The Helix Bridge in Singapore

I couldn't resist just one more photo from the Marina Sands area of Singapore. I wanted to get as much of the bridge in as I could, but the Hotel needed to be in the photo too.

There were two other guys on the little platform that extends from the bridge with their tripods set up and their big cameras ready for a shot. I set up my tripod between them with my little Leica, and they kind of looked at me wondering why I was using such a "retro" camera. I get that reaction quite a bit from people who don't know Leica....funny....little do they know what a little power house I have on my tripod at half the size of their huge DSLR's....I fired off my five exposures, folded up my tripod, and I was off to the next shot...

Another Shot of Marina Bay

I took this shot about 30 minutes before the laser light show on one of the alcoves of the Helix Bridge. It is a 5-shot HDR. I had to do some post work after tonemapping in Photomatix...well, I always have to do post work, but more than most on this photograph. I don't like what Photomatix does to the skies, so I blended back in one of my original exposures to get the sky right. I also blended in one of my exposures for some of the buildings. Even though I used a tripod, the buildings were not as sharp as I wanted, so I had to mask back in one of the exposures for sharpness as well. I then isolated some of the colors, and boosted them...in the end, a nice shot of the Marina Bay Sands area...

Another Shot From Marina Bay

The entire complex at Marina Sands will just blow you away with visuals...hardly a place where you can't get an amazing photo...

Just Back From Singapore and Off To Bangkok

Ya, I know...I have been VERY bad about making posts the past few days...I will try my best to not let that happen again. I had to go to Singapore for my annual Colonoscopy...arrrgh....all is fine, though!!

Tika and I were able to finally see the laser light show at Marina Bay where I took this photo. Hats off to the architects of this place....they really did an amazing job of shaping this city with some amazing buildings, and they still are not finished. Just behind the Hotel, there is an entire new area being developed with some really wild looking "space age" buildings...can't wait till that area is finished...

I am off to Bangkok this afternoon, so will make a couple of posts now to fill the next two days...see you back here live on Monday...

Before and After HDR

This is terminal three at the Singapore Airport. I think the airport in Singapore is perhaps the best airport in the world...If Tom Hanks had been stuck in this airport, (for that movie, Terminal) he could have had a decent life...I could live there.

In any case, I wanted to show you the "before and after" of this shot. I took a 5-shot HDR of this scene. The bottom shot (before) is my middle exposure straight out of the camera, and the top version is after Photomatix and Photoshop.

Black n White An Option?

So I was going through my photos from Singapore last night. I came across the one at the bottom. I had to shoot through a fence to get this photo, and was shooting directly into the sun. I knew it would be a silhouette, but I wanted to capture the details of the clouds. I didn't think the photo would come out, but took it anyway. When I had a look at the photo again, I thought it might make a nice black n white...so, I cropped it, cleaned up all the dust spots (Is my CCD incredibly dirty or what?), then converted to Black n White using Nik's Silver Efex Pro. That is an amazing little plug-in, and by just scrolling through all of the presets they have, it can be difficult to decide which one to use. In any case, the black n white conversion actually saved an image that I think would have ended up in my "delete" folder...

This is my final version...

This is the photo right out from the camera...notice all of the dust spots?

Singapore MRT

You have to go to terminal 2 at the airport in Singapore to catch the train to the city. On the way down to the MRT (the subway), I saw this long corridor...I love this kind of perspective shot where things seem to go to infinity. This is a hand-held 5-shot HDR...

Science Museum, Singapore

Happy Friday!! Don't you just love Fridays? I especially like them now that I am back to work again. You know you are having a great vacation when you lose track of what day of the week it is...but now, it is all so clear...today if FRIDAY!!

I thought I would enter this photo into another week of Skywatch Friday which I contribute from time to time...

Have a great weekend!!

Live Young

A Composition Nightmare

I was in Singapore this past weekend. The main reason for going was for my daughter's gymnastics competition, but my second reason was to have my Drobo looked at. Well, I got mixed news about the Drobo....

They wrote this morning, and told me that they can recover my files, but the cost will be 1500 Singapore Dollars (about 1200 US Dollars). My file structure will be lost too, no file names...only the file types....that will mean a great deal of work to go through 85,000 photos, but at least I will have the photos back. I still have no idea what happened and what caused this nightmare, but I did learn a valuable lesson...BACK UP, BACK UP, and BACK UP again!!

I am still not sure if 100% of my data will be retrieved....I will decide when I hear back from them if it is worth the 1500 bucks...but my gut feeling is that it is worth it...it's only money, right?

Now for the photo below....

