the 1st stop for my 1 week trip at CHINA 21-28 May 2011…. what I remember ~1hour travel from GuiLing international airport to the main Entrance of the Longji Terraces (龙脊梯田) tourist centre … follow by another ~40 minutes toruist bus to the start point of the Terraces… then ~2 hours easy walk (stair cases) to the highest point of visit point 4 ( 金坑梯田)
the first view near our accomondation ….
... 龙脊梯田 | Terraced Fields ...
the view simply amazing but too bad the weather raining non stop and base on the weather forecast the rain will last for another 1-2 day .. ..
but hope for the best, I still woke up ~430am the next morning to have a morning walk …. and I am happy that I found a view that can show how the water been flow through the field …..
... the Beginning | 由此开始 ...
farmer will start using manual way to make hole allow water from top flow down to the next field and this repeat for every layers …….
a simple shot that may not come out easy…. just share one of my tough shot recently done at Kemasik Beach, Kemaman, Terengganu…
I was standing near the big rock waiting for the big splash …. my len filters keep splash by wave, need non stop drying , and myself wet too after few splashes that I feel not stong enough and finally I got the splash what I looking for … then I got wet and have to run away from it …. have ~30-50 shutter press for this
running from wave
and this is a simple and happy shot with a lot of effort (for me ….)
one of the stop of my previous visit to East Coast for details click here
never been a place so beautiful before, saw a clear Milky way while I reach … and it is like total mirror when the light is out … nothing I want to capture except try to show the beautiful and perfect reflection (someone is walking in the river …so actually not so calm while I shoot this)
even I only spent ~2hours there… I would rate this one of the best Landscape Photography spot for Malaysia .. the calm sea water with perfect reflection with angle toward ~135 degree south toward North west …. can do perfect fisherman life shooting, sunrise, salt water reflection …. I am sure I will be there again very soon ……….
milky through nake eye
... another milky way ...
– was using black card method/finger to shoot this where share it here
I actually want to share this “black card” quite some time ago .. but I always forget and not really able to get some good result to share … and while I am doing this , one of my gang actually notice me shaking my finger around the front len .. and she did ask what was I doing … 😀 and here you go ….
what is black card method and when will we use it ?
when we having different exposures, I normally do GND filter, exposures blending, black card, HDR …(we not going to discuss all here but share some sample)
A. GND filter
this is just like GND filter, most of the time we have big dynamic range/different between sky and foreground.. it normally have different from 2-9 stops …. e.g. for standard sunrise/sunset/magic hour environment, we face 2-4 stops different between foreground – sky… to resolve this we normally use GND to single frame picture have the correct exposure among foreground and sky e.g.
1. without GND
Magical moment - no GND
2. GND
... the magical moment ...
– the sky is ~4 stops different from the foreground…
– I use GND.9s for above picture and do some PP trick to make the right exposure
B. HDR (seldom do this …but think we still good to know this)
Cold Reflection
– why I choose HDR … this was shoot use my SIGMA12-24mm which cannot fit any filter
– it was too cold to think which method to choose so I simply shoot 7 exposures back 😀
3. black card
– seldom use this as I am not really experience
– filter much easy
– need a lot of try and error but the good light could be disappear any time
original shot without any filter, blending, black card
– why I choose black card, the environment was dark, not sure how/where to apply GND
– multiple exposures will take double or even more times for single shot
– the exposure different >3 stops
for me I know the area that make me concern as below
the over expose portion
– so what I did was, use my fingers block the over expose area
– allow only ~2-3 seconds exposure over 30 seconds exposure, so I block it until last few seconds and I remove my finger
so I get
... another milky way ...
most of the time we just need try and error, where some fail sample .. think only expose for ~1s
wrong timing to shake the black card/finger
I will discuss more on other method in future … but let’s try and error on black card 😀
beside standard tools tripod, release cable, ….I using different filter for different situation and effect … e.g. I use super ND to clear silky effect on sunny day which discuss here.
I also make use of CPL to get better colors contrast, reflection, shot the clearness of the water …. sometime I do use it as ND filters too (2 stops) …
e.g. of the highlight of the coconut tree leaf on sunny day
without CPL with CPL but simply turn with CPL and turn/rotate to make less reflection/highlight
the usage of the CPL just like Photography, it never have right or wrong … it just what you prefer to see … but above e.g. is to show how we use to reduce the highlight of the reflective part of the coconut tree leaf
another e.g. to show the water reflection and the saturation of the overall picture
CPL on with rotation for reflectionCPL on with rotation for clear water capture
both sample above show different effect can be archive by rotating the CPL…..
For me, if you serious in Landscape CPL is a necessary tool that always near you so you can have what effect you would like have which not easy archive by other filters or post processing ….
sample
a sample of using CPL
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good news is the Marumi DHG CPL/DHG Super CPL are in-stock now… and thanks LeePhoto bringing in the such a good filters into market
Marumi DHG Circular PL(D)
contact me for price for COD near Kuala Lumpur/PJ/any place I reach …. or by courier service here
I will have a mini workshop for long exposure so I decide to make one South (Muar – Batu Pahat, Johor) …
this is not a full Workshop but I will share some tips
1. what tools - filter explanation - which filter to use
2. how to shoot Long Exposure
– how do we calculate the exposure time
– some experience what setting
– what’s best exposure for different effect
3. what accessories require for Long Exposure
4. Post Processing tips (my Long Exposure and Star PP workflow)
5. How I shoot Stars
this trip will limit to 4-6 participants and now 2 have been fill …..
*** update 23 March 2011 , 4 seat had been fill …..
*** update 28 March 2011, 6 seats had been fill … and this is close now !!!
RM499 will include
1. travel from KL
2. accommodation (we will have quick rest after sunset) (3 stars hotel 2 share 1room)
3. monitor calibration, if you bring yours notebook along
*** this is not a basic class, will assume participant already know basic of DSLR, A-mode, M-mode, exposure, Aperture, ISO, Bulb-mode (will share how to calculate for right exposure)
Contact me for different fee, if you arrange yours own transport …
