I would break out in cold sweat photographing such a scene in the film era. It entailed placing the camera on a tripod in the path of an approaching car, pumped the zoom lens, snapped and quickly jumped out of the way. Thankfully, it’s now the digital era. Things could be done more leisurely. You would even have the time to try a more dramatic composition. Here, the camera was held low and tilted to add a little drama. The spoiler: zooming blur was added in post.
ALTThis Great White Pelikan appears to be all wrapped up and shivering in the rain. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.
ALTThe Shiseido Forest valley on a typical Friday afternoon. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
As with my usual practice for this sort of scenario, the exposure was kept low for the sake of the tiny folks in the scene. The image was then exposed conservatively to the right in post.
ALTA historian’s marvel in the National Museum. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
I was figuring the best way to photograph this artefact when this gentleman appeared and bent over to study it right across from me. Lighting here was very dim. Even though the aperture was set to f/2.8, the Fujifilm XS1 had need to push up the ISO to 2500 to give me a shutter speed of a mere 1/60 second. Coming out of a 2/3-inch sensor, the image was rather noisy but usable at this VGA size.
ALTFresh yellow roses in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
This was taken with the Sigma SD Quattro H. Its dynamic range is a little wider (less than a stop) than the 1-inch sensor Panasonic FZ1000 that I’m also using. This was why just 2/3 stop of underexposure had been enough to darken away distracting foliage in the background here. Colours were left as captured. Incidentally, I’ve had less need of post colour adjustment when photographing flora with Sigma Foveon cameras.
ALTGrevillea or toothbrush plant in the Australian Garden. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.
This was set against an orange coloured wall. Nell had inadvertently underexposed this by 2 stops. So in post, the highlights and mid-tones were brightened back up a little.
ALTOne of a number of petunia hybrids seen in the Flower Dome. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
These petunias were somehow flourishing only on one side of the pot. This capture had a 1-1/3 stop underexposure to preserve the highlights. In post, surrounding foliage was ‘burned’ and darkened away.
ALTA lizard scrambling among orchids in Sentosa. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
This was the time when I had paired the Olympus EM1 with the budget Canon EF-S 55-250mm STM lens and get up to a 500mm equivalent crop. Very useful when photographing skittish creatures such as this lizard.
ALTGeranium Rozanne growing amidst begonias in the conservatory. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
This was taken at close range. The Tamron 16-300mm used here would let me go as close as a little over 30mm or 12 inches. This allowed me to work closer especially when photographing flora.
ALTA chimp having a quiet moment in the local zoo. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.
It was the hottest time of the day and this chimp was taking shelter in the shade. This helped give Nell the lighting she just needed. The harsh noon sun might’ve otherwise left its eye sockets in dark shadows.
ALTA Common Green Iguana sunning atop a hornbill cage in the local bird park. Photo credit: Eleanor Chua.
This iguana was some 50 metres or 54 yards away. Nell had to use the 1200mm equivalent crop to capture this and biasing it darker by 1-2/3 stops to keep the highlights. Image was cropped to compose in post.
ALTDigital Light Canvas in the Marina Bay Sands. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
These active kids were captured at the shutter speed of 1/125 second. The Tamron lens used here had closed down the aperture to f/5.6 at just 35mm resulting in the slower shutter speed. But getting the kids in action is relatively easier when shooting wide.
Helluva Times 