Penang : My "Beautiful World"

Hey lovely and loyal readers. This is my latest timelapse video which consumed me almost 8 months to complete it. A total of 7312 photos have been compressed to render this timelapse. Last year (2011), I produced a similar timelapse which is called "Photography in Penang". You can take a look at the clip here https://vimeo.com/34393089,

This year (2012), it will be slightly different. Most of my clips are rendered from RAW picture. The quality of each scene are maintained and the noise in night scene clips were reduced. For this timelapse, I was given the permission to use one of the beautiful music (Beautiful World) by a talented composer Marika Takeuchi. All pictures are shot using Canon EOS60D and EOS550D.

Basically the concept of this timelapse is mainly divided into 4 major categories.

I) Sunrise & Sunset Series

Here are some of yhe places which I visited for my timelapse 2012.

1) Permatang Damar Laut (01:32)

What i like about this clip is the reflection of beautiful sunset. The movement of cloud and the magic color is reflected by the calm sea water.

2) Bayan Mutiara (01:50)

During this clip, we can observe the process of high tide while the sun is rising. Before the sunrise, we can see the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.

3) Gurney Drive (02:29)

During low tide, the sea water is clogged between the mud. Mud sometimes can be very smelly and dirty, but it can be so beautiful during sunrise. Cheers :)

4) Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera) (02:45)

Penang Hill is one of the highest peak in Penang Island. I went up to the hill by the first train (6.30am). During sunrise, we are able to observe the city light slowly go off and the foreground slowly show up. This is one of the best sunrise experience.

5) Georgetown (02:57)

Besides Penang hilll, I went up to one of the apartment in Macallum Street to make this clip.We can observe the sunlight slowly disappear while the city light is slowly lighting  up.

6) Teluk Tempoyak (03:14)

Teluk Tempoyak is located in Batu Maung. In this clip, u can see the Second Penang Bridge which is still under construction.

7) Sungai Batu (03:23)

Sungai Batu is one of the most amazing place sunset photography. The rocky foreground is just super nice.

II) Astrophotography

Besides, sunrise/sunset, one of my favorite timelapse clip is the milkyway. Here are some of the most interesting screen shot.

1) Milkyway & The Phosphorescence Sea (00:20)

Shot this at Gertak Sanggul. While the milkyway is rising, we can see natural luminance in the sea... The phosphorescence only can be seen under very dark condition. This light is produced by the bioluminescence of living organisms. This is magical.

2) Milkyway & The Moon Set (00:38)

Shot this at Sungai Batu.While the moon set, the sky seem to be in cool color. After the moonset, we can clearly see the beautiful milkyway

3) Milkyway & 2nd Penang Bridge (01:47)

The milkyway seem to be invisible under superlight pollution. The bottom right white light is our 2nd Penang bridge.

4) Milkyway & Penang Bridge (02:00)

Again, with light pollution, we can hardly see the milkyway. But in time lapse sequence, we can see the milkyway moving upwards. In this shot, we can the milkyway on top of Penang Bridge.

5) Sunset & Milkyway (03:10)

Shot this in Permatang Damar Laut. After sunset, the milkyway became visible.

6) Large Magellanic Cloud

Without knowing the secret, this shot seem to be a plain. But if u look carefully, there is a white bunch of stars in the middle. That is the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy.

7) Milkyway Setting.(03:32)

This is the last clip in my timelapse. With minor light pollution, the milkyway is amazingly clear.

III) Culture

Regarding Penang culture, I decided to shoot the beautiful Mosques, Chinese Temple, Church and Hindu Temple.

1) Kek Lok Si Temple (00:14)

Kek Lok Si temple is located in Air Itam. The ultimate lighting only can be observed during the Chinese New Year.

2) St George's Anglican Church (00:49s)

 During the making of this clip, I was asked to go out of the church compound because I do not have permission to shoot inside the church area furthermore the visit time was over. Too bad I had to shoot from outside.

