Pages

Monday, December 21, 2009

Mini Cakes

My wife recently bought some mini cakes for gifts for friends. There were some leftovers and of course being so interested in food photography at the moment, I couldn't help and resist experimenting with it. Below are two photos of the same mini cake. Hmm.. I just had time to take photos of one (1) mini cake as I took these close to midnight () of December 18, 2009. Yes, I took these photos at night and not during the day.




Bon Appetit!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Bokeh - Out Of Focus (DIY)

So, what is Bokeh? Bokeh in photography as defined by Wikipedia is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

I created something similar to what is found in the Internet to create artistic bokeh or bokeh with different shapes aside from the common circular, pentagonal, octagonal shape of bokeh. By the way, I also read from the Internet that the bokeh is also affected by the number of aperture blades the camera lens has but I can't recall where I have read it exactly from.

Anyway, back to creating different bokeh shapes was something interesting and I tried it myself on my kit lens. Basically, it's like overriding the default bokeh shape of the lens. With the Christmas season, I took the chance to create and experiment on this one as there's a bountiful resource of light points from Christmas lights.

Here's my best photos:

Straight Curls


Circular Curls


Circular Triangles


 Here's my do-it-yourself interchangeable bokeh accessory that yielded the above photos:



Here's a link for my inspiration to create myself a bokeh accesory: DIYPhotography. Thers's more DIYs in there to try as well.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

More Tries On Product Photography

Okay, the other night I was looking at my vodka, tequila, and other liquor on display then I had this idea to take some shots -- not liquor shots just to be clear. I wanted to try out something I have read before on the Internet regarding product photography. Well I would like to take of products with some reflections. So, without further due, I present my output (though I feel some are really skewed).You may click on the photo for a larger version.

What can I say about this one... Hmm...



Especially this one. The glass seemed to be out of symmetry.

 

And this one, the can looks tilted.

 
Oppsss... these aren't photos of my vodka, tequila, and other liquor... Well, these were much easier to handle than those big bottles. Anyway, I guess I partially nailed this part since I was after the setup for the products.

By the way, here are my previous attempts where the back ground was simply white: My Few Attempts

Thank you for viewing.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Canine Emotions

I recently went to take photos of Labrador pups that were off to be sold. At first the bunch were running around and barking and all --  it was feeding time that's why. Some were curious and sniffing the camera in front of them. Here are some of them:





Oh well, after their hearty meal, this is what they did:







Aren't they adorable? By the way, they chomped down their food under ten minutes.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Ice Experiment

Oh well, I was thinking of something to do. Something out of the ordinary when I take photos. I then remembered that there's an old aquarium that is not being used lying around the house. I cleaned it and made experiment shots like these:






I included these inn my "Water Drops" project:


Water Drop Project

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Rainbow

As a saying goes, there's a rainbow after the rain. Well, here's a rainbow I managed to capture before the fireworks display began. It was late in the afternoon and the drizzle just passed by, the was low and behind me, but there's more rain clouds over the horizon.




Sunday, November 22, 2009

Fireworks Rants and Raves

Just came from a fireworks competition (World Pryro Olympics 2009) that was held yesterday (Nov. 21). I don't have the best gear, actually just the kit lens of the 1000D. Luckily, I got some old school tripod that I was able to loan from my dad and my brother gave me a shutter release cable. Sounds that the gear is quite enough for a beginner.

When I heard about this, I immediately read posts and tips in the Internet and I was able to acquire more than I can imagine -- in short I prepared myself for the show. I got more determined to prepare myself when my wife surprised me with tickets for the show in front just beside the VIP's viewing area. I was excited for yesterday to come.

Then the day came. Arrived at our spot early enough and finding other photographers setting up their own tripods and cameras and all.

Alas! It started to drizzle, shower, rain an hour before the scheduled show from Germany. Yes, it started to shower then the rain came. The first show was postponed an hour later due to the unforeseen weather conditions. Anyway, it stopped raining hard but there's light drizzle and sometimes it will rain.

Oh well, to cut the story short.. I did my best of what I can of the situation and here are some of my keepers. Hope you didn't mind the short story above and that you enjoy the photos below as I did taking them. You may click on the photos for a larger view.









