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.  

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.

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

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.

Odeon Towers Entrance

Odeon Towers is an office building with a few restaurants, bars and clubs. As far as I can tell, there are no retail outlets. This is the view from the public pavement. It's located opposite Raffles Hotel.

I liked the way the different colored blocks were arranged, giving a clean graphic look, but with enough details to be interesting. I would have preferred it if there weren't any ceiling lights to clutter up the top left, but they aren't too bad.  

• Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
• At 10mm, f3.5, ISO 400, 1/125 seconds
• Auto-everything
• Picasa: Straighten, crop

Ascentia Sky Condominium, Under Construction

I came across this rather striking building on Alexandra Road, while on my way to an appointment. The wide and thin structure, combined with the colors and the pillars embedded in the front, made it a stand-out compared to your average apartment block. 

Redhill MRT station is just behind.

There's more information at the official Ascentia Sky website:
http://www.ascentia-sky.com.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 32mm, f8 ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto White Balance
• Picasa: Fill light, color saturation

The building was backlit against the sky, creating a dull image, so I later edited the photo on the computer to bring out its color. 


Standard setting for outdoor shot - ISO 100 for low noise, f8 for high lens sharpness.

Kranji Primary School

It still surprises me, how much of a difference some bright paint can make to a building. With colors like this, you don't need a blue sky.

Photo was taken from onboard a passing MRT train.

• Nikon V1, 10-30mm f3.5-5.6
• At 22mm, f5, ISO 100, 1/400 seconds
• Auto-everything
• Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast, saturation, glow

Original photo had a gray film over it due to the dirty windows on the train (double glazed too, so more flare). Picasa's auto contrast function managed to neutralize most of that. I also increased color saturation and used the Glow function to punch up the colors. Without any people in the photo, you can boost the color without worrying about skin tones.  

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.

One Raffles Quay

New high rise office building in the middle of the financial district. There are two towers (North and South), connected by a plaza. The towers are placed at an angle to each other, which makes for an interesting photo. The north tower on the left, is 50 storeys high. The south tower on the right is 29 storeys high.  

This was at 8pm on a weekday night. Looks like people here work too hard. Orange spot at the bottom right is an out-of-focus raindrop on the lens, catching light from a streetlamp. 

http://www.orq.com.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 28mm, f4, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Fill light

Manual exposure for easy control, set maximum aperture and slowest safe shutter speed, then increase ISO until the exposure is correct (check on the LCD playback). This way you get highest image quality by using the lowest possible ISO. Use Picasa's fill light feature to brighten up the dark walls a bit.

Reflections at Keppel Bay

New condominium near Vivocity. Elegant curvy design, one of the most beautiful condos I've seen. I was lucky to get the sun in this position, where it reflected off the glass and brought out their texture. Half an hour later the reflections were gone.

Sentosa cable cars are in front of the building. I waited a few minutes to get an interesting pattern of cars. The red and yellow cars are Angry Bird cars.

http://reflectionsatkeppel.com/

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6
• At 165mm, f11, ISO 100, 1/500 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light

Picasa's auto contrast helped a lot in incresing the "punch" of the light. The long distance and water vapour from the sea, created a gray veil over the photo.

Marina Bay MRT Station

This is Exit A of the MRT station. Exit B is on the other side of the East Coast Parkway expressway, closer to the skyscrapers of the Marina Bay Financial Centre in the background. 

The underground MRT is actually a good way to cross the expressway on foot. Unfortunately you need to pay because the only way through is via the ticket gate. 

I seem to remember this station being called Marina South, not Marina Bay. But I could be wrong. Marina South is now a new station on the Thomson line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Bay_MRT_Station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_South_MRT_Station

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

Simple night shot: the difficulty is in finding the location. Set maximum ISO that you can tolerate, safe shutter speed to avoid camera-shake, then only stop down the aperture (for depth of field) if there is any spare exposure margin. Fine-tune the exposure later on the PC.

Sasanaramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple

This is the rear of the temple. The front view is blocked by a gate, and isn't as shiny. In the background are a private condominium on the left, and a HDB flat on the right. 

For a non-rectangular building like this, it's important to get the background right because it will show through more than with a rectangular building. You want a background that isn't too messy or distracting.

The temple's website is:
http://www.bbt.org.sg/

• Nikon D600, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6
• At 135mm, f8, ISO 1600, 1/750 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast, glow

Technically simple shot. ISO is unecessarily high but ISO 1600 looks so good on the D600 (looks like ISO 400 on the D7000) that I didn't bother to change since I was shooting indoors and had popped out for a few minutes.

 Some editing in Picasa to brighten up the image and make it glow a little.

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.

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.

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.

Art Deco Building, Loke Yew Street

Named after a businessman and philanthropist ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loke_Yew ) Loke Yew Street is a small street near the center of town.  

This is an old 4-storey Art Deco building ( http://www.ura.gov.sg/conservation/lokeyew.htm ). Only the top three stories are shown because the ground floor was a bit plain. The spotlights help a lot in making the building look good.  

• Nikon D7000, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f1.4, ISO 100, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop.

It's a bit of a formula, but I like it: photograph the building at an angle and try and fit in a nearby tree.

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.

Central Fire Station, Hill Street

Singapore's oldest fire station, located behind Funan Centre.

The fire station is still operational. I was standing there for half an hour, waiting for the right sky brightness. While I was there, three emergency vehicles deployed, at different times, with flashing lights and sirens: two ambulances and one fire engine. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Fire_Station,_Singapore

• Nikon D7000, Sigma 20mm f1.8
• At 20mm, f2, ISO 200, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Critical part of the photo was getting the sky right. The light on the building from the streetlights is fixed, so you expose for that. The brightness of the sky changes, so take a series of photos at different times (every 2 or 3 minutes) until you get one where the brightness of the sky matches the brightness of the building. This photo was taken at 7:40pm.  

Incandescent white balance was used to counteract the yellow street lights. Which also helps deepen the blue of the evening sky.

Underside of Esplanade Bridge

I don't know what caused the streaks on the concrete. Makes it look like natural rock, not industrial concrete. It's not sunlight reflecting off the water, because it doesn't move. 

I was quite pleased with this photo, thinking that most people wouldn't have noticed such a simple but beautiful image. Then I saw a friend who had just started in photography, take the exact same shot.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f11, ISO 400, 1/30 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast

Zoomed all the way in to collapse the pillars together. Set f11 for depth of field.

CHIJMES External Wall, Night

Outside of the popular CHIJMES (former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus) nightspot.  

I'm glad that they kept the convent walls, but didn't think that the outside would make an interesting photograph (the inside is much more photogenic, http://sgsnaps.blogspot.com/2011/05/fountain-court-chijmes.html ).

Then I happened to be passing by one day, on my my home via City Hall MRT station, when I noticed that the perspective of the receding walls would make an interesting photo. And then this girl walked by and beautifully balanced out the photo. 

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f5.6, ISO 3200, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Could have gone with a loser shutter speed and lower ISO, but I didn't have time to switch (was taking some photos at 105mm earlier, with stopped down aperture for depth of field).