Call Of Duty At Christmastide

 

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Tin soldiers on guard duty in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Here is a tribute to those who had to be away from loved ones at Christmastide to answer the call of duty.

Gifts For Everyone

 

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A Christmas tree sitting in a mall. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This was a hasty snapshot with the wall behind being lit by a skylight and was originally quite bright. In post, the background was assigned to a layer and then darkened before being merged for this final image.

Birth Of The Saviour

 

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Nativity porcelain set depicting the birth of Christ at a Christmas bazaar on Orchard Road. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.

Lighting was pretty dim around the bazaar. Nell had the ISO inadvertently set to 100 yielding a shutter speed of just 1/13 second. Thankfully, the image came out sharp.

Millennial Walk Seed Tree

 

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The Seed Tree, a Tree Actually and Millennial Christmas project at the Millennial Walk. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

An ultra-wide angle lens was used for this capture with the camera held low. This was one of two views that I had liked for their pine tree shapes, but the other had a sunlit and washed out background.

Flower Of The Holy Night

 

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Poinsettias ringing in the Christmastide in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Center resolution out of this Canon budget lens was excellent and I had only need to place the focal point of the image in the center.

White Christmas Dream

 

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A white baby grand in a showroom in the Millennial district. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This was shot through the shop window with an ultra-wide angle lens. Reflection was visible on the right side of the frame and this had to be cropped out in post.

Christmastide In The Conservatory

 

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Christmas trees in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This was captured in diffused light, the kind of lighting that we like best for flora and fauna. Contrast was kept down so that colours won’t clip as a result.

Dining Under The Star

 

Folks having a happy meal under the star. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This capture was biased darker by a stop to offset the tendency of the camera to over-brighten in this sort of lighting and otherwise end with washed out diners. And to avoid colours clipping, contrast was left untouched.

Street Photographer At Work

 

A street photographer having a field day on Orchard Road. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Being confrontational isn’t my style when photographing people on the streets because that could be quite intimidating and uncomfortable to some folks. This is the reason I would rather use a longer lens but in this instance, I had only a 17-50mm with me. The 50mm end of the lens was used here plus an 80 percent crop of the original capture for the final image.