In The Hand

Although I posted this last in a series of photos of the same flower, this is actually the first shot I took. This was taken right at the park where I picked up the flowers, with my friend holding the flower. Here, obviously, some post-processing took place, as I desaturated the background to turn it into a black and white image while leaving the flower in colour. Interestingly, these hibiscus-like flowers range from yellow to a more reddish tone, as in this shot. This flower was taken from the same tree that produced the yellowish ones. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR 

Self portrait

This self-portrait was done by simply shooting a reflection of myself in a big metal pot at Ikea. The reason the lettering on my shirt and camera come out right is that I flipped the image horizontally in Photoshop. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Twins

Here's the challenge I set myself: choose a single subject and spend and evening shooting and try to come up with as many different shots as possible of that subject. In this case, it's a few flowers I picked up off the ground at the local park. This is my favourite shot of the series -- not only is it not cropped, but the exposure is exactly as I intended it to be. In this shot I wanted the flowers to appear like mirror images of each other, with each pointing a petal into the corner of the frame -- quite symmetrical. I also like the way the flowers look so translucent with the strong light coming through them. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Merry widows

One of the goals I set myself in taking these flower photos was to pay attention to the framing as I look through the viewfinder so that in the final picture, I would have to crop as little as possible, if at all. I largely succeeded, except for this one, which I shot with the intention of cropping it into this square image. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Disraeli Gears

Arranged in this way, these flowers (in the Hibiscus family I think) remind me of gears. These shots were generally taken with an aperture of around f/22 for maximum depth-of-field. While I've often said that you can take a good picture no matter what camera you use, in this case, using a DSLR does make things easier as it allows you more control over aperture, flash and choice of lens for macro work. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Standing in line

The set up for all these flower shots is very simple -- just like the crystal shots, this was merely an Ikea breakfast-in-bed table that's an opaque white. A wireless flash (controlled by the camera's built-in flash) under this table provided nearly even white lighting while the on-camera flash provided some added fill-in light from the front. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Trinity

Ever since I took up photography something like twenty years ago, I've always been interested in macro work -- taking photos of bugs and plants has always fascinated me. This shot is taken much like the ones above. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Cross section

The same set up as before, but this time a closeup of a crystal in cross section. Nikon D200, AF-Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8

Crystals

Taking a shot like this required me to light the bottom and the top at the same time. The table used for this shot is simply an Ikea foldable table (for breakfast in bed) -- the table is made of some opaque white plastic. The light at the bottom was provided by the Nikon SB-600 flash in wireless mode placed under the table, and the frontal lighting was provided by the camera's own built-in flash -- here performing double duty controlling the SB-600 wirelessly AND providing fill-in light for the crystals. Nikon D200, AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm F/2.8

HUUUG!

Yes more pictures of my dog. Taking nice pictures of dogs, as you may well imagine, is not as easy as it looks, since they are so hyperactive. The only secret is patience. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

The Secret Garden

I've been fascinated by this place ever since I first came here. It's actually the 2nd floor toilet of a local college with a little garden facing it. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Night shot

A shot outside my balcony. This is a 30sec exposure at about F/5.6 ISO100 in case you're wondering. Not the best shot I've taken but more of a test for my new Nikon D200 DSLR. Lens was AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4

Eskimo Greeting

My cute little dog and Woon doing their version of an Eskimo greeting. Hahaha. Nikon D200, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

Getting on the bandwagon

This young devotee (probably one of the minders) just about to jump up on the cart. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Procession

Here's the procession. It's essentially a wheeled cart, with a lorry following behind it with a huge generator required to light it all up. The man just behind is holding the mass of electric cables originating from the lorry. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Getting into the spirit II

Another shot of the same guy. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Getting into the spirit

The celebration is punctuated by much dancing and drums from a procession in front of the statue. This was shot of course, in colour, but with a view of turning it into a black-and-white picture. There was a strong video spotlight on the peformers (yes they were filming it too), so I took a shot just as the spotlight hit this guy. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Pina colada

From what I understand about this ritual, the breaking of coconuts is supposed to symbolise the breaking of one's ego to expose the inner divinity. This was the best of a number of shots I took of the cocounut breaking ritual. The trick when shooting things like this is not to have the camera in a continuous burst -- camera shooting speeds being what they are, you'd actually be better off anticipating the shot instead. I always set my camera to single shot mode, then trip the shutter just as I see the coconut leaving the man's hand -- sounds more difficult than it is, but it resulted in almost every single shot I took having the desired coconut-hitting-ground shot. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Coconut

Coconuts are a big part of Indian religious celebrations and is supposed to bring good luck. Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Ganesh

This Ganesh statue and another one (probably Vishnu but I'm not positive) was being carted around my area from the Indian temple near my house. This was nearly midnight and the photoshoot was quite a challenge since it was quite dark and I had to push the ISO up quite a bit. Luckily the 18-200mm's VR optical image stabilisation helped quite a bit. Nikon D70, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6ED

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.