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.  

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.

Marina Bay Financial Centre

View from Marina Bay Sands. This is a widely-photographed view. I zoomed into the skyscrapers for a more abstract image and to avoid the cliched skyline. 

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 180mm, f8.0, ISO 180, 1/250 seconds
• Aperture-priority, automatic ISO, center-weighted metering, automatic white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, highlights, color saturation

The original photo had low contrast because the photo was taken in the early afternoon under a bright sun. Picasa's auto contrast function cleared it up and an additional highlight boost brightened the photo further.

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

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

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