My new gear

If someone asked me if I ever wished to own a DSLR camera a month ago, I would definitely give a firm "no". However I was quite surprised by how things have turned out to be too, and yes, I'm now shooting photos using a little more advanced camera - Canon EOS 1100D.


I used to have an incorrect perception towards some technical knowledge of the photo shooting world. I thought megapixel fully decides how a camera is worth its price and rating. I had never gone deep into how a camera really works. I was always wondering why people would have chosen a heavy and bulky camera ( I didn't know the referred camera is called DSLR ) rather than a convenient compact camera which has a higher megapixel value.

I was introduced to more photography terminologies and some insightful operating theories of cameras when I stayed with my previous college roommate for more than a year. He was holding a Canon EOS 500D equipped with a lot of accessories. Under his influence, I spent some time to read articles of introduction to photography and related guides from Internet as well as reviews of entry-level DSLR cameras. I managed to catch some ideas of several factors to be taken care of during photo shooting such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc.

Picking up photographing as a hobby isn't as easy as we might think because at the end of the day we are still bound to one of the most important considerations - money. If you have no idea of how much an amateur photographer would spend for basic DSLR camera sets, I shall give you an example here. While we are gradually improving our photographing skills, we need to upgrade our gadgets such as lens. My roommate spent more than RM2000 for normal camera set, another RM3000 for additional lens and digital flash. Sometimes a single lens would cost more than the total amount of money that my roommate spent for all of his photographing gadgets! It takes a considerable amount of money, time, passion, patience, skills building and experience to enter a semi-pro stage.

Why did I decide to own a DSLR camera out of a sudden? My family has been sharing and using a 10mp compact digital camera. I realised the quality of photos could have been better due to some limitations in compact digital camera. I wish to take great photos of each of my family members. Secondly, when I'm in India in the coming August, I wish to capture memorable moments and share it with friends and family. I was attracted by the advertisement of this latest product of Canon, the brown-coloured entry-level camera model which was released in March 2011. Thrust by great interest and urge, permission was gained from my parents, and I finally hold it in my hands.

Just a few weeks after the original set of camera bought, I further equipped myself with several important and handy camera lens and photography accessories as shown below.

Canon lens EF 50mm f/1.8 II

If I'm not mistaken this is the cheapest Canon lens available in the current market. It still costs about RM300. Almost every Canon DSLR user would go for this popular lens as their second lens because of its large aperture. What can a large aperture give? It enables photos taken at night or dark areas to be clearer and most importantly it gives great bokeh (out-of-focus area).

As you can see, the background is highly out of focused, leaving a soothing and blurred effect. A compact digital camera would hardly give us this kind of effect.

Canon zoom lens EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6 III

You might be surprised by the fact that this lens is as old as I'm. Surprisingly it can still fit into my camera body and function well after I found it out in the storeroom. However it doesn't come with image stabiliser (IS) technology. I'm wondering how much its virtual market price is about since no one is selling or purchasing this lens anymore. But I'm happily keeping it in my camera bag although I seldom shoot photos using it.

A tripod

For shutter speed slower than 1/30 seconds and above, the photos taken are prone to handshakes under normal zoom range without the aid of a tripod. Therefore to perform some photo shooting that requires a longer exposure time especially during night time, I bought this tripod with RM50. Moreover, by switching my camera to self-timer mode, I can include myself into the image! For more advanced photo shooting options such as high dynamic range imaging (HDRI), I need to combine three photos of same position but different exposures, therefore a tripod is needed.

I took a family photo with the aid of my tripod.

This is a sample of photoshopped HDR image.

Nissin Di622 Mark II digital flash

Nissin is a third party brand. It does not build cameras. I'm supposed to buy a Canon digital flash, however the market price for getting one having similar function and specification of the one shown above is around RM900. Accessories produced by third parties could be very cheap, and some of them could still guarantee a decent quality and performance. I had gone through the reviews of different third party digital flashes via Internet and asked for some advice around. Eventually I found out the one I bought as shown above has a great reputation. The price of RM470 is within my budget too. Controlling lights could be difficult for beginners. Despite shooting repeatedly to obtain the preferred result, I can see the potential of how the colour and tones of a photo could be greatly improved by applying a particular amount of flashlight at a certain angle properly. Direct flash using built-in camera flash often creates harsh image with annoying shines and shadows. Digital flash is capable of rotating and light filtering, thus it is a versatile device to add more artificial lights. It gives a vibrant colour tone too.

