Beach series

From My Photo Blog

Was just trying to create a mood with this series of pictures. Learning point for me is to create a consistent scale and horizon.

Panuba Bay

From My Photo Blog ISO: 400 Exposure: 30.0 sec Aperture: f/5.0 Focal Length: 18mm

Here's version 2. I added a black border in photoshop, masked out the rubbish in the corner, and brought the beauty of the rocks out while keeping the dark of the bay. May have to zoom in to see more. Hope you like it!

I took this photo from my room overlooking the bay in Tioman. It is a 30 sec long exposure and the scene is lit by the moon as well as white lights from the pier. It creates a beautiful purple and blue colour in the water and the sea is rendered super clear and calm on the long exposure. I also like the colours and exposure on the rocks (will photoshop the rubbish in the bottom corner out). I had focused using manual exposure and the LiveView mode on the lights in the distance, and set the camera on the banister with a 2 sec timer. Surreal and beautiful.

A drain on a rainy day

I was along Orchard Rd behind Takashimaya looking for a geocache when I went into a drain by the side of the road. I saw lots of interesting things... From A Drain on a Rainy DayISO: 800 Exposure: 1/200 sec Aperture: f/5.6 Focal Length: 250mm First was a small lizard on a rusty pole. I used the reach I could at 250mm and tried to get in as close as possible without scaring the bugger off. He was very wary and hid behind the post, so I could only see part of his body. That being the case, I crept to another side and concentrated on capturing its eyes. This shot is slighly cropped, and the contrast and colours was worked from the raw file. I like the colour contrast and the texture of the rust. From A Drain on a Rainy Day ISO: 800 Exposure: 1/125 sec Aperture: f/8.0 Focal Length: 55mm I then tried to play with macro, seeing how big I could get things in the frame. I found that the 55mm on my kit lens gave me the closest macro focus I could achieve. Here, I was focusing on this small flower and trying not to blow the highlights - there is a highlight priority mode on my 40D but I've not fully discovered its use - when this bee suddenly just landed on the flower. Slightly surprised, I got off just one shot before it hovered off again. From A Drain on a Rainy DayISO: 800 Exposure: 1/80 sec Aperture: f/7.1 Focal Length: 55mm Next, I tried playing with the red ants that lived around the drain, zooming in close and experimenting with the focus. I saw that there was a patch of moss nearby and waited for ants to pass by. I auto-focused on the eyes and tried to capture moments of interaction. From A Drain on a Rainy Day ISO: 800 Exposure: 1/30 sec Aperture: f/5.6 Focal Length: 55mm The day was overcast and soon it started to rain. Just as I was leaving, this caught my eye. The rough circle of red on the green railing, the intense look on the ants, and the raindrops all add to the photo. I did noise removal, colour correction, sharpening, and slight cropping on this photo. From A Drain on a Rainy Day ISO: 800 Exposure: 1/30 sec Aperture: f/5.6 Focal Length: 55mm This is a tighter vertical crop of the previous photo. Here, you see the action much more closeup. The ant at the top seems to be posing, while the rest are locked in a life-and-death struggle. Gruesome. Morbid. Life. Which orientation do you prefer between the two?

Mike and Madeline's Wedding

From Toh's Wedding Model: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 500 ISO: n/a Exposure: 1/30 sec Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 7.4mm

I'm rather proud of this shot with my PnS at Mike's wedding reception. The couple had given gift boxes of M&Ms, and Loretta spotted this composition of the wine glasses, crossage and gift box. I chose to shoot it sepia to give it a more surreal look and waited for the waiter to walk by. That to me made the shot.

Fireworks

From Fireworks

When the Singapore Fireworks Festival was on, I brought my camera out to experiment. I was not really prepared at all - I did not scout out any location and had no idea what settings to use! In the end, we raced to a spot just along Clarke Quay and the fireworks began. I quickly set up my tripod played with my zoom and my shutter speeds. I don't have a shutter release so I had to either use the 2 sec timer or be very gentle with my shutter presses. I discovered that you needed to time the shots to get the best fireworks bursts, so the 2 sec timer was out. If you look closely or zoom in, you'll see that the lines are not straight - there are curves and wobbles - but at this scale it's not very noticable.

I experimented with 2 second exposures, 8 sec exposures and full auto; zoomed in for some individual bursts, and tried to frame the clock tower in most of the shots. These are my favourites, with the middle being an 8 sec shot. I learnt that to capture the beauty of the burst, you need to set a low ISO and hold the shutter open for a couple of seconds. I'll need to invest in a shutter release next time! It was a great show!

Portraits on sunsets

From My Photo Blog

Along Tioman beach. I was experimenting with shots of Loretta against the sunset, but she was rendered a silhouette everytime. I thus tried to add in a bit of fill-flash - I had to play with the flash exposure compensation and brought it down about 1/3 stops. When I took this shot, I thought "Oops I cut off her head" but then it proved the most interesting shot out of the lot I took. Goes to show that sometimes 'artistic' shots go against certain conventions - such as cutting off the top of people's heads.

I would like to bring the exposure of the sunset down a little more while retaining the exposure for the potrait. Can only do that by separating the two in photoshop.

By the rocks

From My Photo Blog

One of my favourite photos, this one sits on my desk at work. We were on a crazy hike on Tioman all the way from Berjaya resort to Salang village in the north. Along the way was this hidden cove of rocks. The blue-green-orange of the sea-forest-shirt is so vibrant and alive.The branch and bag are slight distractions but I suppose the branches provide framing to the picture. When I look at this I can smell the sea and become transported to a faraway paradise. This was taken with my PnS without any major tweaks.

Moonset over the pier

From My Photo Blog ISO: 800 Exposure: 2.0 sec Aperture: f/5.0 Focal Length: 40mm

I woke up in the middle of the night to see the moon setting and creating a reflection and silhouette of the pier. I needed to rest the camera on the banister for this 2 sec exposure, but I think the tilted horizon adds to the interest. The moon is blown but that's the problem with any photo with the sun/moon in it - the dynamic range is too high. I'll have to experiment with combining several bracketed exposures in HDR, or experiment with a polarising or neutral density filter. I'm not sure what you think of this photo. What about you?

Sunset over the pier

From My Photo Blog ISO: 400 Exposure: 1/400 sec Aperture: f/14.0 Focal Length: 27mm

This was from my room in tioman, overlooking the pier. I just love the glow of the setting sun on the wooden boardwalk in this picture. The boat on the left and bouys in the middle are distracting, but I could photoshop them out. The sun is blown and has no details - will experiment with some HDR (high dynamic range) for this photo as I took multiple exposure using AEB (auto exposure bracketing.

Deconstruction

From My Photo Blog

This building was being demolished. I just thought it was interesting. I pushed the saturation way over and found that there's a whole bunch of primary colours just hiding there.

Orange and Green

From My Photo BlogISO: 500 Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: f/4.0 Focal Length: 55mm

This was taken on the hike back to our inn. I like this photo for its colour theme of orange and green. The moss on this quaint little bridge adds to it. The bridge seems to provide leading lines to the point of interest, and the rule of thirds is observed. It captures a moment and a feeling on our long hike from Genting village back to Panuba Inn.

It's sunny

From My Photo BlogISO: 400 Exposure: 1/320 sec Aperture: f/6.3 Focal Length: 250mm

This shot is taken under very bright conditions at the pier of the Tioman Marine Park. Although large parts of the photo are blown or otherwise grey, I think it makes the photo work because all the colour is focused on Loretta. She looks relaxed and is sharply in focus.

Pond Skater

From My Photo BlogISO: 400 Exposure: 1/250 sec Aperture: f/5.6 Focal Length: 250mm Flash Used: Yes

It was an exercise trying to get a shot of the pond skaters in this beautiful waterfall pool that we swam in. They were skipping all over the place and proved impossible to focus on. Just before we left, however, this calm individual floated slowly around and gave me time to experiment.

First, the shots were blur as it was in the shade and constantly in motion. I decided to turn on the flash and that managed to provide enough light to freeze the blur. Next, the focus was a little hit-and-miss as I was shooting at full zoom with only a few mms of DOF. It was aim-for-the-eyes and snap. I then tried manual focus, turning the focus ring to the minimum, and moving the camera, which worked to a large extent. This shot is nicely focused on the eyes, not perfect, but almost there.

The problem with using the flash is that it caused unnatural colours - making the pool/water brown. I tried to minimise this by using a faded b&w effect and removing the colour from everything except the pond skater.

In the end, I picked this shot because of the ripple in the water that I happened to catch, which adds interest to the photo. Well, this was an experimental shot. Any comments on how to improve?

Hermit

From My Photo Blog

From My Photo Blog

This hermit crab scuttled across our trail. I used the 250mm zoom to get up close and personal, but he was very shy. It would have been better not to have cut off the shell and his claw in the first photo, and to lock the focus on his eyes, but there are nice details nonetheless. The second shot shows his shy nature, peeking out from the undergrowth. A little dark and Out-Of-Focus, but interesting I hope.

