Messaging
Most recent messages are at the top
| Dan T. | |
| Charing and her exclusive distribution rights and Alex with his photos...they could both make a killing! haha | |
| Scott | |
| Asynchronous team between Charing and Alex now eh? hahaha | |
| Richard | |
| Very nice DIY, Alex. :) | |
| Timbo | |
| No problem Al, anytime you need the D80, let me know.
I'll borrow your PUFFER-er-o and walk around my neighborhood, I'm sure my neighbor will finally feel vindicated for thinking I'm a weird Asian kid. And once again, it's not the D80 that's small, you just have extra long finger, and you don't even play piano, what a waste! =P | |
| Anonymous | |
| oOoOoolala :D | |
| Alex T. | |
| Alex Truong PUFFER-er
Just slip in on, and shoot! No adhesives! No preservatives! 100% recyclable! Made in Canada! Not China! Cost: free! (After buying and eating the contents of this Nestlé cup) Does anyone know what is this cup is for? Someone left it after the BBQ on Canada Day 
The results:  | |
| Alex T. | |
| Charing can be my exclusive distributor in Hong Kong. This can be a global business! | |
| Alex T. | |
| So... whoever wants developed photos, pay me $3/photo + shipping and I'll send one (or two, or three...) your way ;) | |
| Alex T. | |
| And I'll consider the watermarking... those crazy HK people =P | |
| Alex T. | |
| After lunch, I'll show you my Alex Truong PUFFER-er. | |
| Richard | |
| Found it! The Gary Fong PUFFER. Cool, eh? | |
| Richard | |
| Most of the times you won't find Canton Chinese males over 5'7", and most of the girls are max 5'3". So you have quite the advantage there Mr. Gigantor Asian Man. :)
Another solution to your left-right flash solution? A Gary Fong Chrome Dome Lightsphere? I've been looking at his products and the videos / pics he has included are very interesting. I don't have a dedicated flash unit yet, but he's releasing one for pop-up flash units, so I might be tempted in getting one of those... | |
| Anonymous | |
| maybe you should watermark your photos in case instead of paying $3 or contacting you they leach your photos :x....
*is paranoid* lol | |
| Charing | |
| I heard from friends that the Sonija event went really well.
I feel bad for her, cause she's been followed by so much bad press in Hong Kong. She must've enjoyed her trip back to Canada, since that was were she was from. hehe Alex, you can sell your freelance photos in Hong Kong, especially since yours is "exclusive" (HK freelance photographers can't take these photos). For some reason, a lot of HK fans like to buy and collect random developed photos of their stars for $3 a piece. And they can spend hundreds of dollars at once. And HK newspapers like coverage of this stuff too. =P | |
| Alex T. | |
| Sonija Kwok at Splendid China Tower
Last Saturday, July 7, 2007 ("the luckiest day of the century"), Sonija Kwok 郭羨妮 was at Splendid China Tower 錦繡中華 for a fashion and jewellery show. Unlike the typical security guard presence like other weekends, this one seemed like it was dotted with T.O. Police instead. Perhaps the few million dollars in diamonds, jewels and jade floating around during the evening was the reason for the upgrade. ;) Since it was another chance to practise photo-ing, I decided to go to see the show. Unfortunately, we arrived a tad late and it was packed all the way to the back already. Fortunately, I was tall enough to shoot over most people's heads :) As it turns out, the back would actually be a fairly ideal spot. I would rather be all the way back behind the inner ticket holders centre seating area than have access to the inner ring near the stage. With the greater distance, the angle of inclination was less. Some of the photos taken by other members of the photo community who were near the stage that day resulted in classic chin shot images and over-imposing giant figures of fine-looking women because they were looking up at the stage. Another advantage of standing at the back is the 'standing' part. At the front of the stage, most photogs were crouching to get out of people's way or blindly raising the cameras over their heads to quickly fire off a few. What else did I learn? The tungsten filter over the flash helps to match the stage lights (Using TTL BL mode on the SB-800). Most photogs were shooting with the plain unfiltered flash, which when mixed with wide apertures or high ISO, resulted in oddly mixed white balance issues. The faces in the photos would be lit by the bluish white flash, while the background would be lit up by warmer stage lights. Another issue I found with those who did not shoot with a flash was their inability to light the faces, resulting in great contrasts between the bright background and shadowed models who were in front of where the lights from directly above shone on the stage. More lessons in flash photography: Flash Value Lock. Since I was shooting with Tim's 18-135mm (and his D80, thanks for lending it to me, Tim) and I was at the back of the crowd, my view was still very wide even at