Reflection from my eye

You can actually see that this image was made with my mobile phone. Also this picture have been cropped and resize to 50% so actually the resolution is pretty decent and good. However I did not photograph my eye for this reason, the actual reason is that my iris actually have a very different color than the iris from Asians in China.

My iris is brown but it is a much lighter shade then Asians in China, theirs are very dark almost totally black. However both my parents are Chinese so it is not an certain gene making my eyes to be lighter, but I think it is a bit cause of the environment I grew up, because I am not from China but from the Netherlands and there you have more rain then sun. And probably the people who grew up in China have a natural sunblock in their eyes since they grew up in a place with allot of sun and slowly adapted since their birth. My eyes did not have to adapt it self for the sun in the Netherlands so it did not became very dark.

However I am curious if my eye would actually adapt while I am in Asia. Also I have not been sunbathing allot so would be curious what my body does and how it will adapt it self to the changed environment.

Special Announcement / Free Giveaway

Soon I will be having a give away of 1000 free standard business cards with your own design for one reader and one free 18x24 canvas print with your own design for another reader. So keep your eye on this site and and soon their will be the full briefing of what you have to do to win the Giveaway.

For all students or startups this is a great oppertunity for you to win 1000 free business cards or 1 artist canvas print. With the business cards you can easily give your contact information to others and people you really want to get in contact with. For all you design student it is a great oppertunity to get your own businesscard and to be able to get design jobs this way, if ever talk to someone or actually hear that someone would want to have something designed, just jump in and give your business card.

For all artist, photograpers and designers a free 18x24 canvas should be a great oppertunity to print out of your best pictures or designs and use it as and art piece. When well done you might even sell the canvas. It is a great oppertunity to show off your works.

However anyone can enter the rules will be very simple to anyone who want to have 1000 free or a canvas print should keep an eye on this website .

This special Giveaway is made possible by Uprinting.

Travel Savings Expert

TravelSavingsExpert logo design, TravelSavingExpert is a company that help you or guides you to save money on traveling. The logo represent a travel arrow which I found it looks bit like a money bank opening and which fit the name very well. Having a travel arrow and to throw money in a money bank to save up money. By using turquoise green representing money and orange representing golden expert. And making the name italic having it being on the move for traveling, otherwise it would be very static.

Pop up beak CD / Packaging

This is a pop up CD packaging using a well know pop up beak design, this is one of the most basic pop up card design there is. However it is not originally my design however this is an interesting design. Here below is the template of it that you can make one yourself. This packaging is way better then the Pochup which could never stay flat unless you put it between a telephone book.


Click the image to get the 100% size version and download it. The picture is 72 dpi so be sure to print is at that size. Here below is the PDF uploaded to Scribd and you can click on the image or link below and view the PDF and download it. If you like to support me so I can produce more free packaging templates, please donate any amount through PayPal by clicking the button below.

Pop CD

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Diagrams Illustrations pop up cd packaging

My site blocked in China

I have been reporting my things and blogging from China however I could manage to get into blogger to post things, I could not visit my website / blog to view it, somehow because of that I am using the domain bought at GoDaddy they blocked my website. However now found a way to actually bypassing the Great Wall of China, just by using a proxy websites. They just redirect you to the website you want to visit, here above I am using SuperProxy.nl which does do the job well however you can not do allot but visit pages and site but not fill in any forms to reply at things.

So here is a tip when you go to China and found that your website is blocked and you really need to visit is try searching a free proxy site that redirect you to them. Also another option is using website translator like Babelfish or Google translate, I would advice the latter of because Yahoo is bit blocked and you can not access Babelfish from China.

Also you can actually search if your website is blocked by China I found my site was 20% blockedd in India and 100% blocked in China and the rest of the world could view it normal. You can do this at Justping.com to check how much percentage is lost while trying to search your website.

With actually knowing this I probably should have a whole business card for China with a different website or acutally some odd link with a proxy redirect so that people could view my work and design. However might be also a good things that it is blocked so people can not steal the designs from me and mass produce some of them without me knowing it.

Interesting red plant

When I walked pas the Louhou police office I came across this interesting looking plant, really everyone just walked pass while it was just a very interesting sight of red. Sorry for the bad picture because I am still taking all the pictures with my mobile phone, cause I left it in Hong Kong. Would had been more interesting with my pro cam. Actually the plant have total red leafs and very tiny white flowers. I actually never saw such a plant before and don't know what it is called. Next time I would try to do some macroshot or try to search for some interesting angles.

