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Supafly Singled Out from the Quiapo Crowd

Kids, I have to warn you that fishing out your camera on the LRT platform can be very dangerous even if it’s a mere point and shoot camera you’re using. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon while we were lounging at the San Mig Cafe inside the Oceanarium after a day of walking around Manila, I was reviewing my shots and came upon this:

I don’t know if it’s typical of Quiapo to be this crowded but I wouldn’t be caught dead swimming with that swarm. I’m not really a crowd person is why. I zoomed at the photo to see if anybody’ll stand out. Yeah, one person did.

See him yet? Let’s zoom in a little more.

Wide view… magnified… magnified… hold it right there Supafly! LOL

Now, the big question after this exercise: “Can your point and shoot camera do that?” /gloat

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In Photos: Two Eclipses and a January

This much I know when attempting to photograph an eclipse, be it lunar or solar: my first few attempts will always end up a failure. See that post-header image? Got that this at around past 5 in the afternoon on 01.15.2010 when I hoped for a decent shot of the solar eclipse. Shooting earlier would have ended in failure because those blasted clouds decided to block the sun. Way to go, clouds!

I rushed to another office window to get a clear view of the sun minus the metal obstructions and got depressed because no matter what setting I use on the Lumix ZS3, I still couldn’t get a decent shot. What followed was an idea I got when I was still in school: get a micro floppy disc, tear it open, and get the magnetic film inside and use that to filter the brightness that’s too much for the camera’s sensor. I got excited when, finally, I got this (pardon the digital noise):

I did my best but it ain’t good enough and so I tried to get another shot but was already too late. The sun has already set. :(

I used the full zoom (12x optical) and tweaked the following with the dial on “normal picture” mode (limited manual):

ISO Sensitivity: Auto
AF: 1-point
Pre-AF: Continuous AF
Metering Mode: Spot
Intelligent Exposure: On
Stabilizer: Mode 2
Min. Shutter Speed: 1/8

Coincidentally, I just discovered that I used almost the same settings in getting this Lunar Eclipse shot on January 1, 2010 (save for the Min. Shutter Speed factor which I set to 1/60 for this photo):

Compact point-and-shoot cameras win at life. See those lines? Fuckit, I never thought that those can be captured, either. You may see the images of my first two failed attempts for the lunar eclipse in this flickr page.

Gloat factor: these images were not enhanced/post-processed, save for the in-camera cropping and/or resizing.

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Shooting Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” Mini-Figures

It’s been a while. Good thing Anne’s got new toys on the shelf downstairs. Photos are of the Tim BurtonCorpse Bride Mini-Figure Collector’s Ser Series 2 from McFarlane Toys. Used the Lumix ZS3 in “Manual” mode, white balance in auto, 200 ISO max, and macro. Light source, as usual, is a 21-LED caving light. Tell me what you think.

The good thing about the Lumix is I’ve no need to reduce noise levels despite using a very low ISO limit and a paltry light source. Loving the cam all the more.

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Uno Magazine Fashion Show ‘09: “Man Up!” In Photos

Uno Magazine held their annual fashion show at the NBC Tent at the Fort Monday, November 16, 2009. To manage the expectations of the guys in the audience, Uno Magazine Editor-In-Chief RJ Ledesma gave an assurance that there’d be something in store for everybody. True enough, female models strutted down the runway donning both men’s and women’s clothing from notable brands such as Celio, Marks & Spencer, /bench, GAP, Raoul, Girbaud, DC, Levi’s, and several others. Most are pleased with the setup while some got chills owing to this thought: “androgyny is THE future! All your base are belong to us! There’s no escaping it, people!” The three piece suit is now a bra, the jacket, and your slacks, fabric and color coordinated all! How fun! ;)

I took around 3x more photos this time than I did at the Havaianas fashion show. It’s hard to take decent shots when the lights are erratic and when the models move so fast from one point to the next. So sorry I only have a few to share.

All photos in this post are proprietary to the author. All rights reserved (coz I’m snooty like that LOL). Thanks to April Marasigan, and RJ Ledesma for the invite. Thanks to Jayvee, Jane, Noelle, and Dhon for the great company. Congratulations Uno Magazine for a successful show!

