The US Elections are TODAY.
Obama '08!
From the 1st - 2nd November, PUB opened up the Marina Barrage, the first reservoir in the city, to the public. Aside from the green-earth agenda that Marina Barrage promotes, it's also made out in the media to be one of the best places for a scenic view of the Singapore skyline. I've been anxious to visit the place over the past week when I first saw pictures of it in The Straits Times.
It was 6pm on Saturday the first. I jumped into my clothes, took up my tripod and camera, and left for the Barrage. Dropping off at Marina Bay MRT, I was directed towards a shuttle bus pick-up point thanks to the signs put up in the MRT. The intervals for the buses were 20 to 30 minutes. Wait, what?
Getting out of the MRT I was greet to a long line of the public shuffling their way across muddied ground and onto the pavement leading to the MRT. They didn't look particularly happy and many were there with their families. I walked the same muddied path which lead down to a tunnel. It was there that I found a traffic jam of pedestrians just spilling over onto the road. Add to that the foreign workers cycling to the constructions sites around the area. Cement trucks were rolling down the road at great speeds. The temporary bus stop for the shuttle bus was packed. I'm not gonna wait 30 minutes to get on a bus that I'd have to squeeze to get into. No, thanks, I'll walk.
I activated my Yankee Route Marching legs and walked to the Marina Barrage. I knew where it was thanks to the banners along the road and the fact that Joey and I went there the night before at midnight just for kicks. We were made to turn back by a security guard. It wasn't a particularly short walk. I think I walked a good half an hour, chin dripping with sweat. And I'm not exaggerating. I freaking walked from Marina Bay MRT to Marina Barrage. What the hell was I thinking?!
I wasn't the only one that was walking, though, and I overtook groups of families walking along the road towards the same destination. Add that to the heavy construction happening on both sides of the road and the occasional stench of buffalo poo. The journey there was dirty for public standards and it's a contrast to the banners on lamp post celebrating the clean-green-we're-so-clean opening of the Barrage.
I reached the Barrage in a while. I was confused at where I ended up. I didn't receive the whole "Wow" experience upon arrival. Was I supposed to? There were rows of tentage and a ton of people walking all over the mud and sitting on the road sides. But I didn't bother much (though I am complaining, aren't I?) since I was there to try out a few photography techniques.
I didn't particularly find the main complex nice or anything. It's the same old, same old. Then again, I didn't explore the exhibitions inside. The surrounding little gardens and water features, though, were turning out to be quite a haven. The city skyline peeks between the saplings of the garden. In a way, it reminds me of the time when I was a little child laying in a big box, looking up at the world. Did you get that or is it becoming flowery nonsense?
A long curved ramp leads visitors up onto the famed roof garden of the complex. The grass path that runs together with it in the center expands on the top to form the field itself. The view that greeted me up there was, simply put, awesome.
I was delighted at the vast open space. The sky was huge. The sea was huge. The fact that I could see these two meet at a point called a 'horizon' sealed the deal for me. The skyline occupied the entire span of the shoreline with the Singapore Flyer to the East and the CBD area to the West. Looking at the skyline from the Barrage, the moon shined brightly with Venus, just to the right of it, clearly in view. Yes, I was surprised as well to learn that what I saw beside the moon was Venus.
I came down to the Barrage this time to specifically have a go at HDR. I've never done it before but read a lot about it. There's a variety of photos out on the net claiming to be HDR. Some are flat out ugly and others are interestingly eye-catching. Personally, I fall for the more realistic version of what HDR is supposed to look like. At the same time, I've never really gotten to taking proper night shots of anything save the occasional snapshots while in the car and giggling at the streaks of lights.
I set up my Canon 450D on its standard kit lens (EF 18-55) on my tripod. For a moment there I felt like I was setting up a Matador. Any sooner and I'm afraid I'll be checking my backblast area.
What I planned to do was to shoot at a normal EV setting, then climb it up to +2, then -2, and then come home and combine these exposures together. Following that is a tweaking of what needs to have more light, which less, and finally recreate a scene that represents what we might see, on location, with a little dose of artistic interpretation. I hope you got that, I hate writing this way.
