New Gallery!

After months and months of searching for the best way to showcase my portfolio, I may have found the best free one so far. I have always wanted to integrate a professional looking gallery into my blog, but they either not classy or requires money. Disappointed, I started looking out for external sites that can host my gallery.

But I have found Wix, a website that allows you to create professional looking websites for free, and it's fully customizable! Have a look and don't forget to leave me a comment on what can be improved!

Presenting the new gallery! There are 4 main catagories: HDR, Food, Nature and Portrait

From there, click on the blog tab to return to this blog!

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Gardens By The Bay

My company recently organized a trip to Gardens By The Bay. Although I've been to the gardens twice, but this is the first time I'm entering the domes!

I read and heard much about the two domes, the main theme for today'and I understand there isn't much opportunity for HDR, so I'm leaving my tripod and my gears at home and only carrying my camera and a lens that is Macro capable.

There are two domes, being the Flower Dome, and Cloud Forest. The Flower Dome is like a showcase of plants and flowers from all over the world, in their own exhibition area. The center area will feature different flowers and decorations depending on the time of the year, with various festive decorations.

The Cloud Forest on the other hand, is based on the theme of forest above the cloud layer. There are still flowers, but mostly green vegetation. And not to mention, the place is every photographer's nightmare. First of all, you will be greeted by a huge waterfall, which splashes water at your camera relentlessly  Next, they release fine water mist into the air, to create the "cloud" effect, and you won't be able to get a shot without having a fog over your images. Nevertheless, it's still fun to visit, purely for the experience.

All the pictures below are taken at the Flower Dome. Enjoy!

This is my personal favorite. It's a sculpture of an eagle from a tree or something, and I thought desaturating the colors and enhancing it's features would make a dramatic effect.

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Queenstown Cinema & Bowling Centre

I've been a frequent visitor to Queenstown, since I began staying in Redhill 20 years ago. Back in the 90's, when I was young, Queenstown is a bustling place to be. There was everything from big restaurants, Cinemas, bowling alley, fastfood, and more! You wouldn't need to travel out of Queenstown to find what you need.

But slowly over the years, many things have changed. Restaurants are gone. Cinemas, bowling alley, fastfood are all gone. Even the hawker centre is gone too! Is this the bustling Queenstown that I have always remembered?

Everything that is a testament of the old Queenstown has already been torn down or rebuilt, with the exception of this: Queenstown Cinema & Bowling Centre.

This place has been vacant for at least a decade, but currently still hasn't been planned for deconstruction or refurbishment. But that won't last for long now, because Queenstown is one of the most expensive prime land for real estate in Singapore and redevelopment will make perfect ($$$) sense.

I wanted to have a look inside, but everything was secured tight with locks, so I can only take some shots outside. I used a combination of Nik software filter (Bleach Bypass @ 25% opacity, and Cross Processing method C01) for a little old school look.

 This should be the ticketing counter and main entrance

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Sunset @ Kota Kinabalu!

It's been a few month's since I've updated my blog, mainly because I've started working full time, and still finding the balance between work and hobby.

Like every December, I will travel overseas and capture those beautiful moments back to Singapore. This year it's Kota Kinabalu, in Sabah, Malaysia. I usually like scenic places like China because spectacular landscapes like high mountains and huge rivers are what Singapore and Malaysia is lacking most of.

Nevertheless, I still managed to capture one beautiful sunset during this trip, so at least it's not a wasted trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/8298868803/

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Formula 1 Singapore 2012

Last week was quite a busy week because it's my first time attending the F1 race in Singapore! Tickets are not cheap, and I always failed to get any free tickets for the past few years, but I finally managed this year!

I searched online for tips on good photos for Singapore F1, and other general tips. And together with my experience over 3 days, here are some tips for F1 Singapore!

I got a zone 3 & 4 ticket (green & orange area), so I'll only cover tips on these locations

General tips:

• Most people come through gate 3 and 6. During peak hours (i.e. 1 hour before the race), it's better to come through other gates such as 4 or 5.
• Don't try to bring food. Or drinks in glass bottles, or even very large bottles of drinks. They will deny entry.

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Singapore: A Part of My Life

Recently, I entered my mosaic penguin playground photo for a Straits Times National Day contest "Singapore: A Part of My Life".

