Fun with Canon Photo Tools

I heard about Canon's Photo Stitch program from fellow photography enthusiast and blogger Ryan. As he said that it made developing panoramic scenes easy, I decided to give it a shot (seeing that my kit, like all Canon cameras, are included with such programs)

I must say, it was easy as dragging the photos, arranging them in order and press 'merge', and let Photo Stitch work its magic.

I was so happy with the resulting panoramic photo that I tried it with my other old photos which I took with my Kodak C813. What took me hours of tedious manual alterations in Photoshop to merge into a panoramic photo, took Photo Stitch a mere seconds (depending on your computer's memory and graphics adapter).

Seeing that there are other tools in the kit, I also tried them out.

In my past photos, I used the image alteration tools of Irfanview. A bit archaic or primitive, but it gets the job done. After using Canon's Digital Photo Professional and Picture Style Editor...I was amazed on how it handled hues, saturations and contrasts. It was the same approach with Irfanview, but Canon's DPP and PSE offers more clarity and less interferance in sharpness conversions.

(previous photos taken from the PAF Aerospace Museum)

I must say, with all the cameras and tools I have acquired in the past...I am happier now with the combined results provided by Canon.

Photo Project: Fire!!! Fire!!! Fire!!!)

I think it was in my MySpace or Friendster page that I once said that I love fire, flames and explosions. A bit of a pyromaniac, among other things.

So last March, when mym mom asked me to look after the veal she was cooking in an old-school manner (open flames and everything), I can't help but stare and admire the fire.

Burn, baby, burn like you never burned before!!!

Tales From the Old Photo Bin: Shinjuku in 3 Seasons

I found this old photo from 2003 when I was training in Shinjuku Center Building. From the smoking room, I could see the Shinjuku main avenue intersection and watched it change with the seasons.

By the end of Summer

During Fall


During winter

Photo Project 10-02-08a: Clear Skies

One lazy Sunday afternoon, we just moved to this 3rd floor unit in Kalayaan Avenue, my son collects these beads that grows when immersed in water. He put them on our window and...I just took this shot

Photo Project 09-12-12a: Landscape

In our recent trip to Tagaytay, although sorrounded by people with digital SLRs and the like, I still took out my Kodak C813 coz I always wanted to try out the 'landscape' settings on the SCN mode. Here are the results...

Photo Projects: Various Stuff-u-lufugus

After a few weeks, still got no computer to make my blog (my computer drowned in the last typhoon)...sniff...rest in peace my beeping buddy.

AAAAAnyway...here are a few photgraphy projects I've come up in the past 2 weeks.

The drumset at 6 Underground. Using Ryan's Canon Digital SLR.

Zaku Warrior "Lacus Clyne Concert Edition". A gift from a former officemate. He said he thought of me when he saw this pink Zaku (?)

This ZakuII, I recieved from Ryan. With the various models of Zaku by Fusionworks which I collected over the years.

My little hunny bunny...being attacked by the big baby (who's also a serial killer in training...he does me sooo proud... *sniff*)

Toy Shopping Weekend

Last weekend, our search for replacement appliances turned into toy shopping and malling to the joy of my son. Here's the haul, along with location so you can make your christmas shopping.

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Pokemon (Legendary)

5 for P100

about 2 1/2 inches tall figures. good quality

bought at Comic Alley at Market! Market! Fort Bonifacio

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Iron Man (stealth suit...yeah right...stealth attack with gattling guns, machine guns and missles launchers...stealthy indeed)

P100.75 each

around 6 inches tall, posable. very good quality, considering this is a chinese knock-off. The other models with removable chest, face plates and gloves were not as good.

bought at the department store at St. Francis' Square (2F, i think...).

Buying these toys made me want to pose them in real settings, in parks, tables and such, amidst the estrangede stares of passers-by. I must've looked like a wierdo to them. hehehehehe.

Mark's Photography Debut

My son, Mark, has begun experimenting with photos on his own. As a little kid, he always borrows my camera and takes pictures and videos of various things. Sometimes I check my camera and see at least 20 shots of a rock...or a seashell. After witnessing me shoot some subjects in motion, he decided to do something like it on his own. Using the high ISO, low shutter speed setting of the camera, he enabled the flash and begun spinning around the park...and took a shot of a tree. With the tree as the strongest light reflection, it made a brighter impression as the camera still takes in the light from various sources while he's spinning.

Kinda cool, huh...

Photo Project 082409b: Night Shots

After a few practice night shots with my camera a few weeks ago, I decided to go back to The Fort and redo the shots and experiment some more. Mostly it involves using the high-ISO and slow shutter speed preset of my camera. Showing moving subjects against a clear more steady backdrop.

Until I get a better camera (hopefully I would get enough fund for a digital SLR) I'll practice with this at the moment.

Photo Project 081909a: Fun with Focus

Seeing a scale model at Megamall last weekend, I decided to have some fun with the focus features of my camera. Although the clarity and color definition was not up to what I hoped for, I still like the shots. Hey, what do you expect from a budget digital camera.

Photo Project 0727a: 'The Drummer Boy'

I got to try out a photo concept I was having at a recent gig of I-Ray at 6UG. The model is my brother, Jonathan, who is the drummer for I-Ray.

I always had a long standing, always frustrating, intrest in photography. Its an art of sharing your vision and thoughts through a simple image.

What I loved the most is motion photography, more specifically, concert photos. To show the intensity of the performers through visual imagery. 

Using the night landscape setting of my cheap but dependable Kodak C813 which hightens the ISO settings and reduces shutter speed, I took a motion snapshot. Then changed the setting to a faster shutter speed to capture a clearer picture. Then I superimposed the motion snapshot with the clear one, cleaned up the rest with Photoshop, and whallah!! concept realized...although its not the instensity I was after.