= Stefan's Weekly Singapore City/Landscapes =

[SomeFormOFhuman]

One more!! And I hope you guys find it interesting!

 

[macaroni]

Enjoy looking at every picture in this thread. Truly a source of inspiration

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks!

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Took off today as I needed to clear my end of the year's off and leave. Suddenly serving NS feels good. LOL.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind​

5 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 hard + Lee Big Stopper. Sembawang Beach, Singapore.

That damn barricade is gonna be there forever I guess. Everything looked still and calm until that blue snake that can't sit still for long exposures came along and ruined its landscape. Thank you, Coast Guard Police... That thing is REAL encounter of the third kind - manmade stuff on mother nature's land.

Guess I'll have to shoot with it; like or not, from now on.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Something from Bukit Timah Hill this morning to test out my new 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II lens!!!!

Antenna Dawn​

3 Image HDR/DRI with no filters. Manually blended and toned mapped in Photoshop. Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore.

Tried out the new 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II lens for a sunrise shoot. The fog was nice though!

 

[Mythmaker]

Nice!

Need to seek your advice again... I'm looking at Hard GND filter now. Which would you recommend more (or rather, which hard GND do you use more?)? 0.6 or 0.9? I noticed you use both...

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Hey there mythmaker!

Thanks for asking! Actually, I highly recommend the Lee GND 0.6 for most seascapes. (Singapore has no issue to use hard GDNs due to a lack of mountains in the horizon ) 0.9 tends to darken the sky too, but it does not look "real" because visually what we see in our perception is, the sky is lighter than the land itself, and 0.6 has the best darkness medium between the two horizons met. You *can* use 0.9, just that you'll need another shot with a higher exposure to compensate and equalize the exposure where the horizons meet.

 

[Mythmaker]

Thanks for the reply! That helped alot

Lee is way too exp lol, so I'm looking at Hitech... Hitech should be alright right? haha.

 

[trialboy7]

Hi i am relatively new. I felt inspired by your photos. Great shots. Truly amazing. Dont know whether i am able to capture this type of photos

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Hi i am relatively new. I felt inspired by your photos. Great shots. Truly amazing. Dont know whether i am able to capture this type of photos

Always have this in mind: No matter how mundane the place may be, there's always something interesting that makes you want to bring out. And just keep shooting, you're actually subconsciously practicing already. Also, compositions are like the chorus of a song, or an instrumental riff; ie. guitar. Make it distinct, make it loud. People will enjoy its visual rhythm. It has to be in perfect harmony for photography to work in your pictures.

Personally, I try not to refer to any photography books and refrain myself from "stealing" angles. Maybe inspirations, but I'm very cautious when I shoot the same angle what others have done. Same place but different angles that yet makes sense. I just have a very strong stance of against shooting the same view what others have done.

Thanks for the reply! That helped alot

Lee is way too exp lol, so I'm looking at Hitech... Hitech should be alright right? haha.

Hitech is good. I'd say go for it. But I guess it tends to have slight magenta colour casts on certain situations, but its worth a try. Just avoid Cokin. But the good thing about having mild colour casts is that it exaggerates the glow of the sunrise or sunset. Just one of those visual tricks! *wink *wink.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Lost Coast of Labrador​

7 Image HDR/DRI using GND0.9 hard + ND 0.9 for smoothed water and cloud effects. Labrador Park, Singapore.

This place is actually inaccessible but I got there. Not the best of my work, will definitely go there again for a better tide and sunset.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Finally, I'm on official off and leave from 15 December to January 3rd. Good ol' army..... Wants us to clear our off and leave before the year's end. Anyway, expect more from me the coming weeks!!

Midnight Rush​

5 Image HDR/DRI exposures ranging from 60 to 360 seconds to tone map and equalise and reduce overblown highlights caused by the lit windows, and ND 0.9 filter for even longer exposures to smooth out a traffic congestion. Overall saturation reduced by 40% and custom white balance set to 5700K. Toa Payoh Estates, Singapore.

Rarely have I done a late night shoot before, as I went there for a birthday event.... So while waiting, did some walking on the sky park and came up with random shots like these to pass the time. There was actually a long horizontal stretch of road at the bottom as it helps to visually segment the street blocks as though a "base for a photograph". That didn't turn out well as there were too many tall trees that destroy it... =(

 

[FIR EP-3]

sallute...!!!!

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thank you!! More coming up!!

 

[kazeeee]

Took off today as I needed to clear my end of the year's off and leave. Suddenly serving NS feels good. LOL.



Close Encounters of the Third Kind

5 Image HDR/DRI using GND 0.9 hard + Lee Big Stopper. Sembawang Beach, Singapore.

That damn barricade is gonna be there forever I guess. Everything looked still and calm until that blue snake that can't sit still for long exposures came along and ruined its landscape. Thank you, Coast Guard Police... That thing is REAL encounter of the third kind - manmade stuff on mother nature's land.

Guess I'll have to shoot with it; like or not, from now on.

Nice..

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks, kazeee!! Your latest trip to Iceland had alot of mesmerizing photos!! Wish I could travel the World...

