Children Photography

It's been quite a long time I didn't do blogging here. I feel guilty actually, not because of leaving it not updated, but that I didn't take much images currently. Note that here is the place for mere photography purpose.My question is..." Then why I bought the costy D300?"

Just as this thought has passed by my brain, I jumped up from the sofa, and took out my camera, then started to explore all the content of the in camera menu, then played with the settings. I found that, there are so many things inside the D300, more than what is included in my ex-camera, the D80.At first, I felt so strange for all of them. But after going through all of them, I found that it's not actually that hard. Just that it gives us more flexibility in settings, to achieve what we want. The default settings for all the picture preset are actually conservative. My problem is to try out the contrast, the color, the sharpness, and also the brightness. It seems really time consuming, but once I have set them properly, the images I take will look more natural and the time spent for the post processing will be lesser, I guess:)

The image above is one of the successful test shot I took a week back. I used the "monochrome" picture control, increase the sharpness by 2 steps and the contrast by 1 step( I don't know why, contrasty images turn me on). I didn't use my external flash, SB800, and adjust nothing for this image.
I do actually suspect that the copy of my 50mm f/1.4 has the front focusing problem! According to the forum of dpreview.com, many users say that the Nikkor prime lenses in the range of 50mm and 105mm have to be adjusted in the D300's autofocus fine tune, as normally they have the issues of either front or back focusing!
I am not quite sure about that, but it seems that the above image is sharp for my cousin's PSP player and also her t shirt, though I actually focused on her eyes! Her front hairs also look sharper than her eyes or glasses, agree?
Fortunately, if the users of Nikon cameras other than newer models got the bad copies of these prime lenses, they are not able to fix it. It's either they send their copies for the adjustment, or they have to stay happy with what they have owned:(
I will explore more about this lens and try to master it.
Btw, the two kids in the first image are my cousins. They have been addicted to all type of games in the world for more than 5 years. The taller one was holding a PSP player, which costs them about RM900 few months back! OMG, the girl is just 13years old and the boy is just 12!!! I wonder where they got the money to buy such an expensive thing at this age, as their parents are so against them to play it until their school result are degreading:(




I am so addicted to children photography after teaching Guan Lun, a Taiwanese cute boy who learned under me for the 3 months holiday back in Malaysia. He is so cute until I kept on snapping his actions and expressions during my classes. I am so fortunate that those children who allow me to snap them are not hyperactive, but they also turn to the direction of my lenses and show me some funny and interesting expressions.
This girl is my new student, she is the younger sister of one of my great student! She is 8 years old, and requested to learn the piano after few years influence by her sister. This girl is the most talented student of mine since I started teaching music. She is so talented until she relax all her fingers on the keys in curved shape while pressing the keys with other fingers, wihtout my guide!!!She can easily understand what am I saying, and does it on the spot accurately. She dares to explore, to attempt and to ask for more. The only bad thing about her is that, she is in fact quite lazy to learn too many music if the homework exceeds 4 pages!



Well, she is also lazy to take out the pencil box, as she knows I am going to give her loads of homeworks on drawing the clefs and the new learnt notes. Look at her boring face:(



Sigh...is theory of music that Boring???


Here is another close up shot of her...



I think I really love to snap children, as they are not shy to pose for me. They actually love it!
So, i guess i can snap as many images of them as possible, they dont charge me, they dont feel shy, and the most important thing, they love it!

p/s: I think I should take more images.

How To Check Your Shutter Release Count On Your DSLR?

Owning a DSLR is not a joke. It's damn expensive for a mere hobby. I highly suggest that for those who are willing to snap for fun, or just to record down day-to-day life, get a more affordable but good features's compact digital camera. When you fall into dslr world, it's no way back, and you will find yourself keep on spending, much and much, unlike the time before you have owned a dslr!

Dslr is not a cheap toy, we save the money with plans, for months, for years. We work very hard to get our salaries, just to make our dreams of getting a dslr come true. So, when spending money on this, why not go for the best?
The problem of buying a great dslr wihtout any serious issue is just exactly the same as buying an expensive electrical or electronical stuffs for conveniences, such as a computer, a laptop, a handset, a set of home theatre system, the list goes on...
I bet you all have the experiences of getting a product with some technical issues after using it for times, which is for sure drove you crazy and panic because you are unhappy with the money spent but got into trouble! It's exactly the same for camera stuffs.

