When birds go bump in the night

Now here’s something you don’t see everyday. An owl concussing outside your room.

According to eye witnesses, the owl flew over from another block to mine and crashed onto the wall directly outside my room. I was having dinner in my room and was oblivious to what happened until a friend told me the owl crash landed outside my room.

It lied on the floor motionless and we were wondering if it was dead before it sprang into life and tried to escape. Unfortunately, it seemed to have injured its wings. Unable to fly, the bird was hopping around for a moment before it stopped and lied on the ground motionless again.

The bird has ouch written all over it’s face. Managed to snap a few shots before someone alerted campus personnel for help. Some dude came with gauntlets and just gently carried the bird away. Damn, these campus security personnel must be  trained and prepared for the weirdest of shit to happen.

Anyway, if you haven’t noticed yet, the photos are slightly underexposed and noisy. That’s because I did not want to use the flash on the bird hence all shots were taken at ISO3200 (with the Canon 7D).

To end, here’s hoping for better days ahead for the poor owl. Maybe I’ll see you at the Jurong Bird Park!

My new friend!

While most people keep dogs or hamsters as pets, I’ve been keeping the weirdest of animals as pets since I was a kid (think tadpoles and caterpillars). Though I haven’t been doing that for a long while, I guess it was only a matter of time before old habits came back again. So, meet my new roommate!

Found this jumping spider outside my room a few days back. Since I had a few empty test tubes lying around (“courtesy” of the bioengineering labs of NUS), I thought to myself why not?

I have been feeding the spider those small little fly-like insects you always find in the toilet. If you look at the photo above carefully (click here for the higher resolution file), you’ll see it munching on one of those insects for dinner.

Will write more on the little dude in a separate post. Now, it’s back to my books! Exams in less than a week’s time.

Not so lucky no. 7?

Haven’t really had the time to play much with my new toy over the last few weeks due to school and other commitments… which explains for the lack of updates on the blog. Didn’t have any material to write about since I finished my super long series of Jurong Bird Park photos.

While I have not been using my 7d much, the few times that I have used it, I was very happy with its performance. However, if you were to read through any popular photography forum you’ll know that the 7d has been having some bad quality control issues as well as some bugs in camera firmware. Yep, that’s the disadvantage of being the first to buy any electronic gadget. You end up being guinea pigs.

So far, I have not encountered any problems (or maybe its just me not using the camera often enough). I would like to point out though that shooting macro with the 7d is, for lack of a better word, awesome. The bright and clear viewfinder makes focusing A LOT more easier. Here’s a shot I took a few weeks back.

Will show more shots from the 7d when I have time to go out shooting. I am thinking about a trip to the zoo after my exams

Anyway, if you are thinking about buying the Canon 7d, I’d recommend that you wait until Canon iron out all the issues and problems with the 7d. Besides, the price might drop a little if you wait long enough.

Lucky no. 7

Many of the people who knew me personally and was also into photography thought I was joking or crazy when I said it. But alas, the temptation was just too great and I could not hold back any longer…

Yes, that photo is real. It’s neither Photoshopped nor stolen from the Internet.

I probably won’t be writing a review of any kind for the Canon EOS 7D. Writing reviews are just not my kinda thing… and I don’t think I am good enough to make comparisons between this camera with another camera (especially one of another brand). Maybe a few lines on my thoughts of the camera later.

For now, I only have 3 words on my head about the camera, I’m loving it!

Photo taken with my Canon EOS 400D with my usual macro setup.

The birds of Prey

If you are going to visit the Jurong Bird Park to see just one single attraction, then let this be it. The Birds of Prey show, as the name suggests, is a bird show featuring birds like eagles, owls and vultures. The show is available twice daily (subject to weather conditions since it is outdoor) once at 10am and once at 4pm. Reaching the park at 9am to meet up with Nic, we managed to catch the morning show.

I’m not going to spoil it for you on what happens during the show but you can expect to see these awesome predators soaring through the skies with grace and style. And as I tried to get a good shot of these birds in flight, I was met with a zero success rate. Yes, Z-E-R-O. Despite bursting like mad and increasing my shutter count by like a 100 over the span of 30 minutes, I had no keepers.

I know the lack of good shots were mainly due to my inexperience but I wasn’t quite sure how to improve on it either. But I was determined… I shall stay at the park until 4pm to catch the next show! And stay at the park, I did. This time around, I had more luck with my shots.

Love this kid’s expression. He was rather enthusiastic and happy to volunteer at first. But after awhile, he just looked like he wanted to throw the bird away and go back to his seat.

I love and hate this shot at the same time. I love it as it captures the essence and ferocity of these birds as they clash in the skies to catch a piece of meat. I hate it as the damned sky is overexposed and left to a boring shade of white. I tried Photoshopping some clouds and blue on it but the shot looks fake. Guess I can’t have everything, eh?

And, finally, that one shot that made the entire day at the park worthwhile (Click here to view at higher resolution!). This is the best shot I have of a bird in flight. Sharp and in focus, no accidental cropping of the bird’s wings. I was a happy and satisfied man.

So, I guess this concludes my series of posts on my trip to the Jurong Bird Park on the 21st of September 2009. In my opinion, the best $18 I have spent for photography (considering the dollar spent per good photograph ratio).Will I be going there again? Oh, you bet I will.

If you’ve never been to the park, go there today! Be sure to borrow/rent/steal a good sharp superzoom lens with you if you’re going there to shoot!