Starbucks

Probably the only real relaxing place sitting, drinking coffee, relax and can work on some sketching. A pretty relax place where not too much people walk by, making it super relax and also blocked most view from the where you would see busy traffics.

Ok, the coffee is not cheap but pretty good, I went to drink a Double Shot Espresso which is pretty interesting. Probably the most interesting taste I have tried when I came here to China, I actually wanted to try the double shot espresso for quite long time and finally went to drink it. It is actually a very bitter coffee, but with an aftertaste which is interesting, because of the bitterness the aftertaste is actually sweet.

It is actually a very very tiny cup, however Starbucks is probably only place you would see allot of foreigners drinking and actually possible place for me to network with other foreigners and talk with people in English.

Also got to taste a frappochino in a small version was actually to test it. It was not bad but the whipcream was not really needed. But pretty great a cold coffee drink. Maybe next time I would order a frappucino instead.

Actually most what I knew about Starbucks was that it is pretty busy with people getting normal coffee on the go. But I think relaxing sitting drinking your coffee slowly is a better choice then rushing it.

Wal*Mart

Wal*Mart 入口 entrance to got down to the neighborhood market with allot of imported goods and also allot of delicious Chinese snack and beverages and other products. And behind it a Starbucks cafe and a McDonalds, so you would feel pretty much at home if you are from America. Also you regularly see allot of foreigners there at Starbucks. To bad they have not developed a Chinese name for Starbucks and Wal*Mart because McDonalds you would only recognize the big M bit the name is replaced with Chinese letters.

One thing if you want to save money I suggest not going to KFC in China because they are pretty expensive, the cheapest meal cost 26rmb and you get a grilled chicken burger, a mango juice(somehow I could not choose what I wanted to drink) and a very tiny cup with corn, cucumber and carrot salad. Also it feels odd here you don't throw your garbage in a fastfood away yourself but in the Netherlands I am used to it. People look at you are doing something odd.

Chinese Kebab?

I would had never though there would be a Kebab ( or in Dutch we call it Shoarma) in Shenzhen. Also pretty much first time I saw a Kebab with a Chinese chef instead of an Arabian. Kebab is also somethings you see in many places in the world where there are allot of immigrated Arabians who open such places to eat. Also in many places in the world you have different well know dished of Kebab, most of them developed locally. In the Netherlands the most well known is called Kapsalon ( which in Dutch means barbershop), the dish is pretty unhealthy but does contain allot of super delicious stuff thrown into one pile. The Kapsalon has one the bottom layer frensh fries, with lettuce above it and above that kebab with molten cheese, then eaten with allot of BBQ sauce or salad dressing. The idea was actually to put everything you like just into one pile and that just became a famous dish in all the Kebabs in the Netherlands. Enough talk about the Dutch version not the Chinese one.
Chinese Kebab, as you can see it is a pita bread with kebab and lettuce. And they did not even have the usual salad dressing sauce of hot sauce. As for the hotness it is pretty spicy the actually mixed it with some super spicy seed which actually clouded over the meat taste which I actually did not taste at all cause of the spicy seeds. The pita bread looks like a pita bread but actually is the same doug like and bao poa, it was heated in a ricecooker which was pretty odd. For the way how they sold it is pretty unique because you actually bought that small bag from one person then stood in a row till you get your pita with kebab. But I rather eat the Dutch version and especially the Kapsalon / Barbershop.
I don't see this one going to be a hit, cause really the taste is just too clouded by the seeds. Now after few hours I can still taste those seeds. I think they need to tune the taste a bit, because I think most will it just once because it looks rather special and pretty much get good attention where they have stalled, but I doubt many would return for a second. Rather buy grilled corn on a stick from the guy next to him.

Bitter gourd with eggs

苦瓜蛋 also known as bitter cucumber or melon with eggs, but this bitter gourd is actually super healthy. I actually keep hearing that it is healthy but not really which part makes it healthy. So it means it was Wiki times to check out what is so great about bitter gourds. Actually pretty extreme that it actually have allot of things that makes it healthy for most people and extremest of deceases like HIV and Cancer, but also good for people who have Diabetes. However the seeds of it could be harmful for children and the ladies who are pregnant should actually avoid eating it. Also it does improve your metabolism and also lowers your appetite, so people wanting to diet this is a good option.This vegetable/fruit has a reason to be called bitter because it is, also I doubt most children would like the taste. However after a while it somehow grows on you, it become rather good with in a certain mix. For me I would actually order this more often because it is not that bad and looks pretty healthy only thing is that they used a bit too much oil in this dish a bit less would had been better. What you see under is not water or sauce it mostly oil. Still got some exploring to do with a big menu list trying every dish there is unless they sound really unhealthy or way too spicy.

