panning, (2) rear curtain sync, and (3) zoom burst.

panning = not easy

In terms of difficulty, for me, zoom burst is the easiest, followed by rear curtain sync, and panning being the toughest.

I am only sharing 3 out of ~200 shots, imagine my failure rate =P

When the February theme was set, I still had the borrowed DSLR with me for another weekend, so I capitalised on that and spent a day testing my panning skill, and the other on rear curtain sych.

well at least I made a genuine attempt at honing my panning skill

I dropped zoom burst because it's more like induced motion effect instead of genuine motion. Might well be because I didn't really put much thought to it in the first place, probably could have tried zoom burst with moving object.

I went about my rear curtain sych shots like a still life, giving myself maximum control

Anyway, panning turned out... crap. =P

Took near to 200 shots (thank you digital!) and didn't really have any that I am really pleased with. Background, foreground, subject, composition, just don't really like them for all the panning shots, so I had to make my rear curtain sync attempts count.

I actually had a few decent shots to choose from

I ended up submitting one of my rear curtain sych shots, took me 59 shots before I am happy with what I got.

this is the final photo I selected

All original work on this site is copyright C.K. Goh and may not be copied or reprinted without my express written approval.

Gotta slack more

Another happening weekend, this is seriously damaging my slacker extraordinaire reputation!

=P

Woke up tired yesterday but went out for lunch to celebrate mom's birthday. Returned home for the song and cake, it's already late afternoon by the time we tidied up.

Then, genuine attempt at trying to capture a particular portrait I have in mind, but I gave up in frustration eventually as we had already missed the ideal lighting time, and couldn't achieve the effect I was trying for anyway. Model getting sleepy and the little monsters bugging all the while didn't help.

Pfft.

Switched gear and went to do some panning shots. "Some" ended up more like 200 shots, not too happy with the results but the sun has set and it's dinner time.

Tried to set up for a rear curtain sync shot after dinner but found that, of all things, I was lacking a piece of black paper.

Saturday didn't go too well for my photography attempts, though the home baked cheese cake was a success according to wifey. I wouldn't know as I am lactose intolerance.

Today turned out to be more fruitful. Didn't wake up tired, that's always a good start! =)

Lunch with colleagues from The States in Straits Quay, my goodness, I am socialising! That's just... abnormal. 0_o

A leisurely lunch followed by a visit to Borders and then Chocolate Passion. Neither of the shop owners were in, so couldn't tell them about the sea salt chocolate the colleagues are so into.

Parted ways with wifey and kids after Straits Quay and brought the colleagues to Tesco and then to Prangin Mall, looking for umbrellas of all things! Here's a public service, forget supermarket or shops in a mall, go to the pharmacy if you want to get umbrella, sheesh!

It's already evening by the time I dropped them off at their hotel and got home. Mrs Chan called and said she will come over to pick up the camera after dinner. So I quickly set up using the Tesco bought black paper and fired away, after 59 shots I think I have bagged the rear curtain sync shot.

February theme for the photography group is 'Speed', hence the panning and the rear curtain sync attempts. ^_^

Well, I have just returned the DSLR, so one of either the panning or the rear curtain sync shots will have to do.

Anyway, way too happening these few weekends, if I am not careful I am gonna lose my slacker extraordinaire status. Gotta slack more!

随想

五天假期就这样过去了，好快。

和孩子做 LEGO，学用闪光灯，跑医院，拍婚宴，整理照片，其实还过得蛮充实的。

太充实了点，我是想要睡觉，看书和玩电脑游戏的嘞。

一向来喜欢用自然光拍照的我这次认真研究怎样使用闪光灯后才发现这也是一门学问。要在阴暗的室内用闪光灯把人的皮肤拍得像是自然光，而不是硬生生不自然闪光灯的效果还不简单哦！

用对了出来的效果真的好好看，现在我反而很难想象以后在室内拍人时不用闪光灯。

那是，如果我买部数码摄影机的话啦…

明天又要做工了，好显哦！

I'll be back

One of my resolutions this year is to get back to photography. My plan in realising this resolution is to get a group of like-minded friends, have a monthly theme kind of thing where we go take our best shot, share, and provide honest feedbacks to others.

Group motivation, something like that.

Anyway, January's theme is Still Life, and submission period started today. It's not a big group, and many are so eager they submitted earlier. Wah lau peer pressure so I ended up selecting one of my shots last week and submitted instead of trying a few more this weekend as initiailly planned.

I am lucky this month in the sense that I have a borrowed DSLR to take the shots. Next month onwards I will rely on my PowerShot S2 or my IXUS 800, until I get myself a DLSR, which have to wait until I sell my kidney or something. =P

 the beauty of digital photography: try as much as you like!

Capitalising on the near instant review and the near zero running cost, I bracketed my exposures and played with different apertures to get different depth of field. So fast and cheap compared to good old film. ^_^

Shared here are the more presentable photos.

I like these cups, and tried to compose the scene so it has meaning

Green bunny chasing pink bunny, how to convey that in a nice pictorial form?

that's me girl, so near yet so far

I have difficulty finding a tidy background, so I opted for shooting down towards the horizontal surface. I changed to a mirror to add intrigue.

Wine glass and its reflection

Not the first time I use this technique really, I like it because it's neat and tidy.

a glass half full, or half empty?

Reflection details alone may not be enough as focal point, so I added the liquid. Wanted to include my own reflection within the glass reflection, but I couldn't achieve that on the day. Supposed to try it again this weekend in another location where I have more room to position myself.

with foreground interest and hopefully lead-in

Then I added the drops, hoping to add some foreground interest, and possibly lead-in. But might have ended up as a distraction, less is more in this case? I submitted this last image as my entry, let's see what the feedbacks are. ^_^

This is just the first month for the group, so I'm not sure if it will keep going or just dissolves when the initial interest wears out.

I can't honestly say that I am back to photography yet, so I will just say I'll be back, without a specific timeline. =P