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Showing posts from March, 2018

Black And White, Maybe?

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I have been playing with colors all the time recently in all my images that somehow it felt that I have neglected black and white photography. I do love shooting black and white, just that I seem to appreciate colors more these days. However, when I saw the opportunity to create a black and white portrait of a friend yesterday while encountering dramatic lighting by the window, how could I resist? Sometimes, all you have to do to find inspiration is to observe how the light falls in place. Portrait of a friend.  Robert Evangelista (he is also an avid Olympus enthusiast) This portrait shot was taken with the Motorola G5S Plus. There was not much post-processing done, except to boost contrast and deepen the shadows. The available light was working great to create a dramatic effect on Robert, highlighting the side profile of his face.  Now I know what my mission is for my next shutter therapy session. To see everything in black and white. I shall even set the EVF/Live View monitor to ful

Olympus Viewer 3 Basic Post-Processing Workshop

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Tomorrow, I will be conducting my first ever post-processing workshop for Olympus RAW files using specifically the Olympus Viewer 3 software. I am both extremely excited and nervous at the same time, as I have not done this before, and I am showing my own RAW images in the live demonstration on how I achieve the "Robin Wong" look for the first time to an audience. Selected RAW images for the Post-Processing workshop demonstration I acknowledge the Olympus Viewer 3 is not the most user friendly software and it is so sluggish that it makes any grown man cry after using this software just for a little while. I would not recommend Olympus Viewer 3 for serious professional use, as it is resource hungry and it is just too slow for anything productive, especially dealing with a huge batch of images (wedding/event or sports shooters). I am not sure why Olympus could not make it any more efficient, it is surely just some programming optimization and even the fastest computer now will

Adventures With Motorola G5S Plus In Kuching

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Thank goodness for beautiful weather in my hometown Kuching when I was back there a few days ago, and I managed to get some quick shooting done, further testing the newly acquired Motorola G5S Plus. I met up with local Kuching photographers, Jee and Lance , whom I had my street photography exhibitions with last year and together we attacked Kuching. The sky was blue, the light was fantastic and I was just so happy to be home and breathing the fresh air of Borneo, away from overly polluted metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. Lets start with a hearty bowl of Sarawak Kolo Mee, which we had for breakfast. I know I have said this before, but I cannot over emhpashize that any resemblance or clone variant of Kolok Mee found in West Malaysia should be avoided like a plague at all costs. The only real Sarawak Kolo Mee comes from Sarawak. Do not try it elsewhere.  We visited the newly launched Darul Hana bridge spanning across the Sarawak River, since Lance told us he has not been there yet. There is a

Joining The Milky Way Craze

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So it is the season again to hunt and showcase night sky photographs, and my social media feeds are filled with milky way shots from all over Malaysia. Unfortunately, my recent attempt to get a milky way image was a failure due to cloudy sky and also excessive light pollution. With nothing to show, being desperate, I dug out my old milky way photos from yesteryears and shared them, for the fear of missing out. All jokes aside, it was fun to find the older milky way shots I have done while I was reviewing the OM-D E-M5 Mark II and the 7-14mm F2.8 PRO lens several years ago! I think there is just something magical about looking at night skies and staring at the stars. The problem with me being based at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, a metropolitan city, is light pollution which retarded the visibility of the stars. In order to mitigate this, I do need to get a significant distance away from the city center, and find a place away from the street and city lights. Also, being in a tropical coun

Of Coffee, Robin & Smartphone Photography

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I am flying off again to Kuching, my beloved hometown this coming weekend with extended stay till mid next week for work. I shall be conducting an evening photography outing for Olympus Malaysia in town, which I really hope the weather will be kind to us. I am a simple person with simple thoughts. I rarely complicate myself with too many unnecessary things in my mind. I have somehow managed to fit all that I want to do this weekend into a single photograph, as shown above. The Lego Robin to represent me, having plenty of good coffee and going about shooting with the newly acquired Motorola G5S Plus. Sometimes, it is true what they say, one photograph is worth a thousand words. Oh yes, I am not done with that smartphone camera yet. I only hope that the Kuching skies will be blue and dramatic enough for me to pull off some decent wide angle shots. Kuching can be quite a surreal and attractive when the light is right. Smartphone camera is the most utilized medium of photography today. Alt

Motorola G5S Plus Smartphone Camera Review

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I have purchased a new phone, the Motorola G5S Plus and I have spent a weekend snapping away casually with the built in camera. The Moto G5S Plus replaces my Nokia 6 which I acquired in August last year, being a superior phone in every aspect, despite having the similar price tag. The photography enthusiast in me was curious about the dual camera module in the Moto G5S Plus, so I have spent quite a bit of time with it, shooting anything around me whenever I can. This blog entry is focused on the camera performance of the Motorola G5S Plus only, and I shall be sharing tonnes of sample images taken with the G5S Plus' camera. Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I am not associated with Motorola or Lenovo. I purchased the Moto G5S Plus from a local dealer shop and have done this review independently. Similarly to all my camera reviews, my review approach is user-experience based and may be subjective. Kindly take note that all images have been post-processed to taste. I got myself t