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Ashley has a new cousin! Her name is Sarah, born on 23rd Sept 2008, 7.57pm weighing a healthy 2.6kg. Congrats to the Poh family! Can’t wait now to see if Ashley will have a baby brother or sister.

Sarah

Ashley: “Wow so small”

Click here for the full gallery.

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There’s this cool restaurant that just opened at the basement of Centrepoint called New York Deli where we stopped for lunch one Sunday after church. What really impressed me was how well decorated the place was to mirror an American kitchen or diner in the 50s.

The place makes for great photos too.

Let’s order?

Getting bored…

So let’s do some fashion poses while waiting.

Or how about the cute look instead?

That’s my girl!

Don’t forget mummy!

Let’s eat!

Photography notes:

1. When shooting indoors, try to determine the right exposure in manual mode and once you’ve got it, stick to the same settings throughout. In this case, f/2.8 at 1/100s at ISO800.
2. Try not to rely too much on one of the program/priority modes because the very contrasty nature of some indoor lights can fool the camera’s meter resulting in very under/overexposed shots.
3. Even for shooting normal shots in restaurants, no harm asking for certain seats if you think they will get you better photos. I insisted on sitting in the corner near the wall display and the waiter happily obliged.
4. If I could do this again, I would’ve used my flash for fill light to make the subject “pop” more. I didn’t like how the foreground (i.e. subject) and background were equally exposed.

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Just one day after the historic and auspicious opening of the Beijing Olympics (the number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese customs, so 8pm 08/08/08 is like winning the $10mil Big Sweep… without having even bought a ticket), Singapore celebrated its National Day. National Day celebrations in Singapore are always really spectacular, and spectacularly crowded. We thus chose to avoid hotspots like the City Hall area in order to preserve our sanity and headed down to Henderson Wave instead, the tallest pedestrian bridge in Singapore.

In the photo above, you can see how the bridge’s structure comprises curved steel “ribs” that alternate above and under the deck giving it a wave-like form. Under each “rib” are alcoves where people can sit on the nice yellow balau wood floor and enjoy the view. And for me, a great place to snap some shots!

You might probably be wondering by now what time at night I took these photos at. Well, the answer is actually closer to 6pm where there was still a lot of light. The trick to this was to ensure that the flash was strong enough to overpower the ambient light, thus making the whole scene darker that it actually was. Of course, this correspondingly meant that the camera had to be set to expose for the flash, or else bright scene + even brighter flash = blown out picture.

Now here’s my favourite modlet (I just coined a new word!) in action.

By now, another question might have cropped up in your mind: if it was still bright and the bridge was made of wood, how come the wood looks so blue? Again, there is a trick to this. If you own either the Nikon SB800 or SB900 flashes, they come with a set of CTO colour-correction gels. CTO stands for Colour Temperature Orange and they are meant to make light from the flash warmer.

So in theory, what happens is that when you set your camera’s white balance to incandescent/tungsten to compensate for the flash emitting warmer light, everything else in the scene takes on a darker shade of blue. Groovy isn’t it?

Yes!!!

You can read more about this technique here from the Strobist website.

Anyway, back to National Day, we were able to see other great action from the bridge like the Singapore flag fly-past and a distant view of the Black Knights’ aerial display.

Photography notes:

• Forgot to bring a lightmeter so everything was on the spot guesswork. If I recall correctly, my SB900 was set to full power, i.e. 1/1.
• In addition, I was using an 85cm shoot-through translucent umbrella to diffuse light from the flash. Umbrella was positioned about 1.5-2m away from Ashley and pointing downwards about 25 degrees.
• Flash sync speed was at 1/125s and aperture was purely guesswork, alternating between f/5.6 to f/7.1. Why people advice you to be proficient at reading the camera histogram is precisely for times like this.
• The Elinchrom Skyport Universal Transmitter and Receiver were used to provide-off camera flash wireless triggering.
• It rained while we were there and the shoot-through umbrella found another use.

Popularity: 38% [?]

I was back in Kuching recently to attend Dawn and Dave’s wedding held at Sarawak Club on 29 Jun 2008; and apart from spending quality time with family, it was also a great chance to take photos around the house. I used to take the ol’ house for granted but only recently did I discover that there are many nice walls around the house that make for nice backdrops. As always, Ashley was ever obliging!

This short but simple theme mirrors a lot of our Christian walks, from how we were called out of darkness to be born again into His wonderful light. May the verses and pictures inspire your day!

“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9

“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelations 3:21

Notes:

1. Picture 1 was taken at the staircase that has green walls, white tiles and an icky fluorescent light from above. But, it really helps make for a moody and dramatic picture!
2. Picture 2 was taken at the backyard with Ashley peering into the tool shed. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen what’s inside either…
3. Picture 3 was also taken at the backyard in front of a wall separating our house from the neighbour’s. It just absolutely glows in the morning sun! And that really is my father’s throne, I mean, chair.

Popularity: 38% [?]

This is me taking a break from editing my Hawaii photos and having a go at some newly acquired studio lights and backdrop.

This photo session actually came about in a very strange way. Ashley and I were lying in bed with mummy who was already fast asleep (I think it was 9.30pm?) and Ashley was still making lots of noise. Or rather, talking to herself. She obviously wasn’t sleepy at all and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said “Take picture.” When your two year old says she wants to take pictures, you take pictures! And, did I say mummy was already fast asleep? Heh heh…

This series is Ashley wearing a princess dress from Tom & Stephanie and a tiara from a Barbie princess toy set.

We started session with Ashley doing some classic show-off-my-dress-and-look-at-how-cute-I-am poses.

Swaying with the dress.

A very long 5 minutes later, Ashley was bored of standing at the same spot so she took off her tiara and started dancing around. This is where the musical piano comes in (to keep the tempo) and lots of patience (stay in the frame, stay in the frame!). This was also a good opportunity to practice photographing dynamic poses. Dynamic posing refers to the style of adding movement, or implying movement, through gestures.

Turning around and looking at the lights.

I want to be a ballerina!

Another 5 minutes, and Ashley was off to bed, this time exhausted and quite ready to hit the sack. She was definitely seeing stars at this point! (Did’ya get the joke? :P)

Photography Notes:

1. Both the main/key light and accent light were set to F8 (measured using an incident meter at 1/200s)
2. A 12-degree honeycomb grid was placed in front of the accent light to focus a nice outline of light on Ashley’s left. On hindsight, a smaller grid might have worked better (i.e. bigger spread of light) because Ashley couldn’t stay at one spot.
3. Music is a must to keep the rhythm or tempo of the shoot and to keep Ashley entertained! This is certainly a useful tip when shooting studio portraits in general.

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There are so many things I miss about Hawaii - the cool weather (hot but not humid), beaches (white sand and turquoise water), food (everything is served twice the portion of what we have in Singapore), friendly people (aloha and mahalo!) and shopping (everyone thinks I’m a Jap tourist) among others. But what I really miss is being able to end the day looking into the golden sunset with not a ship in sight along the horizon. I can’t remember when I last saw a good sunset in Singapore…

These pictures were taken along the beach at the Hilton Waikola on Big Island (Hawai’i).

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[20 Apr 2008] Did a simple shoot for an internal company photography contest a few weeks ago using my new humble home studio and here is how it turned out. The theme was “Communicate”, and for lack of better ideas, I went for the good ol’ toddler doing something cute routine. Quite pleased with the results considering everything was set up and done in less than half an hour, i.e. about the average length of time it takes Ashley to get bored!

Hey, the phone is ringing! I think it’s for you!

Hayo hayo wooish dish?

