Post Processing

The not-so-much-fun part of photography, I have discovered, is post-processing. It's fine if you have miraculously captured something that is so spot-on, it needs little processing like this one.

However, much of the time, you get things which are "ALMOST THERE" and you have to fiddle with it to get the whole thing right. 

It's one thing for your friends to gush about how pretty your photos are. But the guys at Getty's are not going to pay you a single red cent for blurry, vignetted photos like this.

It's good enough for Facebook, but even your local photo club guys aren't going to pay much attention to it. And at the end of the day, after creating awareness etc, you need the photos to pay for your gear. 

Right now I'm struggling to find a suitable Photo Editor which won't cost me extra money. One came with the camera and I've installed it on the netbook, but it's rather slow and I suspect the netbook is ill-equipped to handle the workload. 

I'm used to using Microsoft Photo Editor which can do most simple editing like cropping and brightening, but it's not much help with underlit, grainy photos etc. And it can't handle RAW files. 

Lightroom is a favourite among photographers, it seems, but I would need to pay a monthly subscription. It's not too expensive, but again, it jams up the netbook, and I can't install it on the office computer because Mr IT guy blocks every freaking thing. And right now, it's not a great idea to pay more money for a new laptop. Yes, I HAVE thought about it :P

There's an online version of the Lightroom, but it's even slower than the desktop version. I now have like 4 days to decide on buying the thing or not. I suppose, I need to figure if I will ever learn how to use the thing correctly and if it is worth paying for at the end of the day. 

The other cost of photo-editing is TIME. Like seriously. I go shoot in the morning, stop by the mall for lunch and groceries, come home and conk out for a few hours. Wake up and do laundry + clean house + cook/eat whatever. THEN try to find time to edit the morning's bounties. With all the jamming I've had to deal with, it's a real pain. 

And I still need to spend time on "homework". Which is work I have not completed and brought home, with the intention of catching up over the weekend. 

At this juncture, my room and study are dusty and needs cleaning. Kitchen is a disaster zone and my job is on the line. I'd better stop now and get my act together. Ciao!

Angels on the Wing

A pigeon in the back alley. It was far away, so details are blurred. But I wanted the silhouette of the wings in flight. 

You can easily get photos of pigeons on the ground, but it's a little too mundane. Haha. 

I like this super sharp shot of a pigeon on the wall. Don't really like the posture though. But hey, they're wildlife, not models!

This fella has some attitude showing, strutting on the edge of the pedestrian bridge..

The weekend is almost here!! Happy, happy, joy, joy!!

Of long shots and backlighting

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I REALLY need to refrain from taking shots of objects/subjects a mile away with my relatively short lens... This Black-thighed Falconet was sitting on a dead branch so far away, I should have known better than to waste time shooting it. It's not as if I was desperate for a shot! Saja mengada-ngada.

 This yellow vented bulbul was sitting on a stick in clear view. But it was the middle of the day and the lighting was not THAT great. Le sigh. Try again next time...

Another futile attempt. The bird was sitting on top of the apartment roof. Should just wait for it to come down!

Sometimes, just SOMETIMES, images are fixable. But they're still blurry and grainy. Obviously I need a 600mm lens to do this job right. A 300mm is good enough for birds at close range, but if your eagle is a mile up in the air, just forget about it. 

Hmm... bila la pakcik tu nak let go of his 600mm zoom lens. Kalau setakat amek gambar KLCC, tak payah ler beli lens mahal mahal. Sedekah la kat orang2 yg memerlukan macam saya ni. 

But sometimes, it does help with ID. Operating as a scientist who is more keen to identify various flora and fauna, photos don't need to be at NatGeo level all the time. Sometimes even silhouettes and grainy photos can help. Case in point, my swallow photos.

Obviously, trying to shoot speeding swallows in flight in very low light is a dumb idea. But thanks to the terrible photos, I realised why the swallows looked bigger and different. Because they ARE different. The photo on top showed a forked tail - typical of barn swallows, Hirundo rustica. While the bottom is quite obviously the more common Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) at rest. You can always get creative and colour them or something. If you really have nothing better to do. Heh. 

Flyby

Shot these out of the car window at a traffic light. Can't get a positive ID, but the silhouettes are quite nice. Purple herons?