the tele end. Result? The flash was often lighting up the people directly in front of me (especially those waving their cell phone cameras in the air...), but not the people on stage. Solution? Frame an area of the stage with no flailing arms in the way and fire off a flash burst to sample and lock that flash value. Equivalence: go manual. Alternative: the next trick up my sleeve at the next event. ;) No, Richard. It's not pepper spray... hehe... Another problem with the flash mounted on the camera hotshoe: When shooting portrait/vertical shots, the flash fires left to right creating an odd looking shadow to the side - especially with tall flash units. Solution: Hold the flash unit off-camera over the centre of the lens by hand or other support device. Connection? Off-camera TTL remote cord (which costs quite a bit of $$) or wireless (which can be free). For wireless flash, it had better be one with encoded channels and not the single-flash-optically-triggered kind. With all the flashes firing from a few hundred cameras at these events, good luck having yours firing when YOU want it too :D. Luckily, Nikon's Speedlights and dSLRs have wireless triggering built in with 3 groups of 4 channels of control through specific patterns of rapid pulsing light = wireless freedom for free. The only problem is when more than four photographers use this system, there goes that idea... But so far, I haven't seen anyone take advantage of this feature yet... I have no idea why... What? People aren't strong enough to hold a dSLR in one hand and a flash in another? Shame... haha... I go to these events to practice this. I did have a little trouble holding the D80 with one hand though. The hand grip is smaller than the D70, which poses a little (or big) problem for me... Tired of reading all this useless text yet? Onto some of the photos from which I was learning: Photos Sonija Kwok 郭羨妮 - Evening Dress: 
My most favourite dress from the evening. There's definitely a mermaid feel to this one: 
It's an odd feeling to have people you don't know stare directly down the barrel of your lens: 
MC Leslie Yip 葉子青 of Toronto First Radio surprises Sonija in a wedding dress with a birthday cake. Tears of joy ensue. (FYI, it wasn't Sonija's birthday. Her birthday is Jully 22nd. Haha... so odd, but it's nice to have everyone celebrate the month of her birthday with her?): 
Fans played games such as re-enacting scenes from one of her movies to win pearl bracelets and jade pendants (wonderfully sponsored by the local jewellery store which was conveniently located to the left of were we standing). Can you tell she's a hardcore TVB fan? Can you tell? Can you?: 
And lastly, Sonija happy about... something. I don't remember what it was about, but the whole show was fun, funny and enjoyable: 
Other photos from the event are on the Picasa Web Album. | |
| Alex T. | |
| Yes.. let's do a SWOT analysis of Richard's next build. | |
| Richard | |
| "And I'll have a few extra tricks up my sleeve at the next event... hehe..."
Pepper spray? :) | |
| Scott | |
| don't forget the SWOT analysis. | |
| Alex T. | |
| Richard, for your graphics card dilemma, I think you need an independent review with SoC analysis, components for review, computational decision making matrix, plans for collection and analysis of data and topping it off with a position statement. | |
| Alex T. | |
| Oh yea... and that's not even "ISO 1600", after pushing it up in ACR and it amplify the crap out of the noise and grain - more like... ISO 3200, 6400? =P
I can't ask for much with a $120 lens that has a pinhole aperture. It gets worse when I arrived even later last week and I was even further back behind a whole bunch of people with cell phone cameras in the air... oh dear... Twas a good lesson in the uses of FV flash value lock. I'll post a few samples up from that later. But I love these events. Photo-ing through horrid conditions lets me practise through the worse of times when the event doesn't really matter much to me. I'll be ready when it counts ;) And I'll have a few extra tricks up my sleeve at the next event... hehe... | |
| Richard | |
| Eep... ISO 1600 is really struggling there... | |
| Richard | |
| Way to go, Alex... way to make my decision that much harder. | |
| Alex T. | |
| My dear friends at PC Village: $399.95 Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 XT | |
| Richard | |
| Where are you finding this 2900 for $399? I'm looking at TigerDirect (which is usually the cheapest by a long shot) and the Asus HD 2900 XT is $579 (there are cheaper ones, but I've never heard of them - GeCube? VisionTek? HIS?) while the EVGA 8800 GTX is $560 after rebate...
Yes, if only they were available through the EPP, then I'd hit you up for a birthday present. :D | |
| Alex T. | |
| From two Saturdays ago on June 30, 2007 at Splendid China Tower 錦繡中華:
"Five Decades Under The Lion Rock" Photo Exhibition "獅子山下五十年"攝影展 Photos 
Bernice Liu 廖碧兒 Photos  | |
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