Photo Exposure via Zen Mountain Monastery

A few months ago, I was contacted again by a couple of people asking for my permission to allow them to use some of my photos from Flickr for their print media/materials. One was from a local publishing house and the other was from another country. This was another opportunity for me to get some of my photographs published or printed.

Creative Bokeh

I have tried doing some creative bokeh as I have shared in the following posts:

• Bokeh - Out Of Focus (DIY)
• White Hearts

Strawberry Delight

I've wanted to shoot some strawberries when I arrived here in the US as I believe there's a lot of good strawberries here. I have watched from some TV shows how large they are and having said that it would be easier to shoot them up close even without a macro lens.

Being Away

Today, it is the 24th day I've been miles away from my family -- from my loving wife, adorable daughters, supportive parents, interesting relatives, zesty co-workers, and wacky friends. I've been away from my parents and friends several times before but this would be the longest time I'll be in distance with my own family.

Just after a few days, I was already wishing my family was with me and filling those spaces in the bench with me in a cool afternoon. It'll be so much warmer to have them there beside. My wife and I made ourselves busy to alleviate the feeling of being distant from one another. It's a good thing the kids are having swimming lessons to keep them busy while I occupy myself with learning to cook again and pass time with my hobby. I try to incorporate my photography with my cooking as I try to snap some shots of my cooking journey.

I've had steamed fish, fried fish, pasta, hot dogs, eggs, cereals, and some more of the easy cooking stuff. But I enjoy cooking my steamed fish as it's very easy to prepare and less grease. I use vegetable oil here by the way. It's amazing that it doesn't "sleep" even during the cold days.

Trying to really pass up time, I was able to do the 'Multiplicity' thing from my recent post. Trying to make a boring day really interesting. On weekdays after work, I am usually just inside my room as you will see in 'Multiplicity' photo.

It's a good thing I have been here before and have some co-workers here as well that somehow makes the work day pass with ease. I've been able to go out of my den when my friends invite and fetch me here at hotel. The last time we've been out was when we watched the 'Avengers' movie.

When the weather is great, I try to get some fresh air and take a walk. The weather currently is erratic. One day you'll get a bright and sunny morning and then a cloudy and rainy afternoon. Sometime it's gonna be cold then a little warm then chilly but we haven't had the heat like back home. Sometimes it'll pour heavily at nights and be cloudy the next day. We've had several storm warnings in the past few weeks. There'll also be tornado warnings aside from the thunderstorm warnings. So far, no tornado have been sighted here. Below is a photo of fun of the heavy rains we had last week. I think was a Saturday night. Most of the weekends are cloudy and ruining the chance to go out and play.

The hotel staff are great people and the service have been very well. My room gets cleaned once a week, every Friday. I get to have my towels replaced also during that day. Yes, you read that right. Towels, I get to use four towels a week with three sets of a hand towel and a face towel. No bath robe sad to say for those who are looking for one. I also have my own iron and ironing board. You can see it as a fully furnished "home" except I have to do my laundry at the common laundry area.

When I first visited the laundry area, that's the only time I found out that there was a vending machine too. I've vended a couple of soda, chocolate, and chips to just pass up time. Since I bought my own supply of soda, chocolate, and chips, the only reason I go to the laundry area is to my laundry. Make sense?

Anyway, I also get my bed sheets replaced and my carpet vacuumed. My kitchen sink gets some washing as well as my bathroom too. So far so good. Oh, I had one weekend where my bathroom light was busted and I spend my bath time in the dark as it only got replaced on a weekday. The basic staff (front desk and house cleaning) are only present on weekends. I also get a chance to cherish the hotel's shuttle. I use it mostly on my way to work and rarely call it to fetch me from work.

This afternoon was a really great afternoon as the hotel had their 'Guest Appreciation Day'. I've never heard of it before so I was really curious of about what to happen. When I arrived from work, surely there were lots of people at the lobby. We've had great overflowing pizza, root beer float, ice cream, and soda. I wish there were hotel back home that have something like this. It's was an interesting thing to see other guests of the hotel and make some small talk. It's also a good way making friends with the hotel staff and get to know them since I'll be staying for awhile. The hotel I'm staying is more like of an Inn but they generally called hotels here. It's a three-story 104-room building with a capacity of around 122 guests but it looks like a small building so that's why I asked approximately how many guests and how many rooms they had.

