Abu Mukhtaar's Photography

Choosing Nature Photography - Birding

2010-12-28T02:52:00.000-08:00

I have great respect for nature. I always felt that more can be done to preserve the flora and fauna of Singapore. This tiny Island of ours is never a boring place to live in. It is ancient and it is rich with biodiversity only until the last 100 years or so. More should be done to conserve what is left. And just in case the younger generation didnt know what inhabits this Island besides the humans, I will collect whatever evidences i can find in terms of pictures and perhaps some anecdotal records.

among the creatures that are surviving the great singapore extinction event are the birds. though they are never immuned to it. I will try to photograph the birds I can spot wherever and whenever possible. Birds are simply amazing. Their tiny size defies the challenges they face namely, loss of natural habitat, hunting, lack of food supply, diseases and invasive species. they taught me how to be patient and be persistent in facing gargantuan challenges in life. If tiny birds cand do it, so can we.

Updated equipment list

2010-07-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

As of today's date I have the following equipment

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EOS 550D
Panasonic Lumx FZ-18
Sigma 10-22mm f/4-5.6 EX DG HSM
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM
Canon EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Canon EF Extender 1.4x II
Nissin Di866

Sigh... So much good equipment but so little time...

Cheers

The 7D

2010-05-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

The 7D is the camera I would like to have. I intend to buy it at the end of the year. However by chance, I got hold of it by exchanging my 50D and my Canon EF-S 10-22mm. The High ISO performance is fantastic! No more irritating vertical banding!

The 7D is heavier than 50D... To a point I'm getting tired of the weight around the shoulders. So heavy till I decided to let go the battery grip that I usually love to have. Later I missed my wide angle lens terribly. I then bought a second hand Sigma 10-20mm EX HSM for $ 690 to compensate my earlier lost.

The guy who got hold of my 50D - I felt that he regret it. Too bad, I'm not going to return the 50D to him. I am now contemplating to sell my 7D. It will yield cash that can buy 2 DSLRs! I sometimes need two DSLRs when shooting important events. But then again I'm quite emotionally attached to my 7D. Its the best DSLR I've ever owned at this point. Whichever decision I made, there is always points that make me unhappy.

So how.... Allah may be joking at me. I asked for 100-400mm IS USM lens he gave me 7D...

The craving begins again...

2010-01-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

I now crave for the following lens...

(a) EF 50mm F/1.4 USM - SGD 580
(b) EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS USM - SGD 2600
(c) EF 100mm F/2.8L Macro IS USM - SGD 1600

Total burn: $ 4780

(a) I was wondering what kind of bokeh and background blur the 50mm can produce. How fast the lens can be (1.8 vs 1.4)? It would be a great portraiture lens on my 50D.

(b) The 100-400mm is the longest focal length zoom lens Canon has made. It would be extremely useful for my nature shots. Hopefully it can fill up my frame with small colourful birds. The weight will definitely create more muscles for me.

(c) This is the newest macro lens canon has to offer. It has a newer generation of image stabilization. I want to see how 1:1 magnification really works. It is extremely sharp and can do portraiture as well.

I dont have this kind of money yet. Have to wait...

Cheers

New Equipment...

2009-12-24T02:07:00.000-08:00

New Equipment I got hold of lately... Alhamdulillah!

Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM
Canon EF-s 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM
Canon EF Extender II 1.4X
Nissin Di866 Flash
Lens Hood for Canon EF-s 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM

The equipment above will be my main weapons from now onwards.

Cheers...

a new chapter

2009-12-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

today marks an important event in my journey as an amateur photographer. I got hold of my very first L lens, the ef 70-200mm f/4L is usm. It costs sgd1850. I bought the ef extender 1.4x mark ii. It costs sgd470. And finally the best low light, constant aperture ef-s lens, the ef-s 17-55mm f/2.8 is usm. Cost me sgd1550. I will now be able to use ambient light in low-light situations that does not require to freeze subject's movement.

A short on-the-field review of Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 III USM

2009-12-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

The EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 III USM is undeniably the cheapest and longest telephoto zoom lens that Canon made available to the masses. It comes with the 1000D as a bundled lens together with the 18-55mm. If you read the reviews at the following websites:

www.the-digital-picture.com
www.slrgear.com

...you realise that this Lens got pretty much bashing. Cheap, light lens with mediocre image quality.

