Night After Sidewalk

Night After Sidewalk (HDR)

This is one of the many night photographs I made last night at Fort Canning Park. This part of the Park is very dark with one lamp illuminates a small area with its light. I found the atmosphere moody and as dramatic as its ambience contrast.

So I thought I would process it into a HDR effect using Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro. This is a single image made with my Nikon D300 and exposed for 178 seconds. This is my second attempt on HDR for night photography and I'm quite happy with the result, which has this painting effect and the whole dark ambience is brightened up with strong hue and saturation of the surrounding greenery. A little back track, my first attempt on night HDR was back in 2012, of an old school dove playground. If you want to read more, click on the hyperlink for the past blog article I wrote.

Anyway here's the original processed in Adobe Camera RAW.

Night After Sidewalk (original)

Well, most of you know I love monochrome photography and I believe there's no harm in converting this great image to monochrome and so I did.

Night After Sidewalk (mono)

Somehow monochrome still retains that aesthetic and as close to the actual scene as I saw it. By flushing out all the colors, makes it so timeless and minimal.

A Walk In The Park

Waxing Gibbous Over FCP

A night time ago I visited Fort Canning Park. I climbed up the long stairway located right besides MITA Building which leads me to the Light House. It was a cooling windy night. Occasionally some passing clouds. I was trying to find the best vantage spots to frame and compose the light house with my phone camera. Here are 2 shots.

Light House @ Fort Canning Park

The main purpose of this visit was in fact, a re-visit and location recce for my night photography. I've visited the light house a few years ago and somehow spent some time making some night photos. I can't remember what format and camera I used back then, but I do know it didn't work out well. So this year I'm going to make an effort to make some good night photos.

I do have a little concern though in regards to the day-light white spotlights shining on the light house. Would it be switched off after mid-night? I wonder. Once those lights are out, I'll be able to do my own light-painting. Of course before lights off, I can make some shots with my Variable ND filter on, so as to stop down some excessive light (probably about 4 or 5 stops) and to add my own colored light, especially on the top part. Test trial is necessary but being conscious not to waste too much battery power on the large power searchlight. I'll see how it goes tonight.

All images shown here are taken with my Samsung S3 on Low Light mode in Incandescent WB with post-processing in Snapseed app. All copyrights reserved.

Feature Photographer: C.S. Lee

Bridge Underneath

When was the last time this blog site featured a night photographer's work? In fact three photographers' work were showcased 7 and a half years ago in August 2006, and the last one was in April 2010.

Once I mentioned that there are lesser ideal/interesting places and objects to do light-paintings in Singapore, and even more scarce to find like-minded night photographers. Six months ago in a blog posted on Sept 2013, I mentioned about a night photographer from Penang Malaysia and his name is Lee Chin Sheng. Tonight we're featuring his work right here on this blog site.

Stay on to read and understand more about Lee's work after the jump.

The Return of Singapore National Theater

National Theater

This is the former Singapore National Theater, formerly situated at the road junction of River Valley Road and Clemenceau Avenue. It was built in the early 60s and demolished in 1986 due to architectural structure reasons. There's a blog written by our local Singaporean here in which he shares his fond memories of this unique building.

A couple of days ago I was commuting on a public bus travelling along Clemenceau Avenue and I saw a sculptural structure that resembles the distinctive National Theater pointed cantilever roof. So I paid a visit last night and have had a good look.

Despite the sodium-vapor street lamps along the road, the ambience around the structure is quite dark; dark enough to do light-painting. I'm kinda excited about it as it's scarce to find good subjects for light-painting. So here's a shot I took with my mobile phone and post in Snapseed app.

I will definitely go back there to make some good nocturnes this coming weekend. Do come back and tune in for new images post.

New Tool for Light Painting (A New Addition) & The Forgotten One

I was shopping at the local supermart yesterday afternoon when I came across this Mini Maglite flashlight displayed on the shelf rack. The whole package as shown here, comes with 2 AA size battery cells (which I've loaded into the flashlight), a filter lens holder and 3 filter lenses namely Red, Blue and Clear (if only they include a Green filter), a wrist lanyard and a removable pocket clip. It has a durable aluminum alloy case. It also comes with a reasonable price tag.

Somehow I got interested in this product and it got me thinking "What can I do with this light?"

Find out more after the jump.

First Nocturnes in 2014

Wormhole - Bamboo installation by Indonesian artist, Eko Prawoto

Needless to say, the following images including the one shown above are the first nocturnes made in 2014 - the year of Horse. I hereby wish all my Chinese friends and readers a Happy Prosperous Lunar New Year. May the year of Horse brings great Happiness and Prosperity to you and your family. Make that horsey leap for more nocturnes.