When I bought my new Nikon D300 last month, I called the camera shop person to place an order, and he replied that he was afraid that there was no stock in his shop, as he had sold 3 D300s the day before. Of course I couldn't wait for my D300 to come, but I would rather wait for a brand new body for the best value of the money spent. The person called me later that day to ensure that he had one set left in the shop and he reserved it for me.
When I picked up the D300 that day, I found that the plastic bag which covered the body was seriously lacerated, which was definately showing that it is a used or displayed item in the shop for months! I confirmed with the person but he insisted that it was a brand new set and never been displayed in the shop at all. I took out the body and check it out with care. I found that there were lots of fingerprint marks on the large 3-inch rear LCD screen, the top panel, and well, the whole body!!!

First of all, I hate people touching my thing which I have just bought. I don't know why, but that's me! Secondly, I can't stand for the "dirts" on something which is told to be totally brand new product which is going to be mine, where I exchanged with lots of money. Thirdly, I extremely hate liars!
Well, I tried to calm myself down by telling myself that, as long as the equipment functions well, and works well, which will not bring me any trouble in the future, I think the most important thing is to fully utilise the product, pushing its ability to its limit, and showcase my talent in photography. But later, I really felt unhappy with it, and many negatives scenes flied through my brain, which overwhelmed me for about one day. Then I suddenly thought of a real experience seeing my friend who is selling camera stuffs, dropped one of the displayed dslr in his shop, and sold it to a customer who needed the model in urge, and there was the only one in his shop.
Oh My God. What if the same thing happened to my D300, which costed me RM5400?

Then I quickly went online and googled the title " how to check the shutter release count on my D300?" and it turned up with thousands of related links. And I found what I needed.
I quickly uploaded my last taken picture, and found that my camera's shutter had been released for more than 200 times before reaching my hand, including the play by the person for test shots in his shop. I was very angry and called him, but he still insisted that it was a new camera body. But when I told him what I found on shutter release count, he was quiet and speechless and started to find excuses saying that he was not the one who touched the body.
Well, the good news is, I finally got a new one replacing my "used" D300.

I am not trying to be ridiculous, but there is possibility that I got the "dropped" set, but Nikon body is famous of its built quality, which still functions well after dropping on the floor from an acceptable height. I bet you will never feel balance with the fact that, other people spend the same amount of money but they get a safe and new copy of an item, but you are not.
I respect my hardwork to earn the money for months, and I respect my principle to get the best for the money I have spent. So here are the methods to check your copy:

1: Jeffrey's Exif Viewer

You need not install any software for this method. Well, it's simple. What you need to do, is just to upload your last taken image( in any format) with your dslr on the site to the second choice of " Local Image File" and then hit the "View Image From File" icon, and wait for the image to be fully uploaded. When it's done, you will see that there are 3 images in different sizes have been uploaded, and there are hundreds things showing you about the information of the image taken by you. Scroll down the page until you see the part written " Maker Notes" , something like that. and go for the shutter release count. You will definately find it as long as the image uploaded is straight exported from your dslr and you do nothing for the post processing.


2: Opanda

If the above method doesn't work ( which is rare, and almost impossible), try this by clicking on the Opanda above. Look at the right hand side of the page, where you see the "Power Exif version 2.21" , click on the blue small " download" link and start downloading the software. When it's done, then there will be 2 similar icons shown on the destination you have downloaded to. Remember not to choose the " Opanda PowerExif 1.2 professional trial" but click on the " Opanda IExif v 2.26" application for the next installation step. Then I am sure you will see what you need, as if the tool for you to uploade your image. Here is the window you should see:



I hope this is helpful. But unfortunately, we can't check whether the lenses we bought are the new ones or displayed ones.

One thing to remember, only the knowledgable technicians from Nikon or servicing centres know how to reset the shutter release counts on your dslr, or one of the parts of your camera body has been replaced, else, no one is able to reset the shutter count release even you reset your camera to its original factory condition!
Don't believe in the fact that the Nikon technicians always test for around 200 shots to make sure that the camera condition is good before reaching the shop for sales, it doesn;t make sense. Because Nikon technicians will always reset it back to zero before sending out for shipment. And I got my D80 checked on the same method when I bought it last year, which showed shutter release count of "1" after I uploaded the very first image taken by me.

