Turning Night to Day

Stand By Me

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

I suddenly realized that the moon was almost so full today. Then I remembered I haven't blogged for a loooooong time, and I mean a long time. This is actually an edited photo, very much edited that it. It is almost like I abused the rules of photo editing. Well the end justifies the means.

Finally!

Okay, this is not the best shot I have of the skyline, but finally! At least a have a night photo of the skyline (at last) with me in it. I could have taken using an SLR, but it would be very awkward for me to set it up there with a tripod in front of all those tourists. It would probably feel as if I were having a photo shoot. This photo was taken using a point and shoot camera mounted on a tiny pocket-sized tripod. Tweaked the levels a bit, but I think it would pass as a good photo. Oh, how I love technology.

My Favorite Hangout

I guess now this is officially my favorite hangout on a Friday night. Although I've been here a dozen times and have taken a picture of this skyline countless of times, I never get tired coming here and snapping a few shots or two. I have continuously challenged myself to capture a new perspective even though I always have the same subject, that way I can improve my composition and my night shooting as well. This was cropped a bit.

On a side note, the night really gives the Marina Bay Skyline a whole new glow. Below is a photo of the skyline taken a few hours before, see how bleak and intimidating the concrete jungle is.

Happy Valentine's

Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, Marina Bay, during a live musical performance.
Happy Valentine's Day from Photography-Per-Diem.

The Color of Dawn

This is my new year entry. I didn't sleep and welcomed 2009, just to capture this moment and it was all worth it. Taken in front of Goldkist Resort at East Coast Parkway at 6:34 AM on the 1st of January 2009. Happy new year from Photography-Per-Diem.

Night Portraiture - Group

As an amateur, wannabe professional photographer, I never appreciated the importance of a good tripod, well at least until now. For the longest time, I loved to shoot night photos hand-held as much as I could (actually I still do). But now I've realized the beauty of having a good portable tripod to carry around every time I will shoot. It allows shooting with a deeper depth of field and longer exposure times, of course, you still need the cooperation of the people you are taking photos of - they need to be still until the end of the shot. I'm also beginning to appreciate the importance of using the flash - but not too much of course. I always disliked having to use the flash as it washes out the color of your subject. However, one shot that I'm really proud of, as of the moment is the photo of my friends jumping in front of a huge Christmas tree at VivoCity, Harbourfront (below). I used to think this wasn't possible with an ordinary kit lens mounted on a D80, the shutter just wouldn't be fast enough. It's really not possible, at least not without the aid of a tripod and flash. Okay it's not the best shot of people jumping but at least I got it on the first try. Can't wait to go out and shoot more night photos. For more photos, visit VEC1.

Bleeding Love

The reason for this Christmas season - Jesus. (Above) Photo of our christmas lantern (parol) made out of recycled items. (Below) Bleeding love. This is the cross at the center of our lantern, which sums up why Jesus came to Earth to become human in the first place - to die on the cross, for ME and YOU. Merry Christmas and enjoy the yuletide season rememberting God's great love for us.

Cityside Skyline

Shot on the 6th level of Avon Park Condominiums, Potong Pasir, Singapore, while having our dinner before making our Christmas lantern (parol).

Esplanade Drive

Esplanade Drive, Raffles Place, Singapore. Taken about a week before the F1 season in Singapore. Anyway, I may have to change my format of posting. There will be times that I will just post a photo and not include any lengthy descriptions due to time constraints since I'm pretty busy nowadays. I hope you continue to enjoy my photos and I will try my best to post as often as possible.

Marina Bay Skyline

Marina Bay Skyline. Shot both photos at the same day. Basically waited until around 8PM before it got dark enough to shoot a night photo. Anyhow, I was blessed with a beautiful day when I went out for a stroll and a photo-op down at Marina Bay. The sun is up and shining. The clouds and the blue sky makes it one fine, perfect day. Actually I decided to shoot to see my circular polarizing filter (CPL) in action. The photo above was captured with a CPL. What I noticed was the beautiful color contrast that it gives compared to a photo shot without CPL (sorry, wasn't able to provide comparison, my observations are based on previous landscape photos shot without CPL). Reflections were also reduced giving the water a clear, mirror-like texture. The night shot of the skyline (below) was taken with the CPL on. I've read from other websites that it is not advisable to shoot at night with CPL on, but I guess I was too lazy to take it off so I just left it on. This night shot was tricky. I had no tripod so I had to find a stable surface to put my camera. Shot this at ISO-400, 24mm, f/8 and a 4-sec. exposure.

