Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar

Aerial view of Orchid Hotel (centre) with a HDB apartment block on the left and Capital Tower on the right. There's a huge Singapore flag at the top of the HDB block because it's a few days before National Day.

I keep on saying this because it's true - the technical side of photography is easy. The difference lies in finding unique angles to take photos from. This means exploring, lots of leg work.

• Nikon D600, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f2 ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast, highlights

Handheld to avoid lugging a tripod around. Set f2 to get maximum light with decent depth of field (I'm not confident with f1.4), 1/30 seconds to reduce camera shake (standard formula for minimum shutter speed is 1/focal length), adjust ISO accordingly (check exposure on LCD).  

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.

Backpackers' Inn Chinatown

I've come across small backpacker hotels before, but none as colorful as this one. Nicely integrates simple and effective advertising with a striking design.

It's in a row of old two-storey shophouses, located opposite Chinatown Point, in the heart of Chinatown.

Note the old-style electric fan at the top left, and the classic red letter box on the right.

http://www.backpackersinn.com.sg

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 28mm, f5.6, ISO 1600, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop

Main difficulty with this photo was cropping out distracting details at the edges. I wanted to crop out the table and ashtray at the bottom but that would have cut off too much of the sign on the door. But I did manage to get rid of a lot of junk at the sides.

Back in the film days, you had to crop in-camera because cropping during printing wasn't practical unless you had your own darkroom. With digital photos and PC editing, it's better to zoom out a bit and give yourself some margin to crop later at your leisure.

Cropping is the number one way to improve your photos. Most of the photos that I see on Facebook would be improved with some simple cropping. Remove distracting details. It's simple.

Cathay Cineleisure Orchard

Famous cinema multiplex off Orchard road. Mandarin Orchard hotel is in the background on the right.

I have some hazy memories of the old Cathay cinema that was torn down years ago, to make way for this modern cineplex. I'm a bit of a movie buff, so I hang out at theaters a lot.

The bright colors makes it easy to create an interesting photograph. The challenge lies in cropping out distracting details from the edge of the frame, to create a neat composition. I zoomed out a bit to give me some margin to play with, and edited the exact crop later on the PC. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 52mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, shadows

The D7000 has an unfortunate tendency to over-expose in bright sunlight. This has been pointed out in a number of online reviews. I had to use Picasa's shadow function to reduce exposure one stop.

Conrad Centennial Hotel

There are so many hotels in the Singapore city center that it's hard to keep track of them all. The Conrad Centennial hotel is next to Suntec City. Most people seem to call it The Conrad.
 
http://conradhotels3.hilton.com/en/hotels/singapore/conrad-centennial-singapore-SINCICI/index.html

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 
• At 24mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/1000 seconds 
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance 
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop 

I usually try to add something in the foreground when photographing a building, otherwise the photo looks plain. But this hotel was interesting enough, asymmetrical enough, to carry the photo on its own.

Pan Pacific Hotel

One of the more well-known hotels in Singapore, near Suntec City. The vertical grooves on the side of the building are tracks for the external glass lifts (elevators). I was wondering why I didn't see any lifts move, and then I found out that the hotel was under renovation: 

http://transformation.panpacific.com/

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/750 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

To make a photo of a building more interesting, try to include something in the foreground. The spiral on the left is about 20 to 30 feet tall, a sculpture in the middle of a small traffic roundabout, quite far from the hotel.

It's okay to photograph buildings in bright sunlight, as long as the sun is behind you. This photo was taken at 12:30pm. The blue sky won't fool the camera's light meter and cause over-exposure as long as there aren't too many clouds, so you can use auto-exposure without any worries.

Aperture priority because with so much light, the shutter speed won't have much effect on the photo (speed will be high, no matter what). Set lowest ISO (100) for highest image quality, then intermediate aperture (f8) for maximum optical quality (too big and you get optical aberrations, too small and you get diffraction).

Marina Bay Sands, Side View, Night

For a widely photographed icon like this, you want to try and get an unusual angle so that the photo doesn't look like a thousand other photos out there on the Internet. It just takes some time and some legwork. I hope I succeeded.

The trees at the bottom give an indication of how tall the hotel is. Singapore Flyer ferris wheel is at the bottom left. 

• Nikon D7000, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f2, ISO 100, 1/20 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Thought I was at 1/30 seconds. Must have accidentally bumped the dial.

Oxford Hotel Singapore

The Oxford Hotel Singapore ( http://www.oxfordhotel.com.sg/ ) has an unusual design. Few hotels here have murals, let alone such a brightly-colored one. It looks like it is glowing because of spotlights on the ground. It is 7:20pm in the evening. 

The hotel is located between Queen Street and Waterloo Street, near the Singapore Art Museum. Compared to a conventional hotel, it is turned 90 degrees: the side of the hotel faces the street. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f1.8, ISO 800, 1/60 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten.

Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

The Pan Pacific Serviced Suites are on the right ( http://www.panpacific.com/pan_pacific_service_suites_singapore/ ). Building on the left is the Orchard Building (blocking Cineleisure Orchard from sight). Building behind that is the Mandarin Orchard Hotel, with its distinctive canoe top.

Near Somerset Station, behind Orchard Road. The serviced suites have a cool-looking design, but I'm wondering what the curved bottom few levels, without windows, are. That's the recurring issue with architecture. The most efficient design is a rectangular block, but that's boring. More interesting designs always end up wasting space. 

Serviced suites (also called serviced apartments) are a cross between a hotel and an apartment. They are short-term rental apartments or long-term rental hotels (weeks or months). They are furnished and cleaned by staff like a hotel, and have a kitchen like an apartment.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 100, 1/90 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, fill light, color temperature

Furama City Centre Hotel

Between Chinatown and Clarke Quay. I remember it as being plain "Furama Hotel" but they seem to have grown into a chain so it's now the Furama City Centre Hotel. Website is http://www.furama.com/citycentre/ 

• Nikon D80, Sigma 20mm f1.8.
• At 20mm, f2.8, 1/30 seconds, ISO 100.
• Program exposure, center weighted metering, auto white balance.
• Picasa: Crop, straighten, graduated tint fake blue sky.

Fullerton Bay Hotel

Not to be confused with the Fullerton Hotel (which you can see in the background, on the right), this is a newer and smaller hotel. It's not as well known as some of the other luxury hotels, maybe because it is small and a bit hidden from the main road.

Opposite the hotel, across Marina Bay, is the Marina Bay Sands. A few hundred meters to the right is the Merlion, to the left is Shenton Way. You can see part of the old Clifford Pier on the right, the low building with the white arches.

Their website has lots of pretty pictures of the interior: http://www.fullertonbayhotel.com

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