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One of the banes of using zoom-lenses is that of barrel-distortion at wide angles (especially for the cheaper/budget lenses). I came across a link to two interesting free software tools to correct these distortions: RadCor and PTLens (upon which RadCor is based). Digging out a shot that was previously badly affected by barrel-distortion, I tried out RadCor with impressive results. Additional Photoshop tinkering that led to the above image: Channel Mixer tweaking for the monochrome / IR look, followed by adding Noise for a slightly grainy look. Taken more than a year ago outside the ESPRIT shop at Raffles City.

ARPS #2 – Figure of 8

Figure of 8 was taken at the same session as Emeralds of Spring at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. The strong repetitive “figure of 8” arrangements of the lily pads attracted me. The lone blooming flower bud helped to serve as an anchoring main subject for the shot against the interesting background of the leaf pads. The gentle nature of the evening sunlight warmed the whole scene dramatically.

Exposure information – Camera: Canon Powershot G3, ISO 50, Shutter: 1/125 sec, Aperture: f/7.1, 35mm effective FL: 77mm, Metering mode: Spot, Exposure Mode: Manual, Flash: Off

ARPS #1: Emeralds of Spring

The photography talk conducted by my dad at the Ngee Ann Photographic Exhibition last weekend brought back some good memories of the images I took on outings with him. A collection of some of those images eventually ended up in my portfolio for my successful application for ARPS in September 2003. The next few updates will feature images from the portfolio together with my thoughts on them. To start off…

Emeralds of Spring was taken more than two years ago at the Botanical Gardens, Singapore. A brilliant (but hot!) day provided wonderful sunshine by the sundial pond which was filled with brilliantly-lit leaves of the Victoria Amazonica. Because of the strong back-lighting, getting a correct exposure was tricky, made even more difficult by having to use the LCD (of my G3) in bright light to compose the final shot. I like the details of the leaf patterns captured as well as the repetitive pattern of the lily pads, whose monotony is broken nicely by the largest leaf at the top.

Exposure information – Camera: Canon Powershot G3, ISO 50, Shutter: 1/400 sec, Aperture: f/8, 35mm effective FL: 43mm, Metering mode: Spot, Exposure Mode: Manual