Macro @ Punggol

It's the school holiday period.
I get more time to go on outings with my friends.
This morning, we went to punggol. One of my friends was looking for a specific species of dragonfly.
The sun was up and shining brightly on us. It was really hot.


There wasn't much subjects to shoot.
The dragonflies were swift in their flight.
The only catch I got was this.

Spine-tufted Skimmer (Male)

There were a few spiders to shoot, but I'm afraid of spiders so I just looked at them.
Amongst the few spiders, one of them is the Singapore Tarantula.
It's really small and gives a nasty bite.

The rest of my images can be found here.

Pei Yan

IR: Infra red hits SAC

This is how SAC looks like in infra red.



Somehow, I feel images did not turn out as expected.
Feels a bit off focus???

Pei Yan

Strictly Pancakes

We usually associate pancakes with breakfast, served with butter and maple syrup or fresh fruits and cream.
Tuck along the same row of shophouses where the italian restuarants, pubs and board games cafe sits at Selegie Road is this unique cafe called Strictly Pancakes.
Strictly pancakes serves pancakes as a main course with meat, vegetables or seafood.
The combination sounds weird - "will my stomach reject it?"


All side pancakes and main course comes with maple syrup and a choice of butter - salted, unsalted, garlic and herb or run and raisin.

Garlic and Herb butter

Rum and raisin butter

My friend and I choose to go the main course way.
We each selected a main dish to share.
I choose Beef Me Up.
My friend picked Potatoes Leeking Cheese

Beef Me Up, $14

The extre-thick pancakes were really thick. It's about the same thickness as the pancakes from Mr Bean, but bigger in circumference.
The beef patty was disappointingly dry, different from the claimed "juicy" in the menu.
The ingredients they put inside the beef makes the whole patty taste funny the more you have it. I didn't quite like the taste.
The sautéed mushrooms were totally dried up. Some slices of mushroom had a strong heat and peppery taste.
The arugula salad was nice and tasty, vinaigrette dressing with walnuts in it.

Potatoes Leeking Cheese, $12

This dish sees the idea of rosti. The pancake batter is mixed with potatoes, leeks and cheese and shaped. It looks like the japanese pancake, okonomiyaki.
As usual the sautéed mushrooms are of the same pot, so they are as dry as those in Beef Me Up.
This dish is served with sour cream, which gives the idea and presentation similar to rosti.


We also ordered fries and it came tossed with some unknown powder.
It has some burnt tasted and we guess that it's roasted curry powder or something similar.

Overall was filling but I guessed that idea of having pancakes with main course items doesn't quite fit our mind sets.
Nevertheless it was a good try on their food.

Their weekend breakfast menu looks better.

Pan-caked,
Pei Yan

IR: Infra red goes to school

On a perfect sunny noon time and a quiet school environment during school holiday, it is the best combination for IR.
You get a clean IR image with no human trails.

Back view of the school from netball court

Netball court (Morning assembly ground)

School field in black and white

Pavilion outside computer lab 3

The lovely part of infra red photography is that the long exposure produces cloudy trails.
I would love to shoot more of the school grounds next time.

Pei Yan

IR: Third Try - I'm moving on to theIR craze

The IR craze continues to city area.

The moment I stepped out of Bras Basah Station, I saw the partial grey sky.
The lighting was pretty bad. My camera refuses to do the custom white balance shot.
It keeps telling me "no good".
Luckily my previous custom white balance is still there.
Despite the overcast sky, I managed to do a few shots.

Singapore Management University

Singapore Management University

National Museum of Singapore

I shall find time and good weather to re-shoot them again.

Pei Yan

IR: Second Try

Today, I tried infra red at Orchard.
Was on my way to meet up my NIE friends for a gathering.
Thus I decided to come out earlier to try IR again with proper white balance readings.
The sky was quite cloudy today.

First stop: Istana Park

Second stop: Istana House main gate.
Today is a public holiday, so the Istana is opened to public visit.

Third stop: Walkway from Istana Park to Orchard Central


I got a better white balance reading today.
The greens are almost to the correct colour.

Pei Yan

IR: First Try

I started to have some interest in infra red photography a few years ago through infra red seminar talk.
However my interest died down soon after as the IR filter was expensive.
With the recent IR craze in my photography forum group, I decided to buy one and try it out.


It's not a difficult thing to do, and yet it is not that easy to shoot.
Once the filter is placed on the lens, you can't view the scene through the viewfinder.
Everything has be be adjusted before attaching the filter.
The shooting mode is in manual and you have to trial and error to find the correct exposure timing.
White balance needs to be customised otherwise the color will not be correct when you post-process the image.
The effect is best shot on a sunny day. It is still doable on a cloudy day but the contrast and effect may not be that great.


On my first try, I am excited to shoot more.

Basically, most of the greens will turn white in infra red photography.

Infra-red,
Pei Yan