The PenFan's PhotoBlog

As Chinese New Year is getting closer we went to the Curve Mall to pick up some new year goodies. Last month we were quite happy with The Curve's 2012 Christmas decoration. Naturally we are eager to check out what they have for the 2013 Chinese New Year as well. The Curve Mall's 2013 Chinese New Year theme called the Celebration Of Spring look beautiful from one floor above. ---   Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 II standard zoom lens, setting lens at 28mm f/4.6 1/25s and ISO 800. This trip to The Curve Mall is mainly a shopping trip for Chinese New Year goodies. However we are also prepared for some photo shooting opportunity when something nice pops up. Thanks to Olympus for pioneering the Mirrorless Cameras System and reinventing the Digital Pen Micro Four Thirds Cameras. This small system camera with big features is so light and small we can carry it with us almost anytime. Any Olympus Pen camera together...

Our memory is still fresh with the photo session of Majestic Dragon of the Pavilion Mall.  But time flies and that a year has past.  Soon we will be in the Lunar Year of the Snake and bid farewell to the Dragon Year. The 2013 snake year celebration at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur has this cartoon-like Snake leading the 12 Chinese Zodiac Circle of Reunion at the Mall's Bukit Bintang entrance. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 Pancake lens, setting lens at f/5.6 1/200s and ISO 200. We were on our way to the Pavilion Mall and expecting to see a big anaconda just like the Majestic Dragon at the Mall for the Year of the Snake.  When we arrived we were disappointed because the Pavilion Mall had a miserable green earthworm disguised as a snake at the entrance. Luckily the Green earth worm looked cute and funny and if not for its forked tongue it definitely is merely a big fat earthworm. The 2013 Chinese New Year theme for Pavilion Kuala ...

In the month of December Ikea is running some one-day special Christmas offer of 2 items per day everyday till December 24. We were attracted or rather distracted by one of the items on offer that day but felt it more of a want than a need. Whimsie Forest with a sprinkle of fairy dust is the Curve Mall 2012 Christmas theme decoration.    --     camera: Olympus Pen E-PL2, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 II standard zoom, setting lens at 28mm, f/9.0, 1/15s and ISO 1000. Physically checking  out the item might help but Ikea is quite a distance from our place. If the item turned out to be something not what we really want,  it would be a wasted day out.  Then I remembered the Christmas decoration at The Curve so I said to my wife at least we can shoot some photos to make it worth the while. We arrived at Ikea around lunch time and had lunch at the Oriental Court area at The Curve Mall. After that we mov...

Before we knew it Santa is back singing out loud " HoHoHo I am Back"! Christmas 2012 is just days away and many shopping Malls already decorated with beautiful Christmas theme to draw shoppers and visitors in. A week ago we saw the almost completed Christmas decoration at The Curve mall but we had no photos because it was not lighted yet at that time. A Bedazzling Christmas is the 2012 Christmas theme for Pavilion Kuala Lumpur with plenty of crystals, glittering gold and blinking lights on the Christmas tree. — Camera: OLYMPUS PEN E-P1, LENS: M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17MM F/2.8 pancake lens, SETTING F/4.0, 1/15s and ISO 200. We were at the Bukit Bintang area running some chores and decided to drop by the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur for lunch. The Pavilon Mall 2012 Christmas decoration looked more vibrant and upbeat than what we remembered last December. The theme for 2012 is Bedazzling Christmas. Visitors entering Pavilion Mall from the Bukit Bintang entrance can never miss...

We talked about a simplified and easy 2 layers exposure blending in the last article and so here it comes. In most scenes the dynamic range of the scenes are just slightly out of range of the image sensors' dynamic range.  Therefore, we only need to extend the highlight or shadow area by about 2  to 3 stops and the 2 layers blending method can handle that easily. This image of the The Western Courtyard of The Curve Mall created using the 2 layers manual exposure blend with The Gimp was fast and reasonably good. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 II standard zoom, setting lens zoom at 31mm and f/4.9, ISO 200. The shutter speed of the two blended images are 1/15s and 1/60s. In this 2 layers method we use the +1 EV and the -1 EV photos from the three bracketed images. The 0 EV or "normal exposed" image from the camera is not required here. The +1 EV overexposed image has enough details to cover most of the scenes from t...