Thanks for viewing!

Here's more of it


Pyro At Works

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

It's my name, It's who I am

From http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp

Thanks Kathleen, tried it myself when I read your blog.

You entered: Angelo Georgino Chiu

There are 18 letters in your name.
Those 18 letters total to 104
There are 9 vowels and 9 consonants in your name.

What your first name means:
Spanish Male Messenger. Biblical name for spirit messengers God sends men.
Shakespearean Male 'The Comedy of Errors' A goldsmith. 'Measure for Measure' The Deputy.
Portuguese Male Messenger. Biblical name for spirit messengers God sends men.
Italian Male Messenger of God; angel.
Greek Male Messenger.

Your number is: 5

The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

The expression or destiny for #5:
The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

Your Soul Urge number is: 5

A Soul Urge number of 5 means:
The 5 soul urge or motivation would like to follow a life of freedom, excitement, adventure and unexpected happening. The idea of travel and freedom to roam intrigues you. You are very much the adventurer at heart. Not particularly concerned about your future or about getting ahead, you can seem superficial and unmotivated.

In a positive sense, the energies of the number 5 make you very adaptable and versatile. You have a natural resourcefulness and enthusiasm that may mark you as a progressive with a good mind and active imagination. You seem to have a natural inclination to be a pace-setter. You are attracted to the unusual and the fast paced.

You may be overly restless and impatient at times. You may dislike the routine work that you are engaged in, and tend to jump from activity to activity, without ever finishing anything. You may have difficulty with responsibility. You don't want to be tied down to a relationship, and it may be hard to commit to one person.

Your Inner Dream number is: 9

An Inner Dream number of 9 means:
You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and want to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Camera Itch Over, Ready for WPO!

At last, I finally was able to claim my camera from service and the DSLR camera itch is over. Well, my pocket needs some stitching as this service has costed me dearly! Oh well, I'm just glad to have it back and of course, I went a little trigger happy over the weekend and played with the flash.

I am just happy to have the camera back and have atleast the flash capability when I'll need it (though not the ideal configuration but atleast).

I'm more glad to have it since this coming weekend will be the start of the World Pyro Olympics over at Fort Open Grounds, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Here's an overview of the schedule:

Nov. 21 - Germany & China
Nov. 28 - Canada & Australia
Dec. 05 - Japan & Italy
Dec. 12 - South Korea & U.S.A.
Dec. 19 - Fellowship of Fire & Philippines' Exhibition

Pyro Olympics, here I go!!!

For more information, visit: http://www.worldpyroolympics.com

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Itching

It's been almost over two weeks now since my DLSR was sent in for built-in flash repairs. I am itching to have it back and be able to get some more photos. Really, can't wait to have it back. Why not buy another??? This will in my dreams for the moment.

Hmm..  What can I do to raise up some cash. Got any suggestions. Please feel free to suggest and leave it as a comment.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Back To Point And Shoot

It's been almost two weeks since I parted with my DSLR, that is in for service for flash repairs, and I spent again time with my P&S (Point & Shoot). I have to admit that taking creative photos again with my trusted P&S seemed a little bit challenging. It's kinda awkward -- in terms of size, weight, control, speed, and handling.

Despite of these temporal adjustments, I believe I was able to get some decent photos as shown below. Hope you can share some C&C.

Monday, September 14, 2009

To Flash Or Not To Flash

I am a bit irked and not in the mood. I think my only flash broke down. Yes, the built-in flash seems broken. It is really irritating when things get broken. What else can I say, it's broken and I am irritated by it. It may not mean to some but it means a lot to me.

Damage to things is quite relative. It really varies from different people on how it affects their psych.

Oh well, I guess it will be just going to the service center I just don't know when, soon I hope.

I'm just stumped!!!

*** UPDATE: 2009-09-28 ***

Well, I brought my camera to Canon's Service center last Thursday and I am waiting anxiously on what really happened to the built-in flash, what caused it to happen, and how much it will cost me. I guess it's part of having such gadgets.