I shot at a an aperture of around f8, sometimes more, and simply because I read somewhere that this creates a nice star-like effect to lights. Also, I've had too many disappointments with my pictures when I find the camera focused on some random thing other than what I was interested in. This was due to the usual 4.5 - 5.6 aperture size that I usually lock down my camera to. In effect, I did away with auto-focus as well.
Switching on Live View was a ton of help for me. My tripod was extended to the max and there wasn't much things lying around to climb up and look through the viewfinder. I switched on the camera's Live feature, zoomed in my lens, zoomed in on the image on the LCD, focused, zoomed out the LCD, framed up my lens and shot the photo. I took exposures that lasted from 2.5secs to 30secs.
I never took a 30 second exposure shot before. The first few times I pressed it I felt stranded as I stood there like a dumb ass with arms crossed and biting on my nails.
I shooed any kids getting near my tripod and gasped loudly as any auntie or uncle was about to walk in front of my camera. It's hilarious to see them get down and duck walk under the camera's field of view... In actual fact, they could walk as per normal and not even cross my camera's field of vision. But that's just sadist talk and nothing related to photography. I'm sorry.
I realized that a remote or a shutter cable of some sort would be helpful in these situations where repeated images needed to be taken. I think they call this technique 'bracketing'.
I've never seen a shutter cable before but I expect it to have a dial to control the aperture and a button to release the shutter. Amirite?
It'll help a lot because I found myself playing Jenga with my camera as I adjusted setting and pressing the shutter was a game of Traffic Lights. Incredibly annoying and a big problem when you're in a crunch.
I took about 160 shots that day on the roof. For I had at least three different exposure settings for each scene I was capturing. I tried out different things and thought of theories while shooting. Like why not I shoot this exposure just for the highlights... that exposure for that area... and so on. Another thing I believe in is to have a rough idea of your workflow, whether it's shooting a film, a home video, or photographs. Know the tools and how they work, and the process. That way, when out in the field, you can plan your shots and be confident about it because you have an idea on how it'll be processed later on in the workflow. This confidence doesn't restrict but, rather, it encourages experimentation. I think that is an invaluable trait: experimentation.
I found a secluded corner of the Marina Barrage. It's on the far end of the pavement and beyond that was the construction site of the upcoming Marina Gardens. The place was pitch black, save the lights from the Barrage complex itself. By the way, I gave up taking a picture of the complex... I simply didn't know how to frame it up. It's a weird design!
I tried shooting with flash, without flash, very long exposures, and the whole jin gang.
Processing them with Picturenaut by HDRLabs, and open source free software to create HDRI, I got this image by combining a selection of exposures.
A quick export to Photoshop I did the usual tweaking and styling I like to do for the sake of fun.
It's one of my favorite pictures. I like the water, the composition and the floating thingy on the water.
But I wasn't satisfied yet. The picture grew old after a while and my hands were itchy again.
I re-did the photos again with a different selection of exposures to create this image. I experimented again with the blending and got to this picture, which had a different mood to it altogether.
It's not the best, but I really love this photo. I'm quite amazed at some details I see here that I didn't even notice on location. Remember that this whole area was pitch-black. I took notice only recently that there seem to be an altar of some sort just ahead of me with a deity on the top. I could be mistaken, but that's just freaking creepy.
After two hours on the damn Barrage, I bailed. My illness got back at me in the form of massive headaches at weird parts of my face and I rushed to a bunch of gay guys, who were in quite a big diva-mood, behind the counter. I bought a bottle of 100plus and gulped down three pills of Panadol Actifast and proceeded to finish the bottle.
You're right... I walked out of the Barrage wondering whether I just OD-ed on Panadol. Sure as hell felt high.
I took the public bus back to the MRT this time. I waited a good 40 minutes at the first bus stop from the barrage which was a nice fifteen minutes walk. I found a comfy seat on the train, laid my things down and stretched. Soon, I'll reach home to Yishun.
That's that. If you're wondering how the hell I could update on a bloody Monday night... Aren't I supposed to be in camp now?!
Obama '08!
From the 1st - 2nd November, PUB opened up the Marina Barrage, the first reservoir in the city, to the public. Aside from the green-earth agenda that Marina Barrage promotes, it's also made out in the media to be one of the best places for a scenic view of the Singapore skyline. I've been anxious to visit the place over the past week when I first saw pictures of it in The Straits Times.
It was 6pm on Saturday the first. I jumped into my clothes, took up my tripod and camera, and left for the Barrage. Dropping off at Marina Bay MRT, I was directed towards a shuttle bus pick-up point thanks to the signs put up in the MRT. The intervals for the buses were 20 to 30 minutes. Wait, what?
Getting out of the MRT I was greet to a long line of the public shuffling their way across muddied ground and onto the pavement leading to the MRT. They didn't look particularly happy and many were there with their families. I walked the same muddied path which lead down to a tunnel. It was there that I found a traffic jam of pedestrians just spilling over onto the road. Add to that the foreign workers cycling to the constructions sites around the area. Cement trucks were rolling down the road at great speeds. The temporary bus stop for the shuttle bus was packed. I'm not gonna wait 30 minutes to get on a bus that I'd have to squeeze to get into. No, thanks, I'll walk.
I activated my Yankee Route Marching legs and walked to the Marina Barrage. I knew where it was thanks to the banners along the road and the fact that Joey and I went there the night before at midnight just for kicks. We were made to turn back by a security guard. It wasn't a particularly short walk. I think I walked a good half an hour, chin dripping with sweat. And I'm not exaggerating. I freaking walked from Marina Bay MRT to Marina Barrage. What the hell was I thinking?!
I wasn't the only one that was walking, though, and I overtook groups of families walking along the road towards the same destination. Add that to the heavy construction happening on both sides of the road and the occasional stench of buffalo poo. The journey there was dirty for public standards and it's a contrast to the banners on lamp post celebrating the clean-green-we're-so-clean opening of the Barrage.
I reached the Barrage in a while. I was confused at where I ended up. I didn't receive the whole "Wow" experience upon arrival. Was I supposed to? There were rows of tentage and a ton of people walking all over the mud and sitting on the road sides. But I didn't bother much (though I am complaining, aren't I?) since I was there to try out a few photography techniques.
I didn't particularly find the main complex nice or anything. It's the same old, same old. Then again, I didn't explore the exhibitions inside. The surrounding little gardens and water features, though, were turning out to be quite a haven. The city skyline peeks between the saplings of the garden. In a way, it reminds me of the time when I was a little child laying in a big box, looking up at the world. Did you get that or is it becoming flowery nonsense?
A long curved ramp leads visitors up onto the famed roof garden of the complex. The grass path that runs together with it in the center expands on the top to form the field itself. The view that greeted me up there was, simply put, awesome.
I was delighted at the vast open space. The sky was huge. The sea was huge. The fact that I could see these two meet at a point called a 'horizon' sealed the deal for me. The skyline occupied the entire span of the shoreline with the Singapore Flyer to the East and the CBD area to the West. Looking at the skyline from the Barrage, the moon shined brightly with Venus, just to the right of it, clearly in view. Yes, I was surprised as well to learn that what I saw beside the moon was Venus.
I came down to the Barrage this time to specifically have a go at HDR. I've never done it before but read a lot about it. There's a variety of photos out on the net claiming to be HDR. Some are flat out ugly and others are interestingly eye-catching. Personally, I fall for the more realistic version of what HDR is supposed to look like. At the same time, I've never really gotten to taking proper night shots of anything save the occasional snapshots while in the car and giggling at the streaks of lights.
I set up my Canon 450D on its standard kit lens (EF 18-55) on my tripod. For a moment there I felt like I was setting up a Matador. Any sooner and I'm afraid I'll be checking my backblast area.
What I planned to do was to shoot at a normal EV setting, then climb it up to +2, then -2, and then come home and combine these exposures together. Following that is a tweaking of what needs to have more light, which less, and finally recreate a scene that represents what we might see, on location, with a little dose of artistic interpretation. I hope you got that, I hate writing this way.
