WINNERS REVEALEDAn Amazing

PhotoMalaysia PhotoSafari

Experience in the Himalayas

FEATURE STORY

Inaugral I

ssueISSUE 01.2012THE ALTERNATE eMAGAZINE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

Maxby’s MusingsTesting the Ricoh GRD IV in the Himalayas

Gunsmiths of Danao City, Philippines

John Ishii’s Photo TipsShooting Dramatic Images

Shooting Sunsets

DA’S Tapestry10 Habits for Good Composition

10 Tips for Shooting Stage Performances

User ReviewPentax Optio G-1

New DSLRCanon EOS 1D C

Welcome to this inaugural is-sue of The Third Eye, the new eMagazine companion to the PhotoMalaysia and PhotoSafari

websites. We hope to publish one issue a month. If this eMagazine is well received, we’ll try and in-crease the frequency. If you have any suggestions to make this a better eMagazine, please write to theeditor.thethirdeye@gmail.com. It’s your eMagazine, and it’s our first time at ePublishing too, so we welcome all constructive suggestions for improvement. As you m The Third Eye will com-plement our forums, not replace them. ay have a lot of questions, let us anticipate some of those, and answer them.

Firstly, what is the intent and pur-pose of The Third Eye?

The Third Eye will complement our forums, not replace them. Modern ePublishing uses lots of new, powerful, and very interest-ing, interactive and cross media techniques, including flash, vid-

eos, animations, and sophisticat-ed hover menus and hyper-link-ing. The way forums are set up and laid out, doesn’t allow these new techniques to be elegantly applied. So we hope to address those limitations with this eMaga-zine.

Some content in this eMagazine will be hyper-linked back to the PhotoMalaysia and PhotoSafari forums, where the usual writ-ten discussions in threads and posts can continue. In this way, the eMagazine will act as a front end to content in the forums. However, The Third Eye will have its own uniquely eMagazine type of content which cannot be ele-gantly posted in the forums. For example, photography learning tutorials in videos can easily be incorporated in a video window in the magazine pages. And with video capability built into most modern hand phones and camer-as, we can even accept photog-raphy related video contributions from readers, in a special section of the Third Eye, a sort of a mini You Tube. As we progress up the

learning curve, we’re expecting to do many new things that cannot be done elegantly in the Forum setup. The layout is not cast in stone. It will evolve and change, as we respond to suggestions to make it a publication that every-one will look forward to receiving in their email once every month.

Secondly, why is it called The Third Eye?

For the long answer, you can Google all the mystical and eso-teric concepts normally related to The Third Eye in spiritual tra-ditions, such as the ajna and chakra in Hinduism, in Rosicru-

cian writings, in Taoism, and in many other meditation schools, and the arts. However, our eMag-azine has nothing to do with re-ligion and spiritualism. We call our eMagazine The Third Eye simply because we intend to present content which we hope can inspire, and help readers develop their own Third Eye for more compelling photography, a keener sixth sense which can unleash the creative inspiration which is present, but usually la-tent in most of us. We hope, The Third Eye will help develop your own Third Eye for photography, Lofty ideals, but that’s why we chose to call it the Third Eye and not something safe, predictable and boring like The PhotoMalay-sia eMagazine.

We’ve set a complex and difficult challenge for ourselves. We’ve wanted to launch an eMagazine

for a long time, but the frightening commitment needed for what, af-ter all, is only a project driven by passion, kept the idea as only a dream. Now that we have decided to bite the bullet, we hope every-one will help us make this eMaga-zine a success, by contributing articles, reviews, personal photog-raphy related revelations, experi-ences, stories, tutorials, etc., and most of all, sets of photo-journal-ism images that tell a story, either accompanied by a few words, or simply as a set of images champi-oning a particular cause, or event, or issue, that the photographer is passionate about.

These are some of our high ideals in our passion for all things pho-tography. We would like to invite all those who share our passion, to become voluntary regular contribu-tors to The Third Eye. Simply sub-mit articles and content by email, directly to theeditor.thethirdeye@gmail.com. If you are good and you submit regular content, we may even create a specific column or page specially for you.

