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.