Uploads from ishafizan, tagged nature, with geodata

Sunrise up the Betty (June)

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:03:33 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Note:
- I'm on G+ nowadays!
- plus.google.com/108802412747388798696/photos

.. a good thing that after a night of thunder and lightning, it didn't rain. The sunrise wasn't that spectacular, but i'm grateful that i (haha) 'survived' that night.

Saw a couple of UFOs, the SCARY kind ... not once, but twice! The crying/screaming noises and the sound of dogs howling didnt help at all. My heart really skipped a beat when 'it' was flying below me as I was taking a piss (kecut teloq sial!) ... and the other, hovering above when i I looked up at the sky/stars. Had to made myself small enough to hide under the rocks!

I'm later told that those things were black magic thingies aka tuju-tuju aka santau originating from the orang asli village nearby. blardihell ... i lost count to how many times i've been to Bukit Tabur, it's safe provided we take the necessary precautions, but this is just the dog's bollocks dude!

Santau secara umumnya digunakan bagi meracun dan membunuh atau melumpuhkan musuh
translation: Santau is generally used to poison, kill or disable enemies
source

Digressing, the dawns/mornings in June have not been that good/cooperative; but the sunsets ... wow, colourful and gorgeous .....

Heh, too bad i'm a sunrise person. I'm not giving up on Betty ... see you in July beautiful. I'll make an attempt to go with some company next time around. my balls have limits and cant take another fright :)

Bukit Tabur collection

Thunderstorm brewing over Kuala Lumpur

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:39:09 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Note: I'm on G+ nowadays!
plus.google.com/108802412747388798696/photos

Date and Time (Original)2011:06:25 04:08:04.04+08:00
in Chinese numerology, i could loosely translate this to 'DEAD LUCKY'

... it hasn't rain for over a week and it's (very) hot here in KL.
... rain is most welcomed!

2011_06_04_9999_139

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 08:16:12 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

leaf-footed beetle?

planets and stars up the betty

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 29 May 2011 08:30:24 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

... Venus, Mercury, Jupiter & Mars just above the horizon, center pic. No idea which is which

... been playing on-off with the deepskytracker s/w for the past 3 weeks, and got crappy output. cant seem to get the right settings, and i hv tried everything. Perhaps the type of pic must also be taken into consideration. This one is a no go ... could probably cut off the night sky and work on it, but then, when taking the other 9 RAWs into consideration, too much of work to stack them all and not worth it.

this one is done 'syiok sendiri' style with no image stacking. location certainly has potential .. will keep on a lookout for a moonless and cloudless night. Note: southern skies is lit up with (KL) city lights

tech:
Exposure 20
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 20 mm
ISO Speed 800
20mm prime

notes 2 self:
- exposure time=500/focal_length
- pump up to ISO1600
- NR set to off

... digressing, things are turning around for the better and looking good at the moment ... projects looking good and healthy, a timely and welcomed pay rise, money flowing in from interesting sources, some of the pics are generating queries which are pretty cool. Also looking forward to July, where i do hope/wish/pray 'something' to be true. Will use the extra perks that come with it to the fullest :)

... the stars are certainly in alignment. cant help feeling that someone up there likes me. thank U & Alhamdulillah! ;)

update
- featured in D-PHOTO ... never considered/imagined myself as a nature boy hahaha
- some of my pics might also appear in a game. aint that (super) cool?

Good morning!

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 08 May 2011 08:58:35 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Note:
- I'm on G+ nowadays!
- plus.google.com/108802412747388798696/photos

- after a month of rainy weekends and mornings .... finally, a good sunrise @Bukit Tabur!
- hv taken a few pics of the (moonless) night sky open wide with the 50mm, 20mm and 100mm primes ... need to do some reading on how to properly stack and bring out the stars. Any pointers are very much appreciated!
- note: the west and northern sky are best ... south the worst, too much light pollution from the city. east is ok :)
- this one taken right after the red phase and beginning of the golden

Exposure1.3
Aperturef/10.0
Focal Length18 mm
ISO Speed100
Date and Time (Original)2011:05:07 06:53:59+08:00

cricket feeding on orchid

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:35:21 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

i didn't know cricket eat flowers, particularly orchids ...

Crickets are omnivores. In the wild, they primarily feed on dead insects, young plants, fungi, and decaying plants. They are predacious on other insects as well as one another. They also eat bread crumbs and are particularly attracted to liquids, especially beer and sweetened vinegar. When these liquids are placed in suitable containers, they may drown due to their fondness of liquids.
Also, if you want to keep a cricket as a pet, you can feed it dog food, and wet lettuce!
Read more: wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_a_cricket_eat#ixzz1LHIfg0aZ

"Abt eating orchid petals - It's turgid -high in water & sugar, that's y some insects & monkeys even love them. " - Nur Rinah ;)

Another (rainy) morning up the 'Betty'

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:35:19 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

- vertorama of 2 pics merged in adobe bridge. non-hdr

recap:
- left the 'Bata' shoes at the office ... heh doing quick 1hr workouts at the gym during lunch hour every alternate day
- went up with my jamban slippers. seriously not recommended. the rocks are sharp, plus the slippers can get stuck in the crevices and u're left barefooted. what a rush!
- it rained shortly after taking this shot
- note: good place to shoot the night sky provided there is no cloud cover
- i miss a good sunrise :(

April mooning

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:37:19 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

- moon's disc was 66.5% illuminated
- crop at 100% zoom in cs4
- tried the star trail thingy, star clusters in the sky .... too much light pollution in the area. Let's seee ... the yellow street lamps, the nearby mosque with bright minarets, which happens to be near the cricket stadium. Then there's also the Giant shopping mall nearby hahaha impossible. in the end, just did some 'mooning' :)

....but i understand what to do and manipulate the camera/lens now. hv a place in mind already. Interesting what u can see 'beyond' the sky :)

Silver Breasted Broadbill (female)

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:24:48 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Silver-breasted broadbill is a kind of rare resident bird. The outer appearances of male and female birds have slight differences. Normally, female bird has a silver ring on its breast. They often act over the top layer of tropical forests in small groups. They utter soft sounds like "di,di" to communicate with one another. They play very good teamwork. If one bird is caught, the rest of its group will hover around and try to rescue it.
www.kepu.net.cn/english/animal/class/cls219.html

Need id (daisy?)

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 06:09:05 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

abt the size of a 5 sen coin

2011_06_04_9999_117

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:28:37 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

2011_06_04_9999_139_crop

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 08:16:12 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Ayam katik

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:58:59 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

ayam serama aka ayam katik aka pygmy chicken

The Malaysian Serama origins and history are unclear. There are legends of it being descent from a chance cross between a pigeon and chicken. Other stories of the birds derived from a gift of some small chickens by the King of Thailand to a local sultan in ancient times. It was almost certainly developed in Kelantan Province in Malaysia (near Thai border). Small chickens have always been popular pets in this area and are often referred to as "ayam katik" (pygmy chickens) and "ayam cantik" (pretty chickens).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serama

note:
- .. many reviews commented this lens of image softness when wide open ... i think it's not that bad. its even sharper when stopped down. f4 onwards
- compared to the 70-200 L lens ... haha mcm langit dan bumi. this pic was cropped at 33%. i could crop more than 100% with the L and still get acceptable resolution/sharpness

2011_05_21_9999_53

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:00:12 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

A quick one b4 the sun sets

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 09 May 2011 03:24:37 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

- came back from work, attended the 'ulam' garden and found a couple of them (tortoise beetle) under the curry leaves doing the naughty thing. An orgy! :)
mypottedgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/beware-of-white-beetl...

first light

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:30:00 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Location: tasik biru, kundang
Date and Time (Original)2011:04:30 06:25:02.90+08:00
... not much of a sunrise (it rained) but damn interesting first light show.

- water deeper than i last remembered ... unable to get a clearer shot. Need to wade to the middle of the lake
- didnt stay too long in the water. something was constantly biting/nibbling on my leg targeting my wound on the shin. suspender siot!

Ghost in the shell

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Mon, 02 May 2011 08:50:56 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

- found a couple of husks/exoskeleton of some kind of insect (crickets?) behind the orchid leaves
- i could swear that it moved and the head looked the other way in a split second ... must have been the wind :)

cosmos caudatus

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:46:21 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

The Cosmos caudatus aka ulam raja flower with the crown in the center abt to bloom.Been eating the leaves (hehe for free) as ulam for the past 3 years. Love it!

A lot of health benefits. More below:

Characteristic
It is a small shrub with small pink or white flowers at the top of the
plant. The edible young shoots/leaves are used for ulam to eat with sambal
belachan.

Indication
1. Improves blood circulation.
2. Lowers uric acid.
3. Reduces heatiness in the body.
4. Source of food fibre.

Method of preparation
1. The young leaves can be taken fresh.

herbs.ourborneo.com/cat/product_details.php?id=10
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_caudatus

... and i eat them with anything: ranging from the usual nasi with sambal, maggi mee, big mac to even KFC huhuhu yeah:)

Need ID

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 02:03:26 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

Artsy Fartsy

nobody@flickr.com (ishafizan) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:24:53 -0700

ishafizan posted a photo:

a back shot of the stink bug ... it didn't release gas. thank u :)

Stink bugs are in the Pentatomidae, which are bugs that produce odors as their self-defense. There are over 200 different species of stink bugs throughout the world with the majority of them eating strictly plants; however, some are predators and eat other bugs.

The "stink" that both shield bugs and stink bugs release when disturbed or crushed is a liquid that is produced and stored in glands that are found in the bug's thorax. The foul smell is meant to serve as a defensive agent, keeping away predators who may want to feast on the shield or stink bug.

www.ehow.com/about_5418976_stink-bug.html