Day 308 : We are Loving Marina Bay!

If there is one place in Singapore that has gone through the most dramatic changes in the past 30 years, in my opinion, it has got to be Marina Bay. From reclamation works starting in 1971 that expanded our bay mass by another 177ha to the progressive developments that transformed the downtown waterfront area into a showcase of trophy skyscrapers and iconic architecture, Marina Bay would have people falling in love with our little red dot in a heartbeat.

So when I was approached to be one of 20 featured photographers and bloggers for the Loving Marina Bay outdoor photo exhibition, I was struck with cephalgia for decent shots to submit. The pressure was high because my photos will appear alongside pro-photogs and multi-award winning photo enthusiasts. I didn’t want to be the weakest link that bring down the overall standard of the exhibited works.

Launch of Loving Marina Bay exhibition at San-Sui Sumiyaki & Bar at One Fullerton. Food was simply amazing with top marks for taste and creativity.

To hunt for the photos, I scoured through folders after folders of photos I’d taken of and at the bay area within the last 2 years while reaching into my memory bank for personal Marina Bay encounters.

My most enduring awareness of Marina Bay began at the now defunct Satay Club where my mum used to work as a beer promoter at night. While waiting for her to get off work, I spent many hours playing by the Tan Kim Seng Fountain which marked the entrance of Satay Club. The fountain still stands today but the waters have dried up like my very distant childhood.

Good thing is, there are so many more avenues around the bay for new memories to be born and the Loving Marina Bay photo exhibition is a collective dialogue with our darling waterfront!

Met up with many photographers and bloggers whose works and words I follow on Facebook and their personal sites. I feel so little in the presence of their mammoth talents and creative capacity.

All featured AmBAYssadors were presented with a token of appreciation with one of our photos printed in canvas. It was wonderful that URA recognised our contributions for the exhibition with such a thoughtful and unique gift.

Occupying a stretch known as Clifford Square (between One Fullerton and Collyer Quay), the outdoor exhibition is high on gawk factor with stunning shots of Marina Bay through the unique perspectives of individual AmBAYssador.

Photos ranged in subject matters from architecture, celebrations, festivals, people, Marina Bay at dawn, and at night.

Retrace the footsteps of Marina Bay’s development with Street Museum style photos where heritage photos are mapped onto current scenes around the bay.

Scene with the old General Post Office (right) which has been given a new lease of life as the luxurious Fullerton Hotel.

Collyer Quay then and now.

I chose these 4 photos to show the different aspect of Marina Bay… the abstract, the fiery, the contemplative, and the vibrancy.

Frame your love at Marina Bay!

Loving Marina Bay.

Loving Marina Gay?

Loving Marina Yay!

The photo under the Esplanade Bridge was taken with Casio Exilim ZR100 and this goes to show that compact cameras can take exhibition-worthy pics too!

Map showing the location of Loving Marina Bay exhibition and Fullerton Hotel where you can drop off postcards produced in conjunction with the event and it will be sent anywhere in the world free-of-charge. One of the 6 postcards is my dawn over Marina Bay photo.

The Loving Marina Bay photo exhibition runs from 3 Nov – 3 Dec 2012. It is a free-to-public event with special photography workshops, activities and heritage walks conducted by AmBAYssadors happening every weekend. So come on down and check out the photos! … and discover a piece of Marina Bay that you love

Day 054 : Casio Exilim ZR200

Thanks to the good folks at Casio Singapore, I was given a set of its latest innovation in digital compact camera - Casio Exilim EX-ZR200. The EX-ZR200 is an upgrade from the EX-ZR100 which I’ve been using all this while (in fact, all my FUNicating 2012 daily shots have been taken with it except Day 036 of the peacock) and I must say it’s a really nifty camera that packs a lot of features such as HDR, HDR-ART, High Speed Shooting, Multi-Frame SR Zoom, etc.

I’m not a technical expert in cameras, all I care about is image outcome and the EX-ZR100 gave me great results in a lot of situations and it’s simple to use. And now, in my hands, is the next evolution! I’ve yet to take it out for test shots but two of the most significant enhancements are :

1) Much Higher Speed. If EX-ZR100 is fast, ZR200 is faster still. As I turned on ZR200, I observed that the start-up time is much faster and the camera shoots at a 0.27 sec interval between shots. It also features a high speed HD Movie Mode which can record at a whooping 1,000 frames per second (fps)! Generally, our television which uses the PAL or NTSC systems only record and playback at a frame rate of 24 – 30 fps. What this means is with EX-ZR200 capturing more frames than the playback system, we can effectively slow down our video without loss of resolution. This is great for slow-mo playback of sports or action videos.

2) DSLR Quality Portraits. I think this function is going to set this compact apart from the competition. Casio has developed a original technique of blurring the background in portraits shots to achieve bokeh effect similar to photos taken by Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras. Once I find a nice model, I’ll test out this function and post up pics.

I’m really excited with this new tool to experiment and play around with. Will take it out for some clicks soon!

Day 037 : Fruits of Hard Work

Collected my prizes for winning Casio’s Maximum Creativity with Exilim blog contest this afternoon. I won Best Blogger Award and Best Themed Photo Award (Spilt-Second Memories) so got 2 cams – EX-ZR100 and EX-TR100. Once again, thanks for all your votes!

New Year Resolutions for 2012

The joys in this photo surrounding this man... having the eyesight to appreciate the beauty of the pink and white chrysanthemums, the random kindess of strangers, reminding the person who took this photo to celebrate life.

The thing that’s worse than a crippled body, is a broken spirit.

The thing that’s worse than moving slowly, is staying still.

The thing that’s worse than being poor, is being a miser.

The thing that’s worse than not being given something, is being ungrateful.

The worse than suffering emotional pain, is delighting in self-pity.

The worse than having no love, is to be filled with hate.

The worse than having no happiness, is to lose dignity.

The worse than losing dignity, is to live as a coward.

