Fakes and realism in Adobe editing

In this edition, there is a section where the mum took an image of her daughter looking for acorns and where DCM tries to show how editing that picture helps to improve it.

I read a statement there that i totally disagree with, what happens is that the contributing author in DCM used the clone tool and "removed" a distracting branch. He goes on to say that "while this might sound like cheating, its no difference and easy to remove  the branch when the photo was taken" (paraphrased since i can't recall the exact words but this is the exact meaning).

The picture after editing shows the branch "vanish" as though as it was broken at that part. Using this logic, one can also adobe in say Brad Pitt and say the same thing like "well we could have invited Brad Pitt and the image would have him there anyway".

I find such statements contrary to what real photography should be about, taking a shot of what is real and presenting it to others with the intention of imparting emotion. But once you "fake it" the image no longer carry credibility nor deserved to be evaluated like one.

christmas @ hgc 2010

christmas @ hgc 2010, originally uploaded by Marcus++.

This is my cousin's 2nd child. I took the opportunity to try out taking a shot on her without tripod on the dp2 for indoor not-so-good lighting. You can see i have to do this elbow over shoulder technique to provide stabilization. The image you see of me is actually a mirror on the wall.

Black & White

Often working with B&W is a serious field of photography by itself. I have heard of individuals who sells off all their tools and focus just now B&W.
To these people B&W represent a visual form of photography that portrays the subject in the clearest manner possible.
While i don't agree on these lines since being an IT guy, technology improvement such as the existence of colors should be fully used and the world would be a dead boring place if its B&W, i do love the idea of certain photographs being B&W, particularly night shots where colors are faded and obscure.

The brotherhood

This is Khek Loong. A friend i met since i was 16 in AMC Ampang. He will be going back to
China to work under a HK company. Good future i would say and definitely a chance for his
family to further explore China and its beautiful landscape.
There is one comment his wife made what got me thinking, "In china you feel safer when you walk on the streets than in Malaysia". Has the local security here gone so bad that our own people going
to places with human rights issues like China feels even safer?

This image is taken on a dp2 with a gorilla pod that is clinging to my high back chair. Indoor light is considered low and the shooting speed reaches around 1//6 seconds.

T-One workshop

I always wanted to take some photos of Ah Yan workshop but just didn't have right time and factor to do it until now. Today i had to fetch a colleague of mine to fix his car and since i am into photography lately, i took these 2 shots.



Ah Yan is quite well built and started off the business after learning the trade at a very early age. He is a believer in Jesus and tries hard to make a decent living thru his workshop and competitive pricing of fixes. His workshop is situated in Ampang, near the new industrial area and just 2 minutes drive from Pandan Indah.



Ah Yan mentioned that all his workers are foreigners, this is because its hard to hire any locals who are interested in this trade anymore. This means within the next 5 years, we shall see foreigners dominating this labor intensive job.

Collegues @ Work

This is Izzat. He is always the one who stays back after working hours. Often when you need someone to chat with at night and the jam is bad, you can count on someone like Izzat. His knowledge of what is cool and what is not is wide and he is generous to share his views.



JK is the guy you look for when you have a technical problem. He has a unique characteristic of remaining calm and in my 7 years of working with him, i have never once seen him "lose it".

Kanching Hutan Lipur

This areas is just slightly above Templar's park. One important note is that
when you do the "u" turn to turn into the road, do NOT turn into the small road on the left, its pretty dangerous to drive from the u turn to the left path because of the short distance.

Instead drive into the Shell Station a few hundred meters in front and behind the shell station there is a road that you can join back to that left path.

Just walk up the concrete path and you will reach this place. I took this shot using a small 20cm tripod positioned on a rock and set a slower shutter speed.

Here is the entrance to the concrete path that will lead you to the picture above.