27 February 2010

My Friend Terence

I don't shoot portraits too much but those times that I do pull it off reasonably well, it's often because I'm fortunate enough to come across someone who exudes a distinct personality. Among the many Pentax users who attend our monthly photo outings it is always a treat to get to shoot my friend Terence. His unique inner personality always seem to shine through whenever I look through the viewfinder.



The first shot was taken at our January outing at Fort Canning Park. I wanted a high key approach and deliberately exposed for the shadows as he was backlit by the strong morning sun. By deliberately overexposing the camera's suggested meter reading, the idea was to lighten his features which helped to highlight his expressive eyes. Shooting a tricky shot like this, it is essential to shoot in RAW to exploit the maximum dynamic range available from the camera. Used the Pentax FA 135mm telephoto on the K-7 for the shot.



The second shot was taken at our recent February outing in Chinatown. The FA 50mm macro lens that I used allowed a little separation of the subject from the background for this mid body shot. Lighting was pretty even and subdued in the open shade which provide a nice overall tonality. As I typically shoot very quickly, I was fortunate to get the shot by the second frame. Had I deliberated a little longer, the background would have been filled with bystanders exiting from the train station nearby which would have ruined the overall shot. All shots uncropped and post processed in Photoshop CS4.

19 February 2010

Expressive eyes

The DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited is a lens that made me ponder for a long time whether to get it or not. The maximum aperture isn't that much faster compared to the DA 18-55mm kit lens plus the kit lens goes quite a bit wider. Yes it is smaller and better built but it costs quite a bit more too. With the new DA 15mm f/4 Limited wide angle, the DA 21mm seems to be less prominent in the Pentax blogosphere and discussion forums.



To me it seems almost unthinkable to let go of this lens, which has become one of my favs among my lenses. It's small and compact dimensions means it's always in the bag. Because of its small size, I managed to get up close to shoot a neighbor's cat and my pet chihuahua Pepe. I wanted to catch a wideangle perspective of their expressive eyes. The images were shot with the K-7 and processed in Silver Efex Pro.

06 February 2010

Lone Tree

Shooting in the early part of the day can be rewarding as it provides very dramatic images due to the angle of the light. I took this tree at Bedok Reservoir Park just as the sun was rising over the trees by the reservoir. I particularly like the directional quality of the strong side lighting. Shot with an IR modified Pentax *istDL2 with the DA 18-55mm II kit lens.