Zuiko at Night on Putrajaya Lake

It was not often that you get a chance to cruise on a special occasion under the moolight with the lake's breeze billowing your hair. I had this chance, and I can say, once in a lifetime. It was on the 8th of August 2008, or 08.08.08, and the Putrajaya Lake Cruise had a special dining experience on offer. To top this, I also took the chance to arrange for a birthday celebration for my beloved wife.

The cruise started at the ferry pier, just near the Putra Mosque. By 7.45pm we arrived and were ushered to a nice reception lobby with refreshments. The cruise started at 8pm.

It was actually a full cruise through the lake, and we were dining with cuisine from Hilton Putrajaya. I had chicken, my wife had salmon. All I can say was, the experience was breathtaking as we were cruising down the lake with the moonlight and city lights lining the lake's rim. It was purely romantic!!

Some beautiful scenic shots to savor the beautiful experience of the cruise.

Actuall, the cruise U-turn point was at PICC. There, the captain had the ferry to a halt for about 5 minutes. I went up the top of the ferry, for open view of the scene. It was beautiful!!!

** A bit technical here **

For the moon over PICC shot, I used my E-3 with the Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5. This lens was a pocket rocket. With fast aperture and 4x zoom, the size is still small with less than 0.5kg.

I framed at 14mm, with the aperture at F3.5, shutter speed 1/4s and ISO2000. To ensure proper metering, I offset the exposure compensation to -1EV.

Thanks to in-body Image Stabilization (IS) feature, I was able to capture the image without blur, although the ferry was rocking its way on the lake's wake. It was truly amazing.

**

Also, throughout the cruise, we passed the bridges of Putrajaya. the following images are some that I managed to capture. The ferry was cruising at about 10-15knots, and I had to be quick to capture the bridges while the ferry was passing by. It was fast!

** A bit technical here **
The ferry was passing under the bridge. Quickly, I framed at 14mm at A-priority, with the aperture at F4, shutter speed 1/20s and ISO2000. To ensure proper metering, I offset the exposure compensation to -1EV.
Again the IS did the job for me to get blur-free images.
**

Not to be missed was to definitely have some beautiful portrait shots with the Putrajaya cityscape. Although the situation for photography was very difficult, I managed to pull it off.

** A bit technical here **
The biggest trick was to capture portrait with a dark background with the ferry moving and rocking. I used my E-3 with the Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5.
I framed at 14mm, with the aperture at F2.8, shutter speed 1/15s and ISO2000. To ensure proper metering, I offset the exposure compensation to -1EV. Flash was used to illuminate my wife, at TTL -1.3EV.

With 4/3 system, the F2.8 actually provide a similar Depth-of-Field of F5.6 on a full-frame 135 system. Thus, the portrait is already at optimum setting.
**

One thing I can say about the experience; It was out of this world!