The Dream Car

My youngest daughter fancies the same car as I do. :)

Minimal post production: white balance correction, some highlight recovery and a little polishing on the car. Star burst on headlamps and and flare are on-cam.

This is a 15-second exposure shot so I can register those weak led headlamps on the car.

Vrooooooooooom!

Light Painting With Strobes

Below is my take, my shot, and my view on Oakley's TEN... Click on "Read more..."  below and see how I did it.

Candlelight Experience

I've been trying to get some warm photos of lighted candles and here are the results of my recent attempt:

Some essentials to get things done:

    1. Dark and windless room - important to get the flame from not dancing around and flickering.
    2. Tripod or something stable to put the camera on - this kind of photography will need a little extra time for exposure thus something stable will aid in avoiding camera shake.
    3. Heat tolerance - well it's a windless room and minimal circulating is around.
    4. A couple of candles and matches - obviously needed but do take care in handling these.
    5. Patience - not so long exposure, heat, and multiple trials will surely test your patience.

Some technicals I used:

    1. Wide aperture - not really wide, just enough to get a shallow depth-of-field.
    2. Low ISO - to compensate for the sensitivity of light.
    3. Slow shutter speed - this allowed me to get some blur on the flame.

I've included this with my Pyro At Works album. When I get more candle light photos, I'm sure to move them in a separate album.

Pyro At Works

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

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.