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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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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HDR Post-Processing Tutorial

This tutorial will cover how to edit those HDR photos that you have taken as explained in the first tutorial "The Basics of HDR"

Every has their own different ways to process their HDR photos. For me, I edit my photos using Photomatix and then subsequently by Photoshop. I like my HDR effect to have less saturation and more details.

Today we are going to work on this sunset photo. This is a regular un-edited sunset photo taken using regular settings. Sunset? Not too visible.

 Our final product. A HDR sunset photo.

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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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Panorama Sunset at Kent Ridge Park!

Another type of photography I recently picked up is Panorama effect. It's basically just a super wide angle shot that is really long.

It's actually really easy to make with photoshop, and some controlled shots using a tripod. To date, I only have 4 edited panorama photos and I'll be posting one today.

This shot was taken at Kent Ridge park, one of my favorite places, cause after shooting, can head downhill and enjoy some famous duck rice! The sunset on that particular day was the best of the 4 times I've been there, and so I decided to take a panorama shot to better show the beautiful clouds.



Camera settings:
Focal length: 18mm
F-stop: f/6.3
Exposure time: 1/4 second . 1/2 second
ISO: 100
Exposure bias: 0 step
Mounted on tripod
Panorama stitched together using 2 photos

Lots of editing has been done, so much I also can't remember what I did...
Editing this is tough as the exposure time for the 2 photos are different, so it's hard to match the photos (but i tried my best).

EDIT: I re-edited the files again to see if I can do it better with my current Photoshop tools and skills, and turns out to be less contrasty and more pleasing maybe?

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My first post!

First, a little about myself.



Name: Dallas Goh
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Passion: Photography, Music, Games, Rubik's
Camera Model: 500D
Lenses: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, EF 50mm f/1.8
Accessories: Battery Grip, Circular Polarizing Filter, Coloured / Natural Density Square Filters






First post! Let's start off with some recent photos that I have taken.

Feeling random at 5pm, so I quickly wrote out the post-it notes, and took the picture right before the sun went down at 7.

Taken at labrador park at 7pm. Added ND64 filter to achieve deep orange effect.

At the same position at 7:40. Also used ND64 filter to bring out the purple.

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