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Mostly Everything

Photo Project: Working with Frames

leo castillo photoworks.jpg

Yesterday concluded the end of our six day workshop for Batch 25 of Photoworks! I learned a lot from Leo Castillo and my classmates. It is a class I am recommending to those who would want to learn how to develop an eye for photography with (relatively) not a lot of technical information.

To cap it off, I’d like to do a case study of one of my photo projects where I had to print something using emphasis with frames. I already had the initial shot in mind, to take my dog peeping through the spokes of our calesa in the garden. The problem was how to make him sit still whilst I focused.

Here’s what I did. I turned off auto focus and manually focused on the wheel with my 50mm prime lens. My dog doesn’t have a very long neck so I would assume that he would be on the same focal length as the wheel. I propped the 350D on the tripod and used an RC-1 remote control. What I did was to take the orange ball and put it in between the spokes so that Hondo (my Boston) would try to get it. I was on top of him at the time, firing the shutter every second.

I guess that this goes to show how hard it is to photograph pets. Not only do you need to get down to their level, but you also need to show some form of engagement and be able to freeze that action. I only had one good shot out of about 20.

I was shooting with an ISO of 100 which I realize now made the shot harder because it bumped my shutter speed to 1/20 which is hard for pet shots, especially when they move fast. Thank God he stayed still for once.

hondo with ball.jpg

Click on the image to view.
ISO 100 f/1.8 1/20

You can view my EXIF data here.

Get set for BlogCon 2006!

UPDATE: You can register here!

Got word from Jenny of Globe that we are good to go for the first Philippine BlogCon. Event details are here. The event is sponsored by Globe Innove.

This event is open to all Filipino bloggers, for free! If you are a shy blogger and think you won’t fit in, then that’s absolutely preposterous because all of us are actually very shy too.

National Sports Grill is covered by the wireless net of Globe so we might be able to do some liveblogging with great pics during the event.

It would be nice if you left a comment to say that you’re going too so we more or less have a head count of the total blogger load for the night.

Please spread the word to everyone. Be part of Philippine Internet history!

Categories
Mostly Everything

The Microsoft Zune business model

Here’s the answer – viral marketing. (Oooh just like blogs)

Wait, let’s go back a few notches and let me tell you how the Zune will work. I had actually written about it here, but I believe this deserves some elaboration due to the unique way Microsoft will market this product.

microsoft zune.jpg

So you have ten songs from the April Boys Greatest Hits and you walk into a room with three of your friends also with Zunes. It just so happens that your other friend (friend number 2) has this album too (April Boys rulez!) which causes an exchange of high fives, pressuring your other friend (number 3) to share in this revelry and he gets beamed the entire album via WiFi which he can listen to for three times or carry for three days, whichever comes first. Since it’s an April Boys album, it would be the former.

The next day, friend number 3 comes with his Zune loaded up with a lot more songs which he proudly wants to share with his friends. The graph of the number of songs bought by each small ecosystem gets flatter and flatter, until everyone has almost exactly the same type of songs in a given demographic. Secretly, Microsoft has some way of determining what songs were bought where, allowing them to introduce album promos and concerts.

Here’s the thing though – you will need a very influential group of early adopters to start the Zune viral campaign. One of my commenters suggested we give Zunes to bikini clad women.

Here are some music blogs that elaborate on the Zune’s specs and functions:

  • Stereogum gets a first look at the Zune
  • 3Hive on “sharing the sharing”

    • Do you think the Zune will take off in the Philippines?

    Categories
    Mostly Everything

    “A Bugged Life” Blog Blueprint

    I had dinner with INQ7’s Editor in Chief JV Rufino last week because I needed a bit of insight on information architecture. He was essentially the only person who I felt could help me with some issues about IA.

    There is a big similarity between being an editor of a magazine and being an editor of an online publication, which I shall refer to as the website. These are the similarities:

  • Magazines have a page plan. Websites have a content management system.
  • Magazines have sections. Websites have categories or channels.
  • Magazines have a front cover. Websites have a portal.
  • Magazines use circulation data for advertisers. Websites use page views.
  • Magazines use independent readership surveys. Websites subscribe to a reliable ad server.

    • Above all these however, one should go back to basics and figure out what kind of publication one should concentrate on in the first place. Applied to blogging, you can ask what your target niche is, and then from there the design should follow. More on this later as I chronicle the site redesign for A Bugged Life.

    The Butterfly Effect

    jayvee butterfly effect.jpg

    I live by the idea that everything that you do has some apostolic purpose, no matter how small it may be, from the twitching of your finger, to you buying that book, to you not reading that book, to becoming president of a company.

    A lot of my contemporaries in the blogging industry say that they had no idea they would end up doing what they do now. One thing is common though – they all started because of two things: a passion and more interestingly – a need.

    A need to pay bills. A need to buy food so as not to starve. A need to stop being idle. A need for an escape. And now, we have our own little big world.