A New Toy

After a period of resistance, I succumbed to a new toy. A wonderful work of art which blends old world manual focus with new world digital photography. Those in the know will know the camera I am referring to. It is too expensive for me to afford brand new. To further defray the cost, I traded in my old camera and an old lens for this pre-owned (aka second-hand) camera. Buying stuff second hand is always a risk. That's why I only buy it from this one camera store at Peninsula Shopping Centre. I bought my previous camera (also second hand) from him too.

Armed with my new toy, I headed out into the night to take some photos. It was a dark and stormy night and as the rain fell, I found a shelter across the road from this temple along Telok Ayer Street.

The reflection from the wet floor, which gave this temple a special glow

Close-up shot of the dragons on the roof

When the rain subsided, I headed to the Marina Bay area and got a shot of Marina Bay Sands. I also dug up an old photo I took some months earlier with the camera I traded in. Frankly, it is difficult to compare which is better because I did some processing to the images.

Taken with "New Toy"

Taken with the camera I traded in (aka old camera)

Regardless, I am very pleased with my purchase. In case you are wondering what the big deal is, the new toy has a full frame sensor while the old camera had a crop factor of 1.5. Again, for those in the know, you know what I bought. Hahaha.

Sunset

Sunrise at Punggol

I love sunrises and sunsets. Maybe it is the anticipation of not knowing what to expect. For a photographer hoping to capture a sunrise or sunset, there is about a 5 minute window between darkness and the sun rising or when the sun sets beyond the horizon. 

You never really know what to expect. Some days, you are greeted with a wonderful hue which splashes the sky with hues of orange and red. It almost feels like the sky is speaking to you through a painting in the sky. On other days, the sun rises or sets uneventfully like someone turned on or turned off the lights.

Last weekend, I took my trusty range finder camera to Upper Peirce Reservoir to capture the sunset. It seemed like an uneventful sunset which was going to go out with a whimper. The photograph below says it all.

Not a bad reflection

As I was about to lament my wasted effort, the sky seemed to have heard my thoughts and injected a tinge of red hue which tickled my fancy.

That's better !

Before long, the red hue turned into a spotlight and casted an orange tint on a patch of adjacent clouds.

As red as Rudolf's nose?

This drama lasted barely a couple of minutes and before long, it was "lights out".

As I was taking the photographs, I took a couple of shots with my iPhone and the results amazed me. See it for yourself. 

Taken with my iPhone 5

My trusty range finder camera

The photograph taken with my iPhone 5 is crispier and appears to have more depth. There is a reason for this. I had the HDR (High Dynamic Range) option turned on. HDR is particularly helpful when  the photograph has a broad range of lighting exposures. From what I understand, the camera captures several images at different aperture settings. It selects portions of the photograph which is correctly exposed and combines the results into one photograph. This gives the photograph great depth. To see samples of HDR photos, just type "HDR Photo" in google and check out the awesome images. If overdone, the photos look "overcooked" but if done well, the photos look almost 3D. I am not a big fan of HDR as I am a purist. I don't even like filters. Admittedly, I do tweak my photographs slightly with a photo editing software, akin to "light make-up".