As 2012 approaches, I resolute to appreciate more, be often thankful, complain less, be more helpful, give first, and don’t wait to be given. While everyone wish for a better year ahead because 2011 hasn’t been kind to some while others are just greedy to ask for even more of the good, I’m reminded that things could be worse. A lot more worse.

So happy new year. Finding joy in all the little things is what a great year make

Remove the Distance with EX-ZR100 Multi SR Zoom

Did you know that the first zoom lens on photographic cameras was developed in 1902? Since then, it has evolved from the optical format of getting subjects closer to digital magnification, to the revolutionary multi-frame zoom pioneered by Casio Exilim.

Optical zoom, digital zoom, and now, multi-frame zoom… what the firetruck are they? Being the king of tech idiots, I lost count of the times my hair turned blonde trying to figure them out. But I’ve finally understood the difference between them.

Optical Vs. Digital Zoom : Optical zoom is the magnification of a subject by the physical lens much like using a magnifying glass while digital zoom is using a program to enlarge the pixels on a digital image like zooming in to a photo on a computer. Optical zoom is HARDWARE zoom, digital zoom is SOFTWARE zoom. Optical zoom takes photo of far away subjects without losing quality while digital zoom will sacrifice image resolution. Compact cameras usually suffer from lower quality images due to zooming

The solution for better quality zoom images from compact cameras? Casio Exilim ZR100′s Multi SR Zoom.

What this function does is that it takes a rapid series of 5 shots in optical zoom mode with 1 press of the shutter button and combines the 5 shots into 1 photo. It uses a proprietary imaging technology that maintains high fidelity to image textures.

So much for the technical explanations. My hands are sore from constantly dyeing my hair back to black. Let’s look at photos taken with the Multi SR Zoom mode and see the results…

An environmental shot of the area in front of Asian Civilisation Museum, Singapore. See any Asian influences in this scene other than the Chinese gentleman? No? Let's Multi SR Zoom in...

Can you identify where these 3 heads of deities are located in the above environmental shot? I took this photo right where I was standing when taking the above pic in the Multi SR Zoom mode.

I also tried out the Multi SR Zoom mode in shooting a pic in portrait orientation. This was taken in an outdoor garden at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Can you see where this ornament was placed in the scene above? Again, I zoomed in and took this photo right where I was standing when shooting the establishing shot.

I must say, I was pretty amazed at the image quality of zoomed in objects taken at such a far distance as illustrated in the photos above. Having used this mode to shoot a variety of situations, my conclusion is that it works well in outdoor, bright daylight situations. Photos still turn out blur at indoor lowlight situations as with all other compact cameras when attempting to take a zoomed in image.

Also, the outlines of subject and colours may appear a little artificial at maximum zoom range in Multi SR Zoom mode. And it’s very, very hard to focus and frame a subject at maximum zoom because the viewfinder becomes hyper-sensitive to any micro movement of the hands. Setting the camera on a tripod to shoot in this mode might help although I’ve not tried.

So my tip is to NOT zoom in to the max, but magnify just enough to get a sharp photo and crop later in an imaging software to bring the subject closer. Having said that, all the photos here have gone through ZERO IMAGE POST-PROCESSING except to resize. A couple of photos have been cropped no more than 15% of the original image size.

Here are more shots to illustrate the power and image quality outcome of using the Multi SR Zoom on architecture and nature…

Wide shot of the historic Teochew Temple in Penang with EX-ZR100 Premium Auto mode. There is something very rare and special about the roof of this clan temple.

Shot with the camera's normal optical zoom. On the roof facing the entrance to the temple features 3 carps swimming upwards towards a gate.

Shot with Multi SR Zoom mode. On the reverse side of the rooftop carp sculpture is that of a big-bellied laughing Maitriya Buddha.

Super wayang (dramatic) roof decoration on the Khoo Kongsi clan temple in Penang. Khoo Kongsi represents the height of Jian Nian (剪粘) artistry, a form of Chinese architectural decoration that uses broken shards of glass. Jian Nian means cut and paste. I'm amazed by the complexity and level of refinement in the roof design of this cultural treasure.

From the richly articulate roof of Khoo Kongsi, here's a closer look at a temple roof of another style. Can you guess which country this belongs to? It is in Bangkok. I was rather surprised to see this nude coloured roof because the apex of Thai temples are famously opulent.

Catching shadows with Multi SR Zoom mode. Colours and outlines appear sharp when the zoom is mid-range. However, if the zoom is extended to the max, subjects then to be blurred or have this outline around them.

After all the roof study of heritage and religious buildings, here's catching a modern structure with Multi SR Zoom. I saw this reflection across a road and took 2 shots - first with Multi SR Zoom mode, second with normal zoom. The Multi SR Zoom shot (this pic) was lighter in colour compared to the normal zoom pic..

From architecture, here's capturing nature in Multi SR Zoom. Took this at Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai. I was standing about 15 meters away and steadied my hands on a parapet when I snapped this pic of the majestic animal.

From the king on land to the king of the sky, I got upclose and personal with the Mountain Hawk-Eagle at Mae Sa Snake Farm. The huge bird was enclosed in a cage and although I wasn't far way, the cage's wire-mesh got in the way of my shot. So I used Multi SR Zoom to zoom in and blur out the cage meshing. The result looks as if there was no barrier between us. Awesome!

Alrighty, that’s all for my experience with the Multi SR Zoom mode. I’ve yet to see a very pronounced advantage in using this function over normal optical zoom but maybe I haven’t experiemented with it enough.

All photos in this post has NOT BEEN PHOTOSHOP POST-PROCESSED. For more photos taken with the camera, please visit my album A Month with Casio Exilim ZR100.

The Moments Between Seconds with EX-ZR100

“Everyone told me to pass on Speed because it was a ‘bus movie’” – Sandra Bullock

Thankfully, she didn’t miss starring in that movie and it seemed, the bus took her career places. A successful photograph shares much similarity with Miss Bullock’s success as a filmstar. It has to do with Speed.

