HOORAYY!!! Finally I got my custom made blog by myself.

It's my first time bringing my DSLR out for no specific reason.....

So, I thought I'll just go to Low Yat to see if there's any new tech stuff.
On the way, there's a car fair displaying antique cars. I dropped off there and "Chik-Chak" here and there.




Don't get fool by the sky, it's extremely hot today, I only managed to snap a few to avoid fainting.


HELANG??!!?? What are you doing here? The car belongs to you or you belong to the car?

RANDOM.....


After this, my family and I headed off to Pavilion for a cup of tea (lol-e)....(I'm serious)...

This is the evidence.

Toast is a must in "Toast Box"....

WALAO WEI!!! BERLAGAK!!! Trying to show off now is it? C'mon lah, even my little finger is longer than that iPod Shuffle of yours!

Dammit. Shouldn't come to Pavilion....

Just received a news from Apple regarding the latest OS (3.0) for Apple iPhone. It's definitely something to be proud of as an iPhone user. It's gonna be a BOOM!

I really enjoy taking pictures with 5D Mark II. And this is what I got yesterday.


Peeking... by ~HolyWiz on deviantART

I find this composition very interesting. The color suits everything. Jacky was peeking at a rabbit behind that fence...interested in rabbit? XD

Well, if you really like it, you can buy this print from DeviantArt. Just click the image above and you will be directed the page.

Alright people, calm down....It's just one of my English assignment to write a fake teacher missing report.

Guess who's missing?

As the title said, my cute little doggy. You know...when comes to shoot an animal, it's not an easy job, most of them ran away after seeing a camera pointing at them, some will feel curious about the camera and they will go towards you and that's scary...you wouldn't want your camera to be stolen by an animal...

Anyway, here's my cute little doggy I shot in my house garden...a candid shot of course..


Having fun? by ~HolyWiz on deviantART

Does this quote sounds familiar to you? Yes, it's from the most recent "Batman" movie, "The Dark Knight".

If you haven't watched this movie, you better be hurry, because there are very limited VCDs, DVDs, BDs! Just kidding...

Anyway, if you really haven't watched this movie, let me tell you parts of it....
There's this guy called Joker, the main antagonist in the movie, his funny somehow but scary...real scary...a very good actor indeed. Well, as expected, enemies of Batman must be tough or the movie will be pointless...

Here is a shot of Joker before he became a real Joker:




And the REAL Joker:




Hahaha....Don't ask me how yet, everything Photoshop, does that make sense to you? I might make a tutorial for it or might not....try your luck. :)

First of all, congratulations to those who worked really hard last year and has promoted to 5 Science 1. Anyway, what's more important now is SPM, so let's all work hard for a better result, most of all, a better future.

So, today is my first day of form 5 also last year of secondary school life.

Cut that crap.

I'm here to share with my newly made digital version of time table with my classmates. (5 Science 1)

http://www.mediafire.com/?xxl1notemjp

You can keep as a soft copy. Or print it out. It's a high quality PDF, optimised for printing purpose.

Manage your time well and Happy Schooling!

Color correction is an essential for post production which includes in the making of motion pictures, television programs, videos, photography and digital art.

I do color correction most in videos, and followed by photography.
In video, color correction not only mean correcting an incorrect color or an unwanted color. To me, by doing color correction, it is able to enhance the video, best to describe the temperature and the situation in the scene. For example, if the scene looks yellowish, it shows warm, if its blue, it means cool. By changing the color of the scene, it will also affects the contrast.
That's just base on my experience, it could be more.

In photography, which I'm so into it recently, I found color correcting is so important until I can't describe it.
If you noticed, sometimes camera cannot get the true color, as in what you see and what you will get after captured. Especially during indoor, under yellow light, your captured image looks extremely yellow, of course, if you are using Flash that's a different story. All DLSR has a White Balance setting, but still you might not get the desired color, custom white balance setting will help, but not very helpful.

Example:

Something that I've discovered recently and I would like to share this knowledge with public.

