Flying Dragons

Forgive the post title, I just couldn't come up with interesting names to call this post. There was a state-wide blackout yesterday that lasted for around six hours and even more in other places as the power was restored in stages. As chaos had surely ensued within the city, I was left completely bored and without anything to do. I set out once again with my camera into the garden. Just as I wondered if there was anything interesting to take photos of, a dragonfly caught my attention as it flew around and perched itself on the branches of a dead plant which had more dragonflies.

Its times like these that make me wish I had a macro lens. The few dragonflies that were sitting on those branches didn't scare too easily and they just sat there the whole time I was taking photos, even when I got really close with the lens. These photos were all shot at f/8 to try and get more of them in focus. 

An interesting thing I found was that auto focus in situations like these where there are plenty of other objects such as branches or leaves in the frame which are high in contrast can be a challenge for the 6D. Whether using the center AF point or selecting all of them was really difficult to pinpoint towards any of the dragonflies as it tends to back focus instead towards the bush in the background.

The only solution I came up with was to get really close and select the center AF point as well as filling most of the center frame with the subject, making it easier for the AF system with just a slight adjustment with the FTM focus ring as I switched angles.

After The Rain

In Technicolor Light

The next semester is about to begin and I'm just so happy about my exam results :)

February

Black & Yellow

Exams are over and I'm just glad it's the holidays. It's been a tough semester and somehow I know the next is only going to be worse.

Anyway, these are some photos I got when I chased a Golden Birdwing butterfly (I'm not really sure though but they do look similar) around the garden for several minutes. I was using the 17-55 at the time so I couldn't really get close up shots of it because it kept flying away every time I stood too close.

More Than Nature

Been away for the past week. I finally have the time to post and I have lots to update soon :D

Nature, Subjects and Time

Been busy *sigh* I just couldn't find the time to update my blog as often as I would like (the post title was decided in like two seconds). Uni is about to start and I already have so many things to do. There's also the dilemma of choosing either 4 or 5 subjects this semester. I was incredibly stressed out the last time I took 5 and It seems that most of my friends are taking that. I would really hate to take a class alone next semester especially if it's a difficult one.

I will be uploading photos of the recent wedding on the next post so keep an eye out for it :) I'm hoping to make time to get more photos up here. I feel like I have been neglecting my blog.

Out of Sync

Forces Of Nature

The day before was really tiring, strange and scary at the same time. There was a pretty short thunderstorm which caused floods everywhere and most ironically my house which is on a hill. We thought it was just another flood that we would usually get when the drains were blocked by leaves but we saw that everything was covered in thick mud and it looked suspicious.

A small portion of the bottom part of the retaining wall behind my house had cracked (possibly because there was too much water retained within it because of some flaw in the design) and gave way to a large amount of rocks and soil which filled the drains around my house and flowed all over the driveway and made its way down the hill.

A lot of water had also flowed into the house and filled everything but a small portion of the living room. It took an incredible effort from the family to shovel, sweep, scrape and mop various parts of the house. We worked non-stop from 3pm to 9pm. Bernard came back at 6pm and helped as well.

Thank god the water didn't touch anything electrical and the most damage it did was on some wooden cabinets that got partially ruined. Now there is the bigger issue of that retaining wall which my parents are contacting the right people to come and repair.

In A Bowl

So much to do, so little time.

Anticipation

The past few days flew by like a blur. I played football yesterday with Ki Choy and Bernard on a field along with several other people who were already there. I'm all sore now, but It was worth it to be able to score my first three goals on that field :p

I can't wait for this weekend. The Premier League is about to start and it looks like its boiling up to be a very interesting season. YNWA! (Bernard, I have to watch it in HD :p)

The semester holidays are almost over and exam results aren't out yet. I'm gonna register for my degree next semester because my foundation is already done. Hope the next few days will be fun :)

After The Rain

These are a couple of photos I shot at the Sutera Harbour Marina.

Timed Weather

Strange. It seems like the weather is running on some sort of schedule. You can count on it being blazing hot during the day and rainy in the night.

I finally got to play some football on a field but it only lasted for about 15 minutes before the rain started pouring down heavily so we had to stop.