Beauty shoot

Last Friday afternoon was spent shooting a beauty pageant of sorts, actually to select a representative from the head office for the real beauty thingy at the annual dinner in August 2006. As usual the stage lighting was a nightmare for unseasoned shooters. Pictures were taken with the Nikon D70s, 70-300mm Sigma & the Nikkor 18-70mm. The SB600 provided the required illumination.

Bar T

Favourite watering hole on Friday nights currently. Located in Damansara Utama, the resident DJ played music from the 70/80s last night much to our delight. Most times some nondescript monotonic beat comes on, probably to cater to the younger clientele later at night.... Happy hours til 2100 hrs.

Eunice

Suzie

Michelle

Pretty lasses at the bar...

Happy birthday Corina!

Celebrating your birthday around Mothers' Day means crowded restaurants everywhere. And so last night we had to settle for a quick meal at New Grand View restaurant in Taman SEA, PJ to ring in my cousin sister Corina's birthday. Turning in to the road, we got stuck in a Wesak day procession that took a good 15 mins of waiting for it to clear. Consolation.... I got some water blessings from a monk sprinkling the stuff from his carriage! The Nikon 5200 was blessed too, so it should take many good shots henceforth.




Buddhist monk sprinkling water blessings





Chinese style curry fish head with prawns. Great to go with rice or noodles!





Yam basket with kungpo chicken





Two style tofu - steamed & deepfried with meat topping

Italiannies

Italiannies is located on the first floor of the 1Utama new wing and it looks kinda small at the door but upon entering did we realise how cavernous it is. It's a family restaurant with a warm cosy feel, soft lighting & helpful wait staff. We wanted a quick bite last night as I was meeting up with some fellow PMers later on.

Freshly baked foccacia bread that you dip with herb-infused olive oil & balsamic vinegar

Hearty minestrone soup - very tasty & filled with lots of vegetables

Caesar's salad with fried calamari - romaine lettuce, artichokes, olives, capsicums & tomatoes in a creamy dressing topped with crunchy calamari

Fettucine carbonara with beef bacon

Carven Ong Couture

And the fashion show continues.... again at 1Utama for the last weekend of the KL Fashion Week. Shot the Carven Ong collection, who specialises in evening gowns & bridal stuff. The models were from AndrewsModels, probably one of the leading modelling agencies in town.

Tried out some other shooting options this time like setting daylight WB eventhough I was using a flash. Off the camera, the shots came out quite natural without much post processing. Learnt this from Hamzah, a regular TT member from the "white side", although he has yet to sign up at PhotoMalaysia!

More shots in my Flickr gallery.

Fashion On 1

It has been some time since I last shot a fashion event. Last weekend at the new wing of 1Utama they were showcasing most of the labels available in the shopping mall. All the pics were taken with the Nikon D70s, Sigma 70-300mm & the SB600 flash. Unexotic equipment! WB seems off probably due t to the difficult lighting conditions.

After reviewing the photos taken, I'd realised that using AF-S focusing method was not cutting it as most of the photos were out-of-focus. Not satisfied, went back to 1Utama again on 1 May 2006, being a public holiday and shot another series. This time the focusing was much better after switching over to AF-C. WB still seems off. Probably the flash was not strong enough. Flash compensation and higher ISO ? Looks like more practice is needed....

More pictures in my Flickr gallery here.