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.

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. 

First Red Bull Flugtag 2012 Singapore

This is the first Red Bull Flugtag ("flying day") in Singapore. Participants make crazy contraptions and attempt to glide them off a ramp into the sea.

This entry is from Singapore Polytechnic. Wings look weak to me. If you've seen video footage of the flights, you'll notice that most of the time the wings break off in flight. 

The glider is being pushed up the ramp to the launch point. Somehow, the scene reminds me of the Pacific Island Cargo Cults after World War II. 

This is right at the end of Siloso Beach, near the Rasa Sentosa hotel.

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 116mm, f11, ISO 100, 1/1000 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

With a telephoto lens, default aperture is f8 or f11 for usable depth of field. Which means that you don't need a big, heavy and expensive f2.8 telephoto lens for outdoor use (that's an indoor lens). Today's "consumer" lenses are excellent performers, giving you quality optics at a low price. Don't you just love capitalism?

Telephoto applications is one area where the cropped sensor DSLRs have an advantage. On the D7000, a 300mm lens is equivalent to 450mm on a full frame camera.
 
Access is everything in photography. Without an access pass, I wandered around outside the barricaded security area and managed to find this unblocked view of the ramp. Couldn't get a good view of the launch point to photograph the actual flight. Much of the crowd was watching on large video screens instead. 

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.

Sentosa Beach Tram

I'll photograph anything that has bright colors.

Free bus service along the beach road. The bus travels slowly, so the open sides are not a problem. All bus services on Sentosa are free, since you pay an entrance fee to get on to the island ( http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/getting-to-around-sentosa/getting-around-sentosa/ ).

Traditional-looking buildings on the right (with fake atap roof) are actually part of a hotel.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 66mm, f5.3, ISO 6400, 1/90 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light. 

It was 7pm, already getting quite dark. Difficult to tell from the photo because the camera will expose the photo until it looks like daylight (there was still some light from the cloudy sky to evenly light up the scene, unlike a real night scene).

One indication that it is evening, is that you can see that the passengers in the front are being illuminated by the interior lights (compare with the passengers in the rear), which is why they are slightly yellow and not in shadow. In full daylight, the interior lights would be overpowered by the sunlight and would not be noticeable.

I was testing out ISO 6400 on the D7000. Turned out better than I had expected, but I later bought the full frame D600 anyway for even better high ISO performance. I'm keepng the D7000 as a travel and backup camera.

Segways at Pahlawan Beach, Sentosa

Segway rentals from Gogreen ( http://www.segway-sentosa.com/ ) at Pahlawan ("warrior") beach on Sentosa Island.

I thought that the riders made an interesting pattern. 

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 190mm, f5.6, ISO 6400, 1/1000 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance, -0.5 exposure compensation
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Got my new D600 this week. Testing out the ISO 6400 performance. Quite happy so far. The 23-300mm is remarkably sharp considering its high zoom ratio. Sharper than the equivalent (but older) 18-200mm DX lens.

With the high ISO performance of the D600, together with the zoom range of the 28-300mm, you can set the D600 at IS0 6400 and cover almost any indoor or night situation, and still get high quality images. 

I'm experimenting with setting a permanent -0.5 exposure compensation. I'm not sure that the D600 over-exposure problem is as bad as the D7000's, but setting some negative exposure compensation seems like the safe thing to do, no matter what. It's easier to correct under exposure later on the PC, than over exposure.

Brani Container Terminal, Pulau Brani

Pulau Brani ("Brave Island" in Malay) sits between the mainland and Sentosa island. The lighted road at the bottom of the photo is the causeway that connects the mainland to Sentosa. 

• Nikon D7000, 70-200mm f2.8
• At 70mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, sunlight white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten, fill light

Technically simple shot, nothing much to say. The main challenge in photography isn't the technical aspect, it is finding interesting subjects to photograph. 

Tiger Sky Tower, Sentosa

Tourist observation tower, 110 meters tall (131 meters above sea level). You ride up in a doughnut (not shown in the photo) that slowly cranks up the tower. It's called "Tiger" because it is sponsored by Tiger Beer. 

By the time I reached the tower, it was already past it's operating hours. The doughnut was resting for the night at ground level.

http://www.skytower.com.sg/

• Nikon D7000, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

All that black sky will throw off the light meter. Either spot meter on the tower, or use manual exposure and go by the playback on the LCD screen.

