Monitor Lizard - Sungei Buloh

U-turn in the water.

A Whimbrel Having a Choice Meal - Sungei Buloh

Once back and checking the image on the screen, I noticed the tagged bird in the background. A shame. I might try some fancy Ps work to make it disappear...

Little Egret Hunting - Sungei Buloh

The tactic is to disturb the mud with one foot then catch any dislodged critter with a quick thrust of the beak.

Little Egret Landing - Sungei Buloh

All the flaps are out, ready for landing...

Little Egret in Flight - Sungei Buloh

It seems that photographs of egrets in flight are more attractive when the feathers of the wings are backlighted.

Plumed Egrets - Sungei Buloh

This was my first sighting of plumed egrets in Sungei Buloh. They seem to be both intrigued by some noise further left...

Little Egret - Sungei Buloh

Today was a hazy day. So was it a good idea to take out the long lens for some migratory birds shooting? Well, it wasn't bad. The haze acted as a diffuser screen, which reduced the contrast between the shaded and sunlit areas.

Festival in Little India - Singapore (5)

Last image of this interesting ceremony. An happy ending.

Festival in Little India - Singapore (4)

At the Shree Lakshminarayan Temple, families lined up to take position around the fire. In rhythm with the chanting, they then threw wild rice into the flames while the "master of ceremony" was tossing scoops of paste (porridge & honey?) into the blaze.

Festival in Little India - Singapore (3)

At the Sri Veerama Kaliamman temple, there were two groups of priests officiating, some in white garb were chanting while others, with yellow turbans, were sitting around a fire and throwing different items in the flames as offerings following the rhythm of the chant.

Festival in Little India - Singapore (2)

Conditions were not at their best to photograph the celebration as access to the interior of the tent was understandingly reserved to the priests and the devotees. The images had to be captured from the side openings.

Festival in Little India - Singapore (1)

As I decided to go for a walk in Little India this morning, I had no ideas that there were special ceremonies held in Hindu temples. Indeed, it was the last day of a series of 9 days of prayers to the Goddess Vijayadashmi. The communities attached to the two temples I visited seemed to have different ways to celebrate this occasion. Above is one of the priests under a tent built beside the Sri Veerama Kaliamman temple.

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

Again, no post process on this image besides resizing for web and copyright text... The trick is in the white balance setting on the camera (and the great sunset conditions!). For a blue tone, set on "incandescent" or a low kelvin figure. For an orange tone, set on "shade" or a high kelvin level. A slight underexposure helps as well, especially when the sun is still visible. In terms of composition, I kept the water plants in the foreground to add depth to the photograph.

The Lower Pierce Reservoir is a scenic location with a perfect orientation for sunsets. All the pictures of this series were taken on the same day, within about an hour, with a lot time in between to just gaze at the changing light...

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

Another sunset... Tomorrow will be the last one of the series!

Note that besides the adding of the copyright and resizing, no post process was required on this photo (posted just as out of the camera...).

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

D700 24-120mm VR f/4 @ 40mm ISO400 f/4 -0.7EV 1/80 gold n blue polarizer handheld

Different result with the polarizer turned to blue and the white balance on "incandescent". Well, beside the technical stuff, the sky was just amazing and I love the result.

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

D700 24-120mm VR f/4 @ 35mm ISO400 f/6.3 1/125 gold n blue polarizer handheld

A great way to spend a lazy late afternoon...

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

D700 12-24mm VR f4 @ 34mm ISO400 1/320 f/6.3 gold n blue polarizer handheld

Enjoying the sunset at the park.

With a filter that has a profile net of thread of 9mm (Singh Ray gold n blue polarizer), the wider focal length that can be used with the 24-120mm on a full frame camera is 33-34mm without incurring vignetting.

For comparison, there will be no vignetting with the same filter on a 24mm PCE.

Sunset at Lower Pierce Reservoir - Singapore

I took a stroll at the Lower Pierce Reservoir to test how the Nikon 24-120mm VR f/4 would behave with filters. This first image though was one of last taken, and one of the few without filter. The sky just enbrazed itself after the sun had dissapeared behind the horizon. The only artifices used were a slight underexposure (-1.3 EV) and the white balance on shade, which is equivalent to 8'000 kelvin. The shot was made handheld at 1/25 with a focal lenght of 24mm.

Modern building in Little India - Singapore

This modern building being completed is actually located in Little India. Interestingly, I saw a similar picture appearing in the local paper and signed "Reuter", illustrating a feature on foreign workers. Sole differences were a tigher crop on the worker and a backlight (so it was taken later in the day).

Sri Veerama Kaliamman Temple - Little India - Singapore

Another experiment with Photoshop: a first HDR from two pictures taken hand held. The correct procedure should combine a minimum of three shots with bracketing of 2 f-stops above and 2 f-stops below the camera exposure reading. Really hard to do without a tripod.

Sultan Mosque - Kampong Glam - Singapore

This image received the same processing as the one of yesterday. It was then converted to black and white and a gradient map layer was applied, using cream and dark blue for foreground and background. Still experimenting with Ps... I kind of like the result as it add mystery to the building...