Our Lady of Lourdes

Just two images of Our Lady of Lourdes Church taken very early in the morning.



This is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Singapore. Built in 1888, it is the first Tamil Catholic church in Singapore. Architecturally, it is modelled to the original church in Lourdes, France. It has in my view an excellent facade and it is now gazetted as a national monument.



Took the opportunity to give the images a HDR like treatment. Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CS4. Taken with the K20D and the DA 18-55mm II kit lens.

From an early morning walk

Today I grabbed my K20D with my DA 18-55mm II kit lens to shoot some images by the beach at dawn. I spent a productive time there deep in thought and took these images almost by accident, shooting with no defined purpose which ordinarily is not a good thing!


Forest shadows


Coconut and leaf


Boulder at dawn

Opening the images in Adobe Bridge, a few images immediately drew my attention as being ideal in black and white. Post processed the images in Photoshop CS4 in a jiffy. What I can conclude is that even with the lowly kit lens, one can get excellent results with the K20D. The camera's dynamic range was well able to handle the strong side lighting from the morning sun, and I wasn't even shooting in RAW but jpeg. I've been pleasantly surprised by the kit lens as it makes for a very cheap wide angle lens. Just when my mind says to switch to a better performing and more expensive lens the kit lens always comes back with winners and "deliver the goods."


Pointed rock

Changi Museum Chapel

Took a quick visit with my son to the Changi Museum last week. Situated just a few kilometers away from my home, the museum is a memorial to the thousands of Allied servicemen interned by the Japanese forces at Changi Prison during the Second World War. The centerpiece of the museum is a replica of the Chapel that the POWs erected during those dark days. The museum gives a good account of the harsh conditions the POWs endured. A poignant reminder of the sacrifice they made and certainly well worth a visit.



The image of the Chapel was shot with my modified for infrared Pentax *ist DL2 with a DA 18-55mm II kit lens. Image was post processed in Photoshop CS4.

More From MacRitchie Reservoir

A few more infrared images with the DA 18-55mm II kit lens. These were taken near the Singapore Island Country Club.

Some Images From MacRitchie Reservoir

About two weeks ago we had our September Pentax users outing at the MacRitchie Reservoir. We had quite a good turnout as well as workout walking through the park and forest trail. Took more shots with my infrared modified *ist DL2 than with my K20D.





Been really busy with work that I've just not been able to upload the images that I took. Here's a selection, all with the DA 18-55mm II kit lens, truly a very useful lens for IR photography.



Along the forest trail, the light was diffused and light levels were pretty low, making shooting a challenge.





Particularly liked the shots under a bright intense sun with water in the foreground.

"Anyone Can Cook"

Met some friends at a pretty dimly lit restaurant just a few days ago. While we were tucking away on the pizza and discussing on the wedding preparations of another friend, I was intrigued by the mural they had painted in the restaurant. Reminds me of that wonderful movie Ratatouille where master chef Auguste Gusteau's motto kept ringing in my mind.


K100D M 40mm

The next picture is where reality hits home. My feeble and passable attempt at cooking pasta. Maybe if I was a little rat with a name like Rémy, things might be different.... ha, ha, talk about cashing in on a Hollywood movie hit as an excuse for a post.


K100D DA 18-55mm

Some B&W conversions

Decided to convert to B&W some of my recent shots. Here's my food loving pet chihuahua. I've been trying to get a nice tonal gradation with channel mixer without having to do extensive layer masking and burning or dodging.



A bench at the club that I'm a member of. Liked the shape of the wrought iron which I think is nicer in B&W. Both shot with the DA18-55mm.



Took these candid shots of famous Singapore food reviewer K F Seetoh of Makansutra fame with a A 50mm. This ex-newspaper photographer is now a media celebrity in-front of the camera and I have no doubt has become richer for it. A nice affable guy who unfortunately had bad press for a number of legal suits at people using the Makansutra name.



He's got this tough guy look but is really quite friendly. His words to me were "Don't worry I won't sue" Ha, ha. Actually these images were shot with the wrong WB. Fortunately Photoshop is a lifesaver.

IR Skyscapes

Here's a couple more IR images taken at different locations in Singapore. Taken in between visits to my clients. It was a bright sunny day but I still shot at ISO 1600 in jpeg.


Boon Keng

The noise is apparent, and I've been told is more apparent in IR because as the IR filter cuts out most of the visible spectrum (especially blue), only a portion of the sensor is active to record the image. With a high ISO setting, this exaggerates the noise level. Honestly I can't conclusively verify this bit of info but looking at the results, it's plausible.


Beach Road

I normally don't like grainy pictures, perhaps a carry-over from the time I shot 35mm black and white, but I think it works here. Images taken with the kit lens with R72, all cropped in manual mode. Images processed with a channel swap in Adobe Photoshop and minor tweaks with curves to adjust contrast and exposure.


