= Stefan's Weekly Singapore City/Landscapes II =

[SomeFormOFhuman]

The next few shots were taken before my 7D went kaput. haha. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to post-process them. Enjoy!

#186

Toa Payoh Density​

Single Image RAW, 6 image Verto+Panorama with GND 0.9 soft. Toa Payoh Estates, Singapore.

Various exploration of Toa Payoh during my free time. Will upload more later when I have the time to post-process.

 

[tecnica]

#186, lovely glow again~

 

[djviper]

Fallen in 'love' once again lol

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks guys, glad you liked it!

Had a little bit of free time today so I managed to post-process one more from Toa Payoh:

#187

Goodnight, Toa Payoh​

2 Image HDR/DRI 4 Image Panorama to relief spatial and visual composition. Toa Payoh Estates, Singapore.

It's nearly 8pm and there's still the last light of the blue hour before the night sky settles in. So seeing the night sky still looking cool in blue, I looked around me for the nearest high tower block I could find, and this was the view I got.

Had a little bit of time on my hands today to post-process some stuff. Enjoy.

More from the exploration of Toa Payoh, continues. Stay tuned for more.

 

[stuck]

Thanks guys, glad you liked it!

Had a little bit of free time today so I managed to post-process one more from Toa Payoh:

#187

Goodnight, Toa Payoh​

2 Image HDR/DRI 4 Image Panorama to relief spatial and visual composition. Toa Payoh Estates, Singapore.

It's nearly 8pm and there's still the last light of the blue hour before the night sky settles in. So seeing the night sky still looking cool in blue, I looked around me for the nearest high tower block I could find, and this was the view I got.

Had a little bit of time on my hands today to post-process some stuff. Enjoy.

More from the exploration of Toa Payoh, continues. Stay tuned for more.

Much prefer this version - much more balanced IMHO. For #186 the elements on the sides drew too much attention away from the middle of the frame, whereas there was much more symmetry to #187. Great shots as always. People like scintillation and yourself make me wana buy a tripod with an articulating central column. haha

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Much prefer this version - much more balanced IMHO. For #186 the elements on the sides drew too much attention away from the middle of the frame, whereas there was much more symmetry to #187. Great shots as always. People like scintillation and yourself make me wana buy a tripod with an articulating central column. haha

Hey there, Stuck. Thanks for dropping by!

I could not agree more too. For the first shot, there were constraints cause by the walls where I was standing and this is theoretically by far the best angle I could get. Yeah the left is terribly tight.

Right now, I'm no longer using my tripod whenever there are railings... What we're using is a clamp, which I will upload as a behind the scenes shot later.

 

[tecnica]

hey stefan, mind i ask for your 2 image HDR, what do you exactly expose for in the 2 photos?

1 for highlight, 1 for shadow?

can share some insights?

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

hey stefan, mind i ask for your 2 image HDR, what do you exactly expose for in the 2 photos?

1 for highlight, 1 for shadow?

can share some insights?

Yep, that's pretty much how it goes. Generally the brighter exposures go to the shadow areas to reveal details, and the darker exposures to fix overblown lights by the buildings and etc. I generally play around with fixing the shadows more often, as I find sometimes with slight overblown highlights on certain areas of the image, tend to give a little bit of drama into the scene.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Last one, I promise. And no more boring you guys again and again, of the same ol' HDB shots of Toa Payoh. ;p

#188

Towards a Golden Era​

2 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.6 soft. Toa Payoh, Singapore.

Last one from Toa Payoh after various walk arounds. Saturday Church I attended nearby finishes at 7pm (Yes, I am Catholic) and according to this time of the year, the sun sets at 7.20pm. So I had ample time to do a little bit of going up some HDBs, exploring views, and this is probably a lucky find.

The evening sky turned to an orangey tint for a brief period of time. Thank goodness I saw it.

UPDATE: Fixed Chromatic Aberrations, straightened slightly slanted buildings and increased sharpness.

 

[stuck]

Last one, I promise. And no more boring you guys again and again, of the same ol' HDB shots of Toa Payoh. ;p

#188

Towards a Golden Era​

2 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.6 soft. Toa Payoh, Singapore.

Last one from Toa Payoh after various walk arounds. Saturday Church I attended nearby finishes at 7pm (Yes, I am Catholic) and according to this time of the year, the sun sets at 7.20pm. So I had ample time to do a little bit of going up some HDBs, exploring views, and this is probably a lucky find.

The evening sky turned to an orangey tint for a brief period of time. Thank goodness I saw it.