To underline our commitment to make The Third Eye a success, we have recruited Mr Raymond Chang as a part time editor. His principal deliverable will be to make sure the eMagazine appears without fail on the first day of every month. The link and a brief summary of the The Third Eye will be emailed to every one of our nearly 80,000 members, and there will be an opt-out facility if you don’t want to re-ceive the email. It’s like if the king doesn’t want to go to the mountain, we’ll bring the photography moun-tain to him.

The Editorial Board will comprise initially Maxby Chan, John Ishii and Yusuf Hashim, also known as DA or Digitalartist. All Photo-Malaysia Mods and Members are encouraged to submit content for publication.

“All members are invited to submit their photos for consideration to be featured in the front cov-er of The Third Eye. ...”

“We call our eMagazine The Third Eye because we intend to present con-tent which we hope can inspire, and help read-ers develop their own Third Eye for their pho-tography.....”

“The Third Eye will have content which cannot be eleganly posted in the fo-rums.....”

“The Third Eye will com-plement our forums, not replace them..... 6

FEATURE STORY

Shooting in the Himalayas

Ten adventurer photographers pushed themselves to their limits, trekking 150 km in the Himalayas, shooting incredible pictures. They came back exhausted, but are al-ready planning a third PhotoSafari, and this time to the Everest Base Camp. Do you dare to join them ?

GUEST PORTFOLIO

12Reintroducing

John Ishii American-Japanese-Malaysian John Ishii is an Editorial Board Member of The Third Eye. John is a much trav-elled Commercial and Editorial Pho-tographer and Photo-journalist. He’s worked for AFP covering hundreds of events from sports to politics and everything in between.

GEAR REVIEW

13Pentax WG-1

by Lee Kok Wee Lee Kok Wee readily admits that he is no photographer. He was participat-ing in a PhotoSafari to the Himalayas simply for trekking. He was loaned a Pentax WG-1 to use. This is his User Report, with the pictures he shot.

JOHN ISHII’S TIPS

11Shooting Dramatic

Images Commercial and Editorial Photogra-pher and Photojournalist John Ishii will share his experience in this sction by offering tips for taking your photog-raphy up a few notches. In this issue, John talks about shooting dramatic images.

DA’S TAPESTRY

9Monochrome in

Nepal

MAXBY’S MUSINGS

10User’s ReviewRicoh GRD IV

Maxby took a Ricoh GRD IV to the Himalayas to test the camera in an extremely unforgiving environment. The Ricoh performed well in Maxby’s hands, proving once again that it is the 8 inches behind the lens that makes good pictures, and the best camera is the camera in your hands.

Vol. 01.2012HIGHLIGHTSFROM THE EDITORS All members are also invited to

submit their photos for consid-eration to be featured in the front cover of The Third Eye. The front cover picture for this first issue of The Third Eye, was shot by Tay Meow Win (PM nick taymw), at the Braka Ice Lake, 4500 meters up in the Annapurna Range, during the recent PhotoMalaysia PhotoSafari Experience event to the Himalayas in Nepal. If your photo makes it to the front page of The Third Eye, we will honour you with the tag of “Third Eye Front Cover Photogra-pher” under your nick in all your PhotoMalaysia posts.

Similarly, if your eMagazine article

or tutorial appears in the eMaga-zine, you will get the tag of “Third Eye eMagazine Contributor”. Apart from articles, all types of electroni-cally presentable contributions, including videos, slideshows, ani-mations, etc., will be considered for publication.

Please help us to make your emagazine a success.

Yusuf Hashim

12MACRO CITY & LANDSCAPES

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

THIS MONTH’S NEWS BIRDS

TRAVEL

UNDERWATER

SPORTS

BLACK & WHITE

PORTRAITS

UNDERWATER

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1715

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DEPARTMENTSVol. 01.2012

Submit a Portfolio for the Guest Port-folio Section of The Third Eye

Would you like to see a portfolio of photos you shot published in the Guest Portfolio Section of The Third Eye ? If yes, do the folloWw-wing:-

1. Email upto 10 photos you have shot your-self, to

theeditor.thethirdeye@gmail.com 2. Write THIRD EYE GUEST PORTFOLIO in

the email subject box3. Image Resolution must be 300 dpi, in

RGB colour space, and TIFF or JPG File format minimum 2 MB

4. Image Dimensions must be at least 2200x1600 pixels,

5. Include a brief description of the pho-tos, answering the questions WHEN, WHERE,WHAT, WHY and HOW your photo was shot. A short story accompa-nying photos is a powerful tool to help viewers understand your intent.

