Photography

Hanoi – Presidential Palace

Photography

Another set of throwback of my Hanoi trip back in 2006. In the last round where I filtered the photos, this particular shot was removed from the “pick list” because I was not interested in architecture shots. In addition to that, as I was shooting on wide angle, those that have bad distortion or wide angle effect gets rejected. Now that I have learnt on how to straighten the angles, it is a lot more easier to accept the architecture photos shot not using tilt shifts.

The photo above is the Presidential Palace. To be honest – I don’t even know what building is this, and I had to Google for famous places in Hanoi! Then – when I saw something that is similar, I then know which building is this. Funny indeed – well, then again, this is more than a decade ago, no way I can remember!

Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque

Photography

The Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque, or Iron Mosque (Malay: Masjid Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin or Masjid Besi) is the second principal mosque in Putrajaya, Malaysia after Putra Mosque. It is located in Putrajaya’s Precinct 3, opposite the Palace of Justice. Construction began since April 2004 and was fully completed on August 2009. It was officially opened by the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin on 11 June 2010.[2]

The photo above was taken using Sony A7R3 with 0.6 Reverse Grad Lee 10 stops ND filter. Obviously it was heavily processed on Lightroom! Not a fan of it though!

Here are some other photos to see and compare which one is the better one.

Slightly less processed version
Basic, no grad, no filter

The photo below is a more of a close up view. This uses 10 stops filter. But no reverse ND grad. The difference is that the lake is darker in terms of exposure.

The one below is similar to the above, but it has Reverse Grad. What it makes is that the water to be more exposed in order to have a more balanced exposure. I prefer the top view.

Throwback – Hanoi

Photography

I am now just doing stack-pick-reject and later rate of the photos that I took during Crossing Bridges in Hanoi. Honestly, I am surprised at the number of photos that I discovered but never bother choosing back then. My goal is to share the photo on this platform to show how bad or good my shooting was back then. This was more than 10 years ago and I wonder how the people that I shoot look like now. This photo is taken in a village somewhere in Hanoi (if I am not mistaken). Back then, it was very hard to have GPS location on the photo, so I wouldn’t know where it is. I tried to hook up devices and all, but it’s just too troublesome. Stark different from how it is now.

Throwback – Hanoi Archers

Photography

Another throwback post from my Hanoi trip back in 2006. I know it has 13 years but it is one of my most memorable trip as it was my first real holiday together with friends that I’ve never met. And a lot of those friends are my friends that I somewhat guilty of not contacting now. Facebook friends are not considered friends!

The beauty of doing a throwback post is that I started to relook back again at my old photos and see if there are any shots that I’ve missed. Honestly the shot above are all photos that I have never shortlisted. Quite amazing that by having a new look at it, I was able to choose it! In fact it does help with me using new techniques and technology to process it. The original colors are all off, but I guess when you are back from holiday, processing it is a chore, and looking at the awful colours, I would just reject it. I remember the days to be very cloudy, and with the D70 that I have, the white balance was really bad.

Hanoi Landscapes

Photography

Back when I first started photography, I tried almost anything and everything! Be it street, portraits, models, landscapes – everything also jalan. So when I went to Sapa for the first time, I really didn’t know what to expect. In fact, Crossing Bridges was the first holiday that I had ever done in my life. Before this, I never bother taking leave to go anywhere. This is very different from my life now where I try to go on vacation almost once every month!

Sapa is on the highland in the Lao Cai province. In order to get to Sapa, one will need to take a train from Hanoi to Lao Cai. From Lao Cai, can take a van ride up the highlands. As one traverse along the road, we will see how beautiful the landscapes are. The sad part was that the weather was very cloudy. So the colours didn’t really popped out!