*** UPDATE: 2009-10-20 ***

Oh well, it's almost a month now since I turned in my camera for service for flash repairs and all I get from Canon's Customer Representative is that the parts aren't available yet as of last Thursday (2009-10-15). How much longer do I have to wait?

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Red Flowers

It's been a rainy week. Occassionally, there would be some gusts along with the rain and there times when it just drizzles softly. I took advantage the drizzling and cloudy morning today. Took some photos of the red flowers in our garden which was quite blooming a lot lately.

Here are my favorites:

Catching The Rain - actually, it just caught the drizzles as at this time it was only drizzling. Of course, I had to be under an umbrella to protect my beloved gear -- 1000D + Kit Lens!

Watching The Cloudy Skies - A pair of red flowers looking up above. Not a trace of blue.. only white clouds sending some drizzle.
Not Alone - This one is not alone in the drizzle. There's quite a few of these beautiful red flowers that are so much in bloom. All of them catching the drizzle.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Some Dragonflies

Last weekend, I spent an afternoon on my knees and elbows on the ground. I played with some dragonflies on our newly trimmed lawn if I may say so. I had several chase-sneak-crawl for these fliers. Sharing with you some of the best I was able to capture:

Thanks for viewing!

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Corny Day


Just sharing my corny day.

Actually, took this photo at night though it seems to appear that the light is coming from an open window on the right in broad daylight.

I was once read that to appealing food photography, light should come from the side and not from the top and just thought to try it and compared with one of my photos lighted from above.

So what seems to be better? I guess it depends on how the photo will be used.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Water Drop Project

I've been reading some articles in forums regarding water drops photography. Some have claimed that it's hard and some claimed that it's easy. I got curious about it and found myself contemplating on trying it out.


First and foremost, I had to read a few sites, forums, blogs, and tips on how to actually do it. You can try to Google it by searching for "water drops photography" and sure enough you'll find lots of links you can refer and read about this topic.


So, last night, I had the courage and confidence to try it out. As we were eating dinner, my head was wandering around the kitchen looking for things I could use for this "project". I can't help it. I was too excited to do it.


Basically, here are the things needed for a simple water drop photography setup:

1) A container. Look for something that has a wide mouth and is transparent. Preferably those cooking glassware mixing bowls. I had to do away with a rectangular transparent baking dish used for cooking lasagna, baked macaroni, etc. Oh, that made me hungry!

2) A camera. A D-SLR would make a better choice than a P&S as you can fully control the aperture and shutter speed with the previous than the latter. Though some P&S can offer some manual controls but will be very limiting. I used my beloved Canon 1000D with its kit lens (as if I had other lenses). A zoom or macro lens would be great.

3) A flash. Since we'll be dealing with a small aperture to get a wide DOF and fast shutter speed to freeze the action which will result to a black photo without the use of a flash. A separate flash would be nice but my built-in flash has fairly done well in my opinion. You be the judge.

4) A tripod. Although it can be done without it but can be a great help if you had one. This will help you focus on the drips.

5) Water drops. Of course, how can we forget these. These are the things we are going to capture. I used a faucet so I'll have a continuous and controllable flow of drips.

So here are the steps I took:

Step 1. Setup the container on the kitchen sink below the faucet making sure that the drips will hit the center of the container to get a wide area of coverage.

Step 2. Fill the container up to it's brim just a little before overflowing. After this, try to make the faucet just drip and check where it drips and then just adjust the container where you want the drops to fall.

Step 3. Setup your camera on a tripod in front of the container and pre-focus on where the water drops are falling. Manual focusing will help you better in accomplishing this. As a side note, I would like to share a tip on how to pre-focus on the site where the drops are falling. I set my camera to auto focus and use a chopstick tip and place it where the drops will be hitting the water and focus on that tip. After focusing, switch to manual focus. Camera settings I used are 55mm (that's my max for the kit lens), f20 and 1/200 sec. Try and experiment with other values. Important thing to consider: small aperture and fast shutter speed. Don't forget to pop-up your flash. If you can use some other source of light, I think it will help.

