When I lost the pictures folder yesterday, I thought that was it. Then, I remember having a nephew who is quite an IT wizard (in the making) and asked for his advice. The solution he gave? It was so simple and it made me feel like a fool: All I needed to do was download 'PC Inspector Recovery' from the Net, he said. And with that, I managed to extract quite a number of those pictures with several displayed here, and at Pictures-Only.
Soon after that, and heeding MS's advice, I decided to learn using Picasa and found it truly an amazing software. Its not just that it is able to enhance the images (which I am not too keen about), but it helps to suppress the file size, making uploading of images a breeze. And as for the images I've uploaded today, I admit to using 'sharpen'. 'soften', and 'contrast adjuster', without touching on the other tools available there. Even that, I found the colours, especially for the series of Kingfisher shots, somewhat too rich for my liking. The 2 pictures of the Magpie below, however, seem to pale in comparison.
The Kingfisher (below), was the subject of my stalk for several hours, after having spotted only its blue-colour tail flying into the darkness of the tress of the forest there. After waiting quite a bit and was about to hightail out of the place, a movement caught the corner of my eye and instinctly knew it was the bugger. Alhamdulillah, it was as though I was being rewarded for the patience and managed a series of shots. But he does look kind of odd here, with the head and lower body in brown, and the chest in white.
MS told me of a story of a Singaporean who patiently stalked a bird every weekend for a whole year. Travelling all the way to a point in the Muar River, the man was rewarded for his dilligence, and patience, with the 1st prize in a Sony Nature Shot Competition Worldwide. Well, I do not think I can ever come close to the quality the guy managed, but I can understand and appreciate what he went through. Perhaps, when I gain more knowledge and experience, the reward, will be the picture itself, as I believe it was with that Singaporean. And who knows, the trip to Desaru tomorrow, might just give me more exposures. InsyAllah.Update 1.09am / 010409: The Desaru trip has been postponed to Thursday morning, leaving me either the morning or afternoon free to snap more pictures at the lake. Boy, I really am 'kemaruk'!
Shah, how I wished that I am there to take those shots.
ReplyDeleteGreat images so keep going and enjoy. Have a nice day.
Salam Pak Idrus,
ReplyDeleteThank you. But now that you mentioned it, perhaps you, Pok Ku, and a few other like-minded bloggers could come over to Kota Damansara. OK, I know this is not the only place in Selangor, but you ought to have a look at the lake and the natural world there; its really like a natural Shangri-La - a natural oasis in the dessert of concrete jungle!
If ever you think of popping over, just inform me beforehand and we can spend a whole afternoon there.
bro
ReplyDeleteIn the kingfisher shot, I don't think it was clear enough what the subject was. Look at it in totality again and you'll see what I mean. See it? And the colours seem too muted.
The magpies were nice, tho.
Salam MB,
ReplyDeleteCan't help it with the Kingfisher, mate. This is the best I can do with the lens I have. To do better, I would need RM7,000 at the very least. Nature Photography, of birds especially, is a very expensive pursuit, our bro MS informed me, much to my dismay, off course.
Salam Bro!
ReplyDeleteNice picture...yups really nice...suka tengok pic no. 2...
Owh...postponed eh...ingat kan lupa...hahahaha
Bro'.. betoi Bird Bangkai cakap tuh about the Kingfisher. I must add, pictures of animals or things (apart from people because you need a fine eye for human skin tones) must have some degree of saturation. But pictures need to be sharper and have more detail, if not you cannot hold viewer's interest. The Magpie is ok but see Magpie topmost and bottommost. See how cluttered the subject is amidst the leaves and branches? The bottommost shot, for example, the viewer is directed to the palm-fronds which takes two-thirds of the frame. So they weren't looking at the intended subject, sadly. Also, subject matter does not always have to be in the center of the frame. Bro', composition is what we are talking about. Crop as necessary. Know the rule-of-thirds? Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteW'salam Cello,
ReplyDeleteThank you. Tapi dalam ertikata bro MS, ianya boleh ditingkatkan lagi.
A'ah, postponed. La ni lak, email yahoo bermasalah sampai tak tahu ada comment atau tidak; maaf lewat jawab ye :)
Salam MS,
ReplyDeleteBro, point taken. But quality of picture degrades with each crop, resulting in grainier images. That, is what happened to the Kingsfisher. From previous experience, I already knew it how it would turn out but just could not resist snapping and uploading them. Blame it on my itchy fingers.
Went to see Manan earlier today and got him to reset the camera. InsyAllah, close shots after this ought to be better.
Salam,
ReplyDeleteSah anda mmg sudah kemaruk.hehehe..
I LOVE THE FIRST ONE...bagus sangat fokusnya and the effect suits it well. Saya rasa kesunyian burung itu. hehe.
ReplyDeletesalam.. i'm also suka ambik gambar..but kekangan masa i have to slow down
ReplyDeletewah wah wah tengah praktis jadi paparazi ehhh... winks winks winks
ReplyDeleteW'salam HiDayah,
ReplyDeleteHehe...kebenaran yang tidak dapat dinafikan lagi ;)
Salam Intan,
ReplyDeleteYou do (love the first one)? Thank you. That made my day :)
(er...bab kesunyian tu, dok perli ke?) :)
W'salam arsaili,
ReplyDeleteWah! Kalau gitu, ada le can saya belajar dari anda nanti ye :)
Salam Alin,
ReplyDeleteSsshhhh...ni kan time ekonomi merudum. Maka, terpaksalah meluaskan skop kerja :)