= Stefan's Weekly Singapore City/Landscapes II =

[nitewalk]

I'm glad that someone here posts shots of how he positions his camera to take the shots. Often, I see shots that make us go wow (which your shots do) and then next moment I wonder the behind-the-scene making of the shot. PP is one thing, but the positioning of the camera and the shot of your camera taking the photo does help me to see what is the environment and circumstance like so i think about how u compose the shot. I've learned alot from these behind-the-scene shots. Keep it up!

 

[Janetleeyj]

So beautiful :heart: the cloud is so vry nice

#55

My Time Has Yet To Come
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5 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft + CPL filter for higher tonality of the skies. Tuas South, Singapore.

I was thinking hard whether to upload this shot, as from thumbnail view in my Windows Explorer didn't look appealing. I've decided to give it a go and it doesn't seem all bad.

I actually wanted to use the Lee Big Stopper for extremely smoothed cloud effects for I observed their fast movements to achieve something similiar to this: Into The Fire | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

But the direction in which the clouds were moving towards North (Which is the right from this POV) did not choreograph towards the sunset and tree and thus might create contradicting movements in my intended composition. Will wait and come again for the winds to blow Eastwards

Tuas is almost as appealing as Sembawang Stateland, it's just a matter of time before they're all gone, making way for industrial and light rail services in the near future.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments...

Anyway I am also glad to hear you liked the behind the scenes too! =) They were taken with my Galaxy S II, and I thought it would be a good idea to include how everything was done while there. Thanks.....

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Alternate version of the same PO.

#58

Chocolate Bar Wash​

4 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft grad. Sembawang Beach, Singapore.

Tried the alternate "wave" version.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#59

Rock Holiday [Rock Play]​

5 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft + ND 0.9 for smoothed water effects. Changi Beach, Singapore.

It's been a while since I did some rock play compositions, took me a while to investigate them and find the best POV. Not very nice as the sunray's kinda dim, lighting's a little poor and average results I admit, but nothing compared to my feet soaking in the water and waves splashing me upon. =) The joys of a simple Saturday evening well spent.

Took only like 5 minutes to post-process this shot, will probably try again to see what else can be improved.

 

[nikoneer]

Like I said before.... your skill is as sharp as.... duhhh you already know... if you think otherwise.... duhh you already know that part too.

Anyway, I am now a subscribing your thread. This thread is the reason why I bought tokina 11-16. Two months from now I'll have my own lee filters kit as well!

I hope that you could lend me a small piece of advice in the future... but for now I'll enjoy my tokina first without filters.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Like I said before.... your skill is as sharp as.... duhhh you already know... if you think otherwise.... duhh you already know that part too.

Anyway, I am now a subscribing your thread. This thread is the reason why I bought tokina 11-16. Two months from now I'll have my own lee filters kit as well!

I hope that you could lend me a small piece of advice in the future... but for now I'll enjoy my tokina first without filters.

I used to shoot without filters a long time ago when I first started landscapes. But I had to shoot like crazy and somewhat unnecessary 9 or 11 AEB exposures to compensate the exposures into a single shot. I was using Photomatix at the time - everything was so oversaturated and "faked". Or so it seems. And I thought that was the norm. So I then switched over to Nik's HDR software. Then I realised I wanted total control and more "power" of the way my pictures turn out to be - even the blending; so I switched over to just using Photoshop's gradient, masking and blending tools to do up my images.

BTW thanks for subscribing. If you have any questions feel free to shoot one out. 11-16 is a great lens to work with, I used it a few times from one of my friends, very superior to my Canon's 10-22 which I'm using.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

One more behind the scenes from Tuas.

 

[YuccaTheFlower]

Hi stefan,

I posted a private message to you regarding your filters. Was wondering if u could help me with that?

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Hi stefan,

I posted a private message to you regarding your filters. Was wondering if u could help me with that?

Hi sorry for the lateness of my reply. My PM box was flooded with many PMs and I was in camp for the week - I only lasted on my army phone that can't access most threads/places here in CS and on a extremely busy schedule. I've sent a PM to your inbox yesterday. Please check on your end.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Upon clearing my off today from camp... Got out of my busy schedule to shoot some stuff.

#60

Structural Rise​

5 Image HDR/DRI 2 image stitched to relief spatial tension on right using black card technique + ND 0.9 for smoothed water and cloud effects. Art Science Museum @ Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

A scout around the area yield interesting compositions. I figured from this angle I might be able to see the sunrise at this time of the year. The camera was positioned nearly at the edge of the water!!

 

[StarCaptain]

Fabulous Series, I enjoyed viewing your pictures. Will look forward more .

Thank you.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Fabulous Series, I enjoyed viewing your pictures. Will look forward more .

Thank you.

Thanks! I always try and take a shot every weekend.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#61

Death Tree
​

5 Image HDR/DRI 2 image pano stitched to relief spatial tightness on left side using GND 0.9 Soft + Lee Big Stopper for smoothed cloud and water effects. Pasir Ris Park, Singapore.

It's been a while since I've been to Pasir Ris Park. Don't really like this image initially, as the horizon line should be above the tree as planned - but there wasn't anything higher to stand on to achieve the vantage I hoped for.

 

[StarCaptain]

One more master piece, can you please educate us how do you obtain such images, esp'ly HDR. What kind of exposures you take? How do u stack them?

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

One more master piece, can you please educate us how do you obtain such images, esp'ly HDR. What kind of exposures you take? How do u stack them?

Thanks StarCapt. Well to be honest, that's a little bit of a broad question. hahaha. I would say you just have to experiment, play around with the composition, find out what you think best describes or feel about the particular place in mind, and work towards that. I'd say the initial stages of finding the right compo is the hardest. All that post-processing can only do much to save a picture being not thoughtfully planned and captured. You kinda have to connect to the subject, what's around it (or them) and bring it out for all the World to see. To PP them, you just need to use the gradient tool in Photoshop and just blend all the exposures together manually.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#62

Punggol Swirl

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3 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 soft. Punggol Beach, Singapore.

Sky was a total dismay though. Tide was a high and thus I did some wave shooting instead. Wasn't in the best of my moods when this was taken however. Couldn't really find anything interesting there. Don't really like this shot, as its kinda boring and meaningless. Could've been better I admit.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#63

Cold as Ice
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5 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 Hard + ND 0.9 for smoothed water effects. Punggol beach, Singapore.

The light died down and the waves started turning violent. So as my depression and usual melancholia that was sinking in deeply. Decided to do some long exposure on the rocks that choreographs to this mood.

The camera angle was insanely low and waves were splashing all over my camera and filter. Had to do some cleanup in Photoshop as water droplets were visible. Thank goodness those droplets didn't "land" on those rocks or this shot would be a bust.

 

[asthio88]

Great shots as usual, Stefan.
I really enjoy this thread of yours :heart:

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Great shots as usual, Stefan.
I really enjoy this thread of yours :heart:

Thanks for dropping by man.