Badminton World Super Series Day-1

Here's another shoot taken at the BWF-BAM-Yonex-Sunrise-World Super Series Final held at Likas Badminton Sports Complex. Again I would like to thank the organizing commitee who entrusted us the opportunity to shoot for this event. I can't imagine myself shooting for such prestigous event before, but now its a reality. Man... what matters most is the experience to be shooting side to side with established photojournalist + being live in the real world of WORLD CLASS SPORT... Here are some of the pictures I LOVE to share with you. Just Remember that

1st. You can copy them for your own personal use, however publishing without consent is STRICTly prohibited.
2nd. Remember that these pictures are protected under the COPYRIGHT act.
3rd. If you feel like using the pics, do contact the photographer for permission.

Psst.... I'll try to upload and keep some short updates of the event. Do stay tune to http://www.friscod.com/
Enjoy

It's really tired being a sport photographer. When I look at how huge,big, heavy their lenses are, I was like.. PHEW! thats surely tiring... But everything is worth it. Doing+Working with the works that you love is no hesitation.. you do it coz its FUN... "there's no boring when there's fun"...

Badminton World Super Series- Sabah Masters Final 1

Here are some pics to share with you on my latest task to shoot for the Badminton World Super Series- Sabah Masters Final from 17th-21st December 2008. The event will take place at no other than Likas Badminton Sports Complex...The final will be on the 21st from 2pm-7pm. Cheapest ticket price will be RM105 for the finals. You can get the tickets from http://www.ticketpro.com.my/ or call Ticket Pro hotline at 6-012-8307193.

I will be photographying the event for the organizers. so meet you there....

Taufik Hidayat- World Top Players

Chris Edcock

Lim Khim Wah

Peter Gade

Danish players... or I should say Denmarkians... hehehe

Between Color & Monochrome?

I've been testing my wireless triger while having my vacation camp in one of the beaches of Sabah. I'm trying to master the SB900 in low light situations like sunset. It is pretty tricky to get a ballance of natural light and flash light. One of the best shot is this one. She's a good model ain't she? Well forget about her being a model, what I want to share is the dramatic scene captured. Without a flash, your subject could go dark, but with flash, your subject become more appealing. What more if its a sweet subject like her... Uhum-uhum..

***Color Photo***

Lets see about my theory. I purposedly posted two identical photo for you to judge which look better. I love the color of the first blueish photo, but the black and white isn't bad to in terms of bringing out the tones. I feel the dramatic feel of the monochrome conversion has much heavier impact than the color photo. I think its mainly because the distraction (which is the color in the photo) is cast away, and all you see is mono-tones, lines, and texture-shape. Thus,the brain translate the condition of the photo by interpreting the picture itself. argh, I better learn psychology to get a confirmation on this. I'm trying to relate how the brain percepts art in colors and monochrome... guess this could turn out to be a good thesis... hehehe.

***Black & White Conversion***

For a person who loves color and is untrained to discern the main particles in art, then a monochrome would be boring. For me, I love both. The colored photo has its own artistic side, so is the monochrome conversion. Do you think that the clouds are much intense in the monochrome photo? Do you see that the model/subject is more in contrast than the colored photo? I can see another beauty in Monochrome... and as I say, Monochrome and Color has its own... attraction

Another New Lens?

At last, My dslr is almost perfect. Perfect as for what? perfect as I got one of the near perfect lens to attach on the D700 body. As a wedding photojournalist, this is one of the vital items on my full frame body. So what was it? well...

One of the big issue with wide zoom range such as the Nikon 18-200mm is that it has some softness on the focussed subject at certain distance. I can't prove it here since I don't have the lens to test and make a review, but according to most reviews which you can easily find via google, wide zoom range has some tolerance in sharpness. Kenrockwell has one of the best review I ever read. His experience and reviews on most lens are worth reading and believing. I find my decision to choose certain lens and accesories are halfly influenced by this site. SO whenever you get across camera reviews by kenrockwell, dont simply ignore it.