Apart from controlling light, speed is the second most important factor that affects the outcome of a photo. When it comes to cameras and lenses, size doesn’t matter. Speed does. And faster is always better. Faster DSLR lenses generally cost more than slower ones while in the compact camera arena, the handy shooters are increasingly breaking the speed barrier with faster processors.

However, at this point in time, none of the camera makers has yet caught up with Casio Exilim ZR100′s impressive 0.37 second processing duration in-between shots. Lightning speed is the soul of this camera. 

In fact, High Speed is such a lauded feature of EX-ZR100 that the function comes with a special button on the camera’s body to activate this mode of shooting. 

Getting motion sickness looking at this photo? Blur is common when taking moving subjects onboard another moving vehicle. This shot of the undersea tunnel across Hong Kong's harbour was shot with EX-ZR100 Normal mode.

When taking photos with a compact camera, I subconsciously avoid action shots because it’s so hard to get sharp photos. Shots with movements, especially taken under indoor conditions, usually end up like the photo above. So I decided to give EX-ZR100 High Speed mode a try. And the result turned out as follows…

Yes, I got the Mercedes' car plate number in focus. Time to buy 4D! The High Speed mode captures a burst of shots and I can choose the best one of an action sequence. I call this a double motion-whammy shot because the cars were speeding and I was at the back of a moving bus when taking this. I felt rather Sandra Bullock.

What happens when I turn on the camera’s High Speed function is this… it activates the unique dual-core processors to record a rapid series of shots with just one press of the shutter button. It can take as many as 40 frames per second! What I ended up with was a series of shots with every split-second movement captured. I caught all the moments in-between the seconds and simply choose the best ones to keep later.

With the High Speed mode, no action escapes the camera. Such as this daredevil snake handler who kissed a majorly pissed venomous King Cobra at Mae Sa Snake Farm during my trip to Chiang Mai…

King Cobra : "I don't mind that you kiss me, but that breath! S..ss...s...ssheeesh!"

To create this ‘moving portrait’, all I had to do was select 4 shots from 30 shots that the High Speed mode took in a second. With such a dangerous snake, the handler had to be very deft with his display of affection. The cobra wasn’t defanged or depoisoned because after the show, he milked the snake of its poison in front of my face! 

My favourite photo from the series of shots taken in High Speed mode. The snake's aggressiveness was soften by the handler's adoration and awe of it.

I would like to show more photos taken with the High Speed mode but I don’t find myself in environments with hyper activities. The rush of a busy mind disregarded.

So here are photos of the 2 beings that let my heart feel a lot of high-speed movements other than the people I love…

Rainbow doing her daily yoga stretch. It's always a challenge to get a still shot of this hyper rascal. She just claws my affection every time she does this cute pose.

Get an eye work-out with Joy! Each time she blinks, you blink too. One of the fun things to create is an animated GIF like this from the photos taken in High Speed mode. Joy is blinking at 5 seconds interval. That's 12 times a minute. It keeps the eyes lubricated and dry eyes out. On average, a human adult blinks at an interval of 2 - 6 seconds (30 - 10 times per minute). When reading or using the computer, blinking is reduced to 4 times a minute which results in dry eyes. Over or under blinking could signify stroke, nervous system disorders or Parkinson

I had quite a fun experience with the Casio Exilim ZR100 High Speed mode and I can foresee many more situations to use it other than to capture action and pets that can hardly stay still.

High Speed mode works with many other modes on the camera (eg. Auto, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, Manual mode) while it doesn’t function with the Premium Auto and Best Shot modes. That’s because these modes already come with automatic presets to activate (or not of) the camera’s High Speed image capture ability.

My only grouse is that it captures many shots with just one press of a button and I had to later go through the tens of shots to choose one that I like. Then again, that’s the wonderful thing about this mode. It captures all the action so that the best parts are not missed.

Just like Sandra Bullock who didn’t miss the bus.

情书中的自由

几天前，工作得无聊便想翻翻书，吃蛇一下。于是便从随身袋里取出了由 Gordon Livingston 医生所著的 Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart – Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now 翻阅。

Livingston 是一名心理科医生。这本书记载了他多年行医，从病人身上所累积下来的生活真理，写成三十则医疗典故与读者分享。这三十则典故例出了许多人在生活里所遇上的普遍问题和摆脱它们的正面思想，以达快乐。

这本书是一位赏心人送我的。礼书情意重。这人可真是有心。看完了第一则典故后，我想把这本书拍摄下来。我希望能够把它拍得较有象征性来代表我对书，与看书的思牵。

想了一阵子，灵机一动，决定把书篇折起来成个心形。然后再把一端面向工作桌上香薰炉里的蜡烛，代表爱情能照亮心坊，而读书能生慧；智慧能使人亮悟谜沼。

爱情与智慧是生活的解放，自由人生的指引光！

Love frees the heart, knowledge frees the mind. There is light at the end of the tunnel of love and wisdom! Shot with Casio Exilim ZR100 HDR-ART mode.

拍完这张照片后，我把它上载到 Casio Exilim Singapore Facebook Fanpage 参加摄影比赛。你也可以参加哦！参赛者有机会赢取一架在自拍领域称霸的 Casio Exilim TR100！参赛方法如下 ：

别等啦，现在就点击 Casio Exilim Singapore Facebook Fanpage，上载代表 “新加坡创意面相” 或 “自由无限量” 的照片赢取相机！照片上载截止日期 ：12月 11日 2011年。

赶快行动，祝你好运！

Living Colours with Exilim ZR100 HDR-ART

A photograph is a time machine. It brings us back to the moment we first greeted the world, our important events, milestones, holidays and helps us remember the people in our lives. But more than a memory bank, a photo is also a medium of communicating beauty that has the ability to alter the mood of a viewer.

