Last Day in Thailand

I haven't Blogged throughout my journey here in Thailand... Purely because the WiFi wasn't available in my Hotel Room... I had to be in the Hotel Lobby to use the public WiFi and it gets a bit crowded and I get uncomfortable...

I'm Blogging now because I have 40min to kill before I hop in a Taxi to goto the airport... and just now some old man sat down next to me, and decided to take off his shoes and socks, then crossed his legs so his right foot is now dangerously close to my knee! I waited a few mins and pretended I finished and walked off and now sitting in another location... didn't wanna be rude, but I have a phobia of feet lol...

Anywayz, this is a Photography BLOG usually :S lol...

My time here in Thailand was an interesting one... it's not something that I really had on the agenda, just thought "Why not" as it was only £200 more overall, and I'm on this side of the world, so may as well make more use of it...

Didn't really know what Thailand had to offer in terms of Photography experience, and in truth, there isn't much for me.

It's definitely a place for an experience, rather than visual... if that makes any sense?

To clarify, I'm in Bangkok... From what everyone tells me in Bangkok, I'm basically in the centre...

Shopping is cheap, Massages are cheap (and painful :'( lol) and food is available... not keen on the food here tbh... I ate everything with fear as anything I ate it gave me a funny feeling in my stomach and didn't taste 'fresh'...

In saying that, I just ate in some Japanese Style Restaurant in Terminal 21 Shopping Centre and the food did not look nice, but tasted great...

In terms of Photography though, there wasn't much for me here in Thailand... I wanted to take some shots of the Grand Palace Temple but I was told by the Taxi Driver that there was a death of someone of importance which forced the Temple to close as they're hosting the funeral and cremation there...

So I missed out on seeing that.. Would've been nice to have seen it, although as I didn't set out to go see it, I'm ok to let that slip by...

Otherwise it's General Street Photography style shooting with people in the markets and so forth.

Two shots that I really like from this holiday are from the Floating Market... Warning to anyone who goes to the Floating Market, expect to pay roughly £20 a head to get on... that is super expensive by Thailand standards, but it's about right for UK rates... They wouldn't negotiate on the rate as they knew they had us... We travelled 1hr30min by Taxi to get there, and we were hardly just going to turn back now... It was a relaxing boat ride along the river and seeing the sites...

Well, it was relaxing when you're not listening to the bargaining and haggling happening all around you... I wouldn't suggest you buy too much from the Floating Market as it's pretty pricy compared to any other market... I would average the prices at least 20% higher than a standard Market...

Anyway, the first image that I really like from that day is of an old lady rowing a boat... We were heading straight on the river and I just so happened to peak left and caught a glimpse of this site. Quickly pulled the camera up and shot....

Nikon D7000 with 35mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, ISO200, 1/5000sec

The shot had been cropped a bit to re-align the shot, as it was one of those very quick moments...

In hindsight, I should've increased to f2.5-3.5, as the main subject was a touch too soft for my liking. With a little Clarity added I think it's ok now...

Edited with a Vintage feel... it's very Cliché to edit an image like this with a Vintage style, but it really does suit...

The second shot I liked from the day was a trail of Coconuts...

Nikon D7000 with 35mm f/1.8@ f/1.8, ISO100, 1/2500sec

Focussed was missed... as I would've preferred the main focus on the front or second to front Coconut and have the rest fade off in the background... However again, it was a last min spot and off the side of the boat, so I was 'shooting from the hip' as they say... although it wasn't from my hip :S

Basically I couldn't see through the viewfinder to compose the shot lol...

I missed another Photography Opportunity right before this as there was an old woman walking in the River pulling these Coconuts along... I missed the shot as I was recording video and had the camera in Manual Focus and when I saw the chance to shoot, I forgot to switch back into AF Mode and I got the shot, but was WAY out of focus...

Nevermind... another opportunity presented it self later that day, however it was with a man dressed like a Ninja... Not quite the same feel, but that shot got attained lol...

Looking forward to arriving back on UK Soil... I would say I'm feeling slightly home sick... Mainly because I miss home food! I also feel like I need to get back to work...

A few things I need to get on with... I need to finish editing Lisa William's Portraits, my friend Alvin Ossai's Power Lifting Competition, and edit all these holiday pictures. Would prefer to do it on a proper PC with a bit more power and bigger screen...

I've also had an idea for an article to write regarding my lenses...

There is a lot of stigma about "Shoot with what you have", "You can get any shot with any gear" etc... "Zoom with your feet"... "The best camera is the one you have with you"... Where all these sayings have truth to them, there is the other side to it that no-one really discusses which I would like to address...

Not that I'm encouraging people to break their banks to get the stuff, but quality equipment does produce quality images... But of course, yes, great images can be captured on lower-end gear...

I also have a BLOG to complete regarding D7000 to D800 transition... Definitely a good move for me...

D7000 was taken around in Thailand as it wasn't important shots I needed to attain, so D7000 and 35mm suited me fine as a walk around...

Those BLOGS coming soon....

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@LeoHoangPhoto

BLOG 2012-04-05

Today was the final full day in Hong Kong… The plan was to go to Macau as we had done a fair bit of shopping and I had gotten the key shots I was after… In an ideal world, I would’ve liked to have had more time shooting the architecture here at night as it’s simply mind blowing… However the first night I was too exhausted from shopping around in the Markets, and the second day was too Foggy… Today we was in Macau, and by the time we got back, it was fairly late, and was absolutely chucking it down with Rain… Seeing as London has had a bit of a drought, I haven’t seen rain like that in a long time!

So I have attained some shots I wanted, however the conditions were not ideal… Maybe in the near future I can come out for a quick visit with better weather to get the Hong Kong Peak shot once again, IFC Building and Bank of China… if I do manage to come back I’ll also head over to Kowloon and shoot across the waters to Hong Kong City, and get that shot…

In Macau, we went to MGM Casino… Amazing building inside… I just did high ISO hand held shots and got some good results… Then security asked me to stop taking pictures so I had to stop… But the Casino was like palace and I would’ve loved to have got it from more angles and in more rooms…

Outside the casino, we went around Macau and it was pretty good visually, but once you have seen Hong Kong City, everything else seems a bit poo…

Macau is bloody expensive btw, if anyone who reads this is planning on going… Hong Kong seems to be on par with London… I found some purchases I made either £1-2 above or below UK prices, so it kinda balanced out… But Macau on the other hand, everything was more… I wanted to get a CF 

Card for my new D800 but couldn’t because

Amazon.co.uk = £48

Hong Kong = £55 ($680)

Macau = £80 ($990)

So I didn’t make that purchase… Got left over HK Dollars I might either change back to £, or spend stupidly in the airport and on the way to the airport… Hopefully I can find some Camera stuff... or treat the family to a slap up meal…

I’ve noticed since getting the D800, I’ve been more selective with my shots… Two reasons, one, I’m trying to keep Shutter actuations down… In the past year I clocked up 25k on my D7000, as I did a lot of shooting for practice and a few events… not only that, holiday and family photos… so it went through a lot in a year…

Second reason is that the RAWs are so much bigger… So I have half the available shots with the memory cards I own. Selective shooting is pretty good though… Less pics to file through later and less to edit…

I did a shot with the H.02 ISO Setting… a comment from a member of the Dom Bower Photography Facebook Group requested a high ISO test… Figured I’d give it a go… On the back of the screen it looks pretty clean… but that’s the back of the screen…

On the computer, with the RAW exported to 1000px, the image seems pretty good to me… You can tell it’s a high ISO shot and slight loss of detail, but it’s definitely acceptable for a holiday shot. I probably wouldn’t be submitting it for a professional shot…

I do plan on doing a head-to-head ISO test against D7000 with a controlled lighting situation, as for all I know the ISO on D7000 could’ve handled this shot just as well, you can never really tell until you see direct comparisons as Image Noise is more apparent in really dark conditions, whereas this shot did have a street lamp which provided some illumination…

It’s crazy how far you can zoom into these images and see little details… I didn’t even realise there was someone in the distance… I thought it was an empty alley way…

Tomorrow I’ll be off to Thailand, NO idea what kind of shots I can get from there as I no nothing about Thailand…

It’s going to be interesting…

Hong Kong Peak Part II

I decided to go back to the Hong Kong Peak, only to find an immense fog!

I was hoping to catch the Hong Kong Peak in the daytime, and with the period of time where the Sky is going dark, but not complete Black just yet. Usually you get a Dark Blue period, and was hoping that would give the image more punch.

Unfortunately, the weather was terrible. Foggy like crazy, and freezing cold...

I braved the weather and took the shots anyway...

Stood up there at the Peak for 2hrs waiting for the Light to drop, then fought my way through the crowd and probably upset a few people in the process... and then snatched the shot. With no Tripod, I had to hold the camera tight, on the railing... I bracketed the shots with 3 Exposures, incase  I wanted to try HDR as I did find the Grass areas on the bottom corners too dark and too distracting...

My first attempt at HDR wasn't too bad... but it was a quick try... I will do properly when I'm back by my proper computer with proper editing power... waiting for this laptop to render each change is ridiculous!