Lo Wu station

This is Lo Wu station where you go out from Hong Kong or go in From Shenzhen. It is a pretty big building, however I am not so sure what there is in the top levels, one thing I am sure of is that you can get or buy a short Visa there for 5 days fro 160 HK Dollar.
A bit further outside you have some pretty things they however a bit clouded by hundreds of people waiting for their next train further into China. There are allot of pretty things build around the station but really just hard to see cause of the crowd or people sitting in the way.
Left you see a big building that is a prominent place if you want to buy knockoff of anything. You get thrown with tons off fake Rolex. However they still got some decent things in the building I found one shop which sold pretty good looking cycling clothings, but from everything you could buy I think most of the clothings are safe compare to the fake electronics.

There are tons of fake iPods and iPhones there and you don't believe how silly some of them look. However between the silly ones they actually got some realisticly looking iPhones however I don't know if they work at all or that they just play a silly game instead of being an actual phone. If you want to buy electronics you should go to Hong Kong, first they are real and second the real ones are more expensive in China then in Hong Kong.

Redbull extra / Review

This can looks much better then the previous post about Red Bull in China. I like this design much better then the golden version, however I did not bought one and taste if because I should be only spending on stuff I really need and this ain't cheap compared to other drinks or beverages. You could buy several bottles of water from the price of one of these. And look behind the can where I found it, yes it really says Wal*mart, the big American superstore. This Walmart is below ground next to a very fancy mall with utterly expensive brands. It's a certain place just outside the hectic shopping center, it is actually between the Lo Wu trainstation and the shopping center. Also rather be at this place because mainly allot of guards and less beggers.

Picture from 天橋skybridges in Shenzhen

I thought it might be interesting showing pictures taken from skybridges. However it it not really that spectacular, it might have been if I had my pro camera and play around with the shutter speed but not really with my mobile cam.
However I had walked pretty far on my very own in a most distance place from my home. And also in a place where almost nobody understand English. However I could fall back on my Cantonese to talk too people and luckily they all write with normal numbers for prices and not with Chinese signs. I would had gone mad if they wrote prices in Chinese too, however I can read 1 to ten and that makes it possible to read up to 99 but anythings higher I would now know what the price would be if it was written in Chinese.

However one thing is that they really don't have much maps and directions to help people to find places. Luckly I have a good feel for directions and could easily find my way back. I actually walked to the city center and also now know how to walk to the trainstation of Lo Wu. Actually everything is not even that far.

真功夫 Kung Fu Diner! / Review

Pretty sad seeing Bruce Lee miss used by people, I actually saw this already on the net, but they did not show what they actually serve, but now I had a first hand look inside. Ok, from the looks the placement and everything inside, looks allot like any other fast food restaurant like McDonalds, KFC or Burger King, untill you come to the counter and actually see all kinds of rice diners. My not knowing what the menu's are called or what is inside choose one they pointed that was in a special and was discounted and get free extra dishes in either mushrooms or congee.
The bowl you get is pretty big actually, not sure what the meat is but looks allot like bacon and it had bot of veggies under it and allot of rice. On the side there is a dish of veggies and also with mushrooms but the mushrooms were cold plus spicy, so I did not ate much of those. Actually this is not that bad and also not really that expensive because I paid 23 yuan for this meal. And I can't say that this is unhealthy because it is pretty much almost a normal dinner, plus much healthier than all those fried stuff from McDonalds.
Lets not forget about the beverage you get with this meal I could actually choose for 3 yuan extra for a soup but the standard drink would do, because the standard drink with this menu is hot fresh Soya Milk and it pretty much one of my favorite drinks in China. However they did not use a handy packaging because they pretty much had a standard like other fastfood beverage cups with a lid that did not have an hole. Would be great if they use the same lid that Starbucks uses or a stronger kind of cup, because the cup flexes and when you hold it.
Ok the dude face does not really look pretty simular to Bruce Lee but it does represent him in a certain way. However inside the you can see better design which does look like the real Bruce Lee. I am sure I will visit these more often when I am here in China Shenzhen, for sure ordering meals is much easier and also super fast within a few second I had my meal compared to other restaurant where you have to wait for ages.

