Ord Bridge and River Cruise Boat, Night

This is between Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. You can see the pink roofs of Clarke Quay in the background.

A bridge alone doesn't look all that interesting. Luckily there are lots of cruise boats on the river at night. Just wait for one to turn up.

• Nikon V1, 18.5mm f1.8
• At 18.5mm, f1.8, ISO 800, 1/20 seconds
• Program exposure, automatic ISO maximum 800, matrix metering, automatic white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, fill light

This is amazing low light performance from the little V1 camera. The 18.5mm f1.8 lens really makes it sing. Considering its small size and high performance, I would not hesitate to use it as my vacation camera. If only I had time to take a vacation.

Increasing fill light (mid tones) using Picasa, brightens up the green side of the boat, makes it pop. This is true for many night shots - boost the mid tones. It gives you a pseudo-HDR effect, without the trouble of HDR.

Arab Street, Night

When I first saw this scene I had my Nikon V1 with me. The combination of having to zoom in and the low light, was beyond the V1. The next time I was here, I made sure to bring my D600.

Had to stop down to f8 to get decent depth of field, pushed ISO to 6400 and even then had to use a slow shutter speed of 1/15 seconds. Just not enough light. Managed to support my hands on a parapet, which was enough.

Took quite a few shots. The cars don't always line up nicely. It's the multiple orderly rows that make the photo interesting - the roofs, walls, parked cars on the left, cars with red taillights stopped at the traffic lights, parked cars on the right. 

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f8, ISO 6400, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance 
• Picasa: Straighten, crop

Westgate Mall, Jurong East

It's the glass roof of Westgate mall that makes this photo work. Most malls have ugly roofs. Westgate is a beautiful exception. The glass roof is over the "courtyard" half of the mall, which is open to the outside and is not air-conditioned. The other half is a more traditional air-conditioned mall.

The HDB apartments in the background add interest and depth, as does the curved MRT train track on the left. Mirror-image red "jem" sign is a reflection. Jurong East MRT station is just out of the frame, on the left. 

• Nikon V1, 18.5mm f1.8
• At 18mm, f1.8, ISO 800, 1/25 seconds
• Program exposure, matrix metering, auto White Balance, maximum 800 auto ISO 
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

Sayang Disayang Movie Screening, Objectifs Rooftop

Sayang Disayang movie screening, Objectifs Rooftop

Free screening of Sayang Disayang, Singapore's entry for the Academy Awards 2015 Foreign Language category. Director Sanif Olek was there to answer questions from the audience, after the screening. 

I'm quite a movie buff. Unfortunately I wasn't too impressed by the movie. There wasn't enough material to sustain a feature-length movie, it should have been made into a 30-minute short.

I feel a bit bad about giving the movie a bad review - Sanif Olek is a very nice guy, friendly and humble.

Gateway building in the background on the left, Parkview Square on the right.

• Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
• At 10mm, f3.5, ISO 800, 1/5 seconds
• Program exposure, matrix metering, auto White Balance with 2 units magenta (standard setting for fluorescent lighting)
• Picasa: Straighten, crop

Archifest Pavilion 2013, Dhoby Ghaut Green

Archifest is an annual architectural festival. The pavilion is the centerpiece of the festival and plays host to a variety of activities. This year the temporary pavilion is at Dhoby Ghaut Green, next to the MRT station. It is constructed out of what looks like building scaffolding and colored cloth.

The building in the background is the Park Mall. The MRT station and Plaza Singapura are on the right, out of the frame.

As you would expect in Singapore, the pavilion design is chosen through an open tender call.

http://archifest.sg/2013/

• Nikon D600, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop

Standard setting for night building shots is f2, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds. But the pavilion is brighter than most buildings so I decreased the exposure one stop after reviewing the first image on the camera's LCD screen.

River Cruise Boat, Singapore River

Electric river cruise boat. Singaporeans call these bum boats. The original bum boats used to come this very section of the river and unload cargo from ships moored out at sea. Not so long ago, up till at least the 1970s. 

Boat Quay (now mainly restaurants in the old riverside shophouses, with the skyscrapers of the financial district in the background) to the front and on the right, new Parliament House on the left. Quite a commonly photographed scene but I think not with a boat so clearly in the foreground.

