Nesohu 2.0

I was having this thought of photographing the beautiful bridges we have in Penang. Last Sunday, since I’m bringing a present over to the mainland for a friend, I went scouting for a nice location to capture such a scene with my model.

Despite the rain that has been going on non-stop, we still bring out our tripods and setup on location. You can see that my car is intentionally parked that way to imitate those billboards or shots from magazine. There are certain stuffs I wished I’ve done instead like gelling up the flash, but that’s not the topic of today.

Now, what I’m going to share with you today is how I enhance this nice photo with some WOW factor on Photoshop in 5 KILLER steps.

1. Kill the Pot Holes…There used to be a time where such a task requires tonnes of effort to complete (ie MS Paint). In Photoshop that can easily be done with the patch tool or healing brush (J). Just hit on the areas you want to mask, and it’ll automagically “heals” the wound on the spots.

2. Paint the Sky blue. “When you get a lemon, make a lemonade out of it“. I used to complain about the dark and greyish sky, but there are various ways to paint the sky blue in post processing. One of the simplest way is to create a new curve , tweek the blue channel and mask out the ground.

3. Play with the Curves. Again, curves is more “FUN” than Levels in a lot of ways. But the rule I use is to create an “S” curve which will bring up the highlights and darken the shadows. Just make sure your graphs are not clipped too much on either side of the histogram.

4. Boost up the Contrast. If you like a little more “umph” on your photo, just increase the contrast by ~20 steps (Too much will wash away the highlights). Comparing with the image above, you can feel that the photo is sharper but believe me – no digital sharpenin was done!!!

5. Finishing it of with the “V”. Go to Filter -> Distort -> Lens Correction, use the 2 Vignetting sliders to control how much dropoff you like. This always does the trick especially if you are planning to make money out of your photos.

So there you have it: Potless Sky add Curves and Contrast finishes your photos. Voila

That’s all from me now. Hope you like this tutorial, please leave a comment if you’ll like to know more. Thanks and good night. – Nesohu

No one makes lenses better than Nikon. Back in the 1930′s, even Canon cameras uses Nikon lenses. Unfortunately for Malaysians, the marketting department have never been half as active as their rivals. There have not been any after sales support like training and model shooting events to sustain their users.

But why is there still more Nikonians in Penang? Simple reason being Nikon have been making very durable camera with fast response, low noise and their lenses both Pro and Amateur have been built to the highest standards. Eg. Just compare how many metal lens mount Nikon has, and you’ll have a rough idea the number of plastic mounts some other manufacturers placed on the shelves.

Luckily I managed to get acquainted with one of the local Nikon rep. She gave me a call yesterday after I placed an order for a seasonal NikonPro magazine. Guess what she wraps for me…

Nikon Goodies !!!

Today, Neoh Soon Hueng is a happy man. These two new posters just got a new place to stay – right in the center of my bedroom. The brochures are also a new collection for me. At least, that’s the most cost efficient photography hobby I can think of.

As I was rushing for lunch, I droped by KFC opposite Dorset hotel. One brochure caught my attention – World Hunger Relief Week. In fact, I was thinking of getting one for my colleague who have been wasting food every morning. That’ll remind her not to waste food, but will also get me a huge slap. Once I got the thing, it auto-magically fit into my right arm. Well, so much for the slap. Btw…so happen today IS the Blog Action Day on Poverty.

World Hunger Relief Week

After a tiring day running around to finish my Technical Report, I went for Bak Kut Teh, a swim and a life performance by 3 sexy ladies. By the time I reached home, I find that it’s about time I deserve a Paulaner.

It’s raining outside, I better get to bed and finish a few Nikon brochures. Good night.

I was busy finishing up my Technical Report all day, by the time I’m home I’m all stressed out I went into the bath. After coming out from my bath, I felt a hissing sound outside my window. The place was so dark I can only see a shadow.

Me: “Who’s there”…( I was wondering why dad’s at the neighbour’s porch”

HS: “Hi.” *Hiss Hiss* *Scratch Scratch*

Me: “What are you doing there ?”

HS: “It’s my house what….”

Me: ……

Dad came home from a blood check and he was rather dissapointed with his cholesterol level. After drinking some secret remedy, he asked if I knew there’s a waterfall in Bayan Lepas. I can’t recall when I was there, but I remember I did have a marvelous time then. Without wasting anymore time, I bring them there for our small “family outing”. It’s rare these days as we have our own schedule and activities.

Coming back from the trip, I dug through my photo archieve and found this photo that I took earlier. The place is very much the same, except more boys there taking a swim.

Camera specs: D300 with kit lens. Shot tight and stiched together around 8 to 10 vertical frames.

[Delayed Post] After coming back from SuperGT and Singpore 2 weekends back to back, you must be wondering, “Where are the photos???” Yup, there won’t be any photos as I’ve been on a movie marathon for the past 3 weekends. It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and trust me…I can feel the HEAT right here. Yay baby~!!

So what are they showing on screen this summer? Well, I’ll break it down to 3 parts, 1 for each month of summer. Here’s Part 1: (May 2008)

Iron Man – Watched it with John, his friend and Irene. This is one of the most nerdgasm film in techno history. Nerdgasm point as in he has his own research lab, an array of sports car, and state-of-the-art servers that helps him in making whatever he can think of. (Being an engineer himself does help) Tony Stark is a billionaire which earns his fortune by selling weapons to poor military countries. He can make gadgets out from bare copper while held captive in the middle of a desert and it flies!!! His suit/body armor is one of the most sparkling cool I’ve seen with a glowing ore right in the center to keep his heart being punctured.

Speed Racer – An adoption of the 1960′s manga, Speed Racer has been in the drawing board since 1992. If you’re expecting something as dull as F1 or speed boat in terms of racing, then…sorry. The plot is futuristic and the cars they drive can do back flips, 360 degrees spin and even shoot out heavy weapons. This movie talks about a family run business where Speed continues to race to revenge on Rex’s death. What I like is the family values that they inject in the story line – it teaches us about the importance of keeping to our principles. Even with all the temptations we have around, we’ll have to keep our principles straight to achieve our goal.

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Mr Ford never gets old with age, he still acts wild and funny. There’s also Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) who have a character you’ll fall in love with. He’s only 22 this year.

Indiana Jones: Who is your mother, again?
Mutt Williams: Mary, Mary Williams. You don’t remember her?
Indiana Jones: There’ve been a lot of Marys, kid.
Mutt Williams: [draws switchblade] Hey! That’s my mother you’re talking about!

For more quotes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/quotes

Part 2 Coming up Next …on Nesohu 2.0