Fanta CN version / Review

芬达 Fanta, actually it is not that different however they are still using the old graphic and logo style while in Europe we have the new upgraded version of Fanta. The big difference is pretty much in the beverage itself. As you can see the orange is pretty dark and pretty much is a very chemical color, if you would compare it to the European version which is less dark and more yellow orange tinted. Also the tast is pretty chemical compared to the European version the orange taste is just aweful, you are actually just drinking chemicals and nothing natural about it. I doubt they used any oranges for it at all. But pretty much of the Coca Cola beverage which should contain fruits are utterly chemical while in Europe they are much better. If you drink allot of different Fanta drink China or Asia would not fit you well because the taste is just very different and bad. Also I won't be buying another Fanta drink soon unless they come with some special edition, the Japanese one which had a special bottle was pretty cool but the taste was equally as awefull.

Actually there are allot of Japanese imported beverage and product with pretty interesting packaging however I won't be buying too much because I have to watchout not to be spending too much.

Ice Green Tea / Review

冰绿茶 Ice Green Tea, for the moment I am trying to learn to write Chinese a bit so if you see block it means you don't have Chinese letters installed. A few post ago I have said I can not read Chinese so I don't know what flavour things are, I thought I should try out some of the healthy green tea drink and try out some tast this one I though looks most safest from the gentle colors and not really showing any odd ingredients, well I was pretty wrong about that. The taste of this green tea is actually same taste like the dried Chinese prumes which is not really a certain taste I would want to have in a beverage form.

However it is pretty healthy in a certain degree but not really my taste of drink. For the design it is pretty simple but the added English text does not fit in well with the overall design. It is actually pretty difficult to combine Chinese with English and to be able to make them look fitting, because they are both a different language and also the font are no universal fonts that work best together and looks well.

However I would not dare to take up the challenge of actually making an Chinese Character font because they have 3000 characters and that would take a while to make them all. However I have never seen how they make the fonts, it might be less work because 3000 would take a long time to make.

RedBull Chinese Version? / Review

红牛 Red Bull Vitamin Functional Drink. This is one heck of a difference between the European and the Asian version of Red Bull. A very downgraded design making it actually uglier then normal, or it is to prevent that Chinese would make a knock off version and that why they made a different one. However this is not a fake version because actual website of Red Bull it self is showing this can ( redbull.com.cn).
For sure this version is produced in China it self and you can actually nowadays see that most China produced still have the old pull lid instead of the normal tab. The can is from a pretty thick strong metal compared to most Europeans cans.

Not only is the can different and the graphic design but actually the drink inside it different too. You can still taste it is bit the same but it is actually less strong then the European taste which mostly makes your breath smell and people know what you drank. The Asian version actually is not carbonated and have a less strong taste. However it is more drinkable then the European version however it is not really a cheap in Asian standards but for me as an Europeans the prices here in Asia are just ridicules.

The graphic design is really bad but actually the gold kinda does have something when you look at it ,but the bad typography and over filling the can with all kinds of informations actually make it looks cheap. Compared to other packaging designs which I have seen this is one of the lesser ones. Actually nowadays the packaging design in China are not that bad, I never thought I would say it but they pretty much stepped up. But I am not sure if they are designed by Chinese designers or actually hired design agencies from Australia instead.

I thought the groves on the sides had a special message for the blind but it seem here the cans are bit randomly used, because I thought they said which are beverages and which are beers or which are carbonated and which is not. I think I need to look better in the superstore next time because I remember during the Golden Nut award that the side grooves had a certain meaning but not sure which is it at the moment.

McDonalds is super cheap in Shenzhen

I know this already from other trips but want everyone else to know who never been to China before. I bought a McChicken Menu for just 21 yuan which is about 2 Euro more or less. A whole menu for 2 Euro in the Netherlands for 2 Euro you could not even buy the McChicken Burger only, with the price you pay in Europe you can afford 3 times more in China.

This is first time since many years that I have eat at McDonalds in China, but was also direct supprise how rude people are in the waiting line. There actually is non at all, they just go in front of you as fast as they can so they can be served first. However a good thing about the Chinese McDonalds are they hygenes, you can actually wash your hands first before you eat and after you have eaten. They have a sink in the middle of the McDonald, so you don't have to go to the bathroom to wash your hands.

