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February 3, 2012
Too Rich not to Share
Posted by travelomo under Uncategorized | Tags: YouTube, Bullshit, Photographers |Leave a Comment
December 31, 2011
It's 2012. Smile, please.
December 31, 2011
It's 2012. Smile, please.
June 16, 2011
Konica C35 Still Alive and Kicking
Posted by travelomo under Gear, Uncategorized | Tags: film, Konica, Konica C35 EF, makati, Scale Focus |Leave a Comment
Remember my Konica C35 EF from a few posts back? I had the camera cleaned and its flash capacitor replaced last week and am quite satisfied with the results. Seems this old boy still has some legs. Here are a few test shots, but one of these days I’ll get around to using it for a project. One of these days, yeah right.
Friendly Neighborhood Gulag
Friendly Neighborhood Gulag
Friendly Neighborhood Gulag
January 19, 2011
Suburban Street Art
Posted by travelomo under Galleries/Portfolios, Gear, Uncategorized | Tags: art, graffiti, spray paint, tags, urban art |Leave a Comment
I’m a big fan of street art and graffiti so long as it’s well executed, not some haphazard squiggles bukkake’d out of a spray can just for the sake of tagging something. Whenever I have the opportunity I go out and take photos of these urban art pieces. Last year I managed to take a photo of a Banksy in San Francisco and also a Yoshitomo Nara in a pub wall in New York.
A few days ago I was driving around BF Homes, a suburban enclave in Paranaque City, and I came across this nicely painted wall. The colors just pop out and the stylized cat (I’m assuming it is a cat) was pretty cool. It looks like a commissioned job, though, not a guerrilla piece. Still, props to the group that painted it.
These were taken with a Rollei 35S with Super 200 film. FINALLY, sample shots from the Rollei!
PS: If anyone knows who did this, let me know or point ‘em to this entry.
August 17, 2010
Gotta love thrift stores. I found myself early for an event last Friday, so I took the opportunity to drop by one of the thrift stores in Cubao X. After looking through crates of vinyl, stacks of books and piles of cheap cameras I chanced upon something hanging off a nail, something I’d been wanting for quite a while.
Needless to say, I snatched it up, paying P350 or just under 8 dollars.
Here’s a photo:
Minox A IIIs
I identified it as a Minox A IIIs via the presence of a flash synch PC connector on one end. This particular unit was built between 1954 and 1962, as indicated by the built-in red and green filters. Later A IIIs models would instead have the green and neutral density filters that would find their way onto the Minox B.
Small, but built solidly.
This tiny camera uses equally tiny film, referred to as 8×11. Impossible to find here in Manila but still being produced by Minox. Unlike Polaroid, Minox has recognized that their brand identity is so closely associated with 8×11 film and the cameras that use it that they’ve committed to keep on producing sub-mini film. One of these days when I have the cash to spare, I’ll order a few rolls off Ebay or some other online seller.
After WWII, Minox set up headquarters in Wetzlar, West Germany, the birthplace of that other great German camera brand Leica. At one point in history, 1996 to be exact, Leica bought the Minox company, which was then bought back by management in 2001. It remains an independent company to date.
Made in Wetzlar
Some cool things about the Minox in general and the A IIIs in particular. First, the Minox is a true spy camera, due to its small size and short minimum focusing distance. Wikipedia even says that: “There is at least one document in the public record of 25 Minox cameras purchased by the Office of Strategic Services in 1942.” The A IIIs was even used by fictional spy James Bond in the movie On His Majesty’s Secret Service, the one starring George Lazenby.
Another cool thing is the metal chain attached to the Minox. Look closely and you’ll see fixed metal rings spaced out along the chain. These indicate distance from focal plane to subject, making it terribly easy to measure and set your focus.
By this chain do I measure.
Whether I’ll actually shoot with this or not is simply a matter of economic viability. I’ll first have to purchase film for it, then find out if someone in Manila can develop it. Sending film off to a lab abroad will likely be too pricey for an experiment. If the stars do align and I find someone who can develop and print these, and perhaps someone who can cut 35mm film to size and respool, I’ll be very very happy. Meanwhile, I will enjoy just looking at this on my shelf.