Try it out, if you are happy with the count you got from the above method, just go ahead and use it happily with contentment. For my case, 200 shutter releases mean a photography session for a new wedding photographer. Or a continuous shooting test for long time. Or it has been displayed at the shop for at weeks, for months, before the customers got a brand new set on the displayed shelft. When it's displayed for a period of time, anything could happen to the set, and the shopkeeper seems won't be honest to tell you the truth because they are doing business!
I am not trying to be over reacted or sensitive on this issue. Your camera can always be sent for repair when there are something happened on your shooting sessions, as long as it's still under warranty. But I bet you won't be really happy with the money spent for this expensive toy:)

Be smart when spend, be wise for the value, be careful with the businessman!!!

Good Luck!

Lowepro Off Trail 2 Beltpack

Actually I do have a classy looking camera bag, which was bought at the same time as I purchased the Nikon D80 last year. But after the Indian wedding shooting session in June this year, I found that the bag was not enough for me to squeeze in my new heavy baby, the Nikon D300, which is slightly bigger than my D80, and other accessories which I bought later, especially the lambency for my SB-800! I just didn't know where to put my lambency in that session, as the result, I brought 2 bags along, one big, one small, they are heavy and bothersome for fast movement:(

I am actually considered very lucky in this hobby, as many people around the world dont even have the chance to own a dslr, though they really have the talent or the passion. But, if compare to my partner, Siew Ling, I am a bit pity not to have a sister to "accidentally" bought a branded nice Lowepro camera bag for me.
There are many photographers using Lowepro camera bag, but investing for such a branded stuff doesn't really make my images look more stunning, don't you agree with this statement huh? At least that was my thought before I have owned a Lowepro.

Well, it's like buying a BMW car or a Produa Kancil. Owning a BMW doesn't really make us become a good driver. But there are people who are still crazy dreaming of owning a BMW in his/her life, probably because you won't know the difference of these cars until you have really tested them.



To be frank, there are hundreds or thousands of much more cheaper camera bags in the market. But they are either merely useful but look yucky, or look stylistic but not really useful as a multi-functional protector to the expensive tools we bought. I fully agree that a well-known and established brand really delivers better quality. My old camera bag is a brandless one, it looks nice and classy, but the space is small and the tie attached on the bag cover seems easy to be broken and can't be replaced once it's gone, and it costed me RM120.
The Lowepro Off Trail 2 beltpack looks like an old folk's underwear and abit too huge to be treated as a sling bag, but it's really useful, as you can see from the picture that the bag consists of the main big compartment in the middle, which is more than enough for us to place a body with a longer telephoto zoom lens, and there are two more attachable extra compartments for us to slot in two more fixed lenses or a speed light! The other parts of the bag also possible to allows us to insert filters, lambency, batteries, charger and maybe another spared body!!! But the selling price is RM240, which is twice the price of my old bag.

I bought the Lowepro yesterday evening near Komtar. I love the usefulness of this bag, but I would highly suggest that they keep their bags in presentable plastic cover or boxes for the stocks other than the displayed items.
Siew Ling brought her friend along, because her friend had bought a D60 kit set, but wonder why the image "shifts" to the right bottom in the viewfinder after releasing the shutter, when she turns on the VR function on the 18-55mm kit lens. Well, I had the experience of using 55-200mm VR, but this never happened on either my lens or my D80. I have no idea at all about Nikon bodies without built-in autofocus motor, like the D40, D40x and the D60. We did ask the shopkeeper to let us try on another copy of the lens, but we were surprised that it was better than her copy. We found out another interesting thing, where the "shiftment" only happen when we pop up the built-in flash and turn on the VR! Hey, Nikon, what happen?

I tried to console Siew Ling's friend that, by using cheaper lenses on a body without built in motors actually makes us become the master of manual focus photography, but it seemed that autofocus is a crucial function for her.

Yea, look at me, I always go for better choices regardless of the money spent, as long as I plan properly before buying and do as many research as possible to understand more about the items I am going to invest, the pros and cons, and the reviews by professionals, or the users' opinions. Many people claim that this is unnecessary, but I insist that it's important to know what are we going to spend on, and the limitation of the product.I bet we never want to feel regret after investing on something, especially when the product is not a cheap one!