But I think I'm not really the person who would get used to Shenzhen because they speak Mandarin and people are rude. Also you need to be able to read Chinese really if you don't you would not know what flavour food you might have bought. Eitherway I have to learn Chinese fast. At moment I have updated my tablet pc so I can write Chinese and it would recognize it, however I think I need to have a more portable version. I think I should look into iPod touch and iPhone apps to see if they got programs to write Chinese plus translate them this way I would learn it way faster for sure.

Also because I could not read the McMenu I choose one which is most formiliar to me and I though over the world would be the same the McChicken and what was I wrong about that. The McChicken was super spicy, luckly I did not drank up my Coke yet.

1968 Firebird / Vectorized

Pontiac 1968 Firebird made in vectors in Illustrators time used is 6 hours no gradient mesh used only standard radial and linear gradients. I first made the gray version and later changed the colors to yellow, red, blue and black. I made this for a client and this vector art will be a part of a tshirt design however the shirt is still in judging and I am not just sharing the vectorized Firebird.

Actually allot of poster design and product are often vectorized now so they can be printed in high resolution compared to a design which is made in Photoshop in a bitmap format. If you would big a big 3 meter by 2 meter banner or poster you have to work with 72dpi or 100dpi otherwise you would be working with a insane big sized file which could be as big as 1 gig if you would work at that size on 300dpi.

However Vectors can be resize to any extend even the size of a building without losing any details and also keeping very sharp lines. However vectorizig a picture cost allot because even this car took me 6 hours to put together and would be multiplied with the hour rate the designer is working on, this vector image would have cost about 300 to 400 euro.

Another great thing is that vectorized object are easy to manipulate in colors then bitmap. If you used photoshop changing colors of things it often is not 100 correct and often have parts that is not that great. With vector you can choose every part and alter the way you want. You can see the outline version left that way you can see how I had drawn this car. You can click the picture and see the orginal size on Flickr.

Dragon Fruit

Here is something special a Dragon fruit a certain fruit which actually grown and cactus like plants. I bought two of them and it cost me 18,40 HK Dollar about 0,92 euro which is not that really expensive.

I really love this fruit, you rarely find it in Europe they are sold on certain market places but you have to look for them because only some sell them and they are not sold through the whole year. But here in China it is different, I just walk in a Mega store and a big pile of this is lying there for me to pick few up.

What I saw most of them has started to wrinkle a bit on the bottom not sure if they are ripe that way or way too ripe, but I choose the ones which still have a good smooth surface.

What is interesting is that this fruit taste kinda like a kiwi but is super sweet and not sour. Also inside it has tons of black seeds like a kiwi however the flesh is white but does have an almost same texture like a kiwi. But is not that hairy like an kiwi.

This is how it looks inside you can actually peel the skin off like an orange, however splitting it I would advice to use a knife. Also Dragon Fruits are very healthy and have allot of healthy vitamins in it. It is great to mix up with different fruit salads or even normal salads, or just eat is as it is. You can also find this fruit in another color here you see the normal one which is magenta, but there are also a blue version with a different colors flesh.

Rice box / Review

Here in China and Hong Kong the Rice boxes are fairly different compared to when you order Chinese food in America or in Europe. Here in China you get a plastic foam box which have two sections one is the rice and the other is the meal. While in America you have the well known cardboard type boxes and in Europe you get a kind of Tupperware boxes. It's just something easy fast to order bit like pizza but more on the healthy side because you can choose different veggies dinners or meals. These boxes are made for 1 person to eat however they are fairly big though for me I feel it is more for two persons.

However the foam is not that environmentally friendly compared as does not decompose that easily, while actually in China they are going to use a law of not giving free plastic bags anymore for a better sustainable China. I think it should be better if they would use cardboard packagings somewhat like Mc Donalds hamburger packagings. But the Chinese meals often have more moisture and sauce which might leak throught the cardboard, however nowadays you have good cardboard treated with a special substance so it does not leak. Like cardboard milkpackagings. Maybe if I got time I should look into a cardboard rice box which fit more of the Chinese standards.

Coca Cola Vanilla / Review

Atleast I think this taste is Vanilla, at the moment I am reporting from China Shenzen and really when you were in Hong Kong you can still read English on any label, when you just cross the border to Lo Wu and go into Shenzhen everything is in Chinese. Even the most known products are lost most of the English discription on them.

