Christmas Tree, Raffles City

Raffles City is quite consistent: every year they have a Christmas tree at the street corner. The tree is  different, but it's always a tree.

I don't usually choose unusual angles when taking photos. Seems to draw attention to the photographer's technique instead of the subject. But in this case a normal street-level view didn't look good. It was plain and boring.

This upwards angle looked good, but I also wanted the Raffles City sign in. Both to balance the photo and to document the location of the tree. Had to walk around a bit to get the right position.

Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
At 25mm, f4, ISO 800, 1/15 seconds
Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light

For night shots like this, you usually set the aperture wide open, shutter speed to as low as you can safely handhold, then increase the ISO until the exposure looks good on the LCD playback.

Christmas Decorations, Mandarin Gallery

The red lanterns are the Christmas decorations. They are LED lights that change color. I waited for the colors to cycle through one complete sequence, and decided that red was the best. I also took a few "safety" shots of the other colors just in case.

This side of Orchard Road (Ngee Ann City, etc.) is more fun to walk along (and take photos) because the pedestrian walkway is wider, compared to the other (Lucky Plaza, etc.) side. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4, ISO 400, 1/60 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, sunlight (neutral) white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light, straighten, crop

The critical element in the photo is the red lanterns. So I exposed the photo for them, made them glow but not so much that the color was washed out.

This made the floor unattractively dark, so I increased the fill light later with Picasa on my PC. Fill light works great most of the time because it adjusts the mid brightness areas, but doesn't affect the very dark or very bright areas much; unlike the brightness or contrast adjustment in simpler photo editors.

Tangs Christmas Decoration

The sign is about 10 to 20 feet high and is on the front of the Tangs building.

It's good to see a bible quote used as a Christmas decoration. I'm not religious but I'm all for not losing sight of where Christmas comes from (yes I know, Christmas is not really from the bible, but still). 

The businessman who started Tangs was a staunch Christian. Tangs was well known for being one of the few shopping centres that did not open on Sunday. The policy was changed after his children took over the running of the business. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 38mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/4 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, warmify

Photo was taken with the camera on a tripod. With so much light, I could have boosted the ISO to 400, shutter speed to 1/15 seconds, and taken the photo handheld.

I set the color balance to incandescent because without it, the photo came out a stange-looking dark orange. But that corrected the color too much, made it colorless, so I used Picasa's warmify function to add back in some yellow.

Orchard Road Christmas Light-up 2011

The spiral decorations remind me of Tim Burton's movie, The Nightmare before Christmas.

I haven't bothered with photographing the Orchard Road light-up for years. Seemed too touristy and tacky. But I happened to be at Central and their Christmas display was pretty cool (see previous photo), so I thought I'd give the whole thing another go.

I think Singaporeans have gotten tired of images of Santa and reindeer too. Decorations are more abstract this year, which seems less tacky to me. 

The 2012 Light Up is at
http://sgsnaps.blogspot.sg/2012/12/orchard-road-christmas-light-up-2012.html

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f5.6, ISO 800, 1/60 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, sunny (neutral) white balance
• Picasa: Straighten

For most night scenes, setting incandescent (tungsten) white balance works best. It's like putting a blue filter over the lens, to counteract the too-yellow light in most night scenes.

The lights here are blue and are bright enough to neutralize a lot of the yellow light (from the sodium streetlights). I tried setting incandescent white balance and the photo looked artificially blue.

For this kind of photo, you want to collapse the overhead lights together to get a solid mass of them. This means zooming in with a telephoto focal length. Natural reaction is to place the cars in the center of the photo. You need to force yourself to tilt the camera up, so that you don't get a lot of boring empty road in the foreground of the photo.

Didn't need 1/60 seconds. Could have gone down to 1/30 seconds and ISO 400 (maybe blurred the cars a bit, but less ISO noise), but this is fine anyway.

Exposure is done by checking the LCD playback. You want to have some light from the cars and road, but without over-exposing the lights until they lose their color. In the old film days I would have metered off the road.

Christmas Display, Central (Clarke Quay)

No Santa or tree. One of the classier Christmas decorations in town. Central is the name of a shopping center at the start of Clarke Quay. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/45 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering
• Picasa: Auto contrast

Technically simple shot. Even at ISO 100 there was enough light to stop down to f8 for depth of field and image quality (many lenses are sharpest at around f5.6 to f8).

Toa Payoh Aerial View, Night

View from one of the new 40-storey HDB apartment blocks.

The tall building on the left looks like a private apartment block (the white rectangular strip near the bottom is a swimming pool). The rest of the buildings are mainly HDB government housing. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 8 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast.

Photo taken with a tripod.

I was with a few other photographers and one of them saw my photo on the camera's LCD display. He was surprised because it looked like HDR (high dynamic range - combining a few photos, taken at different exposures, together on the PC to get a wider exposure range). It's due to Nikon's Active D Lighting setting. I set it on High all the time. Makes a big difference for photos like this. Without it, the walls of most of the buildings would be almost black, the sky too.  

