Month: January 2007

Categories
Mostly Everything

3 Different Ways to Shoot Fireworks

I’m posting the three “best” photos I took during the World Pyro Olympics and as far as I can remember, illustrate how I took them. May I reiterate that I am not a professional photographer and that most of the tips I got from shooting fireworks was taken from online tutorials and from Anton. Click on the images for the full size. You can also click here for my Flickr gallery.

Photo Tip Number 1: Catch the trail

356662152_385178dc1b.jpg

This is the ‘Spanish Sojourn.’ To catch the trail, you must make sure that the streak shooting up is very visible to the eye. Using bulb mode and a dark cloth / cardboard, expose when the flare shoots up and expose again (use the dark cloth) when the fireworks are at full bloom.

Photo Tip Number 2: Paint the flower vase

356684871_e89b5af93d.jpg

Similar to photo tip number one but applied on a wider scale. The objective is to paint a flower vase. China had several of these in line so I had many chances to get the vase. Again, using bulb mode expose when the vase (bottom) is being created. While still in bulb, shut the lens with the cloth. When each fireworks are shot up, expose depending on how you want the “flowers” to “bloom.” A variety is good. “Paint” several of these by exposing and covering the lens but not too much, because the longer you expose, you are slowly overexposing the vase.

Photo Tip Number 3: Have an interesting foreground

356684119_e74bdf34a1.jpg

Here is a shot i took of team Philippines’ fireworks display. I wanted to fill in the frame with a lot more interesting subjects so I used the foreground as filler. There were a lot of kids wearing glowing devil headbands so I decided to use them as a frame.

For manual mode camera settings and logistics, click here.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Will blog advertising ever get saturated?

This was the question posed to me in an interview for Filipinas Magazine by Yvette Tan.

My short answer was no it won’t – just look at the magazine industry. In fact, advertising in the print industry is a bit trickier with viewed ads because consumers have to buy or subscribe to the magazine first before ad placements are viewed. With online ads, all you need to do is type in the URL and voila! Instant product placement.

I’m not one to claim that print is dead or even dying (although I did blurt this out during a strategy planning session which caused the room to laugh out loud) but in the same way that magazines are becoming more and more niched, the demographic becomes more targeted – same thing with blogs and online forums.

So there. It’s not about blog advertising being saturated. It is about consumers evolving into smaller and more concentrated groups, thus allowing advertisers to pinpoint where the conversation is going on.

Categories
Mostly Everything

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on January 16 2007

January 16 2007 will be the biggest date for 8 million PC gamers worldwide.

Thus marks the end of gamer social life for the next few months. For the next several weeks, more 8 million players around the world will be engaged in getting from level 60 – 70, training skills, doing the Eye of the Storm battleground and increasing reputation with the different factions.

burning crusade.jpg

I remember the first few weeks after buying World of Warcraft. It was February 2005 and I had a consultancy status with another company. This allowed me to come in at any time for work – and you guessed it. I spent most, if not all of my time exploring the huge expanse of Azeroth with several dozen other players from around the world.

Now I am back to being a consultant, and timely as it is I started playing again thanks to Kiven who got me a 60 day game card last Christmas. And so after a long hiatus, I’m farming honor, reputation and getting my skills up to 300 in time for the expansion. And the best thing about this new development is that everybody basically starts from scratch in terms of equipment since the current “purple” (epic) gear are crap compared to the standard level 65 weapons and armor you’ll find all over the place. My god, I can’t wait to do 10 more levels!

burning crusade 2.jpg

I’m obviously babbling. It’s due to the excitement of being a kid again with his video games. From a financial perspective, spending PHP 800.00 a month versus several thousand pesos on dinners and clubbing makes much more sense too 🙂

Here are some screen shots of the expansion.

Categories
Mostly Everything

How soon should you publish your article in an online medium?

As a regular contributor for Mobile Philippines, I sometimes republish stuff that I wrote in this blog. The main disadvantage of the print medium is that though page planning and editorial content are done one or two issues in advance (so if it is late January now, we are working on February and March) it still takes a while for an issue to be laid out, printed and circulated to the many stands in the country.

magazines a lot.jpg

As a writer, publishing your work online is a good thing for you and your publisher, but you also need to take into account certain exclusivities that you owe the magazine you write for.

Continue reading “How soon should you publish your article in an online medium?”
Categories
Mostly Everything

5 Things You Don’t Know About Me

I was tagged by Abraham but took my sweet time to answer this. Here are the five things you probably don’t know about me but now you do.

1. I have a great fear of contact lenses. Or anything that has to do with the eye. I’ve worn glasses but those don’t really count. I get weak and queazy with the eye doctor.

2. I’m a miracle baby. Carbon monoxide poisoning when I was one year old. I was rushed to the hospital and they did a full blood transfusion. Which is why I now have asthma and allergies to certain things. But I love the smell of gasoline and freon. Hehe.

3. I like living my life as if the whole world was watching. Which is why I have a James Bond complex. No matter what I do, it has to look good in some way or another because life is a stage.

4. I don’t eat fruits. Unless turned to juice.

5. If I had a choice, I would have relived my life and become a professional dancer. Whenever I go to formal functions I always wished I could dance as well as the best dancer on the floor.