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Night Time Shooting at Fontana
A family trip to the casino-vacation hotspot, Fontana located in the Clark Freeport Zone is well, not so hotspot once the kiddies go to sleep. The running around and banter stop with silence taking over immediately. The only thing to do- strap on the Canon unto a tripod and go fishing for a shot.
As you can see, this place is better to shoot than for some rude partying. Even the casino is a bit on the bland side. Do click on the images for a larger view of what boredom can bring to shooting a night time exposure.
Shot details: 7pm, Canon EOS 50D, 10mm, f/7.1@30 sec, ISO 100. Captured RAW and converted in Photoshop CS5.
During the day though, with the kiddies, the US style water amusement park is a pretty fun place to go. Except, they don’t allow any food or beverages into the park and do have US style airport bag checks just in case your sneaking in some-even if you have little kiddies that need bottled water. It’s a quite a drag but then you can have all the food at their sub standard US style fast food restaurant. Aside from all the unnecessary rules it was a fun experience and the life guards posted everwhere were excellent-made the fun filled day safe. The photos did turn out pretty nice though… do click for a larger US style view. 
The entrance beckons... on a weekday.
View from the bridgeway into the park.
EOS 50D wet and wild-check out the water droplets.
Captured around 5:30pm. It was a beautiful magenta hue everywhere.
A Few Cityscapes
The story started with a Canon EOS 7D and a Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM. Then came along a Nikon D90 and a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. With the Nikon D300 and Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 ATX 116 finally making its appearance. This round has Canon outnumbered.
The photo outing started off quick as the sun was setting fast with all the purty colors in the sky. But as the sun finally settled and night came there was just too much clouds for star trails. Maybe next time when the typhoon season settles down for some clear night skies again. Until then…
Cityscapes captured in RAW, converted to TIF file and finally to Jpeg in Photoshop CS5.
Sunset A Day After
The Philippines has just experienced typhoon Bebeng (international name Man-yi), the second of the year and brought a mean 170 km/h winds. But one of the best times to shoot a sunset is after a typhoon has passed where rain clouds are still present to reflect the suns colors and strong enough winds have blown grey-brown pollution somewhere else.
PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) uses its own naming scheme apart from the rest of Southeast Asia for typhoons (tropical cyclones). The list below are tropical cyclones for 2011.
- Amang, Bebeng, Chedeng, Dodong, Egay, Falcon, Goring, Hanna, Ineng, Juaning, Kabayan, Lando, Mina, Nonoy, Onyok, Pedring, Quiel, Ramon,
Sendong, Tisoy, Ursula, Viring, Weng, Yoyoy, Zigzag, Abe, Berto, Charo, Dado, Estoy, Felion, Gening, Herman, Irma, Jaime. source-Wikipedia
Images were shot using Canon DSLR mounted on a ball head tripod. Images captured RAW, processed to tif file using various softwares (DXO Labs, Photomatix) and further processed to final upload version in Photoshop CS5. Do click images to view larger…
Captured right after the sun has just set into the horizon. 3 exposure HDR processed in Photomatix--Exif: EOS 7D, 17mm, f/16, 1/5, ISO 100, tripod mounted and remote triggered with Canon RS-80N3.
Same view as above in portrait orientation. 3 exposure HDR processed in Photomatix-Exif: EOS 7D, 17mm, f/9, 1/3, ISO 100, tripod mounted and remote triggered with Canon RS-80N3.
Captured a few minutes after the above images. 1 exposure HDR processed in DXO Labs-Exif: EOS 7D, 17mm, f/20, 5 sec, ISO 100, tripod mounted and remote triggered with Canon RS-80N3.
Week-Ender #75
A few Sundays ago, the family got in the wagon and headed to one of the foodies markets on the other side of town. It’s a foodies haven except you couldn’t really sit down and eat as a good size crowd were all looking to eat. Yes, there were sandwiches and hand-held food items you can eat on your feet but for most of it you need to sit. Get ready to wait.
One I had to try on my feet, even if it wasn’t so good for the health was Offbeat’s burger. It is not any ordinary burger and believe me I’ve had my fair share. This one has a good size beef patty with a slice of cheese, a slice of ham and a sunny side up egg all squished together in an original Krispy Kreme doughnut. Oh, it was frightening to look at but good for the soul.
The patty was flavorful with the ham and cheese adding that extra layer of savory with the soft texture of the sunny side up egg. All the savory culminated in the sweet burst from the doughnut and that is a whole meal-appetizer, mains and dessert all in one go. Hats off to Offbeat (no pun intended) for the unique yummy item in that big white tent.
Good on you for giving us humans another way for quicker extinction. Below are more photos from the weekend market.
BREAKING NEWS- Quezon City, Philippines
A raging inferno that started at 10 pm on February 7, 2011 has razed up to 100 homes. As I write this post (2 am) the fire is still going strong with a lot of fire engines whizzing by. The Edsa-Quezon Avenue Service road is now closed to traffic-both east and westbound.
Resorts World, Philippines
All photos captured in jpeg with a Canon Powershot G7 point and shoot at 10 mega pix and processed in Photoshop for upload.
Sincerity
The very polluted Pasig River that runs through the Binondo area
Binondo aka Manila’s China Town akin to the dirtiest parts of the world. Where trash is controlled chaos, where the Chinese underworld operates, where wholesalers call home and where food is always a comfort.
One restaurant that stands out is Sincerity, already an institution serves up Chinese food from the Fujian Province of China. This is real, unadulterated Chinese food. On a diet? Skip this place. The closest thing they have for dieters is the Coke Zero. Armed with an 85mm f/1.8 and an empty stomach, for an hour and a half, the place gets shot with a Canon and a healthy bill at meals end.
The EF 85mm f/1.8 on a x1.6 crop sensor DSLR like the Canon EOS 7D goes all the way out to 135mm in full frame numbers. It is a great walk around lens even if zooming in and out takes a bit of walking. This is one lens where it can reach the good stuff-like say in a car, roll down the window and bang, you have the shot. Streets in downtown Manila are one way and narrow. The 85mm f/1.8 also one of the sharpest, cheapest and lightest in Canon’s lens collection. Short enough as well not to cause too much undue attention.
Remnant from the last Chinese new year
Admist controlled chaos
Interior views of Sincerity
Tableware presentation the old way
Kikiam- a roll stuffed with chicken, pork and other good stuff
Ma-chang (肉粽) or zongzi (粽子)- gluttinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves and stuffed with pork, chicken, mushrooms and nuts
Oyster omelet (蚵仔煎)- made with oysters, eggs, tapioca starch and eaten with a sweet chili sauce
Stirred fry Chinese vermicilli with various meats and seafood.
The classic and very tasty Sincerity fried chicken
Lunch time traffic
Leading Up to a Full Moon
The moons from December 13, 15 and 18, 2010.
The news reported a full lunar eclipse on the 20th of December Manila time. As it so happens, we had clear skies but no luck on the eclipse. What transpired was a total full moon at moon rise and the sunset on the other side of the horizon. It was an incredible sight to behold.
Full Moon on December 22
This scene spotted tonight right after dinner. Quickly grabbed my gear and shot off 4 frames. This is a composite of 2 exposures- 1 for the overall city scene and 1 to expose for the moon. Captured in RAW and processed in Photoshop. The colors were much brighter in 16 bit colors than the 8 bit jpeg here.
