Lights - You Just Gotta Love 'Em~

Made another new set of Bokeh filters...

A few of the shapes didn't really work out...
It was either poorly cut out or too big...

But there is one shape in this set that I really like~

This looked the best out of the whole set...Haunted Baskin Robbins~

Musical Baskin Robbins~

Confused Baskin Robbins~

Cube-ish Baskin Robbins? *lol*

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Got myself a DigiKlear LensPen...
I won it when I went to Mid Valley last Saturday~
(more about it at my personal blog)
LensPen is a cleaning tool that cleans your camera lens effectively without damaging it...

I tried it out myself and I have to say...
It's quite impressive~
Works so much better than the cleaning kit I bought~
More about it here...

A word of advice though...
Should you want to purchase a LensPen...
Make sure you get an original one...

Though "pirated" ones are much cheaper...
Would you want to have your camera's lens(es) damaged?
I don't think so...
It's gonna cost you alot more to repair/replace the lens...

The LensPen is not some super expensive item...
It quite affordable...
You should be able find it in any camera shop...
It costs around RM38...

The one I'm using is designed for cleaning LCD screens...
But it works just as fine on my camera's lens...

Click here for a flash video of the different types of LensPen, how to use it, how it works, warning about imitation LensPen products, etc etc...

Here is a closer look at my DigiKlear LensPen...

On this end is the brush that is used for wiping off dust...
It can be retracted...

And on this end would be the cleaning tip...
It can wipe of smudges and/or fingerprints...

You can read about how the LensPen compares to other lens cleaning products here...
It's towards the middle of the webpage...
You can't miss it...

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Here are some pictures that I took a few days back...


Was browsing through one of my friend's blog and I saw some really interesting pictures that he took...


I tried it out for myself...
Couldn't get it at first...
Then my friend told me that I needed to use a *rear-curtain sync flash...
And voila~

Success!
(these were just test shots so don't expect anything great)

*"Rear-curtain sync" is a flash mode(?) that sets the flash to fire just as the shutter is about to close. The flash mode(?) normally used is called "front-curtain sync" which fires the flash as soon as the shutter opens.

With that short fun fact...
I shall conclude this post...

Ciaos~!

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Quote of the day:
"My camera is my third eye..."
-Julian 'Jules' Chong-

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The Bokeh Filter Upgrade~

I've "upgraded" my Bokeh filter from this:

To this:
This my own version of the "Sliding Bokeh Filter"~


This is very convenient when I want to change the shape...
When I was using the Bokeh filters with my S602 Zoom...
I would have to remove the cap, take out the current filter, reinsert another filter, and place the cap back on the lens...

But when I got my D90 I had to make my own cap...
The cap I used for my S602 Zoom was made from a...
Err...
Ribbon roll??
You know how toilet paper has that brown cylindrical thing in the middle to "hold" the tissue together?
Well that white transparent thing (picture above) was what "held" the ribbon together...

Anyway...
Getting back...
Since I had to make a new cap for my D90...
I decided to make a slider...

Changing the shapes is a lot faster now...
Saves me plenty of time...
Now my chances of missing a nice shaped Bokeh shot is lower~

Here are some shaped Bokehs that I took earlier...
Nothing great though...

As I mentioned in my previous post...
My shaped Bokeh shots would have to be cropped...
So the next few shots you are about to see have all been cropped except for one...

Music note shaped filter...
One of my favorite filters...

Maple leaf shaped filter...
I like this filter too~

Tulip shaped filter...

Star shaped filter...

Cross shaped filter...

Heart shaped filter...
My all-time favorite filter~

This is what my shaped Bokeh shots would look like if uncropped...
Most of the area of the picture is covered by the filter except for the center...

I seriously need to get myself a 50mm lens...
But I'm low on bread at the moment
*sobs*

Ah wells...
I'll just have to make do with what I have at the moment...

That's all I have today~
Ciaos~!

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Quote of the day:
"Black and white are the colors of photography... To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected..."
-Robert Frank-

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Bokeh Bokeh Bokeh~

Was playing around with my Bokeh filter at my dad's office yesterday...
Got some really nice shots...
In my own opinion that is...
*hehehe*

Remember how I said in one of my older posts that the size of my cut-outs can be about 3cm...
I was wrong about that part...

I forgot that when my lens is zoomed all the way the aperture is automatically set to f/5.6 (it can go higher of course... but that's the lowest value when at maximum zoom)...
So if I divide 105mm by f/5.6...
I can only cut out a shape no bigger than 18mm...
I was a bit disappointed but..
Ah wells...

I needed to do some cropping with the shaped Bokeh shots...
If I uploaded the picture uncropped...
Well...
Let's just say it isn't that nice...
At least the shapes turn out~ =]

So all the shaped Bokeh pictures that you see/will see from this post onwards has most probably been cropped before...

Here are the shots I took...

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*note*
Pictures are all unedited unless specified...
Pictures have also been resized thus causing a drop in photo quality...
Original photos are much sharper...
Click to enlarge...
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I found out that the Bokeh filter can be used with not only lights but plants too~

This was before the filter was applied...

For the next 6 pictures...
I used a function on the D90 that allows me to set the color of the white balance...
Thus giving me different colored shaped Bokehs...

There is this patterned window at my dad's office...
And when the sun starts to set and shines its light on to it...
The patterns on the window reflects different colors of the spectrum...
I thought it would go really well with Bokeh effects and here are my results~
I tried to get the colors of the rainbow on to a single heart shaped Bokeh...
But this was the best I could get...This shot would've been nicer if there were more hearts around...

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Come to think of it...
I haven't showed you guys what my D90 looks like with the new Bokeh filter on...

*jeng jeng jeng*

After taking this shot above...
I kinda got carried away and started snapping more pictures of my D90...
*hehe*
It's nothing special though...
Just some ordinary shots...


Oh...
Did I mention I bought a...
Err...
Blower?
(is that what you call it?)It was a 5 in 1 cleaning kit that cost me RM38...
The set came with cotton buds, a bottle of cleaning solution, a stack of lens cleaning tissues, and a wiping cloth...

I find the cleaning solution rather useless...
Because every time I use it to clean the UV filter it seems to make it worse!!
Maybe I'm just not doing it right...
Help anyone?
*heh heh*

I'm now at a lost as to which camera equipment I should get next...
I'm stuck between the:

Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens

The Nikon Speedlight SB-900 (external flash)

The MB-D80 Battery Grip

I've added a poll at the side bar for you readers to help me decide what to get...

Decisions decisions~
*sigh*

Oh~
By the way...
Do check out this video...
It's pretty impressive...



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Quote of the day:
"In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality..."
-Alfred Stieglitz-

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