This was my first try at sports photography. I needed a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. However, the venue was at the Philippine Navy Gymnasium in Fort Bonifacio, whose only source of light was from the windows, which could also serve as a harsh background when framing directly towards them.

How I did it

Because of the limited amount of light entering the gymnasium, I bumped up the ISO to 1600, and set the camera mode to shutter priority (Tv). I noticed that a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second is not enough to freeze the hard packed action, so I increased it a third increment to 1/320 sec. Then I tried positioning myself on a higher ground while avoiding shooting directly against the windows.

A lot of my pictures were underexposed, so I just adjusted them in photoshop, which contributed more (ISO 1600, remember?) in a lot of noise in the pictures.

More Pictures

Visit my flickr photo set to view more pictures.

I’m testing out this new plugin called “wp-simpleviewer”. I’m looking forward to find it work well.

Pictures of the birthday party of rey:

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I’m quite frustrated that my new lens, the EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, didn’t arrive in time for this event. I could have gotten a lot better pictures. I had to resort to my EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6, which is not ideal for indoors and low-light conditions.

More of the pictures can be found in my gallery.

I call it hot releases! I can’t help myself from drooling over these new Canon products:

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III

There are only two lines of products in the Canon EOS series that have a full frame sensor. That is the Canon EOS 5D and the 1Ds series. Now, Canon is introducing the latest in the 1Ds series, the Mark III, bragging a 21 megapixel image resolution. This 1Ds Mark III, though, is not as fast (5fps) as its counterpart in the 1.3x crop body, 1D Mark III (10fps). Nevertheless, this is a full frame body we’re talking about.

Read all the new features here.

Canon EOS 40D

The EOS 40D is an upgrade from what I own, the EOS 30D. How much upgrades were? As far as I’m concerned:

• 10.1 megapixels over 8.2 megapixels
• 6.5 frames per second (fps) over 5fps
• 3″ LCD preview screen
• EOS integrated cleaning system, that which already exists in the 400D to remove dust particles from the sensor
• LCD with live view mode, that which is like a compact digital camera that you may frame the image by looking at the LCD screen, not the viewfinder only

I said “as far as I’m concerned” because these are the new features I would have opted should I have the choice between the two (30D and 40D). There are more new features or upgrades from the previous system, which I find not that important to me. You can see all those features here.

The Live View Mode, although will more likely drain your battery faster, would be very helpful while shooting from awkward angles such as ground level macro or mounted tripod shots.

New Lenses

Canon also introduced lenses. I find these lenses not interesting, though, and I don’t intend to acquire one. Yet, for the sake of info, here they are:

• EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS - an upgrade from the former packaged kit lens. I guess the IS at the longest 55mm would not be that effective
• EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS - this will be the longest focal range in the EF-S series

Interestingness

Unfortunately, DSLR’s are not like mobile phones. You may be capable of getting the latest in the Nokia series at anytime, but I don’t think so for DSLR’s. They are not that cheap. So, this post is actually just for the sake of info (again! LOL).

Marky and his mighty new lens:

This represents my lens collection (Click on the picture to enlarge). This is, of course, exclusive of the lens I used to take this particular picture, the EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM.

So far we have the following:

- Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM
- Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
- Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
- Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM

Focal Range Coverage

These lenses cover a focal range from 17mm to 300mm in a 1.6 crop body. In a full-frame body, this translates to an equivalent 27mm to 480mm. Just enough (I guess) for my needs.

Lenses that almost complement each other

I said “almost” because I should be lucky to be so sure. Yet, I have this feeling that this collection complement each other in a symmetrical manner. There appears to be a pattern. To wit:

• I have two primes (fixed focal length) and two zooms
• The zooms have IS (Image Stabilization), while the primes don’t have. Yet, the whole range described above is covered by the IS
• The primes are basically for low-light photography both with maximum apertures of 1.8, one for wide-angle (28mm) and the other for medium telephoto (85mm)
• The zooms both have maximum apertures at f/4-5.6, one for general walk around (17-85mm) and the other for super telephoto (70-300). The two lenses overlap at negligible range 70-85mm.

No L Lens

What? No red stripe in any of my lenses? No L Lens?

Yeah, unfortunately, unlike Mark, who already have the EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM and EF 70-200 f/4L USM, I don’t have any L-series lenses in my arsenal. I think that’s fine, sour grapes aside. Anyway, from the start I thought that if I should get an L lens, it would be for the superphoto lens, just like Mark Q’s EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM.

I’ll be fine with my EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM for the following reasons:

• It is capable of delivering quality pictures already, provided that you take the shots at well lit places like outdoors in a sunny day.
• It is very much lighter compared to those L lenses and easy to carry around.
• It is black, as compared to white L lenses, that helps you keep a low profile. It can be inconspicuous if you don’t want to blow your cover while sneaking around taking pictures.
• You get an extra 100mm focal range at 300mm, which converts to extra reach, as compared to the 70-200’s

Yet, if the time comes when I have virtually unlimited access to resources (who knows! LOL!), I might as well collect the best in the L-series.

Fill in the bag

A sneak peak into the contents of my camera bag, you will get to see the gears as shown in the picture that follow:

The next lens

I guess so far I’m satisfied with what I currently have in my arsenal. And oh, a macro lens. What do I think of the EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM? Hmmmmmm…. let me check…

• No budget
• No more room for it in my bag
• Redundancy, focal length already covered, it will most likely serve only as a macro lens

Yet, pretty interesting lens, huh….LOL..!

Me and my housemates are as well consumed by the latest technology trends,especially when it comes to Nokia mobile phones and Apple Ipods. None of us, though, has yet seen the “cool” factor in an Apple iphone. Otherwise, it should have been in the picture.

In the picture above are two Nokia N95, a Nokia N83 N80, a Nokia N71, an 80Gb Apple Ipod with casing, and three (3) 30Gb Ipods.

Taken with a Canon EOS 30D, EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, and Canon Speedlite 430EX.

Camels and Horse; Ladies and Gentleman; Black and White; Whatever….

Trying my hand on post processing for a black and white photo.

I read somewhere, I remember not where, that instead of shooting in monochrome with your camera, better shoot in color and post process into black and white. Powerful softwares like photoshop can do a great job during such transformation. But, of course, in this age of digital photography, you don’t need those black and white filters or films, right?

So, tell me, what do you think of this picture?

More pictures of the Sealine Trip on my flickr account.

More updates will be posted soon….

The most well picture of the moon (i.e., Qatar Moon) I got so far…

Also, my first take on flowers…

Both taken with the Canon EOS 30D and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, handheld and the IS on.

Let me walk you through the reasons why I love photography. Let me count the grounds at why I’m hooked into it.

Wikipedia defines photography as follows:

Photography is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or sensor. Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects expose a sensitive chemical or electronic medium during a timed exposure, usually through a photographic lens in a device known as a camera that also stores the resulting information chemically or electronically.

Oops, that’s quite too technical, huh.

Anyway, in an effort to dissuade me, Erwin asked me why I’m so fond of photography, what will I do with my photos after I took them?

For me, I find it an inner satisfaction to document everything around me in clear and crisp pictures.

I find it the simplest way at which I can express my creativity, and uphold its status as an art.

While looking at the pictures in magazines, books, billboards, etc., I want to replicate them in my own simple way.

In everything that’s happening around me, I wanted to capture that decisive moment:

Or freeze the action, as if stopping time itself:

Or maybe even convey the emotion in that particular moment. To document the face of:

Frustration:

The Conviction:

The Triumph:

The Happiness:

And the Sadness: