Afterburner

The pilot told me later that the afterburner screws up fuel consumption badly but what drama! Is the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Airshow. Instead of relying solely on a tele lens, I switched to a 50mm fixed-focal lens and walked nearer to the ground aircraft for a dual look. Is called zooming with your legs.

The tarmac on the runway isn’t the best place to photograph the air show though. The many hills on the island provide a better vantage point especially when there is formation flying.

Afterburner

Firewalkers

The Nine Emperor Gods Festival culminates tonight with a fire-walking ritual to send off the gods (and the rain). Devotees will walk on a bed of hot burning charcoal (embers) in what they believe is a supernatural feat of faith. There is science behind it and the science is sometimes integrated into modern corporate team-building exercises.

There is a little science to apply in photographing the event, too. In this picture from a previous ceremony, I used a slow shutter combined with 2nd curtain flash sync. Because of smoke and range, the flash could only reach the foreground walkers as soft fill light. Slight motion blur of distant background added the element of urgency. Whoever slows down, gets burnt.

Firewalkers

Crescent Sun

The Sun turned into a Crescent as the Moon partially eclipsed it at 5:46 pm Malaysian time on January 26th, 2009. I photographed this rare solar eclipse from Titiwangsa Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur.

Another eclipse will take place on Deepavali (Diwali) November 13, 2012. However, this eclipse will be visible only from northern Australia, the southern Pacific Ocean and parts of Chile. Lucky residents of Cairns in Australia will experience a total eclipse lasting 2 minutes.

During a total eclipse, day turns into darkness. Its distinct effect on animals were observed by a team volunteers from 30 cities across India during the 2010 eclipse.

Exposure info: Olympus E-3, f22, 1/8000 sec with ND 8 filter.

Crescent Sun