Pasir Panjang Container Port Terminal

The port is run by PSA (Port of Singapore Authority). The port is huge, stretching for a lot further than what you can see here. It is near Sentosa and Vivocity. This view is from Haw Par Villa.

Photos of scenery are usually not technically demanding. You have time to take the shot and there are no fast-moving objects or fleeting expressions to capture. Though sometimes you have problems with high contrast. 

Getting good scenery photos is mainly being in the right place, and being able to recognize a good shot when you see one, even if it is just a small spot in the distance. This is why a telephoto lens is, surprisingly, useful for landscape photography. You can zoom in to interesting scenes in the distance. 

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6 
• At 240mm, f8.6, ISO 800, 1/4000 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast.

Shutter speed is too high. I was chatting with a friend at the time, wasn't paying attention to the settings. Should have used lower ISO and stepped down the aperture a bit. Photo turned out okay anyway.

Official Graffiti, 222 Queen Street

Along the side alley. This one is new, wasn't there a few months ago. I'm seeing more and more official graffiti around town, which is fun. Cars are usually a pain, spoiling the view, but this car and motorcycle add interest to the photo. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast.

Bright outdoor photo, lots of night. Flat subject, no need to worry about depth of field. Medium toned (not too white, not too black), no need to worry about exposure compensation. Technically simple shot, set everything on auto. 

NTUC Income Kite Festival

I don't know why NTUC Income, an insurance company, organizes a kite festival; but I couldn't resist the chance of taking photos of colorful kites in front of the iconic Marina Bay Sands.

The festival itself is on the Marina Promenade, which is across the bay, a few hundred meters from the Marina Bay Sands. The main area shown here is for the general public. Another area is for invited, professional, kite flyers. 

I was interviewed by a local journalist, who was going around asking people why they were there. I told her that I just came to take photos. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f4-5.6 
• At 30mm, f16, ISO 400, 1/250 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: No editing 

Manual exposure because the sky was back-lit by the sky, f16 for depth of field, ISO 400 to allow f16 and is pretty much my default ISO for outdoor daylight.

It's difficult to get a nice mass of kites in a photo. They just have to fly up a bit and they are too small to be interesting. You also can't get too many kites in one place because the lines will get tangled up.

Night Festival

Organized by the National Museum with some involvement from SMU (Singapore Management University) and SOTA (School of the Arts). This is the crowd watching the live concert on the SMU campus. Green pattern on the floor is from a projector. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f4-5.6 
• At 18mm, f3.5, ISO 6400, 1/45 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: No editing 

Could have gone down to ISO 1600 or 3200 but I wanted to test the ISO 6400. I usually use manual exposure for night shots due to the uneven lighting, but this scene was relatively evenly lit and I was confident that auto would work.

Istana Grounds

The Istana ("palace" in Malay) is the official residence of the President of Singapore. It is located at the end of Orchard Road, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. The grounds and part of the main building are open to the public on most public holidays. 

This is the view looking back towards the main gate, and Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. Plaza Singapura is out of sight, hidden behind the trees on the left. The grounds are huge, this is less than half of it. Note the blue shade at the bottom left. That's for the policeman standing guard.

Photo was taken during the recent Hari Raya public holiday.  This is at about 10am. There were a lot more people later.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/350 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, -1 exposure compensation, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

I don't usually use exposure compensation, but the camera consistently over-exposes when metering grass or trees. 

The couple on the right is important for adding balance and interest to the photo. The rest of the people are too small to be interesting.

Concert at Fort Canning Green

Government-sponsored rock concert, Orange Ribbon Campaign (for racial harmony), featuring various local acts.

It's the colored tents at the back that make the photo work. The tents were snack food stalls. I was only there for a few minutes. The lady was singing a slow version of Billy Jean. You can just make her out on the stage with her guitar.   

Fort Canning Green is right behind the National Museum. It is administered by National Parks ( http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=16&Itemid=73 ).

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f3.5, ISO 3200, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Crop

For dark scenes like this, set to wide-angle to reduce apparent camera-shake and to get maximum aperture from the lens. Shutter speed was set to 1/15 seconds as this is about slowest I can hand-hold safely (1/8 seconds sometimes works but less reliably). Increased ISO until exposure was correct, checking against the playback on the LCD screen.  

Underside of Esplanade Bridge

I don't know what caused the streaks on the concrete. Makes it look like natural rock, not industrial concrete. It's not sunlight reflecting off the water, because it doesn't move. 

I was quite pleased with this photo, thinking that most people wouldn't have noticed such a simple but beautiful image. Then I saw a friend who had just started in photography, take the exact same shot.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f11, ISO 400, 1/30 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast

Zoomed all the way in to collapse the pillars together. Set f11 for depth of field.

School Band at One Fullerton

Not sure which school these kids are from. There were maybe five to ten different school bands on this Saturday afternoon. At least two played Smoke on the Water. 

