I am currently testing the Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 ASPH Version 2 on Leica M9. The images here were shot in RAW and then converted and resized to JPEG for web viewing. No other post-processing done. All were shot at its largest aperture of f/1.2 and closest focusing distance of 0.7m or close to that and under tungsten light. I will do some more test today or tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone.

Here are my favourite and best iPhone photography / best instagram images .. so far.

Camera phone still cannot beat its big brothers, like the DSLR or even some of the compacts. Maybe it never will, but who knows, technology will only get better. But for now, the convenience of having a good little camera in my pocket all the time is wonderful since I cannot always be carrying the DSLR or the M9 or even the smaller Micro Four-Thirds camera, like the Olympus E-P3 or Panasonic GF-1.

Oh, by the way, thank you to those who have been asking about my mum. Thank God that she is now home, recovering well.

The mobile phone technology has advanced so much that the combination of powerful processor and many excellent photography apps has created an opportunity for us to be more creative while on the go. I just wish the iPhone battery technology will also advance so it can last for at least 12 hours of shooting before I come home and charge it. OK, minus the breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee breaks, maybe 8 hours of non stop shooting.

The following two images below touched me a lot. I saw her couple weeks back in Little India when I accompanied my cousin to shoot there. She’s easily 70+ years old and she was pushing a cart full of flattened boxes. She probably collected those unused boxes from somewhere and was going to sell them for some cash. She crossed the road to move to the other side. A car passed by, much faster than her as you can tell from the blurry image of the car. Human vs Machine. To put things in perspective, the things I complain about in my life do not seem bad at all.

Here is another one from that morning shoot in Little India. A man crossing the road on his bike. It’s black and white, but if you can tell from the position, he crossed when the red man was still on. 

The following were taken during my recent trip to Bali in December for a short family vacation. Taken mainly in Kuta. They were processed by the Instagram app and couple other iPhone apps on the iPhone itself. Beautiful Kuta sunset.

I did very little post processing to the image below. Only bumped up the contrast a little bit and cropped to square format. Amazing phone camera.

The famous war photographer, Robert Capa, once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you are not close enough.” When I saw waves crashing onto the rocks along the Kuta beach, I thought it would be cool if I could take some shots. To get the impact, I need to be close. Really close. And my newly bought iPhone 4s (it was less than a week when I brought it to Bali with me) was splashed with the salt water. Yummy. But I managed to quickly clean it up. It’s still functioning until now. Please don’t tell Apple when one day it stops working and I will go to claim the warranty. 

This one was taken in the morning. Beautiful morning. Clear blue sky and the beach chairs were just waiting for tourists to sit on them. And … can you see the moon right in the center of the top part? The full resolution image shows that very  clearly.

And this one was really a lucky shot. I was in the car when I shot this on a rainy day in Kuta. The car window was wet, lots of water droplets. I saw the couple waiting at the shelter from afar and I focused on the water droplets and took the shot when our car passed by them.

I tried to use the iPhone to shoot moving subjects. These beach boys were playing soccer. I was standing on a big rock, which you can tell from the angle of the shots.

And some more moving subjects.  The cousins.

And last one from Kuta, the model in Bali. 

Shooting moving subjects indoor with iPhone is challenging since we can’t really control the shutter speed. Hence, when shooting indoor and the light is not bright enough to give you fast shutter speed to freeze the movement, the subjects will be blurry. But I still love these images of the two little monkeys jumping on the bed. I tried to minimize the blur by “clicking” the shutter button when they were at the peak of their jump.

When shooting portrait with iPhone, try to zoom in in order to minimize the distortion. iPhone has a wide lens and shooting portrait with wide lens won’t be pleasing, especially when you are too close to the subject. So, zoom in.

Few more portrait shots. These were taken at the Universal Studios. I love the setting they have there.

I seem to be addicted to shooting from inside a car on a rainy day. These two shots of cabs were shot when I was in another cab on the highway. The wet car window caused the distortion, which I like.

You should have seen these two in my previous post, but let me post them again here, because they are my favorites too. The panorama, shot with the excellent AutoStitch app.

And last but not least, I love leaf on the ground. You guys have known that from my previous posts. So, this will continue with my iPhone.

So, that’s it for now. See you in the next batch of my favorite images taken with the iPhone. You all keep shooting !!

Shot with Olympus E-PL3.
I unfortunately forgot what lens I used, but I know for sure it’s one of the old manual lenses I bought from eBay. I believe it’s the Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f/1.7.

His name is Azmil and he is my stranger no. 8. This cool looking guy is a student of one of the Polytechnics here in Singapore and lives somewhere in the north of Singapore. He was waiting for his friend for dinner when I met him. I like his hat and his glasses. 

This was shot with Leica M9 and Canon Sonnar 50mm, wide open at f/1.5. Have a great weekend, everyone.

