Bursting this lunatic's bubble

I could just imagine the neighbors wondering, "Who the fuck is that idiot on the balcony who's blinding bats and bugs with flash while blowing bubbles in front of the electric fan?"

Life's a haze at 50

A little bit of boke abuse with my 50mm f1.8.

Flashy moves

I thought I'd experiment a bit with basic flash. Without any willing models available at 12AM in the morning (or at any time on any day for that matter), I had no choice but to shoot myself.

Incidentally, my legs a still aching like hell from this series of roundhouse kicks 2 days ago

Just a simple exercise on second curtain flash (a.k.a. rear curtain flash).

My camera is now permanently set in this configuration because the images produced "make more sense" to the human mind. People interpret blur as traces of movement in the past while the brightest and clearest image is understood as a representation of the the subject in present. If that doesn't make much sense, just watch any action-filled video on an LCD monitor with a crappy refresh rate.


As usual, this setup involved cutting edge technology in order to get the shot. 

Go Go Gadget diffuser...

Been using a lot of tissue lately with this damned cold, but at least I've discovered a few alternative uses for the stuff.

Just Drop It

Obligatory high-speed macro water drop photography:

Because every DSLR owner has to do it at some point. The photograph above was preceded by 388 or so attempts.

The tools:

- Canon EOS 600D
- EF 50mm f/1.8 II
- 52mm reversing ring
- a cardboard tube from a roll of tissue paper as a poor man's lens hood (insides spray painted black to further reduce glare)
- a glass of water, a desk lamp, and tubing from an alcohol spray bottle

Gear Talk: Velbon Sherpa 600R

Got a new tripod.

Not exactly the cheapest option, but I suppose it's a sensible one if you're putting equipment worth a few months' salary on top or underneath. Tipped one over before and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

The thing probably weighs twice as much as my previous one, maybe even more. In theory, that should mean greater stability.

Pic of the day (2012-05-01)

50mm, f/2.8, 4 seconds, ISO 800, 5 minutes of tweaking.

Half of these you could blot out of the night sky with a single outstretched hand.

Gear Talk: EF 50mm f/1.8

I had lent my cheapshit EF 50mm f/1.8 to a coworker for a few weeks and, suprisingly, I did come to miss it. Just got it back last week and I spent the afternoon fooling around with it (and only it) on the camera.

Having a variable zoom range is handy, but zoom lenses just can't beat prime lenses when it comes to smooth bokeh.

This shot was achieved by using custom aperture. Said aperture was made using state of the art materials and equipment, namely...

a box cutter, an index card, and a black marker pen.


Another new accessory that I had crafted for this lens is a lens hood.

Without lens hood

With lens hood

Of course, the lens isn't designed to be mounted in the reverse position, so it's not really surprising that this configuration is prone to glare, which kills the image contrast. Surprisingly, a cardboard tube from a roll of tissue paper did improve the image quality somewhat.



Other shots for the day, all taken with the 50mm.

2 of 3 resident felines

A bath towel 

Window screen 

Microfiber cloth for cleaning lenses 

Tip of a dart 

A spray nozzle

The afternoon sun

Minor rant about Canon's slogan

I consider myself a photography enthusiast, and I am grateful to Canon for creating products which allow me to share what I've seen. I'm quite attached to my SLR, and I like the fact that the Canon EOS (Electro-Optical System) shares the same name as the Greek Titan goddess of the dawn.

In addition to this, I am quite fond of the company's name. It's a homophone of "cannon", a instrument which also involves shooting ("I'm a Canon shooter", and all the innuendo one can also pull out of similarly worded puns). Intentionally or not, the word "canon"  in the English language also has a number of meanings, many of which could be thought of as very fitting for tools of any art.

However, no amount of brand loyalty will sway me from saying this:


Their current slogan is pathetic.


Yes, I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, and Canon has no doubt been a leader in the field of imaging, but that doesn't change the fact that their slogan "Delighting you always" is a poor choice of words for 3 specific reasons.


1. It's ambiguous.
The slogan's literal wording gives us no idea about their actual products or services. Are we talking about cameras, ice cream, amusement parks, or clowns for hire?

A few might think that the presence of the word "light" in "delighting" is a subtle brag about the company's expertise in optics. That is, of course, until you realize the the prefix "de-" could imply negation (as in "degenerate" and "degrade"). Not a very bright idea, Canon.


2. It lacks impact.
"Delight" is a word that I cannot take seriously. In terms of blandness, it's only a notch below generic words such as "good", "pretty", and "happy".


3. It's assuming too much.
Pay attention to the verb tense. It is asserting that the company is already delighting you regardless of whether or not you have actually paid attention to any image made by their products. If I were a potential customer who has yet to buy any of their products, I would have found this downright arrogant. It's not even a promise; it's just a statement.


Compare this to Nikon's "At the heart of the image", Sony's "make.believe", or Olympus's "Your Vision, Our Future". Although not as bad as Pentax's "Be interesting", "Delighting you always" is still hardly professional-sounding. In a few spare hours (at home, not at work), I've thought of a few more palatable alternatives.

Generic imaging:

• Seeing beyond
• Imag(in)e everything
• Sharing your vision
• Envision the future
• The world is your canvas
• Let the image speak for itself
• Perfection worth a thousand words

Print and display-specific:

• Bringing colors to life

Camera-specific:

• Witness life. Shoot to immortalize.
• Canon. Go shoot yourselves.

Seriously, Canon, I know that imaging is your forte, but words are important too. There's nothing to lose in exercising both precision engineering and precision of language.

Black Hole Sun

"Black hole sun,

Won't you come

And wash away the rain?"

Second attempt at time lapse.

The past 24 hours has had a couple in interesting phenomena, both meteorological and astronomical. Sun showers, dark halos surrounding clouds, and, just this morning, a setting moon coinciding with a rising sun. Also the first time in weeks that I've seen several hours of clear sky. It really does give one the impression of a restless sky father messing around with the heavens.

Good Friday's been good