Rainbow gears

This rather abstract image is actually made up of two pieces of plastic (in this case camera filter caps) placed between two polarising filters. The colours are actually a natural side effect of this, showing the stress lines in the plastic in a spectacular way. I actually took a similar shot when I was 15 or 16years old, but I never reshot it again because I don't own TWO polarising filters. However, a chance discovery by my colleague Chris (see link to his blog on the right column) made me realise that an LCD panel can also be a huge source of polarised light (LCD panels work on this same principle, in fact) so with my LCD monitor as a background, I screwed a polariser onto my camera and took a cloesup of these filter screw covers. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Hanging heads 2

Another view of the hanging flower heads. The same process was applied as with the image below. Just a bit of info about the photo -- shot handheld right in the garden with a shutter speed of 1/250sec and at f/11. The background here was tricky -- I had to make sure that it was not distracting and was darker than the flowers for impact. In colour, the shot was pretty drab -- being dry, the flowers were brown against a green background, which made the background stand out more than the flowers -- hence the B+W conversion. Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Hanging heads

While I'm preparing for my next major photo outing out of the country (a teaser --it's the most unusual place I've been to yet and requires lots of preparation!) it'll be more macro work of flowers and stuff around my area. These drying flowers are part of a local medicinal plant -- I don't know the English name -- shot with the intention of turning it into a monochrome image. This was converted to black-and-white, levels slightly adjusted and then slightly tinted to give an almost selenium toning effect. (For those born in the colour film and digital era, selenium toning was a treatment for black-and-white prints to make them last longer and also to give a pleasant tint to images). Nikon D70, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

A step towards Nirvana

I'm always on the lookout for interesting people shots, and I thought this was rather whimsical. This was shot outside the Oriental hotel in Singapore at the full 200mm end of my 18-200mm AF-S Nikkor -- did I mention how I love my lens to bits? :D Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.

Singapore zing

The view of the Singapore esplanade from my room window at the Oriental hotel during a recent working trip to CommunicAsia 2006. I'm always in the habit of shooting pictures from my room window wherever I travel -- there always seems to be a nice view...except when you're staying in New York, where the view is more likely that of another building's windows than of Central Park. Hoho. This photo was shot by just placing my camera on the little coffee table in the room, propped up by a rolled up shirt, then turning off all the lights in the room (to minimise reflections). The exposure was about 30 seconds at f/8. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.