These flew by the apartment as I was shooting mynas. Again, hard to ID, but could be grey herons.

Photography day out to FRIM and Bukit Lagong Part I

It's a long holiday and I've been dying to go out and shoot. So I headed out to FRIM yesterday morning. Photography is helping my quest to get fitter because I have to walk around carrying bins and camera gear.

I was all prepared to pay for entry and camera; but when I told the guard I was going to MNS Centre for birding, he let me in without having to pay anything. Hmm... so is birding the magic word? I always thought it was the MNS car sticker.

So here are a few highlights.

A brahminy kite flew in and soared for a while so I got pretty good shots. A million of these were useless, but I will learn to post-process the almost good ones. Will try to shoot in RAW and learn editing.

Soaring - edited

Auto corrected

 Initial shot of black-naped oriole. Used continuous shooting - not a great idea if subject is not moving. Photos came out dark and poorly focused.

This is edited by me. Not bad. Auto-correct often pumps colours like crazy.

Later got the crested serpent eagle near the MNS Centre.

Senja Nan Indah

Came home late from The Curve and noticed a rather nice sunset in progress as I drove. The problem was, I couldn't easily stop anywhere, and I wouldn't be able to get a clear view... Feeling rather let down, I stopped in front of the local grocery store and realised that the sunset was right in front of me! I changed the settings a few times and now I don't know which ones are better...

I rather like this as the reddish orange contrasts with the bluish twilight. But is it too dark?

This one is almost certainly too dark, but I do like the redness of the setting sun. What do you think?

Kisah seekor monyet

 Aduh.. laparnya... Satu hari tak makan lagi ni. 

 Eh... makanan ke tu? 

 Alamak... makanan.... bestnya!

 Haip! Jangan dekat! Ini kereta aku yang punya, tahu!

  Erk... cemana nak masuk dalam ni?

  Sedihnya... tak dapat makan... huhuhu...

 Mari kita guna jurus... muka seposen.

     Alhamdulillah... makcik tu bagi roti... yeay!! (Chaitt! MAKCIK kau panggil aku??)

SEKIAN.

Islamic Centre, Indragiri Hulu

Stopped by on the way to Menni and Abi's wedding to explore this tourist attraction. It is a large complex that not only houses a prayer hall, but also a business centre, viewing tower and lecture halls. The sky was clear, no haziness this year. Which we are very grateful for.

Sunny skies.

Umi and Unchuk. Abi & Abg Dodi's relatives who came with us to the wedding. 

The main entrance from inside. Love the silhouette of the grilles amid bright sunlight.

The beautiful main prayer hall.

Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim.... In the name of Allah, the most loving, the most merciful. 

Khat or Islamic calligraphy on the side of a large drum. Probably used to mark prayer times. This is a common practice in Southeast Asia especially in olden times when masjids did not have loudspeakers to amplify the azan (call to prayer).

A refreshing change! Cigarette free zone, fresh air. Something much appreciated by non-smokers in a country where cigarettes are cheap and smoker crave tobacco more than rice.

Recycling bins. A few of them are starting to emerge in the Indonesian state. Massive way forward!

More photos will be uploaded to my Facebook page :) 

Sunrise in Pekanbaru

Sunrise taken through smudgy hotel windows in Pekanbaru city, Riau, Indonesia.

Sunset in Sabah

We stopped by the mountainside on the way to Kota Kinabalu just to get pictures :) I used live view and I'm quite happy with the results.

Kuching waterfront

I took a bunch of photos of the waterfront tonight; specifically the reflections on the water. Out of many, this is my favourite :) 

Boatman

A boatman at the Kuching Waterfront. I have not been in Kuching for ages, and i don't think I took a boat across the Sarawak River the last time.

They say the fare to cross the river is still 50 cents (it was 50 cents over 20 years ago!), but he charged us RM1 tonight. Maybe it's a special rate. It's OK. RM1 won't break the bank, insyaAllah :)

This is one of the things I find so charming about Kuching other than the super friendly locals. Yes, I'm Malaysian too, but Sarawakians call us 'people from Malaya' and stamp our passport when we enter the Land of Hornbills. Haha. 

Feeling Crab-by

Two clearest shots of crabs found in our Manjung rehabilitation area. These guys are really tiny, about the size of a thumbnail, and skittish! Really like the eyestalks on the orange one :)