chang*

adobe released lightroom 2 a couple of days ago and being the photography software geek that i am, i was quick to download the trial version from their website.

my initial concern of backward compatibility with the first version proved to be unfounded as i was able to smoothly transfer my catalogue of photos (all 6000+ of them) into the new version, along with all the edits i had made on them, as well as ALL of the develop presets that i use.

for the uninitiated, lightroom is basically a photo-management software that allows photographers to download their photos and organise them before adjustments to white balance, exposure, contrast, etc. can be made. these adjustments can then be synchronised among an unlimited number of photos, saving time and effort. it is in essence a dressed-up variant of adobe camera raw, with the ability to create web galleries as well as prepare photos for print.

[warning: if you have no prior experience with lightroom, the next part is going to sound like mumbo-jumbo crazyspeak]

the interface remains pretty much the same, with the 5 modules – ‘library’, ‘develop’, ‘slideshow’, ‘print’ and ‘web’ arranged in a linear workflow fashion. what has changed looks-wise is perhaps only the addition of fancier looking icons. users retain the ability to customise the display area to their liking.

the most striking addition to this version really is the ability to make local adjustments on photos, instead of just global adjustments. for instance, it used to be that once the exposure on a photo was tweaked, every single pixel undergoes that same amount of increase or decrease. with lightroom 2, users can apply changes to a selected area by using the ‘brush’ or the ‘gradient’ tool. sounds familiar? yeah, it’s pretty much being able to do ‘masking’ in lightroom without having to take a photo into photoshop.

the other new feature that impressed me is the ability to add a vignette to a photo AFTER it has been cropped. in the first version, the position of the vignette is relative to the edges of the original image, meaning that if i were to crop a picture substantially, the vignette would either be off-centered or hardly visible at all.

kudos to adobe for doing a great job of listening to the feedback of photographers and designing a platform that is increasingly looking like a viable replacement for photoshop. while that might not be the case for those who rely extensively on photoshop to realise their aesthetic vision, lightroom 2 might just prove to be all that the working photographer needs on the post-processing end of things.

lightroom 2 can be purchased off adobe’s website for US$299 or if you already have the first version, the upgrade starts from US$99.

for more mac+tech posts, click here.

i am at the moment trying to figure out what to put in the ‘about’ section of my soon to be completed online photography portfolio (a proper website, finally). this is actually a lot more difficult than it seems. one would think that with the practice facebook provides when one updates his/her status, writing in the third person would be a breeze.

it is very uncomfortable, for me at least, to write a paragraph about me that begins ‘Chang is…’ or something like that. i can’t get past the second sentence without sounding like a puff-headed megalomaniac having an out of body experience.

i suppose writing a bio in the third person lends an air of professionalism and credibility, because you can’t appear to be blowing your own trumpet. someone else, your third self, has to do the honours for you. it really is quite amusing everytime i read a glowingly impreesive bio of someone when i know that the said person probably wrote it.

chang is toying with the idea of writing something self-deprecating. it will be in the third person, of course.

for more of my thoughts, click here.

everything has a time and a place, even in photography.

one thing that all the images above share is the fact that by most conventional standards, they would be considered ‘bad’ ones – not sharp, blur, unexacting in composition. in a nutshell, they are snapshots, mostly taken without the eye to the viewfinder. lomography with a DSLR.

many photographers hark on and on about the latest gear that would help them achieve their pin-sharp, syrupy-coloured images, without realising that sometimes, limitations do contribute towards serendipity. of course, there are applications that demand the aforementioned attributes. but to believe that ‘perfection’ is the be all and end all of photography is in my opinion, narrow-minded and bigoted.

beauty is not the right word to describe the pictures, rather, a suspension of moments in their authenticity. at the point when i made those images, i had no idea how they would turn out. give chance (and photoshop) a liitle space sometimes, and the results might surprise.

for more posts on photography, click here.

to see the rest of my works, visit my flickr. click here.

i found the above on google images. credit to whoever did it. bloody brilliant plus it suits the title of this post.

those who watched the 7 o’clock news on channel news asia will know this – mas selamat kastari, toliet escape extraordinaire and hater of all things civilised, has acquired a spanking new headgear, courtesy of 2 philanthropic members of the local business community.

ok, here’s the gist (poor journalistic practice i know) – mas selamat just got a million dollar bounty placed on his head. the grand prize will be bestowed upon whoever or whatever steps forward with information leading to his arrest.

this latest bounty replaces the pathetic 40 grand previously on offer. i mean come on, 40 grand an’t enough to buy you enough kalashnikovs and RPGs to arm the boy scouts, let alone a terror cell. furthermore, i doubt $40k is enough to convince potential informants to risk their lives with barely enough moolahs to start anew elsewhere. 1 millon bucks? now we are talking.

all this is very interesting in light of the recent developments or regression in the venerable world of charity. seems to me that the rich and famous are no longer too keen on sponsoring charities especially when their spare change keeps ending up in the pockets of bleating wolves.

instead, they appear to have decided that it is time to take the game to a whole new level – bloodsport. used to be that the english gentry was slammed for hunting game for leisure. these days we have manhunts. progress is a wonderful thing.

the 2 charitable souls who contributed the sum have requested that their identities be kept secret, for fear of retaliation against their lives, the lives of their families as well as their substantial business interests (you’d better believe it).

when asked about the motivation behind such a move, they stated that the very presence of individuals like mas selamat sours the climate for doing business in the region as well as internationally. also, they were getting increasingly disillusioned with the lack of headway that was being made in this regard.

henceforth, a chided society welcomes the noble act, and we wait calmly for the pigs to squeal.

for more news related posts (usually not satirical in nature), click here.

i am going to call ‘the dark knight’ probably one of the best films i will watch all year. considering that i hardly feel the compulsion to see the inside of a theatre, this claim may or may not be accurate.

the film follows in the tradition of the over-hyped, box-office record smashing superhero blockbuster. but dismissing ‘the dark knight’ as another ‘hero kills villain to save the day and get the girl’ flick will not do, for this rendition is not simply one of black against white. rather it explores all the grey spaces between those two extremes. this movie is by no means an excursion into the intricacies of the human psyche, but the psychologically-charged script is certainly a refreshing deviation from the mindless bang-about that has come to characterise the genre.

on the technical end of things, ‘the dark knight’ is a masterclass in hollywood excellence (yes, the irony). one can expect the usual gloss that is hollywood cinema – the action sequences beautifully choreographed, the sets darkly atmospheric and the editing top-notch. with the kind of money poured into making this film, it would seem an awful waste if this aspect turned out otherwise.

still, a movie is dead without its actors – the cast so star-studded that even edison chen got a cameo as a receptionist (amazing that they would let him near computers and technology in light of the recent scandal). of special mention is of course, heath ledger, breathing new life into a character that has long since lost its novelty. i was struck by how much restrain he gave the joker, for it would be easy to prance about in stark lunacy. this version of the joker appears to tip-toe the highwire between sanity and madness, occasionally doing a flip with a flourish, flicking his tongue with lick of his blood-stained teeth. in short, madness with a mission. look for ‘best supporting actor’ to be awarded posthumously this year.

it is precisely this ambiguity that lends intellectual weight to the film. vigilante justice is not rooted in black and white; and man, even the very best of us, stands at the edge and ‘a little push’ is all that is required. even the title reveals this. just who is the dark knight? can evil and chaos stand beside honour, valour and love? yes it can. it is also called the human condition.

for more of my thoughts, click here.