Macro Photography Workshop Lighting Techniques

Flash as main light

Natural light without flash

Too much flash

Just the correct amount of lighting to give the natural look.

Ipoh Malaysia- Food Tasting and Bird Watching

26-27 April 2011

We are here in Ipoh to have a taste of the authentic local food.

Delicious Ipoh Hor Fun in old town

Mouth watering Ipoh Hor Fun @ Old town.

Rice noodle or the Ipoh Hor Fun @ old town of Ipoh

This is where the Old Town White Coffee is originated in Ipoh

Blue Crowned Hanging Parrot

The Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot comes to my garden to feed everyday. This is what I got today.

The images were taken with two different cameras.

 ISO 2000 ( Note the blue crown)

ISO 400 with different WB adjusted on Adobe Lightroom 3.

 ISO 400

Large-tailed Nightjar

 May 20,2011.
I was walking in the morning and someone said in front of me " Look, there is a dead bird ". Right away I suspected it was a nightjar. Indeed it was staying motionless on the ground. I asked everyone not to get too close to the bird as it may be nesting. Someone got too close and the bird flew away. There we saw two eggs.

A Large-tailed Nightjar ,Caprimulgus macrurus well camouflage on the forest floor

The two eggs were seen on May 20 and June 4,2011. Eggs have not hatched.

Bird Photography at Cameron Highlands and Maxwell Hill, Malaysia

Black-throated Sunbird

Barred Cuckoo Dove (Female & Male on right)

Male Bared Cuckoo Dove

Large Niltava Female

Orange Bellied Leafbird

Herons at Kinta Nature Park, Perak, Malaysia

Grey Heron shot from the car handheld

Purple Heron in flight handheld

Purple Heron landing from car handheld

Blue-Rock Thrush in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Blue-Rock Thrush -Female

Blue-Rock Thrush -Male

Blue-Rock Thrush Drinking

Blue-Rock Thrush Feeding the chicks

Blue-winged Pitta in Singapore

April 23,2011. He is back in Orchard Road.

It was 11:45 pm this evening that I took the usual walk with my dog. As I approached a  fruiting palm tree near my apartment, I heard sound of flapping wings . I looked up and saw a bat flying off.  When I return, another flapping sound emerged above me. I said to myself " it must be another hungry bat eating the palm fruit ".  I looked up and saw a flying object perched on a water pipe . To my surprise, it was a Blue-winged Pitta. 

I took my camera and flash. I saw the bird still perching on the pipe but it flew away before I could take a snap. Could it be the same Blue-winged Pitta that came to our apartment last week ? 

Blue-winged Pitta parting shot

Birds of the Low land rainforest

Here is my catch of the day, finally, the Red Bearded Bee-eater of the lowland rainforest of Malaysia. I have travelled to Sarawak and Sabah but never seen so close to the Red Bearded Bee-eater.

 

ISO 1600 with TTL flash on tripod.

Kaeng Krachan National Park Thailand

Last month, we spent the afternoon driving in the rain and mud for 30 KM in the mountain gravel road to the Karen Village in the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. Deep in the forest near the border of Thailand and Myanmar is where the Karen Tribe reside today.

That same afternoon, I went to the river to look for wildlife and spotted two young boys catching fish with a small boat in the tranquil river. Life is simple back to nature.

Blue-winged Pitta, Singapore

Blue-winged Pitta parting shot in Singapore
 ISO 1600 Handheld with IS

He finally flew off after the R & R at our home. We are glad to see him off. Here is his parting shot.

The Blue-winged Pitta stayed at the Pitta Suite with swimming pool in my make shift aviary made of my photography hide. I was very happy to see him bathing and drinking from the pool in the morning.

Blue-winged Pitta Singapore. ISO 1600 speed 1/30 handheld natural light.

A Blue-winged Pitta, one of the birds that I wish I could photograph in the wild, checked in at my home on 9th April 2011.

Blue-eared Kingfisher in Singapore

This afternoon, I took the Blue-eared Kingfisher in Singapore. Both male and female were there. ISO 1250. Speed 1/60 on tripod and cable release. The RAW image was processed in Adobe Lightroom.

6D 5N Borneo Nature Photography Workshop. 17-22 April 2011.

Photographing in the rainforest is not easy because there is very little light and subjects are elusive. The tropical rainforest is one of the most diversified environments with more than 50 % of the world species. Unlike the normal wild life in the open area in Australia or Africa, light in the rainforest is very dim and subjects are not exposed. Good knowledge and skill are the key ingredients in locating and photographing the subjects

This is no ordinary trip to Borneo, it covers terrains from low land rainforest to coastal and montain forest to photograph nature. During the trip, John will guide participants on how to capture and create powerful images. When time allowed, dinner photo critique will be conducted among the participants to gain further insight and knowledge into the image, the subject and the environment. The 6 day workshop will be packed with daily & nightly outing plus invaluable learning experience.

The ideal group will be a small group of photographers who have the basic photography knowledge and keenest in learning how to shoot in the rainforest.

Macro Photography Workshop Singapore

Macro Photography Workshop Singapore
Today we learned free style natural light macro photography with low level of magnification  in Singapore. It was a typical Singapore afternoon weather with patchy cloud and sun shine from time to time. Butterflies were in full swing. Despite the strong wind, we were able to freeze the actions and explore the beauty of nature in Singapore.

 

Adobe Lightroom 3 workshop Singapore

On 18 January 2011 we conducted the Adobe Lightroom 3 workshop in Singapore.
 I had fun. We discussed questions like;

1) How different is Lightroom from Photoshop ?
2) Is Lightroom easier to use ?
3) How to combine Lightroom with Photoshop ?
4) How to edit images in Lightroom ?

The next Lightroom class will in March 2011. Check the web site www.johnarifin.com for details.