Monday, February 24, 2014

Eve of Chinese New Year - Year of the Horse

Towards the Sunset
Having the chance to go into a decorated temple for a festive season is surely something not to be missed. And so there we were & I was shocked with what I'm seeing! Even before entering the temple, there were food bazaars lining outside the temple, a stage was setup for a performance and the lights... ahh the lights... too many of them that I now am really really keen in need of a wide angle lens just to keep up.

Details:
ISO 400
f 18
HDR 3 Exposure
(handheld)


Entrance to the main hall
This time around I dragged my son who always is so busy asking me to bring him to my quest of sunrise/sunset. Being a 10 year old he had so many questions that at time I just wish Google was at my hands and not eating up the battery juices of my phone - LOL. My son at times was tired waiting for me triggering my multiple exposures that he sometimes venture himself around the temple. I just make sure that at crowded places he just stay close.

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure


Main hall
This was one of those times when you wished you had something just to satisfy something. Yup, I keep having problems on my cropped body camera and without a wide angle or a fish-eye lens it sure poses problems.
This temple on the other hand is quite famous where is has been used in commercials and movies (kung-fu movies on the majority). 

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure
(I do not know why but my upload just does not do justice to the photo I have edited. Should I find out the reason, I shall give the link)


From the top
With lights all light up coming to dusk, I just love the reds against the blue dusk of the evening. Positioned myself at a tight stairs and I tried my best. Worth the effort even with a crop body on a 17 at max - LOL

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Choose your tanglung
With the vast amounts of tanglungs (lanterns), guess one would just have to choose one? - LOL

Details:
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure


Signing off
Daddy Rain
24/02/2014 @ 1600

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunrise/Sunset & Everything else in between

I must admit, being a home-dad is more tiring than expected!! Having to drive everyone to their destination & picking them up with some minor jogs in between, support works & house chores really got me on my toes. I rarely have the time to edit the photos I've shot let alone uploading them. The weekdays activities gets me exhausted and my weekend activities were full with families & my bunch of crazy friends outings.

Now with this little hour I have I tried editing what I can manage before my eyes gave way - LOL.

I love going out with my friends on the weekend just to have that glance on the sunrise then have my family jog then back to sunset before I have a nice dinner with my family. Well, I hope all these photos raises up my morale level again - LOL.

KL View from Kenanga
Lee Kwang Soo Meet/Greet
Earlier this year, I brought my son & my niece to meet with Lee Kwang Soo (an actor from South Korea who gets his fame most from the reality game series of Running Man). My niece who got me into watching Running Man was so excited because not only did she get to meet with LKS but also received a signed poster by him and personally collected it from the fella. My son was just as over joyed as that was his first sort-of concert by his own without me beside him. My eyes on the other hand were not only looking down (literally) at my son & niece from the level access I gained, but also the view I had. Sadly though, I did not knew that the view was this good else I had brought along my proper gear. This was the only shot I got, handheld from my Tough-2.

Details:
ISO 1600
Panoramic on camera via Olympus Tough-2

KLCC Pond version 1
KLCC Pond version 2
Sunrise of Maulidur Rasul
On the sunrise of Maulidur Rasul (the birth of Prophet Muhammad), I went down to KLCC park with my lovely wife & a friend to glimpse on the stunning sunrise with a clear weather. The wife had her brisk walk while camwhoring on her mobile phone and while playing with some slow shutter, I had some minor exercise of my own. Though I did not like most of my shots there (guess I was still having fatigue from my daily routine - LOL), only this set came to my senses. Still I am still at confuse... LOL

Details (both photos):
ISO 100
f 10
HDR 7 Exposure

Putrajaya Lake at Dusk
Putrajaya Lake at Dusk try 2
My version of selfie
Sunset of Maulidur Rasul
As the day sets on the same day of Maulidur Rasul, my bunch of crazy friends had this plan to visit an uncharted place around the Putrajaya Lake. It was a gamble for us as the weather witch doctor (aka weather app on phone) told us that is was going to rain! Rushing to drop my wife at the only mall available there and rushing to scene, the crazy dads drove/walk/jump/hike to this nice view uncharted yet by others. To our luck, the rain did not fall but as you can see the sunset was not really at our favour as you can witness due to the heavy clouds. With that happened, it made us wait for the building lights to appear just to satisfy our shutters.

Details (sunset):
ISO 100
f 16
HDR 9 exposure

Details (selfie):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 exposure

Lanterns of Gong Xi Fatt Choi (Chinese New Year)
Thean Hou Temple from below
Thean Hou main gate from above
Upper level of Thean Hou Temple
Chinese New Year's eve sunset
Gong Xi Fatt Chai
At the eve of the Chinese New Year, I grabbed my son to tag along with me and bunch of crazy friends to this beautiful temple located in PJ. After years living in PJ, this was my first visit and I must say I really missed a lot. The temple was decorated so colourful that it nearly took my eyes out when I was editing the photos - LOL.

Details (Lanterns):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (from below):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (main gate):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (upper level):
ISO 400
f 9
HDR 7 Exposure

Details (sunset):
ISO 400
f 13
HDR 7 Exposure

Star Gazing

Upon the parking lot

Againts the green

Painting with light

Ready to launch
Star Gazing
Now this is really new to me and I must say I had real fun playing with this! With half of our crazy bunch went back to their respected home towns for the Chinese New Year holidays, the remaining crazy bunch made our way to Genting Highlands on the first night of Chinese New Year to catch stars. With a new thing to play with (catching the milky way) and the temperature going as low as 14 degrees and the winds made me lost my touch with my fingers it was sure a challenge just to stand still!! - LOL

With a clear night backing us, we were only sadden that the clouds upon Kuala Lumpur city were thick for us to catch that milky way. We tried our best but with such long exposure to play with we hit to a second location to find this lonely silo waiting for us. This made other objective to capture light trails came to a halt because were there until the sunrise (in which I still have to edit) before we headed back home with the air condition switched off all the way till we reached home!! - ROTFLOL

This was a chance for me to play around with light painting (painting scenes with my torch light - even though I was holding a LED light that had a distance of so near - LOL) to light up the areas I wanted under long exposure. I must say this is getting addictive but not having a wide angle lens proved to be as challenging.

Details (star gazing):
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds

Details (parking):
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds

Details (green):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
20 seconds
for the city
ISO 400
f 8
62 seconds

Details (painting):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
30 seconds
for the parking lot
ISO 400
f 8
209 seconds with torch light painting
for the city
ISO 400
f 8
30 seconds

Details (silo):
for stars
ISO 400
f 2.8
30 seconds
for silo
ISO 400
f 9
162 seconds with torch light painting

Signing off
Daddy Rain
09/02/2014 @ 0220