Final Day Of Present Year

A pioneering two-day-one-night photography outing for the soul.

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Verse I:

Final Day Of Present Year

31st December, 2008.

Mankind holds its breath once again,

For the time of doom is near.

The day shall loom of stark devastation,

While the night shall loathe of fear and depression.

The end of the year is here.

The hour hand trudges on towards the time of reckoning;

Towards the hour of four zeroes,

The first break of new year;

Towards the modicum songs and auld lang synes;

Towards the veneer of a black sky on fire,

A band of soldiers march wearily forth,

A traveling troupe of fortitude and vigor

Burdened by environment,

Fatigue and

Weight.

From the artists' dizzying hubris,

Pictures appear.

With laudable purpose and noble goal

These downtrodden set out to capture,

The final images

Of the final hours,

Of the final day

Of the present year.

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Literature students, show some mercy upon my amateurish poem!

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Brief

You've heard of Operation Ubin, so here are the latest details:

Date: 30 - 31 December 2008 (no longer 29 - 30 Dec)

Accomodation: Cranwell Bungalow 2, Aloha Changi

Expected Price: $30 per person

As more details appear, I'll post it in here. Stay tuned!

Ubin Outing

Hi all, thanks for the response of the club so far.

However, I would like to inform all of you that some changes might be made to the Ubin trip and as for cost wise, please be assured we will cap it below 30 bucks in the event that there is still an overnight stay and BBQ.

Photography outing to Ubin will confirm still be on. Rest assured the Alumni has devised plans to make this (as safe) and enjoyable for you. So please keep your replies coming!

Best Offer in Town!

MJC PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB MEMBERS LOOK HERE!

Bored of shooting at town?

Sick of East Coast Park or Pasir Ris Park?

Wanna try something new, something different?

Hong Kong?

Vietnam?

Argh, but you have no money money money that makes the world go round?

Fear not, the best solution ever.

The best deal in town.

Look at this!

Pretty? :D

Well, its your dream come true time!

Come for this club event, this annual thing that no photog members should miss!

Alrightly, I know intro should not be so long lah!

WHAT WHAT WHAT?

Bet you all wanna know so I shall not keep you in suspense :D

Alumni has come up with...

PULAU UBIN PLUS BBQ PLUS CHALET

So what is all this about?

On the pretty day of 29 Dec 2008,we'll got to Ubin TOGETHER.

Shoot pretty pictures & find ourselves back to the Chalet @ Changi.

We'll then start having fun with the BBQ.

"What if I cannot stay?!"

Its alright,you can stay overnight or take a bus and head home!

:D

:D

:D

So how do you go about registering yourself?

Well,pick up your handphone & sms to any exco member &

*tadah*

You're in this fantastic plan.

Lastly,there's no free lunch in this world lah.

So how much is this priceless trip?

$30

It's decided to be at...$25!

INCLUSIVE of food, accomodation and transportation.

(but not the bus journey from your house to the jetty BUT WE RENTED A VAN YAYEE YOU DONT EVEN NEED TO CYCLE HOW GOOD IS THAT?VERY GOOD.)

So sign up now!

Hope to see all of you.

Remember to give your response by 26 Oct 2008, 10pm.

Nikon International Photography Competition

Ok hi, here's a good chance to win a D3 =DD

Nikon is having their International Photo Competition and submission closes on 30th Nov 2008.

The theme is... *drum roll*
AT THE HEART OF IMAGE.

The 2 categories are:
1. Free subject: Works that convey the photographer’s unique perspective and creativity.

2. My Planet: Works that express your feelings about your world, whether that involves the environment, scenes from your daily life, or people and other things that stir your passions.

For more infor, visit http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/activity/npci/npci2008-2009/overview.htm

Mission Impossible

Since Grouch posted a long wordy post, I shall follow up on a picture post cum mini lesson:P Anyway.. since prom night is coming up soon, and for those of you who are thinking of going in without a flash, think again... Last year I shot without a flash, and it was a nightmare... Even with a f/2.8 lens, your DOF is just too freaking shallow...at most, you can only stop down to f/4. By then, your shutter speed would have dropped to 1/30-1/15 sec and I was shooting ISO 400 film pushed to 1600 a.k.a. ISO 1600 la..(okies.. I shot at 1600 can? can? can?) sheesh.. Now even with trained hands, the problem is not hand shake...its more with moving subjects. Your subjects are moving around, even little things like sway their body abit or turn around all affects sharpness at 1/30 sec. So it was just damn tough waiting for that perfect moment when everyone stood still and stopped moving..and sometimes they never stop. Gah! Anyway, some photos for you to view...

Heh, if you look at the projector screen, you can see me...:P

Knowing and Overcoming the Limitations

Hihi it's me again =D

Today I'm going to talk about knowing the limitations of your equipment. After you get your DSLR, knowing how to shoot for an event and protect your camera equipment is not enough...

Just today I was on Clubsnap reading about some ridiculous suggestions some people gave to a 16 year old boy who was going to cover his school's Prom Nite, to which he has no idea how due to the dim lighting of the event, and he was only equipped with a 450D, kit lens, 50mm, 55-250mm.

Somebody suggested that he rent a 24-70mm f2.8 lens, which would cost about 30 dollars a day.

I guess when you kids shoot for event, there is nothing much you can really choose from especially when there are so many of you and just that number of available lenses. In my time, there was hardly choice- just the 15-30mm, 70-200mm and the so-called tamron kit lens.

So you might me thinking... WAH, go shoot event at hall ah, I only got kit lens leh... HOW?!

Don't worry for the Grouch is here to help you ^^

Firstly is to understand how far you can stretch your camera. (I don't mean physically, but technically...) Even if the camera isn't yours, be fully aware of its workings and limitations. Explore every nook and crook of it. Learn from Xing Quan and have a relationship with your camera.

The most common problem we face is usually the noise from our camera bodies. Despite the boost in ISO in the newer bodies, but D100, 350D, 450D, D70 users will realise that you can't shoot above ISO800 because your photos will look very noisy. (My stupid D40 also got same problem la, very irritating.)

Of course, there is also the poor people like me... My camera bodies were a blessing from God (but they didn't fall out of the sky la!), lenses I only spent 330 on two primes... PPC's cries of "no money, no money!!!" to which Excos under his tenure are all so familiar with and good at imitating, we know that money is usually the limiting factor to getting lenses with wide apertures. So we get stuck with the cheapo plastic kit lenses, or some lousy zooms that can go up to f5.6 at its furthest focal length.

The next most common problem is usually the limitation of the aperture size of our lenses. The apertures aren't large enough for you to shoot at a higher shutter speed, and you might end up with a pile of hand-shake blur photos. (don't come telling me that one pile of blur photos is style la, don't come and crap me) Very irritating indeed.

Then there's also the megapixel limitation. This shouldn't bother you much, because basic photography principles apply.

So how do you overcome these limitations?

I found myself constantly being challenged while using my FM2 and D40... I can't help it with the FM2 cos it's inherently erm, like that liao... D40 is cos it's only 6mp, high noise level, a TINY viewfinder, and a lousy kit lens, cannot meter my AIS lenses.

Challenge is actually good. It makes you think of the suitable settings to use in different situations. It can boil down to using the correct WB, but new cameras today has such excellent AWB that you hardly need to do any settings at all. (Recalls MRT teaching me how to set the WB on D100 ^^||)

So how leh how leh? How to shoot at low light, ISO not above 800, aperture size no bigger than f3.5??!?!!?! Machiam every aspect of exposure on the camera is under exposed... FASTER SAY LAR!!!