This is only a few meters from the Merlion. Marina Bay Sands is in the background. Most of the bay is blocked by the Singapore River Cruise booth.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 25mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/1500 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, fill light, auto contrast, color temperature. 

Should have stopped down the aperture a bit for more depth of field, but there's still lots of depth of field at f5.6 at 25mm. Adjusted color temperature to make the yellow sunset (5:45pm) reflecting off the hotel windows, more noticeable.

Articulated Bus

Also called a Bendy or Flex bus, these are high-capacity alternatives to double decker buses. Not as cool, unfortunately.

The advertisement "Majulah! The Singapore Spirit" is the theme for the 2011 National Day Parade, which is held on Singapore's Independence Day on August 9th. "Maju" means progress in Malay. "Majulah" can be loosely translated as "go and progress." Which explains the use of "lah" in Singlish.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 21mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/45 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

I panned the camera, moving it to the right to follow the movement of the bus. This is why the trees and building in the background are blurred.

CHIJMES External Wall, Night

Outside of the popular CHIJMES (former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus) nightspot.  

I'm glad that they kept the convent walls, but didn't think that the outside would make an interesting photograph (the inside is much more photogenic, http://sgsnaps.blogspot.com/2011/05/fountain-court-chijmes.html ).

Then I happened to be passing by one day, on my my home via City Hall MRT station, when I noticed that the perspective of the receding walls would make an interesting photo. And then this girl walked by and beautifully balanced out the photo. 

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 3200, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Could have gone with a loser shutter speed and lower ISO, but I didn't have time to switch (was taking some photos at 105mm earlier, with stopped down aperture for depth of field).

Shaw Tower, Beach Road

Shaw Tower (managed by Shaw Towers Realty, don't know why it's plural, http://www.shawtowers.com/ ) is a shopping mall with an office tower block on top, a common design in 1970s buildings in Singapore. The blue block at the bottom is probably the car park. Not sure what the block above that is, maybe still the car park. The rather small mall is below, out of the photo.

I used to go watch movies there, because the Prince and Jade theatres were less crowded than the theatres in Orchard. (You can almost make out the SB Shaw Brothers logo at the top of the office tower, and at the bottom left, on the yellow block.) Then they started screening Bollywood movies.

The local Qi Ji cafe franchise ( http://www.qiji.com.sg/ ) started here (after starting off as Hock Heng in Funan Centre), first in the foodcourt in the rear of the building (which is now a Chinese Restaurant), then in their own cafe in the front of the building, which is still there. Good Nasi Lemak, but I think they are more proud of their popiah.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: No editing

A beautiful blue-sky day, with the setting sun (6:20pm) giving a warm glow to the white office block. I see the building quite often, but only felt like taking a photo of it on this day.  

Exposure is easy: even brightness, lots of light. Just set everything to auto.

Malayan Railway Bridge Near Bukit Timah

After the agreement between Singapore and Malaysia to move the Tanjong Pagar train station to Woodlands, and the handing over of the freed-up railway land to Singapore, the tracks were open to the public for two weeks to walk on.

After which the tracks would be off limits, and construction crews would tear up the rail tracks. As you can see, there were lots of people taking a first and last close-up look of the tracks. 

The URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) plans to keep the rail corridor
( http://www.ura.gov.sg/railcorridor/ ) in a natural state, as a "park connector."

Malayan Railway (KTM, Keretapi Tanah Melayu) operates the railway between Malaysia and Singapore.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 40mm, f27, ISO 400, 1/125 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Aperture is too small, accidentally bumped the dial without realizing it. Was aiming for f11.

RSAF, Republic of Singapore Air Force, F16 Shoulder Patch

Photo was taken during the RSAF Open Day at Paya Lebar ("wide swamp" in Malay) air base. I'm guessing that this is an F16 pilot, talking to his friends and family after the air display. Looks like the patch is fixed on using velcro, you can see some velcro peeking out on the bottom right. "Fighting Falcon" is the standard US name for the F16, not the RSAF squadron's name.

"Singapura" (malay for Singapore) is sewn onto the top shoulder. Malay is used for many official military functions, but most Singaporeans don't really understand much. One army guy told me that he gave parade drill instructions in Malay: "Squad, bertelur-telur." Which actually means, Squad go and lay eggs. I'm not making this up.

• Nikon D7000, 70-210mm f4-5.6
• At 210mm, f16, ISO 1600, 1/500 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

High ISO and small aperture are carry-overs from photographing the air show, not optimized for this particular photo. Photo was taken from about 20 feet away, at maximum focal length, to avoid disturbing the guy.

Atrium, Resorts World Sentosa

This atrium is located next to the Festive Hotel. It has a kind of Baroque, European look. Not much of a story here, just a pretty picture. 

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4, ISO 100, 1/350 seconds
• Apeture priority, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Had to do an exposure-lock on the floor to get the correct exposure. Reflection of the sun on the glass windows outside, caused the camera to under-expose.

