which Nikon lens…55-200mm or 18-105mm

2009 November 12

decision, decision…. which one should i get? or maybe you can tell me….both are no so expensive lens and are great to cover medium range shooting for any wedding events. But do i really need them or I should be happy with my 18-55mm & 35 mm prime lens?

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AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED

Lens Construction (Elements/Groups) 15/11 (1 ED glass element)
Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format 28°50′ – 8°
Minimum f/stop f/22-32
Closest focusing distance 1.1m (3.6 ft.) (through the entire zoom range)
Filter Attachment Size 52mm
Dimensions (approx.) (from the camera’s lens mounting flange) 73.0 x 99.5mm (2.9 x 3.9 in.)
Weight (approx.) 335g (11.8 oz.)

AFS_DX_18_105_sAF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Kit lens that come with D90

Lens Construction (Elements/Groups) 15/11 (1 ED glass element, 1 aspherical lens element)
Picture Angle with Nikon DX Format 76° – 15°20’
Minimum f/stop 22-38
Closest focusing distance 0.45m (through the entire focal range)
Maximum reproduction ratio 1/5
Filter Attachment Size 67mm
Lens Cap Snap-on
Lens Hood HB-32
Lens Case CL-1018
Dimensions (approx.) (from the camera’s lens mounting flange) 76.0 x 89.0mm
Weight (approx.) 450g
Supplied Accessories (may differ by country or area) Front lens cap LC-67, Rear lens cap LF-1, Bayonet hood HB-32, Flexible lens pouch CL-1018

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Our 1st year (Cotton) Anniversary

2009 November 9

A year ago after our wedding, Andrea had the bizarre idea to store 2 slices from our wedding cake in the freezer. I guess it’s 1 of those gazillion wedding customs she heard of and wanted to follow so even though I thought it was weird, I just went along with it and didn’t complain about the Tupperware taking up space in our freezer (along with her frozen durians, tubs of ice cream … but that’s another story)

Amazingly, time passes by so fast and it’s now time to take them out to enjoy  …  After reflection, we’ve grown a lot as a couple in this period of one year. We fight like many other couples, we have times where we laugh together and at the end of it all, we both learned that the key thing is to hold each other’s hand at times when you feel like you cannot face the world alone.

This is a photo of our wedding cake. Credits go to our photographer Ke Wynn and the yummy cake by Ween Nee.

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Check out the piece of wedding cake after 1 year in our freezer. I can assure you it tastes as good as it looks.

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So on our wedding anniversary, Andrea decided to surprise me with a mystery treat that she’d been dropping hints about but keeping the actual locaton a secret. So there we were … Danai Spa at Tanjung Bungah. We’re both kinda paranoid so the only expensive belongings we brought along with us were our handphones, not even a point and shoot camera,  so I do apologise for the quality of the pictures below:

1st from the top: entrance from the main road, stairway leading to the spa.

2nd from the top: male changing room with key and locker

3rd from the top: a small garden next to the garden jacuzzi (it’s an outdoor jacuzzi, you might want to bring along swimsuits – watch out for mosquitoes!)

4th from the top: a short walkway leading to the main office

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So, after 3 hours of pampering (Danai signature massage, Ginger Salt scrub & Destress Therapy Soak)  it was okay , but personally felt that it could be better. The massage felt a bit time short, the beginning was great but half way, we both sensed that the girls were rushing it and left off massaging parts like hands and feet. It was too simple and too quick. One of the girls even burped and giggled non stop which was a little disconcerting – would you want someone to giggle when you’re almost naked, covered in massage oil and can’t see them?

The scrub was better and we both loved the fresh, tangy scent of ginger. Again, it felt a bit rushed at parts, especially when they kept going to the toilet to turn on the tub and rushing back to scrub again. And finally the Destress therapy soak …  we took at look at the tub and went “why on earth is the water a bright green with bubbles?” Was it some kind of bubble bath on sale? Plus the tub was only big enough for 1 person at a time so you’d to take turns soaking, which kind of defeats the purpose of the time allocated for it as each person only gets half the time slot for the bath.

On the plus side, it has some of the nicest features I’ve ever seen incoporated into a spa. Love the rain shower feature where you’ve to walk through a pool of water with steps and water gushing from the top to reach the outdoor jacuzzi. The half mirrored and half glass ceiling in the hot tub room was certainly interesting.

So, my favourite is still the Gurney Sanctuary Spa….

oh, if you are interested in viewing our wedding website, click here & the wedding video by Wedding Story, here.

 

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Use texture to enchance your photo in Photoshop

2009 November 7

Ok, time for another photoshop tutorial…..Open an image you like to enhance.

andrea_texture_b4Open up a texture file in Photoshop, drag the texture layer into the image above. Resize the texture layer to cover the whole image.Picture1This is where the magic happens. Lets change the blend mode of the layer in the layers palette. Blend modes change how one layer interacts with the layer below it. In this case we’ll start with multiply.Picture3

That’s how the picture look like now. Let try another blend mode.Picture4We will use Overlay as the new blend more now, this will help to lighten up the image. You can always adjust the opacity if you think the image is too bright after the blend more changed.. Next , duplicate a new layer image of the original image and stack it on top of the texture image. Change the blend mode to Soft Light and Opacity to 80%. This will help to tone down the final image.

Picture5You can stop here, but to make this more fun, lets import another tecture file into the working canvas.

Picture6Move the 2nd texture layer in between the duplicated image and the 1st texture file. Change the blend mode to Overlay and the opacity to 50%. (make the adjustment to see which % suits you the most)Picture7

And finally, i had added a Colour Balance adjustment layer and a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to remove the yellow and redness of the image. Of course this is totally up to you…

Picture8This is the final image.

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Dinner at Aozora + Birthday Celebrations

2009 November 4

Andrea surprised me on my birthday this year by not only celebrating a couple of days earlier but also keeping the venue a total secret until we reached there.Aozora6

She’d heard about Aozora, a new Japanese restaurant at Belissa Row,  Penang, from a couple of friends and decided to make reservations there. The place is chic, dimmly lit with accents of blue lighting.

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Check out the huge chandelier right at the entrance, it looks amazing with the wallpaper.

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Aozora prides itself as a fine dining restaurant and its menu prices certainly reflects that. The more affordable and value for money choices are the bento sets which come with miso soup, chawanmushi, Japanese pickles, salmon sashimi, sushi rolls, side salad, deep fried soft shell crab and a bowl of white rice.

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I cant remember why we took the below picture, or maybe Andrea took this using the prime lens.

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That’s me….happy and full….

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My friends also surprised me with a wonderful tiramisu cake at work. I was totally unprepared for it and blushed when they carried it over to my cubicle and started singing loudly Happy Birthday. Oppps … didn’t occur to me to take a photo of the cake until there was only a bit left …The cake was dam nice, i can taste the alcohol that they used to make the cake.

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So 1 cake wasn’t enough and Andrea decided to order one of her favourite during my birthday!! Here’s another cake from Andrea. Mille crepes . If you have not try them, they are like the king of all cakes, absolutely no substitute for these. And they can be pricey to…. but what the hack, once a year mah…

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here’s the gold fish….lol

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