Some Macros For The New Year

Took these images at the Singapore Botanic Gardens a some days ago.
I particularly like the backlighting of the flowers from the afternoon sun. The Pentax FA 100mm Macro lens that I used here gives a lovely colour rendition and out of focus bokeh. Although a macro lens, it does well as a telephoto, one of the reasons why I like the versatility offered bymacro lenses. Definitely one of my favourite shots.


K20D FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro

The flower from the common ginger plant is pretty eye catching. It's a big flower and pretty easy to shoot. The shot was taken with my manual focus Sigma 90mm macro, a lens that goes to half life size. A very compact lens and quite hard to find but one I like to use if I want to focus manually.


K20D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

The family of juvenile grasshoppers feasting on a leaf together isn't a common sight. Puts a new meaning to the phrase "family buffet." Shot straight from camera and post processed with Adobe Photoshop CS4.


K20D FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro

Some macros before the new year

With the year coming to an end, just wanted to post a couple of macro shots that I had taken recently. Would have shot more if not for the maddening little gusts of wind that makes focusing macro subjects an added challenge. I like the graphical nature of this silhouette where line predominates.


K20D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

On the opposite side of things, the delicate colors make these small flowers really stand out. Just like the color rendition from the Pentax macro.


K20D FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro

Cycle of life

A fading existence captured during a walk in the forest.

K20D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Little India Pentax Outing - Monochrome

Just a few more shots from the recent Little India Pentax user outing. I decided early on that the people and location shots should be in monochrome. All shots taken with the K20D using the same lenses as in the previous post.

Dunlop Street

DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited

Provision shop

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Exhale

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Old biker

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

General worker

DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited

Weight on my shoulder

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Little India Pentax Outing

Last month, we had our October Pentax user outing to shoot the area known as Little India, a predominantly Indian area that has many shophouses and merchants. We had a good turnout and as usual friendly banter as we slowly made our way among the shops, shooting the people and the many objects of interest.

Tomatoes 90 cents

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Fruit shop

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

String of bananas

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Unfortunately this post comes up only now as it has been a little hectic on the work and domestic front, so I've neglected post processing and writing on this blog. I had to run off a little early but still managed to take a couple of interesting images. Definitely a place that has a lot of captivating images waiting to be shot.

Squash

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Carrots and radishes

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Radishes and bitter gourds

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Anyway about the outing, I've always liked shooting Little India simply because there is much to shoot. As it was going to be a street shoot, I packed my K20D with three lenses, the lowly FA 28-200mm superzoom, the DA 21mm Limited pancake and the Sigma 90mm Macro.

Lotus

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Hibiscus in a pot

DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited

The FA 28-200 is essentially a rebadged Tamron. I picked it up at a used computer shop awhile back. Optical quality is decent but it makes up for it with a wide range of focal lengths. I needed a compact wideangle in the DA 21mm and used a macro to pick out and isolate interesting subjects.

Folded leaves

Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Parasols

FA 28-200mm f/3.5~5.6

Spiral

Something from awhile back. My wife's hair thingy in black and white.
I was fascinated by the effect of the lines.


K100D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Rambutan Season

Got some rambutans from a family member and also from a friend the other day. Decided to take a shot of it before it got eaten. Yummy...


K20D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

For the benefit of those who don't know what a rambutan is, it's a delicious tropical fruit that is in season right about now. The fruit has a covering of soft hair and has a thick white flesh and a seed in the center somewhat similar to the lychee or longan. Comes in bunches and has a sweet juicy taste.

The Colour of Summer

A warm, bright morning, a light breeze, the start of a fresh new day... Hope this still life conveys the feeling.


K20D Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro

Getting the Flagship Pentax- K20D

Ok, time to fess up. I got the new K20D.
But that meant letting go of the K10D and the K100D Super that I had. On the face of it, it doesn't seem logical to let go a camera that garnered no less than 6 major photographic awards plus the K100D Super is probably the best 6 megapixel DSLR in terms of picture quality. After all both were serving me well enough.


DFA 100mm Macro

But wait! The K20D while so much like the K10D in shape and controls, is simply a different camera altogether. The K10D on paper had a lot of things going for it but it never was refined enough. The niggling back focusing issues with certain lenses, so-so noise levels at higher ISOs just detract a little from what is still a fine camera.


Sigma 90mm Macro

The K20D's strongest trump card is the simply stunning 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor. It's this sensor that got me to sit up and decide that there was a qualitative improvement in image quality. Much thought has gone into improving the previous camera. The camera does many things better: focus, white balance, color rendition, plus user defined focus adjustment and Live View to name but just a few. I'm continually excited to use this camera and I'll be posting up more photos just as soon as I get through the instruction manual and explore the rich features of the current flagship from Pentax.

Some Random Images

VXR - Very Transformer like. (FA 50mm f/1.4)


Rear Window Sunset (FA 50mm f/1.4)


Red Pipe (Sigma 90mm f/2.8)

Industrial Discoveries

Many times, photography is a matter of chance. A combination of factors like finding the right subject at the right time of the day is something that is often unplanned. Yesterday was just such a day.

Drove to an industrial area after meeting a client when lo and behold, I saw an old aircraft radial engine with the prop still in place. Quite rare and unusual to see this in Singapore, so I stopped and took a short walk to photograph it.
K100D Vivitar AF 35-70mm.



A little while later, spotted these exhaust vents. Somehow it kind of reminds me of the kid's show the Teletubbies where the speaker sticks out from the landscape.
K100D Sigma 90mm Macro

A Nice Cat and Hangers

These are some unplanned images that I took recently. The small size and light weight makes the K100D a perfect camera to tote around. While many will gravitate towards the slightly more expensive and higher spec K10D, I find the K100D has more than enough features to deliver excellent images. The smaller size also makes it a little more unobstrusive.

Shot of a neighbourhood cat using my Tokina AF 70-210mm f/4.5. For some reason this cat walked towards me and struck this majestic pose.



Here's a still life of hangers that was taken in incandescent lighting. Really like the warm tones and creamy out of focus quality of the shot. Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro.

Macro Lenses Part 2

Another very affordable macro lens that I recently got was the older Sigma 90mm f2.8 Macro. A very compact lens that goes to 1:2 and life size with an add-on close-up lens. A manual focus lens that comes with a big lens hood. Very nice too as it's felt lined. Paid about 70 Euros for it in mint condition. Much nicer build quality compared to the Vivitar/Cosina. While I like my Voightlander Macro Apo-Lanthar a lot, this lens is light and compact, which means I get to use it a lot.

Fruity breakfast


Here's some very recent shots taken with the Sigma. As you can tell I was playing around the breakfast table. Beautiful colour and nice bokeh. K100D with no cropping.

Pear Slices


Apple Strudel

What Am I Doing Up Here?

Took a drive and chanced upon this image. Thought about coming back on foot to find a better angle. As luck would have it, passed by the billboard a few days later. While waiting for the traffic lights, I wound down the windows of my car and took 2 quick shots. Converted as a duotone. Pentax K100D with Sigma 90mm f2.8 Macro.