Step 4. At first, I tried using continuous shots but end up with lots of flat water. Yes, it meant that I was not able to capture a single drop of water. Then I tuned myself to pressing the shutter when the a water drop is about to fall. It's timing. Yeah, right! It's is about timing also when it comes to water drop photography. By the way, a remote trigger would've help also to avoid those camera shake and made some blur in photos.

Anyway, enough talk and let's see some results with what I only have. I'm forced to do just with what I have. Here's the larger version of the thumbnails above.

Exhibit A: Air Bubble


Exhibit B: Dancing Couple


Exhibit C: Splat!


So was it hard or easy? Well, I leave that for you to try! Cheers!

Here's more photos of my "Water Drop Project"!
Water Drop Project

Saturday, July 04, 2009

One Light

Recently, I attended a free photography workshop as a part of the activities of the 3rd Anniversary of Digital Photographer Philippines that was held at Fully Booked, Fort Global City in Taguig.

From the list of workshops that were lined up for that day, "Painting With Light" by Jo Avila was one of the workshops that I really liked to attend as I have once read about it but had a blurry vision on how to go about it.

In short, I learned that it was possible to take a good photo in the dark just by using one source of light -- a small flashlight to be exact. The idea is easier said than done and I am glad that I was able to attend this workshop and was given a chance to see the magic at work.

I would like to try this one myself but haven't got the basic equipment to accomplish the task and here's the list of what you need:

1) Camera -- of course;
2) Shutter release cable -- this one I don't have yet;
3) A sturdy tripod -- since this task will need long exposure and we want to eliminate that camera shake;
4) Flashlight -- those with on/off button/switch and not those with twist to on/off types since these gives out a different light focus;
5) A dark room -- to make the background just black and expose the subject only by the use of the flashlight;

Will update this entry as soon as I get the last piece for the puzzle.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Practice, Practice, Practice

Just came from some workshops and I have came across with this line from the speaker: "Perfect practice makes perfect".

Just like the saying "Practice makes perfect" but the speaker's line strikes me more. Wherein one takes practice to another level and therefore the result becomes higher than perfect.

Simply wonderful!

Monday, June 22, 2009

My Few Attempts


Here are some of my few attempts on some food photography. I didn't know how much fun it is to take photos of food also. I usually take photos of flowers. Now, aside from going crazy over flowers, I have another alternative when I can't go out into the garden and snap on flora.


Still learning more.. through reading.. trial and error.. needing a lot more of practice..

Care for more sake (Japanese wine é…’)?

What do you think?

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Early Morning Blues

It's one of those days when you wake up in the morning feeling light-headed, aching back, stuffy nose, neck cramps, and other ill feelings that makes you not want to get up.

Can it be "Monday sickness" for the working people?

Can it be "I'm too stressed at work" for people needing a time to relax?

Can it be "I'm just ..." for no apparent reason at all?

What's it for you?

Monday, April 27, 2009

More Flowers

It was a great day, I'm glad that we made this trip. I give credit to my wife for the nagging to take this trip. It's sort of a stone hitting two birds at the same time. Actually, it can be considered to be three birds -- my wife's aunt's tour, our kids' out of town trip, and my time with these gorgeous flowers. All photos taken hand-held, no tripod or whatsoever. Just my stance. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.

Below is a budding bougainvillea - trying to get only the center in focus while the foreground and background blurred. Needing a lot more practice or a tripod could have helped. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.


A couple of yellow flowers. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.


Here's a bed of orange flowers. Just keeping the foreground focused and the rest blurred towards to the end. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.


I took this photo towards the end of our stay in this beautiful garden. This was the best I can get. Somewhat in a hurry and just fired away. Got lucky I still have this. You may click on the picture for a bigger and better view.


Actually, there's a lot more of this set and can be seen in my Flickr and Picasa Web pages.

Monday, April 20, 2009

It's Green

It looks refreshing.. Cool to the eyes.. Color of youth.. That would be green.

Did a little something on Photoshop after I took a photo of this clover with three leaves only... Wished it was four so I could have been lucky as one of the beliefs says that having a four-leaf clover is a lucky charm.

I guess I would be spending sometime on the lawn and look for these green stuff and hopefully I could also get some "green" on my hands for a macro lens. That would be really nice.