Photo of my grandmother without using a digital flash.

Photo colour enhanced with some removal of undesired shadows compared to the previous photo. Flashlight is bounced from the wall onto her left face.

There are still a lot to explore and learn about. I would appreciate any advice regarding photo shooting given. Hopefully I can share great photos with you guys!

Respect our name

It has been a long time since I noticed quite a number of my friends have preferred people to address them by their own coined nickname. In my opinion it has nothing wrong to have a nickname for better recognition among newly met friends, as long as it is related to your abbreviation of your name, your character, your appearance and others. For example, my name is Jin Xiang. Some of my Malay friends find it hard to pronounce words starting with the alphabet "X", so I always recommend them to address me in the way they pronounce "Siang" in Malay language. Both of the words are homonym, moreover the word "Siang" brings the meaning of morning in their language. Some of my Indian friends have long names, so they abbreviate it.

Normally Chinese names would not appear to be too long nor too complicated. It usually consists of three words - rarely two or four, and the first word is the surname that enables you to track back your origins and the line of ancestors. For instance, my full name is Lui Jin Xiang, a typical Chinese name that does not fit into the first and last name system existing in Europe because people tend to relate first name to surname. In order to show my Chinese name as Lui Jin Xiang, it is a must to give my name by Lui as last name. We show respect to our ancestors, so we don't put it behind. So, for me it is a little annoying to categorise my surname as last name.

Perhaps you don't know, or even some of the Chinese don't even feel the importance and underlying obligation to be proud of your surname as well as your name given by your parents. It shows a good example of how influential it can be, when we come across with some historical facts of some heroes sharing the same surname with us did something great, we would feel glad and honored. How if that person had been notorious? We would really feel guilty and sorry for him. There lies an invisible link among Chinese of same surname. How about the name given by your parents? Do you think it does not carry any meaning? Or they had not been considerate enough to give you a unique name you desire?

And here comes the main point of updating this post. I do wonder what the motive of getting an unnecessary nickname is. I have no comment on people who changed their names because of some beliefs and religious needs. I guess every Christian would need to add an English name in front of their surnames for the reason I have not discovered. However sometime I sense that several of those who changed their names, either in a formal or informal way, have shown disrespect to their own identities and sheer western advocacy. Maybe you don't like to live with your current name because it is too common, fine, reflect on what you have omitted, feel obligated and rectify it. The reason is simple. It is your identity granted by your parents! Appreciate the only naming system that conserves you and your ancestors' identity relations.

I'm officially 19 years old =)

Notifications of Facebook and text messages started to pile up within my laptop and handphone to the extent that although my fingers were working frantically, I couldn't manage to reply the all birthday wishes on time, all of these happened when it was near 12am of 22nd March.

I remember whenever it was my birthday, my family wouldn't fail to celebrate it, either inviting my friends to my birthday party or having a special dinner together. But this time it is fairly different.

I felt so warm, mainly because of that I was greatly surprised by my family. I sensed something fishy at 9pm yesterday as my sister suddenly asked me the song I like the most. Out of my expectation, they made a four-minute-video including the compilation of photos since my childhood moment running in slide show mode, to wish me a happy birthday which had been previously done for 18 consecutive years in my own house. Thank you Papa Mama, Jin Sheng, Jin Yao, Mei Mei and Ngen Ngen =) It is the best present I have ever received!

Lovely written cards from my friends.

At the same time I received a handmade birthday card from her! =) It was agonizing to have the envelope in my hands but I had to wait for 4 days until I was valid to open the envelope. Those words in the card tug deeply at my heartstrings, but I would like to apologize for not revealing them for the-reason-you-should-know =)


A mixture of old friends, relatives as well as my teacher and even my favourite lecturer left their wishes on the wall of my Facebook profile. I appreciate that very much =)

Things turned crazier when my friends planned to trick me in a cafe outside my college.

Ouch >.<"

I finally know how a face bumps into a cake feels. I know whose idea this is!

Here is the second vanilla cake. I like vanilla so much!