I shot at a an aperture of around f8, sometimes more, and simply because I read somewhere that this creates a nice star-like effect to lights. Also, I've had too many disappointments with my pictures when I find the camera focused on some random thing other than what I was interested in. This was due to the usual 4.5 - 5.6 aperture size that I usually lock down my camera to. In effect, I did away with auto-focus as well.
Switching on Live View was a ton of help for me. My tripod was extended to the max and there wasn't much things lying around to climb up and look through the viewfinder. I switched on the camera's Live feature, zoomed in my lens, zoomed in on the image on the LCD, focused, zoomed out the LCD, framed up my lens and shot the photo. I took exposures that lasted from 2.5secs to 30secs.I never took a 30 second exposure shot before. The first few times I pressed it I felt stranded as I stood there like a dumb ass with arms crossed and biting on my nails.
I shooed any kids getting near my tripod and gasped loudly as any auntie or uncle was about to walk in front of my camera. It's hilarious to see them get down and duck walk under the camera's field of view... In actual fact, they could walk as per normal and not even cross my camera's field of vision. But that's just sadist talk and nothing related to photography. I'm sorry.
I realized that a remote or a shutter cable of some sort would be helpful in these situations where repeated images needed to be taken. I think they call this technique 'bracketing'.
I've never seen a shutter cable before but I expect it to have a dial to control the aperture and a button to release the shutter. Amirite?
It'll help a lot because I found myself playing Jenga with my camera as I adjusted setting and pressing the shutter was a game of Traffic Lights. Incredibly annoying and a big problem when you're in a crunch.
I took about 160 shots that day on the roof. For I had at least three different exposure settings for each scene I was capturing. I tried out different things and thought of theories while shooting. Like why not I shoot this exposure just for the highlights... that exposure for that area... and so on. Another thing I believe in is to have a rough idea of your workflow, whether it's shooting a film, a home video, or photographs. Know the tools and how they work, and the process. That way, when out in the field, you can plan your shots and be confident about it because you have an idea on how it'll be processed later on in the workflow. This confidence doesn't restrict but, rather, it encourages experimentation. I think that is an invaluable trait: experimentation.
I found a secluded corner of the Marina Barrage. It's on the far end of the pavement and beyond that was the construction site of the upcoming Marina Gardens. The place was pitch black, save the lights from the Barrage complex itself. By the way, I gave up taking a picture of the complex... I simply didn't know how to frame it up. It's a weird design!
I tried shooting with flash, without flash, very long exposures, and the whole jin gang.
Processing them with Picturenaut by HDRLabs, and open source free software to create HDRI, I got this image by combining a selection of exposures.
A quick export to Photoshop I did the usual tweaking and styling I like to do for the sake of fun.
It's one of my favorite pictures. I like the water, the composition and the floating thingy on the water.
But I wasn't satisfied yet. The picture grew old after a while and my hands were itchy again.
I re-did the photos again with a different selection of exposures to create this image. I experimented again with the blending and got to this picture, which had a different mood to it altogether.
It's not the best, but I really love this photo. I'm quite amazed at some details I see here that I didn't even notice on location. Remember that this whole area was pitch-black. I took notice only recently that there seem to be an altar of some sort just ahead of me with a deity on the top. I could be mistaken, but that's just freaking creepy.
After two hours on the damn Barrage, I bailed. My illness got back at me in the form of massive headaches at weird parts of my face and I rushed to a bunch of gay guys, who were in quite a big diva-mood, behind the counter. I bought a bottle of 100plus and gulped down three pills of Panadol Actifast and proceeded to finish the bottle.
You're right... I walked out of the Barrage wondering whether I just OD-ed on Panadol. Sure as hell felt high.
I took the public bus back to the MRT this time. I waited a good 40 minutes at the first bus stop from the barrage which was a nice fifteen minutes walk. I found a comfy seat on the train, laid my things down and stretched. Soon, I'll reach home to Yishun.
That's that. If you're wondering how the hell I could update on a bloody Monday night... Aren't I supposed to be in camp now?!
Posted by
Audi
Labels:
Filmmaking
,
My Life
,
National Service
,
Photography
,
Travel and Adventure
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