Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Blooms

Flowers have been irresistible to painters through the ages. These days we've lost much of the symbolism
associated with them, but earlier painters chose flowers to convey very specific messages about their subjects. The meaning associated with a specific flower differs between cultures; the symbolism for each given here is from Western European culture unless specified otherwise. (from Marion Boddy-Evans)

Painters use acrylics, pastels, enamels or inks to convey or express their feeling or identity in a painting. Photographers, on the other hand, are the masters of light, composition and photo technology to express their self. A good photograph, as the pros always say, must be well composed, sharp and perfectly exposed. To attain that requirements, the man behind the camera must be well aware of the lighting conditions. Photos rely on the amount of reflected lights from the subject that touches the film or the the sensor of the camera. To master the lights is also to master the exposure of the photo. Composition in photography and painting is almost the same. It is the arrangement of the subject(s) in a frame. A good composition affects the level of interest that the people is giving in a photo. Knowing the technology embedded in your camera is as important as knowing the differences between the 3 paddles and 5 shifting gears in your manual car. One who uses a top of the line DSLR camera is the same as the one who uses a point and shoot camera, if he who handles the DSLR camera don't know what his camera can do. The photo on the upper right is my Valentines card for 2008 done using light painting technique. 30 seconds of shutter speed and a single light source.



In the first few days of my digital photography practice and photo shoots, I always had a flower subject. It's their colors that captured my eyes as always. The ability of the flowers to radiate emotions and awe people when captured perfectly motivated me to do a thousands of experiments in macro and non-macro shots of the flowers. using my Z7590, I captured this beauty in a misty morning at the garden of my apartment in Hsin Chu, Taiwan. by adjusting the brightness and contrast and cloning out other elements at the background, I got this sharp flower with marks of a misty night that passed.


Below are selected flower photos from my database of blooms.

Photos from Z7590


Nature's Carvings
Nature's Bouquet

Innocence

Photos from Nikon D50

Butterfly Wings


My Faded Valentines

Monday, February 25, 2008

Taiwan, Six Years Later...

The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese (Ilha) Formosa, meaning "beautiful (island)"), is located in East Asia off the coast of mainland China, southwest of the main islands of Japan but directly west of the end of Japan's Ryukyu Islands, and north-northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation. (from en.wikipedia.org)
This was when my six years of containing the photographer's side of me started to leak and consumed me. I bought my Kodak Z7590 in an Electronic Store located in Nova, Ghuangfu Road in Hsin Chu, Taiwan. I was flying back and forth in Taiwan since May 2005 till the second quarter of 2007. The electronics gadget there is far cheaper than here in the Philippines. Take for example the Kodak Z7590 that time cost me ~12k NT$ which is approximately 20k Php. When I checked how much they are selling the same camera model here, it's about 30k Php. SinceI grabbed my first SLR like Camera, I started shooting out in my apartment, in the garden of my apartment and I even travelled up north for 4 hours to go to Taipei where I captured the photo of Taipei 101 shown above. I didn't even bother the cold December temperature to capture the sunset view from my apartment.
It was also in Taiwan where I bought my first DSLR. My Nikon D50. I want to thank http://www.dpreview.com/ for their reviews which guided me well in choosing my SLR and Ruth (try to visit her site http://www.pbase.com/reflectionsbyruth), a new found friend in a photo site (http://www.bytephoto.com/). She gave me a lot of tips in completing my SLR set. My DSLR destroyed all the barriers I had in my SLR-like camera. I got a better quality of photos in many ways like a cleaner ISO 800 shots and at longer shutter speed. I loved Nikon over Canon because of it's ergonomics, other than that I think the two manufacturer is almost the same in quality of photos delivered. Nikon D50 has a better noise response than any Canon SLRs and Nikon SLRs by the way. Again I got my Nikon D50 at a lower price in Taiwan than how much I will get it here in the Philippines.
Then my journey with my new SLR begins. I want to start my journey with my D50 buddy in Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park

Taipei 101

A Drop of City
photo of the week in bytephoto.com
taken at HsinChu Park Taiwan from the Top

Saturday, February 23, 2008

In the Beginning...

Before I became a photography enthusiast, I was a big fan of photos. Since I was a child, I was fond of looking in photos. Our Random House Encyclopedia had its photos in color which made me appreciates the subject matter discussed in different parts of the book a lot easier. One of the most commonly used and most effective means of communication is through visual means. Thus, photography is a very good means of communication. A communication between the photographer and the people looking at the photo.

Not until I reached my High School days when I entered the optical world of photography. I was appointed as the photojournalist in our school paper. I didn't have any experience in photo journalism that time. My classmate gave me a very interesting book about photography that trigger my enthusiasm on photos. The book was entitled "How to Take Good Pictures" by KODAK. That was the end ot the 20th century where photography still requires a darkroom and chemicals for post processing. Where Cameras need rewinding and the event of exposed film is the biggest mistake you'll ever commit. Photography back in those years was a very expensive hobby. I could afford to buy an SLR but I couldn't afford to have a darkroom in our small house. Thus, my photography enthusiam was put on hold for about 6 years.



It was November 2005 when I bought my first SLR-like Camera. My first Christmas card was taken using my thrustworthy Z7590.

The enthusiam that builds up within me for 6 years overwhelms my SLR like Camera and immediately asked for a true Digital SLR. My Z7590 is my first buddy that witnessed my journey in the world of photography.




Then the Journey Begins...


Few of my first photos in my Z7590: