Conrad Centennial Hotel

There are so many hotels in the Singapore city center that it's hard to keep track of them all. The Conrad Centennial hotel is next to Suntec City. Most people seem to call it The Conrad.
 
http://conradhotels3.hilton.com/en/hotels/singapore/conrad-centennial-singapore-SINCICI/index.html

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 
• At 24mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/1000 seconds 
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance 
• Picasa: Auto contrast, crop 

I usually try to add something in the foreground when photographing a building, otherwise the photo looks plain. But this hotel was interesting enough, asymmetrical enough, to carry the photo on its own.

Pan Pacific Hotel

One of the more well-known hotels in Singapore, near Suntec City. The vertical grooves on the side of the building are tracks for the external glass lifts (elevators). I was wondering why I didn't see any lifts move, and then I found out that the hotel was under renovation: 

http://transformation.panpacific.com/

• Nikon D7000, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
• At 18mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/750 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast

To make a photo of a building more interesting, try to include something in the foreground. The spiral on the left is about 20 to 30 feet tall, a sculpture in the middle of a small traffic roundabout, quite far from the hotel.

It's okay to photograph buildings in bright sunlight, as long as the sun is behind you. This photo was taken at 12:30pm. The blue sky won't fool the camera's light meter and cause over-exposure as long as there aren't too many clouds, so you can use auto-exposure without any worries.

Aperture priority because with so much light, the shutter speed won't have much effect on the photo (speed will be high, no matter what). Set lowest ISO (100) for highest image quality, then intermediate aperture (f8) for maximum optical quality (too big and you get optical aberrations, too small and you get diffraction).

Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East, Night

This park/garden is next to the Ang Mo Kio MRT station (the station is out of the frame, on the left). Lots of steps to the top, which is why I've only been there a few times. 

The steps at the bottom make an interesting pattern, as do the apartment blocks at the top.

Managed by the National Parks Board.
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=4&Itemid=73

• Nikon D7000, 24mm f1.4
• At 24mm, f2, ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds
• Manual exposure, center-weighted metering, 2500K white balance
• Picasa: Crop, auto contrast

Pretty standard, straightforward, night scene. Trick is finding the location to take the photo, which will remain my secret (grin). There is beauty all around, you only need to look. No point photographing the same well-known landmarks that everybody is photographing. 

You get decent depth of field at f2 with the 24mm lens, much more than with a 50mm lens, so you don't have to be afraid of using it. This is close to the limit of hand-holding for the camera and lens - ISO 1600, 1/15 seconds and f2.

Wah Sua Keng and Chu Siang Tong Temples

There are two temples located in the same place. The Chu Siang Tong temple is the one with the blue roof, closer to the camera. The Wah Sua Keng temple consists of the two brown-roofed buildings.

Note the two MRT trains at the bottom of the photo. Yishun MRT station is only a few hundred meters to the left.

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

Night photography is easier than most people might think and the results are usually pretty.

Just use manual exposure and adjust exposure by looking at the LCD playback. (Auto exposure usually under-exposes night scenes.) Set ISO 1600, maximum aperture and adjust the shutter speed.  

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.

DBS Marina Regatta

This dragon boat race was held at Marina Bay. DBS is a Singapore bank.

It looks like a traffic jam but it's due to the telephoto lens perspective compression. There's actually a lot of space between the boats.

• Nikon D7000, 55-300mm f4.5-5.6 
• At 300mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/180 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, fill light

The 55-300mm is a relatively cheap consumer lens, but I think the image quality is fine. Much better than carrying around a heavy 70-200mm f2.8. Save that for indoors.

Mural, Kampong Glam

Mural along an alley in Kampong Glam (near Sultan Mosque, Haji Lane, Bali Lane, Beach Road, etc). Lots of murals (or "official graffiti") in this area. I've passed by this mural many times, but couldn't get a good photo of it. On this day, someone happened to leave a yellow mop bucket in front of it, and that made all the difference.

• Nikon D7000, 12-24mm f4
• At 12mm, f4, ISO 100, 1/250 seconds
• Aperture priority, center-weighted metering, auto white balance
• Picasa: Auto contrast, straighten, fill light

I don't use wide angle lenses much, too much distortion in the corners for photographing people, is fine for buildings and scenery. The alley was quite narrow, so the wide angle did come in handy.