What Life is All About

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

While We Try to Teach Our Children All About Life, Our Children Teach Us What Life is All About | ( Angela Schwindt )

I think we can learn so much from our children, they really enjoy their present, I mean their time that they have in their hand and I think we should also enjoy our present, while we can plan for our future endeavor, we should never forget to really enjoy our times at hand, the future is not in our hand for sure. If you think there is something that can be done in the present just do it, don’t wait and don’t ever procrastinate, I’ve learn that all, I’m a victim of procrastination.

It is very heartwarming feeling watching my son playing with the leaf and with the puddle of water, everything look so interesting to him, every little-little things simply fascinate him, I wish I’ve a picture like that, a picture of me playing happily but I don’t, all I’ve is a blurry vision about my past, I grew up here in Kuala Lumpur in the late 1970, it is still “kampung” or village by today standard then, we don’t have electricity and we spent less time in front of the television, my television back then use a battery car to power it up and yes it is a black and white television and it is boring to watch. Nowadays children spent so much times in front of the idiot box and rarely have extra physical activity outdoors. To cut the story short, enjoy the present and plan for your future but do really enjoy the present first because the future is not in our hand…

My Photoshop | The Tone | eBook

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir | The Tone

Please READ This before buying my e-Book…

1. This e-Book is all about TONING, color tone, how to tone those image to get warm kind of feeling. A colors that can add mood to your image, something like Old School or Retro looking colors, vintage, classic.
2. You must have some basic Photoshop editing skills, this is not for total beginner, but I cannot stop beginners from buying it, I’m just afraid that a new person with limited photoshop skills will find it a bit difficult to understand.
3. About the editing on my e-Book, first you all must do your own basic editing like adjusting some brightness and contrast before proceed with the editing or toning. I will not show you how to do the basic editing.
4. This e-Book will not teach you about Texture, I mean this e-Book won’t show you how to do texturing editing. This is all about toning. This e-book will not teach you about Eye Sharpening or “Catchlight Enhancement”, that will be on my next e-book, insyaAllah.
5. About the figure that was given on my e-Book, it is just as a starting point to guide you through. Different camera manufacture or different picture file size will have an effect on your figure, so with the starting point figure that I  give to you, feel free to adjust it accordingly to your liking.
6. There are four ways that I will share with you in my e-book about getting your pictures tone, you are free to mix and match like I always do. I mean with mix and match is this, you can do one style of editing and finish with it or you can continue editing with your edited photos with a different style. That’s how you get different tone, mix and match, be creative, I can’t teach you to be creative, I can only show you the way.
7. My style of editing will not bring a good result for every kind of a picture, some pictures will look great and some pictures will not. So try to experiment yourself, what I can share with you is this, this kind of editing will produce good result with natural light, especially pictures taken during early morning or late afternoon where the lighting is a bit warm. It will also work great for a portraiture on an overcast day. The colors on your subject, like for an example a cloth will also effect the output of your tone.
8. This editing is only for an enhancement, so please get your pictures right on the camera, I mean you must start with a good picture to  begin with.
9. My e-Book is written in Plain ENGLISH.
10. This e-Book is 27 pages only in PDF format.
11. My e-Book file size will be 8.7 MB, so it will take times to upload and download.
12. If you need more information just Flickr Mail me or eMail me at wwalchemist@yahoo.com

My e-Book will be priced at Ringgit Malaysia RM50.00 or USD20 only. It will be in PDF format.

PAYMENT :

1. At the moment I will only accept payment through Maybank, you can bank in to my Wife Maybank Account Rujiah Binti Muhin.
2. Maybank Account :  1 6 4 0 1 7 0 9 4 7 6 4 Rujiah Binti Muhin ( My Wife ).
3. You can also pay with PAYPAL.
4. After you have made the payment please alert me with SMS through my Hp No: – +(6) 012  2 8 1 2 7 5 3
5. Please also email me with your detail transaction about your payment. My email wazariwazir@yahoo.com or you can Flickr Mail me.
6. Since I’m not available all the time online, I will try my very best to send you the files in PDF format within 24 hours of payment.
7. If you have any doubt, feel free to ask, here on my Blog…

In The Name of Love

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

HaiQal | Backlighting

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

When I start as a PRESS photographers among few things that bother photographers is “Backlighting”, whether it came from artificial light source or from natural light, sometimes PRESS photographers will shout or ask politely to their subject to move here and there to block the “backlighting”. Backlighting can cause “flare” that make our subject unclear especially on their face. Sometimes photographers will use flash and most of the times they do use flash to put back light onto their subject face so it does not appear to be dark and it is true that metering is tricky for backlighting.

To cut the story short, I love backlighting but that depend on my subject, as for example on my son pictures above, backlighting really add interest to my son hair, make it glow with rim light, in fact I did position my wife and my son so both of them catch the sunlight. Some of my friends ask me whether I use flash or reflector to fill in the light on my subject face. No I don’t, I don’t use flash and I don’t use reflector, I’m not a fashion photographer and I don’t want my shooting look like a commercial shot.

I took the metering on my subject face, if you are using PROGRAM Mode on your camera without any customization, your subject may appear dark because your camera will try to get some balance between the bright area and dark area of your subject, your camera exposure meter doesn’t know which one is important and which one is not. I rarely use PROGRAM Mode, most of my shooting are on MANUAL, so I took a reading on my subject face and forget the rest. Yes the background will be blown out, sometimes there is no details but in this case, like the picture above, the background is not my focus, so I don’t bother about getting the right exposure for that. There you go very simple and my editing is simple also and you can see I like to get my pictures especially portraiture have warm feeling or tone, during editing I bump up the temperature until my eyes satisfied.

Actually there is a lot of things going on about that picture above, I plan my shots even before I get out of the house, I’m very particular about my subject cloth,  when I see my wife or my son wearing something that I didn’t like, I’ll ask them to change the cloth or there is no photo shooting. For me a great shooting comes from great planning, most peoples doesn’t know what’s get on behind the scene, some people doesn’t bother to look deeply inside a picture and ask themselves why this particular picture work, why this picture grab our attention, why this picture stop us to look at it a little bit longer. that’s is how I view my favorite pictures on the Web, I stop and look and ask my self, why this pictures work and why some others not. That’s how I learn, I learn by looking at a picture, not just looking, but look deeper, thinking and then absorb the knowledge that can be found on each of a great pictures if we care to look at it more intensely rather than just browsing.

HaiQal | Untitled Expression

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

I just bought a new lens actually, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 D lens, It’s not an easy decision to make between 50mm G Lens and D lens and after much thought I think 50mm D lens gives me more value for my money, after all good picture is more than just about camera equipment. I’ve been shooting with Nikkor f1.8 for two years already which I bought on August 23rd 2007 and now I need extra speed to capture the light since I like to shoot with natural light and like to shoot under low light photography. This shot was taken at wide open aperture at f1.4 and all I can say is, it was sharp and good enough for me and I’m happy with lens.

To make a decision between 50mm and 85mm wasn’t easy either but after. 85mm was good for portrait if we are shooting outdoor, in the open field for an example but when we are shooting indoor like in the small house, mosque, museum, church where the space is constrain< I think 50mm is more versatile and furthermore I use DX format which gives me approximately 75mm coverage on 50mm lens.

Both 85mm and 50mm have it’s place but for me personally 50mm is more versatile and I’m happy with my decision. If I’ve extra money definitely I will get an 85mm, compared to 70-200mm, it is much lighter and considering I like to travel and planned to, 85mm is on my list… 🙂

Eid-ulFitri | Selamat Hari Raya

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

Salam Aidilfitri | Salam Silaturrahim

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

Di kesempatan yang ada ini saya ingin mengambil kesempatan mengucapkan Selamat Menyambut hari raya Aidilfitri but teman-teman blogger serta rakan-rakan fotografi dan sesiapa juga yang singgah ke blog saya yang tak seberapa ini. Di sini saya juga ingin mengambil kesempatan untuk memohon ribuan maaf andaikata ada diantara penulisan yang yang mungkin agak kasar ataupun menimbulkan rasa ketidaksenagan hati di kalagan saudara dan saudari, sebagai insan yang lemah saya mengakui kelemahan diri dan dengan ini sepuluh jari disusun memohon maaf di bulan yang mulia ini.

Akhir kata dari saya sambutlah Aidilfitri ini seadanya, jangan membazir dan berlebih lebih, Aidilfitri sememangnya hanya datang sekali dalam setahun namun bukanlah menjadi lesen kepada kita untuk membazir, sama juga dengan fotografi, sekiranya ada dikalangan rakan-rakan yang ingin membeli peralatan kamera yang baru atau pun membeli kamera yang baru, tanya dulu kepada diri denga seikhlasnya akan keperluan barangan tersebut, apakah ianya termasuk dalam kategori keperluan mendesak atau pun hanyalah sebagai peralatan tambahan untuk memuaskan hobi saudara dan saudari tetapi seandainya saudara atau saudari punya wang yang lebih terpulang, bukannya duit saya pun.

Cuma satu jer yang saya sarankan agar jangan berhenti dari menaiktarafkan skill serta ilmu fotografi saudara dan saudari sekalian, dengan bertambahnya ilmu di dada, insyaAllah dengan kelengkapan yang sedia ada saudara dan saudari mampu menghasilkan seni fotografi yang lebih baik dari sebelumnya tanpa membazirkan wang untuk membeli peralatan baru.

