Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum as you get to its front entrance.

Another worth visit in London is to Natural History Museum, located in South Kensington. Not only housed a huge collection of specimens, this museum also collaborated in many scientific research, especially related to nature and conservation. Located on Exhibition Road, next to two other popular museums (Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, Natural History Museum lure its own unique visitors from all around the world.

Natural History Museum previously was known as British Museum (Natural History) until 1992. Even though the legal separation from the British Museum was happening earlier in 1963. That’s part of the story of the Natural History Museum, even though, as we know the beautiful Alfred Waterhouse building was opened in 1881 - and the museum keeps on expanding its collections together with its roles in educating the public and research.

The gigantic blue whale skeleton at the Hintze Hall.

This moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) was identified by Richard Owen only by its single fragment of bone (before it was completed).

There are many reasons why people are attracted to this museum, especially if they watched the documentaries by the BBC or National Geographic. More than that, educator and students also need to see by themselves all the specimens on display in order to understand more about the nature (especially when it comes to dinosaurs and specimens outside of their geographical areas).

Here at this museum, everyone is dedicated to give their best in their field start from its first Superintendent in 1856 the palaeontologist Richard Owen. Richard Owen was known to be very detailed in identifying all the specimens to make sure it is original. From there the Natural History Museum keeps on expanding its function and change the way we look at the museum.

Giant gold nugget.

The mineral collections from the Earth Hall.

The best experience starts soon after you see this magnificent museum’s building. Rather than just huge, it is carefully designed with beautiful façade and animal sculptures will make you astonished. If you can, make sure you visit this museum during the weekdays, as during the weekend or public holidays it will be long queues of people from all around the world. But that’s not all, there are many other surprises of the building’s architectures that will amaze you before you even see any of its exhibits.

Since its establishment in 1881 until today, this museum specimen now comprising of some 80 million items with five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. Only some of these specimens will be shown in its exhibitions, while most of the specimen being kept for conservation and research purposes. If you are lucky, you might be able to see some of them if there’s any special exhibitions during your visit.

Life size blue whale replica at the Mammal Hall. 

Other mammal replicas in the same hall.

Same as the previous visit to Kew Gardens, it is important for you to make sure what is the main things you want to see in this museum? One day visit won’t be enough for you to explore the whole collections displayed on their exhibition halls; unless you just wandering around without any attention to the collections.

You can check their floor plan in advance and at the same time, check the interior of the museum through Google Maps to get an idea which is where - so it will help you to decide which areas is more important. You also need to check their website for more details about the current exhibitions (as sometimes there will be additional information regarding closure of exhibitions too).

The dinosaur is one of the important specimens here.

Skeleton of Triceratops horridus at the dinosaur area.

I need to visit this museum twice when I visited London recently (first visit was two hours and the second visit was around four hours: still I missed few areas). As I need to speed up my observations, I took as many photos as I can for future reference (and I put it in the fanpage album so we all can see it). The light condition in the museum also is too dim, so taking photos is a little bit tricky!

There are many things happening around here at the Natural History Museum. Not all of it you can see during your visit, the details of these activities are posted on their website. You might want to see about the usage of new technologies in order to unravel many things that we still don’t know about the nature. Then, with the latest technologies too, the information will be shared with the public - you need to check the 3D skeleton ofthe blue whale.

There are many other interesting information available on their website, where you also can become a member to get membership benefits. If you are interested in nature and sciences, Natural History Museum is one of the place you should visit. I hope I have shared some important information here and the rest is up to you. If you have any question or information to share, don’t hesitate to share it at the comments section below or email it to me at wikipelajar(add)gmail(dot)com.

Wonderful World of Botanical at Kew Gardens, UK

The entrance at the Victoria Gate.

Recently we (Myrokan blog) had this opportunity to visit the world most renowned botanical garden that also known as Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Gardens is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world that also played many important roles in introducing specimens of plant and trees to many other countries such as rubber and tea. Kew Gardens not only keep living specimens of plants, but also dried specimens, seeds and DNA, libraries, illustrations and many other records related to plants. That’s what makes Kew Gardens one of the most important places that we visited in London.

Kew Garden founded in 1840 in the area that originally was the exotic garden at Kew Park. That park itself had been enlarged several times with the merging of the royal estates of Richmond and Kew in 1772. Within this area many garden structures had been built and some of them still remain until today.

The pond right in front of the Museum no 1.

