Photography, Page 3 Category

Single Shot #24

Last year, 2015,  was a bad year as far as haze pollution goes. Making the best of a bad hazy night, this is a photo of a deserted street when the Pollution Standards Index, PSI was hitting a very unhealthy range.

Hazy nights are almost monochromatic so they are very suitable for black and white treatment. The post processing gives a low key treatment to give emphasis to the lit road and the backscatter on the street lamps.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 24 – 105mm /f4 , f/6.3 ISO 200, 3.2 sec

Single Shot #23

Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, so goes the song by Noël Coward. The song was written when Coward was in Vietnam and was first performed on 1 June, 1931 in New York. The song satirizes the British Colonials who ran the Empire in the 1930’s.

In his book, Noël Coward: The Complete Lyrics, he wrote, “I wrestled in my mind with the complicated rhythms and rhymes of the song until finally it was complete, without even the aid of pencil and paper. I sang it triumphantly and unaccompanied to my travelling companion on the verandah of a small jungle guest house. Not only Jeffrey, but the gecko lizards and the tree frogs gave every vocal indication of enthusiasm”.

The shot below was taken near noon in the shopping district and although I cannot confirm if that was an Englishman, I can certainly say it was one very hot day.

Link Noël Coward’s Mad Dog and Englishmen (YouTube) – open in new window

Lyrics below.

In tropical climes there are certain times of day
When all the citizens retire to tear their clothes off and perspire.
It’s one of the rules that the greatest fools obey,
Because the sun is much too sultry
And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray.
The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts,
Because they’re obviously, definitely nuts!

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,
The Japanese don´t care to, the Chinese wouldn´t dare to,
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta.
In the Philippines they have lovely screens to protect you from the glare.
In the Malay States, there are hats like plates which the Britishers won’t wear.
At twelve noon the natives swoon and no further work is done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

It’s such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see,
that though the English are effete, they’re quite impervious to heat,
When the white man rides every native hides in glee,
Because the simple creatures hope he will impale his solar topee on a tree.
It seems such a shame when the English claim the earth,
They give rise to such hilarity and mirth.
Ha ha ha ha hoo hoo hoo hoo hee hee hee hee ……

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
The toughest Burmese bandit can never understand it.
In Rangoon the heat of noon is just what the natives shun,
They put their Scotch or Rye down, and lie down.
In a jungle town where the sun beats down to the rage of man and beast
The English garb of the English sahib merely gets a bit more creased.
In Bangkok at twelve o’clock they foam at the mouth and run,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
The smallest Malay rabbit deplores this foolish habit.
In Hong Kong they strike a gong and fire off a noonday gun,
To reprimand each inmate who’s in late.
In the mangrove swamps where the python romps
there is peace from twelve till two.
Even caribous lie around and snooze, for there’s nothing else to do.
In Bengal to move at all is seldom ever done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 70 – 300 mm /f4 , f/6.3 ISO 320

Single Shot #22

Wandering around Bugis Village many small shops I came into a stairwell painted a garish red. Looking out the casement window I can see the edge of a more modern building, the Bugis+, once known as the Iluma.

The wall colour, the weathered window frame and the view outside makes an interesting composition. It was impossible to get all in a single shot so using exposure bracketing, I combined 3 images get the correct exposures for the brightly lit exterior and the dim interior. I was glad I had the 16mm with me but even using the widest possible setting and squeezing myself to the wall, I could barely capture the full window frame.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 16 – 35 mm /f4 at 16mm, f/7.1 ISO 640 (Multiple image)

Single Shot #21

There are a number of tools that a photographer can use to process an image for a certain look. Most of my images undergo a light touch processing using Lightroom as I shoot in the raw format. Recently, Google offered their Nik collection of image processing tool for free and I was experimenting with some of them. The image below was processed using Analog Efex Pro which gave a classic camera feel to the image. Gone are the clinical sharp details and near perfect colour balance of a digital file.

The tool is quite easy to use. Still using the same image, I then used Silver Efex Pro to age the photograph. The tool is very easy to use and the one below is straight using of the built in presets.

This row of shophouses are found along Upper Cross street and is part of the Kreta Ayer Conservation area.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 16-35 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec @ f/6.3
ISO 100 (as if this have any bearing on the image)

Single Shot #20

Arnoldo Pomodoro is an Italian sculptor and one of his works is a bronze sculpture called Sphere within a sphere (Sfera con Sfera). Various pieces can be found around the world including the Vatican Museums, Trinity College in Dublin, Mt Sinai Hospital in New York, Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

The one pictured below can be found at the United Nations Plaza in New York City. The diameter of the sphere is 3.3m and was installed in 1991.

The description in Pomodoro’s archive says the following:

In my sculpture, the shape of today’s world contains, within itself, the form of the “ideal city”, as conceived by the artists of the Italian Renaissance. This, in turn, contains my hopes and dreams, and those of countless other citizens of the world.

As Sam Hunter wrote: “Pomodoro’s Sphere within a sphere seems almost uniquely destined for its site, since it reflects and accommodates the antithetical responses in the environment with its own complex mix of imagery that can be read, alternately, as organic and thereby human, or technology-oriented, by reason of complex interior forms that resemble gear teeth”.

 

This photo was taken on a cold winter’s afternoon in December 2007.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 40D, EFs 17-55 mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec @ f/10 ISO 200

Quote from : www.arnoldopomodoro.it (the page will open in a new tab)

Single Shot #19

[updated 5 May 2016 to correct typo]

This Olive-back Sunbird is a regular visitor to the bush in my garden. The chick in my earlier shot is the offspring of this bird.  Always shy and flighty, it is still quite difficult to capture a good shot of this visitor.  A tripod mounted camera was set up and a sequence of shot was taken. This was one of the best of the series which shows the sunbird tongue. The sunbird belongs to the family call Nectariniidae which harvest nectar through this long tubular tongue.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 70-300 mm, f/4-5.6, 1/250 sec @ f/7.1 ISO 800

Single Shot #18

The Volkswagen is a symbol of the hippie era of the 60’s and 70’s. Groups of hippies often travelled in a Volkswagen mini bus and the beetle. These cars were painted in vivid colours with motifs of flowers and peace.

The image below is a photo of a crystal Volkswagen beetle. The colour patterns were created by lighting the model car with 2 off-camera mounted flash with gel colour filters.It is pretty simple and this was an experimental shot to test the gel and remote flash  triggers.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 100 mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec @ f/10 ISO 100
Lit by 2 off-camera gel filtered flashes.

Single Shot #17

This little Sunbird chick was venturing out of its nest for the first time. In a few hours, it will fly off to start a new life. Shooting birds requires lots of patience as they are shy and will fly away at the slightest movement. One way is to establish a schedule to be at the same spot regularly, moving closer to a better vantage point slowly. This way the bird will become familiar with the photographer’s presence and feel that less threatened.

Shooting this chick took a few days. The previous days, the chick was ensconced in the nest with only the beak showing. On the day this photo was taken, the chick was ready to take flight and to explore the wider world.  Wishing the chick a bon voyage and good luck.  See you soon.

Photo Technical Data:

Canon 6D, EF 70 – 300 mm /f4-5.6, 1/100 sec @ f/5.6 ISO 400