The Art of Levitation

Meet Natsumi Hayashi from Tokyo who simply loves to levitate. Levitation is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Appear as though you're floating in mid-air and people just flip out. She always brings her camera with her and creates these photos of her floating. It is not that easy to do as in order for her to look like floating and not like a jump, the facial expressions should be controlled as well as hair or body flailing shouldn’t be noticeable. I can say, that she reached her goal.








































































Source: yowayowacamera

Photos: Sunset at Penang Teluk Kumbar Beach

When going to Teluk Kumbar (also Teluk Gombar) in Malaysia's Penang State for a dinner at a sea-front restaurant yesterday, I snapped these two magnificent sunseting photographswith Nikon D90 digital camera plus Nikkor 24-70mm F/2.8 ED lens.

Larger versions: Pic 1, Pic 2

PICTUREs: Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 AT-X 116 PRO DX Lens

Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 AT-X 116 PRO DX lens is an ultra-wide angle lens produced by the Japanese lens manufacturer Tokina Co. LTD for Canon- and Nikon-branded APS-C sized digital single-lens reflex cameras. Its price is much cheaper than that of the original lens with the same range manufactured by Canon and Nikon. Tokina 11-16mm lens is a wonderful lens (see reviews by Kenrockwell.com) for those who will make a lot of photographs on the landscape and high buildings. If seldom make super-wide angle shots, it's not recommended to buy it as this lens can seriously disproportionate a person in the picture when the angle is not right. Because as a newbie I didn't have much experience in this regard, it ruined a day of shootings when recently travelling to Malaysia's administrative capital Putrajaya. No need to say more, here are seven portraits of my Nikon F-mount Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens from various angles, hope they can be helpful for those photography enthusiasts who plan to purchase it.

Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 AT-X 116 PRO DX Lens

Larger versions: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4 & Pic 7. All images are released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License.

Light Bokeh Taken Using Nikon Nikkor 24-70mm/F2.8 ED IF Lens

Days ago I bought Nikon's high-end AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED IF lens for my photography hobby though my current skills are very poor. Tonight I tested the lens for the light bokeh pictures which were shot across the windows of my living room (see the overview below). The top image is the one I like the most.  The aesthetic quality of the blur from Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 ED lens is very entertaining.

Larger version: Picture 1, Picture 2.
All images were released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License

Lightbolt "Striking" Penang B-Suite Hotel

B-Suite Hotel in Malaysia's Penang Island is a quite new hotel which opened for the business only since 2 or 3 years ago. Because of its strategical position (2mins of driving to Penang Bus Station and <10mins to the international airport) together with its low price, B-Suite Hotel attracts a lot of tourists and those who are on the business trip.

On one day in 2008 July, when I went to eat at a nearby food court (now demolished for the properties development), I ran across a high school classmate who I didn't meet up for 12 years the second day he stayed in the hotel. He was then on a business trip from China.

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Everyday I can see the B-Suite hotel across the window of the house I currently rented but never took a picture for it. Several days ago, after a dinner with some friends who was going back to China, I brought my digital camera Nikon D90 to test the standard Nikkor AF 50mm/F1.8D lens. The night was rainy, an accidental opportunity made me picture a photograph of B-Suite Hotel as if it was struck by a lightbolt during a long (8') exposure. This was the first time ever I caputred a lightning in a shot. So surprised! Now I share it here.

The picture below was the original version which was directly converted from RAW to JPEG. And the top one was cropped, retouched and then converted a JPG using Nikon's Capture NX 2 software. Any kind comment are welcomed!

Lightbolt "Hit" Penang B-Suite Hotel

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Larger version: Picture 1, Picture 2. All Images released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License.