Making of a Photograph: Part 5 – Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque (Brunei)

This photo of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Brunei was photographed back in February 2018. Brunei might not be familiar to people outside Southeast Asia, but I’ve visited the country seven times 😅 and this is my most favourite shot taken there so far.

This mosque is surrounded by a lagoon, so the water is mostly still, which guarantees clear reflections. For this shot, I started the exposure at 18:49 pm (6 minutes before the end of dusk), extending 2.5 seconds of base shutter speed into 163 seconds (at f/10) by using a 6 stop ND filter.

What I love most about long exposure photography is that it lets me smooth out the water, but in this photo, it also helped make the clouds look like moving, which I guess added an extra interest to this photo.

By the way, Brunei is only two hours away from Singapore (where I live), but I don’t see any of my friends or colleagues travelling there at all. In fact, according to Statista, Brunei is by far the least visited country in Southeast Asia (the top 5 most visited countries are Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, then Singapore 😅). That said, to me, this beautiful mosque is what keeps me coming back.

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About the Author: LASTLIGHTS.NET is a passion project of Joey J, a Singapore-based Japanese photographer primarily shooting cityscape photography with long exposure at blue hour. Visit his Home Gallery (30 most favourite photos taken) or download his free eBook, Getting Started with Long Exposure Photography .