Urban Sketchers, Tiong Bahru

Urban Sketchers ( http://www.urbansketchers.org/ ) is an international non-profit organization, "dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel."

There are urban sketchers in London, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco, Lisbon, Singapore and Seoul. This photo is of a free expedition, open to the general public, at Tiong Bahru. It's a back alley, amongst low-rise residences built by the old Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Improvement_Trust ).

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Telephoto perspective was used to compress the spread-out group of people, allowing more people to be captured, without making individuals too small to be interesting. The photo covers about 20 to 30 feet from left to right, you can see the backdoors of 4 residences in the wall. 

Aerial View of Tiong Bahru

Tiong Bahru is a residential estate, considered prime real estate because of its proximity to the city center.

You can see Suntec City in the background on the left (Millenia Tower), Furama Hotel on the right (sloped, dark building), Singapore Flyer Ferris Wheel in the center. Pink, yellow and blue buildings are government HDB apartments.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 80mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Auto exposure would have worked but I was already at manual because another scene was backlit by the sky, so I already had the correct exposure dialed in. Stopped down a bit to f8 for depth of field.

New Supreme Court Building

Opposite Funan Mall, along North Bridge Road, the new Supreme Court Building ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Singapore#Supreme_Court_Building ) came into operation in 2005.

I think of it as the UFO Building, but the saucer is supposed to be a "modern interpretation of the dome." Tall building in the left background is the Swissotel Stamford, which is right on top of City Hall MRT station. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast

Incandescent white balance is suitable for many night scenes, because of the yellow light from street lamps and interior building lights. In this case, it also helps deepen the blue of the evening sky (7:40pm).

It was quite dark at the time, the photo is exposed about 8 to 16 times (3 to 4 stops) brighter than the actual scene. I was just trying my luck, didn't expect the colors to come out so nicely, because it was so dark that I couldn't see the colors. 

Home Team Photo Competition Results

Winners of the Home Team (Ministry of Home Affairs) photo competition - Harmony in Diversity - have been announced. View a slideshow of the winning entries, on the Home Team web page.

http://www.hometeam.sg/article.aspx?news_sid=20110630a7aricPZafcm

Student Artwork, SOTA, School of the Arts

Samples of student art, along the external corridor of SOTA. This is along Prinsep Street, where members of the public pass by every day. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 1600, 1/45 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, fill light

Chose aperture priority to stop-down the aperture a bit to f5.6 for greater depth of field.

Official Graffiti, The Arts House

On a temporary wall surrounding a construction site, outside The Arts House ( http://www.theartshouse.com.sg/ ), near the Singapore River. The bird looks good in a suit, but he really needs to chill.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 22mm, f3.8, ISO 1600, 1/60 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Should have gone down to ISO 400, forcing the program exposure to 1/15 seconds, but was passing by and in a hurry to meet someone. Was at ISO 1600 because was previously taking photos of buildings in much lower light (it's 7pm). Didn't want to use auto ISO because Nikon's auto ISO doesn't take focal length into account (need to set higher shutter speed for longer focal lengths), and I was using a 6x zoom, not a prime lens. 

Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The SCCCI ( http://english.sccci.org.sg/ ) has been around since 1906, but I don't know when this current building was constructed. It's along Hill Street, near Funan and the City Hall MRT station. This is the front gate of the courtyard wall. Behind it is a driveway and the actual building.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 66mm, f5.3, ISO 400, 1/90 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Photo was taken from across the road, to avoid problems with wide-angle distortion. Had to wait a few minutes, dodging pedestrians and cars.

Singapore Conference Hall

The Singapore Conference Hall ( http://www.sch.org.sg/ ) was completed in 1965, making it as old as modern independent Singapore. It's now the home of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. It's at one end of Shenton Way, near the Tanjong Pagar MRT station.

Before the rise of Singapore as an international convention center (with Suntec City, Singapore Expo, Marina Bay Sands, Resorts World Sentosa), large halls weren't common. The Singapore Conference Hall was therefore used for events such as political conventions, university convocation ceremonies (for some large faculties); and probably still is due to its unique historical significance.

Similar to many other commercial properties, available outdoor space has been monetized with a cafe. The cafe is new, but I'm not sure how new since I haven't been to this area for many years. I think the place looks better with the cafe.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 25mm, f4.8, ISO 1600, 1/90 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows, straighten.

1/90 seconds is high for a wide-angle, stationary (no people) shot like this, especially with a VR stabilized lens. I could have reduced the ISO and gone down to 1/15 seconds. But ISO 1600 is plenty good on the D7000, and I was in a rush, just passing by.

It's 7:10 pm, so the daylight is nice and diffuse. And dark enough that the interior building lights can be seen.

Bumble Bee Water Taxi

Spotted near Clarke Quay. Operated by Duck & Hippo ( http://www.ducktours.com.sg/ ). This isn't a cruise or sightseeing tour boat. It's designed for daily commuting ( http://imcms2.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20100416/1604HNP012.pdf ). This means higher speed, and no tour guide. It has a fixed route, so it's more a bus than a taxi.

Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6

• At 66mm, f5.3, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light.

1/15 seconds is risky for a moving object like this. I was taking photos of scenery along the river, wasn't planning on photographing any boats, when this sleekly irresistible, brightly colored thing came along. Didn't have time to change the shutter speed. Panned the camera to reduce motion blur (you can see that the wall in the background is blurred out because of this). The len's VR image stabilization really works.

Sea Wall, East Coast Park

I don't know when these sea walls were built, hadn't noticed them before, could be years ago. (That's one of the benefits of taking photographs. It makes you more aware of your surroundings.) You see sea walls like this every few hundred meters. I'm guessing that they are there to stop the beach from being eroded by sea waves. You don't need to wall up the whole beach. A few spots here and there is effective.
 
The yellow "3" painted on the wall is of course, an official marking, not graffiti (this is Singapore). I'm guessing it's to help identify the wall, for maintenance workers to get their bearings.

There are lots of ships along the whole coast, every day, day and night, 365 x 24 x 7. Makes for a dramatic backdrop. The two boats nearer the beach, look like passenger ferries.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f16, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten

As in many other photos, having someone in the photo has a big impact on the viewer. Not posed, happened to see the girl sitting there as I was walking past, and grabbed the opportunity. 

Chose a long focal length, not only to zoom into the girl, but also to collapse the perspective and make the ships appear closer, relative to the girl. Yes, the camera does lie. Because of the long focal length, had to set a small aperture to get the ships and the wall in focus. 

One of the few situations where Picasa's auto contrast doesn't work well. Increases the contrast too much.

MAS Building and Springleaf Tower

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, MAS Building ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_Authority_of_Singapore ) is on the left. Springleaf Tower ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springleaf_Tower ) is on the right. Near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station. 

I don't why but when I'm in the area, the sky is more-often-than-not blue, which is unusual for Singapore. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 30mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows, straighten.

Scene was backlit by the sky, turned out under-exposed on my first attempt, so I pointed the camera down and did an exposure-lock on the trees. But this caused a bit of over-exposure. Fixed it later in Picasa with Shadows tuning. 

It's difficult to take photos of high-rise buildings. If you zoom out too much, there's a lot of clutter on the ground. If you zoom in too much, the top of the building is chopped off. Or if you zoom into the top, it's boring because there's nothing else around.

Luckily managed to get this angle, with some trees to balance out the picture, and no ground clutter. 

Outside Corridor, Stamford House

Stamford House ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_House,_Singapore ) is near City Hall MRT. It was built in 1904 and has had a varied history. It recently housed shops, but they've now been vacated. I'm assuming that some major renovation is planned.

The two ladies at the end just happened to be there. They give a sense of scale to the photo, show how tall the ceiling is.

If you look at the ceiling, between the 2nd and 3rd lamp from the top, on the right, you can see a security camera. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f16, ISO 800, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows, straighten.

Zoomed in to 105mm to collapse the pillars together. Tilted the camera up to emphasize the ornate ceiling. Manual exposure because the strip of daylight at the end was throwing the exposure off. Set f16 because I needed the depth of field to get all the pillars in focus.

Official Graffiti, SCWO, Singapore Council of Women's Organisations

More a mural than street-style graffiti, this is on the front garden wall of the SCWO ( http://www.scwo.org.sg/ ). It's along Waterloo Street, near the Singapore Art Museum. You can see part of the building at the top right: an old colonial-style bungalow.  

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 400, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Normal approach to wall art: photograph from an angle to squeeze more of the length in. Also makes the photo more interesting, less flat.

Fishermen at Changi Point

These boats are delivering fish and crabs to the waiting pickup trucks at the top of the wall. A rope is used to haul a net basket up the wall. I'm guessing that these are delivery boats, not used to do the actual fishing. Note that all the boats have a license plate.

This is right next to the Changi Point Ferry Terminal (many people still use the old name: Changi Jetty). 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 62mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Exposure is easy. Lots of light, even brightness across the scene. Set everything to auto.

International Plaza, Anson Road, Night

International Plaza ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Plaza_%28Singapore%29 ) consists of a 43-storey office tower, and a lower podium with food and retail shops. (Food from the mixed rice stalls on the ground floor, is of above-average quality. They are small stalls and you sit at the counter, like in a bar.)

You can see the office tower in the background (not lit up with colored lights). It's not particularly striking in the day, but at night the podium lights up like a shopping mall along Orchard Road. The lights change color every few seconds.

Tanjong Pagar MRT Station is hidden behind the podium, on the right. Shenton Way is further down, also on the right, out of the photo.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4, ISO 6400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Even at ISO 6400, the image is clear. It's only the uniform blue sky at the top right, that shows noise. With today's DSLRs, you don't need a tripod for night photos, unless you're making large prints.

Yellow balls at the top is caused by lens flare - light from a streetlamp outside the photo, but still shining onto the lens and causing internal reflections.