Let me tell you how I get into knowing HDR.
I used to check out new artworks in DeviantArt and I saw many landscape photographs that really impress me. What impressed me is that they could capture everything clearly even the shot was taken under bright condition. Usually photos taken under bright condition will look quite dark except for the sky, of course, I mean the shot was taken without flash, photographers seldom use flash on landscape.

So I make my own experiment, starting to shoot in day time. I tried to play with exposure at first and it didn't really work well, then I did some research and I found playing with aperture helps. Unfortunately, it still didn't turn out the way I wanted to.

I'm kind of impatient and decided to go get the answer very directly using Google. Guess what? I search: "how to shoot landscape with clouds". Why clouds? Cause whenever I shoot landscape during day time (bright), after captured, the sky looks really bright until I can't see a single cloud. Cloud is very important to show the atmosphere of the scene.
Thank god, that search engine shows many results and clicked on the first link which brought me here.

After going through that discussion, I found out something called "Dynamic range". And again, I went to Google and search "How to shoot HDR".

And that's how I finally found what I've been looking for. If you are interested in learning HDR, you can search it yourself or you can listen to mine.

Preparing for HDR shot:
1) A tripod stand (this is highly recommended for landscape shot)
2) A digital camera that allows you manually set up the exposure and aperture. (DSLR is highly recommended)

Shooting for HDR:
1) Switch your camera to Aperture mode to avoid change of aperture for your shots later.
2) You need to take 3 shots with different exposure, under expose (-2), normal (0), over expose (+2).

After you got all 3 shots, merge all 3 with Adobe Photoshop (CS3 recommended), and you will get a HDR photograph.

The purpose of getting 3 different exposures:
1) Under expose = shadow
2) Normal = midtone
3) Over expose = highlight

Example:


This is my house, my experiment shot:
I took this in the morning, as you can see, the clouds in the under expose shot was the clearest, whereas the over expose shot can see my house number plate clearly.
After combining all 3 shots, you can see everything clearly! Huuurraaay!!!


There are more to learn, it never ends....

EDIT: I've decided to not upload any more photos of CAS Platinum, but you can add me as friend in facebook and you can view all my photos including CAS Platinum 2008.

Don't forget to check out the Podcast at www.cempaka.edu.my.

The cameramen have worked hard for the both Podcast and the DVD, so hope you guys give some support.

I've also taken some nice shots. Will show you guys once I'm free to upload. Stay tuned. :)

Photos of Day 1:

Haha...someone took this picture when I'm busying making a cinematic trailer for West Side Story. Kinda cool though, 4 macbooks, 1 PowerMac G5, 6 keyboards, 2 tablets, 1 mouse, 6 screens, and lots more stuff...so messy...

It might look cool, but try this at your own risk because the sum of everything you see in this picture is approximately RM55,000.

I really do need all these, definitely not for display, I'm working on 5 trailers, 3 of them screen on this Friday, the other 2 screen on next week. Stay tuned. :)

People used to say SLR, but that's really outdated...Why? Have you ever heard of DSLR? Have you ever search for the meaning of SLR? SLR means "single-lens reflex camera". DSLR? Digital single-lens reflex camera. Of course it's digital, almost everything is digital now. Photos taken will immediately store inside memory card instead of film.

I'm a Canon DSLR user, I own a 350D which is very old. That doesn't really matter anyway, lens are always more valueable than the body.



If you are not really into photography, you probably ask,
Why choose DSLR? Why so troublesome? Is that necessary? Must it end up like picture below?


Skip the following paragraph if you are not interested in my opinion
Well, I actually had answered all these questions and managed to convince my parents to buy me one.
My opinion is, it allows me to fully control a result of an image, I can control its brightness, blurness, colors, and so much more. Even though it's troublesome, but I tell them, no pain no gain. With ordinary automatic digital camera, just one click and it does everything, and that is so....simple....(people are getting lazy nowadays huh?)....However, with DSLR, I get to learn many things, for example, ISO Speed, Shutter speed, Aperture, Exposure, White balance, Lenses, filters, lighting and many more. Is that necessary at all? Why not? Learning new things aren't good? Taking photographs can earn a lot though, you can't really study these sort of things in school. I learn it through exploring, trial and error which is quite risky, therefore, do more research through internet, I also buy magazines and some references from MPH.

Okay....those are just simple reasons to convince my parents since they wouldn't understand if I go any further.
Now, comes the true advantage of Digital SLR. Oh wait, before that, I should say, the disadvantage of Compact Digital Camera which frustrates you immensely. Let me reminds you.

• You're attending a big event and want to grab a shot of a fleeting moment
• For some reason your compact digital camera just won't focus
• FINALLY it locks the focus and you're ready - you press the button
• But there's a DELAY - the camera pauses for a second, then it takes the shot

At last, you've missed the best moment. ARGH!!! Darn it!! That's it, go for DSLR!!!
Haha.

Now, I shall begin my talk on advantage of DSLR. So obviously, it's FAST! How come? Hmmm....it's like electronics VS mechanics. Here comes the Shutter which you can't find it in compact digital camera. What so good about Shutter? Well, Shutter is instantaneous, which means, you click the shoot button, it instantly closes *chick* and opens *chak*. Whereas in compact cameras, the sensor is electronically activated every time you take a photo, after all these processes, theres delay, which means SLOW........

Also, wtih DSLR you can have a lens for every occasion. For landscape shots, I will use wide angle lens. For close up potraits, I'll use telephoto lens. For plants and insects, I'll use macro lens. Theres no such thing as 3-in-1 or All-in-1. Be specific, be professional. Maybe you would say, compact digital camera only has 1 lens and it does everything. Lens in compact digital camera has built in mega zooms, x10, x20....but it takes time to zoom plus the quality of the picture will decrease as you zoom in. Unlike DSLR, the zoom is driven by a motor, plus you can control it manually either fast or slow, close, or far.

Thirdly, DSLR can shoot anywhere, anytime, no matter how bad the weather is. You see...I'm sure you noticed, you will face problem when shooting night scenes, a slight movement will makes the image look blur, so difficult. With DSLR, you are allow to manually control the ISO speed which controls the sensitivity to light. At night, there will be less light, so you need high ISO Speed so that your camera detects more light and your image will look fine. Whereas, a compact digital camera needs flash to shoot a proper night scene.

Again, this is same as my own opinion, you can fully control the result of an image. Most importantly, you can do it manually instead of letting the camera do all the job.

Currently, I have 3 lens:
A standard lens comes with the camera, 18-55mm
Wide angle lens (L-series), 17-40mm
Zoom lens, 70-300mm

You might ask, how far is 300mm? Well, I can tell you that your eye is 80mm wide angle lens. You should have learnt this in science, human eyes are stereoscopic, which similar to wide angle lens. Why wide angle? It's because our eyes is convex shape. Agree? You probably learned this in Physics. Another words, image produce by wide angle lens will have slight distortion at the corner. Bascially, almost all lenses will have slight distortion just that we can't really see it.

You can choose your own path as a DSLR user, choose your lens:

Wide Angle lenses View the world with a wide perspective. • Standard lenses What you see is what you get. • Telephoto lenses Get into the excitement of action. • Zoom lenses Produce innovative photographs with a variety of angles of view and perspective. • Macro lenses Discover the beauty of the small things in life. • Tilt & Shift lenses Tilt and shift the perspective anyway you like it.

Pictures and links will be added when I'm free.

This is a great news to all apple fans, I'm included. Macbook and Macbook Pro are fully furnished, new design, new features, new technologies, all engineered to standards that don't even exist yet.

Most importantly, the new Macbook family is the greenest laptop ever. They are highly recyclable and even more energy efficient. And plus the following features to reduce its environmental impact:

• Arsenic-free glass (Wow!)
  
• Brominated flame retardant-free (This is madness!!)
  
• Mercury-free (O.M.G!!!)
  
• PVC-free (ROFLOL!!!!)
  
• 41% smaller packaging (HOLY!!!!!)
  
