Taken during a temple night procession, I used rear curtain sync flash. This?allows the photograph?to exhibit fluidity and movements within the 2 dimensions.

How do you get the silky effect you see on waterfall photos?

That usually requires a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. Of course this will depends on the water flow rate so do experiment with different shutter speeds.
1)Set up your tripod. This is almost a must unless you can find a good support to subsitute for the tripod.
2)Get the proper exposure setting The idea is to get a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. So I usually set the ISO to the lowest (ISO 200 for my Nikon …

In the age of digital photography where special effects can be achieved through Photoshop, filters are not so much in use. However the following filters are good to have when doing landscape photography.

polariser – improves color saturation, cut off reflection, make sky to be more blue. Cut off the light by 2 stops so watch out for the shutter speed in case it get too low.
Grey Graduated – Mine are from the affordable Cokin P121 series. It helps to balance the big difference in the exposure required for the bright …

What mode do you usually shoot in?  A, S or P? ( Aperture priority, shutter priority or Program rather than Amateur, Semi-Pro and Pro)
Although there is no right or wrong mode to use, I use Aperture priority 90% of the time. In this way I get to control the camera.  In A mode, you get to control the Aperture which also controls the Depth of Field (DOF). You also control the shutter speed indirectly by choosing a bigger aperture (eg f2.8) or a smaller one (f22).  So which aperture do you …

When night falls and when you are bored, it is time to do some light painting. Basically it is no difference from any long exposure shots but you need to paint the picture with light.
The above photo was taken when I was at Pangkor Island. Since I am alone, I had  to be both the photographer and subject. I mounted the camera on tripod and manually focused somewhere near the rocks. I estimated I need 5-8 seconds to complete my taiji circle and I set the aperture accordingly to acheive …

 
Seldom have the chance to do star trails in s’pore becos of too much light pollution from artifical light. You need a real dark place with and i last did the photo above  during a camping trip at Berkelah Waterfalls.
Due to long exposure, battery power will be consumed fast so make sure you have a fully charged battery and extra batteries if you are in the remote areas.
Steps for those.

Tripod mounted camera with cable release or remote control. usually a wide angle lens is used
Set to ISO 200 or less , f …

I like the song ”Watching Sunrise with you” by  Joi Chua. Instead of just watching, how about taking some photos of sunset/sunrise? Here are some tips or common sense observations on better sunrise/sunset photo taking.

Be there. Obviously you need to wake up early enough for sunrise and stay late enough for sunset. This is a non-negotiable condition.
       
Use a tripod. Unless you enjoyed taking purposely blurred or out of focus photos, this is also non negotiable. With exposure time of more than a few seconds, any lens or camera with IS (image …

8 ways to improve your photography

One computer guru once said “Experts are once idiots.” and he related this true tale : 

One not-so-guru technical person, Mr B  spent 3 days trying to solve a problem on a hard drive. The problem was driving him nuts and he had no choice but to seek advice from a REAL GURU. The real guru shook the drive and heard the noise it made. He advised MR B to change 2 screws on the drive. Mr B did so and true enough the hard drive works!Mr B was really impressed and said the …