Nikon Prime Lenses for DX Cropped DSLRs: 20mm to 135mm

So, you've studied the kit lens versus prime lens versus f2.8 zoom issue ( http://sgsnaps.blogspot.com/2011/06/nikon-kit-lens-versus-prime-versus-f28.html ) and have decided on a prime lens.

It's time to examine Nikon prime (non-zoom, large aperture) lenses, corresponding to the 18-135mm focal length range of many DX (1.5x crop) zoom lenses. The largest aperture lenses of each focal length, is considered. The f2.8 Micro Nikkors are not included. These are specialized macro lenses, with a smaller aperture.

If you're not sure as to which lens to get, the 35mm f1.8 is a low cost way to start. It's cheap, light, and a good compromise focal length.

Old Colonial Bungalow, Scotts Road

This old house is now commercial property, an SK-II (a cosmetics brand) Boutique Spa, run by Senze Salus ( http://www.senzesalus.com/outlets/scotts.html ).

The windows are glassed-up and the whole place air-conditioned, but you can still see the local-style architecture of a raised ground floor (note the meter-high pillars on the right, next to the car). I guess to isolate the floor from the damp ground, and creepy-crawlies.  Most Singaporeans now live in high-rise apartments. They are probably not aware of the number of small creatures that can crawl into a bungalow.

The main entrance is on the left, next to the tree, under the maroon canopy. There are some steps leading up from the ground.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 140, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture Priority, spot meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, shadows

Taken from across the road. Allows you to fit more in, without using a wide-angle lens, avoiding the distortion and perspective problems that come with using a wide-angle lens. Main drawback is that you spend some time dodging cars.

The center-weighted meter that I normally use was thrown-off by the backlit sky (mostly cropped out of the photo later, on the PC) so I switched to spot meter and metered off the wall. Which is white, but managed to give a good exposure anyway. Could also have used manual exposure. There's more than one way to get the job done.

Window Cleaners, Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

This is outside the "The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands" ( http://www.marinabaysands.com/Singapore-Shopping/ ), the long and low shopping arcade in front of the iconic hotel. The casino is here, not in the hotel. Half of the arcade is covered with a curved glass roof. These guys were spot-cleaning, and moved off after spraying and scrubbing a few panels, not doing a wash of the whole area. Keeping it clean must be a full-time job.

It's not so clear in this small version of the photo, but the blue safety harnesses that they are wearing are clipped to the rail, with two separate ropes. The two gray diagonal poles that stick out at the top are long-handled brushes, not a safety guard. You can also see the high-pressure hydraulic hoses that power the thing, hanging out near the joints, if you're interested in that kind of thing.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 92mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Aperture Priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

I'm using aperture-priority more now, instead of Program, with the 18-105mm because with a maximum aperture of f3.5, it's not as easy to accidentally force over-exposure with a aperture that is too large for the shutter speed to handle. With the long 105mm reach, you also need to control depth-of-field more as depth-of-field is less at longer focal lengths.

Makansutra Gluttons Bay Food Court

Makansutra (AKA K.F Seetoh) started with food reviews and guides but they've branched out into eateries. ("Makan" means "eat" in Malay.) The Makansutra Gluttons Bay ( http://www.makansutra.com/eateries_mgb.html ) is next to the Esplanade Theatres.

It's a dedicated night spot, open only in the evening (4 or 5pm depending on the day of week) until after midnight (1 to 3am depending on the day of week).

You can see a father at the right side of the photo, chasing after his little kid. Buildings in the background are a cluster of high-rise financial buildings (including Standard Chartered), across the bay. Yes, they are very tall.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/45 seconds
• Aperture Priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

It's 7pm, still bright. Lighting was even enough for auto exposure to work reliably, so I didn't switch to manual. Set f5.6 to get decent depth of field.

I was actually at Marina Bay Sands earlier, walked one large circle from Raffles Place MRT to Marina Bay Sands to Esplanade to City Hall MRT. Was hoping to get some good photos of Marina Bay Sands but the sky wasn't cooperating. This unplanned photo was the best from the whole day.

Official Graffiti, Stamford Arts Centre

The Stamford Arts Centre ( http://www.nac.gov.sg/fac/fac0301.asp ) at Waterloo Street, is near the famous Goddess of Mercy temple. This is a photo of the side wall. The air-con units outside are a sign that this is an old building, without central air-conditioning, retrofitted with individual units.  

There's another Stamford Arts Centre in the UK.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f6.7, ISO 400, 1/180 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light.

White wall caused the camera to under-expose a bit. Fixed it later with on the PC.

Nikon Kit Lens Versus Prime Versus f2.8 Professional Zoom

Should you get a prime lens? What about an f2.8 zoom? Here's how to decide which lens to get, or whether to stick with the kit lens.

The information here is based on Nikon (Nikkor) lenses, but is generally applicable to other brands as well, especially Canon. (Canon and Nikon track each other's lens developments quite closely, with many lenses having identical specifications, down to the exact focal length and aperture.)

