Chinese Garden with Sigma 17-70

[KangS]

Very nicely angled shots, you've keep 'modern' Singapore out of most of the picts! :thumbsup:

If the sunlight was overly glaring, try using CPL filter, colours and contrast will generally look better .

 

[creampuff]

I like the bright daylight pic to be a bit underexposed though, that would keep the texture of the cloud and it would not look just silly pale. but i don't shot RAW much, mabye should try that to see if there is possibility that the highlight could be keep without underexposed it. also, torn between spot and matrix metering sometimes cause i dont' have the good feel to judge the corrected how much to EV+/- , as mentioned by night86mare by using manual.
the only way is to try more right?

You can and should use RAW as it provides the best quality and control. However whether you're shooting RAW or jpeg, there is really no need to deliberately underexpose to avoid blown highlights and try to retain detail. With Photoshop, it is quite easy to retain detail and extend the dynamic range.

macrob, if I may kindly use one of your shots by way of an example, (I'll take it down if you want me to), I did a simple layer burn and dodge and midtone correction using levels to correct the exposure but also kept the shadow detail without having blown highlights.

 

[macrob]

Thank u all guys, for the valuable comments.:thumbsup:

Never thought this post will attract so many replies.:sweat:

I learnt a lot from your insightful comments/discussions/suggestions.:bsmilie: