South Beach Lifestyle Quarter - Aerial View

South Beach Lifestyle Quarter North Tower on the left, South Tower on the right.

Lots of things in the background. From left to right - Centennial Tower, Millenia Tower, North Tower, Suntec Convetion and Exhibition Centre (white sail roof), South Tower, Marina Bay Sands (near the sea), Marina Bay Financial Centre (blue skyscrapers, far right). There's also the Esplanade Theatres and the white column of the World War II Memorial on the right, and part of Raffles Hotel at the bottom right.

View from The Pod at National Library. I was photographing an event there and had plenty of down time.
http://www.nlb.gov.sg/exhibitions/bookstobytes/zone4/thepod.html

Technical information:

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 28mm, f8.0, ISO 100, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture-priority, automatic ISO, center-weighted metering, automatic white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, fill light, highlights, increased color saturation

Had to shoot through the thick glass windows from about a meter because they curve out and there's a guard rail preventing you from getting too close. So I couldn't press the lens up against the window and reduce the effect of the glass. Luckily there were no reflections. Picasa's auto contrast cleared up the image a lot (glass will make the image have a milky film even when there are no obvious reflections). I then had to boost the fill light and highlights to bring out detail in the buildings.

With landscape photos like this, you can usually boost the color saturation to make the colors more intense. It's harder to do when there are people in the photo because then their skin tone will look artificial.  

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

Jurong East - MRT Station, Bus Interchange, JEM, Big Box

Jurong East - MRT Station, Bus Interchange, JEM, Big Box

A lot happening in this photo. MRT station in the center (with a train pulling in). Bus interchange at the bottom. JEM (Jurong East Mall) at the top left. Big Box "Warehouse Retail Scheme" (light green) at the top right. 

Photo taken from JCube, another mall. Jurong East is crowded with malls (Westgate is out of the frame, to the left of JEM). Which is good because it means that the malls are less crowded. 

Was at JCube to watch a movie. Light was good so I decided to take this photo. It's about 5pm. The Nikon V1 is now my EDC (Every Day Carry) camera because of its light weight and good image quality. Carrying a DSLR every day is too much of a pain.

• Nikon V1, 18.5mm f1.8
• At 18mm, f2.5, ISO 200, 1/400 seconds
• Program exposure, matrix metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Straighten, auto contrast

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.

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.

Plaza Singapura Christmas Tree 2012

This is the first Christmas since the major renovation that was completed this year. You can see the new facade of Plaza Singapura in the background. Their Christmas tree is usually placed further to the right, but there is now a plastic pop art sculpture in that location. 

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 52mm, f4.5, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: No editing

It's good to get a sign or something showing the name of the place, into the photo. It's not just for informational purposes. The sign often adds an interesting visual element to the photo.

Take a few minutes and walk around a bit, look at the Christmas tree (or fountain or statue or whatever) from a few different angles and distances. You get better photos, enjoy your photography more, and train your observational skills.  

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.

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.

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.

Orchard Central Shopping Centre

Orchard Central is located opposite Centrepoint. It's built over the old Specialists' Shopping Centre ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specialists%27_Shopping_Centre ).

Saw the bright colorful lights and just had to take a photo. Main difficulty is getting a good angle and avoiding streetlights. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 6400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Automatic exposure would probably have worked but it's easier to make exposure adjustments with manual exposure. Could have used ISO 1600 with f4 and 1/15 seconds but I was testing out ISO 6400 to see the noise performance. 

Haji Lane Shopfront

Classy asymmetrical design. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the shop.

This was at 9am on a Saturday morning so most of the shops were still closed. The "Alcohol free zone" poster is a reaction to the bars and cafes that have opened up in the traditionally Malay/Muslim area. I don't think the posters have much effect even though more than one shop displays them.  

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/60 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten

I don't use the 35mm f1.8 much. Neither here nor there - not wide enough and not tele enough. But it is my lightest lens and my bag was already too heavy that day. Worked out well, was wide enough most of the time.

Mandarin Gallery, Orchard Road

High-end shopping centre. Opposite The Heeren, near Cineleisure. There's no big entrance in the front, no fast food restaurants. Think that all malls are the same, with the same chain stores? Take a look inside. You'll find a lot of specialty shops that you've never seen before. 

I find it easiest to get in through the escalator in the front, and get out the same way. I've tried getting out through the ground floor and have gotten lost. 

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4, ISO 800, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, fill light.

