Digital Photo Tips

Dew drop on grass is a rarity to me because I don’t always wake early enough to catch them. Moreover, I don’t have huge, green fields to roam around. But dew drops on grass is really romantic, beautiful and that fragile droplets of dew hanging precariously on blades of grass are such precious sights, aren’t they?

These are grasses on top of a grave. Yeap, morbid huh? I took these photos when I went to clear my parent’s grave during Ching Ming. The grave next to my parent has a nice layer of green grass and these dew drops were sparkling in the sun.

BTW, I have just changed my blog theme again. I am tired of the margin alignment of the previous blog theme.

One of the most interesting subjects to take photos are fishing boats bobbing with the waves, at the beach. Normally, these tiny fishing boats are very colourful. They are colourful for easy identification when they are out in the big sea.

Different time of the day brings out different moods. Above are fishing boat at sunset in very muddy water. The sky is not helping because rain clouds are above. So, I get these sad, forlorn looking boats.

At another stretch of beach nearby, the mood is much livelier because it was sunny when I took this photo. I am so happy to see the PKR and PAS flags (political parties who just won the election) flapping proudly on these fishing boats.

Though fishing villages and fishing boats by the beach look very picturesque, the sad fact is the lives of these fishermen and their families are very hard. They are at the mercy of the harsh weather and risky sea. I hope their support for these political parties will bring them a better life. Previously, if I am not mistaken Teluk Kumbar, Penang was under UMNO.

I know it is about photos but when I look at those tired, weather beaten faces of those fishermen who return after a day’s catch, you cannot but help wanting to see a better life for them.

My area here has some Chinese god’s birthday. So, the residents normally hold a concert to ‘entertain the god’. These are the joss-sticks offered by the residents.

They will hire some sexy, scantily clad girls to sing and rock. The gods must be very happy.

Many of the girls dressed just like cabaret dancers or MTV stars. I suppose all the gods are grinning like these dragons.

Taking picture of lamps is quite fun because we can get many different moods just by focusing on different parts of the lamps. Normally, I use the program (P) mode to shoot and my camera will automatically adjust the white balance, shutter speed and aperture.

So, if I point the focus to the bright lamp, I get very dark photos as it adjusts automatically. If I point to the darker side of the lampshades, I get brighter picture.

Then, there are those shadow plays that I love.

I haven’t got a chance to go to the Kek Lok Si temple to take photos of those lanterns. By the time I got there, they have switched off the lanterns. WTF! I got stucked in a bad jam and was delayed.

I don’t care about putting nice lampshades at home because these lamps are just nice to see but the light they emit are horribly dark and annoying. Give me fluorescent tubes anytime!

I cannot get over the hang up on taking photos of Hindus carrying kavadi. However, many of them are really nice to pause to take photos. Still, I feel it is terribly rude to do so. Bah!

However, I am getting better this year because I can take photos of their front views.

Yet, it is not easy to take the photos because there were throngs of milk jars carriers and there were folks (Jabatan Pertahanan Awam personnels) to make sure that their paths are not blocked. However, with a DSLR and a bright yellow NIKON word on the strap, they are at least cincai with me.

This little boy is probably 7 years old and yet, very enthusiastic and cheerful.

This year, I only went to the temple grounds on the eve of Thaipusam. It was rather dark and hence, I couldn’t get any nice photos. I dare not point the flash at those kavadi bearers. Without flash, all my photos were blurred.