'I love photography!' archive

Photographing fireworks and wide-angle lenses

July 4 used to be a public holiday in the Philippines. I don’t know if it is still tagged as Filipino-American Friendship Day but I do know that for the past several years, it has been a regular working day and school day. So I don’t think much about it. Unlike when I was a [...]

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Close-up photography: capturing details that often escape the naked eye

Most people, myself included, tend to use the terms close-up photography and macro photography interchangeably. But according to strict definitions, there is a difference. Close-up photography refers to taking magnified images; macro photography means close-up photography using macro lenses. The difference is really more apparent than real because the end result is the same. But, [...]

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Manila by night

There are lots of reasons why I wanted to post this photo. First, I waited more than two weeks to take it. I stayed with Sam on her first night at the condo and when I saw the view from the balcony, I swore that I’d bring a camera next time and have a ball capturing the city lights of Manila by night.

Second, I stayed in that condo for an entire day while Sam was at school and the experience was both surprising and unsettling.

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Cagsawa (Cagsaua): more ruins than I thought

All these years, I was under the impression that the bell tower was the only structure that remained of Cagsawa Church after the town was buried when Mayon Volcano erupted in February 1, 1814. That was what most textbooks said. That was what most people said. But even Wikipedia is wrong when it says that “only the bell tower of the town’s church remained above the new surface.”

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White balance experiment with a bowl of sinigang

How do you take photos? Do you want a faithful reproduction of what you see or do you want your photo to replicate the pure form of the subject as closely as possible? They’re the same? Of course not! What the eyes see is a totality of many things: the shape, colors and textures of [...]

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Canon Powershot G10 and bokeh

A reader just made my day. Instead of being asked my opinion about the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili sex video or the Jamby Madrigal-Gilbert Remulla word war (yes, these questions clog my e-mail), Gabby asks for advice about the Canon Powershot G10 and bokeh. Oooh, I love questions like that. I will happily answer it with [...]

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Legal advice and aperture value

A reader e-mailed me asking how I blur some parts of the photos in my food blog. I responded by saying, “By setting the aperture value between f/1.8 to f/2.2, depending on how blurry I want the background.” Actually, when I have the luxury of time (which is rare), I take more than one photo [...]

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Cyclists at the Mall of Asia (or how to photograph a moving subject)

It was early morning, around 7.00 o’clock, and cyclists were all over the Mall of Asia grounds. I wanted to take photos so I stood on the curb and under the shade. But at that hour the Mall of Asia building was casting long shadows over the road and the curb. Great that I was [...]

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Billboard photos

There are more photos and stories from the Albay trip but, before that (I need a break from the photo resizing and cropping), let me share these with you.

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The view from Mount Mayon

By the afternoon of our first day in Albay, we had made transportation arrangements for the following day. We wanted a closer look at Mayon Volcano, we wanted to sample the famous Bicolano cuisine and, well, we basically just wanted to experience everything there was. On the list of “places to visit” were Tiwi Hot [...]

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