One Raffles Quay

New high rise office building in the middle of the financial district. There are two towers (North and South), connected by a plaza. The towers are placed at an angle to each other, which makes for an interesting photo. The north tower on the left, is 50 storeys high. The south tower on the right is 29 storeys high.  

This was at 8pm on a weekday night. Looks like people here work too hard. Orange spot at the bottom right is an out-of-focus raindrop on the lens, catching light from a streetlamp. 

http://www.orq.com.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 28mm, f4, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Fill light

Manual exposure for easy control, set maximum aperture and slowest safe shutter speed, then increase ISO until the exposure is correct (check on the LCD playback). This way you get highest image quality by using the lowest possible ISO. Use Picasa's fill light feature to brighten up the dark walls a bit.

Stairs to Imbiah Point, Sentosa

Located next to the Beach monorail station, these beautifully lit stairs go up to a garden (with crazy ceramic mini waterfalls) that leads to Imbiah Point. I thought it was an old fort or a restaurant, but no, they're just stairs (actually a ramp). The small domes at the top are part of the garden.  

The "Sky Loft" sign is for a rooftop bar and restaurant at the top of the iFly indoor skydiving (vertical wind tunnel) building on the left (beyond the edge of the photo).

• Nikon D600, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f5.6, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten

The extreme bright and dark areas means that it is easier to use manual exposure (moving the camera a bit, would change the automatic exposure by a lot).

The lights are LEDs that change color, so I waited and took photos every few seconds to get the different colors. Decided later that the yellow lights looked the best. 

Reflections at Keppel Bay

New condominium near Vivocity. Elegant curvy design, one of the most beautiful condos I've seen. I was lucky to get the sun in this position, where it reflected off the glass and brought out their texture. Half an hour later the reflections were gone.

Sentosa cable cars are in front of the building. I waited a few minutes to get an interesting pattern of cars. The red and yellow cars are Angry Bird cars.

http://reflectionsatkeppel.com/

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 165mm, f11, ISO 100, 1/500 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

Picasa's auto contrast helped a lot in incresing the "punch" of the light. The long distance and water vapour from the sea, created a gray veil over the photo.

Aerial View of Redhill

This is the view looking east, towards the city center. You can actually see part of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, about 1/4 of the way from the right of the photo (behind the vertical red and white construction crane), and two Shenton Way skyscrapers peeping out at the top right hand corner.

The trees at the bottom nicely balances out the photo. Canal at the bottom is the Alexandra Canal.

There are beautiful views all over Singapore. You just need to look for them. Better than photographing the same old famous landmarks that everyone else has photographed.

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 180mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/750 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten

Set ISO 100 because of the bright daylight, stop the lens down a bit to f8 for depth of field, use auto exposure because the scene is quite evenly lit. Exposure is easy when you have lots of light to play with.

Color of the sky isn't the best but I didn't have time to hang around and wait for sunset. You take what you can get.

Old Shophouses, Erskine Road, Chinatown

There are a significant number of old two-storey British colonial shophouses in Singapore, but few have the uniform color of this row along Erskine Road. This is opposite the Buddha tooth relic temple in Chinatown. 

The shophouses make an interesting pattern but are too plain to stand on their own. I was waiting for a brightly-colored car to pass by, had to settle for these pedestrians. I had an appointment nearby and was out of time. Felt a bit strange, standing so long by the side of the road with my camera. Luckily this is a tourist area.

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 122mm, f11, ISO 100, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority with -1.5 compensation, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

Stand back and zoom in for the telephoto perspective to compress the shophouses together. Set f11 for depth of field, -1.5 exposure compensation because of the black background.

Marina Bay MRT Station

This is Exit A of the MRT station. Exit B is on the other side of the East Coast Parkway expressway, closer to the skyscrapers of the Marina Bay Financial Centre in the background. 

The underground MRT is actually a good way to cross the expressway on foot. Unfortunately you need to pay because the only way through is via the ticket gate. 

I seem to remember this station being called Marina South, not Marina Bay. But I could be wrong. Marina South is now a new station on the Thomson line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Bay_MRT_Station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_South_MRT_Station

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

Simple night shot: the difficulty is in finding the location. Set maximum ISO that you can tolerate, safe shutter speed to avoid camera-shake, then only stop down the aperture (for depth of field) if there is any spare exposure margin. Fine-tune the exposure later on the PC.

Tua Pek Kong (Da Bogong) Temple, Kusu Island

You need to get on a boat to visit Kusu island. There isn't much on the small island. People go there mainly to visit the temple.

The temple is built half over water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusu_Island

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, fill light, glow

Standard night shot. Aperture wide open, maximum ISO that you can tolerate. Unless you want to use a tripod. Manual exposure and adjust exposure based on the LCD playback.

Deepavali Light Up, Serangoon Road, Little India

Photo was taken on the night before Deepavali. Note the huge crowd crossing the road.  

A lot of people are now calling the celebration Diwali instead of Deepavali. I don't know why.

