colinwoon

A little bit of everything through the lens.

Borrowed Gear (0)

Monday, March 31, 2008 by , under

Took this shot with my friend's camera. It's a Nikon D200 with a Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens. Apperture priority (@f/5.6) mode is used and the lens is zoom to 200m to get a closer shot.

The camera is great but the camera-man definitely need a lot of improvement. I should get closer for a macro shot and the photo is a bit over expose (it was under the bright afternoon sun). ^^;

I like how the D200 feels in my hand. It has a much better hand grip than my Canon 400D/XTi. It's a little heavier than my camera but I think the weight help stabilize the camera better especially when you have a long/heavy lens. My next camera will be something similar to the Nikon D300 or Canon 40D, that is if my wallet allows that.

LND_2055



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When you're really bored... (2)

Thursday, March 20, 2008 by , under

When you're really bored, you can head over to http://flickrvision.com/ and check out photos uploaded by people onto flickr in that very minute.

The uploads are mapped onto google map so the screen will jump around the world showing the uploads of that minute. It's kind of fun when you're really bored. Some of the pictures are really good and some are just funny.

Yes, I get really bored sometime.

flickrvision



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Cool Photoshop Trick - Quick Color Isolation (2)

Friday, March 14, 2008 by , under

I'm always fascinated by photos with color isolation, thought it was a tough/tricky procedure, turns out it only takes minutes to do. I learned this trick from a youtube video. Here are the easy steps:

1. In Adobe Photoshop, select/highlight the object or area you want to isolate using the "Lasso Tools". "Magnetic Lasso" is very useful for this task.

2. Press "Ctrl + Shift + i" for "Select Inverse".

3. Press "Ctrl + Shift + u" for "Desaturate".

4. Press "Ctrl + d" for "Deselect" and voila! Done!

Did that on 2 shots taken in Hong Kong last December. Fun fun!

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Street Racing!

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Pink on her helmet, jacket, shoe, even the visor! Wow!



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Interesting Visitor (0)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by , under

We have an interesting visitor the other day. Yup, just when my wife back the car out of the garage, this little dude stroll slowly into our garage and park at one corner.

The interesting thing is that it would have taken him a long time to stroll from the duck pond behind our house to our garage. That's a major adventure for this little dude.

Anyway, I snap a shot of the little dude before I release him back to the pond. Below is the little dude visitor.

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Mobile Post - First (0)

Monday, March 10, 2008 by , under


First post using my mobile phone.

This picture of my workstation is taken with a mobile phone camera(1 mega pixel).

A 1 mega pixel point & shoot camera will probably produce a much better image than that. I think it will be years before a mobile phone camera can produce a shot on par with a regular point and shoot. Though I have come upon an article saying scientist in Singapore have developed a kind liquid lens that will enhance the photo quality(and zooming function) of mobile phone camera. That's exciting news but don't know when we will see it in the market noting the article was dated in 2005.

Scientists in Singapore Create Liquid Lens that Zooms Without Electricity



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Night Shot - First Attempt (2)

Saturday, March 08, 2008 by , under , ,

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These shots were taken from the place where we stay while we were in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, end of last year.

I love night shot, I always hope I can take some awesome night shot but never have the right equipment(SLR) to do so. Now I have the equipment, the only thing missing is skills.

Well, what do I think of my first attempt? Meh. It could be better. One of the biggest mistake is that I used ISO400 for these shots which added a lots of grain(noise).

Need to practise, need to practise a lot.

What setting will you use for night shot?



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A day in the park... (0)

Monday, March 03, 2008 by , under ,

Gather with some friends for a small "pot-luck" style picnic at Herman Park last weekend. All the home cook food was incredibly delicious. Good time, good time.

Herman Park is a huge park not far from Houston downtown which is surrounded by museum, zoo, and smaller gardens. It's definitely a good place to relax and enjoy the outdoor a little bit.


Herman Park Panorama
Panoramic view(photo merge with Adobe Photoshop) of the lake in front of our picnic site. This is just a portion of Herman Park. (Click on photo to see the full version)



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Hong Kong (3)

Monday, March 03, 2008 by , under ,

On our way back to US at end of last year, we make a short stop in Hong Kong to see an old friend and to do some sight seeing. Needless to say, we sample a lot of good food and did a lot of shopping too! The trip was fun!

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Around 11pm on a Friday night at a subway station.

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Big Buddha!

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Somewhere around Central.

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Working.

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An old computer collector/recyclers. I wonder how he shut down at night, does he move everything back to his shop/house?

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I think this is somewhere on Nathan Road.

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A magnificent view from Victoria's Peak.

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Another magnificent view from Victoria's Peak.

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Ladies Market at night.

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A small restaurant in Tsuen Wan which serve very good beef noodle soup.


More photos HERE.



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First Post! (2)

Sunday, March 02, 2008 by , under

Finally! A blog for me to share and update stuffs about my life with friends, families, and others! It's not easy to do just that when you're thousands of miles away, so lazy me turn to blogging, hopefully it works!

My wife's got me a DSLR as a birthday present last year. Naturally my latest hobby is photography, shoot-a-lot and learn is my motto for now. A blog can be another channel for me to share some photos, maybe I can get some constructive criticism to better my skills.



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