Here I have an Coca Cola bottle and you can see it does not have the Coca Cola logo we all across the world know but a Chinese written one. Only the nutrition and the copywrite are in English on the labels so if you don't know Chinese and you have certain food allergies you have to look out or ask people what it contains.

I said I think it is Vanilla because I can't read Chinese but the beige cap and taste are the same like the European version, but I have never seen that flower before. However I can recognize there are some vanilla sticks growing on the side of the flower. However the design here looks much better then in Eurpe a much more expensive label print, it actually have little bubbles printed with 3d hologram inks. When you move or rotate the bottle you can see them relfect the light in a certain way.

Actually the designs are not that bad here, however might not be designed in China but somewhere else, but they are sold in China and allot people here do like designs more compared to the Netherlands. It is kind of the opposite compared to Netherlands. In the Netherland we got allot of top designer but people don't care about the designs, in China they have poor or less good designers but people appreciate good designs more.

Pleasant Fruit / Review

Pleasant fruit drink are bit of grapes flavored drinks however cause I am now in Asia the taste of the drink are very artificial and does not taste anything like real berries or grapes. However the drink is pretty much doable and drinkable.

Both drink the artificial grapes flavor are pretty strong and the added fruit lemon or cranberries are bit lost or taste them very faintly. The packaging design is actually not that bad actually am feeling that almost that European design are bit lacking compared to Asia. However the thing at the moment that is not fitting is that they mixed Chinese with English if it was one side full English and the other is Chinese it would have been much better and the design would have been much cleaner with less things making it even less busy.

CU vocal

Working in Hong Kong is pretty interesting however I have not learned the full writing skills when I was little I still lack reading allot of Chinese text. However I found a website CU Vocal where you could actually paste the text and it will read it up for you, cause can speak and listen still solved allot for me and making it easy to under stand the text. However some people do write things in a kind of peom style making it even harder to listen to what they actually want to say. But in time listening and seeing the text being read, I could easily learn to read Chinese and maybe even type it too. However writing might be bit harder then typing it, cause typing I just have to type in the sound in english and it will give me few option to choose the word from bit like T9 on a mobile phone. However that is another program.

So if you know how to speak and listen too Cantonese but not write got CU Vocal and paste the text you want to read and it will read it up for you.

SCA Packaging Entry Selftray

The Selftray design is to replace the normal plastic trays inside cookies or various snacks packaging with a cardboard one. This cardboard tray actually uses a special fold to be created and uses non to a low a low amount of glue, depending on a certain design and airtightness. The design is aimed for a more sustainable packaging by using less materials and also replacing plastics with cardboards.

Watch the video and see the tray and how it works.

As you can see the tray can easily unfold and to become one single tray and fold back to a 3 compartment tray. This is for easier to get the cookies out so you have openings between the cookies to make more space to grab the cookies.

The contest seem to be more aimed for the more better chocolate then the actually better packaging design. However this concept is still very useable and could be applied for many cookies packaging and save materials/money and help for a better environment.

So if you are interested in buying this design and the templates from me please contact met on contact @ chungdha.com or go to the contact section and fill in the contact form to email me.

Nestea Lemon Aloe Vera / Review

Actually I found there are not that muc Nestea stuffs when I went to seven eleven however they are all masked full with Chinese lettering only place you can actually see it is Nestea is the logo and the normal english logo on the cap.

Nestea Lemon Aloe vera tea is not that bad but te bits of Aloe Vera feels kind a big but however it is not a bad drink but mostly lemon tea. Finally see some bigger world wide brands also trying out Aloe Vera because that is pretty big in Asia. Also notice really allot and allot of healthy drink will take a while for me to run through all the drink will be doing a daily report with the drinks.

The worst thing about this drink is the bottle not the graphics but te shape of the bottle really the most ugliest bottle shape design I have ever seen. The ugly part is that there is and odd bottom part added. If you cut away the bottom it would look much better it seem they want a bigger bottle and added a part instead of really designing a good looking new big bottle.

Dog selling mags

Here is a pretty funny photo I took in HK Tai Po a dog selling magazines, however he is just guarding it because behind the dog there is a person who is selling things. However it is pretty interesting and funny sight when you walk pas this small magazine shop and seeing a dog instead of a person.

