Ant-ercise

This weekend I did not meet my uncle for our morning walk because he is oversea. Instead I went to Bishan Park with my Olympus 570UZ camera for my walk, hoping to take some photographs of birds. This Olympus 570UZ comes with a 20X optical zoom (26mm-520mm) and a Super Macro Mode which allows you to take micro/macro shots of up to 1cm. This sound like a dream camera for me because I love taking pictures of birds and micro photography so the Ultra Zoom and Super Macro all come in handy.

I took many pictures of birds and some close-up pictures of insects during my walk but I'm more fascinated by the micro video shot I took of an ant with this camera. I was sitting on a bench observing two yellow birds and some mynahs chasing each other up on a tree when I felt a painful sting on my leg. My natural instinct and auto-reflexes make me brush the red-ant off my leg instantly and it felt onto the bench I was sitting on. After the ant pick itself up, it paused for a while and stood still with it front legs swing about in mid air as if to protest against me for my action!

As for me, I thought it would be interesting to capture the ant in super macro mode so I quickly switch to Super Macro Mode and triggered off a few shots. Since the ant was still there after the few shots I quickly switched over to video mode to capture the following footage. Despite the painful bite I managed to capture some very interesting footage of this little ant and I feel getting bitten is all worthwhile!

Infra-red Photography

I read about infra-red photography way back in the early 1980s but I did not explore this form of photography until I bought my Nikon D100 a couple of years back. I took around 5 or 6 infra-red photos when I went cycling at East Coast Park a few years back and I loved the results. I have not taken any infra-red pictures since then because of the troublesome process.

To take infra-red pictures, beside your camera (must have manual white balance setting) and a lens you will need an infra-red filter (I use Hoya R72) and a sturdy tripod because the shutter-speed can go quite low even in bright daylight. Nature (the Sun) also plays an important role in infra-red photography because you will not get a good infra-red picture on a gloomy day.

Composition is also affected because the infra-red filter is so dark that you could hardly see what's in front of your lens even in bright daylight! Unless you are very hardworking and don't mind repeating the steps - removing the infra-red filter from your lens, compose your picture, put the filter back onto your lens, take a manual white balance reading under the lighting condition and finally taking the picture. It would be fine if you are only taking 1 or 2 pictures. Image you are taking around 30 or 40 pictures, that is a lot of repetitive steps!

Being a lazy me, I left the filter on all the time and roughly gauge my composition using the flash hot-shoe on my camera as a guide. I use a fixed Nikon AF 24mm lens for my infra-red pictures because I know the angle of view for this lens (I could roughly visualise the angle of coverage in my mind - easier to compose my picture) and it is much cheaper to buy a 52mm infra-red filter than a 72mm or 77mm filter!

Lion Dance

Many Chinese believes that having a lion dance in one's premises could bring about good luck and prosperity to the people who live or work in that premises. It could also chase away any evil spirit in the premises. Every year we invite a lion dance troupe to perform in our office hoping that it would bring good luck and prosperity to our businesses and to all our colleagues.

Here's a lion clip I took during Chinese New Year. Hopefully it will bring good luck and prosperity to all of you who view this footage. Huat ah!!!

Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is such a gigantic aircraft and I'm very excited to be able to photograph it up close! Yes, where else could I have the opportunity to do so other than at the Singapore Airshow. The only regret is I do not get to board it during the Airshow and I only get to view the interior through a replica model in the exhibition hall.

My disappointment of not being able to board the A380 is showhow compensated when I watched the skillful pilot maneuvering this gigantic aircraft at slow speed and at such low altitude during the aerial display. Hope one day I will have the opportunity to hop onto an A380 and fly away to my favourite holiday destination.