Went to Nikon to have my baby’s CCD cleaned! No more dark spots!

Finally managed to i.d all of the birds i’ve photographed in Jiu Zhai Gou. From what i’ve managed to gathered, they are pretty much the rare ones. Searched the world wide web many times over and almost close to zero info. Thanx to the friendy folks at the birding forums, else i would have search til my hair turns white, 9000+ species of birds on Earth! no kidding! Anyway, please read on… i need some of your opinions.

White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
The amazing little bird that can run against the rapids! I’ll like some opinions. Which of the two do you prefer? Aesthetic or impact?
In terms of impact, the 2nd one would be it. But i like the way the water flows in the 1st one. Which one leaves a more lasting impression? The running on water? or head on splash of water?
I have some special plans for this picture so hope i can gather some viewer’s opinions before that. Thanks a bunch!!

Elliot’s Laughingthrush ( Garrulax elliotii elliotii)
Lovely name…. makes one wants to laugh Shot this guy at Jiu Zhai Gou, near the ShuZheng Falls. This guy was singing to attract another female’s attention. Little did it know, that female was me! LOL! It’s one of the 69 endemic bird species of China, living only in altitude of 1,200-4,800m above sea level.

White-collared Yuhina (Yuhina diademata)
How can anything get any cuter than this tiny little handsome fella with a mohawk hairstyle that doesn’t need any styling gel to keep up with and fluffly plumage! They usually flies in flocks of about 10-20 and even though they are safe in numbers, they are very very shy and they will do anything to avoid humans. Explains why i only got two good shots of this rare beauty in Jiu Zhai Gou.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
This bird got it’s name from its characteristic long and constantly wagging tail as it forage for insects. Very cute if you see it in person. It’s like a happy puppy that keeps wagging it’s tail. Shot this at Wolong.

I didn’t really went to Jiu Zhai Gou with birding in mind…. mostly landscapes. So these can be considered my “lucky shots” that i just happened to bump into them along my way of shooting landascape. Although i must say, it’s a real pain in the ass, literally… to change from wide-angle to the huge 80-400mm telephoto lens everytime i stumble upon a bird species. And even more so when i finish setting up the big lens, the bird flew away before i can even press the shutter… =_= So yup, i really treasure these shots.

Woke up at 7AM, finish some work, and it’s out of the house by 9AM to Kranji for photo-shoot.

It took me a while to find the White-bellied Sea Eagles. There were 2 of them! But the nest was way way inside the forest so i’ve only managed to get flight shots. Bee-eaters were way too skittish to take a good shot of. And then there was this “gangster-looking” guy who kept following me around while i shoot. When i stopped, he stopped. When i walked, he walked. =_= And when i was shooting the eagles, he exclaimed”wah”… I think this is the first time he notice there are eagles in Singapore… Actually, i think most people wouldn’t notice what’s up in the sky anyway. I think he followed until he was very tired and sat down at some rocks and then i think after awhile he decided to give up. haha…. No worries anyway, i have my tripod
Lie down at a bench and enjoy the wind and sun and watching the glistering waters. Enjoyed the silence very much seems like time have slowed down and i’m just soaking up the whole environment.

And yup, was too soaked up in the sun that i got quite severely sun burnt! 6 hours of shooting later and now i look like a roasted piglet it was terrible! sigh…. Should have remembered to put on sun block. The weather has been so cool lately… didn’t thought of sun block, only thought of umbrella…. =_= Now i have like a heart-shape sun burn under my collarbone and my whole arm and part of my back are scorching red.

I really hate it when i do silly things like that and end up making myself suffer for no reason. =_= Ouch….
I’m feeling cold but my skin feels so hot. brrrrr…..

New promotional postcard with pictureseque Jiu Zhai Gou as the theme.

I love how this picture has the majestic waterfall in the foreground, the autumn foliage on the left, the ever-green foliage on the right, and the snow-capped mountain at the background. Nope, it’s not a photo montage, it’s the actual shot To get the perfect exposure for the foreground and the background, you could either buy a gradual neutral density filter which you place in front of your lens, would darken the sky so that u can get the right exposure for the foreground without over-exposing the bright skies.
Since i can’t get hold of the lens filter, i used the digital way…. I took the same picture twice, one with the correct exposure for the skies, another with the correct exposure for the foreground. Then combine the two images using the HDR imaging ( High Dynamic Range ) and tada! perfect exposure!

The slight flip of the paper at the bottom right corner makes it seems like you can peel the waterfall right off from the postcard… kinda like you can play with the waterfall… hehe… and there you have the csling logo underneath the picture… the person behind the camera…
This postcard, along with a few others plus a 4-page newsletter ( almost done! ) will be mailed out in packages to photo buyers, editors etc hopefully on the 1st week of Jan next year. I’m really excited on what the response will be *fingers crossed!*