In the end, I didn't win, but at least I was in the top 20 of 200+ photos, and it was on newspaper, covering a quarter of a page. Well, better luck and skills next time! Here is the online version. You can see other winners and finalist there too.

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Gardens By The Bay

The latest mega attraction in town is none other than Gardens by the Bay. Although it is still pretty inaccessible by public transport, it attracts lots of people everyday. I went on a weekday afternoon, so it wasn't crowded, but people started to pour in towards the evening. The place is really quite huge, and almost impossible to finish walking in an afternoon, but most of the attractions is located in the bay south, which houses the super trees and flower dome.

For people who don't want to pay a cent like me, there are still many places which you can visit and take awesome pictures of. Although I prefer to shoot HDR in the day, but it is during the night where the park comes alive with all the light show and music. In the afternoon, it's just a little less exciting.

So here are 2 pictures shot on my first visit. The first picture is of this supertree. It is the biggest of all the supertrees and sits in the center of all other trees. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/7557203598/

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Food Photography

I recently got interested in food photography. The motivating factor is because I'm now writing food reviews on OpenRice.sg, as they offer rather attractive rewards for posting food reviews. I've started to see a pattern on how to make food photos pleasing and maybe I'll do a short tutorial on that next time. Or maybe it could just be my next sideline?

Anyways, I've uploaded the photos on flickr, and you can always check out my flickr album: Dallas Makan. I'll be updating that album regularly, so please check back often and don't forget to leave me a comment!

For now, I've selected some photos to put up on this blog.

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Mosaic Playground - Penguin

Long ago, in the mid 90's, Children had no iPads or electronic games to play with. What did we do then? We'll have a ball of time at the playground downstairs. Back then, there would be a sand playground in every neighborhood, and those with plastic floors are like beyond rare.

The playgrounds are normally dirty and very sandy, with sand all over the slides and structures, but that doesn't stop kids from having a great time there. I remember the playground under my block had only a swing, a slide, but I can spend hours playing there.

But then, slowly the playgrounds around Singapore got upgraded to the newer plastic floors ones. The remaining ones are in danger of getting demolished. I didn't pay much attention until I read an article named "Mosaic Memories" from www.SingaporeMemory.sg.

So today, I visited Vocational Dr, off Dover Road, to see the only remaining mosaic pelican in Singapore. The residents of this neighborhood has already moved and work has began on either upgrading or tearing the buildings down, and the playground is boarded up. However, I managed to sneak in and get some shots.

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ROM of Nachu & Meiyappan

I was recently asked to shoot for an ROM of Nachu & Meiyappan. I've done wedding shots before but this is my first time shooting for an ROM. What's more, the couple are Indians, so I have a lack of understanding of their culture and procedure during the ROM. If you ask me, sure it's a challenge, but I'm prepared for it.

A few days before this ROM, I attended a seminar from Clubsnap about wedding photography. What I learnt was that I need a 33k hasselblad camera, a huge light & umbrella, and of course, assistants to do anything but shooting. Sure, I have none of the 3, and nowhere near, so most of things don't apply. But what I took away from the seminar is the way the photographer interacts with the model, and some typical wedding poses (and it helps alot!).

Enjoy the photos!

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My Qing Ming Festival (清明节)

There are a couple of festivals in Singapore that we never fail to celebrate even though they aren't public holidays. Qing Ming Festival(清明节) is one of the few. Once a year around April, people flock to the cemeteries and temples to pay their respects to their deceased loved ones. Way in the past, other than paying respects to the dead, family members will also rid tombstones of weed and clean up the tombstones. In some cases, they may also repaint the inscriptions on the tombstones with red ink, if the tombstone requires it. People offer fruits and food (from vegetarian to roast meat!), and burn simple offerings to the dead.

Fast forward 20 years, where land in Singapore is becoming ever more scarce, people settle their deceased loved ones in temples or columbariums. People now still offer fruits and food, but more westernized food like cup cakes and chicken chop?! No longer are burning simple offerings enough. Now they come up with all sorts of stuff, from iPhones, iPads, and all sorts of gadgets to be burned for the dead.

To be honest, I never liked the idea of Qing Ming Festival since I was a child. What I don't like is the incense smoke coming all over me and leaving me breathless (I have a sensitive nose, so it drives me crazy). But regardless of how much I hate going to the temples and columbariums, paying respects to ancestors is a basic courtesy. I never actually seen my grandfather before, but I still pay respects to him.