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Must-Havs from Havaianas Revealed in Photos

You’ll probably say, “meh, slippers, whutev.” You are dead wrong! Deader than dead! So Havaianas has expanded their product portfolio to “Must-Hav” bags now. Great looking bags, at that. At first I thought, “WTF am I doing in this launch. There’s just going to be wimmin’s bags here.” I too soon realized that I’m dreadfully mistaken: Lo and behold!

Those Must-Havs have names: Havaianas Mega (used by the artist guy), Havaianas Mega Printed (what the bread-carrying lady used), Havaianas Sack (what the little boy was carrying), Havaianas Side (what the guy in white suit had on. It’s a padded laptop bag, yes), Havaianas Tote (what the lady in red with red stockings was using), and Havaianas Zip (from the dude carrying a basketball). These come in varying widths and lengths and the straps are adjustable so even shorties (like me) can carry them (LOL, not funny).

You should see the fine detailing they’ve put into these great fashion pieces. Something in me was perennially shouting “WANT!” all throughout the fashion show. There’s something for your basketball, gadgets, puppy (yes, puppy), skateboard, bread, and flowers, as the catwalk models have suggested. Kudos to Havaianas, the organizers, and flippish.com for putting up a great launch! (Please click on the image on the left to view the bigger picture)

As for these photos, I set my Lumix ZS3 to “Hi-Speed Burst” and took about 1,200 photos throughout the night. The camera forced the photos to be resized to 3Mp. Not bad, not bad at all. As you may observe, the sensor is set to freeze-prioritize the face of the subject and takes a slack on other areas. Fine by me. You’ve done me proud, Lumix ZS3. You are now my new bestestest friend. Let’s play some sweet music together during the UNO Fashion Show on November 16, shall we? Yes? Yay!

That said, all photographs in this post are copyrighted to me. Pay me big bucks if you want to use em. No exceptions (yes, I’m looking at you!). LOL nah, attribution is fine. Linking back to fritzified.com would be even more sweet ;)

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So I Spent Four Days In Bangkok Last September With These Guys

They’re Kring, Faith, Coy, and Rick. While I shot the scene and them, they shot themselves. As I went home with hundreds of photos of them and the scenes, they collectively ended up having about five shots of me with them. Story of my life.

I’ll show off more of Bangkok in my next posts. Meanwhile, I present to you the “crazies” in a collection I styled to look “tabloidal.”

*sigh* I miss Bangkok already!

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Photos from the Philippine Blog Awards 2009 (PBA09)

Again, kudos to the organizers of the Philippine Blog Awards 2009. Despite your hectic lives, you have still managed to let this year’s event push through. Will update this post once I get the complete list of Officers and members who made PBAs 2009 possible.

Congratulations also go to the winners and the finalists in the national (saw what I did there? I just congratulated myself LOL), top ten posts of the year, bloggers’ choice, and special awards. My heartfelt thanks go out to the sponsors who still believed in the growing power of blogging as a medium.

As promised in my previous post, here are the photos I’ve taken during the PBAs. Note that I have added a new set below the main (flickr hosted). Scroll below to find out why.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

I would have written this at the OVI site to describe what was in the album I’ve uploaded just so I can give the post-processing justice but the entire thing was too long. Since the text got truncated, I’m having it here instead.

Know what? I could have opted to not have these shots shown. I warn you, the ones in this batch are either out of focus, obstructed, ill framed, or overexposed. I got to thinking, however, that there MIGHT just be a way to save them… by rendering them “vintage.” Old photographs can be flawed yet, still, they can seldom be judged as worthless. Often, the aged feel will even command respect. After all, they still chronicle a moment or a fleeting instant that may never again be replicated.

I apologize in advance to the subject in these photos. I know, I also frown upon the blatant use of post-processing techniques, believe it or not. If I may, as my last excuse, claim, I am still coming to terms with the power of the camera I’m using. I will try to be better, I promise.

Old style is the new style. The flaws of the images suddenly seemed acceptable as compared to showing them SOOC.

With that out of the way, please navigate the flash animation below by clicking on the image that interests you. You may also view the full-sized upload at OVI by clicking on the green “>” sign beside the enlarged image after you click it.

Until the next PBAs!

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