Dah macam Khutbah Fotografi pulak, akhir kata, Selamat Berhari Raya bersama keluarga, jangan lupa rakamlah gambar sebanyak mungkin untuk kenangan sepanjang masa…

HaiQal | Happy Birthday My Son

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

Syukur Alhamdulillah My Son HaiQal is two years old today August 22nd 2009 and not to forget, today is also first Ramadhan for all Muslim here in Malaysia and some other part in the world, the fasting month for Muslim. To all Muslim friends out there, happy Ramadhan. About the picture above, it was a recent picture of HaiQal taken on his Birthday. We plan to take him out but it was raining few minutes after the picture was taken and few minutes later my son fall asleep.

My Universe

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

Sometimes we need to think outside of the box in order to be creative. This things is pretty simple to do, all it takes is a little bit of imagination and just few Photoshop tricks here and there, no I’m not doing the hard work with the Globe, with the help of a “Website” I manage to do this and the key words here is TAGGING, at the meantime, I’ll let you wondering and thinking how I did this because I believe if you can read this that’s mean you have access to the internet and you can get the answer pretty easily. All I did is to add the stars and the lighting effect, the rest is made by the “Mechanism”.

Everybody need a quick answer nowadays, use plug in here, plug in there and use preset and action and later on called it “ART”. It is up to you if you consider whether some work is Art or not, about my picture about, it is not art, just pure playing with my pictures but the “Art” comes into play when we think outside of the box and put outside elements to make this things a little bit more interesting. I got the “Stars” from Google Earth. A lot of younger generation nowadays are too lazy to read after they graduate thinking that they have known everything in the university, how wrong they are. I’m saying this as my personal experience and just my personal thought. You may have your own, I mean by not reading is, not reading education material, not something like love novel that most people read, I mean a lot of younger generation nowadays read less education material, just few of them do.

How many people buy and read photography books other than magazine, maybe some of you say that photography books is expensive, how about your camera? I think your DSLR is so much expensive isn’t it. Buying expensive camera equipment without the knowledge of handling them and use them the way it should be is a waste of money, just remember, people can steal your equipment but not your skills and knowledge. My point is spent some extra money on education, buy some books about photography or anything that might interest you. Learn from other experience photographer. We cannot meet all the great photographers out there face to face but we can “Listen” to their story and experience through their books.

In photography we need to practice and practice in order for us to improve our skills but if we keep on pressing our shutter blindlessly without any clear vision, we are not making any photograph but just taking picture. If the photographers who have some knowledge in his head, he will be able to focus more clearly, see the vision ahead of him even before he lift the camera to his eyes. I’ve met many great local photojournalist who have a clear picture about a picture that they need to shoot even before they get out of the office, by the time they get their assignment from their Boss, they have a “Clear Vision” about how they are going to Photograph The Assignment.

HaiQal | The Untitled

© 2009 Wazari Wazir

Enough rant about my experience while attending “Compulsory Adobe Photoshop Course” organize by my department, that’s what you get when you attend a course for free, you are not given a choice, just live with it, but I’m sad because it is tax payers money, the course suppose to make our job easier, faster and more efficient with the knowledge that we gain but if we can’t use the knowledge on our day to day duty, what’s the point of the course?

Back to the picture of my son HaiQal above, in case you were to ask, how do I get the colors. As usual I develop my picture in ACR Adobe Camera RAW simply because I shoot in RAW, I boost the temperature somewhere between 7000 to 8000K, I know it is high temperature but later on I decrease the Vibrance and just push a little bit saturation, all done in ACR. After finishing some basic editing in ACR, later on I do my final adjustment in photoshop, this time I play around with Channel, I just give you some hints only, how to play with Channel, go and figure it out, that’s the only way to learn, you may make some mistake or get some unwanted result but  you will learn along the way. Don’t be afraid to make some mistake and don’t be afraid to try something new.

I like to keep on experimenting, I don’t use any plug-ins, preset or any photoshop action, I did everything from scratch but I do suggest to any of you out there who make bulk editing like wedding for example to use plug-ins, it will increase your productivity and will save you great times, but to get creative and if you have more times to play around and nobody waiting for your art work then you can get creative with photoshop, trust me the excitement of doing the things on your own rather than using plug-ins is different because you know what you are doing rather than let the “Software” do the thinking. Taking a picture yourself is not the same as giving order to other photographers to get the picture. Same like if you pay someone to get a picture on the other part of the world, yes you get the picture but you don’t get the experience of being there. But sometimes we need to work smart rather than work hard, you be your own judge and you draw your own line…