With HDR, you always get a dirty vibe from the image... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... this I feel is undecided...

My biggest peeve with this shot is the misty white sky, but that's due to the epic fog...

I brought the Whites down as much as I could, and brought the Highlights down via Lightroom 4... It's probably worth mentioning the HDR was Merged with Photoshop CS5.1... Which currently doesn't support D800 RAW...

So I did these via the JPGs exported from Lightroom...

I'm sure a Better Result can be attained, maybe even if I tweak the JPGs before merging...

But I feel this edit shows good promise!

My main intention for flying to HK was to get this shot... so I will be working hard on it! My intention was to print it and mount on my wall... I would like to have more of my shots as Canvasses around my walls... This will be my first, if I can get it right...

If not, I think I might have to fly back later this year specifically for this shot and just hope the weather is clear...

I also broke away from my family today... They wanted to go shopping, and I wanted to go shooting... So with different intentions, we did our own thing...

Flew solo and depended on Taxi's... Taxi's are pretty cheap here in HK compared to London... so I didn't mind paying... Taxi's keeping me mobile around HK totalled to about £17 once currency was converted... That's to the City Plaza, HK Peak, IFC Building and back to the hotel... not bad in my opinion... in London that £17 is one Cab ride around the corner!

Plus, I'm lugging around camera gear and not familiar with the Metro system, and only here for a shot period of time, not much point trying to learn right now in my opinion. Keep it as easy as poss...

I wanted to snatch a shot of the building that Batman jumped off in, in the infamous Dark Knight!

Unfortunately there was all this Construction work going on around below the frame... Hence why I cropped it slightly higher from the Road... I think the image would've been stronger with some Car Lights streaking across the bottom, but with the horrid looking construction Zone, I had to crop it out...

Hong Kong is an amazing place to shoot... My style began with long exposures at night, and Hong Kong is like heaven for me with this...

Although in the daytime, around the Market Places, it's just as amazing... I can't explain it, and you won't know until you get here... it's just interesting to look around and shoot... I've seen shots of HK before, and seen Street Photographers go around here, and I completely understand why... It feels like there's never a dull moment...

I have more shots to go through... I will sort them out when I'm back in the UK and upload to my FB Page as always...

I should really use FlickR, 500px, or Tumblr... but FB Page seems more convenient, even though their compression system sucks!

In regards to the D800, it's performing very well... the above shot of the IFC Building was done hand held... ISO Performance is very good... Clean files are coming out of it...

Zoomed in 1:1 will probably reveal just as much noise as my D7000, but then when you resize the image to 1000px wide/high, it more or less makes the noise invisible...

I wouldn't send the file for Print I don't think, but def good for screen...

A more in-depth review of the D800 is to come...

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Hong Kong Peak

One of the main reasons why I wanted to come to Hong Kong was the HK Peak... It's the highest point in HK where it overlooks the City... It's also one of the reasons why I got the D800 as I wanted to have this shot at 36mp to enable for a crisper larger print...

I've printed stuff from my D7000 at 12x18, but was thinking to take my prints further and larger...

People say that 16mp is large enough for a larger print, but it can't hurt to have more right?

I got the shot, and not 100% liking it... There's a massive Dynamic Range from the Cliff Edges and the buildings as there is no light hitting the Cliff's... Therefore there's a Massive Shadow around the bottom edge, which is not far off from what the eyes see... But if you do a long exposure, the camera does pick out some Green's...

If I never come back, I have a good shot... however, I believe I might revisit the Peak and re-take the shots with various exposures to attempted a HDR...

I cropped the negative space at the top and bottom, just to keep the focus in on the buildings and lights...

On a closing note... Haagen Daz Summer Berries Ice Cream Sandwich is the shit! I'm addicted to those right now... I hope I can find them in the UK...

HK Peak...

Was just at the Hong Kong Peak... Amazing View... Unfortunately my travel Tripod wasn't high enough to reach above the railing which was annoying. So for the long exposures I had to rest on the edges, clutching on tight to my new D800, fearing the worst that someone might judge me and it takes a fall how many hundred, thousands of feet. Attempted some 1-2sec exposures, and some High ISO. I even mounted the 50mm to allow f1.4 to get more light in, less ISO, and quicker shutter... As its not very wide I'll have to do some stitching...

Hopefully the shots came out clean when I view on a PC... Looks good so far though...

Next holiday I must invest into a light, thin, and strong tripod!

Nikon D800

My impulsive behaviour will be the end of me!

