And thanks for the pluggie, it’s really nice! I love exploring random flickr streams… some of them are really hidden gems! :razz:

You can actually be a professional photographer, or a web designer, or a photo journalist, or … basically anything you’re good at.

Here is another inspiring source of photography on the web I found:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thiru/

I think I set the shutter speed way too fast so in the end even at very high ISO the photo turned out to be horribly underexposed with a truckload of noise.

Thanks for the recommendation! I read this Sony dSLR mag today think that alpha200 is quite my cup of tea :razz:

Check out ingSiang’s last blog post: 04.04.08 – I Reached My Ultimate Tensile Stress

Same here, I would never have touched the freaking M, it’s the hardest one unless I have some experience with it :razz: haha. P is the best of new comers – I’ll most probably be sticking to P for the first week or so and then move in to AP or SP later.

dSLRs are great cameras I think! No matter how much the manufacturers claim that their digital cameras (those consumer type ones) are shock, splash, water or whatever proof… dSLR gives the most flexibility and functionality. Speaking of which, the dSLR I’m aiming to get must be able to shoot on RAW format (and has to be recognised by photoshop! Some early primitive RAW formats are not recognised by the all-mighty PS)… and it’s better to have auto exposure bracketing (hey that’s where my HDR fever kicks in! heheh).

Thanks for the offer! When I’ve done some basic research and narrowed down my list I might be asking for you advice :) teehee. Thanks anyway!

P.S. yea my camera has ISO settings but they’re so damn limited. Not bad for a 3yr old camera!

ISO is something you’ll play around with a lot when you get your dSLR. =p To take long exposure shot on your P&S, I think you can wait till it’s really dark, then set it up on a tripod, then tune your ISO to 100, and shoot, that works I think. =) Quite sure your camera has manual ISO setting, right? :wink:

Yea dude, get dSLR! =D If you need info, just let me know, =p Not a pro but at least I can give you what I know. =p Go for a D60 + the new VR lens, good buy! HAHA. Seriously, =p if your budget is VERY limited, like me!~ :oops:

Check out ingSiang’s last blog post: 04.04.08 – I Reached My Ultimate Tensile Stress

First – Yea there’s a little bit of distortion, especially in the vertical axes :) I always get that when I take portrait shots! The gradient of the sky is added by using Photoshop to draw a vertical gradient (that fades downwards), and then blending it with the background using color burn.

Second – The more I look at the glow the more fake it looks to me! My bad for not including shadows, but I’m too lazy for that :razz: heh.

Third – Actually most of my photos have some extent of vignetting, I think it has something to do with my camera’s sensor. The vignetting effect is further enhance and highlighted when I darken the corners… it’s not really an intended effect, but it turned out pretty well!

Expressway series – I think it’s actually good town planning that ensures that houses in Brunei are not too close to major throughfares. Unlike in Brunei, our goverment sucks particularly at town planning and grasps any space available to widen a road into some biga$$ expressway :( and plus adding a toll plaza on it so they can milk the money out of the users. I would love to photograph the expressways in Brunei – I can imagine them being wrapped around with lots and lots of trees :)

I use a lousy point-and-shoot camera, so there’s really no control over the shutter speed… I think I’m getting a dSLR soon, but I have to do the research first :)

Yea I hated colour noise – as far as I know, Photoshop’s built-in noise reduction only works for some photos and not all… and it sucks particularly at reducing colour noise. A helluva details are wiped out! I think I’ve heard about the software you’ve recommended in some PC mag, I think I’ll be checking it out shortly!

When I am in my college’s photographic society, I do handle dSLRs but I’m a total noob back then! I only stuck to AP or SP modes only, nothing more than that, haha! I didn’t even really dare to touch the ISO settings!

I love the way you composed ‘em, always with a brighter center, =) (which works perfectly fine with the vignetting you applied)

First – Nice lens flare, I think should be straighten tho. =) Love the gradient of the sky you added and the ‘evening glow’, nice!

Second – Very nice artificial glow over the road, no, it’s not weird IMO, quite natural if you didn’t note that down, =p

Third – LOVE your vignetting, =p I can never get them right. :sad:

Expressway series – Very nice subject and composition, love these kind of photos and I definitely would do some when I can drive, =p (Err, in Brunei, our houses are usually quite far away from the main road/fly over, haha. I do have one some 2km from my house, tho =D)

I especially like the first and second, and perhaps you can try a slow shutter speed one? =)

Personally, what I hate when dealing with way underexposed photos is the noise and the weird colour tones, it’s especially obvious when you’re dealing with living subjects, especially human. =p Anyhow, I recently found a really nice noise reduction program, you MUST use it. =p Noiseware rawks dude. :wink: I think it maps the noise pattern of cameras (maybe for dSLR only, tho) and thus can apply the noise reduction with pin point precision. =) And erm, dSLR in-built NR (noise reduction) is generally bad, they work in the same way as software do (and they doesn’t appear to be better), and you can’t undo it, so yea, not recommended by most pros I came across, best is to do it in the PC (just 1-3 clicks anyway). =p Even for my ISO 1600 photo, Noiseware handle em perfectly. =p Nearly noise-free after I use Noiseware, hehe, ISO 3200 is destructive tho. :sad:

Check out ingSiang’s last blog post: 29.03.08 – A New Project