A Peek At Kazakhstan

Props depicting a Kazakh bazaar store at Tulipmania in the conservatory. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

I liked the colours from the Sigma Foveon sensor as there was less that needed to be done in post processing. Here, only the greens and cyan were toned down a little in post.

Costus Woodsonii

Red Button Gingers looking like candles in the night. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

With the background mostly dark, the camera would tend to brighten up the image. So to counter that, the capture was underexposed 1-2/3 stops to keep the highlights. As it turned out, the highlights and mid-tones had need to be darkened further in post to get this final image. Colours were left as captured.

Fading Glory

Impatiens breaking down after a good show in the conservatory. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

In the air-conditioned conservatory, water droplets I found, more often than not, meant that a particular flora was wilting just like this impatiens here.

With the Sigma Merrill Foveon sensor, there was practically little that I needed to do with the colour of the image except maybe to pull back a tiny bit on the green channel.

Catching The Last Rays

Folks catching the last rays of the sun in the city. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Cute As A Button

Button chrysanthemums blooming for visitors in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.

We tried to catch these as soon as the flora display opened while the mums were still fresh. 

The yellows of surrounding foliage were toned down a bit in post as they were detracting focus from the button mums.

A Growing Menace

A Red-tailed Racer hiding in a dark corner of its cage as it approaches another round of sloughing. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This non-venomous racer is only a threat to rats, mice, birds, bats and lizards, not to us. With the dark surroundings, it was much easier to isolate the snake. I had only to dial in 1-2/3 stops of negative compensation to expose for the racer.

Beside Quiet Waters

A quieter part of the Kingfisher Wetlands. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Silent Watchmen

Supertrees standing vigil in the quiet night. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

The ISO was already maxed out at 3200 to get a hand-holdable shutter speed of 1/40 second. Noise level of some 9 odd was mostly fixed in post as they were only visible in the sky region.

Pitchers Talking

Common Pitchers discussing global warming in the conservatory. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.

Lanna Lanterns

Lantern craftsmanship hailing from the northern region of Thailand. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This was captured with the exposure biased 2 stops darker to keep highlights. Shadows and mid-tones were then brightened up in post resulting in a noise penalty of some 19 odd that was partially fixed. The image was also further darkened, prior to upload, to more than it appears here otherwise it would typically be brightened on the server side beyond what was intended.

Facing Troubled Times

Folks on the Orchard mall at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2021. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.

This was captured in harsh afternoon light. The magenta shop in the background was vying for attention so the background was converted to monochrome and toned down in post while the folks in the sun in the foreground had had the shadows brightened up before the whole image was toned down a bit.

Door Etiquette

One of the many props in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

Usually, I don’t care much for the props in floral displays but this one looked interesting. This scene won’t actually need f/6.3, especially on a four thirds sensor. I must’ve accidentally knocked the aperture dial. The depth of field would’ve been sufficient even wide open at f/4.5 without the need to press further into lens diffraction zone.