It's actually quite simple if you know how to use Photoshop or Lightroom.

The number one easiest way is to use flash!
Hahaha, I bet you thought of that already. But make sure your settings are set properly, because as far as I know, Canon DSLRs even with flash doesn't necessarily always increase your shutter speed. For most DSLRs its Flash Sync Speed is either 1/200s or 1/250s.

If you don't know what is flash sync speed... It's the fastest shutter speed you can go when you use a flash, no matter it is on-board or a flash gun. This is because light emitted from your camera needs time to hit your subject and reflect back into your camera. If you shoot at too fast a shutter speed, you might find half your photo black because the light couldn't hit your CCD/CMOS before the shutter closes.

With the flash, you could effectively solve all the limitations as stated above.

But hor, I don't want to use flash neh... How?

Suck thumb lor.
No la. Don't suck thumb la. Look for subjects that are under a strong light source.



Ahem, this photo was taken with my FM2 with ISO1600 film, pushed one stop to 3200. Apparently, my (loyal) subject was under some sort of spot light so I decided to take his photo. There was enough light to expose his facial expression, so it's fine.

And next up is something kind of technical but I hope you'll understand how it works. By using a lower ISO rating with a small aperture, you can opt to underexpose your photos by one stop. In film, there is something called push-pull, to which you cheat your camera that you are shooting at a certain ISO rating, in which you are actually not. Although the process is some what different, because the push-pull process is more of a chemical process where the developers will "expose" it even more in the darkroom to compensate the underexposure, whereas the digital one will be done digitally.

By under exposing your photos, you get to shoot at a lower ISO rating at a fast shutter speed. There could be a balance struck between the two. I've tried shooting at 1/30s for one whole night, and it takes a pair of hands cast of concrete to do that. The FM2 has trained me well =D

Under exposing is always better than over exposing. When you over expose your photo, something called "clipping" occurs. It basically means the white parts of the photo become completely white RGB 000 000 000 meaning there is no data at all in those pixels. You basically lose detail on your photo. Under exposure on the other hand, retains some amount of detail and these details could be recovered when you push the curves later on. Post process these pictures in LR/PS (tho I prefer LR for these idiot proof editing) and boost the exposure of the photo.

Don't tell me you got 200 pics from one event all 200 pics are good hor. Choose those that are good then edit them lar. Save time save effort. LR has something called metadata which you can apply to all photos, which makes editing literally at a click of a button. PS has batch processing.

And oh, if you're shooting at a low MP, you wanna make sure every area in the real estate (King's catchy term for "space") of your CCD/CMOS is fully utilized. Meaning, you have to compose your pictures properly! Don't think you can anyhow take the photo then go home and crop! Crop crop crop, I knock your head 3 times then you know! Crop somemore your photo no need to print 8R liao, especially for exhibition prints!

And ya, just use a tripod if you dont have to keep moving around.

Ok so at the end of yet another lengthy post, you would most probably have been bombarded by a few new terms... don't worry, it'll sink in. Come and ask me online if you dont understand anything...

Sigh, so I always think that it's easier to learn photography from the higher end models because you dont have to constantly feel that your camera is a stupid piece of _______ (ownself fill in blank). Trains you for the weight, too.

Picture Post

Well... I did say I'll post a picture post next.. so I'll keep to my word..btw, these are the new pics from my latest roll which is also included in my latest update of my portfolio... I prefer the porfolio version though.. the setting nicer and got captions, though a lil lame la..haha..and i'm starting to run out of ideas for titles le sia...damn... for those of you who dunno how to get there, there is a link at the Links section, just click my name. if u all wanna see bigger one with titles and captions.. ya.. go view the portfolio.. i kinda lazy:P

Think Before You Shoot Part II

Shooting With A Purpose
by Grouch

This post is in addition to what Kingston has posted earlier on yesterday…
However, I’m going to provide with my version of what I mean by “think before you shoot”.

I shall try to make this easy to understand, and hopefully you will apply this to your everyday event covering duties ^^

I’m sure some of our dear (silent) readers here might remember me saying (last year), “What do you want to shoot? What do you want to tell?”

I remember very clearly, my first photography student was Suerya and we were covering Science Fiesta together, she- this lucky girl, got to use PPC’s lens on her first event… (heh heh heh I think it was the 24-70L)

Instead of grabbing the camera and taking a few photos to show her how things should have been done, I asked her one very simple question- “What do you want to shoot?”

We were at the egg throwing station, where the eggs are not supposed to break even as they were being thrown from the 4th storey. Suerya would tell me what she wanted to shoot, and I would follow her answer by the next question, “What do you want to tell the audience which will be looking at your picture?”

“So where would you try to take this photo from?”

POINT ONE: WHAT IS YOUR PHOTO TRYING TO PORTRAY?

In event photography:
Before you take any photo (especially especially event photography), ask yourself what do you want to tell the person who will be looking at your photos? Who will be looking at your photos?

Don’t forget, the photos that you take are not only for yourself to see. You are shooting for the student and staff population, but no doubt a very diverse group. More often than not, it’s more advisable to shoot photos that are easy to understand, instead of some artsie, difficult to understand photograph.

Photography is like writing a speech in picture format. You are telling a story using one or a series of photographs, and it has to be tailored to your “target audience”. By doing so, the people looking at your photographs would have a better idea of what you are trying to tell them instead of them scratching their heads, looking at a photo with no head or tail.

I would say more than 50% of your audience are not so into the artsie fartsie stuff so keeping it sweet and simple would be the way to go. You won’t go using JC vocabulary talking to a bunch of Primary School kids, right?

TIP 1: Arrive at your event location early, get your settings right and read the programme booklet. Anticipate what will happen (arrival of GOH, standing ovations, prize presentations that might garner audience response) and when these things do happen, make sure you are there ready for that moment.

In photography as an art form:
The previous points mentioned still do apply.
Still, consider who your target audience is, and whether they will understand what you are trying to portray. More often than not in an artistic exhibition whereby you will anticipate that the audience will be unable to understand what you are shooting, the captions in the photo will help to provide with the “head and tail” of the story you’re trying to tell.

TIP 2: When you see something that catches your eye, visualize how you want the end product to look like. By visualizing how you want the photo to look like, it’s easier for you to choose what lens you would use for that photo, and if you want it to be underexposed/overexposed, you underexpose/overexpose the photo accordingly. Try to get the intended shot as much as you can on your camera. Also at the same time, confirm that the end product portrays what you want to tell your audience before you click the shutter. If you require, do some final touch-ups in LR or PS to achieve your final intended product.


POINT 2: HOW WOULD YOU TAKE THAT PHOTO?

Some of the points have already been covered above, such as what lens you would use and the settings on your camera.

Lai lai lai, do tutorial questions-

Q1. If you want to shoot a waterfall and you want the water to look very smooth, what settings would you shoot at? I won’t tell you which mode to use because that is up to you to think about… (Cannot everything tell you how to do, in the end you all never think…)

Q2. You are at the hall, where the CNY celebrations are. The group of Choir performers will be coming in from the back of the hall, (assuming that you have anticipated that to happen) where would you position yourself to capture that entrance?

