I'm a Singapore event photographer; specializing in corporate events, weddings and birthday parties.

2011-08-31

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.

2011-08-19

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.