Taken almost 15 minutes before day 44 ! wheew!
Today, my desktop PC’s water cooling failed on me… Suddenly the water pump isn’t pumping water to my CPU. I have to drain and clean all the connectors… and hit the water pump to make it work.. definitely not cool!!! Anyways, it came into its senses and suddenly starts working.
Another out of this world idea, but sometimes, you have to give it a try, that’s what the 365 Project is all about I guess. By the way, this was shot behind the shower curtain, just in case you are wondering 
Gear: Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16 + 430exii + 580exii
Settings: f6.3 | 1/200 | ISO 200
Strobist info:
430exii + red gel +dome diffuser on the right @ 1/64
530exii + LumiQuest Softbox III + Lumiquest FXtra w/ red gel on the left @ 1/64
Trigger: 7D’s built in trigger
Post process:
- Adjusted brightness and contrast
- Added vignette
- Applied some sharpening
Cheers!
/Mike
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So there I was, again being lazy… Looking around the house for something that might be interesting to shoot, then 9:30pm comes, and I still got nothing. I have no choice but to force myself to go down and find something to shoot outside. I looked up in the sky and I saw clouds! Now I know that a long exposure shot would be really cool! I just have to find an interesting subject, it only took a few steps and I saw this truck in a dark empty parking lot. I setup the tripod, put the remote and chi ching!!! That’s what I got
Gears: Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16 2.8 + TC-80N3a Timer Remote (Chinese version) + manfrotto tripod
Settings: f9.0 | 89 secs. | ISO 160
Post process:
- Increased the contrast
- Increased the vibrance & saturation
- Dodging and burning
- Applied some noise reduction then a touch of sharpening
It’s weekend here already, so I wish everyone a happy weekend!
/Mike
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I took this on my way home. I figured that the clouds were there! I mean, here in Dubai we don’t get clouds, but today… They are everywhere!
Not really very technical photo as you can see… Anyways, here’s how I took it:
Gear: Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16
Settings: f9.0 | 1/40 | ISO100
Post processing:
- Adjusted contrast and vibrance
- Dodging and burning
- Sharpened and some noise reduction
Take care y’all!
/Mike
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I literally have no photo today, I was really feeling tired after office work and wanted to stay in bed. It was around 10pm that I decided to get my arse off and shoot something. And here we are, this is right in front of our building’s parking. As you can see the road is still under construction, it’s a new building. And behold! I found my subject
Gear: Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16 + manfrotto tripod
Settings: f8.0 | 30 secs | ISO 200
Post processing:
- Dodging and burning
- Adjusted the contrast and increased the vibrance
- Applied noise reduction and sharpening on the image
Cheers!
/Mike
Click to view the large size
I took this around 7:00am, it has been foggy lately here in Dubai. I have to hurry taking the shot before the sun gets too bright, so I didn’t have the chance to change my lens to a wider one, at that time it had the Canon EF 100mm f2.8 macro lens on, which made a nice tighter crop. It a bit hazy but I like the colors of the sky.
How I took this shot:
Gear: Canon 7D + Canon 100mm f2.8
Settings: f 6.3 | 1/2000 & 1/2000 -2EV (2 exposures)
Post processing:
- I opened two exposures in Photoshop, making the darker one on the top most layer
- Blended some parts of the lighter exposure to expose some details of the building and the cranes behind it
- Adjusted brightness and contrast
Cheers!
/Mike
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This is the Deira City Center Metro Station. I took this right after I purchased my new lens Tokina 11-16 f2.8. This is the first photo from this lens (apart from my testing shots from the store).
I haven’t been inside the Dubai Metro, I’m planning to go soon though. It is only a few months old…
Anyway, here is how I took this shot:
Gear: Canon 7D + Tokina 11-16 f2.8
Settings: f2.8 | 1/30 + 1/20 -1EV | taken from 2 exposures
Post processing:
- Opened the 2 exposure pictures on layers in Photoshop CS4
- Manual digital blending (DRI)
- Dodging and burning
- Applied noise reduction
Go out there and take photos! It’s entertainingly fun 
/Mike
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This is one of the most useful things in my workflow. It was a gift from my birthday last year… oh man, that’s almost a year now… Grrr! Anyway, moving on…
Here is how I took it:
Gear: Canon 7D + 50mm 1.8 + 430exii + 580exii
Settings: f7.1 | 1/160 | ISO 250
Strobist info:
580exii + umbrella on the left @24mm, 1/32 power
430exii + red gel @105, 1/64 power
Triggered by built in Flash Transmitter of Canon 7D
Post processing:
- Just adjusted contrast on Camera Raw
Thanks for dropping by,
/Mike
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This is Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth. Together with the world’s tallest dancing fountain.
I decided to go back there and shoot the Burj at night since I’m getting a lot of hits from the day version, which can be found here.
I, like many others, was surprised when it was named Burj Khalifa since everyone is already used to calling it Burj Dubai. Anyway, it’s their building so they can name it whatever they want to. I was hoping for a different kind of light from the Burj Khalifa, usually it has some spot lights all over as if it was watching the neighboring buildings. I didn’t get that tonight but I did manage to get the dancing fountain which is currently the world’s tallest dancing fountain! So, I guess that’s cool
Would have been better with clouds but… You can’t always get what you want
How I took it:
Gear: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20mm + Tripod
Settings: f9.0 | 15 seconds | ISO 100
Post processing:
- Applied some perspective correction
- Adjusted contrast and brightness
- Applied some dodging and burning
- Added a touch of sharpening
Back to work again tomorrow…
Cheers!
/Mike
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I did an hour and a half presentation today at Millennium Hotel for very selected key customers. I’m happy it turned out well This was the terrace of the room where I did the presentation, located at the 12th floor. Here you can see the Barsha Interchange and the Dubai Metro Station. If you look behind the towers you can see some parts of the The Palm and the Atlantis hotel. Below is one of the oldest residence areas in Dubai, situated right beside the Sheikh Zayed Road. It is now surrounded by towers, trains and sky scrapers. Once very populated mostly by European communities, now it looks very empty and old. Well, that’s Dubai for you.
How I took it:
Gear: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20
Settings: f8.0 | 1/160 | Single Exposure (not HDR!)
Post processing:
- Applied dodging and burning from Photoshop CS4
- Adjusted levels, contrast and saturation
- Did some perspective correction
Need to get some rest… Catch you all later!
/Mike
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This has been my best friend lately… My daily companion for my 365 Project! My Lumix LX3 together with its friends, Sandisk Ultra II 8GB SD Card and Gorillapod
I decided to do some product shoot today and since I have been shooting lately with my point and shoot camera for my 365 Project, I decided to give it some sort of a tribute. Anyway, some “strobist” practice won’t be bad! I would love to do more product shoots and some strobe experiments in the future. And learn more about lighting.
Here is how I took it:
Gear: Canon 7D + EF 100mm f2.8 Macro + Speedlite 430 exii + Speedlite 580 exii
Settings: f7.1 | 1/250 | Speedlite on Manual mode 430exii (1/32) 580 exii (1/8)
Strobist info:
580 exii + shoot through umbrella on the left
430 exii + red gel on bottom right
Triggered by Canon 7D built in flash trigger
Post processing:
- Pretty much nothing… very slight adjustment on contrast in Camera Raw
Here is my lighting setup: <click here>
That’s it folks!
/Mike