DIY Ringflash

For people who don't know what a ring flash is, I will briefly explain what it does. A ring flash actually is a flash that is a ring around your lens it makes a more perfect flash then having a single top flash. Mainly when you use your standard flash your lighting will be from a certain angle because it is placed on top of your camera. When the flash is in the middle by using a flash ring your lighting will be more centered also creating less angled lightings. Also it does make the shadow less dense and hard.

Here above is a picture taken without a ring flash it make a very hard dark shadow and light is coming from above te camera. Also it have part where the flash is bit too bright.

Here is the same shot with same setting but with a ring flash. You can see the picture is a bit darker but if the setting is changes it could have the same light level as the other picture. But you can see several different like you have a less dense shadow with less or no hard edged shadows. The plastic also is different you see more details with in the plastic.

I made this ringflash template here above for my Canon 1000D you can download it by clicking the image and then use rightclick to save the image. The ringflash uses your standard flash light from normal camera. This ringflash should fit also other Canon camera's with the same dimensions of the canon 1000D. The template uses a slot system to put it together so you can also disassamble it so it is easier to place it in your bag, however you can past it together to have a solid version instead. I recommend to use a hard white cardboard to put this together or use pvc sheets you can buy at different art supply store. However PVC sheets are hard to glue but is more for the version that you can easier assemble and disassemble. Also white seem to be working the best for reflecting te light correct I used chrome vinyl on one of my prototypes to relect the lighting but te there was so little light diffused to be making a ring flash work, while while white works much better.

The template need to be printed on an A3 or you need to use photoshop to slice it in 2 pieces so you van print it on 2 A4 sheets and put them together and place it over on to a hard cardboard to make this ring flash.

Here is an updated version plus instructions how to put it together.

Moon from Hong Kong

This is the moon taken from Hong Kong, I got a pretty good shot from the village with my Canon 1000D. You can see the craters very good where there are impacts. A thing is that is the one I took in the Netherlands is that the moon always was facing the same side and every shot on different days got the same look. But here the moon is showing the same side here in HK however it this shot is bit upside down. Also I found that the camera shake allot even when it is placed on te tripod, however I used a 10 sec countdown and just after 9sec the shake is almost gone. Also used 100 ISO and pretty fast shutter time about 1/125 cause anything slower the moon is just a white circle and you don't see the details on it.

HK island by boat to Wan Chai

Yesterday we went to HK harbour and went with the boat to the other side to do some business with getting form and filling them to get an HK id. It was pretty easy to get to the harbour though and also the boat ride was pretty nice. But it was actually pretty misty to be able to get some pretty pictures of the buildings on the other side.

However still get a kind of mysterious looking skyline of HK island with this picture.

At Wan Chai we went asking about if is was possible to get an id card but first one of the people behind the counter said no, you need to be younger then 18. Then went to the forms counter and asked there and they said yes it is possible, and also got te correct from I found on the internet that I needed to get a HK id. So we got the forms and filled them with the needed info and made copies of them and delivered them to the final counter.

So now the process is in the begin to get my HK id, they will be reviewing if I can get a HK id and will take few months till they would say a yes or no. However the chance is very slim cause of not having my fathers birth certificate, but however I still have anoter document which says that he is born in HK and raised there. So fingers crossed cause it would be muc easier for me to have a HK id then having to get a work visa.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Tsim Sha Tsui is very pretty place to go to and really one of the several places you need to go to when you visit Hong Kong for shopping and viewing the harbor and especially at night. Viewing the light and the buildings from the other side of te harbor.

Also this time in te harbor there are also allot of cruiseships and also allot of interesting things to photograph. After making some picture at the harbor we went with the bus to Mong Kok and also gave a pretty interesting views to make photographs of.

We sat on the top of the bus and I tried to get some interesting picutres of the neon and the traffics. These very intersting picture were made with my mobile phone I never exspected the quality would be this high and good. The best thing is that I can alter the light setting making it possible to choose a better color option with less noise and have better lighting, because the standard setting it much to bright.

Coca Cola glass bottle/ Review

Coca Cola glass bottle is not someting you see regularly today because it is replaced by plastics, which can be easily be remelted to new bottles. However the glass bottles still exist at some restaurant and bars which does not have a system for the beverages or uses bit few liter bottles to pour into a cup. I love the direct print onto the bottle just love the simplistic design without having an label just a direct offset print or silkscreen over te glass. I wish they would do this on the normal bottles too, but I am not sure if it is more expensive then using a label though. One thing you can see the bottle had been re used allot is that you see the glass have white places which are made by scratching against other bottles.