Merlion

I wanted to maintain enough lighting and sharpness for the background, while maintaining a sense of motion for the flowing water. This typically calls for a long exposure shot, but the tricky part is making sure the Merlion wasn't overexposed. Basically this calls for some creativity.

I set the camera at F6.3 with a shutter speed of 6 seconds, tripod mounted. ISO is at 100 to minimize noise. While adjusting for the perfect view, I literally place my index finger over the lens, making sure it covered just the Merlion. When I fire the shot, I maintained my index finger at the position for about 4 seconds before moving my finger away.

The background was fully exposed for 6 seconds, while the Merlion was only exposed for about 2 seconds. The result? An almost perfect exposure, with the texture on the Merlion still visible.