I haven’t been out shooting for sometime now, having to juggle work and family, and an upcoming “project” which I have to spend time researching and reading on. I had a break yesterday afternoon since Wifey was out getting her hair done and my kid was sound asleep, so I quickly grabbed my camera, put my handphone and 2 plastic bags in a small Nikon shoulder bag and headed off to Bukit Hijau. This Bukit Hijau is not the one in Kedah, but the mini one near Greenlane Heights apartment.
Before I headed out to shoot, I set some challenge for this round. My good friend LoctorMayat would refer to this as No Frills™ photography, but basically what it means is no post processing like cropping, color adjustments, noise removal or any sort like that is allowed. But obviously I will resize the pictures for Internet upload purposes and that’s the only thing done to all the pictures U see here. In order to achieve this I cannot rely on the Standard Picture Control setting anymore which I have used all this while. As I like colors that really pop, I selected the Vivid Picture Control, added a notch to sharpening from 4 to 5, and bumped up saturation another 2 clicks.
To make things more interesting, I also added another rule to the challenge, all shots are to be at 18mm only, like as if I was using a prime lens instead of a zoom. 
After about 30 minutes walking and shooting, I reached the peak and not a moment too soon as it started to drizzle lightly. So I quickly go grab some shots…
…and made my way down. I also took some shots which I had missed earlier.
and my favourite shot of the day…
A few things I have learned from this exercise:
1 - I am damn unfit,
2 - It’s very difficult to hold yourself steady for a shot when your heart is pounding,
3 - zoom lenses will make U become lazy, and
4 - 18mm isn’t wide enough for a really breathtaking landscape shot.
The exercise has certainly been fun and it was really a great workout. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun at the same time being kind to my body. I would certainly like to try some No Frills™ street shooting next when I have the chance. U hear that Loctor?
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