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.

Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, Beach Road

This mosque (masjid) is over 150 years old. It's near the Golden Mile Complex and is set back from Beach Road with a garden in front. 

The notice at the side of the entrance says, "No entry to any visitor in shorts, low neck, bare-back or other revealing clothes."

http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_259_2005-01-06.html

"Hajjah Fatimah Mosque is located at 4001 Beach Road, in the historic Kampong Glam area. Built between 1845 and 1846, the mosque was named after Hajjah Fatimah, a wealthy businesswoman. It is the only mosque in Singapore named after a woman. Combining Eastern and Western design, the mosque is known for its unique minaret, which resembles a church spire, as well as for the noticeable tilt of the minaret that has earned it the nickname “the leaning tower of Singapore”. The mosque was gazetted as a national monument in 1973."

• Nikon D7000, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4.8, ISO 400, 1/1500 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten, fill light

For most photos, you want to minimize clutter. I had to crop quite tightly to cut out distracting details at the edges. This simple technique will make a big difference to your photos.

Pointed the camera down at the ground and did an exposure lock, because of the backlighting by the sky.

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.

Singapore Botanic Gardens, Tanglin Gate

There are quite a few entrances to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Tanglin Gate is at the south-east corner, the opposite end from the Botanic Gardens MRT station. The two side gates are for pedestrians, and are open until midnight.

There's an inscription on the gate that reads, "Connecting Plants & People since 1859."

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

This was taken at 8pm, so there's still a bit of blue in the sky (helped by setting incandescent white balance on the camera). The puffy white clouds are a happy accident.

The trees have different colors because those on the sides are lit by sodium-vapor streetlights, while the large tree in the middle is lit by spotlights inside the Botanic Gardens (I'm guessing quartz halogen). Together with the white gate, blue sky and white clouds, it all adds up to a pleasant mix of colors.

Raintree, Bukit Brown Cemetery

This photo shows the large raintree at the roundabout just inside the Bukit Brown Cemetery's gates. It's a popular meeting point for tours. It is located before the main blocks of graves, has room for parking cars, and is easily recognizable.

There has been renewed interest in Bukit Brown Cemetery ever since the government announced plans to slice off a corner to make way for a highway.

I joined one of the night tours conducted by a group dedicated to saving Bukit Brown from the highway ( http://bukitbrown.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/bukitbrown/ ).

• Nikon D7000, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f1.4, ISO 6400, 1/8 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, automatic white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Photo was taken at 7:50pm. You can see from the settings that it was already quite dark (you can just make out the yellow glow on some people, from chemical glow sticks). It doesn't look dark in the photo because, well, that's what cameras can do.

Later in the evening, I had to go down to 1/4 seconds and ISO 25600. Luckily I brought along a monopod. 

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.

Istana Grounds

The Istana ("palace" in Malay) is the official residence of the President of Singapore. It is located at the end of Orchard Road, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. The grounds and part of the main building are open to the public on most public holidays. 

This is the view looking back towards the main gate, and Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. Plaza Singapura is out of sight, hidden behind the trees on the left. The grounds are huge, this is less than half of it. Note the blue shade at the bottom left. That's for the policeman standing guard.

Photo was taken during the recent Hari Raya public holiday.  This is at about 10am. There were a lot more people later.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/350 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, -1 exposure compensation, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

I don't usually use exposure compensation, but the camera consistently over-exposes when metering grass or trees. 

The couple on the right is important for adding balance and interest to the photo. The rest of the people are too small to be interesting.

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).

Singapore Conference Hall

The Singapore Conference Hall ( http://www.sch.org.sg/ ) was completed in 1965, making it as old as modern independent Singapore. It's now the home of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. It's at one end of Shenton Way, near the Tanjong Pagar MRT station.

Before the rise of Singapore as an international convention center (with Suntec City, Singapore Expo, Marina Bay Sands, Resorts World Sentosa), large halls weren't common. The Singapore Conference Hall was therefore used for events such as political conventions, university convocation ceremonies (for some large faculties); and probably still is due to its unique historical significance.

Similar to many other commercial properties, available outdoor space has been monetized with a cafe. The cafe is new, but I'm not sure how new since I haven't been to this area for many years. I think the place looks better with the cafe.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 25mm, f4.8, ISO 1600, 1/90 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows, straighten.

1/90 seconds is high for a wide-angle, stationary (no people) shot like this, especially with a VR stabilized lens. I could have reduced the ISO and gone down to 1/15 seconds. But ISO 1600 is plenty good on the D7000, and I was in a rush, just passing by.

It's 7:10 pm, so the daylight is nice and diffuse. And dark enough that the interior building lights can be seen.

Outside Corridor, Stamford House

Stamford House ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_House,_Singapore ) is near City Hall MRT. It was built in 1904 and has had a varied history. It recently housed shops, but they've now been vacated. I'm assuming that some major renovation is planned.

The two ladies at the end just happened to be there. They give a sense of scale to the photo, show how tall the ceiling is.

If you look at the ceiling, between the 2nd and 3rd lamp from the top, on the right, you can see a security camera. 

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 105mm, f16, ISO 800, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows, straighten.

Zoomed in to 105mm to collapse the pillars together. Tilted the camera up to emphasize the ornate ceiling. Manual exposure because the strip of daylight at the end was throwing the exposure off. Set f16 because I needed the depth of field to get all the pillars in focus.

Old Colonial Bungalow, Scotts Road

This old house is now commercial property, an SK-II (a cosmetics brand) Boutique Spa, run by Senze Salus ( http://www.senzesalus.com/outlets/scotts.html ).