Mangrove

From My Photo Blog

When I walked past this patch of mangrove roots, I thought the trees provided a nice frame for an interesting shot. I pushed up the saturation quite a bit to get a rather more colourful and fantastical shot.

Butterflies - help!

From My Photo Blog ISO: 400Exposure: 1/250 secAperture: f/6.3Focal Length: 146mm

While trekking along the beaches of Tioman, two butterflies presented a photo opportunity. I took several shots, experimenting with the point of focus and moving to shift the background. I only had a few seconds before they flew away. Here is the best shot, with one version cropped in closer. Which do you prefer? The left shows a nice bulb of yellow flowers on the left corner that complements the orange of the butterflies; the right shows more details of the butterflies.

Despite playing with the cropping and saturation of the photos, I still find that I'm not happy with them. The colours just look washed-out with no 'pop'. Any suggestions on how to improve this shot? I'm thinking that I could perhaps have used a smaller aperture and try to get the whole scene in focus; that should look nice. I'll try to sharpen it a little more with unsharp mask in PS and see it that helps. Any other suggestions?

Landing

From My Photo Blog

Haha.. I just realised that there is a headless bird in this picture. Maybe I could photoshop it in if I really want to.

I picked this picture because I liked the poses of the birds, but also what I had to do to get this look. The original picture was really a boring line of birds along the shore, but I spotted this one right in the midst of landing in a far corner. Zooming in, I found this composition that looked nice and cropped it - but it was still boring. I then added a brownish graduated tint using Picasa and this made it look much better - like a sunset with simulated DOF. For true birdshots, I need more camouflage behind trees or a longer zoom lens..

ISO: 400Exposure: 1/1000 secAperture: f/11.0Focal Length: 250mm

Flight

From My Photo Blog

ISO: 125Exposure: 1/500 secAperture: f/8.0Focal Length: 250mm

While waiting for the ferry, we strolled the beach and there was a flock of sand pipers(?). I tried to approach but they were really flighty. I could only shoot off a few frames from far away as they flew away with the 250mm zoom lens. However, I found that the focus was good and the 1/500 shutter speed captured just the right amount of motion and detail to show the beauty of the birds and their flight.

This is a really tight crop and is almost actual resolution. I examined the whole flock of birds and found the sharpest and most dynamic area to show in the photo.

Stare

From My Photo Blog

I don't have a cat. This was taken at a stopover point on the road to Tioman. The cats were friendly and allowed me to take shots of them. This was originally a full body shot, but care was taken to focus on the eyes. I decided to really zoom in and crop it to show just the details in the fur and the beauty of cat's eyes.

Abstract of roof tiles

From My Photo Blog

Taken in the same evening sun as the last post, this is an abstract of the roof tiles on my home. Just looking at something ordinary in a different light.

Backlighting

From My Photo Blog

This was one of the first shots I took with my new DSLR. While I should have got down lower, I'm posting this to show what a little backlighting can do to a photo. The evening sun highlighted my dog, Jack's, fur to provide a beautiful outline. There's more wrong than right with this photo - I should have gotten down lower, he's not looking at the camera, the floor is kinda boring, and some parts are blown and lack detail.

Hotel

From My Photo Blog

My first abstract post. I won't tell you what it is or where I took it (except the clue in the title). I just hope you like it!

Take this!

From My Photo Blog

This was taken in the lift of a musuem in Japan. We were having a wonderful time and were going down the lift when she gave me a playful punch. I immediately saw the shot, whipped out the camera and said "Do that again!". I had just proposed to her 2 days earlier, and wanted a shot of the ring. Well, the ring has some motion blur, but the grey tones, lines, unusual pose with foreshortening make this an interesting photo which shows her character quite a bit. And the smile is genuine - wouldn't you be happy if you were just proposed to too?

Bronze Roof

From My Photo Blog

This is my favourite photo from my trip to Japan. Taken with a PnS, I used the tip of the roof as the focal point, composed the shot by putting the two bronze lanterns in the foreground, and let the camera do the rest. The details on the lanterns and on the roof are just amazing. This was taken in the morning under bright sunshine.

Mindanao

From My Photo Blog

I wasn't really sure why this simple group shot worked, but when I looked at it again, I realised that the evening light made such a difference. The shadows added so much more depth, and the colour blue popped up in interesting places around the photo. The walls, the wood, the well, the bags - have so much character. Of course, the weathered faces of the wonderful family that I stayed with too. The girl and the dog add a touch colour and interest.

Dingalan

From My Photo Blog

Group shots shouldn't be boring! Here, I posed them beside the distinctive catamaran style of Filipino boats and with the mountains in the background.

Gabaldon

From My Photo Blog

Since I started with Philippines, I decided to share some other photos from the trip. As you can tell, I like beautiful scenery. Here, my friends are climbing up the hill that overlooks the village and the flood plains. This whole area is ringed by mountains and is extremely beautiful.

The sky is blown, but the rule of thirds is very evident. A line of interest leads up to my friends, and Geraldine's orange shirt nicely contrasts with the grass. Maybe I can correct the sky in using photoshop's highlight reduction, but I hope to get a circular polariser for future shots like this.

Navotas

From My Photo Blog

This picture is Loretta's favourite from travels in the Philippines. It is a picture from the house where I stayed in on the illegal slums built over Manila Bay. The sunsets there are just beautiful. As the evening faded, people milled around and they settled down for the night, children played on the planks. The houses don't have electricity and whole families will sit around a candle to have their dinner - a pityful amount of rice for the poorer families. But, you don't see that in this picture. You see the people as they are - laughing- happy and not bitter - in what they call home.

For this picture, the exposure was tricky. I simply used the widest angle I could, composed the picture, and tried not to overexpose the sky or underexpose the boardwalk. In the end I had to brighten the dark portions a little with post processing and there are some blown parts in the sky, but it works. It's interesting because of the people and the place. The beautiful sunset is an interesting contrast. The leading lines and rule of thirds I hope add to the composure.

A View of Manila Bay

From My Photo Blog

I shall begin this blog with one of my favourite photos, taken with my simple PnS camera. It is a view of the setting sun over the bay of Manila. Basically, all I did was expose for the sun behind the clouds and waited for the boat in the middle to move somewhere interesting. The fact that the sun was behind the clouds meant that it would not be overexposed. The rays of the sun, the orange glow, the blue water and sky, and the mountain and boat in the background -the best photos sometimes cannot be planned for. You just have to be there to capture the moment.

What makes this photo more special for me was the context of where I took this from, which was from the edge of a slum built over the waters of Manila Bay. The water is actually filthy and the poverty of the people who live there completely contrasts with the beauty over the bay. For me, the sunset reminded me of the wonderful beauty of this place. Manila was actually a paradise and a wonderfully developed city in its heydey. It's just that over the years since, the grime of political, economic and environmental mismanagement has covered this city, and you have to dig a bit to see it.

Introduction

There's so much in the world to see... to capture.. to share. My interest in photography, as I mentioned in another post, probably began subconsciously while admiring the beauty of the pictures in National Geographic.

When I got my first camera, a point-and-shoot about 5 years ago, I had quite a lot of fun taking photos and trying to replicate the beauty of nature and capture the moods and moments of life. However, there were so many limitations with the PnS - most important of which was the inability to control the DOF. Getting a DSLR (I'm completely a digital guy - being born in the digital age) was therefore a wish for the longest time.

So when my good friends Chew and Toh turned up for dinner one day with a DSLR each one day, I was completely jealous, but thought that hey - perhaps it was time for me to take the leap. When I discovered that Ron was into photography, and my cousin Howard too, and saw that the prices were dropping and the time was right, I just did the research and got myself one too.

My Photo Blog

This blog is a learning journey as I discover the joy of photography and how to take better pictures. Also I realise that the learning curve of photography is pretty steep and I need to document how I achieved different effects with different shots. I hope to improve as I go along with comments and critiques by my friends who read this blog. A big thank you in advance!

National Geographic

When I think about how my interest and 'instinct' for photography started, I realise that I had always enjoyed the wonderful photos in National Geographic growing up. The beauty of the pictures - of landscapes, animals, people -it's where I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from. The National Geographic Picture of the Day widget on my blog is a tribute to NG and to remind me of what there is in the world to offer to the eyes that are willing to see.

Tags

In order to catalog the photos on this site, I have decided to use the following:

• Macro - Insects, flowers, anything really close-up.
• Landscape - Nature, Sunsets, etc.
• People - Culture, Portraits, etc.
• Abstract
• Urban - Buildings
• Wildlife - Birds, etc., usually zoom shots.

Click on the Tags at the left column to view the photos in that category.