At 18mm, the image stabilization of the kit lens allows you to handhold at 1/15 seconds, probably down to 1/8 too. But it doesn't help with movement in the scene. You can see that the pedestrians are a bit blurred out.

There are very bright and very dark areas in the photo. Difficult for the camera to know what to expose for. This is why manual exposure is best for night shots. Set manual exposure, maximum aperture, slowest shutter speed you can handhold safely, then increase ISO until the photo in the LCD playback looks okay. As a starting point for the exposure, meter off the floor. 

I would have preferred to shift the photo more to the left to get more of the trees into the photo, but there's a lot of clutter on the ground that would have been distracting.

Muzium Cafe, Bali Lane

The cafe is located in a row of old shophouses in the Kampong Glam area, near the famous Sultan mosque. This is a view of an alley next to the cafe, which is used as an alfresco dining area by the cafe. "Muzium" means "museum" in Malay. Malaysia's National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, is called Muzium Negara.

I'm just a sucker for bright colors. Haven't tried the food here, but there are blogs with reviews ( http://orionstar.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/saturday-evening-at-the-muzium-cafe/ ).

• D7000, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4.8, ISO 400, 1/350 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light, graduated tint fake blue sky

I don't use the wide angle zoom much, but I knew that the buildings here were quite crowded together, so I brought it along. The 35mm lens wouldn't have been able to do justice to the building.

24-Hour Internet Cafe, Desker Road, Little India

The shop is in a row of old shophouses, off Serangoon Road. Price is $1 for 30 minutes. I like the way that they've kept to a traditional design, in a tasteful low-key way. Lots of other Internet cafes along Desker Road. Most don't look as nice. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 400, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten.

T-Shirt Shop, Cheng Yan Place, Bugis

This looks like the place to go if you want a T-shirt which has a cute slogan or that parodies corporate logos. Me? I'm a buttoned-down shirt guy. Cooler (thinner) and doesn't stretch out of shape.

I'll photograph anything with bright colors. The T-shirts qualify, but it's the blue blocks on the second level, that really make the photo work.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f3.3, ISO 800, 1/45 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten, crop.

Had to wait a few minutes, take a few photos, to avoid pedestrians that were walking around and messing up the photo.  At least I didn't have to deal with cars.

Evening is a good time to photograph buildings. You get enough daylight to light up the outside of the building, but not too much until the light inside the building is overpowered.

Buzz Pod Convenience Store, Clementi Bus Interchange

The name on them is Buzz, but their website ( http://www.buzzpod.com.sg/ ) calls them Buzz Pods. This is a franchise business, surprisingly, run by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), the Straits Times guys. They probably see it as a way to sell their publications, though the pods also sell snacks and drinks. 

A lot of the bus interchanges have one. The black strip with the red Chinese characters is a scrolling LED display, with news headlines. Some pods display Chinese headlines, others display English. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-200mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4.8, ISO 400, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, straighten

At 18mm and with a stabilized lens, I could have gone to ISO 100 and 1/45 seconds, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to optimize.

Merdandy Bar and Cafe, Haji Lane

The Merdandy ( http://www.merdandy.com.sg/ ) is one of many cafes along Haji Lane. Their menu is a mix of local, Italian and Arabic food.  

This is the rear entrance, which is more interesting than the front, but they don't seem to want to advertise the rear on their website. Waste of beautiful artwork. Some kind of graffiti-style cyber/science fiction and Aztec or Egyptian feel (lady looks like Nefertiti).

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 100, 1/180 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop.

For a slanted object like this, you need some depth of field. A kit zoom lens starts at f3.5, so you don't normally have to worry about depth of field. With a large aperture prime, you need to set to at least the kit lens aperture to be safe. Day was bright enough for Program mode to set f4.8. If aperture wasn't small enough, I'd simply boost the ISO until it was. You can take short cuts like that if you've got enough light, no need to go to aperture priority mode.

Bao Today, Chinese Cafe

Bao Today is a franchise chain ( http://www.baotoday.com/ ). This one is outside the 313 building, Orchard Road, next to the Somerset MRT station.

Local restaurants and cafes don't use Chinese lanterns. Those that do, look touristy. I'm not saying that the food is not authentic. I'm just saying that the decor isn't local, but it sure makes for a pretty picture.

I've tried the porridge a few times. It's quite good: Catonese-style watery and boiled until the rice disintegrates.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2.8, ISO 100, 1/60 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

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