Emphasis is on indoors, available-light (no flash) usage. If photographing with flash or outdoors, the choice of lens is less critical.

MG Midget

You don't see many classic cars in Singapore, but they do exist. This beautifully maintained MG Midget ( http://www.mgcars.org.uk/midget.html ) was seen in Kampong Glam. Not to be mean, but the grass field makes it look like the photo was taken outside Singapore. 

It's a British car, but the storied MG name now belongs to the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation, SAIC ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Motor_UK ).

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

The black paint would have caused the photo to be over-exposed, but I could have used aperture priority exposure and exposure-locked on the road. I used manual exposure instead, because the camera was already set to it, because I was photographing buildings backlit against the sky.

The red and white traffic sign could have ruined the photo, but it's turned edge-wise towards the camera, so you don't notice it at first glance. I hate traffic signs. Hate them.

The car is really short, about 4 feet (1.2 meters). It would be good to have someone in the photo to give some sense of scale, but I wasn't able to arrange for that.

I held the camera at waist-level to get a natural-looking angle. It's usually better to photograph something at its own level, unless you're trying to achieve a specific effect. I see a lot of people photograph their kids, without kneeling down. Their photos are going to turn out looking awkward.

Mandarin Gallery, Orchard Road

High-end shopping centre. Opposite The Heeren, near Cineleisure. There's no big entrance in the front, no fast food restaurants. Think that all malls are the same, with the same chain stores? Take a look inside. You'll find a lot of specialty shops that you've never seen before. 

I find it easiest to get in through the escalator in the front, and get out the same way. I've tried getting out through the ground floor and have gotten lost. 

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4, ISO 800, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, fill light.

At 18mm, the image stabilization of the kit lens allows you to handhold at 1/15 seconds, probably down to 1/8 too. But it doesn't help with movement in the scene. You can see that the pedestrians are a bit blurred out.

There are very bright and very dark areas in the photo. Difficult for the camera to know what to expose for. This is why manual exposure is best for night shots. Set manual exposure, maximum aperture, slowest shutter speed you can handhold safely, then increase ISO until the photo in the LCD playback looks okay. As a starting point for the exposure, meter off the floor. 

I would have preferred to shift the photo more to the left to get more of the trees into the photo, but there's a lot of clutter on the ground that would have been distracting.

Guide to Nikon 18mm Kit and Other Standard Zoom Lenses

If you're starting out in photography, you're likely to buy an entry-level DSLR bundled with a "kit" zoom lens. After using the kit lens for a while, you might be tempted to upgrade to another zoom lens. The questions are: should you, and which lens?

We'll look at the main Nikon "standard" zoom lenses (not super telephoto, not ultra-wide), lenses with focal lengths starting from around 18mm. These are general-purpose lenses, good for many types of photography.

House of Tan Yeok Nee

Old mansion (1882) in the heart of the city: Clemenceau Avenue and Penang Road, near Orchard Road and the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. Many people will remember it as the Salvation Army's headquarters. It now houses the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business ( http://www.chicagobooth.edu/visit/singapore/index.aspx ).

The Preservation of Monuments Board has details ( http://www.pmb.sg/?page_id=182 ). The building in the background is the Visioncrest Residence, a private condominium.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 50mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/125 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows (photo was over-exposed, not sure why, scene isn't high contrast)

Had to crop tightly to cut out a lot of distracting junk: traffic light, lamp post, pedestrians. Standard urban problems. Cropping photos is an important part of editing. Lots of photos that I see on Facebook, would be greatly improved by some simple cropping.

When you're taking a photo, you don't want to zoom all the way in, even if you have a zoom lens. Best to leave some margin around the edges. This gives you flexibility to decide the final crop later, when you have time to slowly think about it. With today's DSLR's going above 12 megapixels, you've got megapixels to burn. A standard PC monitor is only about one megapixel, HDTV is two megapixels, digital cinema is two to nine megapixels ( http://cinema.emilanderic.com/digitalprojection.aspx?id=7&mname=Digital%20Projection ).

Amphitheatre, Dhoby Ghaut Green

Located behind the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station (Park Mall side), this partly-sunken aluminum structure is easy to miss unless you walk behind the MRT station. It's designed around overlapping curves. There's a stage and seats and everything, available for rent from National Parks, for outdoor performances and private functions.

Developed by the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority), it was designed by Mr Chan Soo Khian of SCDA Architects Pte Ltd ( http://www.mnd.gov.sg/mndlink/2010/2010_Jan/URA_article.htm ).

You can see the School of the Arts (SOTA) in the left background, and the Rendezvous Hotel in the middle background. 

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 30mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/125 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Not much color in the photo. I'd normally wait for a blue sky or evening lights, but I think that the curved structure is interesting enough to stand on its own, without needing color to make it interesting.
 
I've started to use the kit zoom lens as my main lens. With the superb high-ISO performance of today's DSLRs, and the optical quality of consumer zooms, you rarely need a large-aperture prime lens, let alone an f2.8 "professional" zoom. And the Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 isn't stabilized (Canon's is).