So what lens? its the 24-70mm f/2.8 that cost about $1800. Man this is hugely expensive for me 5 years ago, but right now, when photography is most that matters, I could no longer tolerate with focussing accuracy and I need to get it right! This lens sure did ate my wallet away, but I'm going to get it back.

Performance? it matched very well, and is actually a must buy for full framers... You can't never get the best out of your full frame if you don't let it work along with the best equipments. Sharpness is admittedly damn darn great (by experience handling it for just 3 days). Low light shooting was also easy at ISO400-800 with no fear of shake. Focussing speed? fast enough to lock accurately under dim light.

Disadvantage? well ofcourse its the weight. It is almost twice heavier than my Pentax K10D with 18-55kit. And coupled with a D700 body with the MB-D10 batery grip, it really requires strong muscle for a 10 hour daily lift. I think I need to do more hand workouts later... phew!~

But aside from the weight, everything else was darn good. The weight itself was good for stabilizing the camera and thus reducing handshake. I counted blur takes was nearly less then 10% for shutter speed at 1/30. most of the time it went sharp. as expected.

Even so, I'm still lacking another lens. I need another "skodeng-zoom"(hehe) for distance shoot. There's sure limitation for a 24-70, but 70-200 will do the Job. When coupled with the least D300, it can reach the length of around 300mm in APS-C format sensor (mostly Nikon d90-d300). Another lens I need is an ultra wide angle zoom and a APS-C sized Nikon body. I think I'm going for D90 with Tokina's wide angle 11-16mm f/2.8 for its outstanding performance and perfect U-wide angle match.

Why D90? well, I can go wide with a cheaper quality lens Tokina 11-16mm and go long with a 70-200mm which will turn out to be a 105-300mm when used on D90... so its all... perfect I should say. I know I couldn't afford another expensive D700 or D3 (perhaps a year from now), but just wait... someday...

Javeniah & Donny's Wedding

I should have posted this first then the outdoor session. Here are the actual wedding + reception of both couple in Malangang,Kiulu - Tamparuli. Still equiped with two body- pentax K10D and Nikon Dxxx, a wide angle prime lens and a 50mm f/1.4 fixed lens, I got to get the moment well framed. All throughout the event, there were mostly singing and less music accompaniements. Very romantic and different indeed. (except for the marching in of the flower girls and ushers). The weather? was very hot! But overall, I like what is produced. So here are the result. Check it out.

Javeniah & Donny Wedding - Outdoor

I should have posted the indoor- event first to let you see their wedding event before the outdoor, however it was the outdoor that I edited first. The wedding was in Malangan Lama-Tamparuli. I am quite happy to work with this couple. They are very cooperative, kind and friendly. They are also cool and cooperative when asked to do certain pose. So here are the pictures.

Siti Mariam & Jupri Outdoor

I believe Sabahans are very familiar with this shooting spot. Thats correct, its Tanjung Aru Beach and this was on tuesday. I was actually a bit pessimistic on the weather that day. Sky was showing dark signs on the Western part. I however wouldn't want to disapoint Siti for the outdoor. So we get ready very fast and went rushing shooting. We only got a few shoot in dry clothes, the rest are mostly stained with raindrops.

We didn't give up, I wouldn't want to disapoint Siti for the natural cause, we decided to wait till the rain reside. But that however was with no avail. We then take the risk and went shooting under the rain. Cloudy weather and even natural light caused the shooting to be much easier. I don't have to avoid harsh highlights or dark shadows. HDR was just working adequetely in the scene. We have our friend Hasmah doing the makeup, and lucky Siti the makeup didn't went off, guess it will if it were a low end type.

I don't know much about make ups, but I know photography, so here are some shoots of the day. Enjoy viewing and browsing through it.