I was standing next to the escalator going down to the MRT in a shopping mall waiting for my wife and daughter who were shopping in some store...isn't that always the case for us guys? Waiting for the women to shop? They should have large comfortable chairs in every clothing store, shoe stores, and other female stores....and there should be free beer on tap for all the guys waiting for their girl friends, daughters and wives....and maybe a good game on TV...if that were the case, the women could shop till they drop, and us guys wouldn't care because we would be entertained....ok, I digress...back to the photo...

Anyway....I was standing there looking at this scene, and trying to figure out how to compose the photo...so many lines...how do I frame the shot? Do I make the top of the photo parallel to the large mural or do I line up the the beam on the left or do I straighten the lines of the tiles? These are things going through the mind of a husband waiting for the women in his life to shop...ha ha...in the end, I decided to line up the top of the mural with the top of the frame...in any case, a cool scene....and by the way, after 20 minutes of waiting, the girls ended up buying nothing...typical.

A Golden Wheel

I am not really sure what this is supposed to be, but you can look through it to the shopping mall below...maybe they are going to make it into some kind of fountain or something...in any case, it certainly caught my attention...

Have a great weekend!!

I am in China probably freezing to death...hope to come back with some new photos!!

One Last One...

Since I had all these photos from Singapore, it looks like this became "Singapore Week" on Scotty Graham's blog...hope you liked all the photos. My Dad said he didn't like the dark skies, but it was rainy and cloudy the entire time we were there. I happen to like dark and stormy clouds...sure beats a plain blue sky...

Have a great weekend!! See you on Monday!!

Another Shot From Singapore

Might as well make this "Singapore" week with my photos...

View From The Top of Marina Sands

As promised yesterday, this is the view from the top of the Marina Sands Hotel in Singapore. As usual these days, there were no tripods allowed...I get irritated every time I hear that stupid rule. When I ask why, I usually never get an answer. In Italy, I would just get a shake of the head and a "I don't know, but no tripods are allowed" response.

In Singapore, they told me I couldn't use a tripod because people might trip over my tripod legs, so I asked if I could use my tripod as a "mono-pod" and not extend the legs...they reluctantly let me do that....so, I took these shots with my camera on the tripod, but the legs pointing straight down...it helped a bit, but it was still tough to stabilize my camera for a night shot...

I was there pretty late, and when I wanted to take a photo in one spot, there were no people around....so, I opened up my tripod to get a shot because there was no-one around to "trip" over my tripod legs...of course, a security guard came right over to me and told me I couldn't use a tripod. I was going to argue with him, but thought it pointless....these guys don't use logic, they are just programmed to deliver a message...arrrrgh!

Marina Sands Hotel

This is the new Marina Sands Hotel in Singapore. You may have seen the show on Discovery Channel that describes the building of this amazing place...it really is an amazing feat of engineering. Tika and I went to the top "sky garden" and had an amazing view of the city 56 floors up (I will post a photo of the view this week). There is also a large pool up there with glass walls that looks over the city. I tried to get a photo of the pool, but I was not allowed since I was not a guest of the hotel...I guess I will just have to return as a guest someday...

Cool Singapore Architecture

I was in Singapore the past few days. We explored the new Marina Sands Hotel area, and there is some amazing new buildings going up, and some finished. I am not sure what this "tulip" like building will be, but what a wild looking building... I just wish that white sheet wall was not there...will have to go back when all the building is finished and get some new photos...

More Orchids

I don't really consider myself a "flower" kind of guy...but when it comes to orchids, there is something that really catches me...maybe it is the fact that they are so difficult to grow and that there are so many different varieties of them...they are cool flowers even for the non-flower type guys like me...

By the way, on my recent trip to Singapore, I was only armed with my D300 and the 50mm lens. It was somewhat liberating walking around with only one lens, and it forced me to be more creative with what I took photos of...a good preview for shooting with the Leica.

I still don't have a lens for my M9. So, my M9 is just sitting on my desk begging to be used...

Orchid Walk

Those are orchids...yes, unreal. If you go to Singapore, don't miss the Botanical Gardens. Inside the Botanical Gardens you can find the National Orchid Garden, and it is nothing short of spectacular...

The Ion Mall

I can't help but take photos of this building on Orchard Road in Singapore...it just screams, "Take my photo"....it is a VERY cool building, and should be for its price...I think it is the most expensive mall ever built in Singapore...

Central - Singapore

If you ever visit Singapore, be sure to go to the river front....have a burger and cold beer at Brewerks...and then take a walk along the river...bring your tripod and get lots of photos of the mecca of colors...