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GordonKoh

Parallel Worlds

SONY ILCE-7M2

settings

Aperture f/9 ISO 100 Shutter 1/1 Focal Length 160/10

upload_date

Dec, 2015

Views

2094

Likes

+446

Awards

People's Choice in Splendid Bridges Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Splendid Bridges Photo Contest

Featured

Peer Award

+167

Superb Composition

+62

Top Choice

+21

Absolute Masterpiece

+11

Outstanding Creativity

+10

All Star

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Love it

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

I live in Singapore, one of the smallest countries in the world. It is located near the equator with a tropical climate. As such, there are no four seasons and you won't see any winter or autumn photos taken in this city. This city, located in Asia is largely a concrete jungle, there are no mountains, natural lakes nor rivers. Although there are very limited settings for landscape shots, this city does present itself opportunities for cityscape and architecture photography. There are not many bridges in Singapore that offer an epic perspective, and this bridge that I've photographed is one of the very few bridges in this small city that could have potential for a splendid view. This bridge is flyover that spans tens of kilometers and I was shooting under it from the Tanjong Rhu area in Singapore. I was standing right at the edge of the river bank to photograph this bridge. By the way, this is a partially man made river!

Time

In order to capture a dramatic feel of this bridge with reflection, an early morning arrival is required, just around dawn. The water would be relatively calm in the early morning and this affords a reflection of the bridge which enhances the visual impact of the photograph. The sun would roughly be on the left side of the bridge for half a year and the next half on the right side. So I happened to visit this bridge when it is located on the right side. It offers the chance to capture a contrasting color effect on the two sides of the bridge, as seen in this photograph.

Lighting

At about sunrise, the right side of the bridge would be brightened by the sunshine while the sky on the left side of the bridge becomes more bluish. With the bridge right at the center, it creates an image of two different colors on each side of the bridge. This actually makes the bridge look more attractive otherwise a dull sunrise or at midday there is not much of a drama. Hence the vista of the bridge would be greatly enhanced with a sunrise on the left or right which makes for a strong visual impact.

Equipment

This shot has to be taken with panoramic tripod head although a 12mm and 180 degrees fish eye lens might do the trick. I shot this with a 16mm Sony Zeis lens in a series of vertical shots which were then stitched together using the native panoramic stitching tool in Photoshop, although you could also use other standalone panoramic software readily available in the market. The panoramic tripod head was adjusted to the nodal point of the lens to avoid parallax error which could create an imperfectly stitched panoramic shot. I used a wired remote shutter controller to avoid handshake of the camera. I did no use any ND filters (as I didn't have them yet) but this would certainly have improved the quality of this photograph with a slower shutter speed that would smooth out the reflection from the surface of the river.

Inspiration

I wanted to show that Singapore has some really interesting locations for urbanscape photoshoot and this photograph was an attempt to do just that. I am glad that many viewers in ViewBug has given their vote for this photo that leads to the winning of the "Splendid Bridges Photo Contest People's Choice" award. Thanks to all supporters, I am grateful and will continue to strive to contribute more good quality photos in ViewBug.

Editing

Some post-processing was done to enhance the color and brightness contrast. This was all done in Photoshop.

In my camera bag

I believe opportunities can come any time at any part of the day at any place, so I pack a few lens in my bag to cater for all sorts of opportunities that might arise. The lens that is usually attached to my camera is the Sony 16 to 35mm F4 lens, good for most landscape situations. On standby is the 24 to 240mm, which I usually use where zoom in is needful. A 85mm macro lens is also kept in my bag just in case an interesting macro opportunity comes by. Also, I recently acquired a 12mm fisheye lens which I usually deploy for some tight urban spaces. An add-on flash is a standard item in my bag. Since I shoot lot’s of landscape, in my bag I also have a Ninja Nodal panoramic head to shoot couple of portrait frames which I will stitch later in Adobe Photoshop. A 100mm square filter system by Nissi and a few ND, GND, reversed GND, and a polariser filters are kept in my bag. You can imagine the weight of this bag given the amount of items that are packed into it! But it certainly is worth its weight in gold since it can handle the kinds of scenarios that could crop up and special moments do no wait for no man nor come back another day.

Feedback

To capture a bridge with reflection from a water body (such as a river or lake), I would usually consider a few elements. One is the hour of the day. second, the cloud conditions and third would be the stillness of the water. My favorite shoot for such a urbanscape would usually involve the blue or golden hours, and if lucky a good cloud formation to complement the sky. An understanding of the direction of the sunset or sunrise, even tide levels would be helpful for such scenery. Nowadays, there are many smart phone or ipad apps which offer weather information to aid the photographer. One good advice is always plan to arrive at the location at least 30 minutes earlier to allow you to explore for best angles and time to set up your gear. I have actually missed some of the most fantastic sunrise moments by arriving a minute too late (with regrets of course). Good luck in your field trips!

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GordonKoh

GordonKoh

Parallel Worlds

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow GordonKoh

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