Category: Photography

OnePlus 8 Pro Camera Takes Amazing Night Shots

I must have been living under a rock for the last 3 or so years, enjoying so much my Samsung Galaxy Note 8, that it’s only now that I realized how night-time photography has improved recently. I know for a fact that this improvement in the camera system is not unique to my OnePlus 8 Pro, I’ve watched YouTube reviews taking the sides of the iPhone 12 series or the Samsung Galaxy S20 or Note 20 series cameras over OnePlus 8 Pro’s when it comes to night-time photography.

Nevertheless, I’m impressed with my OnePlus 8 Pro camera’s Nightscape mode. To my bare eyes, the streets and the skies are almost pitch black, but the phone’s camera, under the Nightscape mode, sees another way. Here are samples of night shots I took (note: except for the black line to hide the car’s plate number, I didn’t apply any further processing or modifications to the pictures. They are how they came out straight from the camera phone): Continue reading

Gimbal Revolution

I bought a Zhiyun Smooth Q last year, and it now happily occupies a space in my bag. And it stayed there for quite some time now.

It was a great gimbal, don’t get me wrong, especially for its price. But I just don’t enjoy the trouble setting it up with my bulky Samsung Galaxy Note 8 everytime I use it. I’m sure it’s not too bulky a device to use for a planned event or travel, but not for everyday snap here and there.

And just recently, DJI released a new product — the DJI Osmo Pocket, and in time for the Christmas season at that.

And just like that, now I’m hooked.

SmugMug acquires Flickr

USA Today reports:

Flickr has been snapped up by Silicon Valley photo-sharing and storage company SmugMug, USA TODAY has learned.

SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill told USA TODAY he’s committed to breathing new life into the faded social networking pioneer, which hosted photos and lively interactions long before it became trendy.

Whoa. This blog is old enough to have witnessed and experienced Flickr in its heyday. But now, I can’t even remember the last time I logged in into my Flickr account. (On that note, I can’t remember as well when I last used my Canon EOS 30D.) My latest photos in there were reposts from my Instagram.

Have we come to a point where we don’t care anymore who owns Flickr?

Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Systems Advantages and Disadvantages

A mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is one with usually the same sensor size as that of the DSLR but without the mirror that reflects the image frame into the pentaprism and further into the optical viewfinder. It’s much like what you see in compact point-and-shoot cameras and camera phones but with the added benefits of the capability to employ quality but expensive lenses you see in the photography world.

Digital Photographer Philippines (DPP) has the list of advantages and disadvantages to offer about the mirrorless interchangeable lens systems: Continue reading

Photoshooting Me!

Bought yesterday a softbox as part of my photography gear. Since I already owned a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, it would be a perfect solution for portrait photography using a remote trigger.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a model to try this equipment on. That’s why I just settled to photographing myself.

Setting up the softbox on the left side while holding a reflector on the right (well, for most of these shots actually), here are my favorites from what I was able to come up with:

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When I Got Into the World of EOS

This is the old commercial of the Canon EOS 350D that actually inspired me to take up photography as a hobby:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVS9-1Jjlmk&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]

I once was hooked into photography that I bought every accessory I could barely afford. Now, it’s so sad to see them just lying around, gathering dusts. Continue reading

They Used My Photo Without My Permission

I never thought I would fall victim to these widespread photo grabbing activities by big media publications without permission and not even a credit.

Here’s what I discovered today from Inquirer Sports’ “RP chess great in BBC-HBO documentary“. They posted a photo that I took of Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre during the Battle of GM’s in May 2008.

Here’s the screenshot of the webpage taken some minutes ago (click on the image to enlarge):

Inquirer Sports Took My Photo without Permission

Continue reading