Thank you for enlightening my birthday =)

Birthday, in another perspective which is often emphasized by saints, is actually exactly what we can call it as a "disastrous day" of our mother. So instead of just having a blast with friends, we should actually spend some time on that day to reflect on how those days passed by when we were being ignorance but gradually raised and educated by our parents with great care and love after giving birth to us. 19 years has just gone in just a glimpse, what is left is what has remained in my memory, and I shall cherish every moment I had, which I only had.

The Beneficial Course

In the last two days, I spent my time in Lu Jiang Cultural Centre located just a stone throw away from The Mines shopping Mall. It was a two days and a night course or camp held under the support of more than 20 college mates having an intention to explore more about Di Zi Gui (弟子规).

Di Zi Gui is an ancient Chinese teaching advocated by Confucius, where it has influenced a lot of learners to behave positively and wisely. It is not only a compilation of intelligence inherited from the Chinese ancestors, it also serves as a guidance to a happy life. Some people might have misconception such that Confucianism is religious and it could pose conflicts to their existing mindset about the way to live their life. In my opinion, unless you have not been exposed to those Chinese historical stories or anecdotes at all, you would at least have a sense of resonance with the Confucian teaching because Di Zi Gui is closely related to the analogy extracted from those allusions.

We reached the centre at about 8.30am on the last Saturday. A teacher welcomed us through a polite ninety degree bow. We were really surprised as a man with approximately three times our ages could show his respect to us in this way. He spoke softly, gracefully and gently. This is a trait we could seldom come across with especially in this modern era with everything should have done quickly and harshly. The place is clean and interspersed with traditional Chinese decorating. Lanterns, calligraphy couplets, wood carvings, the ambiance had really thrilled me as I have a great interest in these! The staff were dressing in samfu and cheongsam too!

The courses were fantastic and insightful! Because we had only two days and a night, the courses were tightly packed. I particularly salute Teacher Song, a kind woman whose great proficiency of linguistic skills were shown in her fluent speech conducted in many languages and even dialects!

We were introduced to Di Zi Gui, learned about practicing healthy vegetarian diet and sharing of allusions which I miss a lot since primary school. Di Zi Gui is based on eight-fold virtues: 孝(filial piety), 悌(brotherhood), 忠(loyalty), 信(trustworthiness), 礼(propriety), 义(righteousness), 廉(cleanliness), 耻(shame).


There was a session of movie sharing. I strongly recommend the Korean movie to you, namely "The Way Home" which tugged at my heartstrings to the extent that I phoned my grandma after that to express my love to her which I had never done before. However she didn't seem to have any response to my words. I expected, as I have written somewhere in my blog that my family is very conservative, we don't take much obvious action to express our love to each other. However, we do know how much we love each other.

Talk about love, I eventually realised that family love is the foundation of love, it is the fundamental relationship that everyone has the responsibility to carry. How could we expect ourselves to have a true friendship, or to have a long term and "high resistance" relationship with the one we have chosen, or in my case, to have the compassion needed in my future profession towards the patients, if we have failed to do so to our family?



An ideal place to live =)

Happy birthday mama!

This is a delayed post, as it is meant to be posted on Thursday, 14-01-2010. Thanks to the half-day breakdown of electricity.


Today is my mother’s birthday!

So now you know this post is dedicated to her =)

Here is some introduction:

My mother, madam Ooi Kim Lee is more conservative than my father. We are less likely to share secret or feeling, but deep inside our heart, both of us know how much we care about each other. The best word to describe her is “moderate”, and, she has the best smile in my eyes =)

Being the first son to leave home in order to seek for a further study, I know how much she misses me, as whenever I occasionally went back to home during holidays, I noticed she would cook my favourite food in almost every meal!

The intriguing thing is that she seldom questioned nor rejected my demands, such as hanging around with friends at night which most of the parents disallow, participating in numberless co-curriculum activities, and asking for more money to spend, therefore normally my requests would be directed to my mother in order to be granted a quick and clear permission without my father’s notice :p

She has been working as a chemistry teacher of a secondary school for a long term of time, that’s why I could still be able to proudly announce chemistry as my “pet subject” despite the fact that I was fairly lazy during the period preparing for SPM examination. Under her experienced guiding, I have developed most of the fundamental and critical concepts that is still currently driving myself through A-Level syllabus in a relatively easy way. She is the best chemistry teacher I have ever had!