Some other shots of Ashley warming up taken from mummy’s camera:

Hip rotation

Touch your toes

Photography Notes:

1. One shoot-through umbrella with SB800 at 1/8 power placed 1.5m away from Ashley’s right acted as the key light and to produce nice catchlights (that nice big sparkly white dot in the eyes).
2. White reflector placed 0.5m away from Ashley’s left provided the fill light.
3. White foam board placed underneath Ashley diagonally pointing towards her to balance out shadows under her neck.
4. One SB800 placed <0.5m behind a white cloth background firing at 1/16 power towards it provided the high key lighting effect.
5. Camera settings: Manual, f/8, 1/80s, ISO200.

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[9 Feb 2008] The Singapore Botanic Gardens has undergone a bit of a spruce-up and there are more amenities now like a food court at the entrance near Gleneagles. This is where we had lunch after Ashley’s weekly morning class at Julia Gabriel and the food there was not too bad. A bit pricey, not much variety, but at least it tasted ok.

We also decided to take some pictures of Ashley at the National Orchid Garden and the only thing working against us was the harsh mid-day sun. Good thing Ashley was in good spirits and after a quick after-lunch nap, we were all raring to go!

The Orchid Garden is about a 10-15 minute walk from the food court and costs about $5 for adults to enter. It’s FOC for kids of course!

Taken in front of Burkill Hall.

Somewhere behind Burkill Hall under a staircase.

Another one from the same spot with Ashley doing a pose!

This was taken at the VIP Orchid Garden.

Another one at the VIP Orchid Garden. We’re starting to feel special!

Sad to say that I think at somewhere between this point, I dropped Zhiyi’s Canon IXUS 860IS compact camera. We only realised it was missing after getting home and the National Parks Board didn’t get anything in their lost and found when we checked later. Must really be more careful in the future and pay attention to who is carrying what!

At the flight of steps between Burkill Hall and the Tan Hoon Siang Mist House.

Inside the Tan Hoon Siang Mist House.

Photography Notes:

1. Used a reflector to control shadows although it wasn’t necessary at points when the sky was overcast. To explore using this and an off camera flash to produce bigger catchlights.
2. Bringing a portable toy piano was a good idea as Ashley had more mood to pose when there was music playing.
3. Ashley gets tired after a while so need to try to focus on just 2 attractions in the future and not spend more than 5-10 minutes at each point.
4. When mummy is tired, the shoot is effectively OVER!

Popularity: 60% [?]

Whenever I see Ashley doing this…

Bliss!

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Touted as the largest observation wheel (can I still call it ferris wheel?) in the world at 165m high, the Singapore Flyer is certainly a sight to behold especially if you’re standing underneath it. Today marked the official opening of the Flyer although it has been in operation since Chinese New Year.

Little did anyone realise (I certainly didn’t), that there would be fireworks during the event. Just as I was setting up my tripod to capture the wheel, the fireworks started; and miracle of miracles, I managed to press the shutter in time to capture the first burst. All in all, the whole display lasted only a couple of minutes, but I felt that it was much better than the NDP07 fireworks show.

It begins!

It’s almost a full moon.

I love those blue streaks shooting inwards towards the spoke.

Plus the beautiful showers of light shooting out from the capsules.

After shooting the fireworks, we proceeded to have dinner at Popeye’s, where they serve pretty nice burgers and fries. Price per set meal is between $6 to $8 and is probably the most affordable eatery at the place. Today, we also made an amazing discovery that Ashley knows how to dip her fries into tomato sauce before eating them!

Not only that, she is also turning out to be quite a budding photographer as we took turns taking pictures underneath the Flyer after dinner. Granted everything was nicely set up on a tripod, but it was still cute watching her peep into the view finder while she repeatedly pressed the shutter release button.

This one was taken by Ashley!

The night ended on a bit of a damper because when we finally got around to buying tickets, we were told that the next available ride was only at 11pm. That put a spanner in our plans but I guess we’ll return another day when the crowd is smaller.

See if you can spot the long queue.

When all else fails, there’s always the toy store.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

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