You need a prime lens more at the telephoto end, so put a 50mm f1.4 or 85mm f1.4 on a second body, and you're set for most indoor situations, with 4x the light sensitivity of a f2.8 zoom.

Muzium Cafe, Bali Lane

The cafe is located in a row of old shophouses in the Kampong Glam area, near the famous Sultan mosque. This is a view of an alley next to the cafe, which is used as an alfresco dining area by the cafe. "Muzium" means "museum" in Malay. Malaysia's National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, is called Muzium Negara.

I'm just a sucker for bright colors. Haven't tried the food here, but there are blogs with reviews ( http://orionstar.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/saturday-evening-at-the-muzium-cafe/ ).

• D7000, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4.8, ISO 400, 1/350 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light, graduated tint fake blue sky

I don't use the wide angle zoom much, but I knew that the buildings here were quite crowded together, so I brought it along. The 35mm lens wouldn't have been able to do justice to the building.

Steeple of Cathedral of The Good Shepherd

The Cathedral of the Good Shephered ( http://www.veritas.org.sg/parish_detail.php?OrganisationID=1 ) is near City Hall MRT. It's over 150 years old. This isn't the biggest church in Singapore, but a Catholic told me that a cathedral isn't necessarily a big church. It's where the Bishop's (or Archbishop's) residence is ( http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01691a.htm ).

• D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/60 seconds
• Aperture priority exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Qu Yuan Statue, Rice Dumpling Festival

Qu Yuan is an ancient Chinese hero, linked to the Rice Dumpling Festival. Long story ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival ).

This is a temporary statue, only set up for the duration of the festival, for tourists. It's near the Albert Complex and Fu Lu Shou Complex. That's a HDB (government public housing) apartment block in the background. They're everywhere.  

• D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 400, 1/90 seconds
• Aperture priority exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

It might have been better to open up the aperture and blur out the background.

Istana Changing of the Guards Ceremony

The Istana ("palace" in Malay) is the President of Singapore's official residence. It's next to Plaza Singapura, at the end of Orchard Road.

The whole ceremony seems to be handled by the Military Police Command. Even the traffic control was by MPs on motorbikes. However some policemen in blue uniforms were around to look after security. Based on information provided, the band here is either the SAF Central Band or SAF Band A.

It's on the first Sunday of every month, at 6pm, but not in July or August ( http://www.istana.gov.sg/content/istana/presidentsoffice/ceremonialguards.html ). 

• D7000, 70-210mm f4-5.6
• At 210mm, f11, ISO 6400, 1/1000 seconds
• Aperture priority exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Took a chance and stationed myself on the other side of the road, to avoid the crowd. Photo was taken at the end of the ceremony. Band is marching out towards Cathay Cineplex, where they disperse. Policemen had just cleared the crowd to make way for the band, so I had a clear shot. You can see the gate of the Istana in the background. The gate might not be a main part of the photo, but it's important for establishing the location, giving the photo a unique look.

1/1000 seconds is too fast, should have reduced ISO. But needed the high ISO earlier for when the band was in the shade, didn't have time to switch. Should have used auto ISO. Needed small aperture because depth of field at telephoto focal lengths is small. Which means that a super expensive f2.8 70-200mm isn't necessarily worth it because many times, you can't use f2.8.

SingTel Crab on SBS Bus

Another SingTel crab. This one is of a different species from the one at the bus stop ( http://sgsnaps.blogspot.com/2011/05/singtel-crab-advertisment.html ). It's a green crab. Poor thing is now red, which means that it's already cooked. It was spotted along Selegie Road.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4, ISO 100, 1/60 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop

Sriveeramakaliamman Temple, Serangoon Road, Little India

Sriveeramakaliamman temple ( http://www.sriveeramakaliamman.com/ ) is one of the oldest Indian temples in Singapore.

The family look like they are posing for the photo, but they are just waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 100, 1/45 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, straighten

Bukit Panjang, Aerial View

Oval building on the left is part of the Senja-Cashew Community Centre, also called Community Club ( http://www.pa.gov.sg/locate-our-centres/details/senja-cashew-community-centre-18.html ). It stretches all the way to the right. The bright white over-exposed patch on the right is its public swimming pool. 

The pond in front doesn't seem to have a name. The drains and canals in the area, feed into it. It's used by the PUB as a source of tap water. The high-rise buildings in the background are all HDB public housing. You can just make out the LRT train track on the left.

Road on the left is the Bukit Panjang Ring Road. Including it in the photo helps to balance out the photo, which would look more plain without it.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

24-Hour Internet Cafe, Desker Road, Little India

The shop is in a row of old shophouses, off Serangoon Road. Price is $1 for 30 minutes. I like the way that they've kept to a traditional design, in a tasteful low-key way. Lots of other Internet cafes along Desker Road. Most don't look as nice. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten.