Macro world 2008

I was coaxed into macro by red in late 2006. Armed with a reverse ring, I tried shooting macros which was not easy and in fact very challenging. I later realised that the small experience taught me a number of tricks in taking macro shots.

At the moment I am using Nikon D50 coupled with a Nikkor 60mm micro for taking macro shots. People asked me why I chose a short lens? The answer is that its light, less cumbersome and add versatile when space is limited.

A frog at Sungai Chelagi.

A ant at Taman Teruntum

A dragonfly at Bukit Cherakah

An assassin insect at Bukit Pelindung

Flies mating at Taman Teruntum

A flower at Bukit Pelindung

A flower at Taman Teruntum

A jumping spider of Taman Teruntum

A spider of Cherating village

A trapdoor spider of Pahang

Another trapdoor spider of Pahang

A tarantula of Bentong

A tarantula of Selangor

A tarantula of Paka with its fangs on it's prey

Macro enthusiasists at a Selangor outing recently

Macro apprentices; watch and learn


Boogey and Red surveying the area. Just look at the new 'Kata' backpack!


Maman focusing on the acquired target with his S1.

Oily experience

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Petroleum Plant at Kerteh

I was assigned to relieve a doctor for a month while 'the supposed permanent' was waiting for her OH examination. However I am still here at Kerteh for the second month.

Fishermen boats at Kuala Kerteh

30 years ago Kerteh was a small quiet kampung of no significance to the nation. It was a small fishing village where the people fish for a living, 'kais pagi makan pagi and kais petang makan petang.' The road leading to the nearest town, Kemaman was narrow, windy and dark. Kemaman itself was a border town of no significance. It was quiet, slow and more of a kampung with a number of shops and school available. I could still remember going to the quiet Kemaman
in 1978 for a friendly hockey match with Sekolah Menengah Chukai.

Beautiful Beach of Kerteh

Today after the government started drilling oil off shore for and built petroleum processing plants at Kerteh-Paka border, Kerteh started blooming affecting the nearby villages including Paka and Kemasek. Kemaman, Geliga and Chukai is now highly populated, busy and full of activities.

Kemasek Beach

The place I work is at Kerteh Interplant Medical Clinic. This facility is to provide basic medical care and emergency aid to the staff at Kerteh Interplant Petrochemical Complex.

Secluded Kerteh Beach

The work here is different from what I used to do at Kuantan Specialist Hospital. It is more of a general practice with a focus in occupational health. I had to travel daily starting at 10 minutes past 6 in the morning and arriving home 20 minutes to 7 in the evening.

A trapdoor spider nest at Kerteh

I tried to make this new job enjoyable, adapting to the new environment, seeking local entertainment, get to know people and make new friends. I dont really know how long I'll be here.

Sungai Pandan Waterfall revisited

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Sungai Pandan second waterfall

I had looked forward for this trip, for weeks. At last, today, 23rd February, I went jungle trekking with the malaysian Nature Society Pahang Branch to Sungai Pandan waterfall. It had been a while since I had last gone for such activity. The last one was 1 1/2 years ago at Sungai Bekelah Waterfall with Roza and the kids. In fact we went twice that year. With the second trip, we went further up Sungai Bekelah.

Moss on a tree trunk

After the surgery, this is my first jungle trekking thus I was so eager to go despite having recently twisted my right ankle and right knee. For the past few days I had been 'licking' my injuries, actually self 'urut' my painful joints. I frequent the Bukit Pelindung on Sundays even though barely hit a 200 meters mark as I was busy with my Nikon. I chose the stairs to the lift when going up the to floor at work and did some cycling at the physiotherapy unit. Today, I had a knee and ankle support to reduce further injury.

Mushromm on a decaying tree

There were 15 of us and I was the third to arrive at the 7.30 am reporting time. The others arrived less than 10 minutes later, some in car pools.

A huge millipede

After a short briefing and warm up led by En Khalid our guide, we left the meeting point at 8.00 am. We had to climb up and down a few hills before reaching our destination, that is the second waterfall newly discovered( kudos to Pahang tourism of the 22nd century). The journey was not that smooth as there was a huge fallen tree blocking our way. Khaled made a detour and we were greeted by a snake along the path. He then chose to continue by wading the river.