• Nikon D600, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2 ISO 3200, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

This is what you can do with today's equipment. You can take photos in almost darkness (the boat was in deep shadow, is over-exposed in the photo by about 2 stops - 4 times) without blurring out moving objects. Very happy with the 35mm f1.8 on the D600 - light, good low light performance, covers my most widely used angle. Not as useful on the D7000 with the 1.5x focal length crop, making it a 50mm equivalent. 

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).  

NUS University Town, Night

Most people take a photo of the Education Resource Centre on the left to represent UTown, so I thought I'd do something different and include the Residence blocks on the right too.

http://utown.nus.edu.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 28mm, f4, ISO 3200, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, glow. 

Time is 7:36pm, rich color in the sky. A few minutes later and the photos I took had a black sky. I was photographing a school debate and finished just at the right time. 

Yishun Aerial View, Night

View from a HDB flat (common corridor) a few hundred meters north of Yishun MRT station. You can see an MRT train at the bottom left. Photo is exposed about two stops brighter (4x) than what you would see with your eyes, which is why night photos look prettier than real life. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/8 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Crop, glow

Incandescent white balance to correct for the sodium vapor street lamps. 

You can get a surprisingly wide depth of field at f2 with the 35mm lens, so don't be afraid to use it at f2 for landscape photos. I don't use the 35mm much. I carry the 35mm as a backup lens in case the zoom breaks. It's good to use it once in a while so I don't forget how it handles.  

I wouldn't dare use the 35mm handheld at less than 1/30 seconds (the lens has no image stabilization) but I was supporting my hands on the balcony, so 1/8 seconds worked out okay.

RSS Intrepid, Singapore Navy Frigate

The RSS Intrepid was berthed at VivoCity for three days in March 2013 for a public open house - members of the public could go onboard and tour the ship. It carries a Seahawk (navalized Blackhawk) helicopter in the rear. One of six frigates of the Formidable class, based on the French La Fayette class.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formidable-class_frigate

If you look carefully, you can see two Jedi sparring with light sabres underneath the cannon.

• Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
• At 30mm, f5.6, ISO 3200, 1/5 seconds
• Auto-everything
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast.

With a stabilized lens and zero vibration from the electronic shutter, you can take handheld photos with the V1 at 1/4 seconds. 

Escalator to Imbiah Lookout, Sentosa

Near the Merlion at Sentosa, this is the first of a series of about 5 escalators that go to the top of the hill.

You can see from this example, the amount of attention that is paid to even mundane items on Sentosa. The psychedelic colors make me think of a heavy metal album cover, not any album or group in particular, it just feels like one.

• Nikon D600, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f5.6, ISO 6400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop. 

The top sign is over-exposed because the contrast range of the scene was too great. I decided to sacrifice it and expose for the escalators.

Could have opened up the aperture and used a lower ISO, but I was testing the high ISO performance of the D600.

Choa Chu Kang Chingay Celebration

Chingay celebration at Choa Chu Kang, during the end of Chinese New Year. Held at an open field near Lot One shopping centre and the Choa Chu Kang MRT station.

There are some floats parked next to the field but the celebration is mainly about the stage show. It was more a concert than a parade. The field was packed full of people. You can security personnel at the bottom left, with red shirts and green reflective stripes, keeping the crowd from spilling onto the road.

• Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
• At 15mm, f4.2, ISO 1800, 1/30 seconds
• Auto-everything
• Picasa: Crop, fill light

The camera's auto exposure handled the lighting well. I later boosted the fill light one stop when editing the photo, but it isn't strictly necessary. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

Old Chang Kee, Sentosa

Aside from its food, Old Chang Kee ( http://www.oldchangkee.com/ ) is known for being one of the early Singaporean companies that expanded regionally. It's famous for its curry puff but I prefer the chicken-mushroom puff. It also sells various deep-fried snacks on-a-stick.

This particular franchise is in Sentosa, near the Beachfront LRT and bus stations. It's a standalone shop, making me think of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.  

The pink floral basket on the left is from a well-wisher as this franchise had just opened. 

• Nikon D7000, 40mm f2.8
• At 40mm, f4, ISO 400, 1/60 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, auto color, straighten, fill light

With the glowing signboards, this scene is trouble. Best to go to manual exposure immediately. Judge the exposure from the LCD playback and adjust accordingly. 

I don't use the 40mm f2.8 much. It's a macro lens and I bought it to take close-up photos of wedding rings. I was on my way back from a Registry of Marriage ceremony, which is why I used the lens to take this photo.