B & W and high ISO photography with the Olympus Zuiko 35-100mm f2

J from Korea arrived yesterday. He finally got his PR. We're putting him up at BMH so that he gets some time to settle his accommodation.

i'm currently trying some photoshop actions in CS2. the grainy black and white presets seem to look very good. too bad i haven't found such a nice preset in lightroom yet. i haven't found a way how to include noise in lightroom presets.

this poor old chap was slowly hobbling up the ramp to the library without any assistance accept his walking stick.

Everyone loves don2. its even faster than Mc Donalds/hungry jack/KFC. i love the teriyaki chicken and don2 box.

catching up during lunchbreak

simple pic of a kid. one of my favorites so far.

went to the night market yesterday. there was an african dance performance the minute i arrived. i shall strive to arrive earlier next time.

it was a very energetic, vibrant dance. despite using f2, i still had to use iso 640 to freeze the motion of the dancers.

using aperture priority with ESP metering still proves to be very useful to get the correct exposure. i still had to increase the white balance by 1000 K however.

aww.. such a cute pink thing.

there're too many 40d's around with the 17-85. from what i've read so far, its not a great lens (and its not even waterproofed!). the USM is very impressive.. even faster than my 12-60, i reckon.

crowd participation, as expected is very... encouraging

in between performances, i walked around the sheds. lots of stuff to see (and smell too!)

japanese pancake. it looks nice, but for 6 bucks, i'd rather spend a few extra dollars for a meat dish.

fancy seeing a indian guy at a 'chinese' stall. look at those huge woks.. i reckon it can provide enough noodles for 40 ppl.

i quite liked the next performance. i've never heard the songs before, but i presume they're all by aussie bands.

one of my favourite pics of the night. she looks so innocent.

the lead guitarist was very impressive.

the lead singer

i reckon B +W gives the pic a very 'classic' look. i may be wrong.

i don't like using iso's, but i will if necessary. this was shot at iso 1600. i switched from auto gradation to 'normal'. at such high iso, the noise would've looked much worse with auto gradation.

the 'coloured' version looks alright too.

the girl in the center gave me a look over her shoulder when i was taking this pic. fearing retribution, i quickly packed up and left for home!

laters