Focal length is 15mm and aperture is set at f/3.5
June 8, 2010
Kodak Playsport Wins Best Mobile Imaging Device at TIPA Awards 2010
Posted by travelomo under Uncategorized[2] Comments
Hooray for the Kodak Playsport, which has just been named “Best Mobile Imaging Device” at the 2010 Technical Imaging Press Association (TIPA) Awards!
I’ve had mine over a month now and I’ve been pleased with a) its performance and b) its convenience. It’s with me ALL THE TIME, even when I have no particular reason to shoot, and is a wonderful “just-in-case” camera for all those moments I chance upon at random. In Kota Kinabalu last week I rode a quad bike through the Sabah jungle, mud, mosquitos and all, with the Playsport mounted on the bike’s bumper with a GorillaPod and it survived. Took cool video, too, though the engine vibrations were pretty obvious on the footage. I took it up a mountain to meet Reg, a 3-year old orangutan who wanted to play with it, and on a sunset speedboat ride across Dalit Bay. Sea spray, no problem.
What I didn’t have time to do, though, was take it for a dip in the ocean nor the pool. That’s on the agenda for next weekend.
May 18, 2010
Sean Stiegemeier’s Awesome Time Lapse Video
Posted by travelomo under time lapse photography, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, time lapse, volcano |Leave a Comment
You know that erupting volcano in Iceland whose name nobody can pronounce? Here’s an AWESOME (all caps and bold because the video deserves it) time lapse video created by photographer Sean Stiegemeier using a Canon 5D Mk II and a motorized dolly.
His Vimeo page is here: Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.
September 7, 2009
Creating 3D Animated GIFs
Posted by travelomo under Uncategorized | Tags: 3d, 3D photography, how-to, instructional, nishika, nishika n8000, wiggle steroscopy, workflow |[7] Comments
Last week a reader dropped me an email asking how I create “wiggle 3D” animations from my lenticular camera photos. He’d recently bought a Nishika N8000 package complete with flash, case and Vincent Price video and was eager to try his hand at it. Here, then, for all you Nishika users out there, is my workflow.
Step One: Create Individual Frames
The Nishika N8000 produces four frames simultaneously, each one slightly different from the others due to how its four lenses are angled. I usually get my scans back from the developer like this:
After post-processing (which I won’t go into), select and copy each of the four frames and save them as separate images. Just save them as jpg as these will be for Web use. Organize them into proper folders so you don’t clutter up your directories.
Step Two: Stack Frames
From the FILE menu, select SCRIPTS, then LOAD FILES INTO STACK. This opens your four frames as layers in a single image file. Make sure not to select “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images.” We’ll be doing that manually in the next step.
Step Three: Align Images
Once the image opens, make sure your stacked layers are in the proper order. Select an anchor point from which to align each layer. I usually choose the subject’s eye or face. Play with the Opacity of each layer to make sure your alignment is correct.
Step Four: Crop Your Image
During the alignment process, you will invariably create gaps at the edges of your image. Make sure to crop your image accordingly.
Step Five: Animate Your Layers
Once your layers are aligned, open up the animation panel from your WINDOW menu. Click on the small pull down menu on the upper right of the animation panel and select “Make Frames from Layers.” This will create a four-frame animation 1-2-3-4. For smoother looping, copy frames 2 and 3 and paste into your timeline in this order: 1-2-3-4-3-2.
Step Six: Save for Web
From the FILE menu, select “Save for Web & Devices,” which allows you to save your image as an animated GIF. You may adjust the size and quality of your image before saving if you wish.
Here’s the finished product.
Rally in 3D @ Nishika N8000
July 21, 2009
Casa Manila Couple
San Agustin Church
Miguel y Julia
Casa Manila Courtyard
Market Day
Paint Action
So a few hours ago I received my first results from the Nishika N8000 3D camera, developed and scanned to CD for me by Digiprint. While the scanning did leave a lot to be desired (poor scan cropping and alignment, low resolution, inconsistent tone and saturation), I am happy to announce that the camera, rescued from a friend’s rubbish bin, does in fact work.
Above are a few test animations.
My observations on the camera will follow soon.
