Amorphophallus, The Incredible Plant of Sumatra

Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus Titanum is remarkable flower structure found in Sumatra Indonesia. In 1889, it was the first time that people in Europe witnessed the Amorphophallus when the tuber of 2 m in circumference which had been growing in London’s Kew’s Gardens for some years, finally produced a bloom 2 m tall. The tallest bloom recorded was 3.3 m for the Amorphophallus Titanum. 

During our photo expeditions to Borneo, we thought we smelled a dead rat in the forest. It was actually a few blooms of the Amorphophallus just by the trail in  Kubah National Park, Sarawak,Malaysian Borneo. We also saw similar flower at the Mulu National Park in northern Sarawak.

The foul smell of the flower lures insect to pollinate the plant as you can see from the bee hovering inside the flower.

Today, as I was at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, I chanced upon this rare plant at the information counter near the taxi stand next to the Tanglin Gate.

If you are in Singapore this week, don't miss this rare opportunity to see this amazing plant in the visitor information counter at the Tanglin Gate of the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

 (See image above taken on 23 Nov 2010).

Kingfishers of Borneo

Here are two Kingfishers I took in Borneo recently. Both images were taken at very low shutter speed of about 1/20 or 1/10 second on mirror lockup and delay shutter to prevent vibration on tripod with IR release trigger. ISO about 800 to 1000 on Olympus E3 with 2X converter. Raw image processed on Adobe Lightroom 3. No flash was used on both images.

Dxo Noise Analysis on DSLR and Medium Format Camera

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Camera-Sensor/Sensor-rankings/%28metrics%29/

Here is an interesting chart and rank of all the popular cameras with their different noise levels. Note that the bigger the frame the lower the noise level (in general). If you camera has a high noise level, lower the ISO and use post processing software like Adobe Lightroom 3 to reduce the noise level.

Video on Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Sabah,Malaysia

I was in Sabah photographing birds. Here is a chance to take video by mounting my small camera EP-1 to my telephoto bird lens. Look out for the mosquito.

Rufous-collared Kingfisher Sabah bird Malaysia

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Photography Workshop Borneo Bird Watching

Image Posting From Dusk to Dawn. Photography Workshop SIngapore

Thank you for those who submitted the images in October from Dusk to Dawn. The challenges were how to make good use of the changing light  and the ability to work in low lighting conditions.

1) Timing is very important. Take different sunsets at various stages. If it was too early, the sky would be too bright. If it was too late, it will be all black . Both cases were not very exciting at all. Get them right. Get it when there is a drama in the sky. That drama will catch the attention.

2) Exposure challenges. Meter near the sun but not including the sun. That is how we start basing the exposure on. Change metering from Multi-pattern to spot metering. Use the AEL button when in need.

3) Keep the composition interesting. The sunset by itself will not be interesting enough. Look for iconic building or foreground to accompany the sunset. Let's give it a try again.

Next month we will work on Christmas lighting.