I got invited by my uncle, aunty and cousins to join them in Hong Kong for 4 days, and then off to Thailand…

I said to myself that I shouldn’t, as I didn’t really have the money, but last minute decision, I booked it, then at the airport I found myself wandering the Duty Free shops killing time and I wandered into Dixons and then saw a Demo unit for the Nikon D800.

The Nikon D800 has been getting a lot of press recently within the Photography world as of late. Not only getting a lot of press, it has also been getting a lot of praise, and the F-Stoppers even dubbed it as the ‘D4 Killer’… Nikon D4 is double the price of the D800 :S

I had a quick play with it as they also had a Demo 24-70mm f2.8 lens on the shelf, which I decided to mount, and put my memory card in and had a quick play… As soon as I picked up the camera and held it, it felt a lot more solid than my D7000. The Viewfinder was massive compared to my D7000, and the field of view was a lot wider as the D800 is a Full Frame Sensor after all.

I initially just wanted to get some sample RAW files to test out at home, but then I caught the price. There has been a recent price Hike with the D800 from £2,400 up to £2,600… I believe this was mainly due to the DX0 Mark review scoring this sensor at 95, as opposed to the D4 at 89.

Nikon publicised it’s due to the high demand and lack of supply, but I doubted that as it’s all money making, and they realised through an independent test their sensor is better than even they expected, therefore the upped the price.

Either way, I saw the price was lower than £2,400 with the Duty Free price, I couldn’t help myself. I tried to break away from the shop, and even walked out a whole 5min before walking back to take another look, and then left and went back for the third time and just decided to buy it as my flight was leaving soon.

Instagram shot taken by my cousin @JayTham

The main benefits of the D800 for me and why I couldn’t resist is the FX Sensor, which would allow me to fully utilise my 14-24mm f/2.8 at its widest focal length. In addition, it would allow me to have the 50mm f/1.4 at a more manageable, walk around field of view.

No idea if I will ever get a chance to visit Hong Kong again, so if I am to get the shot from the Hong Kong Peak, I would like that shot at its best, utilising the 36.3mp, which would enable for a clean large print.

As soon as I bought it, it ended up just being something extra to carry as I couldn’t exactly open it on the plane.

11hrs later, with minimal sleep, achy body from sitting too long, we hopped into a Taxi and to the Hotel, at which point I did not hesitate to open the box. Realising the D800 uses the same Battery as the D7000 (a fact that did slip my mind), I wasted no time and started shooting the D800 from the Hotel onward.

With the size of the RAW files, currently set to Lossless Compressed RAW, they come out at 40-50Mb per shot, which is better than the 75mb per shot which I been hearing about, not sure if I will change to uncompressed, maybe after some further testing. However due to the limitations of space, I don’t want to shoot too much and clog up my memory cards and HDD too quick, so I’ll leave it as compressed.

First impressions were lasting impressions. Immediately looking through that view finder, so much larger, and with both 14-24mm and 50mm, the field of view was so much larger. I am really loving the fact that I am seeing edge-to-edge with my lenses again as I had been shooting FX lenses on a DX Body… Every time I shot the D7000 with any of my lenses, I just felt I was losing aspects of the image around the edges, and where some people would say “Just step back” but it’s really not the same.

“Zoom with your feet” is a saying well-known in the Photography world with using your Prime lenses, but I see things differently and the perspective of the image changes at focal distance, and lengths. So 50mm on my DX, stepping back, is not the same image as a 50mm on an FX standing where I would like…

The Shallow Depth of Field whilst focusing on a subject, getting ¾ of their body with a 50mm f/1.4 is now shallower than if I were to use a Cropped Sensor. This is because in effect, I’m standing further back to attain the same crop (changing the focal distance).

I am absolutely loving the images I am seeing.

As of now I’m only seeing them on the back of the camera, but I’m still blown away.

Colours (could just be due to a better Preview Screen on the camera), Bokeh, Focus, it all seems better.

Unfortunately my Laptop is not running the latest version of Lightroom, so I cannot yet view the RAWs until I update to Lightroom v4.

I am downloading Lightroom v4 as we speak and will run as a Trial Version until I get back home.

Final note to add, from a recorded 449 Photos with D7000, I’ve gone down to 199 per 16Gb SD Card with it on compressed lossless RAW. I think Memory cards will be needed :S

But this is a good thing for me, as my D7000 served perfectly as a learning camera, and lots of shots were done to test for effects and exposures, so now I have gauged what is possible, and what does what, I will be looking to pick out my shots more carefully, and with each shot, hopefully a much better result.

Lisa Williams - Polevocative

A good friend of mine presented an opportunity to me... She mentioned her Pole Dance instructor had an event coming up and wanted a Photographer to cover the event and asked if I was interested.