Q3. You are shooting an event on a sunny day. How would you ensure that there would be no back lighting and shadows on your subject’s face?

This one I give you all some possible answers:
1. If possible, shift your subjects some where that is less sunny.
2. Use fill flash
3. Don’t take photos from an angle that would cause your subject’s face to be in complete shadow such as when they are bending down.

As you can already tell by my lengthy post, photography is storytelling with a purpose. (erm, WAIT! Journalism is storytelling with a purpose but the idea is almost the same lar...) Whereas journalism takes you maybe a good half an hour to come up with a body of text, photography takes you roughly half a minute to DELIBERATE (meaning you have to think a lot, if no need to think a lot, 5 sec should be enough) about your photo idea.

Hence kids, before you see something nice and go "Oooooooh!!!" and bring your camera up to your face, please think properly about how you want to present the pretty scene. You don't want to end up with a bunch of pretty photos that mean nothing. At the end of the day, you'll get sick of them and throw them aside. What matters in a photo is the meaning you give to it. You can have a photo that doesn't look 100% aesthetically beautiful, but with 100% meaning, your photo is valuable...

The meaning behind our motto "your moments our calling" is not just capturing other people's moments, but making these moments mean something to us. At such, then can we truly produce photos that are wonderful.

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So this is what I mean by thinking before you shoot… King is the more technical one… Mine is the more erm, ideological one.

If you don't understand me also, can come and ask me or buzz me online ^^
My shitty week is ovah!! HAHAHA!

On hindsight, my post seem more indigestible than King's.

If sound too cheem sorry la, my head is still swimming in a bunch of crazy Journ notes, trying to "serve the public" by "providing independent verifiable facts... through observation and investigation".

=DD

B/W part 2

The immortal words of MJC, so immortal that you have to memorize it within the first few days of school aka orientation...




(edited by request)

Mei nu, lai xiao yi ge!




The poster for the new and upcoming movie- Adventures of Booby Tail in Mugland, Finale- THE FAVOURITE PAST TIME!
Starring: Booby Tail, Ultra Cool Yandao and Grouch!

Think Before You Shoot

Hihi^^ Its me again..*V sign* *Acts Cute*

Hahahaha... I bet half of you fell off your seats just from the first line...:P Anyways, I think its a great time for another lesson.

People (like me for example) always like to preach to the kiddos that they should think before they shoot. But of cos, like every wonderful senior, they walk away before you can ask wad the hell did they mean by think. So now I am here today to answer that part of the question.

Now, for every wonderful senior who tells you to "Think before you shoot." has a slightly different meaning to their "think". To me, when I ask you to think, what I really want you to "think" is to really be conscious of what you are shooting and your camera settings.

So what does it mean to be conscious of what you are shooting? It really means, is the composition/angle correct? Is the subject correct? Is the background too messy? Is it the right time yet? Is it of the correct context? All theses questions must flow into your mind once you set your eyes on the scene (meaning that you must already decide before you bring the camera up to your face.) If these questions do not flow into your mind, then it means your not thinking at all...

Once you have decided that you know what you wanna shoot, then you start thinking about how you wanna shoot and adjusting your settings. Unless you are playing cheat and using the Auto or P mode, then you no need to think then. But if you never wished to think in the first place, you might have been better off using your compact digicam. Now the reason people buy a DSLR is cos they wanna have control over how they shoot. Of cos you would argue that your compact got all that stupid modes but no matter how you zhng your Toyota Corolla it will still be a Corolla... It might go a lil' faster but, still not much difference.

Now that I've convinced you to use A mode, I bet you'd be wondering why must use A and not S or M (Maybe I'll come up with a mode that merges S&M together, hahahahahahahaha roflmao, sry PPC, but i just couldn't help on that one..). We as photographers are interested in the creative aspect of photography, not in the scientific apsect nor do we have the time to fiddle with stupid dials and buttons. So why A mode when? Cos the only technical aspect of photography that controls over the creative aspect is the aperture. Why? That's cos it controls the depth-of-field (DOF). So now that you know why you use A mode over the other lame ass modes, let me tell you what you should be thinking after setting your composition on your viewfinder.

First, you should decide if you need a shallow or deep DOF or you prefer to have sharpness. Adjust your aperture correspondingly. Then glance over to your shutter speed and make sure its over 1/30. Anything less and you'd end up with a blur pic. So if its less, you need to increase your ISO or plug in a flash, otherwise carry on and check your AF point selection, den focus on the correct spot. After that is done, half press the shutter and double confirm the shutter speed and aperture, den press the shutter fully and let the shutter fly! haha..

Check the preview of your new picture, zoom in and ensure its pin sharp, correctly exposed and DOF is adequate. What a mouthful... Now I bet after reading past 4 paragraphs, you'd be thinking like.. siao! shoot one photo must think so hard and so many things, by the time I think finish, the subject zhao liao, no need to shoot le lorr... Well, the challenge is to finish all the above mentioned though processes in like maybe 5 seconds? Don't worry la.. After a while, most of the above mentioned, especially the second half should be subconscious le..

Ohh well.. no one said photography was a walk in the park...

Just some B/W Pics

I got some photos to show from my last roll of B/W film...

Firstly, something from SHIRLEEN! Well well, I thought it looks kinda... nice on B/W!


The next two frames I feel that they are places in the school that have been shot to death... but then again, it has a different feel...


This picture gives me the feeling of hope. Sometimes, all you need is that little bit of warm sunlight to illuminate the way in front of you.


More to come tomorrow... In MJC OPEN HOUSE 2008! (Full b/w)

How to Care For Your Equipment

Yes yes yall...

Ooops. I can't get that tune out of my head.
Anyhoo, today going to give a simple write up on How To Care For Your Camera Equipment.

I think Angeline will be delighted to see this post ^^

Firstly, I cringe to see scratches.
Secondly, I hate to see thumbprints.
Thirdly, having mould in your lens is a crime.

Ever gone shooting for an event or a shoot out whereby you sling your camera on your shoulder, and you leave the lens cap in the pocket of your jeans or your bag and totally forget about it? When you walk near someone, he/she bumps into your camera, or the side of your lens knocks into a pillar?

On close inspection when you get home, your filter is full of scratches and dust, thumbprints?

LESSON NO. 1: PUT BACK YOUR LENS CAP WHEN YOUR CAMERA/LENS IS NOT IN USE!

Next. Did you ever had any near miss incidents when your camera strap snaps (that shouldn't happen at all because the strap is designed to hold weight if you put it in properly) and your camera falls off your shoulder, and the tip of the lens hits the floor?

Your filter breaks? You should consider yourself lucky that your front element didn't break or even suffer a scratch from the broken bits of the filter...

LESSON NO. 2: THE LENS HOOD SHOULD BE ON THE LENS, NOT YOUR HANDS!

Your lens hood will protect your lens because more often than not, the hood hits the floor first and if your hood is usually quite strong... If it breaks, it beats breaking your lens, RIGHT?

Everytime you shoot, there seem to be this stubborn spot of dirt on your photo but there doesn't seem to be any dust particles on your lens... That because the dust particle is on your CCD/CMOS, you goondoo...!

LESSON NO. 3: ALWAYS COVER THE CAMERA MOUNT WHILE CHANGING LENSES! (And switch off your camera when you do so! The static charges in the camera will be able to attract dust easily, even if the shutter is closed.)