So, here is the suggestions for those who are interested in owning a dslr camera in short future:

1) What is your main interest in photography? Is it portraiture or landscape? Sports or event? Go for Canon if you are mainly shooting outdoor for portrait and landscape, as you will definately love the wider dynamic range,sharpness and details of both shadow and highlight captured by Canon, and softer and 3D-like skin tone for portraiture. Go for Nikon if you are mainly shooting for still life or product, as the rendition of colors is super sharp and vivid. Besides, Nikon is famous of its speed and ISO control for higher end models in low light situations,especially indoor, like D60, D300 and ehem, D3! It doesn't mean that Nikon fails to do portraiture any better than Canon, but their approach and technology used are quite different if you try out both and observe properly.

2) Is autofocus important to you? Some models of Nikon don't have a built in focusing motor, so, only IF( internal Focus) lenses are compatible for the models to autofocus,and they are usually more expensive. But you still can manual focus with non-IF lenses. If you are shooting static subjects for micro most of the time, and landscape or still life photography, better avoid to spend more on autofocus lenses and bodies. Manual focusing is a good way to train your patience, and to master the crucial technique to play with the DOF! But if you are mostly shooting for fast moving subjects, like sport or indoor event, everything seems need your sponteneous response to focus on them, a fast autofocus response is needed. Never think that spending less is a smart choice, but look at the specs properly before investing any penny is more rational. If you are on a tight budget, but really need a camera with more functions, I would suggest you to look for a used copy, which is of course cheaper than the new ones, you just have to make sure that they are in good condition before buying.

3) Are you serious in photography? There are rational photographers who spend according to their ability. Some just spend on a dslr, but never really serious about it and seldom touch his/her dslr after investing. Some are serious in the beginning,but not permanent. Some are really serious and progressing in mastering the exposure, the composition and color balance everyday. Some will find that they are confused on which type of photography they are into, as there are lenses for different purposes. In dslr world, there is no "walking around" lens which can do every type of photography at the same time as you wish. The more you explore, the more you might feel interested to get involved, and the need of purchasing more lenses is possible. Some will give up on their dslr in the short future when they discover that the expenses for this hobby is increasing, or they feel fed up when unable to own a specific lens for certain photographic purposes, but have no money to invest on it. There are cases like this, I am not creating crap stories:) So, an alternative is to consider a so called " prosumer bridge camera" which is much more cheaper than a dslr, but definately has more features and controls which are quite similar to dslr nowadays. Just that you better don't expect much for the image quality, if you want clean images when shooting indoor.

Ooops, it's out of the topic here! I am sorry!!!

Anyway, I do love the Lowepro Off Trail 2 beltpack. Though I am not quite sure which level of my height should I place the belt on.
I think I am going to save money for the 80-200mm f/2.8 after 2 months!!! So that I can put it in my Lowepro as soon as possible. I can't wait:)

Congratulations Nicole!!!

Oh My God!!! It was so unbelievable when I opened the envelop at the Unit Penilaian in Penang yesterday morning. My student, Nicole, who sat for her ABRSM piano practical exam in June scored 141 marks out of the total of 150 marks! Well done ,Nicole!

She broke my teaching record for these 8 years time. Because none of my student had this kind of result before. Well, I did help them to get many times of distinctive result for their lower grades, as promised, but none of them got a high distinction which hits over 140 marks!!!Furthermore, Nicole is my 4th grade 8 student. My first student got only a pass, with 108 marks few years back. And then the other 2 were actually my close friends, but they gave up to sit for exam due to the "sacred" sales job. I admitted that i did feel suspicious about my ability to help my higher grades students to achieve better result. Or, maybe I am just ok to handle the lower grades students? But thanks to Nicole, your hardwork means a lot to me, at least for my reputation in Butterworth:)

I am going to introduce a bit about Nicole. She was a student of mine when I was teaching in my secondary school as a temporary teacher in 2001. I was planning to "dig" some of my students to my music lesson by giving them my contact in classes,spreading the information that I am actually doing music too. And then Nicole came to me and asked if she could learn the cello under me. To be frank, I am not that pro until the extend that I can conduct cello lesson. I told her frankly, but she insisted to learn under me. I was so bad that she really follow my style to go after the best choice of every equipment or machine to work on something, i.e. she bought a handmade cello for about RM5k! This drove her mum crazy with a big roar, but her father seemed supportive( well, her father is an Arien as me, maybe this is the reason).