Bit of a silly question I thought lol...

At the event, titled "An Evocative Affair", I of course met Lisa and her girls.

Lisa is the instructor, whom has also competed around the UK, and is simply amazing at what she does. It boggles the mind everytime I had seen her climb up a pole with ease... Admittedly, I even gave it a quick go and boy was it hard! I can actually do a chin-up, lift my own weight, and I'm not exactly completely outta shape, but I couldn't even get up that pole even a little bit! The only time I managed to get off the floor and on that pole I had to cheat it and jump! Doesn't really count...

Me and Lisa discussed the idea of a Portrait shoot, and although I am comfortable with Portraiture, I haven't done properly setup shoots yet, such as Studio or with Off-Camera Lighting.

My style is very much laid back, I like to set the subject in a scenario, and catch them in candid moments. What me and Lisa had in mind was a bit more controlled and focused on a theme.

She wanted images which would be displayed around her new Studio which has just opened in Croydon, and she was specific in that she wanted them Black and White. I'm not the most knowledgeable person with Pole Dance, so I did my research and looked up some images, and I had seen many pictures out there displayed where the Dancer is performing in front of a crowd, or I had seen setup shots but they were done with lighting which flattened everything out and you couldn't appreciate the lines of the poses that the dancers were doing.

So I envisioned a really dark theme... and I wanted to incorporate that idea and feeling of Lisa being on stage performing... So I set up 2 Flashes, and Zoomed them out to their maximum Zoom to give it as much directional light as possible, set them behind her and got her to pose, and when the flashes triggered they would create a Rim light around her...

I could Photoshop this image and copy the Flash Lights and past them in various parts of the image, however I feel that's just cheating... the important factor of this image is the fact that you have a nice light on the edges of Lisa's profile of her face and body, and a hint of the pole in the middle....

This image did require a fair bit of post-processing as I was using the Nikon CLS System to trigger the Flashes, and that provided a touch of fill light from the front, which I did not want. Therefore I had to lower the exposure with an adjustment brush to bring down the blacks....

Times like that, I see the benefits of the Radio Triggers such as Pocket Wizards...

After we worked on the Silohuette Stage shot style stuff, I wanted to have a proper Portrait of Lisa doing her thing. I had seen Portraits of Pole Dancers in general before, and their lighting was fairly bright, which did light up the image very well and was properly exposed, however, wherever possible I try to give my images some depth.

I like the feeling that whoever see's the image, will feel like they are there. The best way to make them feel as if they were there is to show dimension and layers. The light setup I had in mind for her poses were to have the lights on either side of her.

I had a SB900 shot into a 43" Westcott Umbrella on the left hand side, and a SB700 on the right hand side with the same Westcott Umbrella...

Both were set to 1/32 Power, which in hindsight, I probably should've nudged the SB700 to 1/16 and set it a touch further back as both Flash Guns have a different maximum power output, therefore you do lose a touch of light on the right side against the left, but not an entire stops worth of light, therefore nudging back the Umbrella could've been a slight fine tune once I gave it 1stop more light. I still feel this is a very strong image.

In terms of Lisa's pose, it's stunning... Incase you hadn't noticed, "No hands!" lol... That's her legs and hips... Madness! I'm in pain just looking at this...

But I love how Lisa fell into this pose and let her hands rest delicately, yet her legs gives this image a sense of power and strength...

In terms of lighting, with it being lit from either side, you gain a shadow down the middle of legs etc... This gives the image a bit more dimension as you can see the curves of her body.

There were a few more shots from this shoot, various style were attempted, but I def feel these two were the strongest for me.

I should actually be packing for holiday as I am now off for 10days! But my favourite pictures from this shoot have been edited and sent to Lisa, and will be uploading some to my Facebook Page.

When I return, I'll go through the rest and may upload more...

You'll find a few more images on my facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.333027623413917.68032.204420089608005&type=3
Pole Dance is an alternative way of keeping fit, and I know first hand how flippin' hard it is! Don't believe me, next time you walk past a lamp post, try climb up it!

But if anyone wants to give it a go, check out Lisa's Website at http://www.polevocative.org/.

She has recently opened a new studio in Croydon, and if you attend her class, you should also be able to see some images of mine on a Canvass ;)

I was pretty amped about this shoot, was happy that I got some good shots out of it, and wanted to share and write about it a bit, so thought I'd quickly BLOG it before flying out.

Happy Easter people! When I return I'll have some new Holiday Snaps to upload!

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@LeoHoangPhoto
www.polevocative.org