How to get that star-burst effect?

Here's a tip I learned from my first photography class. If you are shooting night scene and you want to get that "star burst" effect from the lights, set your aperture to f/22. I remember the instructor showed us a photo she took in Ireland, outside a tavern at night. The effect from the street lights were amazing.

The photo below was taken with f/22, I thought the effect came out pretty good.

Some of my favorite things...part 2.

Nothing beats a icy cold beer on a hot summer day :) On our recent trip home, we were at a restaurant having chilli crab and drinking German beer. I cannot remember the name of ther beer, but it was good, very smooth.

My brother in law who travels to China quite a bit told me about Harbin Lager when we were home. I just happened to saw it last weekend at the grocery store, so I bought a six pack. Not bad at all. Just in time for summer :)

I can't say I'm a big fan of beer. But I do enjoy having a few beer with my friends. With the alcohol in the body, everybody lets loose a little, more relax, more fun, more interesting conversation.

在炎热的夏天夜晚， 有几瓶冰冻的啤酒， 和几个知己一边喝酒一边谈天说笑， 人生一大乐事也!




I was bored at home, just finished reading a blog on photographing food, so I thought why not. I opened a bottle of Harbin Lager, pulled out my camera and the SB-600 speedlight I just got and took a few photos of my beverage.

Some of my favorite things...

Here is the first one.



Many thinks that the blue and white BMW logo is from a plane propeller against a blue sky. This is because BMW started with buidling airplane engines. So BMW has been advertising that story in all their publications. However, while watching "The Ultimate Factory" featuring BMW on Discovery Channel recently, a spokesperson from BMW actually said that BMW had the story wrong all these time. The blue and white is actually from the Bavarian flag, which featured blue and white colors. I just find it funny that even BMW itself is confused :)

Some recent photos.

We had a picnic at one of the local park recently, here I was sitting down enjoying the shade in the park, just happened to look up and this is what I saw. With the light breeze and the shade, it was a moment of tranquility and peace for me, very relaxing. This has become my desktop background to bring my some calmness and peace to my daily hectic life...




The photos below were taken on a recent trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. I was trying to create an old, sort of rustic image below using photoshop. I am not sure if I was successful or not.

I took the photo below just for fun, but while reviewing it on my pc, I thought of something I heard in a recent training. The instructor said "If your photo is boring, you're not close enough" so I cropped the photo and changed it to black and white, I like it better than the original.

The photo below is just cute, the words reminded me of our old saying... "If you have love, you can survive on water".

I know I've been gone for a while, have to blame it on my laziness :)