Destinations

10 Things To Do When You're In Perth

by David Chin on October 8, 2009

This flyer from Malaysia Airlines arrived in the email, with a list of 10 interesting places to visit and things to do in Perth, Australia.

(click to see a larger version)
Malaysia Airlines Flyer - 10 Things To Do When You're In Perth

1. DNA Tower in Kings Park offers majestic panoramic views of the city skyline, Swan River, the mountain range & the Indian Ocean.

2. Head to the beach! Swim, surf, sail, kayak or just relax & soak in the sun at Scarborough Beach, Cottesloe Beach or Mettams Pool.

3. Bring the kids to AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia) for a first-hand experience of the region’s sea life!

4. Take a day out to explore the port town of Fremantle where cafes and outdoor markets are abound.

5. Swim with the dolphins at the seaside town of Rockingham. Fishing & crabbing are also available. Or head to Penguin Island for an up close with the Fairy penguins.

6. Indulge in some retail therapy at the city malls, King Street or at the factory outlet centre Harbour Town.

7. Sample local fares especially fish and chips in cafes by the river. Or opt for succulent, freshly-caught blue manna crab & seafood feast at Peel Inlet.

8. Spend a day or two at the Yanchep National Park, a favorite nature & wildlife attraction for both tourists & locals alike.

9. Feel as though you’ve stepped back in time as you wander the historic country towns in Avon Valley. Go rafting on Avon River!

10. Catch a ballet or an opera performance at His Majesty’s Theatre, the only Edwardian theatre in Australia that has been operating since 1904!

Malayan Water Monitor Lizards on Tioman Island

by David Chin on August 21, 2009

These large, strong swimmers are everywhere on the island.

A Malayan Water Monitor Lizard, spotted in Tioman Island - DSC_4921

They're not dangerous to humans, unlike the venomous Komodo dragons.

References: Malayan Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator), Wikipedia.

A Photographer's Guide to Santorini, Greece

by David Chin on August 18, 2009

Sebastian Vaida writes a fantastic article on Santorini for the photographer – places to see, locations to photograph, what equipment to bring, how to get there and around, interacting with the locals, and other tips.

Stunning Nikon D40 and Nikon D60 Iceland Photos by Bas Fokker

by David Chin on July 25, 2009

Two sample galleries are Iceland – Birds, Horses and Sheep (taken with the D40), and Iceland – Scenery (photographed with the D60).

(via DPReview forum post)


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Colorful Horses at the Germantown Charity Horse Show, Tennessee

by David Chin on July 23, 2009

Colorful Horses at the Germantown Charity Horse Show, Tennessee – Nice Fujifilm Finepix F100fd photos by James Cafferty:

Here are pictures of 8 of them. Some have been heavily PP to eliminate distracting backgrounds. All were taken with the F100fd.

Gorgeous HDR Photos with Canon EOS XTi / 400D + Canon EF-S 10-22mm

by David Chin on July 21, 2009

Gorgeous HDR Photos with Canon EOS XTi / 400D + Canon EF-S 10-22mm – Various scenic landscapes taken around Malaysia during Blue Hour.

vedd, the photographer, says:

I normally work with 9 exposures for all of my HDR images, ranging from -4 to +4 EV.

Regarding HDR post-processing:

Well, I shoot RAW when I took the bracketed images and then using DPP to convert it into 16bit TIFFs (somehow I prefer DPP output result more that other RAW converters). Once done, I feed the 16bit TIFFs into Photomatix and tone mapped it. I then saved the tone mapped output as 16bit TIFFs as well and made final touch up in Photoshop CS3. When I'm done with all the touch ups in CS3, then only I converted the images into 8bit Jpegs.

On camera settings:

Actually for 9 exposures I'll be taking 4 sequence of bracketed exposures. This can only be done in Av or Tv mode (but I advice you against using Tv mode – DoF issues). In Av mode, once you've set the AEB, by default it will be at -2 to +2, you can further decrease/increase the EV to -4/+4 by using Ev button. But the downside is that, you'll have redundant exposures at +0, -1 and +1 EV, so I'll be deleting the redundant exposures to save space…

Off course when playing with EV in AEB mode, you need to take special care on the shutter speed – if at +3ev, you're already hitting the 30 second (or 1/4000 second) mark, then there's no point of going to +4EV because the shutter speed will still be at 30 seconds. When this happens I'll be switching to BULB in M mode and calculate the exposure time manually.


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Where To Eat in Boston

by David Chin on July 21, 2009

Where To Eat in Boston – An interesting site, which compiles information on restaurants, cafes, eateries and hotels in Boston from multiple Twitter streams.

Summer 2009 in Central Park

by David Chin on July 21, 2009

Summer 2009 in Central Park – Stunning horizontal and vertical panoramas, and portraits. A great glimpse of life in New York.

rfc used the Nikon D200 plus Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor lenses to snap these photos.


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Summer temperatures near Beit She'an, Israel

by David Chin on July 21, 2009

Summer temperatures near Beit She'an, Israel – KEVZPHOTOS:

I used to live near Beit Shean, Israel in the Jordan Valley. It used to get up to around 46C (118F) during the summer, and a few times got over 50C (125F).

I loved that kinda climate. I used to work outside all day long in the sun.
Dry, sunny every day and baking hot.


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Kapalai Island Resort

by David Chin on July 16, 2009

Kapalai Island Resort – Recommended by a friend, Ahmad Faizal.

The island is just a few minutes away from Sipadan island.

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