Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cloud Trail

Bliss conjures itself through what we call nature.

The wind was just right - so were the spongy masses, clouds. So I tried to capture their trail as they drifted with soft zephr carrying them - by keeping the shutter open long enough.

This picture was shot in bulb mode(close to 30 seconds shutter) and f/11 at ISO -100.













Skyline is pleasing indeed supplemented with a nice cloud trail - 40 Second,f/14 ISO-100.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Bishan

From Wikipedia -
'Bishan is a neighbourhood of the city-state of Singapore situated in the Central Region, measuring approximately three by three kilometres. Primarily a housing estate, Bishan houses the upper-middle classes and flats there are relatively more expensive than in other estates due to its central location.Bishan derived its name from the large Cantonese burial ground, known as peck san ting (in pinyin is bi shan ting), which used to cover the area.'

First stop - Bishan Park. An oblong park complete in all senses - catering primarily people with a penchant for exercise - joggers track,Cycling track,Open grounds for football etc.

Bliss in waters. Exposure compensation of -3.7 creates a stark back ground.Shot in the manual mode - 1/50 sec and low aperture f/25.Created stark back ground and made the pink stand out.Do notice the bee on the flower!












Lovely wooden bridge over a pond in the park - Both pictures shot in manual mode with appropriate aperture adjustments. Second pic shot at 28 mm to give a fish eye effect.












Next stop - Spirituality.Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple Monastry(Buddhist). A splendour indeed. A congregation of temples replete with Chinese culture and replete with peace and quietude.

Corridors of Spirituality. Shot at F/13(in order to compensate for excessive sunlight from one side) and 1/40 sec.












Lord Buddha in the foreground and glimpses of Chinese architecture in the back ground.









Six-tusked white elephant which has symbolic meaning in Buddhism.The elephant's six tusks represent the six paramitas: Charity, Morality, Patience, Diligence, Meditation, and Wisdom.










There is a lot more to be covered and learned here at the monastry. A second visited warranted - sometime soon!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Of Stamps...Of Churches...

Rain truncated day again....!

Day of some Philatelic appreciation as well. Singapore Philatelic Museum - unassuming as it may look - provides a sneak peak in to this idyllic history of stamps.

Coronation of the Queen,National Day of Singapore as well as 1st anniversary of Singapore all encapsulated on stamps!!

Low light meant - Compensation. Most of the pics at f/5.6 and ISO 400(to avoid grainy feel as well).













Armenian Church is a stunner! The gray back ground and f/7.1 and ISO-400 makes the white colour stand out.












The entrance was a tough nut to crack. F/4.5,ISO-400 and 1/200 second Exposure Time.











And Santa is around the corner indeed.....

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Fort Canning and MICA...

Rain tormented day meant curtailed photography session. Anyways - first stop was Fort Canning Park in the heart of Singapore entrapped between Clarke Quay and City Hall.

Rose by any other name....a bit of exposure compensation at ISO-400 and F/5.6.Notice the rain drops on the flower.












More flowers - thie blue one shot without an exposure compensation looked lovely on this dark day.











More interesting pictures - Notice the insect aiding pollination inside the flower. The Snail ofcourse was lazing around. The exposure was increased a few notches to capture the snail.










Finally - the beautiful MICA(Ministry of Information Communications and the Arts) building at Clarke Quay. Yes that building with beautiful windows. I promised to return to this building on a cleared day and with a greater zoom.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Land of Orchids...

Incarcerated in the heart of Singapore, close to the busy Orchard Road, splendour and magic conjure themselves as the environment enlivens itself with a species of flower which showers sanguine blessings – Orchids. The National Orchid Garden – part of the Singapore Botanical Gardens – rustles in the heart of this Country – Uniquely Singapore!


Orchids - beautiful subject - White hue in this flower meant Exposure compensation to avoid underexposure(verified with Histogram)

The garden boasts variety of orchids - hybrids,VIP orchids( dedicated to famous personalities visting the place), fragrant varieties etc.






Two more varieties Golden Shower and White Fairy



Lovely Colours -A bit of exposure compensation - Shot in Manual Mode.









More yummy colours - Compensated a bit with white balance - made it warmer and compensated exposure to enable a symmetric histogram.









And dragon flies..well they love me...all of them pose for me..

Friday, November 2, 2007

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

An experience amongst the Mangroves indeed.

Tucked away and trapped between Singapore and Malaysia a truly otherworldy experience...




A dragon fly shot at Aperture Priority F/5.6 1/80 Sec ISO- 200 WB - Cloudy




Amazing colour contrast. A red insect finding it way through burnt forest land.
Aperture Priority F/5.6 1/25 Sec ISO-400 WB- Auto







And yes this buddy of mine, I was chasing through the forest, the Malayan Water Monitor





And some experiments with White Balance. Adding a bit of Orange hue actually cancelled out the bluish hue in the first pic

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Shutter Speed Personified!

The magic that shutter speed can conjure...(A visit to Esplanade and Merlion..)


The streaks that you observe...are boats plying in Singapore River..


Check the jet stream out of the Merlion in this pic...and compare it to...


....the jet stream in this pic....Shutter Speed at work


Shutter speed can make nights..out of perfectly normal evenings!!