As promised, one more:

Midnight Rush II: The Road Life​

5 Image HDR/DRI exposures ranging from 30 to 240 seconds to tone map and equalise and reduce overblown highlights caused by the lit windows, and ND 0.9 filter for even longer exposures to smooth out a traffic congestion. Overall saturation reduced by 40% and custom white balance set to 5700K. Toa Payoh Estates, Singapore.

Applied as per same methods to the previous shot, in addition to checking thoroughly via histogram for overblown highlights. None so far.

 

[edutilos-]

I like the composition of the last one better - though it might be good if there is more space on the right (if it's possible).

The tone mapping is done very well. My screen might not be accurate right now, but I thought you could afford to desat less. Currently, the HDB blocks and sky are looking a wee bit anemic. I think Singapore roads are really lit too brightly, from a photographer's perspective. Of course for drivers it is good. The result is that you can never get strong enough traffic trails from the tail-lights which are weaker compared to the headlights. One last suggestion that I can think of is to brush the bottom right corner of the last photo a bit more to darken it. Alternatively you can layer a vignetted image and erase everything such that only the bottom right is vignetted.

Toa Payoh does have a lot of opportunities for pleasant compositions around the whole quadrangle around the HDB hub area.

By the way, have you considered liquifying the Labrador Park image? I understand the need to introduce vertical distortion (reverse keystone, for want of a better term) for compositional purposes, but I suspect with your level of Photoshop skill, it would not be too hard to correct this without losing any pixels/large change in composition. I often do this myself... CS5 has a much larger brush allowable compared to previous versions but it is still not large enough - you can resize to 1500-1800 pixels widest thereabouts and drag confidently (it's not hard to get the hang of it), before saving the mesh and reapplying that mesh on the original size. I suspect the image would look a load better thereafter, lacklustre sunset or not.

Cheers.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

Thanks man!! I also hoped that the cars would kept on moving so that there won't be a "burnt" mark on that stretch over there. I kinda hated that though, even long exposures weren't helping. I guess its the constant changing of the traffic lights that were causing this... Oh and that corner, LOL if I pan more to include the right, I can see the edge of the HDB I'm standing. LOL. So yeah, it's a no no for that!

Will do something about the corner too. I agree it's a little unnecessary. Thanks!

 

[edutilos-]

Thanks man!! I also hoped that the cars would kept on moving so that there won't be a "burnt" mark on that stretch over there. I kinda hated that though, even long exposures weren't helping. I guess its the constant changing of the traffic lights that were causing this... Oh and that corner, LOL if I pan more to include the right, I can see the edge of the HDB I'm standing. LOL. So yeah, it's a no no for that!

Will do something about the corner too. I agree it's a little unnecessary. Thanks!

Yar, I thought that might be a reason. One way to catch only traffic trails is to black card it... i.e. expose when the cars are moving only, with black card when they are not... Since you are combining a few exposures, then having one just for the streets might help. I have not tried it myself before because it is really, really unwieldy but I've seen it being done. Well, if the traffic trails really help, why not. Alternative you can do a few exposures and merge them before proceeding to do the HDR/DRI part... That's easier to do when you are there, but the pain is when you are home... :dunno:

Cheers.

P.S. I added some suggestions for the Labrador image in my last post as an afterthought. I haven't been there in a while, should try to visit it soon.

 

[SomeFormOFhuman]

By the way, have you considered liquifying the Labrador Park image? I understand the need to introduce vertical distortion (reverse keystone, for want of a better term) for compositional purposes, but I suspect with your level of Photoshop skill, it would not be too hard to correct this without losing any pixels/large change in composition. I often do this myself... CS5 has a much larger brush allowable compared to previous versions but it is still not large enough - you can resize to 1500-1800 pixels widest thereabouts and drag confidently (it's not hard to get the hang of it), before saving the mesh and reapplying that mesh on the original size. I suspect the image would look a load better thereafter, lacklustre sunset or not.

Cheers.

Hmm, are you speaking about the jetty? You mean making it vertical to the edge of the picture? I have some thoughts about that too though, just that it wasn't too "distracting" that needs to be fixed.... So I just left it as it is. I'm not sure what you meant, but anyway what I probably had in mind was to mask the entire horizontal section of the jetty and use the warp/distort tool to adjust it accordingly, then I blend the edges with the healing brush and gradient tool to work well with the existing background. But liquefying? Hmm..... I should probably consider - Is that an option under the filters menu or something? :dunno:

EDIT: Just saw it. Damn, this liquifying thing looks complicated. Never used it before...

Yar, I thought that might be a reason. One way to catch only traffic trails is to black card it... i.e. expose when the cars are moving only, with black card when they are not... Since you are combining a few exposures, then having one just for the streets might help. I have not tried it myself before because it is really, really unwieldy but I've seen it being done. Well, if the traffic trails really help, why not. Alternative you can do a few exposures and merge them before proceeding to do the HDR/DRI part... That's easier to do when you are there, but the pain is when you are home... :dunno:

Cheers.

P.S. I added some suggestions for the Labrador image in my last post as an afterthought. I haven't been there in a while, should try to visit it soon.

Hmm, I could try the black card technique. Will be a bit of a long shot, maybe if possible I will cut a piece of black paper that fits that strip road, and block that part. :bsmilie::bsmilie: