Contrast

Contrast. This is a photo I took at Fort Santiago, Intramuros. Our photo assignment was to for our photos to manifest the proper way of arranging the composition in our photo, such as following the rule of thirds, etc. I don't know if this photo will pass for a good composition, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow when we show our photos to our teachers. Anyway, what caught my eye actually is the contrast that the plant makes with the red door and red bricks.

Frozen in Time

Frozen in Time. Ahh! I'm back at last. I get to post again, after a week. Turns out the battery for my laptop is not available, thus, I decided not to buy first. So, I'm using another computer. I won't be able to post daily, but at least maybe I'll try every other day. Anyway, this is a fountain in Fort Santiago. One of the photo assignments given to us was to shoot a picture with a very fast shutter speed. This fountain, of course, was one of the more famous objects photographed by people which represents a fast shutter. This is my version. Took this by: 50mm, f/5.6, 1/200s. This was quite challenging actually. It was almost 5:30pm and it was cloudy, hence there wasn't enough light. I wanted to shoot it at 1/800s to put emphasis on the droplets but it was too underexposed. I didn't want to use flash, so I had to settle with 1/200s. By the way, I entitled this "frozen in time" since the droplets of water were like "frozen" in the air. Our lecturers said that when you talk about shutter speed, you always talk about two words, freeze (fast) or blur (slow).

Leaf

Leaf. Last Saturday, I went to my first day of Basic Photography Seminar-Workshop conducted by the Federation of Philippine Photographers' Foundation held at Fort Santiago at Intramuros, Manila. The introduction was held by Mr. Lito Beltran and the lectures were facilitated by a reknowned photographer Mr. Ador Pamintuan. This is one of my shots when they asked as for a field work. They asked as to shoot photos showing the use of shutter and aperture. Instead of shooting the usual scenes in Fort Santiago, I tried shooting at the less noticeable objects there. I had a lot of fun, especially for the field part. Wow, my first actual seminar. Shot this by: 50mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO-500. I feel its a little bit underexposed though, I could've slowed the shutter more. Anyway, although, it's a holiday, I'm looking forward to this Saturday's class. Can't wait what else they're gonna teach me.

Flowers in the Sky

Flowers in the Sky. I'm back to photoblogging, for today at least. My computer's having some trouble. It's been automatically shutting down after prolonged used, especially when I'm connected to the internet. Then, after I turn it on, I will find out that there is only 3% battery power remaining and even if I use the AC adaptor, it doesn't increase. Hmm, I think it's time to buy a new battery since it's almost 3 years old. Anyway, since I wasn't able to post for the last 5 days, I'll make it up today with 2 shots of fireworks. Both photos were shot on the same day. I took these shots at the pyromusical display at the Bay Area of SM Mall of Asia. They have this during Friday's and Saturday's at 7pm. Good oppurtunity to practice shooting fireworks and for free too.

I was taking pictures using the continuous shooting mode of my D80, handheld. Forgot to bring a tripod. My, was I having so much fun, especially with the fact that wheI was viewing my photos, I realized that they are not "wormy" anymore as compared to when shot with a point-and-shoot camera. I particularly love the light trails on this one they looked like threads. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll go have my computer check to see if I need new batteries, or this could be a virus screwing with my batteries (I hope not). Enjoi! Til next entry!

Pinay In Action

Pinay In Action. I haven't posted in a while. My computer's having some trouble. I just took this picture a while ago at the start of the 5 km. "fun run" in an event entitled "Pinay in Action". This event was headed by Sen. Pia Cayetano in celebration of the Women's Month at NBC Tent, Bonifacio Global City. My very good friend Faye and her mom joined the event. They didn't win first place but hey, it's running for a cause. So, it's all good. For more pictures, check this out! Anyway, some of my pictures are not that good, since it's my first time shooting an outdoor sporting event. I also went to try my telephoto lens. I'd say it worked well for me, but I need to have more practice. Enjoy!

P.S. Added one more pic. I edited this one. But I used the continuous shooting mode, thus I was able to capture this sequence of shots.

Cables

I found some CAT-5 cables lying around the house and decided to photograph them. I laid them behind a blue board and just threw them there, forming into whatever shape it can form. I liked how this shot turned out. There's a sense of abstraction in it. I think photography is a very good medium for people who can't draw very well to express their visions of art; and, I am one of them.

Trees

Trees (under Baguio's blue skies). Shot this at Baguio Botanical Garden. I love the shadows, the light and most of all the color of the sky. Very relaxing scene actually. I wish I could go back there soon. I wasn't able to go to their Panagbenga Festival. Figured there were probably too many people. Maybe next year. Anyway, just a little story of our experience at the garden. We went there on our last day in Baguio, just a few hours before leaving. Outside the garden, there was a sign saying Baguio Botanical Gardens. Naturally, we wanted our picture taken with the sign, for remembrance. But to our surprise, some old Ifugao natives quickly ran to where we wanted to take our picture. They said they will be charging us 10 pesos for every native who stood there with our picture. There were probably 8 or 9 of them. They just wouldn't go away. We tried moving but they kept on following us. I was like, hey, I just want my picture taken with the sign and nobody else. Besides, why would I pay 80 or 90 pesos taking my own picture and with my own camera? But, alas, we wanted to have a shot so bad that we were just forced to take one shot with two of the natives and paid them 10 pesos each. That's just wicked. One of the weirdest experiences in Baguio.

Comb

Comb. I was looking for objects around the house to photograph, for practice and I found my friend's comb. This was taken using ISO 1000, f/5.6, 1/13s and 50mm. It turned out more blue than I would like, probably because the background I used was blue. There wasn't much light in the room and my curtains are blue; thus, the result.

March Madness

March Madness. Summer is approaching, well at least here in the Philippines. A time for me and my family to go the beach, sun bathe, relax and just have a vacation away from the city and stress. I chose this picture, because, flowers blooming is usually a symbol for spring, but since we don't have spring, we usually associate it with summer instead. Anyway, by this time, it's supposed to be hot and sunny here; but, the funny thing is the whole month of February has been rainy up until now. The weather is even colder than usual. It's just the most unusual thing. It never rains in February and March, except for this year; well, at least as far as I can remember. Meteorologists explain that there is a La Nina phenomenon affecting the country; bringing more rain and flash floods expecially in the provinces. I say it's climate change. Global warming is showing its effects and bringing unusual weather conditions. I wouldn't say I'm not happy with a cold weather. I love cool places. I would pick La Nina over El Nino anyday. But who would want to be going to the beach when it's raining, right?