His name is Ken and he is my stranger no. 7. When I met him he was waiting for his friend at Haji Lane. True blue Singaporean and his work place is very far, he said. He seems to like skateboarding as I saw him doing that after I took this shot.

For those who are interested, this was shot wide open at f/1.5 using Leica M9 and Canon Sonnar 50mm LTM f/1.5.

His name is Khai. He is half Indonesian, half Singaporean. He works somewhere near Orchard Road. He has cool tattoo and cool earrings as you can see here, but relax, he is my friendly stranger no. 6.

Finally, I am updating this personal project that I started a year ago. I have been bad at it but I am determined to finish this project.

I shot this with Leica M9 and the old Canon Sonnar 50mm LTM f/1.5 at f/1.5. It’s a cool old lens made in around 1955. The one I have is surprisingly still very good both physically and optically.

I still cannot do this until now. But my daughter was so determined that she kept trying for the past several months until finally, yesterday, when we attended the baptism of my friend’s baby at the church of St. Mary of the Angels, she showed me that she could blow the chewing gum’s bubble. I was at the church to shoot the baptism of my friend’s baby and I had my DSLR fitted with Canon 85mm f/1.2L. I was not the main photographer and hence the chosen lens worked well as it gave me enough working distance so I did not block the main photographer.

All photos shot at aperture f/1.2 and ISO 1600. I love the smooth bokeh. And below is the sequence. The one above is the third from last which I took out from the collage below.

Now, time to vote! No! Time to thank you all. The voting for the Singapore Blog Awards 2011 ended yesterday. My sincere thanks to those who have voted and/or rallied for me. The final decision will be based on 30% voting + 70% judges scores and will be announced on 23rd July. THANK YOU again everyone!

All shots with Micro Four Thirds camera, Panasonic GF1 and Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens. Manual focusing with this lens on GF1 is challenging. Stretching your arms out so you can see the image on the LCD when focusing will cause you to be unstable. Hence, I really hope that GF3 will have a built-in high resolution viewfinder. GF2 has already been in the market for several months, but I didn’t want to upgrade because it still doesn’t have the built-in viewfinder. Yes, it has an optional external viewfinder you can buy, but I don’t quite like the idea as I want to keep the entire setup small.

When I shot these, I was lying down on the floor in order to be at the same eye-level as my daughter. I put the camera on the floor  too. That helped to stabilize it during the manual focusing.

I am going out shortly to meet a friend for a quick shoot and I will be taking this setup with me. Will share some photos later tonight if I can get some interesting ones.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

They are not the sharpest photos I have ever taken, but I love the interaction between the two of them while sitting on the floor in our living room. No, they didn’t pose for me, in case you ask. This is one of those rare moments at home now when my daughter doesn’t complain and give me her angry look while I aim my camera at her continuously. She probably thinks that she had already given me enough opportunity to shoot her during her first 4 years when she would happily allow me to shoot her. BTW, I shot her everyday in her first one year, except for a two week period when I had to be on business trip overseas.

For those who are interested, they were shot using my 1D IV and 85mm f/1.2L at f/1.2 and 1/200sec and ISO 2000. Shot in color and converted to toned black and white and I added some grains in Lightroom 3.

A Man at Banteay Kdei, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2009

To make it different than what I have been doing in the past when shooting strangers on the street, I will impose the following two rules:

• I have to tell them that it is for my 100 Strangers project and get their approval before I shoot
• I have to talk to them and find out at least three things about them. Getting their name and where they are from is a must, but that’s not enough. I have to find out more about them, such as what they do for a living, their hobby, their likes and dislikes, their motto for life, our similarities, etc. The more the better.

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2009. Taken with Voigtlander Bessa R3A and Nokton Classic 40mm f/1.4 and Fuji Provia 400 (pushed 1 stop)

The idea to shoot strangers as a photography project is not new. A lot of people have done and have been doing this and it is something close to my heart in photography as I have been shooting strangers a lot, but giving it a little challenging twist above may make it more interesting and more challenging at the same time. Think about the thought of approaching a stranger on the street or somewhere to get to know them, for a good reason of course. Scary enough? To a lot of people, definitely. But in a more simplistic way if you are not doing this kind of photography project, this fear should not deter you from being friendly and kind to others. And we as the recipient should not think that stranger is kind and friendly to us because he/she wants something from us. Do not judge, as  you too will be judged.

Preah Khan, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2009. Taken with Voigtlander Bessa R3A and Nokton Classic 40mm f/1.4 and Fuji Provia 400 (pushed 1 stop)

Mysore Market, Karnataka, India, 2006

Mysore Market, Karnataka, India, 2006

This will be a long project as I may get lots of rejections. I don’t set the end date for this even though I hope to complete it within a year before I start all over again.    So come back here to check the progress of this photography project and I hope it inspires you to always be friendly and kind to others.

How wonderful it is to live in a world without strangers, where smile and kindness are the only two things people know about how to interact with each other.