Singapore flora and fauna

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

I travelled to Singapore recently, and snapped several photographs of (cultivated) flora and (captive) fauna while there. First are some pictures from Gardens by the Bay, inside a large, climate-controlled dome that was significantly cooler than the tropical environment outside. The interior of the Cloud Forest dome is dominated by a large waterfall that cascades… Continue reading Singapore flora and fauna

July 2016 action

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

First Tae Kwon Do black belt members undertook some training outdoors earlier this month. Although the sky was somewhat overcast, there was still a tremendous amount of light available, compared to shooting inside a gymnasium. Capturing peak action wasn’t too difficult with the fast exposure durations, and image quality was inherently much better than usual… Continue reading July 2016 action

June 2016 action

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

First Tae Kwon Do’s recent grading examination in Perth saw eight members promoted to the rank of 1st Dan black belt. I only had a limited time to shoot at this event, but the first action photograph I decided to keep turned out to be the best. Below we see one of the candidates, a… Continue reading June 2016 action

Farewell Michael Reichmann

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Canadian photographer Michael Reichmann (founder of Luminous Landscape) died a few days ago. Amongst others, Digital Photography Review, Imaging Resource, and The Online Photographer have published tributes. I’m reminded of Thom Hogan’s tribute to his late photographic mentor, Galen Rowell; and if on-line words are anything to go by, I suspect quite a few people would have liked… Continue reading Farewell Michael Reichmann

May 2016 action

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Master Vernon Low and Chief Instructor John O’Brien visited Perth recently for another round of advanced instruction. Master Low spent a considerable amount of time on breaking techniques needed for promotion into the black belt ranks. The photograph below shows him explaining some adjustments to a student’s side kick technique. The foreground blur is from the… Continue reading May 2016 action

Strategies for buying new cameras

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Mike Johnston (The Online Photographer) recently wrote about strategies for buying new cameras—which is certainly not a new topic. If we consider cameras (and lenses) as tools for doing a job, then I think it comes down to a straightforward cost-benefit analysis: what benefits do you expect to reap by going with a particular choice of… Continue reading Strategies for buying new cameras

Ten thousand hits

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

It’s been a little over a year since I started this weblog, and visitor traffic has reached 10,000 hits. Quite a few of the hits in the first few days would have been webcrawlers and other non-human visitors, but overall there should be a fairly low proportion of those in the cumulative statistics by now. In any… Continue reading Ten thousand hits

Something a little different

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

A family member asked me to make a business portrait for him; he’s organising a conference next year, and needed a picture for use in the prospectus and related documents for the event. This is something a little different from what I usually shoot, but I was happy to oblige. Below is a low-resolution version of the… Continue reading Something a little different

The Nik Collection is now free

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Nik Software produced one of the best regarded photographic post-processing software packages available, and the company subsequently became part of Google in 2012. A few days ago, Google announced that it’s making the Nik Collection available free of charge. I’ve never tried the package myself, but if your computer and software meet the minimum system requirements (including which versions of Adobe software… Continue reading The Nik Collection is now free

Easter 2016

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

I happened to be visiting a primary school recently and, it being a secular school, the teacher’s message about Easter was designed to be as neutral as possible. I was actually (somewhat pleasantly) surprised by how respectful the teacher was towards Christian beliefs, given the secular context. I have witnessed or been involved in some… Continue reading Easter 2016