An Ant's Life

An Ant's Life


Usually on Friday's I would be waiting for my church member to fetch me back to my church after my classes in college, cause it's mainly my only means of transportation back, if not... would be a problem traveling back on bus or by taxi holding so much bags.... -_-"

Well that time when carried my baggage to the college's cafeteria, church member was busy helping out another student's laptop problem... So I was bored and started walking around...

Walk walk walk... till i saw a bush~

"Hello Bush"

*SHAKE IT*

Then I saw some red ants there... ah man the spawn of devils... never liked these little monsters because when I was a kid used to lie down beside trees and these little ants who would just climb on you and bite you without a reason!!! EMO ants....

Anyway... this was what I saw them doing...
3 of them were carrying a praying mantis's arm back... meaning either they've found a dead body, or they've defeated a praying mantis... not surprising if they did though... their bite is annoying!!

So I followed their trail seeing where their nest would be so that I could stomp on it and save the lives of many others who do not want an irritating red ant to bite them... but then... it led me to this...
Oh my... this is just so... wow....??

Looks like the red ants took leaves, curled them together and made for themselves sort of like a tree house... and that was their nest!!!!

Really a wow thing...
While I was photographing this wonderful nest~ this ant was just there glaring at me... like giving a

"BEH MEH!?!?!"

Kinda look.... scary... looks like it was gonna jump on me and bite me anytime soon... you try la... I squish you!! But... how could he glare at me?? I thought ants were blind...???
You can see ants going out of the nest...

"Time to Work!!"
And ants going back in...

"WHEW!!"

After a hard day's work =)
Then I noticed a little hole by the side of the leaf... looks like a hole in their rooftop~ then came a red ant and it started to fix it... by using some weird... weird weird tape-look-alike thingy and dragging it to stick the leaves together... hmmm....

Interesting wei...
Of course it would be too much for one ant to handle in fixing such a big leaf alone... and suddenly came a little red ant, looks like a baby red ant...?? And they started helping each other... pulling together... wow....
And the other ant on top of the nest was looking around, and it suddenly rose up in attention... mmmm????

Is danger coming??

Haha... man... the ant kingdom is really awesome, a few minutes ago I was ready to burn their nest but after looking at how wonderful it is, I just spent alot of time siting down there watching the nest and how it's working inside...

Then awhile later I had to leave... mmm shall go back again and spend more time on it~ man man man... I need a macro lens for this!! This is the closest I could get~!! XD

But really I'm really susprised on how the picture quality came out, the sharpness, the bokeh, everything about it, I really am shocked 0.0

But... I guess... I'm getting better?? =)

Still stuck with my 50mm lens and my kit lens though.. stuck with limited equipment but... gotta make the best with what I have till I'm ready to take on a new lens~ whew...

Ants...mmmm.... =)

How to Make Your Own Frame In Photoshop

Okay as promised... shall teach a quick way on how to frame your work... I'm just teaching the method which was taught to me, so there MIGHT be another better way but... oh well, hope you all learn something from this that it might help you make your pictures look more nicer =)


First... you would need photoshop~~
Pick a picture of your liking that you wanna frame up and open it up in photoshop... for me I shall choose a picture I took of my friend~~
See that thing there?? That's the background layer... double click it and some window wouldc come out... ignore and just press cancel~~

In doing this you would unlock the background layer, making it... err... not lock =)
Then while it has become a layer, go to EDIT > STROKE
And a Stroke Window shall pop out... don't worry you won't get a stroke from this... -_-"

Choose how wide you want your frame to be~ for me I chose 10, but the bigger the picture the higher number you can go... just try around and see whichever one works for you~

Also choose the right color also you would like... I chose black

Don't forget to choose "INSIDE"

Now that you're done, just press OK and...
There you go~ you have a nice little postcard frame kinda feel to your picture~ =)

But it ain't over yet~~ go to the CROP tool, select it, and select your WHOLE picture!!
And see those little boxes on the side?? Just click on them and pull them to make your outer frame~ while you're pulling... just hold on to "Alt" because it would help make both sides even when you're doing it...

Do it till you're satisfied... and press enter~
There you go, you have a distorted and ugly outer frame =)

Now to beautify it~~
See where's the arrow pointing?? Click on it and that would create a new layer~
See your new layer??

OKAY!!! Now go to the paintbucket tool, and don't forget to pick the right color!!!
Select the right color, and just click on the picture...

WHOOPS it's all white!??!?!?

Don't panic and faint -_-"

That's cause you filled the new layer with the selected color, so if you look back at the layers window... your original picture is still there =)
Now.... click on the bottom layer, which is the one with your picture, and drag and drop it above the new layer~ so meaning that it's on top of the layer...