Wadind through the river

Found this tiny frog swimming

A pitcher plant

Along the way we stopped at 3 places namely pitcher plant area, kolam puteri(princess's pool) and the snake stop. The second waterfall was nice with a shallow pool and less steep cliff which was easier to climb. The water was cooler but not as good as Bekelah or Jerangkang falls.

Leaving the river to continue with the climb (its not night)

The trekking took us about 4 1/2 hours to and fro. It was a tiring journey but not regrettable. Alhamdulillah.

Middle part of the fall

Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis(CST)

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I was unwell 9 days prior to Eidil Fitri with severe headache which continued through my sleep in the form of dream. On the next day I requested for MRI but CT scan was done instead as it was been used on other scheduled patient. CT scan was negative of any significant findings.

As I had history of transphenoidal brain surgery recently and now having severe headache with nasal infection, they arranged me for late afternoon MRI. The diagnosis CST was made based on MRI findings and high TWBC count of more than 15K.

I was immediately started on i/v Rocephine 2g stat and 1g bid, Flagyl 500mg tid and Gentamycin 240mg dly. On top of that Iwas also given i/v Dexamethasone tid for 3 days and Zantac bid.

The headache disappeared by the next day without any analgesic. On the third day I started to experience the side effects of the antibiotics; nausea, giddiness and gastrointestinal discomforts. On the sixth day i had symptoms of hypopituitarism, the addisonian crisis. I started to pass urine every hour even at night, drowsy, lethargy, low pulse, nausea, abdominal discomfort, cold and heaviness of the head.

I was given i/v Hydrocortisone 200mg stat than 100mg bid. The symptoms improved a few hours later. I was discharged 2 days later with oral hydrocortisone, oral zinnat and zantac.

Alhamdulillah, I am recovering well with strong family support especially from my other significant half. I am grateful to God not only for giving me good recovery but getting me closer to Him, understanding myself better with the guide from a book written by Imam AlGhazali, The Alchemy of Happiness.

I am grateful to Allah for the support from my family, friends and the medical staff who help me to regain my health.



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Cavernous sinus thrombosis (CST) is usually a late complication of an infection of the central face or paranasal sinuses. Other causes include bacteremia, trauma, and infections of the ear or maxillary teeth. CST is generally a fulminant process with high rates of morbidity and mortality.

Prior to the advent of effective antimicrobial agents, the mortality rate from CST was effectively 100%.
Typically, death is due to sepsis or central nervous system (CNS) infection. With aggressive management, the mortality rate is now less than 30%.
Morbidity, however, remains high, and complete recovery is rare. Roughly one sixth of patients are left with some degree of visual impairment, and one half have cranial nerve deficits.

History: The early signs and symptoms of CST may not be specific. A patient who presents with headache and any cranial nerve findings should be potentially evaluated for CST.

* Patients generally have sinusitis or a midface infection eg pimples(squeezing of pimples).

* Headache is the most common presentation symptom and usually precedes fevers, periorbital edema, and cranial nerve signs.
The headache is usually sharp, increases progressively, and is usually localized to the regions innervated by the ophthalmic and maxillary branches of the fifth cranial nerve.

* As the infection tracts posteriorly, patients complain of orbital pain and fullness accompanied by periorbital edema and visual disturbances.

* Without effective therapy, signs appear in the contralateral eye by spreading through the communicating veins to the contralateral cavernous sinus. Eye swelling begins as a unilateral process and spreads to the other eye within 24-48 hours via the intercavernous sinuses. This is pathognomonic for CST.

* Patient rapidly develops mental status changes including confusion, drowsiness, and coma from CNS involvement and/or sepsis. Death follows shortly thereafter.

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

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It has been more than 6 months without a new entry, a long rest indeed from this blog. I am starting again with this 50th Merdeka entry.

On 31 August 2007, I finished work at around 8 am, got home, had breakfast then sent my wife to work before going to the Merdeka parade at Dataran Merdeka Kuantan. I arrived at around 10 am with my youngest, Maman. The parade had already took off for about 1 hour when we arrived at the desired 'shooting' position. We got ourselves not far from the grand stand and had a good view on the colorful participants.

