Featuring the tiny, close up
These leaves of the dillenia suffruticosa (or Simpoh air) are native to the Malayan Peninsula (with Singapore at its southern most tip). There were lots of them in abundance when we visited the Southern Ridges over the weekend. What we found interesting was the attractive golden green glow of the newly forming leaves, which made a nice, contrasty photographic subject compared to the surrounding green of the larger leaves.
We took a short little hike through the Southern Ridges in Singapore today, starting from the Hort Park. I was expecting to do some macro photography and brought along my macro lens and tripod. Ultimately, I relied more on the longer reach of my 70-200mm lens. As for the tripod, I had to abandon it and use the surrounding railings for support since the metal bridges of the Forest Walk we were on magnified the tremors from the footsteps of every passer-by, making the use of the tripod pointless. I am happy to have gotten some decently sharp pictures in the end!
The idea for the above shot came from Jem’s water-droplet shots from shutterjunkie… The weather in Singapore has not been photography-conducive of late. Having a little spare time this morning, I decided to experiment with my 100mm macro lens instead. The set-up was simple: a blue plastic basin filled with water placed on a small table in the balcony, using natural light. To make the patterns a little more interesting, I placed a sheet of aluminum foil at the bottom to reflect the incident light. All I had to do then was to do a little pre-focusing and click the remote shutter release. The camera was set to high-speed sequence mode. I think I ran through at least over a 150 shots before I got the effect I wanted — something I’d certainly not have tried if I was using film! 🙂