Layers are like.... let's say papers upon papers la... and you would see whichever one that is on the top naturally~ =)

Kinda like that... not sure how to explain layers yet~
And there you go~~ your framed work~ but don't worry just yet... there's one more little thing to do!!
Click and select that other layer~ because whichever layer that is selected, meaning that you'll be editing just that layer, not the overall one =)

Cool huh...??

And do the same thing again... go to EDIT > STROKE
Pick the settings you like~~
WAHLAH!!!

There you have it, your very own little frame... OR you might call it your own Polaroid picture shot =)
Either way... you can beautify it a bit by using fonts, making your own copyright watermark... or even putting on the camera settings for which you used to take this picture~

You might wanna paint and add designs to your frame... go do it~ it's yours that's for sure =)

For the fonts... well some pros like to use Myraid Pro... but go with whichever suits your taste~
For me?? I'll be sticking with the postcard look frame... I like it more that way... simple =)

Anyways... hope you learned something, and go try it now and get creative~~

Have fun =P

Framing Your Work

Ever thought of framming your work before????


What is it about frames?? No idea... I just know that you can put a picture inside it and that's where you can keep your pictures there and display for others to see~

But I guess in photography a frame goes more than just a display of picture, feels more like something personal, something you can print out and display on the wall for all to see and brag about it saying "I did that"

Of course I hope you won't become a show off and start showing it to the world saying "SEE SEE!!! YEAH!!" because by doing that you become lansi and people would find ways to bash you up for no particular reason but just to humble you =)

BUT... yeah just learned about framing pictures in Photoshop last last last week, now only showing~ haha... oh well~ click on it for a larger view I guess =)




Of course they MIGHT look nice... but in the end it still has that... ang mo feel to it don't you think?? Sort of like a picture that you'd hang in a gallery....

*SHIVER*

Scary...

But I still like how the Japanese/Taiwan people do it~ just a simple frame to do it all, along with a few captions in Chinese that of course... looks better than english =)
Cat
Loneliness

Emo friend siting there after football~~
Searching for Your Light

It's not a huge special frame, but I kinda like this way better... makes it all simple like a scrapbook style... hmmm... frames... so interesting, thought of printing out some of my pictures one day and just put them in a photoframe since I've got alot of other weird.... and err... just alot of extra photoframes that people would give during your birthday or christmas... -_-"

How do you do a frame...?? Hmmm.... might suspect a question like that poping out soon so... shall be teaching you all in the next pose k~ wanna go out for breakfast now~

woo =)

Photoshop is so Cheating wei!!

There's no doubt in fact that Photoshop is known for being the world best picture editing software, cause it does a whole lot of nonsense that is beyond human knowledge.... Photoshop is crazy wei!!!! =.=


Shall show you all examples why it's so crazy siao -_-"

Shall take some old pictures I've taken last year with my 300D....
Xuan's keychain, in which looking back the table looks overexposed... etc etc... then

*edit edit swap swap color*

*POOF*
=.=

Now with the example of another picture...
My ex-fat dog lying on my bed... really a dark and under-exposed picture....

PHOTOSHOP!!

*Twist Twist Curve Curve*

*BOOM*
You know there are programs that does wonderful stuff... but photoshop scares me with what it can do...

No wonder why outside there got so much pro photographers, all you need is super geng chao photoshop skills to back you up... mmm.... Photoshop.. why ah you so cheating wan?? 0.=

Oh ya... why you have not seen me... OH WAIT!!!

*PIAK!!*

Yeah~ just killed a mosquito~~ ok why you have not seen me updating my blog was because this week I was kinda sucked into trying how to use photoshop, and trying to re-resurrect some old pictures to give it a KICK!! Till a moment where I even forgot that I had a blog till I sat down today morning wondering what to do... =.=

But yeah.. shall show some work on what I did soon I guess... but if you're too lazy to wait you could go to the flickr bar on the right side and click it~ sort of like a trailer but no full story to back up~~

Feeling lazy now though... wanna go take pictures~ and still being stonned by the fact that Photoshop is so so so cheating.... yet.... getting kinda addicted to it~ =)

Photography Outing : KLCC

This isn't exactly 100% a full photography outing... but it's a good day, went out with Elly and met a new photography friend Wee Seng~ =)


Ps: Some without my blog address are special so you can click on them for a full size view~ their supposed to direct you to my flickr account, but if they don't... erm... you can click here... enjoy =)

Elly wanted to watch Sell Out! so... decided to join her~ she was late so she asked me to find her friend Wee Seng first, but didn't know how he looked like so spent my time in Kinnokuniya at the chinese photography books section, I have to admit I still like the asian photography style... especially those Taiwan and Japanese picture taking styles~ it's so simple yet has such an amazing feel to it~ fell in love with this Japanese book where it's all just pictures of cats wearing different clothings... Japanese cats are beautiful... but once turned the book over...