 3) Masjid Kapitan (01:04)

The amazing sunset makes the sky so blue with luminance of dusk.

5) Floating Mosque (02:18)

The reflection of sea water is just so beautiful. The floating mosque is located in Tanjung Bungah..

6) Arulmigu Bala Thandayuthapani Temple (02:42)

 

The newly constructed Hindu Temple called the Arulmigu Bala Thandayuthapani Temple is located in Jalan Kebun Bunga. The sunset is just behind the temple.

IV) Nature
I decided to fill my timelapse with some of the nature places in Penang

1) Rocky seashore in Sungai Batu (01:17)

 

2) Ait Itam Dam (02:19)

3) Batu Ferringhi Waterfall (02:10, 02:28)

4) IR Photography (02:53)

Enjoy my latest timelapse2012 called Penang : My "Beautiful World"..

For Vimeo version : https://vimeo.com/48519833

Heritage Sunset...Georgetown Penang

 This photo was shot at 7.18pm. It seem to be a little bit over exposed.

 This photo was shot at 7.48pm.

This photo was shot at 8.06pm.

Thanks for sharing...

How to edit the Milky Way (Astrophotography)?

 Hi, I would like to share my techniques of editing your Milky Way. My way may not be the best, but it will help you in your photo(s). Before that, the most basic requirement of editing your photo(s) is that you need to shoot your photo(s) in RAW. This will enable you to do a better editing without losing any of your photo's details. For astrophotography, we can hardly determine the actual color of your stars/objects if compared to landscape photography. Hence, it is up to your imagination. But do not over edited.

This is the original photo from camera

The software that i use to edit my photo is Lightroom. Below is the screen shot of my initial photo which imported into Lightroom. Go to "Develop" button....You can see the camera setting, original color setting and my original photo which without enhancement.(You can click the photo to have a better view)

The most basic of editing is the white balance. For me, i personally prefer the value between 2900k to 3300k. The idea of this value is to balance up the blueish of the sky. But in different light pollution environment, the value may be different. Then, i prefer the "tint" value to be set to "0" to avoid any unnatural color. But in certain environment, you may adjust the value from -10 to 10 but not too much as it will ruin your photo. I set the Exposure to +1.00 to increase the brightness of overall photo, Black to 15 to balance up the Exposure adjusted, Contrast at +50 and Vibrance at +40. Remember, it is not advisable to increase the Clarity of overall picture as it will cause unwanted tone in your foreground.

Next, go to the gradient function and set the value as such :
Exposure : 0.5
Contrast : 100
Clarity : 100
Saturation : -20
The drag across the milky way but don't too much. From this moment, you can see the color and tone of your milky way.

Again, add another gradient with this setting
Contrast : +50
Clarity : +50
Drag across your milky way. Your milky way will be more dramatic.

Next, go to the "Tone Curve", slightly adjust to "S" shape. This will enhance the bright and dark area in your overall photo.

With all these steps, you are actually creating a lot of noise in your photo. Below you can see the color noises when it is zoomed in.

Te recuse your editing, go to Noise Reduction function. Normally i set 25 for Luminance and 50 for Color. Too much noise reduction may reduce the sharpness of your photo.

Finally export your photo. Below is the result of my editing.

Final result : Milky Way & Shooting Star

 I hope this basic editing may help you in getting your best Milky Way. Happy Editing.

You can view some of my result in this time lapse

Milky Way & The Phosphorescence Sea

I shoot this in June2012.. We can actually see the Milky Way on top of  the Phosphorescence Sea. This is one of the best experience in shooting the milky way... The combination is just perfect...

Large Magellanic Cloud in Penang, Malaysia

I shoot this Large Magellanic Cloud somewhere in Penang Island during January 2012. The exact location is in Permatang Damar Laut...

Milky way and Shooting Stars

Again, i manage to capture 3 shooting stars in milkyway... it is just simply amazing...

The Sunspot

Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. I manage to shoot with my IR Filter..