is gear important or the picture ?

... go closer — http://www.flickr.com/photos/liewwk/6586588091/in/photostream/lightbox/

after years use my Canon 5d … follow me to countries, beaches, volcanoes , mountains, forest … etc … and finally it giving problem … and need to go for full check up … I would say I have make full use of it by full test on salt water, poor environment (dirt, sands, cold, hot) … etc

I still ask myself a question .. “gear important or picture ?” and do you ask yourself too ? and my answer always the output so i have always put my 5d on risk .. 🙁

picture above was capture while we really close to the wave …. sometime I just go as close as 3-5 feet and as low as 5-10cm from the beach ground …..

and after get some shot from the strong wave

December 27, 2011April 20, 2012

Reverse GND …

beside GND, CPL, Big Stopper .. another filter that always with me is Reverse GND … and I am using Singh-ray for quality capture (it produce very less color cast as Lee Filter do)

when this filter been use ? (many ask) … as dusk/dawn time the sun always stay near horizontal level which make near horizontal level over expose and make details lost ….

... hot industries ... — a capture with Lee GND .75 only

horizontal near sun area lost details due to the overexpose and not able to rescue by the GND filter …

so with the GND help … I can balance the horizontal level exposure and recover some details as shown

hope this simple share will clear … most of the question from my friends .. “when RGND need ? ”

few more sample of RGND capture

December 5, 2011August 10, 2014

you just have to trust your tripod ….

... I trust my friend - tripod ... — … I trust my friend – tripod …

to capture a beautiful photo, it is not just skill, luck … but we need to have right tool … e.g. of condition below .. we really need to trust out friend – tripod … [my gear – Tripod – fotopro]

Fotopro PGC-78c – Bigger for wildlife, bird .. taller

Fotopro M-5mini PRO – easy to carry and pocket size …

FLM Fiction Ball head – stability, fiction control … firm angle without fall down after lock ball head

Fotopro CT-5A – a new concept of tripod combine Mini M5 I share previously and MGA-584N … = CT-5A

Fotopro PGC 484 – a travel tripod only <850gram only (without ball head)

Fotopro T-series T64c/T74c/T83c – new design better stability, better sand proof …

we have trust our tripod

December 5, 2011

most beautiful dusk for 2011

18 days to say good bye to 2011 .. but base on the recent weather .. I almost can say … my landscape gear need to be rest for the moment .. the weather just bad for any outing , most of the time we just have grey but nothing …

and really hope to see the dusk like this

November 22, 2011November 22, 2011

where is the reflection …

we are keep looking for possible angle to get the reflection but too bad we fail to capture it ….

by the way … how many of us .. actually know it is a black and white while we shooting or convert it after it do not look good on the computer screen ? … and we should know what/how we edit our picture before press the shutter ….?

November 22, 2011

the pillow …

How many of you still sleep with pillow ? 😀 I need pillow to sleep well 😀 , think the lizard have the same feeling too

November 15, 2011

one of my favorite MACRO model – Tiger Beetle

I love to capture this beetle but too bad this beetle is skittish/shy .. and not easy to get close so have a closer shot .. so most of the shots I use SIGMA150 instead my MP-E65

1. the green one .. and most difficult to get close

: … tiger beetle …

animation make this beetle look scary

November 9, 2011November 9, 2011

some time .. it is just the moment and luck

I want and love to capture a lightning picture for long .. but I just have no luck so far .. even able to capture 1-2 strike (small or thin) one …

and it is not difficult to capture the lightning .. but it is as simple as how I shoot star

but we need the luck as it is not too much lightning will happen at close spot here …. as below picture, I was rushing for a project and saw the lighting non stop striking so I drove to near by place with a “path” to make my simple composition …. and I just can choose too much as the lightning only strike at this angle ..

: … lightning …

and it is just simply a lucky day for me …

*** little sharing

I am not an expert of lighting photography, but I use the way I shoot star but as in the evening the shutter may not be too long so the capture can be 1-10s …. and we just have to merge multiple pictures into one if the lightning sequence is not too close ……

to extend the exposure , i make use of Lee Filter GND .9h as ND8 to extend the exposure 3 stops so .. I have more lightning capture into single frame … HOPE this help

October 19, 2011October 19, 2011

How I have more MACRO DOF …

As we know anything >1:1 macro, we have very limit DOF … I had it share before … what we DOF have while we shooting macro e.g. at crop body, F16 at 1:1 .. the dof we have is just ~1mm … so how we have more DOF ?

1. angle is important , if we want the main objects “focus”

e.g.

at certain angle, we have not possible to have both object focus .. e.g. choose one , shoot small to crop , or using stacking method I use (discuss before HERE)

by using the stacking … we can get both beetle focus as below

or discuss http://liewwkphoto.com/blog/?p=922

of if we do not want to do much on post process… choose the best angle to have both object focus e.g.

more beetle collection click HERE

October 19, 2011January 8, 2013

Miss Toba Lake, Indonesia …

update 2013 Jan 8

... beautiful Mount Sebiyak ... — … beautiful Mount Sebiyak …

thanks Jamal & Ali to bringing us there for wonderful trip 2010 Oct … and I promise to make a re-visit there again but not fail to do so as 2011 just too many plans …

a place that good for landscape, human interest …. etc .. and my previous sharing HERE

people here are friendly, view here is gorgeous, food is good too …. so have to start plan one trip there again on 2012 ….

more Toba Lake picture from me click HERE