The weather was great tonight and after the little party thing at the hotel lobby, I was finally able to take some photos of the flowers outside the hotel lobby which I was planning to shoot since I got here. I had just the perfect light. It was around 8:30 PM when I shot these blooms in the front lobby. Yes, it was still fairly bright at 8:30 PM here. I just couldn't pass up the chance of how beautiful the light was. I brought out the rich colors of the blooms and I was able to come up with a photo I submitted for a stock photo just in time for spring themed photos.

It'll be our sixth anniversary soon and these flowers have reminded me how I used to give her flowers. Moreover, Mother's Day is also around the corner. These colorful flowers just made me wish I could celebrate our anniversary together and Mother's day as well. Hopefully, we can just celebrate this all on Father's day, right?

I only have 71 days more to go before I see you all again and be back home (with crossed fingers) but technology has made it easier for us to communicate faster and in real-time. A big thank you for that -- most especially the free WiFi here at the hotel. For the mean time I'll be staying here at my home away from home. See you around.

Cheers!

Multiplicity

Have anyone of you watch 'Multiplicity'? Well, I just somewhat did that trick in a photographic way in my case. I guess being bored gives you a little time in your hands to make it a little interesting and creative and make something like this:

Multiplied myself into five (5) one to work each day of the work week -- in my dreams! So how was this possible? It's very easy to do but composing it will take a little challenge.

The photo above, took six (6) shots in total. Five of them was for the five poses and the sixth shot was for exposing the window to get a some details outside of the window. It is important that your camera is in Manual settings and AF in manual too.

The recipe:

• pick an aperture that will give you enough DOF;
• pick an ISO that will somehow be sensitive enough depending on your environment;
• pick your shutter speed according to your previous settings to get a good exposure;
• set your camera on a tripod;
• set it to timer mode -- it'll be easier if you have a wireless shutter release;
• after getting your shots, layer all the shots on top of one another and erase the areas you don't want to be seen and reveal the other poses in the other layers using your favorite editing program;

So it was just that easy, right? Get out and experiment!

Cheers!

A Walk In The Park

This afternoon the weather was great to have a walk in the park. I was initially planning to do this walk tomorrow but the forecast says that there could be light rains and therefore wouldn't be a good day to take a walk and do a little photo walk.

On my way to the park, I saw these beautiful pink flowering trees on the side of the road.

Here's a setup shot of me to show me taking a walk in the trails of the park. I did by using the 10-second timer and running to the spot I need to be and pose and pretend that I was walking. I nailed this photo on my third attempt. I'm glad it didn't take too much photos to have a photo I like or else I'd be puffing tired.

I've noticed that there were a lot of these yellow flowers and took some sample photos.

Walking the trails made me a bit tired and I just relaxed and lounged in one of the benches in the park.

Wishing my family filled up the empty space...

See you around.

Water Drops And Splashes

Recently, I followed Alex Koloskov at G+ and their site MasteringSplash. They've got truly inspiring photos on water splashes and I thought I should give it  a try. Before I went on splashes, I revisited some water drops and see what I can come up this time -- a 'Growling Bear'?

Growling Bear

A Weekend Of Balloons

Finally, I was able to make it at the 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga with my family and friends.

A Night Of Food And Photography

A couple of days ago, some from our photography group had some sort of a mini-tutorial/sharing on food photography thus a night of food and photography.

Hot Air Balloon Festival 2012

I have been wanting for years to go and see this Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga which is celebrated yearly. This year it's the 17th and this time I'll be able to go thanks to my wife and photography friends at work. This will be on the 9th until the 12th of February.

I have seen great photos of the event and I am looking forward in capturing some for myself.

For more information and details of the schedule, you may visit this link: http://www.philballoonfest.net/.

Hot air balloons here we come!

My Journey To Color-Managed Display

In photography, color can really change the mood of every photograph. 2011 was a year when I lived with my eye-balled monitor to be able to process my photos' colors close to what I have seen and captured. I always dreamed of being able to profile my display and also to be able to print them at the lab printers with great colors. I have had my ups and downs on the eye-balled monitor but I give huge credit to Lagom LCD Monitor Test which have guided me throughout the year.

Happy New Year with New Color Scheme

Recolored my blog to a fresh color theme for the new year and hoping for a brighter days, months, and years to come!

Cheers!