Season of gifts!

Season of gifts!! Wish everyone gets what's wished!

Between land and sky

Shot at the beautiful Changburi Resort & Spa, Ko Chang Island, again. I have in fact made a few images at the same spot although each time a different composition and pose. It is nice to be there, either a nap by the pool or taking pictures, good privacy.
This image was taken with a Hasselblad H3D39, HC 50-110mm zoom, back-light, so I use a bron-color mobile to power a ring-flash to get this image, to avoid loosing detail on the model.

Season's Greeting

Wish everyone a most wonderful holiday season, memorable Christmas, joyful and fruitful 2010.

Cheers!

Face

One of the most difficult object to shoot is face, woman or man. The difficulty, to me, is the focus. There is always something about a face that is interesting, and the photographer is drawn to it. It can be the eyes, nose, lips, a small spot on face, or just the skin..........

Human eyes got the capacity of instantly pick up the point of focus, wherever it is.

The Head Turner

Head turning is one of the exclusive behavior of human being. Many would argue that many animals also can turn their heads, no, not like man.
Head turning as of man is a gesture, conveys ones feeling, intention, and often as a hint. On a woman, it is sexy.
Shot with a Hasselblad H3D-39 with HC 100/2.2.

Simple portrait

Shot with Hasselblad H3D-50 with HC 100/2.2, a straight forward portrait made on Juliana. It is part of the purpose to try the new H3D-50 as well as making a stock image for some work as well as using different lighting on Juliana, which I shot her a few times wiht different setting and requests from clients.

Changburi Resort & Spa

No, this is not an advertising, although I do not hesitate to suggest that it is a great choice of vocation destination for anyone goes to Ko Chang Island, off east coast of Thailand.
I have shot in this beautiful hideaway resort and spa for too many times, and of course, wonderful times. Also by the fact the I know the owner personally, which did help when you find spots to shoot pictures, around or even away from the resort. In fact, a camera is a nice social tools, of course base on what you shoot, but in general you get above averaged assistance when you are in the process of making good images.
Ko Chang is to me a location to spend time, rather than make time. As a report island, it seems the clock here is not running as precise as in the cities, particularly those cities in the industrial countries, where the time for a cup of coffee, tea, meal or many things will be in a swift mode..... not in Ko Chang, people come here want to feel the time, enjoy the slow, being still - and by the way another suggestion is to go to Chiangmai, the northern tourist hub of Thailand, where people proud of being slow and harness it as a local culture. Think about it!
This image, taken at the newly finished spa of Changburi Resort, lovely Elona from Russia, with Hasselblad H3D-39 and HC 100/2.2.

Position of the camera

A jewelry shot made on Elona, at Changburi Resort and Spa, Ko Chang, Thailand, one of the spot I repeatedly visit for photography.
To get the right angle in order to portrait Elona in a longing, desiring mood, I train the Hasselblad H3D39, mounted with HC 50-100mm lower to almost the level of the water, so I can tilt the camera up for this angle to make such expression realistic. Can I take the picture from a higher angle, of course, but not with the same result.
A bron-color mobile powerpack was ued to cast a highlight on the side of Elona, creating the soft shadow to enhance the pictorial essence.
In photography, you need to get the picture, not just take the picture. In this picture, the camera is dangerously low to the surface of water, may be just an inch above water, with the little wave inside the small pool, I need to adjust myself constant to make sure I maintained reasonably low enough, and to press the shutter. It takes what it takes for a good image, and the photographer just need to decide to take it.

Web publishing and press quality

Digital evolution puts everything in numbers. Many relevant materials are quantitative, from pitch of a screen, resolution of printing, resolution human eye can perceive, resolving power of an optical system, megapixels of a censor can register, how fast bits can be generated, calculated, and transfer.........

It is hard to say if we are finally at the pinnacle of digital image, or are we nearing it. It seemed the difference between tools is fast becomes meaningless, at least for the mass market. Today, there are professional producing jaw dropping quality images took by the state of the art instrument cost tens of thousands dollars that were minimized in a common web gallery, yes, with higher quality of original image it is more flexible for different purpose. At the same time, digital artists found a new venue to explore their ceativity, using the simpliest tool that cost a small fraction of investment of those professional, also capable of exhibiting seemingly high quality on the mass media, the WWW.

But does this means the quality is no longer a pursuit? Hardly not. Quality is a state of self-commitment, and something one needs to build the next break through.

Image for example, this one taken with Phase One P45 on Contax 645, mounted with Carl Zeiss Sonnar 210/4, capturing great detail of the model and those hairy waterdrops in the background, someting you need a large image to display such detail, on common web screen, it easily pass as another otherwise common image.
And the detail here.

Dynamic range

In photography term, dynamic range usually regarded a description of a ratio between the smallest and largest possible values of a changeable quantity, the light. It is also about the picture or the image itself. How to make a still image looks lively, is always a challenge; or for that matter, how to make a death image looks sad, happy image looks happy, food looks delicious.....Of course, it is subjective to what the photographer wants to express.

This image, taken on a young Russian model, Kate, with Phase One P45+ on Contax 645, mounted with the mihty Apo-Makro-Planar 120/4, is to cpature the youth yet complicated mood of a lady, still and motion at the same time.

Night Ride

Took in southern Thailand, a sighting ball cruise on a small river. I was having a dinner on a restaurant on the river side, with a Canon 1Ds II mounted with EF 50/1.2L, and an EX580II flash.

Modern technology push the shadow noise to minimum, the 1Ds II is a cemera of yesterday technology, but yesterday does not always means inferior. What if you need the noise? Of course, noise is something you can add in post process. But as a photographer, you need to work on what you need to work on, with whatever tool available on hand. With the shoe mounted flash to illuminate the boat while keeping the distant tress reasonablly dark enough, while still showing the minite detail, I override the E-TTL on the flash and go manual, something I also prefer to do when I use the artificial light.

Lotus

Lotus is one of the most photographed object, and I am among those who loves lotus. One of the few creatures with beautiful features in all phases of its life, from birth, full blossom, and death.

Taken with Canon 1Ds II, and TS-E 90mm lens, I saw the lotus pond, and within this tight composition saw the lotus in different stage of life, and snap away with this shot.

Clarity and Noise

Digital capture development moved toward more mega pixels, perhaps reaching (or inching) toward giga pixels, dynamic range, clarity, poor light performance, it never went back.

But an image is much more than just the absolute number of pixels, dynamic range, color depth, shdow noise, accuracy, sharpness, focus.......

Image to human started from imagination, how brain interpret the world in front of the eyes, or sometimes beyond what eyes can see. Then began the hand started to picture what's inside our mind, on sand, soil, rocks..... eventually on the bamboo, wood, animal bones, fabrics, papers.....

Paintng was never about sharpness, accurate color, clarity...... it could be, it does not has to be. So why picture should be? Capture with Phase One P45+ on Contax 645, Carl Zeiss Planar 80/2.

Dark & Brightness

This is a jewelry shot made on a lovely model, however lovely, I somehow made the shot from her back, leaving a touch of her lovely profile, made with Phase One P45+ on Contax 645, with Apo-Makro-Planar 120/4.
There is a defined intimacy between woman and jewelry, on their skin, that makes those jewelry shiny, and make the one wearing it beautiful, and sexy.
You can't define brightness without darkness, and vice versa.

The view

Took from my room, this is a rahter common view everyday in the morning, where morning sun cast its light on the thin curtain, the plants on the balcony moves with the breeze can be seen thru the curtain.

As a photographer, or for the matter that anyone with a camera on hand, it is to find the picture, not to wait for the picture. Taken with Sigma DP-2.