Personal, Travel, Photoshop, Festive, Photos
Lookout Point and My New Lens
After hearing so much about Lookout Point, I decided to visit that place myself. I was there with my family (and my camera, lol) two weeks ago for dinner. Location map as well as (very detailed) directions are available all over the net, making it almost impossible to get lost finding the place. We managed to finish our dinner before sunset, perfect for photography… lol.
The photo above is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo. I shot that photo in RAW, and processing was done at home. This is the first time I’m putting up an HDR photo on my blog (I’m a beginner!). I’ve always admired HDR photography. There is a kind of surreal feel to HDR photos… I like that very much.
I rested my camera on a hard surface to capture this shot. I’m still kicking myself for not bring along a tripod. Then again, we were on this wooden observation tower (hence ‘lookout point’ lah) where there were bound to be vibrations whenever someone walked around… Oh well…
We camwhored for about half an hour even though mosquitoes were conveniently feasting on our tasty blood. That’s how much we’d sacrifice for a good photo… lol. Waitaminute, come to think of it, only I got bitten the most. My sisters didn’t complain anything! Right…
My New RM300 Investment…
This has got to be the most popular lens Canon has ever made. It’s cheap, and produces excellent photos. Mid-range lenses are way out of my budget for now. Meanwhile I’m just gonna make do with what I have…
That’s how short my new 50mm f/1.8 II lens is. It’s a very common lens among photographers, a must-have! The photo above was shot using my good ol’ Panasonic Lumix FX-01, with slow-shutter setting (1sec), ISO 200, macro-mode and steady hands. Some post-processing was also done on Photoshop CS3.
This is what the lens is capable of doing. This photo was shot on Samosir Island (Medan - Toba Lake trip) last week. I will have a blog entry on that trip, of course.
It was the guitar that I played with the locals on our last night on the island. The indigenous people in Samosir Island are known as the Batak people, and most of them are good at playing the guitar (I can vouch for that!!).
I now mostly shoot macro with my new lens. At f/1.8, it blurs out the background much more nicely (bokeh effect) compared to my 17-85mm zoom lens, which can only go up to f/4.0 max.
That’s an Indonesian fly :p Yes, most of these photos were taken there. I went into a shooting spree with it!
The 50mm f/1.8 II falls under the ‘prime lens’ category, which means that it’s not a zoom lens. The focal length is fixed at 50mm, so if you want to include more stuff into your frame, you gotta vary your relative distance to the object by walking further backwards.
Prime lens means less glasses, which translates to less optical distortion and hence, better photo quality. Less zooming mechanism also means less cost. That’s why many photographers prefer prime lens over zoom lens - if they can put up with the fixed focal length. Psst: That HTC phone is not mine :P
Finally, the 50mm f/1.8 is also known as a ‘portrait lens’ to some people, because it shoots excellent portraits. By ‘excellent’, it means that the background is nicely blurred (depending on the distance also lah), while keeping the foreground sharply focused. (For more technical explanations, google or wiki for ‘DOF - depth of field’).
That little girl in the last pic is my toddler cousin. She’s everyone’s darling… very smart and mature for her age… absolutely adorable!
Happy Monday!
Shorttalk: I went to Nilai Memorial Park for Qingming today (Sunday morning). The traffic, I tell you… -____-” was jammed like crap. Even the North-South Highway was reduced to a crawl. But it was a good day for us… It was a reunion of sorts! :D
31 Mar 2008 narrowband
*garu kepala*
*nvm, takes notes…*
Lookout Point? Where is it? Not Mini Genting, izit?
Congrats on your 50mm. I’m thinking of getting one (but f/1.4, hopefully) for my D60 as well, but still saving up. Ugh, gonna take ages I suppose. Good luck and have fun with the new lens! =)
sad jor loh… go lookoutpoint also never ajak me….. I bet you captured my housing area some more!!!