I enjoy the moderate freedom and continuous support given by my mother. Although she never voiced out her personal anticipation concerning my future, I do know that she puts so much of her hope on me such that someday she would be able to share the happiness of being excelled under her inculcation.



Maybe she hasn’t realized, I love her as much as she loves me =)

Happy birthday Mama! ;D

My beloved father

This post is dedicated to my father, and everyone who loves his or her mighty father.

It has almost been four months staying far apart from my hometown. I could only return there occasionally to meet my family.

I didn't know I would actually miss them so much - my siblings whom I always exchanged hot words with, my parents whom I still owe them a big hug and "I Love You!", my grandmother whom I put aside her conservative advice, or even took it as jokes. Not to forget my grandfather who had passed away on April Fool eight years ago, whom I had missed the golden time to fulfill filial piety.

I thought it wasn't a big deal to be here since I would have gotten used of the hectic lifestyle here but thing doesn't appear to be easy, especially when it was the day my father stepped into a new age, without his eldest son beside him during the celebration.

As you can see that's how powerful time has been leaving irreversible traces between the 15-year-interval.

Here is a short description about my father:

My father, Mr. Lui had been working as a teacher for decades before playing an significant role as the well honoured headmaster of one of the most prestigious local primary school. He had endured and at the same time surmounted the intense hardship all along the way. Having said that he is experienced in the educational career, he always had a lot of interesting, disheartening, and the stories which could tug at my heart strings. For instance, he shared the incident of how he persevered to travel more than two hours per day to a school located in rural area when he was a fresh teacher, and how his first salary was scammed by a senior teacher. I'm sure if he is to publish his memoirs, a great number of readers will be attracted, however he doesn't seem interested. He never failed to be the responsible head of household. He indoctrinated the importance to have a close-knit family, and to bear in mind that nothing stands more valuable than family. I have inherited almost all of his good traits - drawing, Chinese calligraphy, the rational way to think, and to be noble. It will always be a great time whenever he is beside us.

Here comes some photos of the celebration.

For those who can read Chinese, do kindly click on it to view the reflection by my father.

So, I'm here to wish my father a happy birthday, stay happy and healthy!

I love you papa! :)

When I was not at home

My homesickness ceased after staying for a week "in the middle of nowhere" (that's how people locate my college) but not when it came to a couple of days before departure to home. Thanks to my first examination week that has been postponed to a week after this holiday, I would have to reschedule my activities during this holiday. However I have squandered half of it before realizing I have only 5 more days to deal with the books (more than 15 kg) I brought back, but not now. I'm going to use this moment to share something I haven't updated right at here :)

This is how my college looks like.

As you can see the smart-looking guys are my housemates. The first person starting from left is Alee from Sabah, the diligent Malay. The guy in white is John from Sarawak. His greatest interest is Internet business, the field where most of us are not familiar with. The guy standing on my left hand side is called Maegyvear, a Kadazan hailed from Sabah also. Being active in Christian Fellowship and crowned to be "The Prince" during the orientation week, he is undoubtedly the most renowned person in the college.

Thanks to the seniors from the same secondary school of mine :)

I bought a new table for comfort after getting frustrated by the books jumbled up on my small desk, yet the books still jumble up easily. You guys know why.

"Learning is like sailing against the current, you would lag behind if stop moving."

These words are creative indeed.

This is one of the myriad types of bugs I have to confront every night. Somehow the mosquito here appears to be more furious. There was a spider hiding in my sport shoe too, luckily it escaped by the time I grabbed the shoe.

Time to get home :)

My little sister collected these while I was not at home!

Good bye and good luck!

