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

Stewords Riverboat, Marina South Pier, Night

Replica of a Mark Twain-style Mississippi riverboat, permanently berthed at Marina South Pier. There's a restaurant, a cafe, and a multi-purpose hall.

http://www.riverboat.com.sg/

I took this photo on the way back from a boat trip to Kusu island. I hung back behind the rest of the passengers, to take the photo and ended up being the last one through the customs checkpoint.

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8
• At 38mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop, glow

The reflections off the water are an important part of the composition. I had to consciously aim the camera downwards to capture them in the frame.

I carried two zoom lenses on this trip, together with the 35mm f1.8 prime. I switched to the prime when it got dark, not just because it was the brightest lens but also because I was stumbling around in the dark and didn't want a big lens hanging off my camera.

Marche Restaurant, VivoCity

Taken from the open roof of VivoCity. The curved glass walls form an interesting shape, which works well with the yellow indoor light and the blue evening sky.

Building in the background is the Harbourfront Centre.

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f4.8, ISO 1600, 1/8 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Crop

The sky evens out the exposure and allows the camera meter to work correctly. If the sky was black the camera would have over-exposed and I would have had to switch to manual exposure to compensate.

Restaurants at Night, Holland Village

Restaurants, bars and cafes along Lorong Mambong (Mambong Lane). It's like Boat Quay or Clarke Quay, lots of foreigners and yuppies. But without the river, and it's in the West of Singapore. Probably more expats and fewer tourists.

I used to walk to Holland Village from Buona Vista MRT, about one kilometer. Now there's a Holland Village MRT station on the Circle Line, which takes you right there.

• Nikon D7000, Sigma 20mm f1.8
• At 20mm, f2, ISO 800, 1/30 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, automatic white balance
• Picasa: No editing

Actual scene is about 2 stops (4 times) darker than the photo. With a fast wide-angle lens and today's high-ISO DSLRs, you can take evening photos like this without using a tripod. I could have pushed up to ISO 1600, gone down to 1/15 seconds. In other words, I had an additional 2 stops margin to play with if the scene was darker. Today's cameras are fantastic.

Steamboat Restaurant, Beach Road

There's a whole long line of steamboat restaurants along Beach Road, opposite Shaw Tower. Photo is taken looking down Liang Seah Street. Beach Road is behind the camera. 


Building on the left is a row of old shophouses, now converted to upscale restaurants. Vertical blue sign at the top middle, is a Tiger Beer advertisement. 

• Nikon D7000, 35mm f1.8.
• At 35mm, f4, 1/30 seconds, ISO 6400.
• Manual exposure, center weighted metering, incandescent white balance.
• Picasa: Crop, straighten, auto contrast.