Back' Again

I had an interesting short weekend which started with me hurting my back yet again, a wedding and two sunday masses.

A friend had a play (theatrical) at the KLPAC which is located at Sentul Park. I tell you... sentul does not look too shabby these days... The KLPAC building itself is a converted Railway Warehouse and office blocks and see how well it has been detailed i am guessing no cost was spared when picking the materials and finishes for the building. Even the exposed ducting system was nicely incoperated into the building. KLPAC is situated in an English lawn, a sprawling garden of sort. Did not have alot of time to look around and take photos... but i manage to shoot a few shots before going to the bistro with the rest and grab a quick drink.


When you enter the lobby there is a glassed room on the left where you can see the stage guys make their props for the shows.... i think thats a cool concept thats gives an accessible feeling between us normal folk and the theatre. They are mortal after all.

The play was called Six Characters Looking For An Author. The plays concept was very interesting but hey i am not into theater. The only thing i know was i was bored and the play was basically on the same topics as any other story. Who we are? Where are we going? How do we become what we what to be? (taken from a short description of the play) Who, Why, What, Where, When, How, Bah!!! i am hungry!!!

Lets now talk about what i like, Photography!.I would like to incorparate a few tips on photography in all my blog entries. As you know there is no flash photography allowed in the theater yet alone concerts and other stage perfomances. And i am sure for those who have a digital camera would know, that if you take a picture without flash you would almost always ruin the shot when there is movement because of motion blur. Of cos there are those who ignore this and just take the shots with flash anyway... without another thought. (Rude disgusting people). So how do you counter these problems? I mean, on the Non-Flash Photos and not the rude dunggoos. Well first thing you must understand is that photography is all about LIGHT. So like the saying goes ...Keep Your Friends Close But Keep Your Enemies Closer.... you mush keep a watch on LIGHT even more closer then your enemies because it is both your friend and your enemy....

(Automatic setting is 1/4 and aperture at F2.8 so i set it at 1/6 at F8.. nope not good; Dont worry about 'F' aperture. for now just play with shutter speed and let the camera decide on the aperture)

(1/13 sec F4 still not good.... then bammm!! at 1/30 sec F4 it was clear)

Stage lighting is more likely to be very bright.... so all you have to do is go to your camera settings where the shutter speed is very very fast. Either Sports mode or Shutter Priority (with a S symbol on the dial). You will notice that the camera will automatically set the shutter speed at between 1/4 to 1/16 of a second which is considerably slow. Motion blur will occur when people in the frame move or you move . This can look nice if u are lucky or if you know what you are doing ....but most of the time it will look like shit. If the stage lights are bright enough then set the shutter speed to between 1/20 to 1/100. Take a few test shots to test and view the results. Zoom into the frame and see if the picture is clear and sharp. Pick the best speed and then shoot away. Of cos if the lighting changes then you have to change the shutter speed also lah.

Ok now for the bad news... there is a high chance that you will still get motion blur so pick your shots carefully. You can also avoid motion blur by holding your hand steady. Rest it on a railing or fold your legs and use it to support your camera and practice pressing the shutter release button without moving the whole camera. Of co you could get a high speed camera or an SLR with a bigger aperture (lets not talk about aperture today) oh no... its going to be lunch and i am getting hungry... what to eat ah?

(I continued taking in the 1/30sec range and got some nice results but as you can see in the next photo there was still motion blur but that guy did run across the stage really really fast)

oh i better get to the how i hurt my back thing... I was taking the last shot of the play right at the end when I suddenly lost my footing over the edge of the platform where our seats were ..... but i was saved by the hand railing. I took this picture as i fell....;Not bad ah. a lucky shot that looks intentional but is not........ 1/30 seconds was good enough that there was no motion blur oso... Oh and i was also lucky that the railing caught my fall, otherwise i would have fallen 5 feet on my head. But my whole left side back area and my chest got bruised as I scraped on the railing and an old back injury started acting up... You see, I was backing up to the left to get a better shot before falling. ....Ahhh... the things i do to get that perfect shot. ...I once slipped on wet stone and slide down about 20 feet over a very small waterfall. I was ok but my old point and shoot camera got all wet and even after RM300 fixing it... it never worked the same again. kekeke... but thats not how i hurt my back....

You know those pictures you see on how to carry heavy things.... always follow them because i did not and my was rolling on the ground moaning in pain. This was about 3 years ago. I did not injure my back bone, i had pulled a nerve and a few muscles. The nerve which ran to the left of my waist (kidney area) down over my left butt around my left thigh over my leg down to my toe. I was walking around like a robot for 8 month after that. Ever since then, it acts up from time to time. A few weeks ago i had another episode and i was just recovering from that. Then i go jumping off platforms... i need to be more careful next time. Its very strange really...this back thing... i can do all kinds of heavy stuff and be ok... but then suddenly sneeze and my back would lockup... 'sigh' i am going to be an old man in a wheelchair...oh well.. as long westcoastcustoms pimp my wheelchair... it will be all good...

Oh yah one more thing, APM played for a wedding mass on Saturday and we played for the 6.45am and 11.15am mass on Sunday and just like that the weekend is over....

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