The temperate house just been reopened two days earlier.

Well, there are so many things happened back there, but here we want to see other important things that we still can see at Kew Gardens and other activities related to it - that will give benefits to us and the future generations. Even though they have only taken care of plants, but the further study of these plants is actually for human benefits such as for agriculture, medicine, farming, cloning, seed bank, references, cataloguing and you can check more on their website – included at the end of this article.

Knowing more about Kew Gardens is important before you plan to visit it (well, no one can ever visit the whole of the areas within one day – so you must know which areas that important to you, or you can visit it several times). Maybe the best way to do it by asking these few questions;

• Are you just want to see the plants in Kew Gardens?
• Are you interested to know how Kew Gardens keep the specimens of the plants and trees?
• Are you interested to know the history of Kew Gardens and their buildings (such as their glass houses, their garden structures, bridges, canopy walk, cottage, palaces and many other buildings in Kew Gardens)?
• Are you interested to know more about the activities conducted here in Kew Gardens?
• Are you interested to participate in activities conducted by Kew Gardens (exhibitions or scientific activities) in their vicinity or online?
• Where you can find the map of the whole area?
• How you are going to explore the area?
• Time of opening, as the time will change according to the seasons.
• How you can contact Kew Gardens in order to get more information in case you need some help?

The Palm House another important glass house with huge size.

The tropical plants and trees can live vigorously inside this glass house.

It might hard for us to see this plant in their own natural habitat.

There are many other questions you can ask during the preparation to visit Kew Gardens. By identifying your priorities you will save lots of time and you will know exactly where to look at during your visit. Even though I managed to see what I want during my visit, I still missed a few things - I think I could improve it if I plan it properly. The other reason is, there are too many things to see.

The best thing was, during my visit the Temperate House has just reopened two days earlier. I also joined the tour guide that explaining more details about the history, the process of restoration that cost around £41 million and take a look at the Temperate House itself. It was closed for the past 5 years for the restoration process. There are many interesting things about this building that we should talk about it separately – hopefully I will get a chance to do it.

The Temperate House not only important for its functions but also for its architecture.

The plants and trees had been relocated back into the Temperate House.

Kew Palace, another important building in Kew Gardens.

Flowers of plant at the Queen’s Garden.

Flowers of plant at the Queen’s Garden.

There are few more glass houses in Kew Gardens includes Palm House, Waterlilly House, Princess of Wales Conservatory and Davies Alpine House. All of the glass houses, housing different types of plants - so please try not to miss it. You can use optional transports in the gardens either bicycle or electric train to help you travelling around. I used the electric train and still I missed few!

Here in this article I shared a few photos during my visit. If you want to see more photos you can visit our fanpage where I posted more photos. I hope it will help others who unable to visit to Kew yet to see how it look like and to get the general ideas of what Kew Gardens is.

The Princess of Wales Conservatory glass house.

Orchids of tropical planted in this glass house.

Another beautiful tropical plant’s flower.

Another beautiful view of the pillar’s covered with tropical plants.

You can see different types of plants in the same glass house.

Carnivorous plant specimens, is one of important plants that I want to see here in Kew Gardens.

Besides visiting Kew Gardens physically, you still can learn more about it or get involved with their activities online. Check their websites to learn more about their activities. You can easily get in touch with them to know more about any activities that you can get involved with. So this is the link to Kew Gardens’ website.

There are many other things I would like to share about the details in each area of Kew Gardens, perhaps I can do it soon. Before that, you can ask me if there is any question - don’t forget to see the photos that I posted on my fanpage to get more ideas about Kew Gardens.

Servis Fotografi Oleh Ibbyphotography

Mengambil gambar memang suatu perkara yang menarik dan digemari ramai. Namun sekiranya anda mengupah orang lain untuk mengambil gambar anda, tentu anda mempunyai ekspektasi yang berbeza daripada jurugambar tersebut. Tidak kurang ada juga yang takut untuk mengambil gambar kerana kurang berkeyakinan atau bimbang mendapat komen yang negatif daripada orang lain.

Gambar menjadi satu elemen penting dalam kehidupan kita hari ini. Malah dalam perniagaan, gambar merupakan salah satu medium penting untuk tujuan pemasaran dan memberikan maklumat penting tentang sesuatu produk atau informasi. Tidak hairanlah kalau ada yang berkata "a picture is worth a thousand words". Ini kerana gambar boleh menyimpan seribu-satu cerita disebalik sesuatu peristiwa yang diabadikan di dalam gambar tersebut.