Nicole had been learning for quite some time under me, i think for at least one year. And then, she suddenly switched to my piano lesson one day. She was in fact a very ordinary student of mine, at least for that time. She had bad habit, bad posture and also bad technique. But she had something very crucial in learning everything --the passion!

She dares to ask me questions, goes into details, and she does research on net, about the technique, the musical interpretation, and she shares youtube clips with me to ask for ideas. This is much appreciated, as none of my students have the passion to do so due to massive homeworks, tuition and extra classes. Whatever I taught her, she really tried at home.Though she progressed slowly, but i knew she is somebody one day if she keeps this going.

Last year, she took the 7th grade ABRSM exam, and scored a high Merit, 128 marks. I was not surprise, but i thought she could do it better. She had the whole package to obtain a distinction actually. Unfortunately, she had a serious break-down during her exam, for her very last exam piece, the jazz (click on it to watch my version).
Hence, the most confident music became her lowest scoring piece. If she didn't turned back and asked the examiner to allow her to restart the whole thing at the end of the music, she might get at least another 3 marks, and hitted the distinction. I strongly believed that she did learn a lesson last year.

But it was a good news for her, as before this, she only obtained a pass for previous exams. When she came for my piano lesson, she was in the 4th grade standard. I didn't force her to sit for exam, but worked really hard on her technique by teaching her a few Czerney Studies. Her hardwork really paid off. Then I had decided to take risk by registering her for a 7th grade practical exam after one year, and she obtained a high Merit!
I called her up when i received the marks and the comment slip, by telling her that she failed to make it through, for the break-down, so, just 2 more marks to pass. I was bad, huh? She was so sad and disappointed, but after that, i told her that she actually had 2 marks to go to get a distinction. She screamed like hell on the other side of the phone and decided to give my whole family a treat on this, and we only had the chance to enjoy the "treat" last month:)

Well, being a part time Dj and stage host, playing with words is a must for me. I am not naughty and bad, but it's hard for me not to give people surprises. This year i did it again by telling her that she failed, 9 marks to go, sorry and blah blah blah...
I could tell that she was so upset and sad, but just acted like nothing, I laughed in the car when driving back to mainland. My mum sided me and agreed to give her a joke when she came to collect the comment slip. But guess what, how disappointed were we when she said she couldn't come due to transportation problem, her whole family were sick and needed rest. I suspected that they were too disappointed, because they spent so much on her piano lessons( double lesson per week, 1.5 hours each time!)

But then, my mum started to feel worry because many people can't stand for failure and kill themselves before getting the real result under this sort of "surprise". I felt the same way, and got her supportive dad's contact number. Her dad started off the conversation on phone by saying that i actually didn't need to call to respond on her failure,as they all didn't bother and really appreciate my help. I could feel that her dad was so disappointed actually.And i could feel the anger through his fierce voice. Sigh...
Then i told him that i just played a joke with Nicole, and she got a high distinction with 141 marks actually, 9 marks to go to get full mark. Her dad was so surprise and happy, i could really feel it, trust me. After hanging up the phone, Nicole called me within 10 seconds...

" Hey, teacher, what happened? What did you mean? What are all these?"

' Hehehe...cannot meh? I thought you didn't bother and really accepted the result with rounded contentment'

When i told her the real marks, i heard she cried in the car, with tears of course!

Awww...I was so bad, wasn't I?

But what to do? If i didn't play this that big this year, I won't even have chance to do so in the future, as Nicole is heading to Canada for her study after one week! Sorry, but i have to admit that, i didn't feel regret on the joke,muahahaha!!!

Well, congratulations to Nicole.
You are actually the most passionate student of mine for for classical music for these 8 years. You know, scoring a distinction is quite impossible for ordinary candidates, not to say getting 141 marks in grade 8 exam. You knew you did make a lot of mistakes during the exam, but they were minor, and you covered everything like a professional according to the examiner! The examiner loved your natural playing and the message you conveyed!

Trust me, it's nothing to do with me for your distinctive result. You paid fees, I must return back with my experiences, methods and knowledge. You deserve all this! I wish you all the best for your future study, stay healthy and be strong and be safe when you are in Canada.

