Likely New Flat as #298

[Banded Yeoman]

Wow!!!! Congats to both of you!!!

[The Plane]

Congrats to you, Yiming.

[Commander]

Don't forget we have a Lorong Asmara here in Singapore too off Mandai Road ..........where the last Common Pierrot was recorded by Steven Neo , ...if my "hardisk" recall the data correctly.

Hee hee... same story I just told on our trip yesterday morning. The slight difference between a couple of shifted letters changes the meanings so much! The Mandai Road place is called "Lorong Asrama" and not "Asmara". The Malay word "asrama" means "hostel or residences". That place probably housed some such facility in the past. Maybe the old hostel was a love nest, but the street name didn't intend it to be!

As for the Common Pierrot, perhaps Steven can confirm where he first found it, as with the Red Base Jezebel too, which was found in that area too, I believe.

They went after it took shots of it and sent out a MMS to Khew and me with picture attached for ID, but neither of us received it.

I just received Nelson's MMS today at 11:06am! So much for instant electronic messaging!

[bluefin]

I am curious by your comment about the mode of flash. When is it better to use first curtain rather than second curtain flash?

I normally would use second curtain flash to have better ambient exposure and in
this instance the butt is perch under the leaf about 2m above with the sky as the backdrop.

By using 2nd curtain flash, the backlit sky and reflection from the underside of the
leaf seems to have confused the cam causing the image to be incorrectly exposed.

As I am trying to get a sharp shot on the subject, I switch to using first curtain to flash on
the subject and manual mode to control the shutter speed and aperture setting and the result
seems satisfactory.

[neoro]

thanks all!
Shooting this Flat was not easy, with a very steep cliff just next to us..
Probably came back with 90 shots of the same, just to get a "sharper one"
The 105mm x 2xTC combo did a better job compared to the 180tamron with its Reach!!

Well done, Nelson.

I am curious by your comment about the mode of flash. When is it better to use first curtain rather than second curtain flash?

Technical explanation of curtains can be further googled. But here's my take on its Buttery applications.

Second Curtain

• At most time, 90% perhaps of all butterfly shots here are done using 2nd curtain sync.
• Shooting this style like all the bridal shots you see people take, allows for the camera to expose for the background and use the flash to fill in to lit the subject.
• This will enable properly exposed background, essential if you're shooting close-up or wide open as underexpose out of focus areas tend to look "ugly" and distracting.
• Having dreamy background such as the all time GREEN makes this setting a dream.
• As most of our shots have 2-3 stops of light difference between the subject and the background, your shutter speeds exposes for the background compensated against higher ISO sensitivity to make up for the slower shutter speeds (we seldom shoot under the blazing sun anywayz)
• In short you get slower shutter speeds (manageable still) with a properly exposed background, and an adequately exposed subject balanced against the fill light from the flash.

First Curtain

• Could not think much of first curtain applications accept for Paparazi Style shooting where the subject is essential and the background well... its just the background
• During our shot, this rata (hahah Flat in Malay) did what it does best, stayed at the underside of a leaf, above head level.
• With the sky at the background, though still overcast the difference in light were huge, I would think probably between 3-4stops of light. As most our of camera defaults to Matrix metering (all round averaging) metering tends to become rather confused, especially with rapid multiple shots being taken.
• If your batteries does not get flat out, exposures in your pictures tend to go funky.
• Shooting First Curtain tends to make more sense, as you get better shutter speeds metered just against the subject. Distance of the subject did make this setting more variable as well.
• Similar application for shaded shots, if your ISO tolerance has been surpassed, going first curtain saves you a bit on the agony.
• Not to be confused, your camera can still go funky due to metering, so in this case the Best way would be to go IMHO [1] Spot metering [2] First Curtain
  

[Common Mime]

Congrats, everyone! With some nice photos posted on another thread!

Cheers!

[Silverstreak]

Asmara and Asrama

.....My Bahasa Melayu all given back to the guru already after all these years ....hardly used all these 40 odd years , only use it when there is no choice, like talking to our orang asli guide at Selai .

[Commander]

Your Bahasa Pasar to communicate with the orang asli guide is much better than many of us already.

I remember Anthony looking totally lost at the N-S expressway pitstop food court when the chap spoke to him in Malay.

[Silverstreak]

Hairy leg #298

When I first saw it I thought it was some debris stuck to the hind leg. On checking the shot it was out of focus on that region .

When he stopped again, I decided to investigate and took a shot of the hind legs with manual focus.

Guess what !!!! This is how it looks like , out friend has very hairy hind legs and the structure of these are weird to say the least. Wonder what function these straw-mushroom-look-alike hairs are for?

look at the hind leg.


magnified view

[Commander]

Something about that mentioned in C&P4 I think.