Using the blower to blow into your camera is not encouraged. Sometimes, the blower will blow dust particles on your CCD/CMOS, and hence you will feel even more dui... cos if you covered your camera properly, there wouldn't be so much dust in your camera in the first place! When wiping your lenses/filters, make sure there are no small sand particles on the filter because... when you wipe with that sand particle under your cloth...

TADA! A brand new scratch across your pretty B+W/Heliopan/Lee/Nikon/Hoya/Tianya/wadever filters! Whooohooo!

And if you find that your lens is getting kind of foggy...

Heh heh heh...

You better open your aperture to the max (for F-mounts, either turn your aperture ring to the widest or pull a little spring lever at the base of the mount for the G-mounts) and point your lens to a light source and look through it.

Something looking like a spider web ebbing at the side of your lens and even the centre of your lens element??

Your lens is a biohazard now... Who ask you leave it outside in the nice, warm and humid air of our lovely island Singapore...
And yes- this reminds me, if you are an idiot at protecting your gear from direct contact with water, don't shoot for Wild Wild Wet! And yes, please don't put that biohazard back in with your other equipment esp the dry box/cabi because... like rotten apples, the mould will also "spread" to the other clean lenses.

LESSON NO. 4: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR LENS IN A DRY BOX OR CABINET WHEN NOT IN USE.
(For budget constraints, get a lock and lock box, reusable silica gel and a hygrometer. The humidity in the dry box should be around 30 to 50% RH. A too low a RH not only causes the lubricants in your camera to dry up, it also causes growth of a certain kind of fungus. RH above 50% encourages growth of most fungus. For people with bigger budgets, just buy an electronic dry cabi that will maintain constant RH for you, but you'd need an extra power plug for that. Beware of 20% growth in electrical bills!)

Lastly and most importantly...
Always carry your camera around in a proper camera bag/padded compartments. By throwing your camera into your backpack (tsk tsk, especially your frail, plastic 350D bodies) the other items in your bag will rub against and scratch your camera body and violate it badly. THINK OF YOUR PRECIOUS CAMERA BODY! T_T

And yes... If you shoot film (i think that only applies to me and king and maybe quent) never check in your film with your luggage at the airport... The x-ray in the machines will expose the film. Be careful when you put your items through the scanner and make sure it is labelled "Film safe" if not you will cry and bleed over your wasted 10 rolls of slides and negatives.
(Like what I almost kena when I came back from Perth.)

Finally!
Even if you don't own your own equipment and is currently using the club's equipment, still do care for it! Be considerate to the other photographers as well! The better you can care for the equipment, the less you need to pay for broken items, and the longer the equipment could be used! The saved money can be spent on other areas that you guys will need in the future. So please please please children, no breaking of filters, hoods and dropping your cameras, k?

Chicken Soup for Viewfinder's Soul

Now, now there.. before our dear JS gets too heated up which he already has cooled off... lets clear things up a lil' ehh?

Presenting to you Exhibit 1:

Explanation for Exhibit 1:

Now, if we look at the above extract from the 40D manual, we can see that Canon provides a optional accessory called the Ef-S screen that is "optimized" for f/2.8 and faster lenses. What Canon means by "optimized" is really that the screen is more coarse, allowing you to view shallower DOFs

Of cos, the resulting coarser screen results in a darker viewfinder for slower lenses as mentioned in the second line.

Now, with a lil' common sense, if the ordinary focusing screen could define DOF of less than f/2.8, why in the world Canon bother to produce a more precise focusing screen?!?!

But you might say they never specifically state that in the manual and I'm just using using facts to my own advantage, but then again, no company would ever shoot themselves in their feet and state that their factory supplied focusing screen can define only up to f/2.8... I've even check the Nikon manuals, they never state that anywhere either, but non admission doesn't mean that its not true, the same idea as not guilty doesn't mean innocent.

Presenting Reference 1:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/slrs/5d/focus-screens.htm

Maybe if I can't convince you, perhaps Mr. Rockwell can.. hahaha

I never really expected this issue to kick up such a fuss, maybe I guess people feel a lil' cheated when they realized that they are actually misled to think they can actually see the DOF of f/1.2 on the viewfinder, so they are kinda in denial or something to that extent. But no worries folks! cos at least your final image on your LCD screen (and incidentally Live View) will still reflect your true DOF.. hahahaha

Buying your first f/1.8 lens and how to go about using it...

Or f/1.4 or f/1.2 or f/1 or f/0.95 lens for that matter... I think I will have to start some mini-lessons on the blog (Partly cos the forums is a rather ineffective medium and because of the level of skills of the current kiddos...)

You know, I've seen this funny cycle many many times before and it goes like this: Our new batch of kids come in and when they go out for an assignment, they will always fight over the zoom lens even though it has a crappy aperture size of f/3.5-5.6.. and of cos as time passes by, they will eventually realize that its kinda crappy and they all will start swapping over to the primes because of its fast aperture.

And when they finally realize the power of f/1.4 or f/1.8 as did our Dear Mr Chee during prom night, they will go trigger happy and gloating in their minds "Wah!! I can take sharper pics in such low light condition compared to when I use that crap 18-55mm"

So... shoot shoot they go and after the assignment is over they go home happily feeling a sense of achievement, power up their computer, pop the CF card into the card reader and start looking through their photos only to realize that their pictures are all a tad blur here and there...its not blur enough to be very bad, but its blur enough to be unable to be saved by software methods. And of cos this blur is not caused by handshake (if it is, den I got nth to say le) (by the way, its really tough to type with long fingernails...sheesh, keep smashing into the wrong keys and my nails hurt..wonder how the girls tahan sia...) but by being out of focus!!

And of cos by then, the kids feel like running to their seniors... but they'd have long said, "Sayonara and take care of the next batch *winks* *V sign*" so when they return their photos to the gallery manager, they will probably get scolded by the exco, as did our Dear Mr. Chee... (haha.. calling chee, our Dear Mr. Chee is so communist!! hahahahahaha roflmao)

So the whole point of this post is to tell you straight up in your face the limitations of such primes and options of working around the problems faced without you having to go for classes, hire instructors, going through trial and error and screwing up your assignment (but if you already have, then too bad...) Ahh.. that was a long intro.. pls dun write such a long intro for your GP, cos you'd more or less fail...and dun put in so many brackets in ur GP paper too.. it ain't some commentary you know...

Anyway, back to the topic, you all by now should know that anything less than f/2.8 gives a rather shallow DOF (and if u didn't know that you need to put up a complain to quent le..) yup, and because of that, its tough for your camera to focus at the correct point, cos the AF sensor in the lower end DSLR like the D100 and the 350D aren't very good, which is further exacerbated when u have a tiny viewfinder (maybe onli me and Eunice finds it that way) and a lousy viewfinder screen (if you wanna know why, pls dun hesitate to call and ask me^^) which results in you being unable to tell the focus properly on the viewfinder (and yes, you ARE supposed to be able to tell the DOF on the viewfinder, that's the way viewfinders were supposed to be made, just that most DSLRs tend to cut corners in these areas and are only able to define up to f/2.8 [so even if your DOF is f/1.4 , it will still look like a f/2.8 DOF on your viewfinder screen] only to compensate for a brighter screen to accommodate to those slowwwww zoom lenses)

So the solution to this problem? Buy a higher end DSLR, which will make PPC retort, "No Money!! No Money!!" and make the girls complain, 'Why so heavy?!?!" (esp if they mount the 70-200mm on it) and make Chin Chye one very happy photoger.