Love the HDR shot man! The clouds and the sun setting all at the perfect timing. Awesome, sad to say i’ve not shot in RAW before yet. hahaha damn noob la me. And haf fun with the 50mm, its damn nice for portraiture n bokeh effect.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.. was sure damn worth all the blood tat was sucked out of ur tough muscular muscles. eh i damn gatal in jumping on the wagon and get a dSLR la since my ixus screen kaput few days back.. but but but.. guess i’ll be a chicken and get another ixus.. but bro, geez i sure do love ur shots! Learnt some new term today too!
that was some detailed explanation you gave and i have to say i understood every single point you were saying. it has been a while since i have came across anyone who has explained about ‘why get a 50mm lens’. the only response i have got so far was, just buy lah, it’s the next thing you should get after battery grip or flash.
i love taking portraits rather than sceneries and 300 bucks sounds quite tempting :P
eh the picture you took with your sis, it’s with the extended flash ? very nice man that picture :D
Hey, you bought that lens dy :) thinking of buying one for myself too! after recommended by u last time..hehe
Anyway, nice pics! can’t wait for more pic from that lens =)
I like the 2nd pic - with the lights of the city coming on but with the last bit of sunset still visible. Still have no idea what is HDR all about, but love the effects…
Took your advice and checked out the EOS 450D. I think I shall aim for that one and *attempt* to be patient for a little while more… … … Must. Tahan. For. Another. Six. (Nine?) Months.
As for the mozzies… what can I say but… LAWL.
OMG! That’s breathtaking!
*whistles* You are so crazy over photography! But the photos are awesome!
RM300 kinda expensive, could have gone as low as RM280. Haha. But then, yeah, its a nice lens. I bought it together when I bought my cam. :D
Oh oh, and I damn like to use it even for my events, especially in super dark area and lots of movement around.
jealous wuih…. Sony’s prime is nearly RM1k
but its up to F/1.4
awesome colors in those lookout point pics man. i like the pic wit u in it
50mm famous in every brand. but canon went a little extreme lately….f1.2 hahahah enjoy.
Picts are awesome. You’ve become a very good photographer. :)
The pictures are great. BTW, Nikon’s 50mm f/1.8 is about RM380, slightly cheaper.
Angel - Ya take notes. Sure useful in future :p Not mini genting lorh that place… Why is everyone saying that place is mini genting… Mini genting is somewhere else!
Raymond - Canon’s f/1.4 version is more than RM1.2k. If I were to save, I’d save for an L zoom lens… heh!
Vickie - Haha, if you say like that, I think I captured *many* people’s housing area leh!
Victor - Try HDR! Last time I didn’t like to shoot RAW also because didn’t have the right software to edit RAW files. I used bracketing instead.
Jian - Ya bro, it’s about time! Hahaha. Oh well, I can’t deny that Ixus can produce really good pictures too.
Sat - You have your kit lens already mar, so use that to shoot sceneries and landscapes, but when you need to shoot portrait just change lah. Yes it’s a 430ex Speedlite. I love it to bits!!
Nicholas - The lens damn nice. Addictive also. Really went into some macro-shooting spree.
Rinnah - You should check out the HDR photos on Flickr, they’re awesome. On the 450D… it wasn’t an advice, hahahaha. It was just an information - that there was a new model coming :p
ECL - I’m glad you liked it ECL! Come back for more! I’m not crazy yet… I’ve seen crazier ones :p
Jason - No point searching high and low for an RM20 difference. There’re shops selling at RM380 a piece too.
Willy - Canon’s 50mm f/1.4 is around RM1K plus.
Jiok - The one with me and my sis inside was taken using bounce flash. Love the effects myself.
Che-cheh - I’m just learning as I go along. When you gonna start yours? :D
Neo - You mean RM280 izit? Must be a typo ;). I dunno bout Nikon’s price. But for Canon’s f/1.8 is plus-minus RM300.
You definitely caught my house.. I just live by the foot of the hill, and Lookout Point is like my.. routine ‘yumcha’ spot that I didn’t bother to take photos there lolzz