Moving Stars

Picture Taken on 5 Dec 2008

As the Earth is rotating, the stars appear to be moving when using a long exposure to capture the path they take as the Earth rotates. For this picture, the shutter speed used was 6 minutes.

Starry Starry Night

Picture Taken on 5 Dec 2008

First night at Kota Tinggi was a pleasant one. Light pollution is not very much heard of but it means the amount of stray light that is cast onto the sky. In Singapore, light pollution is rather high when compared to rural areas in Malaysia. But compared to New York of those bigger cities, it is considered low.

Blessed with a clear sky and a half crescent moon, I was able to see numerous stars in the sky. This provide a good opportunity to try to capture the Orion Belt of stars. To be able to do so, I wandered off to an adventure camp site. The lamps were all turned off in this area and the only light source was from a nearby toilet behind me.

Viewing the scene in the viewfinder was tough as it was virtually pitch black. The auto focus of my camera would not work as well because there is nothing significant for the auto focus to detect. Everything was just BLACK! Long exposure is needed to capture the stars. But to capture a static star field, do not expose longer than 45 seconds (rough guage, normally I would use 30 seconds). At exposure timing of 1 min for this scene, the stars will appear to be moving and will leave star trails.

A larger aperture is required to allow more light to enter to be able to capture the stars. Thus, tweak around the ISO settings and aperture to try out.

Next post will be on star trail.

Across the border into the woods

Picture Taken on 6 Dec 2008

Wei Hao, Jing Jing and I took a short trip into Malaysia. I wanted to go to an interesting place but yet not a very popular choice for others.

At the rainforest resort, life was simple and this provide a great opportunity for us to recharge. In the rooms, there was no TV, radio or phone. Even the thermal flask used is similar to the one that my Grandma is still using (those with a metal cover and a sponge stopper)! Do not despair, basic amenities are still very good. The spacious room is air conditioned with a nice bathroom. The resort, as its name implies, was surrounded by rainforest. Every morning you will wake up to the calls of monkeys and cocks.

We woke up early and I had actually planned to trek out to find a good location to take a picture of sun rise over the hill. Interestingly, although we had quite a tiring day the previous night, we felt rather energetic when we woke up. Thank God Wei Hao volunteered to drive us. We drove slowly looking for a ideal location. Finally we saw this barren patch with a view of the highest peak (the cute bump is the peak). This area might have been a result of deforestation but the exact use of this patch is unknown.

We met an adventure camp instructor the night before and he told us that the peak is a rock climbing site. He also mentioned that the campsite belongs to a Singaporean and that they often organise adventure camps for schools or any other groups.

I will be posting more pictures of the trip these few days. :)

Kallang National Stadium II

Picture Taken on 3 Sep 2008

I was browsing through my pictures again. Sometimes when you take a second look at the pictures, some seem to catch my attention. This picture of Kallang National Stadium sure did so.

In addition, I gave it a de-saturated look to add a moody feeling to the picture. Time flies, but this landmark is still there! Its longevity has long surpass its predicted age.

Enjoy guys! I hope my pictures do inspire people to have a serious thought about photography. I used to be a clicker. With a dSLR, I would simply just press the shutter whenever possible without much thought. But it was when I start putting thoughts into my pictures that my pictures start to 'speak for themselves'. I urge all of you to... think before pressing that shutter! :)