My New Toy

My newest toy - the Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D armed with a Tokina 52mm UV Filter. I'm very happy with this new acquisition. It is the cheapest fast lens in the Nikkor line-up I think and so far it's serving me well. I actually thought of buying the f1.4 model, but figured it was too expensive, so I settled for this one. I'll just save money for later purchases. Anyway, I can now capture night portrait shots hand-held with more ease and magical night general shots and landscapes as well - although this is not really for landscapes, but I can't afford to buy the 35mm/f2 right now. It is very compact, very lightweight and focuses fast. I also love how soft the images come out. This is going to be great especially for portrait shots. I also get the difference in depth of field which is important in portraits. I feel that I would learn how to be more disciplined when it comes to composing my shots using this lens, since I got so much used to using the zoom lens, I prefer staying in one position and just zoom-in to get closer. I shot a night scene while waiting for a bus to go home (below, shot at ISO-800, 1/25s). Can't wait for future shoots using my new baby. Enjoi.

Orchard @ Night

Orchard @ Night. This shot was taken during one of our early evening strolls down Orchard Road. Orchard is like the Makati City of the Philippines, minus the congestion. I mean there is still traffic but not like what you see at Epifanio delos Santos Ave. (EDSA) during rush hour. We first went to Tang Plaza first, famous Filipino community hangout at Orchard. During weekends, especially Sundays, the place is really packed. I had my picture taken at Lucky Plaza, adjacent to Tangs, and ate dinner at a small cafeteria-like diner serving 2 Filipino viands + 1 cup of rice + 1 can of drinks for SGD 5.00. After dinner my friend and I decided to take a stroll all the way to Plaza Singapura (below), near Dhoby Ghaut MRT. That is about two MRT stations away from Orchard MRT (yeah, Singapore is that small). But it ain't true that you can see all of Singapore in one day (20 years ago, maybe). There are lots of nice places to see and visit. I'll post more in the days to come. By the way, I wished that the sign on the picture above was Canon Nikon (Thank you Lala for the correction), oh well.

Both shots were taken at ISO 1600, thus, they're a bit grainy, but sometimes grain is good.

Night Portrait

Night Portrait. Last night I was out looking for scenes that I may use for my photo essay assignment for the last day of my advanced photography class. Instead, I ended up shooting night scenes and portraits. This is a portrait of my best friend shot at the Bay Area of SM Mall of Asia, one of the few people, so far who willingly poses for me in any situation, without hesitation (hehe). We were supposed to shoot nearer to the bay but to our disappointment it was raining. After a few shots we left and went to buy some stuff for my still life assignment on fish. I'm still working on that, but as soon as I get a good shot I'll be posting it here.

Flowers in the Sky

Flowers in the Sky. I'm back to photoblogging, for today at least. My computer's having some trouble. It's been automatically shutting down after prolonged used, especially when I'm connected to the internet. Then, after I turn it on, I will find out that there is only 3% battery power remaining and even if I use the AC adaptor, it doesn't increase. Hmm, I think it's time to buy a new battery since it's almost 3 years old. Anyway, since I wasn't able to post for the last 5 days, I'll make it up today with 2 shots of fireworks. Both photos were shot on the same day. I took these shots at the pyromusical display at the Bay Area of SM Mall of Asia. They have this during Friday's and Saturday's at 7pm. Good oppurtunity to practice shooting fireworks and for free too.

I was taking pictures using the continuous shooting mode of my D80, handheld. Forgot to bring a tripod. My, was I having so much fun, especially with the fact that wheI was viewing my photos, I realized that they are not "wormy" anymore as compared to when shot with a point-and-shoot camera. I particularly love the light trails on this one they looked like threads. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll go have my computer check to see if I need new batteries, or this could be a virus screwing with my batteries (I hope not). Enjoi! Til next entry!

Palms

Palms. I haven't got out much with my D80. So, I'm posting my other pictures taken earlier by my G6. Anyway, this is a "tree" line at the back of SM Mall of Asia. We were waiting for the pyro-musical display that happens every weekend night, so I got the oppurtunity to shoot some photos. The funny thing is, I forgot to charge my batteries. By the time, the fireworks display was on, my batteries were already running low and I couldn't get a decent shot. Tough luck.

Spot Light

Spot light. This photo was taken 2 nights ago at Island Cove at Kawit, Cavite. I stayed there for two days to celebrate the Chinese new year, relax and clear my head. Moreover, it is a perfect oppurtunity to take pictures. Anyway, there was this huge spot light that reminded me of the "bat signal". It also looked like a Star Wars light saber. There was actually a valentine concert by David Pomeranz that night, reason for the festive, party mood probably.

Fountains

I love taking night shots. I love how the colors dance behind a black, dark background. Although, it's pretty hard to capture good images without a tripod. This is part of a fountain found at San Miguel By The Bay, behind the SM Mall of Asia.

Fireworks

One thing I've learned when taking photos of fireworks display is that you really need a tripod to stabilize your photos. Otherwise your photos will look "wormy", lots of different worm-like colorful lines. I took this picture at the World Pyrolympics last Jan. 2007. I didn't use a tripod so, this is one of the shots that manage to get through without much wormy lines. I figured its almost New Year so, I posted this.