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 135mm, f11, ISO 6400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, straighten

For a shot like this, you want to zoom in so that the lights are compressed together due to telephoto perspective. The problem with that is that you get shallow depth of field at the telephoto end, so you need to stop down the aperture. The problem with that is that it is night, so you don't have much light.

Luckily, today's high-ISO DSLRs come to the rescue! Push to ISO 6400. No problem. Either that or use a tripod.

For uneven lighting like this, manual exposure is best. Check the exposure by playing back the image on the camera's LCD screen.

Singapore Cricket Club, International Rugby 7s

You don't see much rugby in Singapore, which is a pity. It certainly has more action than soccer. It's like a combination of soccer and wrestling.

The event was held at the historic Padang ("field") in the center of town.
 

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 280mm, f5.6, ISO 220, 1/1000 seconds
• Manual exposure with auto ISO, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop

This is one of the few times when I used auto ISO. Most of the time I'm shooting indoors or outdoors at night, where it's more convenient to go to full manual (including manual ISO) because of the tricky lighting.

I set the exposure to manual because I knew what shutter speed and aperture I wanted (1/1000 seconds to freeze the action - you rarely need a higher speed, f5.6 as a good compromise aperture for getting enough in focus while still blurring out the background - which is why I left the heavy 70-200mm f2.8 at home) and let the camera adjust the ISO automatically.

This way, you get to use low ISO when the sun is out (for less electronic noise in the image), higher ISO only when the clouds come out (and they did). 

Sasanaramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple

This is the rear of the temple. The front view is blocked by a gate, and isn't as shiny. In the background are a private condominium on the left, and a HDB flat on the right. 

For a non-rectangular building like this, it's important to get the background right because it will show through more than with a rectangular building. You want a background that isn't too messy or distracting.

The temple's website is:
http://www.bbt.org.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 135mm, f8, ISO 1600, 1/750 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast, glow

Technically simple shot. ISO is unecessarily high but ISO 1600 looks so good on the D600 (looks like ISO 400 on the D7000) that I didn't bother to change since I was shooting indoors and had popped out for a few minutes.

 Some editing in Picasa to brighten up the image and make it glow a little.

Singapore Wedding Photography Guide

Simple photography advice that could make a big difference on your wedding day. Includes specific tips for Chinese, Malay and Indian weddings.

Basics

Some basics for all types of weddings:

• Don't worry, be happy. You want photos of yourself smiling, so remember to relax. If you're tense and worried, there isn't much the photographer can do. Don't worry about the small stuff. It's your wedding day. Enjoy it.
• Get out and greet guests. Photos of the bride and groom greeting their guests, make some of the best photos. Ask for introductions to guests that you don't know. Don't hide in a room somewhere and only come out for the ceremonial entrance. 
• Don't over-schedule. It's going to be a long day. While it might be tempting to schedule a photo shoot in a park or garden somewhere, that will only add to the exhaustion. If you do want formal photos, have them somewhere nearby. 
• Prepare for your spouse to tear-up. Grooms especially, sometimes don't know what to do and stand awkwardly when their bride cries. Give her a hug.

Boardwalk Restaurant, The Star Vista

The Star Vista has a boardwalk around the edge of this upper level, similar to Vivocity's design. This means that you can walk around the outside of the shops and restaurants, and look in from the outside.

The boardwark is stylishly lit with spotlights, like an art gallery, which adds to the atmosphere of the scene above. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4, ISO 1600, 1/90 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten

The dark scene on the left balances out the bright lights on the right, so the camera's auto exposure managed to work.

Cargo Ship Xin Xiang Hai

Chinese cargo ship Xin Xiang Hai, anchored off the southern coast of Singapore. Cargo ships aren't particularly photogenic. It's the small boat moving at high speed, that makes the photo work.

Despite Singapore being an island, it's easy to go for months without seeing the sea or a ship. I was on my way to Kusu Island on a small ferry boat, taking photos through the boat's glass window. 

With today's technology, you can track a ship's daily position:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=413347000

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 300mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast

Picasa's auto contrast function works well and I use it on most of my photos. It is especially effective for photos like this, where the sea air reduces contrast and makes everything grayed out.

Pasar Malam

Pasar malams ("night markets") open for a few days to a week, along the side of the road. The seem to roam all over Singapore, coming back to the same place every few months. This one is over 100 meters long.

Note the HDB apartment block just behind the stalls. This is one appeal of the pasar malam - it's right at your doorstep. You'll find snack food, bags, clothing, kitchen utensils, DVDs and other items for sale.

• Nikon D7000, 40mm f2.8
• At 40mm, f4, ISO 1600, 1/60 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, fill light

Picasa's fill light function is useful for boosting the brightness of dark areas, without affecting bright areas much. In that sense it gives you a mini HDR (high dynamic range) effect. When taking a photo you expose for the bright areas. Later, use Picasa's fill light to make the dark areas more noticeable.

In this photo, fill light was used to bring out the balcony walls of the HDB building.