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.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It has been an eventful year in 2010; meeting new friends, seeing new things and learning new stuffs.

Life is a journey. Being at the right place and the right time is critical in order to capture the right moments. Here is something that we treasure when we were in Borneo during the Borneo Photography Workshop that I led this year in April 2010.

We woke up in the early morning at the Borneo Highland Resort overlooking the Kalimantan Rainforest of Indonesia from the top of hill. As the first gleam of the dawn shined over the valley of the moist tropical rainforest,  the magical moment began to unfold in front of us.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps 
(Proverb 16:9).

Wishing you and family a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

May the new year brings more beautiful moments.

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.