To me, I think the best photographs are those that seamlessly blend the 2 functions together where the adventures in our lives are captured beautifully. And it need not be difficult. Nor does one need a big camera to do it. A powerful compact camera such as the Casio Exilim ZR100 can do the job more than adequately.

I’ve been using the camera for about 2 weeks now and I must say I’m really impressed at what I could do with it, the ease of use and the quality of images. I’ve shared in my previous post about the HDR mode and how it’s so easy to acquire High Dynamic Range (HDR) shots with just one click. In this post, I’ll go a step further and share with you my experiments with the Casio Exilim ZR100 HDR-ART mode.

What’s the difference between HDR and HDR-ART mode you may ask? Instead of describing it to you in words, I’ll let the photos taken in the HDR-ART mode do the talking. All photos in this post have NOT been post-processed with Photoshop. There’s really no need to with HDR-ART mode anyway.

This photo was taken with the Casio Exilim ZR100 (EX-ZR100 in short) in Auto Mode. The sun was shining at the top right hand corner and I wanted to show the x-ray effect on the leaf caused by the bright light. However, the area of the light source in the photo was burnt-out.

I switched to HDR-ART mode and immediately, the veins of the leaf became more pronounced and the burnt-out spot was eliminated.

As you can see in the above example, the HDR-ART mode saturates the colours in a scene to produce photos that not only reap the benefit of HDR’s ability to balance exposure, but adds an artistic quality to the final image.

What is art is often subjective and open to personal preference, but I think it’s pretty cool that I have a camera that has the potential to artify anything if I choose to without external imaging softwares. This post will share with you the different lighting conditions and subject matters that have been shot in HDR-ART mode and their outcomes. You will see photos taken in that mode during dull skies, a rainy day, sunny day, outdoors, indoors, daily objects, and scenes with strong lighting components.

Visited the Gardens by the Bay during its preview but the sun was on vacation that day. I tried to take a photo of this branchy structure that is one of the icons of the development but it turned out so depressive.

Shot in HDR-ART mode, the colours of the organic tower came to life!

View from my window during a rainy, misty day shot in Auto mode.

Same view shot in HDR-ART mode. The evening sun and dispersing clouds came into focus while streaks of rainfall are visible against the darker green canopies of the trees.

Still on dull grey skies that dominates our November / December weather here in Singapore, this aerial shot of Centrepoint in HDR mode (left) and HDR-ART mode (right) shows the whimsical cartooning effect of the latter mode. HDR-ART mode works well with subjects or scenes with lots of lights. But it can also be an overkill so experiment and determine if the result is to your liking.

Dramatic Photos with Just a Touch

Okay, enough of grey-skied photos. Here’s a collection of shots showing what happens when the situations had been HDR-ARTed!

The sky makes for a great subject to use the HDR-ART mode on especially when there's a sharp contrast. In this photo, the sky seem to form a paw imprint over the Bangkok General Post Office and it reminded me of my 2 lovely dogs at home.

HDR-ART captured the gloriousness of a sunny day at Merlion Park spined by the Singapore CBD skyline. Personally, I find that the HDR-ART is not suitable for scenes with a lot of elements as they fight for attention. This scene somehow worked but there were many that were deleted because they were too busy for the eyes in HDR-ART mode.

Visage of Bangkok's CentralWorld office wing. This was taken with HDR-ART mode's Level 1 strength in colour saturation and I thought the photo looks very natural as the ART mode can make things look rather artificial at times.

From the exterior of buildings, I tested HDR-ART on the interior of buildings such as this photo of the Suvarnabhumi Airport. I love how the colours looks so natural at Level 1 saturation in HDR-ART mode.

Another interior architectural shot. This time of in-building decorations such as the cyclical art installation at the foyer of Novena Square. the cyclical installation at the foyer of Novena Square.

Fly Awaves. Initially, I couldn't decide if this pic was taken in the HDR-ART mode because the colours looked so natural. Then I consulted other photos I took of this scene in other modes (Auto and HDR) and I confirmed this is HDR-ART because the colours were more vivid compared to the others.

Exterior of my office. I wanted to see how HDR-ART performs in a scene like this with strong and muted colours. The earthy hues remained sombre but the pinkish highlights of the floral motifs were given a flourescent fushia upgrade!

Having looked at how HDR-ART bring out the colours of scenic and architectural subjects, the following photos will demonstrate how this mode performs with daily life objects and when used during the night.

Strong primary colours get wildly accented in the HDR-ART mode. Here's an example of how the pink flowers of a dwarf frangipani (kalachuchi) was made louder in this mode!

Asian profusion of sleeping beauty or Ai Li in Wonderland?

My newly acquired radio bag from Jatuchak Market. Love how the HDR-ART mode made it look so retrolicious and funky-cool!

Shot taken below my flat. My family and neighbourhood is my circle of life.

Here’s a tip you should know. The HDR-ART mode offers the flexibility of controlling the level of colour saturation. The preceding photos were taken with varying strengths of colouration but I couldn’t recall what I used in most of them. So I decided to chart the differences between the various levels in the following photos. In the HDR-ART mode, you can decide between a level of 1 to 3 for how artified you want your photos to look.

As a general observation, I realise that focusing improves with the higher saturation level (that is, Level 3) as more of the subject is in focus. Level 1 is good for having just an element closest to the camera sharp while the rest of the subject gets blurred. Look at the clarity of the green glass piece in the above photos to get what I mean. Level 1 has more of the lantern out-of-focus while keeping green section relatively clear. Overall sharpness is achieved with Level 3.

However, this is used indoors on a single object. I think Level 1 is great for taking HDR-ART shots of landscape and buildings to give them stronger colours yet looking natural. Looking at all the photos on this post again, can you identify which were shot with Level 1, 2 or 3?

HDR-ART mode loves the light. No better time to use it than this Christmas! I call this shot, the Infinity of Creativity with HDR-ART!

With Casio Exilim ZR100 HDR-ART mode, colours go on steriods to create photos that are not just a mere record of things happened and seen, but opens up an artistic realm. Sorta like Andy Warhol’s famous pop-art treatment to a can of Campbell Soup and Marilyn Monroe. Oh, I didn’t put up photos of people taken in the HDR-ART mode because I felt they look rather weird. Maybe it’s the model (me) and not the camera’s fault. LOL.

HDR-ART mode is highly addictive as anything can be photographed with unexpected colour results. I love taking a photo in this mode and then waiting for the image to be processed in the camera. The wait is like unwrapping a present because I don’t know what to expect of the outcome. And because I cannot predict what a photo will look like, it spurs me to try shooting everything and be spontaneous.

To me, that’s what photography should be and all about… spontaneity, having fun and breaking free from photographic traditions. With HDR-ART, we could just very well be the next Andy Warhol!

For more photos taken with the camera, please visit my album A Month with Casio Exilim ZR100.

HDR Made REALLY Easy with EX-ZR100

When taking photographs, I constantly face a problem I term as the “blank and dull sky syndrome” (BADSS). This photographic “illness” infects photos taken when the sky lacks contrast or when the camera metered a darker area in a scene and compensate by making the whole photograph appear brighter.

As the entire photo becomes brighter, details in already bright areas in the scene get lost. Typically, it’s the sky that gets sacrificed and becomes white-washed or dull. Here’s an example of a photo suffering from BADSS…

Taken with Casio Exilim ZR100′s Auto Mode (a.k.a. Normal Mode in some cameras). Location : Orchard Central Roof Garden.

 

The day that I took this photo, it was grey and overcast with mild clouding due to an impending rain. The lack of light striking the foreground subjects (the colourful sculptures and garden) also made them appear darker in contrast to the sky.

So in order to make the foreground subjects brighter, the camera compensated with a higher exposure but that caused the sky to be brighter too and it lost all details and looks blank in the photo. All cameras function this way in Auto / Normal mode, including powerful DSLRs, and are susceptible to the BADSS plague.

Is there something that can be done about it? Yes. The solution is High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging technique. Here’s a photo of the same scene taken with a HDR function…

Taken with Casio Exilim ZR100′s one-touch HDR Mode.

 

Notice how the sky appears in the photo now. Doesn’t the photo look better and more attractive? But wait till you see this…

Taken with Casio Exilim ZR100′s one-touch HDR-Art Mode.

 

Not only does the sky appears, the colours of the scene is also made more vibrant and really jumps at you! Now, ALL PHOTOS appearing in this post ARE WITHOUT ANY PHOTOSHOP OR IMAGING ENHANCEMENTS.

For those of you in the know of HDR photography, you know it is a valuable technique to get an evenly exposed photo. But you also know the hassle that this technique requires. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the growing popularity of HDR, I shall attempt to share what I’ve learnt and why Casio Exilim ZR100 really takes the pain out of HDR imaging.

What is HDR Imaging?

The technique of creating a single photo from multiple photos first appeared in the 1850s when a French photographer, Gustave Le Gray, combined several seascape photos with extreme luminosities into 1 picture.

Today, this technique has evolved into HDR (also known as HDRI, High Dynamic Range Imaging, with some camera and videocam makers) and is basically a technique used to create an evenly exposed photo in situations where there are high lighting contrasts.

Some of these situations include taking a photo when facing the sun causing the foreground to appear dark while the sky is very bright (gradual contrast) or taking a photo with a sharp lighting contrast (eg. capturing details of a dim room with the bright scene outside its windows).

How is a HDR Shot Acheived?

Traditionally, and this is how I was taught to get a HDR photo with a DSLR, I must first own a stable tripod. I must fix my camera on the tripod, lock it to the composition I want then take 5 shots of the same scene by varying the Exposure Value (EV). This is to underexpose (-EV) the scene to capture the sky and overexposing (+EV) the scene to capture the foreground subjects.

After the tripod set-up is complete, I’ll proceed to take a photo each at -2EV, -1EV, Normal Exposure (0EV), +1EV and +2EV. After that, I’ll combine all the 5 shots into 1 photo with an imaging software. Here’s an example of what I would do to get a HDR image using a DSLR…

Effects of varying the EV value to get a HDR shot. The lower EV values give the sky a richer colour while the higher EV values capture details of the merlion. Location : Merlion Park.

 

Final HDR image after combining all of the above 5 photos in Photoshop. It took about 5 minutes of work to import and process the shots for this photo.

 

Getting a HDR image with a DSLR is a lot of work! That’s the reason why I never quite caught on with this technique because I’ll need to lug a tripod around whenever I go, spend time setting up, get a HDR imaging software such as Photomatix (before Photoshop came out with in-built HDR capability), and spend time processing the image.

Get a HDR Photo in 5 Seconds

But thanks to Casio Exilim ZR100, getting a HDR image is made so, so, so much easier! With just a turn on the camera’s dial, I could activate the HDR mode and in one click, get an evenly exposed photo like this…

Handheld HDR photo without the need to set-up a tripod. The image’s colour range and quality is comparable to what I got with the traditional method using a DSLR.

 

The EX-ZR100′s HDR function really saves time, effort and money to get an evenly exposed shot. Better yet, try the camera’s HDR-Art mode which saturates the colours even further to boomz the hues like this…

Sunrise at Merlion Park with Casio Exilim ZR100′s one-touch HDR-Art mode.

 

With both the HDR and HDR-Art mode, it takes under 5 seconds for the camera to snap and process the image. What the camera does is that with 1 click in these 2 modes, it rapidly fires 5 shots with different EVs and then combines them into a single photo within the camera’s body. There’s no need for external softwares to do it. I can’t believe how easy it is!

Other Scenarios to Use EX-ZR100′s HDR Mode

Apart from the Orchard Central Roof Garden and Merlion Park examples which demonstrated the use of HDR mode during gradual and sharp lighting contrasts, here are some other situations in which the HDR and HDR-Art modes will come in handy…

Trying to capture the sun in Auto Mode resulted in a diffused bright spot that doesn’t show the relationship between the tree and its source of sustenance.