I recently used this lens for the SANA Zoo outing. The outdoors is very dark thanks to the weaker evening sun and layers upon layers of grey clouds. Thank goodness it doesnt rain. The Lens needed to be stopped down and it makes my job very difficult to shoot at slow shutter speeds. In order to get higher shutter speed, at certain situations, I have to jack up the iso as high as ISO3200. Very grainy... At ISO3200, only 1/3 of the pics can be used.

The image stabilization feature present in my damaged EF-S 55-250mm IS lens is deeply missed. As well as its sharpness and lack of chromatic aberrations.

However, with great struggle, the following pictures are taken. Its not that good but its also not that bad huh? If you want me to describe how to attain it using this "mediocre" lens let me know.

[1] a detailed sculpture of a crocodile

[2] an otter relaxing

[3] the vigilant meerkat on sentry duty

[4] the tamarind

[5] the majestic man-eating white tiger

Anyway I find the whole experience very challenging. I enjoyed it. I wish I'm at the zoo a little bit longer.

Cheers.

SANA Outing Event Photography Post-Mortem

2009-12-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Shooting in a weather that is threathening a downpour is indeed very challenging. In the zoo, where most shots are taken outdoors, makes me nervous. The thick grey clouds and the weak evening sun makes the outdoors very dark. I constantly used ISO range 800 - 3200. Even that makes some pics appear underexposed as I struggled to get a higher shutter speed.

The 75-300mm III USM performs well within its limitations. Of course, at lower shutter speeds you will get blur shots without tripod and IS. I miss IS terribly. Getting sharp pictures is also a struggle as the effects of NR kicks in to blur the pics further. My only salvation is the RAW format. Hopefully I can generate better pics when I edit them in Canon's DPP software. I'm not a Photoshop expert. Need one to teach how to use it effectively. The pictures from ISO3200 appears soft after standard noise reduction. The white balance is set to AWB but later changed to "cloudy" to match the very cloudy conditions in the Zoo. This improves the colour and contrast.

My 18-55mm lens died today. It refuses to Autofocus at all. However it took a number of pictures before it died. Luckily the 10-22mm and 50mm F/1.8 manage to save the day. The 10-22 effectively took a huge group picture under a white tentage that could bounce my underpowered 270EX. The low-light dinner pictures turn out excellent.

I'm going to post some Zoo pics soon. Going to edit my RAW pics for now. Good night and have a nice weekend.

SANA Event at the Zoo.

2009-12-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'm going to attend a SANA event held at the Singapore Zoo. Officially the event will kick off at 2:30pm and end at 5:30pm. However, I have to be at SANA HQ at Sengkang by 12:30pm. Earlier in the morning, I will be with my family at Central Fire Station. My son, Mukhtaar wanted to board a Fire Engine. Besides that he will enjoy a visit to the Civil Defence Heritage Center. So by 11:30am I must catch a train to Sengkang from City Hall MRT station. Since my Canon EOS 50D is not fully weather resistant I wonder how I can take pictures if there's rain and thunderstorm. Especially in this rainy season.

Equipment checklist:

Canon EOS 50D
EFS 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM
EFS 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS
EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 III USM (my EFS 55-250mm IS front is badly damaged)
Speedlite 270EX
2 spare BP511A batteries
2 spare CF 4GB Cards
Plastic Bags and Rubber Bands for water-proofing

Photography will be limited to rain shelters or whatever I can manage under an umbrella. May Allah swt make everything smooth tomorrow, Ameen.

Reflections on the Muslim photographer Part I

2009-12-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

Dear me,

Being a Muslim is not only when

1. you are on a prayer mat.
2. you go to the mosque.
3. you are with your religious teacher.
4. you are with your religious pals.
5. you read the quran and/or hadith
6. you are leading a jemaah in solat
7. you are in a tariqah
8. are in a position or location that people can see you...
9. and many other situations.