Next, at less than f/2.8, the DOF is so shallow that your subject tends to fall out of the DOF easily, especially when you sway foreward and backwards or when your bloody subject just won't keep still, or is just too err... deep to fit into your whole DOF...lols...

Solution? Rapid press the half shutter, to ensure that your focus is always "updated". Alternatively, you can always use continuous servo a.k.a. the camera will keep on tracking your subject and focus all the time. But I hate AF-C cos, it sux... its not smart enough to tell which is the subj. and keeps focusing all the time, making that "jig jig jig jig jig" noise making the focus go back and foreword, back and foreword which is just plain freaking irritating and pisses me off to such a point I can barely concentrate that makes me want to throw the cam off the top of the Westin Stanford ( I always call it the Westin Stanford, cos that was what it was called during my time and it sounds good and these days they keep changing the damn name so many times on a whim that I can barely keep up with it.)

Also, did you know that when your focus tend towards infinity, your DOF becomes larger? and when u focus closer, the DOF shrinks even at the same aperture. So if you want a as large as possible DOF at wide aperture, den shoot at infinity... of cos, then everyone looks small:P, but you can't help it can you?

And lastly, at wide open, your pictures tends to come out soft.. the edges not really sharp and stuff.. and that's cos you shot at wide open a.k.a. widest aperture. But don't be pissed, it happens on every lens, including your crap zoom lens, just that it ain't so obvious

So what to do abt it? stop down! if you want your pics to be sharp, set the aperture to 2 stops below your widest aperture a.k.a. 6 clicks down on your camera. that will give you a resulting aperture of f3.5. Then you ask me, if I'm gonna use f/3.5 then why bother using a fast prime in the first place?!?! Well, that's cos you want it to be sharp, dumb dumb!! Why not use that crappy zoom lens then?!?! also f/3.5 wad... That's cos if the widest is f/3.5 den you have to stop down to f/7.1 you !@#$%^&* ( I can't think of anymore P.C. words to scold people...)

That's why rich people buy f/1.2 lenses so aft compensating for 2 stops, its only f/1.8 and for those with unlimited budget, f0.95 which after compensation, gives you only f/1.2. A faster lens will allow you to reach optimum sharpness at a shallower DOF than a slower lens. But you will still be limited by the size of the DOF...

So to those thinking of buying your first prime lens (or bringing a prime out for an assignment), hope you know what you are getting and know your limitations. Make sure you check your photos!! which means zooming in to make sure its sharp cos all small photos look sharp!!

Ahh, was a long post..haha.. practically half the post is me rambling.. hehe..

Random Chiobu

hiyo, i am random chiobu la, thought it's obvious -.- so no need to go think think think so hard le la...

n no, i don't have the hots for JS *roll eyeballs* thought inject some excitement ma (at the expense of king... sorry k, if u felt hurt, go read our S301 song again ya ^^ *pat your head* i used u cos u v BHB ma thought deflate it a bit LOL =P i really buay tahan your "indirectly popular" post -______-|||)

i love everyone k? tall short fat thin flabby muscular canon nikon, all handsome n pretty =)

u r all our beautihoo chewrens in God's eyes ^^

*hugs*

kk, everybody go back study!

Random Routine Reminder. RRR.

This is a routine reminder:

A Day In The Life Of A Kah Kiah

Today I volunteered to be PPC’s kah kiah for shooting some staff n students (who missed the pro photographer shoot the other time)

so we had to set up the equipment and all. We were supposed to start shooting at 1pm… PPC lugged all the stuff to the AVA room le then… door cannot open -.- his card cannot, Dr M’s card also cannot, my card also cannot, everyone’s card also cannot. Only Mr Azhar’s card can open the door but he’s on reservist so we stood there…. Doo dee doo dee doo, wait until flowers wilt, hair turned white until finally someone got the key and opened the door… 1:30pm liao

Opened the stand for backdrop… one of the stands is faulty. The vertical rod has become non-retractable… so we fixed one end of the rod on the good stand, PPC slot in the paper then made me support the other end w my shoulder for the longest time while he was doing donno wat. Dr. M lent me her shoulder too…

Me: *start humming limbo rock tune…*
Some life-saving students are here for their photoshoot…
Me: ah! U all must limbo under this first then we will shoot for u…!
Students: ???!! ha? *thought I was serious*
PPC n me: hehehe… no la, wait outside first we’re still setting up

Then got to hoist the horizontal rod w paper up n fix on the bent rod.
PPC: ann, that side higher higher.. (i was on the bent rod side)
Me: argh…ugh…argh… cannot higher le… max liao
PPC: *came over, yanked the bent rod out of the hole and realized some tiny metal piece was out of place, told me to hold vertical rod* (note: the roll of paper was on the horizontal rod. One side of paper was fixed to the good stand, the other side fixed to bent rod which i was supposed to hold)
Me: *start humming mari kita*
PPC: -_______-||| (to Dr M.) that’s what happens when u have no money. Your staff are cheap…
Me: -.-
PPC: =DDD

PPC fish fish fish w his finger for the metal piece… Then i got to chah the vertical rod into the hole while avoiding PPC’s finger which was holding the metal piece that went out of place…
Me: v difficult nei... *scared chop off his left index finger*

lai lai lai, change angle… at bit 45 deg… HAIYA! finally cha in. Then got to fix the umbrellas…
Me: argh… ugh… argh… umbrella cannot poke in.
PPC: got to aim zun zun one…
Me: argh… ugh… argh… *whine* cannot *like combat medics finding buddy's vein*
PPC: *zhiooop umbrella into hole* NEH!

PPC test test... shoot... no tee sound, neh fire... check here check there...
PPC: HAIYA! they took out the batteries!
me: use my GC batteries?

PPC trotted down to get the batteries, test test ok le... finally starting shooting at about 2pm =P

then when we shot the lifesaving kids, Dr M had this idea of coiling the three boys with a rope and then the one girl was supposed to drag them like dragging them out of water.

me: *to the boys* lai lai lai, kneel down here...
PPC took the rope n started coiling them... it looked really funny like he was punishing them LOL i pictured the headline "Male Teacher charged for abusing boys" LOL

the shot turned out quite cute... then one of the boys giggled...

boy: Ms Koh, i saw your math dept video on youtube... v funny!!! hee hee
me: -.- i made it non-downloadable...
PPC: someone must have ripped it hahaha
me: -.-

then i had to leave to meet someone at city hall le... supposed to meet her there at 2pm =P

it was fun and i think a few more times of doing this, i will develop muscles LOL

Rewind

What a sluggish Tuesday...
Lemme tell you all some old grandma story which is totally random, which you may zone out halfway but nehmind.

How Grandma Eunice Met Grandpa Kingston.
Sounds wrong. But whatever, that's wad you guys called us for a period of time...
Our Photog family tree very luan leh. PPC is our Papa Cheng, which makes it incest, Ms Koh is my "gan ma" (godma) and MRT is my "gan die"(godpa) which I once called playfully during an outing with them, then Ms Koh also called MRT "gan die", which makes it even more confusing. And then there's the "kids" (a collective term we use to describe the young 'uns, but some other CCA teachers didn't get it -.-) and the grandkids... And Auntie Chue... Confused.

