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

2013-02-28

Stewords Riverboat, Marina South Pier, Night


Replica of a Mark Twain-style Mississippi riverboat, permanently berthed at Marina South Pier. There's a restaurant, a cafe, and a multi-purpose hall.

http://www.riverboat.com.sg/

I took this photo on the way back from a boat trip to Kusu island. I hung back behind the rest of the passengers, to take the photo and ended up being the last one through the customs checkpoint.
  • Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
  • At 38mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
  • Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
  • Picasa: Crop, glow
The reflections off the water are an important part of the composition. I had to consciously aim the camera downwards to capture them in the frame.

I carried two zoom lenses on this trip, together with the 35mm f1.8 prime. I switched to the prime when it got dark, not just because it was the brightest lens but also because I was stumbling around in the dark and didn't want a big lens hanging off my camera.

2013-02-26

Ascentia Sky Condominium, Under Construction


I came across this rather striking building on Alexandra Road, while on my way to an appointment. The wide and thin structure, combined with the colors and the pillars embedded in the front, made it a stand-out compared to your average apartment block. 

Redhill MRT station is just behind.

There's more information at the official Ascentia Sky website:
http://www.ascentia-sky.com.sg/
  • Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 32mm, f8 ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
  • Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
  • Picasa: Fill light, color saturation
The building was backlit against the sky, creating a dull image, so I later edited the photo on the computer to bring out its color. 


Standard setting for outdoor shot - ISO 100 for low noise, f8 for high lens sharpness.




2013-02-25

Lion Dance Troupe, Packing Up


I stumbled across this lion dance troupe near Pickering Street (financial district). They performed in front of a shophouse but I found this scene of them packing up to leave, more interesting. 

You can see them hauling their huge drum up into the truck. The lion is already in the truck, rear right. Love the old-style wooden beams on the truck. Guy in red on the far left is the God of Wealth, the guy next to him is holding his head.
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 30mm, f5.6 ISO 400, 1/60 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, fill light

2013-02-21

Lion Dance at The Cathay


After Chinese New Year, Lion Dance troupes perform all over Singapore, usually at commercial outlets. I think individual shop owners pay them to come. They seem to do it for themselves, for luck, not to draw customers because the performances are often during business hours on weekdays. 

I accidentally walked in on this one when on my way to watch a movie. The whole performance took about 15 minutes. I missed the first few minutes of the movie, but it was worth it.

Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
At 20mm, f4.8, ISO 1600, 1/400 seconds
Auto-everything except ISO manually set to 1600
Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast, fill light

2013-02-20

Kranji Primary School


It still surprises me, how much of a difference some bright paint can make to a building. With colors like this, you don't need a blue sky.

Photo was taken from onboard a passing MRT train.
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 22mm, f5, ISO 100, 1/400 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast, saturation, glow

Original photo had a gray film over it due to the dirty windows on the train (double glazed too, so more flare). Picasa's auto contrast function managed to neutralize most of that. I also increased color saturation and used the Glow function to punch up the colors. Without any people in the photo, you can boost the color without worrying about skin tones.  

2013-02-15

Bishan HDB Apartments, Night


I passed these blocks of flats on my way to photograph a wedding. I was particularly impressed by the grassy slope and the two high blocks on the left with the slanting roofs (most HDB blocks have flat roofs).

But it was raining then. I told myself that I'd pass by again after the wedding, and if the rain had stopped by then, I might get an even better photo because it would be night.

Night photos are interesting because they can look very different from what you see "live." By over-exposing the photo, you can get strange but beautiful photos like this one. I got lucky with the clouds - enough to nicely pattern the sky, but not too thick to block it completely. 

The photo works because there are three bands of interest - the sky, the buildings, and the grass. With only two bands, the photo would be too simple.
  • Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 28mm, f4, ISO 12800, 1/8 seconds
  • Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, 2500 K White Balance
  • Picasa: Fill light

White balance was set to 2500 K to counteract the orange light from the nearby sodium vapor street lights.

Without a tripod, night photos are an exercise in seeing which camera setting you are willing to sacrifice first. I had already opened up the lens aperture wide, went down to 1/15 seconds shutter speed and ISO 64000. Still too dark.

I decided to risk ISO 128000. Still too dark. I didn't want to go to ISO 25600, too much noise so I sacrificed shutter speed instead, 1/8 seconds. Luckily there was minimal camera shake because the lens vibration reduction really works. Photo looked okay on the LCD playback but back home on the PC it was still too dark, so I boosted fill light by one stop.

2013-02-13

Holland Village, Aerial View, Night


This is the famous Holland Village shopping and restaurant/bar area, a sort of mini Orchard Road. The large curved building is the Holland Road Shopping Centre. Most of the night action takes place behind it, along Lorong Liput and Lorong Mambong (lorong means "lane" in Malay). Main road on the right is Holland Avenue. It forks at the top right and the right fork becomes Holland Road.