You saved the best for last! Anyway I saw Scintt's post on the clamp. Looks interesting. But then have to bring both a tripod and clamp out abit overkill - especially since I'm thinking of moving to a Fuji x-e1 permanently in the near future. Can share the weight and approx cost of the whole setup - clamp, pano head etc in your BTS writeup as well? Thanks!

 

[tecnica]

Yep, that's pretty much how it goes. Generally the brighter exposures go to the shadow areas to reveal details, and the darker exposures to fix overblown lights by the buildings and etc. I generally play around with fixing the shadows more often, as I find sometimes with slight overblown highlights on certain areas of the image, tend to give a little bit of drama into the scene.

I see. Then what kind of exposure blending do you employ in your work flow? Luminosity masking or?

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

You saved the best for last! Anyway I saw Scintt's post on the clamp. Looks interesting. But then have to bring both a tripod and clamp out abit overkill - especially since I'm thinking of moving to a Fuji x-e1 permanently in the near future. Can share the weight and approx cost of the whole setup - clamp, pano head etc in your BTS writeup as well? Thanks!

No problem man. It's tehecnically the same kind of setup actually; just place the vice over the rails and tighten, mount your camera like you always do on your tripod and that's it! Don't worry I will upload more BTSes later. Stay tuned!

I see. Then what kind of exposure blending do you employ in your work flow? Luminosity masking or?

Hmmm, not sure what's the technical name for it but I the tools I use most often are the gradient and masking tools. Say you just want this part of the exposure to be what you want, like a tree leaves for an example, just overlay the image ontop of it as a layer, add a mask over it and gradient away.

 

[tecnica]

thanks for sharing!

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

No problemo, tecnica.

#189

Industrial Light & Magic​

Single Image RAW, with no filters. Labrador Park, Singapore.

Went there with a friend who requested me as a shooting buddy. It was his first time into Labrador Park, so I introduced him the main areas of attraction - this is one of them. Always wanted to do this a long time now. The far end industrial area always catches my eye.

Industrial Light & Magic is a visual effects company famous for creating visual effects for Star Was, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Terminator series and other awesome sci-fi movies. So I thought the title fits the theme.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#190

Rocky Labrador

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3 Image HDR/DRI 2 Image vertorama to emphasize foreground interest using GND 0.9 soft + GND 0.6 soft for higher tonality of the skies. Labrador Park, Singapore.

Sky wasn't good, but the place is. =)

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#191

Splish Splash Hole

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2 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft + GND 0.6 soft for higher tonality of the skies. Labrador Park, Singapore.

Went there again when the sun's back in action with my same shooting buddy. I introduced him to this part of Labrador and we both enjoyed our time.

I never expected a blue sky day to have hindering clouds on the horizon, blocking the sun.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thank you, shiosaki

#192

Labrador Borealis

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2 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft. Labrador Park, Singapore.

I was highly sceptical if I should upload this as there are number of problems in this shot that I do not like: Composition, being at the wrong area at the wrong time and weak storytelling. The sky and ground elements in the scene do not speak or compliment each other: it appears they remain highly separated thus lacking unity and the audience have no idea where to look at. This is an absolute misfire as it completely lacks the suspense or the drive to clearly lead foreground elements toward the sky.

The pink sky lasted for only less than 45 seconds. It was only I turned around and saw the sky and would do like anybody do: find/run to the nearest spot and take the shot before it disappears.

Somehow a little disappointed how terrible it turns out, but nonetheless, an evening well spent. I'm sure my shooting buddy feels the same way.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#193

Dream Ray

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Single Image RAW, using GND 0.9 soft + GND 0.6 soft for higher tonality of the sky. Punggol Beach, Singapore.

Woke up, thought I had a little bit of extra time before the start of a busy day and shoot myself a simple sunrise. Turns out it was worth it.

I followed the same concept I did the last time by inserting a single element at the foreground to illustrate the size of myself being there, versus the landscape.

Will come back somewhere March/April period where the sun will rise behind the hill, would've been alot better. Hopefully sunrays will appear and turn out the same.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#194

Beautiful Day
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Single Image RAW. Punggol Beach, Singapore.

Trying out my 24-70 which I have yet to use for a long while. There's nothing better than standing on the waves, looking at the sunrise on a lovely morning,

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thank you, mds80.

#195

Watchful Gleam​

2 Image HDR/DRI 2 image panorama to relief spatial tightness using GND 0.9 soft. Punggol Beach, Singapore.

Look very carefully to the right, and you can see my slipper's footprints on the sand. Wanted to clean that up using the spot healing brush tool in Photoshop, but well decide to leave as it is.

Simple shot, though. I just like the rocks' shadows and the wave line towards the sun. Enjoy.