 

With the HDR and HDR-Art modes, the sun appears as defined circle of light that brings life to the foliage.

 

HDR and HDR-Art modes are great for capturing under-bridge scenes. Loved the blue sky peering between this pair of highway bridges in Bangkok but couldn’t capture it in Auto Mode. When I switched to the HDR Mode, voilà the strip of blue appears!

 

Used the HDR Mode to photograph this perspective below the Esplanade Bridge to show details under the bridge and its sides.

 

I pass by this scene under the CTE Expressway (Moulmein Road exit) on my way to work each time and love the atmospheric perspective. It was a particularly sunny day when this photo was taken with the street scene beyond the bridge made visible with the HDR Mode.

 

From under bridges, let’s go above. This photo was taken at Bangkok’s Mo Chit BTS Station. The HDR Mode allows the gloriously blue sky and darker in-station platform to be evenly exposed.

 

With the usefulness of the HDR Mode, it’s tempting to just photograph everything in this mode but I would use it with caution because of the following reasons :

1) As each click of the camera’s trigger in HDR or HDR-Art mode fires 5 shots, battery life gets drained pretty quickly.

2) Sometimes having a contrast in lighting is good to convey mood, such as the effective use of silhouettes, rather than having every detail visible.

3) The camera takes a couple of seconds to process each HDR shot so there’s a down time and not suitable for shooting high speed action shots.

4) When overdone, HDR shots can appear fake and look unappealing.

I hope this post gives you a good idea about HDR imaging and what Casio Exilim ZR100 can do. Again, I would like to emphasize that NO PHOTOSHOP PROCESSING has been done on the photos here except for resizing, adding my shameless self-promotional blog address and combining the 5 DSLR shots into a single HDR photo.

For more photos taken with the camera, please visit my album A Month with Casio Exilim ZR100.

Related posts :

Is central Bangkok flooded huh?

Singapore – Merlion Park at Marina Bay

Orchard Central – The Art of Shopping

Counting Blessings

Sawasdee khrup… Greetings from Bangkok!

I was roaming the streets for things to shoot with EX-ZR100 when I met this guy…

His name is Derng or something like that.

I cannot imagine if I was in his shoes slippers, would I have the courage to face the world?

Makes that few wrinkles, dark circles and blemishes on my face that much more trivial. Sometimes we lament and complain we have it bad…

Meet Derng.

And those who carry on living with disablement like him.

Shadow of Work

Stuck thinking for ideas at work and decided to look around my office for something to shoot.

My attention was drawn to a small motivational picture given by a friend. It sat on a shelf with several to-do lists scribbled on a glass panel behind it.

The words on the picture spoke to me. So I created a ‘sun’ with a table lamp and set up a shot to reflect the meaning in the message.

Work is such a shadow at times. So it’s important to find the fun sun!

Shot with Casio Exilim ZR100 (HDR mode). Image has gone through some Photoshop post-processing.

Flower Dome and World Orchid Show

Okay, it’s not very macho to admit this, but I love flowers.

They represent the ‘enlightenment’ that a plant achieves. After going through periods of rain and sunshine, the plant reaches a certain point in maturation and one day, colours and fragrance burst forth. 

Much like the blossoming of our innermost human consciousness. When we reach a threshold of self-awareness and can be at peace with all that is within and around us, we bloom.

A bridge on Level 4 of Marina Bay Sands links directly to Gardens by the Bay. The scenic walk provided a nice transition from urban livin' to nature lovin'.

So when I received an invitation to attend the preview of the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay in conjunction with the 20th Orchid Conference, I had a bee to honey moment.

The media event was supposed to be on 13 Nov but I was running a temperature and missed it. Thankfully, an additional invitation allowed me to visit the dome and conference between 14 – 20 Nov so I made my way down during my off day yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good day to go. The sky was overcast.

Glad I had the Casio Exilim ZR100 with me. Using the HDR-Art mode, I was able to capture colours on an otherwise very muted shot due to the dull weather.

However, as the Flower Dome received visitors only during that 1 week period as a preview ahead of the Gardens by the Bay official June 2012 launch, I was determined to get the best out of my visit come rain or shine. It’ll be a challenge to get nice shots that day, which was a perfect opportunity to test out the new Casio Exilim ZR100 (EX-ZR100). I brought along my DSLR so you’ll see photos from both cameras.

Pictures with a thin black frame around them are taken with the EX-ZR100.

Awaiting full bloom. Gardens by the Bay is Singapore's new approach to greening the city with environmentally-friendly technology and sustainable resource management.

The above few photos were taken with EX-ZR100′s HDR and HDR-Art modes. I tried taking those shots with my DSLR but the colours were very bland and the subtle presence of clouds were lost, making the sky look white-washed.

So for anyone who thinks that the bigger the camera the better the photos, well, that’s not always true.

Inside the air-conditioned Flower Dome... the plants all so hoh mia (good life)! The conservatory replicates the cool-dry climate of the Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions like South Africa and parts of Europe such as Spain and Italy.

Consisting of several ethnic-themed gardens by the southern coast of the Marina Bay area,  the sprawling horticultural development will showcase flora and fauna from different continents of the world except Antartica.

Around 226.000 plants are expected to be featured when the project is complete. I’m sure it’ll become a photography hotspot.

Love the dome design and architecture. The lines form such a dramatic webbed background when shot with fisheye. Just from the looks of the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay is already on my super like list!

Was greeted by a row of red gerberas upon entering the dome. Shot with EX-ZR100's HDR-Art mode.

Also shot with the HDR-Art mode, this albino gerbera turned out yellow! Interesting.

The essential "I was in the Flower Dome" shot.