The windows are glassed-up and the whole place air-conditioned, but you can still see the local-style architecture of a raised ground floor (note the meter-high pillars on the right, next to the car). I guess to isolate the floor from the damp ground, and creepy-crawlies.  Most Singaporeans now live in high-rise apartments. They are probably not aware of the number of small creatures that can crawl into a bungalow.

The main entrance is on the left, next to the tree, under the maroon canopy. There are some steps leading up from the ground.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 140, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture Priority, spot meter, auto white balance
• Picasa: Straighten, crop, auto contrast, shadows

Taken from across the road. Allows you to fit more in, without using a wide-angle lens, avoiding the distortion and perspective problems that come with using a wide-angle lens. Main drawback is that you spend some time dodging cars.

The center-weighted meter that I normally use was thrown-off by the backlit sky (mostly cropped out of the photo later, on the PC) so I switched to spot meter and metered off the wall. Which is white, but managed to give a good exposure anyway. Could also have used manual exposure. There's more than one way to get the job done.

Official Graffiti, Stamford Arts Centre

The Stamford Arts Centre ( http://www.nac.gov.sg/fac/fac0301.asp ) at Waterloo Street, is near the famous Goddess of Mercy temple. This is a photo of the side wall. The air-con units outside are a sign that this is an old building, without central air-conditioning, retrofitted with individual units.  

There's another Stamford Arts Centre in the UK.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f6.7, ISO 400, 1/180 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, fill light.

White wall caused the camera to under-expose a bit. Fixed it later with on the PC.

House of Tan Yeok Nee

Old mansion (1882) in the heart of the city: Clemenceau Avenue and Penang Road, near Orchard Road and the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. Many people will remember it as the Salvation Army's headquarters. It now houses the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business ( http://www.chicagobooth.edu/visit/singapore/index.aspx ).

The Preservation of Monuments Board has details ( http://www.pmb.sg/?page_id=182 ). The building in the background is the Visioncrest Residence, a private condominium.

• D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 50mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/125 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast, shadows (photo was over-exposed, not sure why, scene isn't high contrast)

Had to crop tightly to cut out a lot of distracting junk: traffic light, lamp post, pedestrians. Standard urban problems. Cropping photos is an important part of editing. Lots of photos that I see on Facebook, would be greatly improved by some simple cropping.

When you're taking a photo, you don't want to zoom all the way in, even if you have a zoom lens. Best to leave some margin around the edges. This gives you flexibility to decide the final crop later, when you have time to slowly think about it. With today's DSLR's going above 12 megapixels, you've got megapixels to burn. A standard PC monitor is only about one megapixel, HDTV is two megapixels, digital cinema is two to nine megapixels ( http://cinema.emilanderic.com/digitalprojection.aspx?id=7&mname=Digital%20Projection ).

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.

Sriveeramakaliamman Temple, Serangoon Road, Little India

Sriveeramakaliamman temple ( http://www.sriveeramakaliamman.com/ ) is one of the oldest Indian temples in Singapore.

The family look like they are posing for the photo, but they are just waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f4.8, ISO 100, 1/45 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, straighten

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.

Old Terrace Houses, Emerald Hill Road

Quite a few pre-WWII shophouses in Singapore, but old residences are harder to find. These are in Emerald Hill, famous Peranakan (Straits Chinese) area, off Orchard Road. Had to crop off the bottom of the photo. Large green trash cans in front of each house. Totally spoils the picture.  

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 24mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, graduated tint fake blue sky

Went to manual exposure because a lot of the photos I took along the road were backlit by the sky. Didn't want to bother with exposure lock. Not so much sky in this photo, but no point changing exposure mode once you've got manual exposure nicely dialed in.

Don't need f8 for this photo, but then don't need high shutter speeds either, and I'm still at ISO 100. For outdoor daylight photos, exposure is easy. You've got light to burn. It's the indoor shots that are a pain, and where you really need a DSLR. You could get a high quality image of the above scene with a compact camera. 

Going Om Cafe and Bar, Haji Lane

Looks like a Buddhist-themed cafe/bar, though their website (http://www.going-om.com/) says Nepalese. This is the sign on the second level. The ground floor is much less colorful.

Haji Lane is near Bugis MRT. It's full of old shophouses, converted into cafes and fashion boutiques. Lot's of tourists there.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f6.7, ISO 100, 1/180 seconds
• Program exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop

Fountain Court, CHIJMES

Fountain Court is the lower level, which seems to be shared by a few bars and restaurants (you can see the square signs for Harry's Bar at the bottom left). It is an open-air basement. Upper level is the ground floor. Structure at the top right is the Pizzeria Giardino. The fountain is out of the picture, on the right, just below the chapel.

CHIJMES (http://www.chijmes.com.sg/) used to be the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. It's now a collection of bars and restaurants. The chapel has been deconsecrated and is now called CHIJMES Hall, a popular location for wedding dinners.  

Wikipedia has details (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIJMES).

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 35mm, f2, ISO 3200, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, incandescent white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light

Bars or Cafes Along Emerald Hill Road

Next to Centrepoint, off Orchard Road, just after Peranakan Place. The road here is still closed off to vehicular traffic. Right after this is the start of the residential part of Emerald Hill. 

Most of the buildings here were built before World War II, some before World War I. Red unit on the left is now a shop. Don't ask me about the dinosaur on the roof. I don't know what that is.

• Nikon D80, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop, fill light