Back to how I met King...
Stop fantasizing whatever you were thinking of. Half the time he gave a DL face the first time I saw him. Well, it was at O2! I went to shoot with Soon Ying and Pres at Sentosa with the D100 in my Chung Cheng shirt! No wonder he got pissed =P Sitting there all bored and not enjoying the event at all (because, half the time we were waiting for late comers) and a girl in her sec sch t-shirt was sashaying in front of him with a Nikon D100... XD

Yes, he was quite irritated, I chop plus confirmed that much later. I didn't know he was Kingston that time la, the more he give me DL face, the more I took his photo =D
I'm sure the photos are somewhere in the club archives if you look hard enough, unfortunately, I didn't keep them.

Until after all the leaders elections were over, we all got into office, then did I slowly realised that the guy with the DL face at O2 was him!! Dorts... ok... A bit whatever-dun-really-care-la.

Yes seniors, he was a SC covered in gunk, goop and flour.

So this is the first event I shot on my first (wait, second?) day at JAE MJC. Cool right.

Open Judging

Well.. for those of you who missed out, there was a open judging by Asian Geographic for the Asia Without Borders Competition..and well.. it ain't very exciting... haha.. Its kinda boring to judge photos.. and the quiet judges doesn't really help...other than the ang moh who was the "Simon Cowell" of the group..

Then again, it was rather interesting to see the photos which made it for the finals, ablit rather pissing when you see some rather sucky photos and not yours...lols... It ain't exciting if you dun see ur photos in the finals..

And yes, the point of the whole post is cos I wanna complain!! I don't know how many times I have seen those cliche photos of the war memorial at city hall and the esplandae bridge. And no matter how overuse or over shot (its practally the same composition!!!) it always wins or at least gets into the finals!! Damn!.. Seriously, it came out for the Microsoft Vista Competition, for the 2 SYPA compeitions and many many more!! (ok la.. not so many, but then again, got how many compeitions?) Grrr...

Den I mentione that they have a different set of judges who selected the final pics?? and I reckon they didn't pull out the big shots to select the final photos..so end up, you have a final set of photos which aren't really the best...den you have a good panal of judges to judge a poor set of photos.. kinda dumb though...

haha...but of cos.. of some nice pics la...ohh well.. maybe i'm just a lil' pissed my photo didn't turn up.. sigh...

Btw, you might wanna note that they did mention they dun like over PP-ed photos, esp the heavily sat kinds.. they prefer natural tones and i noticed, BW pics, seems to get a slightly better response...

Ohh well.. L.L. suck thumb :P

Troubled

*pluck petals from chrysanthemum*

Ken Nern...
Nee Kon...
Ken Nern...
Nee Kon...
Ken Nern...
Nee Kon...
Ken Nern...
Nee Kon...
......

Dear Kelly

I have been going out with Ken Nern for more than a year (my schoolmate PPC introduced him to me) and he has been nice and faithful to me. My first Darling-Sweetheart-Love-Romance, we shared many happy moments together especially Nov last year when we went for our first trip to Japan together. We were in each others' arms practically everywhere we went. I have gotten to know him even better during our recent Koh Samui trip when we talked alot and I found out many interesting things about him.

But I met Nee Kon and have not been able to forget him at all... his sexy voice just makes my knees go weak every time I hear it. He also has a more sturdy body and I feel excited whenever I see him. Compared to Nee Kon (whose body is really hot), Ken Nern feels like a little boy... Although we have met a few times, I don't really know Nee Kon very well but I think he likes me too. In addition, My BFF Geraldine and classmate Tee keep raving that he is such a great guy. Recently, Geraldine told me that Nee Kon is available.

I feel very confused as I'm about to marry Ken Nern but I cannot forget Nee Kon. I'm afraid that if I marry Ken Nern and keep thinking about Nee Kon, Ken and I may end up in a divorce which will be very costly. I want to enter into a relationship with Nee Kon... Yet I fear that if I break off with Ken Nern, I am breaking away from what is familiar and entering into something on impulse and may regret it...

Please advise me.

Troubled

Photography And War.....

Photography
&
WAR....
by howxq

In light of wars around the world, people wants to know the truth, the naked truth of what is going on down there. The press censors to protect the political integrity of country. People are too afraid to tell the truth for fear of their own safety. Even if they have spoke up, no one would believe them.

People killing people, children dying in the streets, families destroyed by a single mortar bomb.
All these stories were left untold.

There are a special breed of people who are out there to capture the truth; evidence of what is really going on there. They are the war photographers. With their cameras, they place themselves in positions that others might find crazy; to capture what people might not see or might not want to see. Risking their life, keeping their cool and channeling their anger to clear their vision, they bring back what was real and what we should be seeing rather than what the press wants us to see.


Here's a War Photographer- James Nachtwey who have won the 2007 TED Prize.



& here's his gallery :

http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/


He is only one of many who uses their skills for a greater good. Can u ?

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Indirectly Popular

Hey, you know, its good that our blog is popular... haha.. it really shows how fun photog club is, and really makes all the other CCAs like... haha...okies... getting quite p.i.c.... anyway.. as I was saying... our blog and club getting popular is a gd thing.. cos that makes me popular too... though in a rather indirect fashion.. but who cares.. directly or indirectly.. as long as I'm popular..:P (but its still equally hard to chase girls...whether popular or unpopular..so to all those unpopular guys, dun feel too bad..^^)

December ubin trip + chalet

Hi dear gals and bois,

The seniors are organising a 2 day chalet at the end of December 29 and 30 at Changi Aloha. On the first day will be field trip to Chek Jawa and subsequently a BBQ dinner back at chalet for MRT's farewell dinner.

Cost: Please expect to pay at least 20 per pax. It will include the cost of the BBQ and a stay overnight at the chalet where there will be overnight entertainment like cards, xbox, mahjong, lobo77 and so on.

I need to know the response of this chalet by next friday.
Quent and Eliot, please check with the kids and get back to me. Have them indicate whether they would like to stay overnight or not.

Thanks.

Memoir.T

Yes yes I know, you all want a copy so you can see it AND read the words... sry abt the small words.. couldn't really help it.. you know.. aesthetic limitations... there was simply not enough screen real estate for me to make the font any larger... but of cos, let me tell you all of a short story of how I came to to this lil' slideshow...

On second thought, I ain't a gd storyteller, so I think I'll save you all the torture, though if u wanted to know, you can always ask me..^^..

Anways, just some background on the slideshow, it was done in one and a half day...cos PPC last min, kena arrow, and hence he also last min arrow me...lols... but hiya.. after all, for Mr Tee.. cannot say no also.. haha..

The backdrop in the flash, contrary to what some ppl think, I didn't rip it off the net... It was a pic I took specially for the flash. The Lomo cam on the top, the Illford PAN 400 film on the top left and the Hot Shots book on the left were the gifts me and Eunice bought on behalf of PPC, that Ms Lai presented to Mr. Tee during the farewell assembly. The rest was just my sis's table and stationary..and of cos she was pissed that I messed up her table and all.. but ohh well:P...

And if you liked the soundtrack, its titled "Old Pal ~Aishuu~" from this anime called Bartender, which is a outstanding anime..I'd give it like 5/5.. so if ur into anime, go watch this...

And as for the "polaroid photos", the photos were edited in Lightroom then sent over to photoshop to be "assembled" to add the text and the "lighting effects" and rotated.

