This is one of the photos I took when I was just walking up the street, looking for things to take a picture of. I did want to do a vignetting effect, but I wasn't entirely sure how to do it on photo shop.

A cute cat! You guys should be glad I'm not dead; the cat was making strange noises and sounded like it was restraining itself from eating me right there and then. Well, then again, some of you might actually be disappointed that it didn't...

There was also the occasion where this retard of a spider kept stalking me! Seriously, I was on the computer, typing away at some lousy assignment I had for biology or whatever and I saw these legs crawling up the wall - not a meter from where I was sitting. Naturally, I freaked out somewhat, but went back to work... Not five minutes later, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth in preparation to go to sleep, and there it was, staring at me with those little ugly eyes on the side of the bathtub. Yeah, pretty freaky. So, I went to sleep and dreamed about spiders and I woke up the next morning, went into the bathroom to have a shower and there it was. In the cup, eight legs and all. Good thing I wasn't brushing my teeth eh...

I swear to God, this spider was stalking me. Well, it died that day, so yay.

Another pretty flower! I like taking pictures of flowers. I know that I should probably add some sort of variation to my photographic style, but unfortunately flowers are all that are interesting in my neighbourhood. But I promise you guys: when I go to Hong Kong, I will deliver you guys the most amazing pictures that you will ever see! In fact, I am hoping to get this lens here

Just take your time and look through the photos that some people have taken with this lens; I trust you won't be disappointed! The great thing is that it costs almost 50% less in Hong Kong than it does in Australia, which is a hefty bargain if you ask me. Unfortunately, it is still very pricey, so I suppose I'll just have to beg my parents for some cash.

If I don't get this lens, I suppose I will just opt for this lens instead. It's a macro lens and considerably cheaper, yet produces the same great quality images as the above lens. 

Again, look at some of these photos; you definitely won't be disappointed!

In fact, it would be great if you actually advise me which one to buy! I obviously can't purchase both, and since you guys are the ones looking at my photos, it makes sense that you choose which one I should buy!

Yeah, another flower *sigh* Well, at least it's in Christmas colours (yay), which reminds me, I will be in Hong Kong during Christmas Time! I'll be sure to capture some great Hong Kong Christmas Night Life shots and share them with you! In fact, if I'm lucky, Hong Kong shoot up some fireworks in the habour at the time of Christmas, so I might actually get some good firework shots! That is, if I have a tripod. Oh dear, Photography is such an expensive hobby.

Another thing I tried recently was a concept called HDR, also known as High Dynamic Range Photography. It is something really to work for, because it can truly yield some spectacular results! Basically, the concept behind it is where you basically mesh together images of varying exposure brackets, let's say -2EV, -1EV, 0, +1EV, +2EV. By merging them together, you should get the perfect exposure throughout the frame, with the highlights toned down due to the low exposure setting and the shadows toned up due to the high exposure setting. I did a quick one above and although it doesn't look that spectacular, it is a step. A step! I believe that HDR is actually a great indicator of photographic ability, contrary to Mitchell's belief, since not only does it require skill in photography, but it requires skill in digital processing!

Here are the original photos, if you want to see the difference

Here's the first one, at the exposure +2EV. Now, even though it looks entirely washed out, the shadows are perfectly exposed.

Here is the one, at just right exposure. I suppose it provides a good base? However, some things are slightly overexposed, like the bridge and the sky.

This is the last one, with -2EV exposure. Though very dark, it still preserves the details of the sky, which I suppose is important in the merging of the photos.

Again, if you're interested, I suggest you take a look at this link:

Not only is it good for balancing out the exposure and creating an overall pleasing image, it can create some pretty wicket effects, like illustrating cloud and water movement and highlighting otherwise undetected texture in bricks.

Here is a better one, minus the crappy foreground.

Another picture with a long 30 second exposure! It's kind of retarded how the light trail finishes up before the frame ends, but the effect is still pretty damn awesome!

Although the railing is a bit out of proportion, the desired effect was nice, and I think that with a proper tripod, it would actually be quite attractive. Besides, the sunset is nice looking!

I thought that I might also add in some funny, retarded pictures of some people that I have taken over the time but never really bothered to upload. I know some of you will get a laugh out of them....

I hope you enjoyed my pictures! I'm sorry, I could've uploaded more, but my mum was whinging at me for being on the computer for too long. I honestly hate it when my mum complains, because it never ever ends. 

Well

Happy Holidays Folks!