Loy Kee Best Chicken Rice, Balestier Branch

Loy Kee Chicken Rice was part of my childhood days. We used to stay near Whampoa Drive/Balestier Road. On Saturday, we past by Balestier and decided to eat at Loy Kee. I was silently hoping to relish some childhood memories.

It was a disappointment. There was no service to speak of. I noticed a drop in standard in the chicken and chili. What’s a good plate of chicken rice if you can’t have good chili to go with? The chili and vegetables were rather ordinary. The roasted chicken was aromatic but it was not tender and was a tad too salty.  Perhaps the chef was in a bad mood? Perhaps we should have gone to the branch at Whampoa instead?

Colour me beautiful

20100226 Jade Room, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

The above black and white effect was achieved by using Windows Live Photo Gallery. (I took in JPEG).

However, it is recommended to take in RAW and do post processing later. When taking monochrome photographs, try to use a low ISO as high ISO will give a grainy effect ie ‘noise’.

With the help of light, get a greater contrast to bring out the tonal differences. Black and white photography is supposed to be dramatic! If the same tone is flowing in the picture, it will give a boring effect!

My penchant for food photography

Lens : EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Settings : f5.6, 1/40 Sec , ISO 100, 47MM

20100221 Lerk Thai, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Gig Photography 101 By Aloysius Lim

We are attending!!

If you have ever dreamed of wielding a heavyweight DSLR with extra large zoom lens among the best of photographers in a concert arena, this is where you start.

Learn the basics of taking good quality pictures of live-playing acts in a session with experienced shutterbug Aloysius Lim. He will take participants through the do’s and don’ts of gig photography: from recommended camera equipment to technical tips and tricks for shooting concert performances.

The session will also include a segment on live music etiquette and a critique of participants own photographs (limited to five works each). Tickets are on sale from Sistic.

Festival of Arts

Lens : EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Settings : f5.6, 1/60 Sec , ISO 1600, 55MM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/technicaltango/4381661679/, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Langkawi, Malaysia

Lens : EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Settings : f4.5, 1/1600 Sec , ISO 100, 29MM

20091219 Langkawi, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

The Westin Langkawi Resort and Spa

Address : Jalan Pantai Dato Syed Omar, Kedah, Langkawi 07000, Malaysia

Date of stay : 18th to 20th December 2009

The resort is 30 minutes from the airport and within walking distance to the main town and jetty. Some may find the location secluded but we enjoyed the tranquility of it.

My two cents worth: Their pools are the nicest and the cleanest that I have ever been to. It is an infinity pool overlooking the sea. I love the view from the pool! This hotel is really huge! I saw some guests jogging and doing yoga. The bonus point - I had a really good sleep because the bed (mattress and pillows) was so comfortable. I will recommend this hotel to friends who are visiting Langkawi!

Keppel Marina

Lens : EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Settings : f5.6, 1/800 Sec , ISO 100, 55MM

My favourite picture for that day, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

New Year Eve and New Year Day @ The Sail

Lens : EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Settings : f4, 1/1250 Sec , ISO 400, 20MM

Fullerton Bay Hotel, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

I want to tell a story

The four elements of a good photograph

1) Composition

2) Lighting

3) Subject

4) Story

I was at a baby showers last Sunday and the only photograph I brought back was that of the baby (i.e. my subject). I had wanted to take some pictures of the red eggs. I did take two but they were not up to my expectations. The room's lighting was casting shadows on the red eggs. As I was taking the photos of the red eggs, I overheard one of the relatives' comments. She spoke in Hokkien and when loosely translated, she meant "Eggs, she also want to take.." I do respect that and stopped taking. Else I would have tried a diffferent angle and re-take the eggs. Of course, the baby is the main subject but most people tend to ignore the nitty gritty details and the surroundings.

Traditional cakes and eggs, dyed red to symbolise luck and blessings are given out to relatives and friends. Eggs are chosen as they represent fertility and their round shapes symbolise harmony. It is believed that if you have a boy, you give out an odd number of eggs, and if you have a girl, you give out an even number of eggs.

Think about this, we are attending a baby shower. Which set of photos will tell a better story? 1) set consisting of only baby photos or 2) set consisting of baby and red eggs photos?

Settings : f5, 1/15sec, ISO 3200, WB @ Auto, Flash OFF

You can tell that there is noise in the photo. This is because I was using a high ISO to compensate for the very dimly lit room. The baby is only a month's old and I do not want to use any flash on him. (I will blog about "respect for the subject and surroundings" in a separate post).

Let me elaborate on what I mean by details and surroundings. I was at Emily's birthday Soiree two weeks ago. Apart from taking photos of the birthday gal, I also focused on other details such as, Danielle brought an adorable soft toy, the invitation card that the birthday girl has made, the birthday cake, the restaurant we dined at, some of the food we had, candid shots, etc etc.

Whenever I take a photograph, I always think to myself, "What is the story that I want to tell?

External Flash - Canon Speedlite 430EX II

I bought an external flash and I intend to use it often with the portrait lens. The portrait lens can also double up for taking macro subjects and food. As my portrait lens does not come with an Image Stabilizer, the external flash will help me increase the shutter speed by a few stops.

It was quite fun testing out the flash (under room's lighting). We did it with 1) without flash, 2) with built in flash, 3) with external flash (flash head pointing towards the subject and 4) with external flash (flash head pointing towards the side). The best result is #4. We pointed the flash head towards the side and tilted towards the ceiling, this created a softer look. When done correctly, the external flash also helped to reduce/eliminate shadows on my subject's face.

Suggestion : Keep the ISO at 400

And I bought this again! I bought a similar one before Christmas last year and lost it 2 weeks ago. This is handy if you only want to bring your camera/with one lens. It helps to prevent scratches when I put my DSLR into my handbag. 

Chinatown

20100206 Chinatown, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

The first set, consisting of 23 photos is finally uploaded to Flickr!!

Doddling with Light

Date : 6th Feb 2010

Location : Marina Barrage

Lens : EFS18-55MM. f3.5-f5.6 IS

Settings : f5.6, 2.5 Sec , ISO 100, 55MM, Flash ON

I call this doddling with light. I had used a tripod for this shoot so I can use a slow shutter speed of 2.5seconds. Important : tripod is a must! I managed to achieve the patterns by zooming in gradually after I click on the button ie from focal length of 18MM to 55MM within 2.5 seconds. The shadow on the left belongs to Light Painter KK. I don't have a specific reason for using a flash. I was just experimenting with the light painting. Unfortunately, as soon as I finished taking this photo, my 500D battery went dead. How untimely!

Date : 24th Dec 2009

Location : One Fullerton

Lens : EFS18-55MM. f3.5-f5.6 IS

Settings : f3.5, 0.8 Sec , ISO 100, 18MM, Flash Off

A similar photo that I took except that instead of zooming out, I zoomed in. As I did not have a tripod with me, I used a shorter shutter speed.

Painting with Light is fun and it is always a new experience each time!

Technical Tango has a Flickr account

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Hair accessories

Lens : EFS18-55MM. f3.5-f5.6 IS

Settings : f5.6, 1/10, ISO800, WB @ Auto 55MM

Settings : f5.6, 1/8, ISO800, WB @ Auto 55MM