And of cos, animated in flash. Ohh well, I'm just glad that ppl liked it:P... and for those who aren't too interested abt how it came into existence, and just wanna watch it again with the words readable, here you go: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/613977669/3bad7004b4c0e2ca16aca1a7666e38ec

Its a flash file bundled with a windows projector a.k.a. .exe file, so yes, you need a windows PC to view it...to play, unzip and open the exe file, its auto fullscreen... Pls note that if your viewing it other than 1280x960, then the graphics will be poor, pls set scaling to 100%

Enjoy...

Edit: Okies okies.. I know, I know.. a Mac version rite.. kk.. coming rite up..sheesh...what a troublesome bunch of people...:P

Edit 2: Okies, for all you Apple fanboys out there...: https://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlBZUNsaTF3NUx2Wmc9PQ

Standing Ovation for Mr Tee

Indeed, we have kept the secret for the past two days. It's been a difficult time, but I'm glad it was completely worth it. Let's see... Thank all for scouring your hard disks for pictures of Mr Tee, and especially Kingston who engineered the Flash.

Today is the last day of school for Mr Tee where he was presented with a surprise presentation made specially for him, and Ms Lai even gave a speech for him. He is the first retiree from Meridian Junior College.

Mr Tee- the founding father of Photography > MJC which was split out from MMC (the then Multimedia Club; a mix of Film, AVA and Photography) in 2004- built the club from scratch. Needless to say, there was a lot of hard work to be done then. He was the one who built the foundation of the Club, and without him, there will be no Photography > MJC today. We would not become the best and coolest Photography Club in the whole of Singapore.

Yes. I am proclaiming that Photography > MJC is the best and coolest Photography Club in the whole of Singapore. Who could ask for a better team of teachers standing behind the student leaders so firm and strong through fire and ice, late nights and uncountable cups of tea and coffee. None of the teachers would hesitate to call the student leaders in the evening regarding Club events, and vice versa. This is the sheer passion the club is built on.

Comparing from 2 years ago till today. The club is rich in equipment, exceeding any JC's photography club equipment base. We have our own physical gallery where all our photos are pasted all around the school, to which none other JCs have. We have very frequent exhibitions, so frequent that we can hardly cope with the logistics. We have monthly outings, to which I bet none other JCs are as enthusiastic as us about Photography and Club bonding. We have an active Alumni who are willing to put in literal sweat, blood and tears for the welfare of the student population.

All these- would not be possible without Mr Tee.

I salute Mr Tee for everything that he has done for Meridian Junior College; for Photography > MJC. He has my deepest respects.

To show our appreciation for all his efforts put into being such a dedicated college photographer, there was a standing ovation for Mr Tee after Ms Lai delivered her words of thanks and farewell. We just couldn't stop clapping for this ubiquitous photographer. (To the extent that he is hardly recorded on film/CCD.)

To my dear juniors, I can see there a good many number of potential photographers amongst all of you. I hope those who have witnessed the event this morning would be even more inspired by Mr Tee's legacy to continue shooting excellent photos. It is your passion for the club and photography that drives this Club forward. The Alumni will always be there to support all of you, and we are working towards a goal to give all of you a more comfortable environment to shoot in.

Your Alumni President,
Eunice Chan

Announcement

I would like to announce the new appointment of the a second Vice President and General Secretary of Alumni Society of MJC Photography, as effective of 10 October 2008-

Vice President- Kingston Chan
General Secretary- How Xing Quan (reach out for the sky)

The organizational structure of the Alumni of now is:
President: Eunice Chan
Vice Presidents: Ng Jun Sen and Kingston Chan
General Secretary: How Xing Quan
Treasurer: (open for application/appointment)

Thank You and have a nice day.

SMSs That Might Have Changed The World.

SMSs

That Might Have
Changed The World.

Dun know if you ppl have seen this before but I happen to chance upon this on the April Issue of the 8 DAYS in my office.( I dun read 8 DAYS one, so so long then see this.)

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SMS Messages has really revolutionised our communications. But imagine how it would have changed things if it had been around earlier.........

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Thats all Folks!

Disclaimer: This entry does not serve as a advertisement for the evil company Apple who owns the copyright to the diabolical i-phone. Any resemblance to the diabolical phone is deeply regreted. Past events might or might not change due to this entry but we bear no responsible to any consequences. No phones were harm in the making of this entry.

Photoger Squirrel in Dreamland.

[Disclaimer: What you're reading is actually three separate dreams that have been mashed together for better flow and coherence ^_^]

The Squirrel awoke to find herself standing in a jetty, and from the looks of her surroundings, gauged that she was somewhere back in Perth! "Horray!" she thought, "I'm back in Down Under and away from the drudgery of A'nuts!" Happily she whipped out her DSLR (which looked more like a blackened lump of coal and tried to snap some pictures of dark black dolphins swimming around, but alas!! The viewfinder was blocked and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hear the "chik chak" sound of the camera capturing the dolphins!

"Meep!" She squeaked and peered into the DSLR. "It can't be spoilt.. can it?" Meanwhile, the sky was darkening indicating that a storm was approaching and the dolphins were beginning to circle her in what could only be explained in a sinister shark-like manner. The Squirrel's tail stiffened and she looked around for help. In the distance, she could vaguely make out the shadows of JS and XQ (that's strange.. they weren't even in Perth to begin with) "HEY WAIT UP!!" She squealed and started running toward them.

...

The tranquil scene of Perth and sinister dolphins disappeared and the Squirrel found herself on the way to school "Aww phooey," she grumbled but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Soon she arrived at the grounds of Mugland but.. where was the white and blue building?! All was left was a large patch of grass. Bewildered, she scurried across the grass patch in search for any remmants of the school, but only found a facade of the photog room left intact with King and Chee Howe standing around the dry box looking quite stunned.

"Umm.. what happened here O_o" she asked, getting more and more confused by the minute."

"The entire school has been swept away by a tsunami!! All that's left is the photog room!!!!"

"HAH?!" Before she had any time to react coherently, her surroundings whizzed past her again. "NOOOOOOOOOO...."

...

The Squirrel rubbed her eyes and looked around her. She was still in the photog room albeit an undamaged one. Towering over was PPC, who was looking dow very sternly at her. "Oh no what did I do now ;_;" she thought in despair as PPC started scolding her for some unknown reason. The funny thing was, there was no sound coming out from his mouth!! It was like a silent film!!

"No no wait PPC I can explain everything!!!!" cried the Squirrel.

...

"Mmmpf." the Squirrel kicked and turned. Suddenly her eyes opened and she realised she was just having anpther crazy encounter in dreamland. "Phew,"she thought and rolled back under her blankets and went back to sleep.. hopefully not to be bombarded by falling telephoto lenses or getting in a Nikon-Canon crossfire.