So here I am, on an awesome sunday, at Guang Ming Shan Temple (光明山). So here is a typical sequence of events that will follow:

1) Pray to the heavens
2) Offer the food and pray to ancestors
3) Burn offerings to ancestors
4) Ask if ancestors have eaten their fill.
5) If no, repeat step 4. If yes, go to step 6.
6) Pack up and go home!

The photos below were shot at Guang Ming Shan Temple and  Zi Du An Temple.

Let's start by first praying sincerely. Palms together and bow.

As expected, jobs like these are also done by foreign workers. The Singaporeans are there too, but they just sit around to supervise. Offerings comes in boxes or paper bags and have the deceased person's name and birth date written on the offerings before being sent into the fire pit.

I like the feel of this photo. I already knew how I wanted this photo to look when I was shooting it. Black & White is the way to go.

Temporary shelters and tables are set up during the yearly Qing Ming festival for the families to pray and offer food. Inside the building where the urns are kept, it's a strict no offerings and incense, so families pray outside the building.

The food that most people choose to offer. Since this is a Buddhist temple, no meat is allowed, so you won't see chicken chop lying around. So most people offer a popular local dish "Vegetarian Beehoon" (斋米粉). After the prayers, some people will not bring back the food and leave it lying around, waiting for someone to clear..

 Yes! And somebody is here to clear it. It's our Bangladesh friend. He dumps the cooked food, and keeps all the fruits. And the amount of fruits he can collect a day is amazing! I bet he and his friends can't finish them all.

 What's prayers without incense?

This is Zi Du An Temple. It's much more rundown compared to Guang Ming Shan Temple. I've only been inside the building once, and it really freaks me out. The urns look exactly like those in Chinese horror movies, and not to mention the creepy atmosphere...

They too have tables, but no shelters. Those coming to pray must stay in the sun...

More food offerings. The bottom right hand corner is the vegetarian BeeHoon that most of us often eat and are familiar with.

People normally don't clear up after their prayers, so they all end up in the bin, and it takes a huge bin to load them all.

 Other offerings that are used to burn. Waiting to enter the fire pit.


Will the new generation continue this tradition? Or will they choose to offer their prayers via an iPhone app next time? Only time will tell.


(This series of photo has been processed with the cross processing effect to bring out the nostalgic feel.)

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Marina Bay ArtScience Museum!

iLight Marina Bay is a lot of fun, seriously! My favorite light installation would be the Merlion, as you can color the virtual Merlion on a computer screen, and it shows up on the actual Merlion in real time!

limitless color combinations! 

There were other awesome and creative light installations around the whole Marina Bay, and like a kid, I had a great time photographing and playing with them. One of the"big" light installations is at the Marina Bay ArtScience Museum. I haven't been inside, nor have a clue of what this building will house, but the name of the building does suggest a big clue.

I've been here before, photographed, edited it, but I felt something lacking. Perhaps it was the featureless white exterior walls of the building. It was good, but a little dull and flat.

When I first heard about the iLight Marina Bay festival, I saw a photo of the ArtScience Museum and I clearly knew this is the moment that I've been waiting for! Something to be projected on the white walls and fill up the empty spaces!

Presenting the Marina Bay ArtScience Museum!

It's a HDR photo. This photo was a little challenging as I had to deal with unusually large amount of noise. Chroma was rather strong as well, especially purple, which is hard to separate from the purple that I want on the picture. A total of 21 layers used on this picture, and about 3 hours to edit.


On a side note: I read about native ISO on cameras such as 7D or 5D. The theory states that camera's noise performance is much better at a set of ISO numbers, such as "160, 320, 640". I'll try to talk about that in the future if possible. But I've tried running simple test between ISO 100 and 160, and I don't see a significant different like the article mention. Difference? Yes, maybe just 5%, but it could be a test variable. More on that soon!

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Enter The Merlion Night

Many Singaporeans never realize, but actually our iconic Marina Bay is a very beautiful sight. Let's put it straight, if it ain't beautiful, why would almost every tourist take the effort to drop by for sightseeing? However, I spoke to many local Singaporeans and not many people appreciate the beauty of our Singapore landscape. They normally say "Aiya, Merlion never see before meh? Only tourist will go one lor!".

I'm a frequent visitor of Marina Bay, walked round the reservoir many times over, but every time I'm there, I experience something new. It could be a new building, new angle to photograph an old scene, or an event. Local photographers might think the scenes in Marina Bay are already "Over Shot" or put it other words, photographed too many times. True enough, there are some iconic scenes that a landscape photographer should have been to and shot before.

Photographing scenes like this can be particularly stressing for the photographer. Although you clearly know the best angle for the shot, but the resulting photo may still be a far fetch from the real professionals. Even if your photo doesn't match up, but at least you know where you stand, and the difference gives you a good indication of the room for improvement.

Here is my take on one of the scenes that are "Over Shot". The Merlion with the Raffles Place backdrop. I'm happy with how the colors turn out and thus I sent this photo to participate in Samsung's
"Breathe Light Into The Night" Photo Contest.
https://www.facebook.com/SamsungCamerasSingapore?sk=app_165517023564572

My entry

And I won the FIRST PRIZE! I'm really glad that I won because the judges picked my entry and not winning by the number of likes/votes. It means a lot for a photo to be recognized, something that money can't buy.

Well, in conclusion, don't be afraid to shoot a scene that is shot by many before, and try to be creative and do in your style to be uniquely yours!

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Cosfest X.2 @ Downtown East!

I've not been to a cosplay event for about 2 years, because:

1) I'm not that into portrait photography.
2) I don't know when the next cosplay event is coming until it is over.
3) DOWNTOWN EAST IS FREAKING FAR FROM MY HOME.

But, being free, bored, invited, and accompanied by friends, I decided to go down and have a look. It's no much different from the event two years ago, with many character I don't even know who they are (except for Final Fantasy, because I play Dissidia). Well, I believe like many photographers there, they simply don't care who they are. They just want a free model.

(The technical stuff!)
Recently, I've been pondering if a EF-S 15-85mm at 85mm f/5.6 can take better pictures than a EF 50mm f/1.8. Or maybe even a EF-S 55-250mm lens might come into handy. Afterall, many pros carry the EF 70-200mm lens as a portrait lens. I thought it will be a good idea (stupid idea) to try out the lenses that I have during the event. But... It's a really stupid idea, because my bag gets freaking heavy, and I needed to rest after walking for only 3 hours.

Still quite glad that I made a couple of good shots during my time there. Photos below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6785710182/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6785742322/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6931841495/

Many thanks to these ladies. The rest of the photos (un-edited) can be view on my facebook photo album here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3365725591196.2157779.1510836410&type=3&l=cb1e6ac709

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An Untold Story in Guilin Village

During my time in Guilin, China, I visited one of the many villages hidden in the mountains. Although the village is designed as a tourist attraction, it was still rather rundown. Toilet facilities are still as bad, the roads not paved, and the buildings made out of wood.

The view was fantastic, I must say, and I like the rural feeling of the whole area. What had not changed was the food. The food is still very much original taste, which isn't suited to my more-meat-and-modern-foods lifestyle. I believe that is true for the rest of the people traveling with me. So I left the dining table early, and started to walk around the village, when I saw this rather interesting view.

See this photo on flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6801299533/sizes/l/in/photostream/

HDR information:
ISO 100, 10mm, f/11
1st shot: EV + 0, 1/20sec
2nd shot: EV - 3.0, 1/160sec
3rd shot: EV + 3.0 , 0.4sec

Post processing information:
Combined to HDR using photomatix
shadowmapping in photoshop
Chromatic aberration correction
Sharpening
Enchanced details, and added tonal contrast, and other various color & luminosity adjustments
Noise reduction

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A ride along 漓江 (LiJiang) in Guilin, China

Last month, somewhere around the end of December, I went on a trip to Guilin, China, with my family. I've long heard about the awesome, one of it's kind, hills and rivers in Guilin, and being a landscape enthusiast, I'm excited to be there.

Have you been to little Guilin (小桂林) in Singapore? I never knew Singapore would have little rock hills that shaped like the ones in Guilin. Fascinated, I expected more and better from the actual place in China.

On my second day of my trip, I arrived at a dock somewhere along 漓江 (LiJiang). It is said that the China's Ren Min Bi $10 back portrait has it's traits along this part of the river. If you haven't know yet, the portraits on each on the Chinese Ren Min Bi is an iconic landmark in China. If you've not yet decided where to go in China, take a look at the Chinese currency and you might get your next destination.

I reached the location at a time of the day which is not very photo friendly, and I experienced some significant flare on my lens, but I haven't come this far to be beaten by flares. Took up my camera, and took a HDR of the scene.

