An afternoon around Freo

Another do nothing achieve nothing day :) Woke up late, then we have a very "healthy breaky" at Hungry Jack (Burger King) before going to Ikea because Jin wanted to look at some wall shelf unit. After lunch, I grabbed my Canon and we went down to Freo for an afternoon stroll around the market. Morning started out very cloudy but afternoon has turned up to be a rather pleasant day, it will be a sin to stay at home I think :)

I took some sunset photos at the Coogee Beach Holiday Park and I have posted a couple at Flickr. I have never been to this part of the beach in Freo before, there is a jetty on the beach as well but it is no way as long as the one in Woodman Point. So I guess if you are looking for a fishing spot, just drive down another 10km or so to Woodman Point.

The following 2 photos were taken earlier this morning...just mucking around with my lighting.

Here is a photo of some dried flowers which we bought from a craft show in Guildford.

Vivitar DF200

For most people, Vivitar is probably recognised as a manufacturer of cheapo point and shoot cameras sold on supermarket shelves. Well, rather contrary to that, it is a fairly well-known manufacturer of photographic and optical equipments based in California.

The company is probably better known for their high quality no-frills flash guns that are quite popular among photograhers. Last week I purchase a Vivitar DF200 digital slave flash gun from ebay. I reckon I got a good deal, the whole thing only cost me a mere $61 and it came with a mini tripod as well as an adaptor for attachment onto normal camera tripod. As you can see in the photo, the Vivitar is significantly bigger than my Canon speedlite.

The flash from this Vivitar is extremely powerful and will definitely help me in various photographic applications. Now I just need to get a difuser to fit on... back to ebay soon :) The flash is wireless and it works by detecting flash from another source and fires its flash at the same time. The only downside to that technology is that the flash may get confused if they are others using flash nearby. Below is a result of an earlier experiment with the flash in a 90 degree arrangement with my Canon speedlite. Despite a slight over-exposure, overall the result was quite satisfactory I think :)

Summary of the week :)

I haven't been updating my blog as often as I would like...reason...just being lazy and spending the bulk of my free time practising photoshop and photography. Last weekend we discovered a great picnic area next to the Swan River near Swan valley, less than 20 mins drive from the city.

This place is very tranquil and relaxing, definitely a stark contrast from those regular weekend "hang out" areas such as South Perth or Kings Park which are frequented by parents and their screaming children. It is situated just off the second bridge alone Swan Valley drive from Great Eastern Hwy. After the picnic, we went to our favourite winery, the Fish Tail and got ourselves a dozen of Rose :)

Last Tuesday, we went to watch the much anticipated 5th installment of the popular Harry Potter movies. Well, this time for the first time I couldn't even bother to write a review for the movie. It's just a mixed bag, CG is getting a whole lot better with great eye candy but apart from that, the story is very weak. I nearly fall asleep during the first half of the movie! The biggest let down is the ending...what a disappointment! .....so what was all the hype?! But don't let me stop you from going to that movie...I am no fan of Harry anyway!

During the past few days, I have been taking many photos again. Most of my good posts can be found on my Flickr website.

Go Bumblebee! I want one!

Well, I can't resist to pen down a few lines here about the movie which I just watched moments ago: Transformers! True to the magic of my all time childhood favourite animated series, this movie is a must watch! It's witty, it's outright silly and dumb at times, it's loud and senseless, but it's seriously fun to watch :) It's strange how a good movie can transform 140 odd minutes seem like 30mins of sheer rollercoaster joy! Like Matrix on steroid, the action continues from the start to credit. Do you still remember when you first saw the "bullet-time" in the original Matrix? That was exactly how I felt when I saw the CG generated robots battle sequence in this movie, equally impressive!

Shai LaBeouf (i-robot is the only movie I remember seeing him) acted remarkably well and his "bodyguard"...the bumblebee, although unable to speak most of the time, CG has managed to create some great emotion in his robotic eyes....reminding me of the puss in the movie Shrek :)

Make no mistakes, this is one of the best movie releases this winter...possibly better than the yet to be released last installment of Harry Potter! 4.5/5...minus half a star for the seriously complicated, seemingly illogical and perplexing "transformation process" of the transformers! ..but then what is logic you might ask me :)

Creator of Bomida :)

Jin's friend Kyeong Ah arrived from Korea last Tuesday and she has been staying with us for the past few days. Although she sort of staying with us, she was hardly home most of the time as she was out meeting and catching up with her old mates around Perth. Tonight we had sort of a farewell dinner for her as she is heading to Margaret River for a few days with her friends before flying over to Melbourne. I met her in Korea when I was staying in Sang Ju with Jin and she gave me the nickname "bomida" which I use for my photographic work and my blog :)

The following photo was taken with the aid of a dolphin torch light. It is a rose brought over by Kyeong Ah from her friend's backyard in Busselton. It's one of the biggest bloom I have ever seen! Unfortunately, its petals were getting a little old with some browny discolouration. However, the touch light seemed to do a great job by not only hiding those imperfections, it has also greatly increased the colour saturation as well!

I have another photo which I want to share with you all, especially Dao :) This photo was taken couple of months ago when Dao came over to our place. It basically consists of 3 photos put together under Photoshop with some effect filters and layers and lots of mucking around. Bigger version can be found on my Flickr website.

Me and Myself

Photoshop just continues to amaze me :) Today I learnt a new trick on how to duplicate or clone myself in photos. I wish I could do just that in real life so I could send my clone to work while I go on a holiday or something.

Cooking up a storm! Me, myself and I :) Where is Jin?