Kelanang

Salam 

I would like to reminisce about one of the most beautiful and dramatic place (to me) for sunset scene. I have been to Kelanang Beach five times, with varying results. During low tide, this place is texture and reflection haven.  Twice I've been lucky, the weather was good and the sky awesome. Time to set up the tripod! :) On the other occasions, I was not so lucky- either it rained, or the sky bland ~ but I'll keep on coming back here.

To reach here, it's an hour ++ drive from my place, USJ. Take ELITE highway, exit KLIA and head towards the town of Banting. There'll be ample signboard directing you to the place. Or try searching the location at Wikimapia but I'm not sure whether it's the same spot as mine.

My first visit here was on May 10, 2010. I was driving around trying to find new location and before I knew it, I reached Kelanang. However it was not really a good spot and further the weather was not so good with thick rain cloud in the horizon. Plus, my fotography technique was awful :D

Here are the pictures for that day's solo outing (click to enlarge)

Rotten Roots

Gloomy Day

Feeling Blue

Then I found out from my friend Hairi "SangPhotographer" that I missed the spot - by a mere 500 metres! Due to my incessant pestering he relented and organised an outing with fellow photographers - Badrul, Pinto, Fairuz, TokDin, Along, Razali and few others (all unknown to me before that day). So off we went on June 6th, 2010 to Kelanang. Alhamdulillah, the weather was hot, the sky clear and the tide low.

It's a good place for macro fotography as there are numerous small items (i'm not into macro, though):

Teritip

Dead & Empty

Small Stump

During low tide, there are plenty of sand textures for that nice foreground details. And I got to try my newly bought Cokin Graduated Filters :)

Gold & Blue

the Dead and the Living

Seeking The Best Spot

Kosong

In addition, there are also numerous small creeks and shallow pools of water, perfect for leading line and reflection

Flared

The Dying Minutes

Stumped

I was really preoccupied with taking pictures that I failed to notice others had already packed up and left! Alone, it was quite creepy..and the mosquitoes were the hungry lot! Hehe.. 

This is the final picture

After Glow

Overall it was a good outing. After maghrib prayer at a surau nearby, we went to the food court for dinner and post mortem session (meaning : reviewing and envying others' output). As usual it made me very jealous (and slightly depressed) of other people's pictures! 

Signing off for now, to be continued in Kelanang Part II

I would welcome any comment from you, and feel free to visit my flickr page and facebook albums :)

Into The Horizon

Into The Horizon, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

a grey Wednesday evening with Khasif at Empangan Park, Putrajaya, MY

Monotone

Mono, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

Empangan Tasik, Putrajaya
The opposite end of Empangan Park. you could see it and PICC in the distance.

Trying my hand at black and white processing.
The original colour was quite dull and lacklustre (that day being overcast) resulting in gray sunset shot.

Tied Against The Tide III

Tied Against The Tide III, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.
 
Laguna Park, Pulau Indah, Klang, Selangor, MY
sunrise outing with Pokdee

One Fine Morning

One Fine Morning, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

Putrajaya

one of many lakes at Putrajaya, this one was shot near the Putrajaya Lake Club, facing the Prime Minister's Office or Perdana Putra (i think so hehe)

Sunrise Expedition with my good buddy Pokdee

From The Balcony III

From The Balcony III, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

SOOC (straight out of camera) except for resize and watermark

yet another sunset expedition with Khasif.
this time at PPR Jelatek, Kuala Lumpur overlooking KLCC

My previous themed From The Balcony & From The Balcony II was shot from the balcony (of course.!!) of the Century Pines Resort, Cameron Highland, MY

From The Balcony :

From The Balcony II (with longer light trail)

back to PPR Jelatek :

The space here was quite tight, and we were shooting in front of somebody's doorway so silence is a must lest we disturb the occupants. Because of limited angle, I didn't get to try many variation in composition. Luckily the sky produced various hues from orange to deep purple and finally fiery red. There were also an awesome purple ROL but I didn't manage to get that. Khasif did and you can check it out here. He was shooting from from the 13th floor while I was on the 14th floor. And there was one guy shooting from the 15th floor.

here are the rest of the pictures (click to enlarge)

in the beginning

more orange

then it turned to purple, then red

the after glow, the so called "blue hour"

and the encore :)

hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I would love to hear your comments and critiques :)

DiPayung Mentari

DiPayung Mentari, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

managed to catch this nice ROL. just one shot, then it's gone

Laguna Park, Pulau Indah, Klang, Selangor, MY
sunrise outing with Pokdee

Gold & Blue

Gold & Blue, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

as the sun rises, it casts nice golden hues on the water

Laguna Park, Pulau Indah, Klang, Selangor, MY
sunrise outing with Pokdee

Transition

Transition, a photo by Arief Rasa on Flickr.

Dikala Mentari Mula Menampakkan Dirinya
Laguna Park, Pulau Indah, Selangor, MY

sunrise outing with PokDee

Smoke Arts

Salam all.

April 2010

I was bored (again!) and having nothing better to do, I decided to try a "smoking" experiment with my camera based on an article in Digital Camera Magazine (Malaysian Edition) March 2010 issue.

My setup was as follows :

- D90 on tripod
- SB-600 flash on remote (slave) angled sideways

- black shirt as backdrop
- shutter release cable 

The focus was fixed by holding a pencil over the smoke stream, I then focused on the pencil and once the focus was locked I switched to manual focus. As the smoke didn't rise at similar point,  small apperture was used. To ensure steady stream of smoke, the experiment was conducted in a closed room. Yeah, it was hot, stuffy and smoky :D

The source of smoke? My cigarette, two at a time. I "sacrificed" almost half pack of Dunhill, all in the name of experiment. :)

The pictures were shot in RAW, processed in Lightroom and further tweaked in Photoshop. By adjusting the White Balance I produced various colours and hues to the smoky form.

The result (click to enlarge):

More pictures in my facebook album.
That's it for now, and I would love to hear your comment :)

And feel free to visit my flickr page

Bagan Lalang Part II

salam.

continued from Bagan Lalang Part 1 :)

Going further south, I encountered clusters of mangrove trees - some dead, some mere sapling (newly planted). There's also a restricted area, a camp (me think it's erected by "Jabatan Pertahanan Awam" [Civil Defense Department] - a semi military outfit which, among others, to prevent smuggling activities) nearby so i kept clear of that area. Me don't want no trouble, me just wanna take pictures :)

The mirror-like stillness of the small creek was perfect for reflection pictures. And the sky was so beautiful that day, SubhanaLlah. The colour changed from golden to fiery red, and even after the sun had set, the sky still burning with the after-glow.

If only the mosquitoes weren't actively lusting for my blood, I could have stayed there longer!

The Young Saplings (click to enlarge)

The Mangrove Trees

The Dead Stumps

even managed to capture this facing back from the sun

all in all, I'd say it's a successful outing, alhamduliLlah... If only I could capture the scene better. Guess I need more practice i.e more outing! ~LOL~

Equipment : Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm, Cokin GND8 & Cokin Blue Grad

Thanks for visiting my blog. Feel free to view the entire Bagan Lalang sets at my flickr page. Do also view my Sunset & Sunrise album at my facebook page :)