I used to be crazy about orchids for a while and would spend hours visiting the Thomson Road stretch of nurseries. I even attended a course on orchid cultivation and indoor gardening by NParks.

Unfortunately, my heart may be green, but my fingers are not. Many orchids withered in my care no matter how much attention or nitrate fertilisers I fed them. Maybe they got smothered by my over-zealousness. I even managed to kill a couple of common dendrobiums, the hardiest of orchid species. Think I should just see and don’t touch!

Name of Orchid : Renanthera 20th WOC Singapore 2011. The flaming red blossom was the official flower of the 20th World Orchid Conference. It was polinated in August 2003 (Renanthera Bangkok Flame + Renanthera Klsom) and first flowered in June 2005. That's the fun thing with orchids, different species can be spliced to get new ones.

My favourite species... lady slipper orchids (Paphiopedilum)! This specimen has such vibrant, bewitching colours. During a garden festival at Dempsey many years ago, I bought a jade green slipper orchid for S$60! The flower lasted for about 3 weeks. After that, I didn't manage to get it to flower again and it died of root rot.

Cymbidium Chen's Ruby 'ORCHIS'.

Another shot of the Ruby 'ORCHIS' taken in HDR-Art mode. Such radically different colour results from the original. So cool!

Close-up of a giant phalaenopsis' lip in HDR-Art mode. Can you see a face with raised arms? Looks rather comical don't you think?

The wide sepals of the white Phalaenopsis has this aura of virginal purity around it. I'm used to seeing Phal sprays with several flowers but not this single bloomer.

The dancing lady orchid (Oncidium) on steroids! These big florets have the sultry allure of a yellow-skirted flamenco dancer.

Forgot to get the name of this orchid species because I was so enthralled by the patterning and colours saturated by the HDR-Art mode.

So heartwarming to see everyone enjoying the flowers. There was this couple who asked me to take a photo for them. I think the husband suffers from cerebal palsy coz he couldn't walk very well and very slow. But his wife was patiently guiding him to stand next to her for their portrait. I was so touched.

After the Flower Dome, I took the 10-minutes walk to cross over to Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre for the 20th World Orchid Conference’s World Orchid Show. First thing that struck me was… so many people! I wonder if I would find my little piece of paradise in the crowd. 

The conference was a massive gathering of orchid societies all over the globe showcasing their native species, winning breeds, as well as floral art culminating as the World Orchid Show. I’ve never seen so many real orchids at one place in my life.

Orchid-laced corridor leading to the exhibition halls. Very grand indeed.

A triennial international event, this year's conference also heralded the largest orchid show in Singapore featuring over 75 decorative floral installations.

I think this is a Vanda orchid. With so many hybrids crossing the distinctive properties of various parentage, it can sometimes be confusing trying to identify an orchid species just by its flower alone.

Champion of the floral display at the World Orchid Show.

The show was a platform for countries to show off their creativity with all things floral. These were entrants for the best table floral arrangement competition.

Inspiration for Lady Gaga's next fashion fantasy?

Hwah!

Love the gorgeously rich velvet hues on this slipper orchid. 'Orchid' comes from the ancient Greek word 'orkhis'. It means testicle. Doesn't this orchid's pouch remind you of something other than a lady's slipper?

Before the orchid show, I didn't know there are so many different species of slipper orchids. I was over-stimulated and had the urge to buy one home. But I know my housing condition isn't suitable for growing the slippers as they are rather fussy.

Sprays of pure yellow dancing lady orchids without the species trademark spots and markings on its petals and lip.

Look how small these papery purple orchids are!

This orchid feels so retro-groovy. I thought it was fake initially.

First time seeing more than one slipper orchid on a peduncle.

This orchid looks so bizarre! It won the Gold Medal Award and Best Bulbophyllinae Award.

Wanted to take an underside photo of this strange orchid that resembles a green squid with snake skin but it was placed close to the ground. I couldn't go any lower with my DSLR so I shot it with EX-ZR100's Super Macro mode. A compact camera really comes in handy to capture odd angles. But most importantly, it must be able to take decent shots or the effort at framing from an uncomfortable perspective will be wasted.

HDR-Art of liliac-coloured Phals. So psychedelic!

I spent about half a day taking in the sights at Flower Dome and the orchid show. I wished I had more time but I had a dinner appointment and my eyes were getting all flowery.

Really glad I made it before the show was over. I must say that the orchid show was well organised and I super like what I saw at Gardens by the Bay. Can’t wait for it to be completed.

EX-ZR100 Night Landscape mode.

As I departed Marina Bay Sands, I was greeted by the dusking skyline of Marina Bay. Oh, how beautiful it looked in that evening blue!

Like a flower that is the enlightenment of Singapore.

Orchard Central – The Art of Shopping

Just got hold of the new Casio Exilim ZR100 a couple of days ago because I was lucky enough to be 1 of 4 selected bloggers to take part in a contest about the compact camera. The blog challenge doesn’t start till next Friday but I was eager to take the camera out for a test drive.

A few locations to shoot came to mind but since I’m recovering from a seriously bad-ass flu, I didn’t want to venture too far. I needed some place that can offer lots of photographic opportunities as well as dustbins for me to throw my mucus-soaked tissues. I also wanted it near home because it’s icky to be carrying a wet, snorty handkerchief in the pocket for too long a time.

My nose was starting to turn red from all that sneezing and unstoppable nose slime. I was Rudolph for a day. This self-portrait was shot using Casio Exilim ZR100's one-touch HDR mode. The wide angle lens made it easy for cam whoring without needing ape limbs. The angle was so wide, I had to crop off about 40% from the original size.

So I settled on Orchard Central. I came here once last year to take some shots of the enchanting Sky Garden but I’ve not taken photos of the shopping centre’s interior. To me, the mall is perhaps the most esthetically captivating of all the malls in Singapore.

Taking panoramic shots for the first time. I've always been intrigued by pano photos but I don't own the equipment or software to do it. But now I can with ZR100. I can't believe how incredibly easy it was to take theese 2 photos!