Teknologi Fotografi

Dalam dunia digital hari ini, teknologi fotografi juga tidak ketinggalan dalam menerima kesan daripadanya. Teknologi foto digital membawa banyak kesan positif pada dunia fotografi - terutama dalam penjimatan kos untuk hasil yang lebih baik berbanding teknologi foto menggunakan filem yang mungkin sukar untuk diceburi oleh sesetengah golongan.

Sehubungan itu teknologi digital sememangnya digunakan sepenuhnya dalam penghasilan setiap gambar oleh Ibbyphotography dalam memberikan hasil yang optimum. Ini kerana dalam penghasilan sesuatu gambar kesan cahaya tidak dapat diambil sepenuhnya oleh sesebuah kamera dan ia perlu melalui proses - pembetulan warna (color correction) yang rumit bagi menghasilkan gambar yang benar-benar hidup. Perasankah anda gambar yang anda ambil adakalanya kelihatan kekuningan, kebiruan, agak kelabu dan sebagainya? Ya, terdapat kekurangan di mana-mana.

Kreativiti Adalah Segalanya

Setiap gambar adalah hasil seni yang dihasilkan oleh seseorang jurugambar, editor gambar tersebut dan juga medium yang digunakan untuk memaparkan hasil akhir gambar tersebut. Maka tidak hairanlah mengapa photo-studio mengenakan charge yang tinggi untuk sesuatu gambar dengan kualiti seperti ini dan ianya tidak boleh diakses oleh semua pelanggan biasa.

Segalanya bermula daripada proses mengambil gambar oleh seseorang jurugambar yang perlu menitik beratkan tentang pencahayaan, komposisi gambar dan kesesuaian model yang diambil. Adakalanya agak sukar mengambil gambar apabila model/pengantin kelihatan janggal. Di sinilah seseorang jurugambar perlu lebih kreatif untuk mengambil peluang masa yang sesuai untuk mendapatkan gambar yang natural tetapi menarik.

Perkara ini mungkin berlaku tanpa anda sedari.

Proses editing pula menekankan lebih kepada hasil akhir yang ingin ditampilkan - ini kerana gambar yang akan dicetak memerlukan editing yang berbeza berbanding gambar yang akan hanya dipaparkan di skrin komputer. Sekiranya anda pernah mengalami keadaan ini! Gambar yang dicetak kelihatan lebih gelap berbanding hasil yang dilihat di skrin kamera/komputer? Jangan di deletekan gambar tersebut, kerana ianya masih boleh diperbaiki. Melalui proses gamma-correction gambar anda akan dihasilkan sama seperti yang terpapar di komputer.

Editing juga perlu menekankan sesuatu tema untuk keseragaman keseluruhan gambar atau pecahan-pecahan yang sesuai. Adakalanya proses editing ini bergantung rapat kepada hasil yang diambil oleh jurugambar sendiri - jurugambar memikirkan tema yang sesuai dari awal lagi. Penentuan tema ini penting bagi pelanggan yang ingin membuat Photo-book sebagai salah satu hasil sesi photography-nya. 

Kesesuaian Peralatan

Kemajuan teknologi digital mampu memberikan hasil yang memuaskan dan akalanya "less is more". Apa yang penting ada mempunyai kamera yang baik dan kemampuan memproses gambar untuk menampilkan kualiti yang diinginkan. Sememangnya terdapat batasan kemampuan pada peralatan anda, namun sekiranya anda tahu menyesuaikan kaedah penggunaan yang betul anda masih mampu memberikan hasil yang menakjubkan.

Gambar digital memerlukan sentuhan proses editing yang kritikal. Walaupun anda mampu mendapatkan gambar yang cukup baik daripada kamera anda, tetapi hasil yang memuaskan tetap perlu menjalani proses color correction. Namun ini semua bergantung kepada kreativiti jurugambar,editor  dan permintaan pelanggan juga.

Malah penggunaan peralatan inilah yang mempengaruhi harga servis yang akan dikenakan kepada anda. Apakah anda sanggup dikenakan charge yang lebih untuk hasil yang sama? Atau anda menghabiskan perbelanjaan yang tinggi untuk membeli peralatan ini - yang mungkin anda sendiri tidak pasti bagaimana menggunakannya?