Holland Village MRT station (Circle Line) is underneath there somewhere, completely underground. The surrounding area is mainly residential - a mix of HDB public housing, private condominiums and terrace houses ("landed property").

Not surprisingly, Holland vilalge has its own website: http://www.holland-village-singapore.com/
 
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 10mm, f3.5, ISO 3200, 1/30 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Auto contrast, glow
Cloudy and rainy evening. You can see the clouds blurring out the horizon. It's 7pm, so there's still some light in the sky.


2013-02-08

Light Panels, ION Orchard


An entire backlit wall. It's used for large advertisements, but was empty on this day. The bare texture is still interesting enough on its own. Girl with the phone happened to be there and is the final piece of the puzzle. Photo would have been too plain without her in it. It's a common trick, having someone in the photo to add interest, but it works. 

Orchard MRT station is only a few meters to the right.
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 21mm, f5, ISO 1200, 1/160 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, auto color, glow
The actual scene was brighter, the camera was fooled by the bright light. I think it looks better this way, so I left it alone except for some minor tweaking in Picasa.

2013-02-06

Kallang Aerial View


Aerial view of Kallang, looking south-west. Kallang MRT station in the center (you can see a train entereing the station from the lower left), Kallang river at the center top, Suntec City and financial district skyscrapers on the horizon.  

You can just make out the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Flyer ferris wheel at the top left. Gardens by the Bay at top far left. Yellow rectangle at the center top is the Golden Mile Tower. Not many yellow buildings in Singapore. 

I was in an apartment, photographing my friend's wedding. 
  • Nikon D7000, 18-105 f3.5-5.6
  • At 24mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
  • Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
  • Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, straighten
Lots of light, so set ISO 100 for low noise, f8 for good lens sharpness and depth of field, use aperture priority and let the camera take care of shutter speed. 

Natural reaction when photographing scenery, is to place the horizon in the middle of the photo. You need to stop and think about how you really want to frame the photo. I got lucky with this location. Problem with many scenery shots is that there is nothing interesting in the foreground. The LRT station makes this photo work.

Throw in some margin around the edges to be safe, you can decide the final crop later on your PC. I ended up throwing away 20% of the left and bottom of the photo.  

2013-02-05

Bus Stop, Bras Basah Road, Night


The new bus stops have a simple design that blends in well with the urban environment. Older bus stops had a curved corrugated steel roof with yellow and orange stripes, which didn't look as good.

The bus stops are at least partially supported by advertising. You can see a red lighted poster on the right. There's also one on the left but it is over-exposed so there's only some red visible at the top. The two square panels at the center of the bus stop are bus service and schedule information (always up to date). The green and red LEDs at center-right are estimated bus arrival times, updated in real time, part of Iris (Intelligent Route Information System - http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/iris/overview.aspx)

Building in the background is the Rendezvous Hotel. I took the photo because they recently started lighting up the exterior of the building, which transformed the scene. School of the Arts is on the left, Manulife Building is on the Right, Singapore Management University is behind the camera.
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 10mm, f3.5, ISO 1400, 1/30 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Straighten, crop
Using the Nikon V1 again. Handled this tricky scene on full auto, no problem. Didn't need any exposure tweaking in Picasa. Pleased with the high dynamic range of the photo - you can see details in both the dim areas in the bus stop, and the lighted signs and windows.


2013-02-03

Marina Bay Sands, Lunar New Year 2013




Chinese New Year decorations at Marina Bay Sands. The red thing on the left looks like the bottom-half of a Chinese lantern. It's made out of large cloth banners and is at least 10 meters across.

Rainy day on a Sunday afternoon, so the sky isn't too bright. I had some fun walking around to get different angles on the decorations. The lighted ball on the right helps to balance out the photo. If it were just the red lantern, the photo would be boring.
  • Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
  • At 21mm, f5, ISO 1100, 1/30 seconds
  • Auto-everything
  • Picasa: Crop
I bought the Nikon V1 after its price was heavily discounted in December 2012. I wanted an every-day-carry (EDC) camera that was lighter than a DSLR, didn't look as intimidating (didn't scare people or security guards), but with decent image quality.

The V1 is Nikon's part of Nikon's new "mirroless" Nikon 1 system which has a 2.7x focal length crop. It's Nikon's answer to the Micro Four-thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic. I chose the V1 because it:
  • Uses the same battery as my D7000 and D600
  • Has the FT1 lens adapter that allows it to use Nikon F-mount lenses. My 55-300mm DX zoom becomes a 810mm f5.6!
  • Is an underdog. When people first heard about its small sensor, most dismissed it as having poor image quality. But the high-ISO sample images on the websites looked good.

I'm happy with the V1. Turned out as I expected. High-ISO performance is better than the D80's, Nikon's top consumer 1.5x crop DSLR from not that many years ago.