= Stefan's Weekly Singapore City/Landscapes II =

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Nice colors! I do find the composition a tad left-heavy though - everything that grabs attention seems to be there, from the close-up rock with those textures, the dominant midground large rock, and even the dash of color. A bit of a nit, but the spot between the large rock in the distance and cluster on the right seems unnaturally bright as well, I would personally dial down the exposure/brightness there a wee bit.

Hey thanks, I noticed that as well! You're spot on actually - I thought hard about that left as well. It does in some way bothers me. That's what you get when your feet's in the water, the sky turns red and you become overly excited and Kan Jiong until you dropped the remote into the water. :bsmilie: And I did not realise the other shooter was Shiosaki in disguise..... The idea of "Quick, shoot now!" was in my mind. hahaha. Anyway no worries, I'm still kinda correcting the colours and brightness here and there; will upload more updates to fix these ASAP. Time for some bug fixes!

Nice shots from LP Reservoir. Haven't been there in a while. I think that's from a while ago? I seem to have caught those clouds when I was checking out an Ang Mo Kio viewpoint seen a while ago from your stream.

Hey thanks again. Yeah that was I think a week back. Didn't have time to process much lately. This week's a school holiday, so might as well make the time for it.

 

[edutilos-]

Hey thanks, I noticed that as well! You're spot on actually - I thought hard about that left as well. It does in some way bothers me. That's what you get when your feet's in the water, the sky turns red and you become overly excited and Kan Jiong until you dropped the remote into the water. :bsmilie: And I did not realise the other shooter was Shiosaki in disguise..... The idea of "Quick, shoot now!" was in my mind. hahaha. Anyway no worries, I'm still kinda correcting the colours and brightness here and there; will upload more updates to fix these ASAP. Time for some bug fixes!

Oh yes, I've been there before.. And totally screwed up shots. Know what you mean. Keep shooting! Always enjoy your shots.

 

[Darthbob]

Hi Stefan

Just wanna say how great/Superb your pictures are and it is inspiring to beginners like me to want to be able to shoot like you

Cheers!

 

[zaren]

such a treat for the eyes. excellent!

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks guys!!! More coming up!

#264

Changi Beach: Lost Coast II

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2 Image HDR/DRI, 2 Image panorama to relief right side spatial tightness using GND 0.6 soft + Light painting using white light torch to highlight large rock. Changi Beach, Singapore.

This is practically the same shot as I did a long time ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_stefano_/6106476066/ But with light painting and two images pano to show the right side a little more. I was showing a friend on how typical light painting process is done. So well, here it is. I did a little bit of light painting on the lower rocks but they cast shadows unfortunately and it appeared pretty obvious. Thus, I took a long exposure shot just to capture the highlights for that particular area.

The area was pretty dark already, and I couldn't see much of anything at all. Long exposure was used to exaggerate the lighting of the sky a little. Once again, not much editing was done to the shot, other than blending the top and the bottom to balance the scene. But for the rock, many thanks to the torch anyway.

UPDATE: Dust spot and noise clean up.

 

[snatchsg]

Mind blowing!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks. Sorry I've been pretty busy lately...

#265

Welcome To 2050

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Single Image RAW, 2 image timelapsed for light show, 3 Image panorama. Toa Payoh, Singapore.

Went to one of the 40 storey blocks to collect my favourite 24-70mm lens. Of course, since a I had a lens capable up to 70mm + a 1.6x crop factor camera, why not have some fun with it?

While shooting the lightshow, a plane at the distant horizon passed by the city skyline. You may have noticed a short but rather obvious streak that I wanted to clone out in Photoshop but somehow it didn't look quite the same without it. I guess I got accustomed to that streak, it became part of the image. That streak somehow, added sense of mystery and draws your attention to the skyline.

 

[jtsky]

Thanks guys!!! More coming up!

#264



Changi Beach: Lost Coast II

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Excellent shot!

 

[daozhang]

Hi, May I know where do you shoot the picture with the stones in beach with the kelong?

Thanks and regards,
Ben

 

[TAYKT]

Changi boardway

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Locations are stated in the descriptions in each picture. ;p

#266

The Show Must Go On​

2 Image HDR/DRI, 4x2 8 Image Pano+Verto + 2 Image timelapsed for timeshow. Esplanade, Singapore.

Was there with a friend who needed help with verto+pano combinations. Since I was there, might as well shoot a lightshow from here.

Again, this song from Queen automatically played on my phone while shooting this. How convenient - the place where I am standing, is known for high-end theatrical performances... I'm busy with life, school and everything that I somehow, seemingly lacked the time to shoot anymore. But nope, whenever there's time, I still take the time to shoot while I still can. Thus, the show must go on.

Song from Queen - The Show Must Go On: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ADh8Fs3YdU

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

I'm still alive everyone. But time is always against me. No worries, a few more weeks and school semester ends. And I'll be back at full force.

#267

Show Me Heaven
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3 Image HDR/DRI 2 image panorama to relief left side spatial tightness using GND 0.9 + 0.6 soft for higher tonality of the skies. Toa Payoh, Singapore.

It's that time of the year again where the sun will set. And well, that's pretty much why I came here according to Photographer's Ephemeris app.

Taken sometime in October, I just never really had the time to process it - or perhaps I was quite doubtful to upload it here because in my opinion this composition is boring and cliché. There's nothing revolutionary or different from anybody else's. Every time when I take a shot, it has to be different; it has to stand out, but this doesn't. And I'm beginning to hate shots like these.

Anyway processing was quick, but it took me the entire while to fix the chromatic aberrations that plagued the edges of the towers caused by the 10-22mm lens. I also wanted starburst effects like I did achieved with the Sony A99 + 16-25mm combo I used a while back. But well, just gotta use what I have...

Title was inspired by this old 90s song in my phone's playlist by Maria McKee: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo_s0iEA41o

UPDATE: Fixed highlight issue at top left corner.

 

[Fable]

Great work Stefan!
Thanks for sharing

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks Fable, glad you liked it!

#268

The Fantasy of Telok Blangah

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3 Image HDR/DRI 15x2 30 Image Verto+Pano to relief bottom visual porportion using GND 0.9 soft + GND 0.6 soft for higher tonality of the skies. Telok Blangah, Singapore.

This is basically a retake of the same shot I did but this time to show much much more (I still remembered the day the sky started turning red and that I was late to arrive, so I took my chances to go up this is flat expecting nothing to photograph, but saw this awesome view by accident): www.flickr.com/photos/_stefano_/8429312421

Shot this sometime back but once again, didn't have the ample time to process this. This is by far the longest time of an image I've ever processed and merged. It took me a staggering one week to process each and every one of them and merge the photos. What set me back was the amount of time I procrastinated by staring at the overall image, looking at what ways to further improve the composition and colour - It just wasn't to my expectations.

Also I was forced to reshoot again the next 3 times just to achieve the right lighting and visual proportion, as initial plans didn't call for much to show the red roof of the building at the bottom of the frame. I was quite doubtful to include that in, but worth a try anyway...

 

[macaroni]

I like #268. Somehow the curvature at the bottom works for me.

 

[wonglp]

#268, wonderful masterpiece, alot of effort in the making of this shot. Were you using a pano head? I tried on an afternoon with pano head but couldn't include the left hdb. perhaps i shld revisit in the morning again. Thanks for sharing!

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks guys! Glad you liked it!

@Wonglp, unfortunately I do not have a complete pano head setup. That'll be alot more easier. Anyway to get the blocks on the left, you'll have to go the 14th floor I think. Do not go to the last level as there will be a wall that blocks the left view.

My current setup that day (An L plate, a sunway pano head and a clamp):

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Woah, did ClubSNAP's UI all of a sudden transformed into Windows 8? :bigeyes: hahaha

Anyway...

#269

The Magic Quay

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2 Image HDR/DRI, 3 image panorama to relief visual proportion, 4 images timelapsed/exposure stacking to densify light trail. Clark Quay, Singapore.

Another shot that I have yet ample time to process. Was walking around The Central @ Clark Quay to have a quick drink with a long lost friend. After he left, I walked around a little to explore and I ended up here. I'm not sure why I took the shot from here but the blue hour was just really awesome and the boat trails below.

I wanted someone to ride a bicycle across the bridge to complete and fill the empty composition at the right. I felt that portion could do some light trail as well. Maybe next time when I know someone has a dynamo bike could ride across the bridge several times to create the light streaks to compliment the trails below. Right now, that squatting person over there isn't enough.

So when bicycle light streaks at the bridge wasn't the answer at my current disposal, I tried the idea of people walking pass the frame to create "ghost" effects caused by long exposure. Unfortunately it didn't turn out well and frankly, it was distracting. Therefore, I'm not sure if cycling light trails will work but worth a shot one day.

If only someone has a bike...

UPDATE: Removed dust spots.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

#270

The Monday We Know

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Single Image RAW, using Haida 10 stop ND + GND 0.9 soft inverted to darken foreground + GND 0.9 hard for higher tonality of the skies. Lower Seletar Reservoir, Singapore.

Woke up and arrived late. Obviously because of that I missed the sunrise. Rather than going all the way and not getting anything in return, thought I'd like to play with my new Haida 10 stop filter. The clouds were moving pretty well to what I intended to do here.

Ah, the joys of a Monday morning well spent, knowing there's no school that day. Simple shot though, enjoy!

UPDATE: Darkened and increased contrast of the canopy a little.

 

[edutilos-]

Ah, you're shooting again, that's great.

For the last one - I personally prefer a BnW conversion such that the pavilion stays dark - it might help it stand out a bit more. Nice mood though!