The key highlight at Orchard Central is the Roof Garden (Level 11 and 12) which qualifies as a minor tourist attraction offering an aerial view of our famous downtown shopping district and high-rise skyline. According to the mall’s website, the garden is operational 24/7. I think that means it’s always open. And it’s FREE to visit!

Wonderfully well-maintained. When I was here in January 2010, the park was immaculate. Back after almost 2 years, the Roof Garden still looks pristine. Great job at maintenance!

For my test drive, I wanted to see the image results from the different modes that Casio Exilim ZR100 offers. Especially the one-touch HDR and HDR-Art mode. HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging is a photography technique that combines photos with different exposure levels into one picture. I’ll talk more about HDR in an upcoming post.

The photo above as well as the one below and the one after it were taken in the HDR-Art mode which yielded some pretty interesting colour results.

View converging on Mandarin Orchard Hotel with the iconic Chinese roof of Tangs visibile in the background.

Installations by Singaporean artist Victor Tan and Japanese visual artist Yayoi Kusama converts the space into a whimsical oasis amidst Orchord Road.

Really liked these wired human figures that seem to ask the question, "How are you wired?" The figurines turns when the wind blows, thereby generating multiple angles to admire the sculptures from. This photo is taken in the Best Shot (BS) Sunset mode. The Roof Garden is a great place to experience sunsets.

Testing out the camera's Super Macro mode. I think the result is pretty stunning!

Starburst spray from an aquatic plant. The Roof Garden is decorated with walls of vertical green, full-height trees and various water plants.

From the open air outdoor garden,  I next tested the camera inside Orhard Central. Indoor photography without flash is always a headache because the pictures have the propensity to turn out blurred and very pixellated from high ISO settings. The interior photos were shot with ISO settings ranging from 100 – 400 to keep the pictorial noise level down, yet achieving sharp snaps.

Inside the glass lift well while going down from the Roof Garden to Level 1. Shot in BS (Indoor Party) mode.

Lift lobby sporting an interesting cluster of cube lights. Shot using Normal mode.

Level 4 of the shopping complex features an indoor rock climbing wall. I took a shot with the Normal mode and tried another in the HDR-Art mode. This photo is from the latter mode. I find that HDR-Art is very useful in places with fancy lightings as the saturation of colours articulates the spectrum with dramatic outcomes.

Looks like an organic metallic spaceship taking off. HDR-Art mode.

Ingenious use of light and shadow to create a patterned wallpaper. While Orchard Central has lots of interesting lightplay within, it still can't quite alleviate itself from feeling rather claustrophobic. Shops are closely packed together, making the place a maze.

The ceiling reminds me of the Polish folkart of paper-cutting.

Closed for business. There was this eatery with a beautifully elaborate gate and cool interior design that I had wanted to try but is now gone. Such a pity. During my visit, quite a lot of the shop spaces were vacant. Photo of the locks shot with Flower Macro mode.

Love this octagonal lampshade adirming it's on beauty. Shot with Normal mode.

I've never seen tribalness given such an elegant treatment. Nice! Shot using Premium Auto mode which intelligently balances out lighting conditions to achieve an evenly exposed photo.

Peek-a-boo. Super Macro close-up of Orchard Central's feathery Christmas decor. The mall's yuletide theme this year is 'Christmas with an OC Attitude'. I couldn't agree more. This place sure has sass.

Done shopping for shots inside Orchard Central, I wanted to head home when I realised I haven’t taken a photo of the mall’s visage. Out of tissues and my hanky protesting any more gooey deposits, I pressed on to finish some exterior shots…

Casio Exilim ZR100 is the star! Shot in Manual Mode (f/4.4, 1/8 sec, ISO 400). I wanted to test the image quality of using a slow shutter speed to capture motion blur of the traffic while keeping the star and background in focus to provide a contrast. I'm amazed I can achieve this effect at a high level of sharpness without using a DSLR or high ISO setting which will cause noise on the photo.

Later, I reflected on why I carried on shooting despite being relatively sick and realised that I’m developing an addiction to the camera. We all know how addiction works. It overpowers better judgement and even though we know we shouldn’t do something, we continue to do it anyway. Yikes! First time using it and I couldn’t put it down. Hope I don’t have to go into rehab later.

Entrance to Orchard Central all styled up by 2 flambouyant fuschia reindeers. Hot foreign visitor not included!

Why would I need to go into rehab? Photography is a healthy addiction compared to many other vices right? Well, you see, this camera is not mine. At least not yet. It is on loan from the good folks at Casio for the blog contest period and I have to return it at the end of December.

But you can help keep me out of rehab :) There will be a voting segment in the contest which you can help vote for my photos to make the Casio Exilim ZR100 permanently mine. Will keep you informed when the time comes and hopefully, I’ll get your support.

Bold use of LED screens give Orchard Central an ever-changing skin and creates a striking architectural profile that resembles a giant block of quartz crystal. It looks like a towering amethyst with the violet hues here. Truly a gem of a shopping mall.

Meanwhile, I’ll be shooting more and sharing with you the strengths and weaknesses of this camera as well as user tips. The photos on this post have been shot entirely with the Casio Exilim ZR100 and minor Photoshop processing has been done to adjust brightness, contrast, and sharpness. I’m treating photos taken with the ZR100 like the way I treat other images before posting up.

But one thing’s for sure, I have no problems with a washed out sky now thanks to the camera’s in-built HDR function.

In upcoming posts, I’ll go deeper into the HDR, HDR-Art, High Speed shooting (the ZR100 is built for incredible speed) and the camera’s unique Zoom capability to bring far objects closer. The photos put up in these posts will have ZERO image editing done except resizing file sizes. That’s the requirement by Casio. All photos for the contest proper must not be manipulated in any way to show the true potential of the ZR100.

So stay tuned as I show you where my fingers have been with this nifty camera in the coming weeks!