 

 

Fanny in the Making

These are some evening shoots taken with the wireless flash setup of Nikon. I did the same setup with my Pentax before and I notice Nikon's setup is much manageable and flexible. Flash was set on a tripod and triggered by built in Flash. Flash triggering system is really great in Nikon, the only disadvantage is that you couldn't trigger it when the sun is stronger than the flash, so you have to trigger it when its dark.

I'm still thinking of a flash radio trigger. Not sure yet but its in my mind. Will share with everyone my work collection. So here are some of the cool result. I know the first is a bit overexposed to 1/3 stops. And the flash should be placed at higher and further away from the model. BUT what to do... I don't have extra assistant. Like I told you, the flash was on tripod and it was on stoney area... quite risky to place your RM15xx item.... PHEW!!! Anyhow, the model was a "pheWIIITTTT" too... interested??

How I wished somebody was holding the flash for me.. so dont have to let it stand alone on a tripod...

Like I say, Fanny is a "Phewwiiit" model

Thanks For The Comments

I would like to thank everyone for the support and encouraging comments from fellow friends wherever you are. It really took me some wet dress and sore muscle to get certain angle. I just came back from another shooting yesterday and yes I struggled hard to get certain shots. Really tiring.

Anyway, I was a bit surprised to see some unknown comments in my blog. Though it may sound intimidating, but I am glad I received it. You think it will put me down? hehehe, its quite funny when people come to you and try to piss you off, telling you your works are trash. Well, I value every word really well, even appreciate it a lot. I'm sorry I already deleted it from my chatbox, however I would like to share with those who wasn't able to catch it in this posting.

First person comes with this msg:
"fcod, the latest picture ambil guna D700? haha, funny better u stick with your Pentax if the picture quality still that ugly, funny la your photo, tia cantik bah"

My comment:
Please define "picture quality". If you say its "bad", then please define "bad", if it is very bad, then please define it. Tidak Cantik??? well does everyone agree's with you? maybe you have different views, but I can't get everyone to agree with me right? And if you think my works are bad, then please show me how you take your photo works(^^,)

Second came this:
u said international photo?but gambar all bida, not nice,most of ur gambar koyak boss, color out boss biar betul ko nie pro photog?

My Comment:
Do you know what Pro-Photographer means? do you know what Pro- means? There are 2 understanding about this. First, you are really handful in knowledge when taking photos, you speciallize in it, you have the depth of knowledge in taking photos. Second, YOU DO PHOTOGRAPHY because it is a PROFESSION. Thats where the word Pro- derives.
International? well, everyone can be an international photographer. No one is ever restricted to work internationally.. am i right? Koyak? well please define what koyak means... Color out? is your monitor well calibrated to mine? do you know that not all monitor display color the same way? mine may have yellowish color cast, your's might be black(^^,)

Third went this way:
chris manangis urang tgk gmbar kawin dia nanti, ba kalau mau jadi tukang gambar buat bagus bagus boss, jangan main hantam saja, belum ada lagi gambar ko yang menarik.

My comment:
So sorry for you Chris, you were included by them. I must appologize for it. Thats normal when people don't agree with my works. Main hantam? Did you ever see how I work? What is your proof of me main hantam? With each photo displayed in my blog, I can describe WHEN, WHY and HOW i took the shoot. None of my photos are interesting? Ofcourse I can't satisfy every individuals. I hope to satisfy everyone but thats not possible. Even the best photographer in the world can't satisfy and have the "WOW" comment from everyone, but what will be our pleasure is the appreciation to our works.

Thanks for the comment again. I am not sure what is the persons intention to send me those comments, but all I have to say, I am grateful for it. You know I was expecting someone to send such comments to me. And thanks again, I really appreciate your effort to share your thoughts with me, perhaps we could have sit together at a restaurant and drink "nestum nai suam". Don't worry, I pay the bills(^^,)

I do have your IP address and I have your email too. I know your email might not be your real email, but your IP address? well I know someone who can track it back to you(^^,) Yet don't worry, I love your comments and do keep it coming. God Bless you;)