Servis Photography

Perkahwinan

Semua orang mahu gambar mereka cantik seperti ini.

Servis gambar perkahwinan merupakan antara yang popular kerana adalah penting untuk anda mendapatkan servis professional untuk mengabadikan kenangan yang bersejarah dalam hidup anda. Ianya bergantung kepada majlis yang akan dilangsungkan - kebiasaannya 1~2 hari. Ini memerlukan jurukamera berada di sekitar tempat majlis diadakan bagi mendapatkan sebanyak mungkin gambar-gambar yang menarik semasa majlis berlansung. Bagi penghasilan photo-book pula setiap peristiwa cuba dirakamkan bagi mengabadikan saat-saat manis ini.

Pakej-pakej yang disediakan adalah menawarkan servis standard seperti pakej perkahwinan yang lain iaitu mengandungi photo album + gambar, gambar-gambar bersaiz A4 yang diedit dan pilihan-pilihan tambahan untuk photobook dan poster. Pelanggan juga boleh membuat permintaan tambahan sekiranya perlu.

Untuk maklumat lanjut anda boleh menghubungi fanpage Ibbyphotography.

*setiap pakej bolek dibincangkan mengikut kemahuan pelanggan.

Majlis

Adakalanya majlis seperti sambutan ulangtahun kelahiran, ulangtahun perkahwinan, pertunangan, majlis kesyukuran dan lain-lain juga sesuai untuk mendapatkan servis ini. Setiap peristiwa tentu lebih bermakna apabila dapat diabadikan dengan sempurna. Ya, mungkin anda akan terkenangkannya setelah 10 - 20 tahun nanti.

Potret/ Portrait

Potret yang baik kelihatan 'natural'

Bagi yang menceburi bidang perniagaan dan professional gambar ini amat penting dalam menampilkan diri dalam keadaan yang terbaik. Menampilkan diri anda dalam menonjolkan keperibadian diri bukanlah mudah untuk dilakukan oleh semua orang. Gambar yang cantik belum tentu menampilkan anda sebagai subjek yang ingin ditampilkan.

Dalam menghasilkan gambar potret yang berkualiti proses editing yang perlu dilakukan adalah serumit proses editing yang perlu dilakukan ke atas gambar-gambar yang lain seperti poster perkahwinan. Namun apa yang penting di sini, ia mampu menonjolkan keperibadian anda berbanding hanya sebuah gambar biasa.

Tentu anda tidak menyangka potret yang dihasilkan berbeza sekali dengan gambar biasa yang diambil menggunkan kamera atau telefon bimbit anda. Ini kerana penggunaan lens yang betul dan jarak jurufoto memainkan peranan. Di samping itu, menampilkan diri anda dalam keadaan yang lebih 'natural', adalah satu kemahiran yang perlu dilatih. 

Membaik pulih/ re-touch

Gambar yang dibaik pulih semula melalui proses re-touch.

Teringat gambar anda yang anda ambil dahulu - tetapi tidak berpuas hati dengan hasilnya? Ya, anda tidak boleh mengundurkan masa tetapi anda boleh memperbaiki hasil gambar tersebut. Hantarkan salinan asal (fail digital) gambar tersebut untuk menjalani proses membaik pulih.

Ini biasa terjadi kerana anda bukan sentiasa berpeluang mendapatkan servis daripada jurugambar yang sesuai. Apa yang penting, pastikan anda menyimpan salinan gambar-gambar tersebut untuk diperbaiki semula di kemudian hari.

Gambar yang menarik kelihatan hidup

Adakalanya mengembalikan nostalgia lama

Hubungi Ibbyphotography untuk sebarang pertanyaan lanjut mengenai servis atau khidmat nasihat yang anda perlukan berkaitan dengan gambar anda di page Ibbyphotography. Anda boleh melihat sendiri hasil gambar-gambar daripada Ibbyphotogrpahy yang diambil semasa majlis ataupun sampel-sampel gambar yang lain. Adakalanya anda memang perlu mendapatkan khidmat pakar untuk mendapat yang terbaik. Jangan sia-siakan peluang ini.

MyRokan adalah sebuah blog yang memaparkan artikel-artikel berbentuk informasi dan mempromosikan produk-produk tempatan. Untuk maklumat lanjut mengenai blog kami boleh mengikutinya dari post Hubungi Kami. Sertai kami juga lamanFacebook kami.