6. A PORTFOLIO infers a set of RELATED PHOTOS shot to a THEME.

7. For some inspiration, visit The 2012 WorldPress PhotosGalleries, and espe-cially the winners of the photo stories section, for example, Brent Striton’s Rhino Wars and Paul Hilton’s Shark Fins ite a few lines about yourself and include a mugshot of yourself, your real name, your PM Nickname, your email and your HP number.

8. If your portfolio is used, we will insert “Guest Portfolio Photographer for The Third Eye eMagazine” under your nick-name in the PhotoMalaysia forum.25

HOW DO I.....

Submit your best photos forThe Third Eye Cover Page

Submit your best photos forThe Third Eye Cover Page

Would you like to see a picture you shot published on the front cover of The Third Eye ? If yes, do the following:-

1. Email upto 5 photos you have shot yourself, to theeditor.thethirdeye@gmail.com 2. Write THIRD EYE COVER PHOTO in the email

subject box3. Image Resolution must be 300 dpi, in RGB col-

our space, and TIFF or RAW.4. Image Dimensions must be at least 2200x1600

pixels5. Include a brief description of the photo, an-

swering the questions WHEN, WHERE,WHAT, WHY and HOW your photo was shot.

6. Write a few lines about yourself and include a mugshot of yourself, your real name, your email and your HP number.

7. If your photo is used, we will insert, “Cover Photographer-The Third Eye”under your nick in the PhotoMalaysia forums.

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JOHN ISHII’S TIPSThere’s nothing like a great sunset or sunrise to stir

your passion for photography. One of the first snap shots from any aspiring photographer are the sunset or sunrise shots from your favorite beach or mountain top. So what makes a great sunset shot? Well, a good lens with excellent coating to eliminate flare is good to have. Flare is that small streak of light crossing the lens just where you don’t want it.

My favorite are sunrise shots. There’s something magical about a sunrise. Seeing the dark horizon gently becoming lighter, and as it becomes lighter, a slight hint of pink cre-ating contrasts in the sky, reflecting gently on the clouds. It’s significance is that it’s a brand new day and new lives.

You have to keep a keen eye on the lightest part of the sky as it is always constantly changing as the sun creeps up the horizon. I like to use my 70 - 200 f/2.8, as its easier to capture both a long shot and a close up shot of the sunrise quickly with zooming. As the sun rises and the colors change, the lens gives me the flexibility and speed to zoom in and out to get just the right amount of color changes. The secret to great sunrise shots is getting up, setting up your equipment properly and being ready to capture the constantly changing colors, and to shoot the sun just as it peeks over the horizon. This always makes for a dramatic and colorful image.

Sunsets are done in reverse, you wait for the magic hour where the sun begins its journey down to the horizon. Shoot as the color of the sky turns into an intense show of orange, red and yellows.

I enjoy sunset shots the most when I go to the beach. Batu Feringi, Langkawi and Phuket have just the most amazing sunsets. I sit on the beach for hours trying to get just the right amount of light and color, but its when the sun meets the sea at the horizon when the shot really comes together. The sun just seems to melt right into the sea, and when a small fishing boat goes by, its beautifully back lighted by the yellow and orange ball.

If you can get a hold of a super telephoto lens it will just suck in the sun and gives a massive “Wow” factor image of the sun setting into the horizon. This type of shots will definitely impress your friends.

Lastly, remember to use an f stop such as at f8 and above, to get the maximum depth of field. Take a close look at my images and see what makes a well composed sunrise or sunset shot.

ShootingSunSetS & SunriSeS

Cover Photo by Tay Meow Win, shot at 4500 m. at a PhotoMalaysia PhotoSafari Experience in the Himalayas