Info previously posted by ZYX on night spotting
http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1279/topics/331117?page=3
What is night bus spotting
In Singappore, like any other modern country,, there are bus
services operated fter midnight to cater to the late
crowds.
For exmaple in Australia a famous atttraction called Bondi beach
evven has its own tourist night time bus service to cater to
tourists or locals who like to go beach in the wee mornings or go
beach late at night.
In Singapore two bus companies operate night services
SMRTbbuses operate Night riders or NR
SBS transit operate Nite owls.
(mainly for night events in town but not tourist demand
services)
Normal spotting
u just see and snap 12m rigid NRs or sbs transit Niteowl buses.
When spotting in the heartlands do watch out for above mentioned EB
buses. these are rare to come by.
Festive seasons
eg: Christmas, new years Eve or F1. crowds stay up late in town.
SMRTbuses will normally operate NRs with bendies. these are nice to
snap. Also SBS transit will operate the EW NE and NS services. eg
EW25 that runs in Clementi new town.
tips: if u do not wish to waste money on taking NR or niteowl,
there are a few trunk services that bring u to heartlands even
after 1am. This takes a few years of experince to understand and
observe. Knowing this can save money...hahaha
Tips: best places to take photos are City Hall MRT (provided
they dun close the bus stop like F1)
Soomerset MRT (mainly for NR)
Orchard turn (best for rigid NR)
Former John Little bus stop along Orchard Rd (can get night shot of
Hippo tours)
Clarke Quay station (get some nite owls lor)
Tips: photography at night (compact camera only)
Tripods are normally necessary. However, i myself prefer to free
ahnd at 1/4 slow shutter speeds. shots may be unpredictable but
when u get a clear shot, great feeling using impormoptu
surfaces to place ur camera n shoot the bus is also good to
try. generally squatting n stabalising urself u tend to produce
clear shots if u have a set of steady hands.
Do note that at 1/4 shutter SMRT destos may wash out. Also buses
with glaring headlights u can give a mis as these will
generally not come out well. (nearside shots
using the flash is bad. BCs or SLs get stunned. furtheremore ur pic
will be washed out.
ZYX
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Some add-on tips on night phototaking at somerset stn over my
past experience. At night, the backgroud of somerset stn bus stop
is rather dark as it if full of trees as compared to the bright
lighting effect on the bus. Therefore if you use your
auto/prirority mode setting on your camera, the camera may tend to
give an exposure value to expose the tress bright enough, thereby
causing your bus & the bus's desto/EDS to be overexposed. This
is the time where you need to use the full manual mode and then
adjust values accordingly. There are also times when I get stuck
with a choice of not blowing out the EDS but with a slightly darker
picture ot blowing out the EDS with a bright picture. Some examples
of slightly darker pics but EDS not blowed at all.
i'm currently using an Olympus u1050SW compactcam and even
though i can find a makeshift tripod, all the bus photos i shot are
still very blurry and have alot of noise. tried alot of modes,
including night scene, available light, Digital Image Stabilisation
still blur.Afaik there's no setting on this camera to adjust
shutter speed. So that means my camera cannot take night shots?