Photographer's Nightmare

*sobs sobs... her her her... sobs* I had a nightmare!!

we were on club overseas trip to some developing country... can't tell where but think it was india or bangladesh... and we were shooting at this railway station. i tried to take a shot with my 15mm f/2.8 fisheye but it was blur so i put down my cam and tried to open up my tripod but no matter how i twist here twist there, one leg is shorter -.- so i gave up n reached for my cam then AAHHH??? where's my lens?? how come only got body????

then vicky suddenly appeared in front of me waving a hamburger stash of lens elements between her right thumb and index finger and twirling my 15mm hood around her left index finger...

v: ms koh! r these yours? i saw them STREWN all over the platform and picked them up
me: AAAHHHHHH!!!! *cry* my 15mm lens... *her her her.... weep*

cry also no use, my 15mm lens donno how come peechiah until like that... so i reached for my kit in my bag... dig dig dig... fish fish fish... CAN'T FIND!!!! where's my kit????? AAHHHHH!!! someone stole my kit??? (kit also people want to steal, must be v desperate)

*her her her... sobs sobs... cannot shoot...*

kk, nemind, still got my seagull TLR... search for it in my bag.... AAAAHHHHHH!!!! where is it???

then MRT appeared...

MRT: your seagull ah... u ask me to sell to karung guni le
me: WHERE GOT???? i where got ask you to sell to karung guni???? (angry but try to control, cannot get angry w MRT)

then the clock struck 7pm and MRT hurried me...

MRT: ann, kuai dian, hui qu le (ann, quick go back le)
me: ha??? so fast???? i not yet shoot pictures!!!!!

on the train back, MRT was beaming...

MRT: wa, wo pai le zhen qian zhang! (wa, i shot about 1000 pictures!) =D
me: -.- i shot ONE... and it was BLUR.

*squat in corner of train cabin, sole dark cloud pouring rain over me...*

then i woke up, pat chest, HENG AH! it's only a dream... check my dri-cabi... phew, everything still there n intact =P

Life as a Photoger.

hello bloggy :D

okay this sounds a lil gay but nevermind heheh.

 

anyway today we had fantabulous open house heheh.

its like the first big thing for the lil exco kids.

& initially everything seems like its a smooth journey.

but...

!!!!

many many many problems appreared omgz.

 

1. lack of lens to display at the booth.

cause apparently all are out for events & studio.

2. exhibition @ booth.

cause we totally didnt do it beforehand.

but this made us dig out some totally cool pic by alumni when they were just like us.

jun sen's the proud guy w many many pretty pics lah (& name card that only he & eunice have,envious leh).

3. sudden departure of the card reader.

no card reader  = cannot load pics T_T

then how we print & sell leh leh leh.

but we managed to get one from PPC heheh.

 

then ell,van,chin & i tried this dry run, which was so CMI.

FYI: CMI = cant make it.

but it solved some small probs that we will face.

all the irritating technical stuffs T_T

 

finally the real thing starts whee heheh.

& i was screaming not knowing to go for mass dance or stay :x

but i stayed anyway :D :D :D

but we had no customers,had to guard the whole half of the study room myself.

which is a very very boring job i also wanna run out T_T

or maybe go play games w the IGC people cause they seem so happy :/

but imagine all the stuffs lying ard lonely-ly w/o care & if PPC comes in.....

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so no choice gotta guai guai stick my butt to the chair T_T

didnt get to see my miranda dance ARGH.

 

then shir & i went to parade our cute cute poster ard the sch.

everyone seems amused & uninterested so we went back to wait for the rabbit under the tree (some chi idiom).

& after long long long long,we finally cheated some girls in heheh :D

and then,groups after groups of people came in,soooooo busyyyyy heheh.

money money money also come in heheh.

& then problems surfaced ):

 

1. shortage of manpower

too many things,too lil people.

2. selphy gets hot so fast zzz.

maybe can put a laptop fan under it, so can print faster + better.

3. cf cards looks the same when you're busy T_T

end up they were not properly circulated.

& sorry van i lost your pretty pic ):

maybe can have like sushi belt heheh so the cf cards go one round.

can circulate drinks also cause very thirsty -_-

4. & people are indecisive so had to wait long long.

end up very very stressed T_T

and crowded in the lil corner.

 

but then again,i think we really learn alot alot.

esp for the promy night heheh.

learnt many many today :D

I LOVE EXCO MANY MANY.

& thank you alumni for helping us heheh :D

plus chin chye who made things possible also :D

 

P.S. i think this post is too long alr heheh.

thank you for whoever who made it to the end.

i really tried to make it short & sweet heheh.

 

oh oh oh!

I am a member of the best and coolest club in the whole of Singapore. PHOTOG!

The Nikonian Chronicles - I

(Three hours of doing nothing and this is the result.)

The Nikonian Chronicles

Part I

Crap, thought the famous photojournalist Nikon Ng, barely able to concentrate on the road ahead of him. Forgot to pack the 50mm again. Damn the QM. He parked along the left bank of the street, and promptly exited the interiors of the Company's Toyota Prius hybrid. If I move quickly, I should be able to avoid the sentries. Nikon opened the boot and tossed a Lowepro CompuTrekker over his aching shoulders, immediately noticing the weight of the whole bulk.

The night was cold and dark, perfect for a stealthy operation like this. Nikon moved silently among the dead bushes, careful to not wake the mass of black crows in the bony trees above. 17th Street, thought Nikon, looks like Intel was correct after all. Ahead, shrouded in the evil darkness is a gigantic fort, with walls that reached out for the sky like how a good friend Xing Quan once did. I'm here. No one knows I'm around. It is time. Nikon quietly advanced towards the fort, passing by a sign emblazoned with the words "Canon HQ".

---

From the bushes, a pair of eyes watched as the figure moved through the park towards the black fort. Then, a gust of stale wind blew and the eyes were gone.

---

Nikon braced himself against the outer wall of the fort. There's no one in the plaza, but one would be folly to underestimate my Canon foes. He removed a long, slithery thin rope from the CompuTrekker and tied one end around his waist and the other around a Canon 1Ds Mk II. Damn Canon fans, if they didn't flame me on the ClubSnap forums I wouldn't even be here, he insisted to himself. With a powerful heave the 1Ds went over the wall like a flying cannonball which resembled a flying rock which resembled a flying camera. For a moment, the sound of breaking glass could be heard. Ah, the pentaprism and mirror assembly. Nikon smiled wryly.

Like a professional, he pulled himself up and over the wall with speed, thanks to the lightweight construction of Nikon's body.

---

The pair of eyes remained focused on the figure scaling the wall. As soon as it disappeared over the impenetrable obstacle, a radio somewhere crackled to life.

"Watcher One. Chicken has entered the henhouse. Please advise."
"Watcher Two, I concur. Treehouse is underway. I have visual on the breach. Watcher Two to Black One, what is the instruction?"

The pair of eyes looked contemplative for a moment. Then, the reply came.

"All units move in."

The pair of eyes disappeared again.

---

Nikon was now inside the main building. What a messy office. Millions of dollars of R&D and not one of it is spent on vacuum cleaners. The floor were strewn with official-looking documents and there were rows upon rows of cabinets bursting with files, folders and even more paper. The amount of dust and cobwebs could shame a stereotypical deserted Victorian mansion you see in films like Batman Forever and Batman Returns. Oh, and there's Batman Begins and oh oh The Dark Knight also. Those were great films too.

Nikon shook himself back to reality. I need to bypass this room to reach the central hall. He looked around for the door and found it on the far side of the room. Oh shit, now I'll have to navigate my way across all these paper. I bet no one ever comes here. Damn Canon.

Forty-five minutes later, he reached the door and looked back at the maze of decaying paper. He heaved a sigh of relief and exited the room, closing the door labeled "Customer Complaints" behind him.

---

Stay tuned for Part II of The Nikonian Chronicles.