Poste!!!!

Long Exposures

I found some of my old long exposures using the C813. Not only are they used for low light conditions (usually for night photography) or contrasting tools (moving against stationary subjects) but they are also good for collecting a better detail on the subject for the less than ideal variety of cameras.

(taken at Global City, Fort Bonifacio with the C813. After a lot of contrast levels, burn tools, and harassment by the Global City Security Force)

(The crematorium at Quezon City)

(Intersection of Araneta Ave and Quezon Ave.)

Lens Flare

I used to enjoy the lens flare tool available in Adobe's Photoshop back in the day. Not only do they spruce up a picture (depending on the use) or liven up lighting effects in some of my former renderings in my college days but they also add a certain dimension to the image.

But what exactly is a lens flare?

The way I understand the matter, it's caused by extreme bright lights from or within the peripheral of the subject which is also reflected within the lens of the camera.

If used intentionally, it creates a more dramatic or realistic feel to a photograph.

(this shot is taken at Roxas Blvd. Lens flare is generated mostly because of the reflections within the Aiptek camera that I was using back then)

Outdoor Shoot

Its such a pain to have a photoshoot in wide open spaces during a cloudy day. When you happen to have a particular setting under the shadow of a cloud , then suddenly the cloud moves about, causing the sun's intense rays to change the lighting of your subject. You have to adjust your settings again to suit the new lighting condition in order to compensate. You can always adjust the brightness and gamma levels of your photo afterwards if it is too dark, but its harder to compensate for a shot which is too bright because the light tends to burn out the details of the subject, which can never be recovered even after a lot of brightness and contrast corrections.

In such cases, you can use reflectors to focus the needed light on your subject, specially if there is a lot of ambient light against the lens to begin with. Either that or use your flash while lowering your ISO and shutter speed. In the bright December noon sun, I found it best to set your ISO around 200 or 400, with a shutter speed of 1/40, 1/60 or 1/30. Adding a flash might need a shutter speed of 1/800 or more.

(taken at Paradizoo, Tagaytay using a Canon D1000 set to f5.6, 1/800, ISO400. Bubbles courtesy of my son and my goddaughter)

Cookin' it Old School

I love history. I love vintage stuff, specially antiques.

I recently came across with some pics I took of old cooking equipment and spinned it up a bit.

This is an old stove made out of concrete and stone. Its almost like one of those ovens blacksmiths from the late 18th century used. A slight tilt shift gives detail to the door of the stove's fuel, which I think should be the focus of the piece.

Another cooking equipment, but this time, its a tieless piece. Its an earthen stove with a fiery, over fueled combustion rage. Using my old C813, I lowered the ISO with faster shutter speed to compensate for the intense light (and heat) the fire was generating.

Memories of Boracay

Just a few re-conditioned shot of Boracay from our trip back in 2010. Used my Kodak C813 and tweeked with Canon's photo tools

Lunar Photography Trial

Having recently acquired a National Geographic 137x Reflective Telescope, I went to my parent's home in the province to try it out. Back there, there is less pullution in the air, and there is less artificial ground light interferance.

my younger brother and I assembling the telescope

the completed telescope

lining up the telescope using the viewfinder

a forced shot from the eyepiece

Random Shots at High Street, Fort Bonifacio

One sunny Saturday morning, I went to High Street in Fort Bonifacio Global City for a litle walk. The air was cold, the skies was clear, less people around, the place just inspires me.

..Of Men and Lenses...

FDLens Guy told me, that the best lenses to use for portraits are the 100mm's and for group shots better bring out the 28mm wide angle. With a wide variey of lenses to cover, its going to cost a lot to acquire them once you figure out the ones you need.

Now the lenses with motorized auto focus (AF) will set you back around 10K to 60K., depending on the model and manufacturer. Pretty steep for a hobby. So he suggested getting some FD lens adapter. This would enable your DSLR cameras to use a wide variety of cheaper FD lens made for the normal film SLR's.

Basag

Just playing around with zoom, focus and white balance

Vignetting

Vignetting is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center. Through conversations with some photo profesionals, they said that its usually caused by exposing the limitations of the lens in print of film SLRs. This, in turn, creates a shadow-like black blur around the picture. It used to be an undesired effect from the limitations set by lens but now, its a commonly used boarder or effect to draw the focus to the subject of the photo. It can easily be duplicated in digital photos by 'burning' the peripheral of the photo.

(thanks to 'FDLensGuy' of Quezon City and RJ Palad for their insight on lens and stuff)

this is gaijinph, signing on

I have had a love of photography since childhood. I always marvel on how a simple photograph can capture the thoughts, ideas or emotions of the moment. And the thought of that image to live on as a legacy astounds me.

Then I grew up to adulthood, giving up my fleeting interests while I get my life on track. Its only recently that I try to catch up to my interests from childhood. I always have images playing in my head when I go outside...thinking of ways to capture the moment and make it last longer as a memory for others to see. Being a visually actuated person, I prefer the image to convey thoughts when words are not enough, and are prone to misunderstandings.

I start this blog as an amateur photo enthusiast. The various things I start to learn from others and the results they bring excites me. The lessons learned from various photo projects and trials sheds new light to other possibilities. I want to catalogue as much as possible so that others who are just starting in this field, like me, may learn, even by a little bit, from my projects and experiments.

Think of it as a starter's lament...