• Highly recyclable aluminium and glass enclosures (LOL....)

These features make me feel like trade-in my current macbook for a newer one.

Regarding tech specs, there isn't any big change in processor. But the Memory (RAM) is crazy, Apple is now using DDR3 and it supports up to 1066MHz which is freaking awesome. Before, it was DDR2 and only 667MHz. This is really worth buying it.
The new Macbook is now equiped with stunning graphic card, NVIDIA 9400M graphics processor with 256 of DDR3 SDRAM. So basically, with this graphic card, it can support up to 2560X1600 resolution if you have a bigger screen.


Bad news

• The new Macbook does not have a firewire port, which means, movies will not be able to import in best transfer rate from DV to macbook.
• The new Macbook Pro does not have anti-glare screen, which means, your screen might have glare if you are under the sun and you will not be able to see clearly what is on your screen. Bad for video production. Good for watching video.

Only 2 disavantages I found so far.....

Well, make up your mind, Buy or Not Buy? Get from school! Educational prices are cheaper!!

For more informations, go to http://www.apple.com/

To all Form 4s, welcome back from your final examination! These are what I've done during Final Examination period.

During Final Exam Week 1 (Before Hari Raya holiday), we've got the most unexpected breaking C-News brought to you by the broadcast network. Unfortunately, the form 4s missed it that day, so, its no longer "News", its "Olds"....lol
Don't feel sad, the movie is just right below.



During Final Exam Week 2 (After Hari Raya holiday), we've got the most scary movie brought to you by Vince and Voon Fei (not representing any clubs). This movie is made for the event called "Wear with Pride" which is also in collaboration with the Fashion and Design Club. This "Wear with Pride" event also includes the Breast Cancer Awareness which I've already mentioned on the previous post. The video is in somewhere around the world.

Good morning, afternoon, night everybody! I've been working on this "BCA" project....Argh...Give me a break!

Let me just introduce it a little.
Basically, Breast Cancer is cancer in a breast. This includes men and women, no joke. 2nd most common type of cancer after lung cancer. A person who is affected will look like you, they will have a tumour around breast area which you cannot see usually, but can feel it by examining it. Breast cancer kills by spreading and humans' pretty cells will die! Argh!

That's enough! I'm not a doctor. I'm doing graphics for this project, Vince animate it.
I'm sharing the title page with you guys! I hope you will like it....not the cancer...but the graphics.

Here you go:


It is available for download. I did a Standard size 1280X1024 and a Wide Screen size 1280X800.
Click on the picture and you will be redirect to my deviant page for download.

The previous Hip Hop Dancer on Fantastic Contraption was a failure. However, I did not give up making more random stuff.

At last, I've invented this: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2920180

With only 2 clockwise wheels, 2 wooden rods to join the object together, 6 water sticks to increase the mass.
The 2 wooden rods and 6 water sticks are too heavy for 2 wheels to move them, however, the wheel is still spinning, at the same time, generates potential energy. When the potential energy reaches a level, it automatically converts to kinetic energy and it gives an amazing spring-like effect. You must watch it. Here I give you again: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2920180

I call this transportation "Butterfly", it has 2 wings, a head, and some patterns, most importantly, it flies.

I started using Final Cut Pro yesterday and it was really powerful....salute Apple!
Final Cut Pro is an advanced, strong, powerful, incredible, awesome, insane, professional video editing software for Macintosh user. It is similar to Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, and other professional video editing software.

Its original icon doesn't suit my desktop theme, therefore, I purposely made an icon just to make my desktop looks nicer. Here it is:
You are free to download now, here, it is in PNG format. Soon, I'm going to upload this to deviantart for download. Probably, I might release Final Cut Studio icons which includes Final Cut Pro, Compressor, Soundtrack Pro, Motion, Color, and more.....

Made a very cool hip hop style transport in "Fantastic Contraption"...the way it moves is seriously...very crazy.

Here it is: http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=2829896

2 clockwise wheels. And many wood rods and water rods.

It freaks me out but also amazed me at the same time. I'm the inventor :)