Happy New Year!

Welcome 2009 !

Here comes 2009 !!  Happy New Year to all of you ! It has been 16 years since I born into this world. Now it’s time to me to be 17 years old. Thanks to God,  Allah! So this year is gonna change my live, my attitude, my life style, and my future. This year, I will be seating in SPM. So, wish me full of LUCK. I’m taking Engineering Drawing and Engineering Technology. Engineering Drawing is quite easy but for Engineering Technology is quiet tough! hahha!  My ambition is to be an Architect ! Well, I know I have no talent in this career, but I have interest in this career. I always thinking a new building with future technology. That’s why I take Engineering subject.This exam could be my change to chase my ambition. I know I weak in Math, Physics and Chemistry subject. But, I will work hard for that. Now I have desier to gain more knowlegde. So, Happy New Year to you guys ! Have a nice trip of life !

Silhouette? Maybe for beginner this is a new word. So, I just wanna describe it a little bit. For me, this kind of technique of photography is so awesome! Why you don’t try it your self! It kinda easy. You just to read my tips and keep in your mind. I have read many of article in magazine and in internet. Many tips that you can learn.

So, what is a Silhouette?
In photography, a silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. More specifically, it is where your subject is seen as a black shape without detail

Bench

against a brighter background. This is an artistic outcome that many photographers like to perfect. This effect can be achieved with any kind of bright light source, but of course the most commonly used is the sun around sunrise or sunset. The back lighting from the sun shadows everything towards you and produces this effect.

My Silhouette Tips
When you are getting ready to take your silhouette pictures, there are

Boy looking at birds

a couple things to keep in mind. These tips work for both digital and film photography. Make sure you never point the lens directly at the sun. If there is too much light, the light will fall on your object. If there is not enough light, your background will become gray. The

main key to silhouette lighting is having your background lighter than your object, but this can be done in more ways then one. Many photographers focus on a certain time of day, where their subject is, what kind of weather there is, and where the sun positioned in the frame. If you want to take a picture when sunset, make sure you bring a tripod. It’s important.

These pictures I just took from Flickr.com

Building and sky

What is the Ray Flash?
The Ray Flash is a unique adapter for your hot-shoe flash unit designed to replicate the lighting effect

example picture

produced by traditional, expensive, and heavy powered studio ring flash units.

The Ray Flash is portable and lightweight, and has been designed to take advantage of a camera’s TTL metering capabilities.  Because the Ray Flash relies on the hot-shoe flash to generate its light, it contains no electronics, no flash tubes and requires no cumbersome cables.  The light distribution is accomplished through a sophisticated system of internal light-shapers designed to distribute and project the light evenly around the lens.

The Ray Flash creates a unique ring flash lighting effect:  a three-dimensional shadow-wrapped look around the subject.  Because ring flash light originates from a circle around the lens, it produces a virtually shadowless look on the front of your subject, while producing a soft even shadow around the edges. The versatile Ray Flash is ideally suited for fashion, wedding, portrait, journalist and macro photography as either a main or fill-in light.

Exposure control:

exp. pic using ray flash

All TTL functions operate normally when using the Ray Flash.  As with standard flash use, manual exposure control requires the use of a light meter or test-shots.

The Ray Flash is designed to fit the Canon 580EX (I & II) and Nikon SB800 flash units.  Weighing about 16 oz, the Ray Flash is lightweight and is easily supported by hot-shoe mounted flash units.  The 4 1/8” internal diameter of the Ray Flash is large enough to accept almost all professional lenses from Nikon & Canon.  For the model range see the chart below.

Light output:
The Ray Flash results in minimal light loss from your flash’s standard output.  The Ray Flash does not change a flash’s color temperature.

How to fit the Ring Flash Adapter:

Mount the Ray Flash to the front of a portable flash unit by sliding the Ray Flash over the front of the flash unit. Then turn the lock on top of the Ray Flash to hold the Ray Flash firmly in place.  The Ray Flash requires no modifications to your flash unit to mount.

step 1, step 2 and step 3

more info click here.

EOS 1000D

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 10 June 2008: Canon today announces its latest D-SLR, the EOS 1000D. Featuring a 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor, 7-point wide area AF system and up to 3fps continuous JPEG shooting until the memory card is full, the EOS 1000D represents a more affordable entry point to the world of EOS cameras – whilst taking full advantage of over 70 years of imaging expertise.