Today is my last day staying here before I embark on my new journey after rotting for about half of a year. Soon, I will surely be missing everything, my friend, my family, my hometown, my blog and even my annoying Internet connection :p

Good bye everyone around me, my next post might be sharing my college life in Kolej Teknologi Timur, Sepang. In this afternoon, I had just known that there are three India-bound seniors from my secondary school, SMJK Keat Hwa are still taking the Cambridge A-Level in the small college whereas the other two Indonesia-bound seniors have already graduated after finishing their 1 year programme and currently applying their university respectively. I feel rather relieved that some one had promised to take care of me :D

Thanks for supporting my small blog no matter you have just read any single article and got what I'm trying to convey, correcting my mistakes made during blogging, or giving appreciative comments to show concern towards my thoughts. Special thanks my cousin as well as my role model, who had granted me enormous inspiration to start blogging, and also the Recomers, Melzie and Henry for often leaving your footprints here and sharing your piece of mind. Thanks my friends :)

I would like to say sorry if you find that you could have been spending your precious time to read something more meaningful in the other websites rather than reading my posts. Sorry if my redundant English had contributed eye sore to you. I'm struggling in the stage of improving, now and always.

A good luck to everyone and myself, in the future undertakings. Good night :)

Home

Home is the place you want to go when you're frustrated and tired. Home is the place for you to forget those unpleasant incidents happening everyday. Home is the place where you rely on. Once you've got home, you are safe.

Every creature ranging from tiny hummingbirds to huge whales has its own sweet home. Going home is everyone's privilege, no one shall deprive it. Children should not sling the bee hive by using stones. Rivers and the sea should not be contaminated by spilling the poisonous wastes towards it which could irritate the innocent aquatic lives. Monkeys shouldn't be incapacitated, imprisoned and humiliated by the visitors in zoo for the rest of their life. The wildlife their own home, the sacred jungle which shouldn't be intruded by the hunters.

If you think a tranquil and harmonious home is more valuable than enjoying materialism ; If you think a well-being and united family is denser than owning wealth, countless property and being powerful to give command in the family ; If you are the prestigious one ; Even if you have some imperfections, you are the lucky one, when your family is still smiling, waiting and welcoming you to go home.

A few bricks and mortar of the wall structure, together with the roof and doors, windows with curtains, carpets that are on the ground, are not enough to constitute a family. It must be combined with friendship, family unity, warm-hearted partners, and therefore it is considered home.

My Grandpa

It has been one of my hobby to glance through the photos taken when I was small. In some of the photos there are the eight smilings of my family which consisted of my kind grandparents, my mighty mama and papa, three innocent siblings and I. Everything seemed to be very blessed until the God decided to be facetious when it was the April Fool's Day in year 2002. It was the day when I could never hear his sound again. Perhaps my grandfather's unforeseen death is the most shocking incident I've ever encountered.

The sepia photos seem to recall the past of the person I respect the most, nostalgic yet memorable. I would usually take more than 1 minute staring at my grandpa's weather-beaten face while letting those past moments we shared together to keep echoed in my mind. He used to cane me because I had spoilt his carpenter tools which seemed to be his precious. He used to smile happily which he normally didn't while celebrating his 80-year-old birthday with all the children and grandchildren. He used to grip my hand teaching me how I should write properly, after that I appeared to be the first kid who knew how to write his Chinese name while studying in the kindergarden school. Normally I would end up in tears. It is a saddening moment indeed. My grandpa seldom talk. He kept all his secrets, his hardship and even his borderless love towards the family all the time. According to what my father had told me, my grandpa never complained about his difficult life, never once. He worked as a construction worker who required to move those heavy bricks and breathe in those dirty dusts under the scorching sun which gave out steaming heat in order to seek a means of living. His dark hue colour of skin and the well-developed muscles could explain a lot. He instantly quitted smoking when my father had reached adolescence just to refrain his son from getting this bad habit. In case my grandpa had been smoking for decades. My father told me my grandpa was a pro gambler, I did imagine my grandpa to be the "God of Gamble", rolling the dice stunningly like most of the main actors do in the gambling-related movie. However, he decisively quitted too. He is mighty isn't it? He is always the most important man in my family. All of us feel proud to be granted him as our family guardian. Without him, we wouldn't have the chance to own a comfortable house and secure lifestyle currently.

Grandpa, don't worry about me *rubbing tears*
I'm more sensible and thoughtful now, I've grown up, I've achieved a new milestone in my academic field. I manage to secure a scholarship to pursue my tertiary study. I'm sure you'll be joyful if you can hear that.

Grandma always feels lonely. I'm so sorry to her, I wonder how many time I can ever see her again once I continue my study...

Grandpa, here I pay you my highest respect! I love you grandpa.