The Malay Regiment Band

The Malay Regiment Parade Unit

Independence or merdeka is something that we should not just feel proud of without feeling with understanding the hardship of those who sacrificed for our freedom and also our responsibility to full-fill the demands as a patriotic citizen.

Persatuan Kadet Bersatu Udara

Pasukan Pertahanan Awam

The Air Force

We started to free ourselves from the day we were invaded and colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. I could not agree that we were invaded by the Japanese because the act of war was on British and their colonies during the vastly spread World War 2.

The Rangers

Rangers in arms

There were individuals who were killed or banished to protect the sovereignty of this soil from the invaders. They fought for a cause until they died with no desire to sacrifice the dignity of the people in exchange for conditioned freedom. Some who were martyred, silenced or disappeared were forgotten as they did not bring any significant mileage.

Pasukan Gerak Khas Polis

A fearless Special Force Personel

Only a few past names are needed and to be repeated to boost some strategic moves of today.
What is important is the making of heroes in the present that is to be remembered in the near future.

The Sultan of Pahang with war veteran PGK 69

The Tengku Mahkota of Pahang with war veteran PGK 69

The word merdeka will be more meaningful if each person who claim this soil theirs, swears and practices not only to protect this land from outsider but also from the enemy within who are traitor citizen that scavenges the riches of this land for themselves.

The Pahang Menteri Besar with a war veteran decorated with PGB star

The ADUN of Pahang and other VIP

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Taking a break

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A bit busy lately and its monsoon. Just need to take a break and just write once a while.

29 Dec 2006

Selamat berpuasa sewaktu jamaah haji wukuf di Arafah dan selamat berkorban dan menyambut Hari Raya Korban dan Hari-Hari Tasyrik. Semoga Allah memberkati kita semua dengan Taufik, Hidayah dan RahmatNya.

dan

Selamat Pengantin Baru kepada Norazlina dan Mohamad Afif.

dan

Tahniah kepada Aliah dan Husna atas keputusan cemerlang PMR

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The Wedding montage (the akad) of Dr Norazlina and Dr Mohamad Afif

on 9 December 2006. We only took a few photos because we had to rush home to send DITH to work.

Here is the wedding montage that I prepared a few weeks ago.
Thanks to Pycno for the great song.

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Macro with BR 2A - Insects

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I was requested by friends and siblings to photograph insects or other crawlers. Taking pictures of ants was quite difficult and tiring. First, I had to get the right distance, then to locate the moving subject through the lens or wait until it found something to make it stayed stationary. Then the focusing part by moving the camera forward and backward hoping for no shake when squeezing the button. The exposure had to be set manually but it did not matter much as I could adjust it with thw RAW editor tool.

I found the ants in my garden yesterday morning. I had to be early before the morning breeze got stronger.

The white wall will definitely confuses light meters

As I was searching for tiny flowers 2 days ago, I came upon a few insects. The moths were more cooperative than the active ants.

The picture above was taken at a nearby stream. It was difficult to get nearer and I had to focus at 60mm causing the flower buds to be clearly visible. Opening the aperture wider? The DOF will drop drastically causing part of the moth blurred unless they were in the same plane.

Still at the stream with a different moth. This time, there was no wind.

Limiting factors to be considered beside the equipments:

1. A moving subject
2. Wind
3. Lighting
4. Terrain

Hope Sarah (Mynn) can appreciate the insects.

UPDATE

Above was taken on my first day using BR2A with Nikon50mm F1.8. Notice the narrow DOF.

The above was taken at my mini A&E Studio using a mobile surgical lamp, a black pierre cardin wallet box(gift from KKL, thanks a million) and a white pateint folder as a reflector.

I edited using Nikon editor alone, decreasing the exposure value to correct the overexposed area from the light source, increasing the contrast, decreasing the brightness(ensuring I could still see year 1976), correcting the color balance by adding blue, decreasing red and green. It is not that good but it will do by not having photoshop(office) and with limited knowledge.
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