The DipNotes

I just got back from a week in Sydney, one of my favorite cities. I flew down from Singapore (a 7 hour flight) and met up with megan who flew in from Fiji.  We had a great time, took in a bunch of sights, and ate far too much good food!

But today I am going to stray from my normal Foreign Service topics and share a bit from my photography hobby.

During the week in Sydney I took a ton of photos, and learned a new photographic technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.    Here’s a sample of HDR photos I took last week:

The skyline of Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Observatory

The Blue Mountains, a few hours west of Sydney

The Entrance to the Jenolan Caves

Jenolan Caves

Government House - the oldest government building in Sydney

When you look at these photos, you may think they are painted, as the details and colors seem unnatural.  However, this is the result of HDR imaging techniques.  You start by taking multiple exposures (both over and underexposed shots) of the same subject at the same time and then use a computer to process the individual exposures into one final image.  This brings out color and details that would otherwise be washed out or too dark.

Three photos of the same subject with different exposure lengths

Here’s how it works.  I took three shots of the Sydney Observatory; the first was overexposed, the second was just right, and the third was underexposed.  If you examine the “normal” photo (middle) you see that the sky is washed out and almost colorless, the reflections in the windows are weak and dark, and the purple flowers on the ground are almost invisible.  This is what most people would have walked away with.  But the overexposed image (first)  was able to capture the window reflections and shows the purple flowers in the shade plus the trellis nicely, however the sky is totally washed out and the building and roof are too light.   The underexposed (third) captured the beautiful sky nicely, but everything else is way too dark.

Now I combine them with a program called Aperture (Macintosh application) and the result is stunning!

The Sydney Observatory

Ok, the weather here is monotonous.  Everyday is the same:

- Morning:  Warm, and humid.  Bright sunshine.
- Afternoon:  Hot, with heavy rain showers, perhaps two or three.
- Evening:  Hot and very humid.

This is the weather here every single day, all year long.   It’s like ground-hog day.  No wonder it’s so green and lush.  A couple of days ago I was walking home from work after an intense rain shower.  I looked down at a culvert were rain water from the street was pouring out into a gutter.  It looked odd.. until I realized that what was sop strange was how clean the water was.  It was like drinking water!  I’ve seen water that clean in fast moving brooks in New Hampshire, but never from a street culvert!  The huge rainfall here (8 feet per year), combined with how well the Singaporeans take care not to trash their city, makes the streets very clean indeed.

Anyways, if you visit here be prepared for walking in an open sauna.  Eye glasses will fog up as soon as you exit a bus, or any building in the city.  The dense hot air will punch you in chest.

I need a break.

I just booked a flight to Sydney Australia for a week.   I depart on the 9th of April after work.  A few days on Bondi Beach should help!