See this photo on flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6801191095/sizes/l/in/photostream/

HDR information:
ISO 100, 10mm, f/11
1st shot: EV + 0, 1/80sec
2nd shot: EV - 3.0, 1/640sec
3rd shot: EV + 3.0 , 1/10sec

Post processing information:
Combined to HDR using photomatix
shadowmapping in photoshop
LAHR sharpening
Chromatic aberration correction
Enchanced details, and added tonal contrast, and other various color & luminosity adjustments
Noise reduction

More photos taken in Guilin will be coming soon!

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Walk In Rural Singapore: Alkaff Mansion

A little known place in Telok Blangah lies a place known as Alkaff Mansion. A little history on this place. It used to be owned by the Alkaff family whose ancestors come from Indonesia. They were wealthy traders, and they had built this retreat for themselves and their guest on the slopes of Telok Blangah Hill.

After the world war II, the place was abandoned until recently, it was renovated into a Italian restaurant, while keeping the original feel of the mansion.

I had known this place from young, but being in it's run down state (and it's closed to public), it wasn't a top location for photography. But one day, I happened to be jogging around the hill in the night and the bright and colorful lights caught my attention. And there lies Alkaff Mansion, renovated, like how it should look like.

I approached the staff if I could have a picture, and after some deliberation, they allowed me to photograph the place from the outside. I managed to take a couple of bracketing shots on the mansion before being asked to leave the place. Well, I guess that's the difference between a paying guest and a non-paying one. Nevertheless, I still thank the staff for allowing me to photograph the place, when they could have turned me down straightaway.

So, here is the picture. I used my 10-22mm lens on this one.

See this photo on flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallasgoh/6431459155/

HDR information:
ISO 100, 14mm, f/9
1st shot: EV - 3.0, 1.3sec
2nd shot: EV + 3.0, 30sec
3rd shot: EV + 0, 8sec

Post processing information:
Combined to HDR using photomatix
shadowmapping in photoshop
LAHR sharpening
Cleaned image using content aware
Enchanced details, and added tonal contrast, and other various color adjustments
Noise reduction


Enjoy the photo and don't forget to leave a comment for me!

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Welcome EOS 7D to my life!

I finally got my Canon EOS 7D! Coming together is also EF-S 15-85mm IS USM and EF-S 10-22mm USM. Pictures below!

Boxed

Zoomed in

Unboxed!

My family photo

Been dreaming for it ever since it was released and I got it with the help of my parents who is sponsoring me a portion of the cost as my 21st birthday present.

Been reading alot of reviews thinking if I should get the 18-135mm or the 15-85mm. Price is definitely a big factor. Both are of comparable sharpness, 15-85mm being the sharper lens, but 18-135mm has a longer reach with 135mm. The price difference between the two lens is almost double. But since I'm upgrading, I might as well fork out another $500 to get one of the best lens in the EF-S lens line-up.

Another lens that I've got is the 10-22mm. Also have been thinking about it almost 2 years, and finally settled on 10-22mm because I won't be upgrading to full frame in the next 3-5 years, and of course, it's the widest lens an EF-S camera can mount. The angle of view of this baby is really awesome. Even the small details are crisp sharp! If you need a wide angle lens, this has to be it.

I'll be posting a photo from the recent photoshoot with this new camera real soon!

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Marina Bay HDR

I've taken this photo for over a year, but when I first attempted to Photoshop the pictures, it was an epic fail. So the photo was just in my computer waiting for magic to happen.

A year later, while I was bored at home, I decided to search for HDR photos in my computer, so I could practice some HDR processing techniques that I picked up over the last year. And this was my first choice.

The techniques I used to process this photo is mainly shadow mapping, and lots of color adjustments with layer masking. The main problem with this photo is that the sky has a huge amount of noise when being processed and excessive noise is never good for a photo.

Enjoy the photo and leave me a comment!

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The King of Hell

I'm sure for all Singaporeans, they are familiar with the annual lunar 7th month celebration. But not many, say youngsters, know much about this important, and much celebrated month. For me, my impression of the lunar 7th month is all about getai and burning of incense paper to smoke up the whole neighborhood. But I know we can't do without it. It is already a part of Singapore's culture.

Now to witness the burning of the King of Ghost (鬼王).


And it's reduced to dust.

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