*WAHSEH!!!*

RM89.90...!?!?!

+Puts book back on shelf and walks away+

*sigh*

Anyways this guy was there beside me checking out those photography books too... and in the end when Elly came only found out the guy standing beside me all along was Wee Seng... such a coincidence 0.0

Well during lunch they both were discussing and talking about film cameras'... and though I'm using a DSLR I feel kinda out-dated -_-"

Planning on getting a film camera, not for no reason... but since film still does produce images that's beyond digital quality... thought of getting one myself some day to try... film sounds fun =)
Well we had few hours till the movie starts... so just walked around the KLCC park... Malays all over the place.... =.=
This was the only flower remaining... the rest is dead...
Both of their film camera's~~ =)

After walking for some time, and not being able to find some nice things to shoot... we ended up at the playground, and there was this little ang mo girl running around the place... oh man she looked cute =)
Then Elly just went up to her and asked if she could take her picture, and then she did... she's brave =)

Then later her sister and brother came along too, and she took pictures of them, lucky her~ she must've gotten all the nice shots~ while Wee Seng and me just looked... you know photography requires alot of guts and confidence to approach someone to ask if you can photograph them?? Most of the time we lose out in some great shots because of fear~

Gotta try to overcome this... -_-"
But I did eventually capture a shot of her myself...

Later on the three of them were crawling inside a tunnel, and the composition and everything just looked wonderful, only problem is that their butts were facing me and it wasn't going to be a nice picture taking of people's butts... waited for them to turn around, and they didn't... rather they ran off... =.=

After awhile the parents were giving us a weird look... I mean who wouldn't if you saw your own kids being photographed by strangers.... so off we went~~ (gotta get myself a telelens...)
Old.... erm.... donno... just the thing beside the swing~
Found this metalic ball on the bridge in the park... kinda interesting how it made a nice reflection of the twin towers behind~ so had to take pictures of it =)
Yeah!!

Ahh well... after that we watched Sell Out.... I am still feeling the damage it has done to my mind.. and still recovering from it so shall be speechless and commentless on it -_-"

By the time the movie was done it was already around 8:30pm... mmm... looked like it just rained, so we took another trip to the park~
Hmmm.... everything else looks so different at night huh??

Wee Seng said there was one time where the twin tower's lights shot out blue color... mmm.... sounds fantastic....
You know... using my kit lens which has a zoom range of 18-55mm... I'm really kinda shocked how it could zoom to so close... but still~ have to get myself a zoom lens later on =)
Wonder how it'll feel like crossing the bridge.... hmmmm =)
Back to the metalic ball... and it looks oh so fabulous after the rain has wet it and how it still reflects beautifully =)
Wee Seng said a long exposure would look nice... erm... I'm not so sure about that...

Yeah after that we had to go off to our separate ways... cousin called for mamak, so they would be passing by Taman Jaya's LRT station so told them to fetch me from there... since the LRT station from KLCC is a Putra line and it'll go back straight to Taman Jaya, so don't have to switch stations to Star and then go back home... Thank God!!

Got back kinda early around 9:30pm... but they haven't left their house cause they were still waiting for other friend to come... so thought of just waiting inside the LRT station since it's safer, no mat rempits here~ XD

But boring lo... whole station empty, and nobody... so... hmmm... oh well~ took out 50D and hopefully can capture some nice shots~

Was lazy to whip out the tripod cause it might look weird, so just did everything else hand held.... mmm.... not easy....
It's not coming out the way I want it to look like though...
Kept failing though... and you know you've only got at least 2-3 changes before the train zooms off again...
After not sure how many trains I've only started to get the hang of it~
So I got to a corner, rolled up like a ball, and set the camera to 2 seconds and just tried to be as steady as I can... surprisingly kinda surprised with how sharp the image turned out to be, especially with the different light trails coming from the train~~
Mmm you look fantastic!! XD

But would be better if I had like a model standing there though... ahh well you can't have everything in life =)

Got a phone call from them... and it was time to leave~ oh yeah!!
Good bye~ =)
But... fooiyoh... a bit scary lo nobody wan once went down... ticket counter also nobody there... -_-"
Quiet.... wonder if it's haunted~~ =)
But either way... it looks nice empty =)

Not really a true photography outing, but I got myself some nice pictures, got to know a new photography friend, will go out with him one day to take pictures though... and learned alot of new things~ I'm tired, but it's all good... =)

It's an interesting day~ shall be looking forward to what comes next~ XD