With the lightest body of any digital EOS camera, the EOS 1000D incorporates a range of technologies used in Canon’s professional EOS-1 series cameras, including the DIGIC III image processor, and Live View mode. For straight-from-the-box shooting, the EOS 1000D is available with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS lens – which includes 4-stop image stabilisation, ensuring superb performance even in low-light conditions.

“The EOS 1000D is a small camera with a big idea: the supreme

Canon EOS 1000D

adaptability and image quality of the EOS system, in an accessible, affordable package,” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging Europe. “For anyone ready to take the next step in creative photography, it offers the perfect entry point to the world of D-SLR.”

Features at a glance:

• 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• 7-point wide-area AF system with f/5.6 cross-type -centre point
• Up to 3 frames per second
• 2.5” LCD with Live View shooting
• DIGIC III image processor
• Compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards
• Compact and lightweight body
• Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
• Fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites

More Info click here.

Street price = RM1900

undercover

Gameplay
Many race modes of previous installments are returning such as “Sprint” and “Circuit”. Many multiplayer modes are also featured in side quests littered around the city in single player but there are no “Drift” or “Drag” events as there have been in some previous Need for Speed games.

Developer(s): EA Black Box
Publisher(s) : Electronic Arts
Designer(s) : Oliver Marriott (director)
Series Need for Speed
Engine Heroic Driving Engine (PS3, 360, PC)
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, N-Gage 2.0, Wii, Xbox 360, Mobile phone, iPod Touch , iPhone
Release date(s): NA November 18, 2008, AUS November 20, 2008, EU November 21, 2008
Genre(s): Racing
Mode(s) : Single-player, Multi-player
Media : Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Wii Optical Disc, UMD
System requirements Minimum (PC):

* Windows XP or Vista with latest service pack
* Intel Pentium 4 (or equivalent) CPU running at 2.8GHz or higher (3.0GHz for Windows Vista)
* 1GB RAM
* Geforce 6500, Radeon 9500 or better DirectX compliant video card with Pixel shader 2.0 or above and a supported chipset
* DirectX compatible sound card
* 8X or faster DVD Drive
* 5.5 GB of HD space
* (For Online Play) Network card with broadband connectivity

need for speed site
video - this video will turn you up !

People pictures fall into two categories: portraits and candid. Either can be made with or without your subject’s awareness and cooperation.

However near or far your subject, however intimate or distant the gaze your camera casts, you always need to keep in mind the elements of composition and the technique that will best help you communicate what you are trying to say.

Get Closer

The most common mistake made by photographers is that they are not physically close enough to their subjects. In some cases this means that the center of interest—the subject—is just a speck, too small to have any impact. Even when it is big enough to be decipherable, it usually carries little meaning. Viewers can sense when a subject is small because it was supposed to be and when it’s small because the photographer was too shy to get close.

Don’t be shy. If you approach people in the right way, they’ll usually be happy to have their picture made. It’s up to you to break the ice and get them to cooperate. Joke around with them. Tell them why you want to make the picture. Practice with people you know so that you are comfortable; people can sense when you aren’t.

ids: Being Unobtrusive

Candid

You may want to make photographs of people going about their business—vendors in a market, a crowd at a sports event, the line at a theater. You don’t want them to appear aware of the camera. Many times people will see you, then ignore you because they have to concentrate on what they are doing. You want the viewers of the image to feel that they are getting an unguarded, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the scene.

There are several ways to be unobtrusive. The first thing, of course, is to determine what you want to photograph. Perhaps you see a stall in a market that is particularly colorful, a park bench in a beautiful setting—whatever has attracted you. Find a place to sit or stand that gives you a good view of the scene, take up residence there, and wait for the elements to come together in a way that will make your image.

If you’re using a long lens and are some distance from your subject, it will probably be a while before the people in the scene notice you. You should be able to compose your image and get your shot before this happens. When they do notice you, smile and wave. There’s a difference between being unobtrusive and unfriendly. Another way to be unobtrusive is to be there long enough so that people stop paying attention to you. If you are sitting at a café order some coffee and wait. As other patrons become engrossed in conversations or the paper, calmly lift the camera to your eye and make your exposure. In most cases, people either won’t notice or won’t mind. But be judicious. Don’t keep firing away and become a nuisance. They w/em> mind. You can also set the camera on the table with a wide-angle lens pointed at your subject and simply press the remote release when the time is right. Modern auto focus and auto exposure cameras make this easy to do as well.