I hope Nicole is not the only student of mine to score this high mark in the future. Really, it's about my reputation!!!Muahaha...

My Big Baby

Guess what is it?

Well, many people don't know that I do play a musical instrument which is rarely learned by students in Malaysia -- the Violoncello!!!
It looks like a violin in shape, but not in size. It's much more bigger than a violin. Where you actually need to sit on a chair, open your leg wide,and lay it on your chest. The sound produced is quite similar to human voice, like a sugar daddy singing songs to get you asleep:)



I started to learn to play this instrument when I was in the fisrt form in secondary school. I joined the school's Chinese orchestra, and had the chance to choose among all the instruments available. I bought this handmade cello then after deciding to take ABRSM exams in the future. Well, it costed me exactly the same as a Nikon D80 kit set, plus a camera beg, cleaning stuffs, a CPL filter, and a UV filter.

I didn't really stop touching my cello after taking the fifth grade practical exam. I started to teach students actually under my first student's requirement, though I honestly told her that I am not that pro yet to keep her as a student. But guess what, she insisted to learn under me, and bought a very beautiful handmade cello which is the same range as mine!!! The difference is that, she is not really into photography for the moment, and hence not yet own a D80, so, no trouble huh:)
My cello teaching journey went quite smooth for years. Students came, students gone...



I found that a technique called " Vibratto" is quite hard to master for those who first learning the cello. It's a technique to produce warmer tones by "shaking" your fingers which stop the strings. Some argue that it's like a baritone singer or bassist to shake their throat when singing, like those you see in operatic performance in concert hall. But in order to really master it, you are encouraged to practise it when you have chance or do it in the air without touching your cello's fingerboard. I demonstrated the way to produce warmer tone for longer note value, such as a semibreve or a breve, and i suspected that the way i demonstrated was quite similar to the masturbation of guys, but at the higher position. Or else, i cant tell why my very last student decided to stop for the cello class when she was really learning the very important technique to make her cello sing!!!



Ok, nothing to complain, as she left me for more than half year already:)
But afterwards, I didn't really touch my cello for months.
Last year's Chinese New Year, when doing all the cleaning process at home to prepare for the festival, my brother accidentally casued all the strings lose in one afternoon, whthout telling me how he did it.
I was so shocked when I opened it few days later, and my brother didn't really dare to mention it until I asked every family member seriously.

When I took it to my couch who sold the cello to me, he asked if something crashed into my cello or i crashed it into something else purposely. Because to him, to you, to me, or to be specific, to everyone, it's sorta impossible to let my cello to become like this. My couch try to explain that this situation can only happen during car-crash accident!!!
Oh Gosh!



Then, I have sent my cello over for repair. And I could only get it back at this year's April!
I am not trying to blame, but my couch left my cello at my secondary school's Chinese Orchestra room for months after the repair without informing me through phone call!Gosh, the dust on the hard case was really disgusting. And I just put it in the corner of my house to make the condition even worse by not cleaning it for months:)
Finally, I encountered a lucky day where all my students are not coming for my piano lessons due to the 5th calender week of this month and also school exams. I finally had the chance to clean both the cello and the hard case.



After a tiring cleaning job, my whole body was energy-less and painful. But I realised that it's a good idea to shoot my cello as it's rarely shooted by photographers. Usually they are not a photographer. Why? Because the well trained Vibratto hands wont allow a stable camera hold, and result in camera shake,gegegegege...



It's beautiful isn't it? Yea, I tried shooting it for almost one hour before I went for a shower. This is nothing if compared to post it in this blog. Because I really don't know much about computing stuffs, but I had to work really hard to figure out the way to make my images appear as wide as those by professional photographers' blog:(
Well, I worked through the HTML coding, the template, the image size which allows the best resolution image quality for view on this blog and also the header's image collection arrangement. And finally I understand all the settings for future use.



Thanks to all the available forums to teach us all this.
Btw, I think I am going to learn back this beautiful instrument in the short future. Hoping to go at least until the 8th grade of the ABRSM practical exam.
Of course, there are reasons for me to be lazy in practising it, as I really don't want my hand to be shaky when holding the camera for any meaningful moment that I am going to record down:)