Being a Muslim is to submit our intellect, our ego, our pride, our beliefs, our values, our direction, our breath, our time, every heartbeat.... All to Allah swt and his Rasulullah saw in order to qualify to earn the everlasting Rahmat of Allah swt. Hopefully then we enter Jannah.

Hence, as Muslim Photographers we must be conscious that we are Muslims 24h a day with or without our photography gear. We must be conscious that whatever we do is not exempted from the Judgement of Allah swt. And Allah s.w.t never made mistakes in his Judgement on the Day of Judgement. We must therefore be very conscious and be meticuluous in what we photograph, who we photograph, what place we photograpgh, the messages in our photos and so on. Do we remember Allah swt when we are out photographing the world that Allah swt creates?

Do we maintain clear halal/haram boundaries when we are handling our assignments or when we go out for any of our outings. Do we spend more time in photography than with Allah swt and His Rasul saw. Do we use our equipment and expertise to bring ourselves and people to Allah or the direct opposite. Do we spend to much Rezki on our Photography and too litle on giving Sedeqah (donations). Do we not reflect on the creations that Allah made and we just photograph for fun. Are any of our composition breeds Fitnah and becomes part of Dajjal's tools to make people more distant from Allah swt.

O Allah forgive me and my friends. For we have sinned. Please make me and others like me a complete Muslim and make our hobby an ibadah for us and a benefit to us and the people around us. Make us bow to You in humility and loyalty for without You we are nothing. And without Your Mercy we will sure be among those who does evil upon ourselves. Ameen.

Why I want the EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM?

2009-12-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

Background:

I'm sure when we first started using our own DSLRs we find that the kit lens that come with it is quite adequate. I thought I can live with the EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS for decades to come. Afterall theres a saying... Its not the camera that counts but the person who's shooting behind it. Why then buy a 17-55mm lens that may cost SGD 1600 to replace the kit lens?

Reason:

At F/3.5 sometimes light is not adequate enough in dark or dimly-lit indoors. Matters become worse when the 18-55mm lens is zoomed into its 55mm tele-end. Slightly more than 1-stop of light is lost at F/5.6. With lesser light, lower shutter speed is needed to get a correct exposure. The shutter speed can be so low until the IS cannot help at all. Blur images you will get.

The shutter speed can be increased if we use a bouncing external flash or if we jack up the ISO. External flash however like the 270EX I owned is not powerful enough sometimes or it doesnt recharge fast enough. ISO when jacked up may cause more noise to the pic. And finally there is always the reason of sharpness. The 17-55 is sharper than 18-55 even if it is used at the largest aperture (F/2.8). At F/2.8, the 17-55mm will allow me to obtain higher shutter speeds and prevent me using higher ISOs. At F/2.8 it is also much easier to get pleasing background blur or bokeh.

And last the 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM produces image quality near or the same as an L Lens such as the EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM. In fact on my 50D Cropped Sensor the 17-55 covers the similar range. I dont foresee myself upgrading to a full frame in the near future. At least not until a full frame dslr cost lest that SGD 2500. Even If I want to upgrade to a fullframe later, the 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM has a high resale value. Provided that the lens is well taken care of.

Conclusion:

I have to wait for my year-end pay to come before I can afford to buy one.

Brief intro and out of facebook.

2009-12-03T17:24:00.001-08:00

I'm a photography enthusiast. Besides taking pictures I also love to share my knowledge with fellow photographers - newbies, oldies and pros. The following are weapons I had in my arsenal:

1. Canon EOS 50D (main DSLR)
2. Panasonic FZ18, Leica DC Vario Elmarit 28-504mm (35mm equiv) (Back-up camera)
3. Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM
4. Canon EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS
5. Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS
6. Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 Mark II
7. Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 III USM
8. Canon Speedlite 270EX

Equipment I used to handle: Sony A100, 18-70mm, 75-300mm. Nikon D40X. Canon EOS 1000D (my first own dslr) And various other mainly Canon point and shoots.

Weapons that I'm aiming for:

1. Canon EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM
2. Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM
3. Canon Speedlite 580EX II

I'm out of Facebook. This is due to certain valid reasons. I'm going to miss my friends but my real friends will know how to get in touch with me. My images and photographic experiences will now be shared here. Higher quality images can be found in my flickr account in my Links.