The whole trip was really quite impromptu. I had contacted an agent a couple of days ago and they called me the following day to inform me about an upcoming trip. I immediately packed and drove down to Gopeng and spent a night there.
It was gloomy as we started trekking up the forest hill. By the time we saw the Rafflesia, it was practically pouring! My lens got foggy and there was no suitable place to set up a tripod.
But wait, there's another Rafflesia.
Fortunately the rain subsided and I was able to set up my tripod and start shooting away!
Up close with a Rafflesia (Rafflesia cantleyi?)
A group photo
An orang asli lady (aborigine) helping a boy to cross the river
We came across a couple of salt licks where mainly Rajah Brooke's birdwing butterflies congregated. Quite a magnificent sight!
Up close with a Rajah Brooke
All images here were shot with a Canon 40D, and Tamron 17-50mm
. Tripod 
used for certain shots.
Wow, that Rafflesia is an amazing flower.
ReplyDeleteI have to ask - with a subject as big and still as that flower, why do you need a tripod?
Thanks, Ted.
ReplyDeleteThe light was low and I didn't want to use flash. Prefer the look of natural lighting. I also didn't want to use high ISO as the images will be noisy.
Take a look at the exif:
Exposure: 0.3
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 200
There's no way i could get a sharp shot if i were to handhold the camera. Even if I could, the mirror slap will affect image sharpness too. Mirror slap normally comes into play for exposure between shutter speed of between 1/50 to 2 seconds.
With a tripod, I could use mirror lock up or just turn on the live view (on Canon 40D) which will give me the same MLU effect.