Collyer Quay

Neighbourhood Kitty in infra-red

Shooting IR usually means long exposures and that typically means using a tripod. Fortunately the Pentax K100D sensor is pretty sensitive towards infra-red, allowing a manageable shutter speed for hand holding to be used in bright sunlight. Here's where the camera's in-body Shake Reduction also helps to ensure pictures turn out sharp.


Well I decided to try shooting hand held at ISO 1600 on the K100D. Many IR images are typically associated with landscapes with lots of green vegetation, so I thought it would be interesting to find out how a subject like a friendly neighbourhood cat would turn out.


One thing I noticed is that the cat's ginger coat appears different when shot in IR. The first picture is straight from the camera before post-processing as it has the characteristic sepia coloured tone. However the cat's ginger brown patches takes on a purplish tinge. Actually the image doesn't look so bad and can look quite nice if it's desaturated a little. The second and third images have had a channel swap in Adobe Photoshop's Channel Mixer.


Another thing I noticed is that at such a high ISO setting, there is a noticeable difference in the noise level when shot in jpeg as compared to RAW. Image quality is so much better when the jpeg file is saved from a RAW file as compared to a straight in-camera jpeg. Images taken with the DA 18-55mm and a Hoya R72 filter straight from camera with no cropping.

Dabbling in IR Photography

Infrared photographs intrigue me. Ordinary scenes take on a new look when given the IR treatment and suddenly the mundane become extraordinary.

Recently I took the plunge to try out IR photography using my Pentax K100D by buying a Hoya R72 infrared filter. That R72 refers to the cutoff wavelength where visible light gets filtered out, in this case below 720nm. The Hoya R72 is about the cheapest branded IR filter available, though there are online sellers from China that sell their unbranded IR filters quite a bit cheaper.


I've taken pictures for quite a while now and thought that taking IR pictures would be pretty simple. Was I dead wrong! My initial pictures turned out all red. Not knowing what to do next, I was prepared to abandon all thoughts of dabbling in IR. Fortunately help came in the guise of a friend on the photographic forum Clubsnap. Not only did he gave a detailed walk through of the IR work flow but a hands on shooting session helped clear up any issues.


My initial pictures were taken with the Pentax DA 16-45mm during dreary overcast weather, not the sort of weather conducive for nice IR images. The DA 16-45mm exhibited some hotspots and a washed out centre. Not the most suitable lens for IR.

The images here are from my second attempt using the DA 18-55mm kit lens at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Surprise, surprise, this lens proves to be excellent for IR photography. One thing to note is that since plants and leaves reflect a lot of infra-red, they will appear brighter while blue skies have little or no infra-red and thus will appear darker in IR photography. All images shot handheld with the Pentax kit lens at ISO 1600 with no cropping using a 52mm Hoya R72 IR filter.


Essentially, taking IR photographs is a 2 step process: taking the image and post processing.

To shoot IR you need your DSLR, an IR filter for your lens and a tripod. The Pentax K100D is in this respect better at taking IR than the K10D. The K100D sensor is more sensitive to IR and allows shorter exposures than the K10D. Setting the custom white balance is also easier.


This instruction applies to the K100D but if you're using the K10D or some other camera, you'll need to experiment accordingly. Thanks to Wee Kiat for the following pointers.

WB Setting
With the IR filter attached to the lens filter mount, take a custom white balance reading of something green (like green grass or leaves) in strong light. Make sure the entire frame is filled by the green subject. Getting the custom balance right makes all the difference in the colours you're gonna get later. There are other methods to set WB that I have yet to try, like using a custom WB filter but this one works.


Shooting
Remove the filter from the lens, compose the scene in the viewfinder, affix the filter again and look at the camera's meter reading. You'll need to do this because once the filter is in place, you'll see next to nothing in the viewfinder. It would be a good idea to use a tripod because exposures can exceed 1 second, depending on the subject brightness, weather condition/time of day and aperture setting.


Setting the camera to full manual mode and using RAW mode is best. Ensure that the exposure combination you set indicates between +2.5 to +3.0 times over the what the camera's meter reading indicate. Using identical K100Ds, my friend and I found out that IR sensitivity can vary slightly from camera to camera. Take a shot. To check if the exposure is spot on, look at the histogram curve on the LCD. It should be kind of even and your image should appear to have a sepia like tone. Bracket if necessary.


Post Processing
The second step relates to post processing. If you're using Pentax's Photo Laboratory, click the grey point setting on something that you know is green in the scene (a leaf, tree, etc.). Save the file. The image then needs a channel swap to give it the characteristic IR look. In Adobe Photoshop, go to Channel Mixer and change the following settings:

1) Red channel : Red 0 Green 0 Blue 100
2) Blue channel: Red 100 Green 0 Blue 0
3) Green channel: Red 50 Blue 50 Green 0 (you can experiment on the red and blue amounts but it should add up to 100)


From here onwards, you can experiment freely by adjusting saturation in Hue/Saturation, curves, add a tone, adjust shadow/highlight etc. limited only by the effect you want and your free expression. For example, the shot above has been post processed a little differently.

IR definitely is fun and the K100D with the kit lens make an excellent combination. Go try it!