With today's DSLRs, you can do a lot of night photography without having to use a tripod. However, you need to experiment and know yourself and your equipment: what's the highest ISO you can tolerate, lowest shutter speed you can safely handhold for a particular lens and zoom setting, maximum aperture to use to get good enough depth of field at different distances.

SuperStar Virgo Cruise Liner, at Harbourfront Cruise Centre

This ship is huge, bigger than most hotels and shopping malls. I couldn't believe how big it looked in real life. I'm sure that it's way bigger than any Singapore navy ship. 

Dark blob on the left is Sentosa island.

http://www.starcruises.com/newweb/our_fleets/cruise_ssv.aspx

• Nikon D7000, 70-200mm f2.8
• At 70mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, sunlight white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light.

Resorts World Sentosa, Night View from the Sea

 

View of the famous Resorts World Sentosa complex of buildings.

The long building in the front is the Maritime Xperiential Museum. It looks like a private museum, owned by RWS, not the government. In the background from left to right are hotels: The Michael, Crockford's Tower, Festive Hotel. Universal Studios is to the left, outside the frame.

• Nikon D7000, 70-200mm f2.8
• At 105mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, sunlight white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light.

For uneven lighting like this, it's usually best to switch to manual exposure and check the exposure from the LCD playback. I see many night photos that are too dark, the light meter thrown off by the bright lights. You want to get sufficient exposure for the walls of the buildings, which means over-exposing the lights.  

I normally set auto or incandescent white balance, but in this instance the auto white balance over-corrected with too much blue so I forced it to sunlight white balance.

Pasir Panjang Container Port Terminal

The port is run by PSA (Port of Singapore Authority). The port is huge, stretching for a lot further than what you can see here. It is near Sentosa and Vivocity. This view is from Haw Par Villa.

Photos of scenery are usually not technically demanding. You have time to take the shot and there are no fast-moving objects or fleeting expressions to capture. Though sometimes you have problems with high contrast. 

Getting good scenery photos is mainly being in the right place, and being able to recognize a good shot when you see one, even if it is just a small spot in the distance. This is why a telephoto lens is, surprisingly, useful for landscape photography. You can zoom in to interesting scenes in the distance. 

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6 
• At 240mm, f8.6, ISO 800, 1/4000 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast.

Shutter speed is too high. I was chatting with a friend at the time, wasn't paying attention to the settings. Should have used lower ISO and stepped down the aperture a bit. Photo turned out okay anyway.

Atrium, Resorts World Sentosa

This atrium is located next to the Festive Hotel. It has a kind of Baroque, European look. Not much of a story here, just a pretty picture. 

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4, ISO 100, 1/350 seconds
• Apeture priority, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Had to do an exposure-lock on the floor to get the correct exposure. Reflection of the sun on the glass windows outside, caused the camera to under-expose.

Candylicious Store, Resorts World Sentosa

One of the more striking shops at Resorts Worlds (http://www.candyliciousshop.com/Candylicious_Press_Release.pdf). It's near Universal Studios. As it's name suggests, it sells sweets and chocolate. Unfortunately, I'm on a low-carb diet.

Petaled roof is part of the standard Resorts Worlds design. The candy trees are from Candylicious.

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f6.7, ISO 100, 1/180 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

The Michael Hotel, Sentosa

Part of the Resorts World Sentosa complex, it's right next to the Waterfront monorail train station.

I thought it was named after Michael Jackson, but their website (http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Hotels/HotelMichael) says that it is named after architect Michael Graves.

It's sometimes called The Michael, other times Hotel Michael. It looks like a circular tower from this angle, but it is a standard long block, though with a funky baroque roof which you can't see from this angle. This is the rounded end of the block. White petals on the right are the shaded roof of the pedestrian walkway. Red stick at the bottom is a fire hydrant.

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop

Had to wait a few minutes for a clear shot, without people walking by and cluttering up the photo. That's part of the fun of photography, the waiting. It's like fishing that way.

Hard Rock Hotel, Sentosa

Yes, it's the cafe guys, branching out into hotels (http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Hotels/HardRockHotel). Part of the Sentosa Resorts World complex (casino, Universal Studios and a few hotels), what the government calls an "integrated resort" or IR.

Resorts World is built like a slice of pie, with the monorail train station on one side and Hard Rock Hotel on the other. The standard way to walk there from the train station is indoors, through the complex buildings, which is the route the guides will ask you to use. But this takes you along the outer edge of the pie. There's a shortcut along the inner edge of the pie, less than half the distance, but there are no signs or human guides standing around to help you. 

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Strighten, auto contrast, crop