Morning Shootout @ Putrajaya

It was kinda last minute, and I've long left out from model shootouts ever since picking up wedding photography. As much as it's a different genre (sort of) of photography, nevertheless, it was refreshing. Thanks to N.Keong and Norraine for organizing this photoshoot, and also kinda made me drag my lazy bums out of bed on a Sunday morning - and mind you, it was in the 6am-ish. :P


This shoot out also made it possible for me to finally get a chance to meet up with a fellow photographer H.A.Lee, whom I've always regarded as a fellow virtual mentor/source of portrait inspiration. It was his portraits which have drawn me very much into digital photography when I started off. So, it was definitely a cool thing to get the chance to meet him and also his very hospitable wife, Sharon.

Anyway, there were 4 girls for us all to shoot that morning - Norraine, Isabelle, Christy and Rachel. We (photographers) were split up into groups to shoot different sitters. I was very much into shooting strobist style thus I got away with Christy to a corner to setup my rigs and get some shots done. Tried my hands on natural lighting... and still didnt really like it very much :P

Halfway down the shoot and we came across a bunch of fellas who drove their exotic cars (namely Ferrari and Porsche) and parked them in front of Putra Perdana's big roundabout. So, off we went to shoot some cars with gurls :P Awesome! As I get drifted away with my D300 and the new 70-200mm f2.8 VR, I ended up shooting photographers in action more than shooting the cars and/or the girls combined! LOL!


Anyway, I left the group around 11am to go back home and get prepped up for a wedding dinner shoot (Daniel & Sharon's) which is gonna be held at Damansara. NKeong and the rest of the gang moved to some office buildings to get more architectural backgrounds and we parted.

This is definitely a very refreshing outing and also one which I've enjoyed a lot. Muchos gracias!

Refreshing Photoshoot In Downtown KL

Okay, now I know this is gonna sound reeeeeaaaally weird. I went down to KL to shoot a couple without knowing their names! Interesting eh...? Well actually, my presence was made possible by an invite from Edwin Tan, who is a fellow photographer as well. Basically, I was there as an observer, or in a more direct to the point term : a busybody hehe.

Actually this couple engaged Edwin as their photographer, and since Edwin asked me to tag along, so I tagged along. I went into the picture with an idea to shoot more towards a behind the the scene photographs. However I end up having more of normal portraitures instead of candid behind the scene shots. Oh well, talking about doing something which one is so used to.


Anyway, the shoot went well; although the skies weren't one which I have hoped for. But overall it was a cool and nice experience. It has been a while since I last had a shoot which is practically pressureless. This definitely made me feel photography is kinda refreshing again. Thanks to Edwin for not making me comply to feed him with any form of deliverables of course!


Also, since this was my maiden shoot with my D300, this new DSLR prooved to be a real mean machine. Handling it seems effortless, and in no time, little did I realized I've shot over 200 frames in that evening. This definitely helps in building a more solid confidence with Nikon gears as I bring them forth to do more wedding coverage.

Jess & Kiat

System Migration

Well well well... time sure flies, and its been a while I didnt update this blog. Sorry 'bout that fellow readers but I sure had some pretty roller coaster ride for the past couple of weeks. Anyway, I'll start off again with one of the biggest decision I made over the week. It's about my switch from utilizing Canon EOS DSLR to Nikon.

I started off into DSLR photography a couple of years ago with the then world's best selling DSLR - Canon EOS 350D. It was in a class of its own. For the money paid for 350D, I got the famed low -noise images of Canon. It was great then. And that was the main reason why I chose Canon over Nikon, which then was offering entry level DSLR hunter, the Nikon D70s as well as the Nikon D50.

The Canon EOS 350D served me well. I toyed with it, travel to a couple of places in Europe with it, and it brought me home loads of beautiful images. From Paris to Monaco, London to Boston, Rome to Amsterdam. Apart from these, the 350D opened the door to digital photography to me... and this I will forever be grateful.

Fast forward to end of 2007. I bought my second DSLR - the Canon EOS 40D, which is one series above the 350D. I fell in love with this piece of machine and for the first time I was confidence enough with the image quality. The technical spreadsheet oozes with great stuffs : 3 inch LCD, 14-bit images, DIG!C III processing powers, and other stuffs.

Then it hit me.


Nikon came out with 2 new DSLR which practically "wowed" the photography community. Nikon introduced to the world the 2 brothers : Nikon D3 and Nikon D300. It has set a new benchmark to working digital photographers. While most hardcore Canon EOS users will swear and scream out that nothing beats EOS, I for one would have to defy such conventional brand loyalty. For me, things are pretty simple. Credits need to be given to where it is due. I choose Canon EOS back then because Nikon DSLR was suffering from crap load of noise when high ISO is being used. But now, the noise issue is solved. Not only that, the image quality produced by both D300 and also D3 surpassed that of Canon's, and could easily put on paper a much better technical spreadsheet.

And since I am shooting a lot of weddings, I realize that the color reproductions of Nikon D300 is simply amazing. Fascinating is more like the appropriate word to use actually. Yes, read my lips : F-A-S-C-I-N-A-T-I-N-G . The tonal range is great, the colorful stuffs are vivid, and more importantly - the skin tone redention is natural. This camera spells one thing which I have been missing out with the Canon EOS DSLR bodies - proper and accurate white balance and image processing.


With the said factors and coupled it up with numerous other facts, I decided to make the leap. It's gonna cost me a bundle, but what the heck, great images means more smiles for brides and grooms :) and thats something good to wedding photographers.

So, I went on a selling spree to get rid of ALL my Canon EOS DSLR system, including lenses and camera bodies. Then dived right on into Nikon D300 with some award winning lenses. And after toying with it for a couple of days now - I can only smile from ear to ear with loads of content. :) All I can say to some critiques on my decision to shift to Nikon, is merely 2 words.

NO REGRET