Posted by punongbisyonaryo on January 25th, 2012
Last time, I taught you how to create a time-lapse video using FFMPEG and the Terminal or (GIMP for animated GIFs) in Ubuntu Linux. But not many people are comfortable using the command line. I for one certainly made that post so that I wouldn’t forget how!
This time around, I have a simpler, easier solution that won’t get your shutter fingers dirty using OpenShot Video Editor.
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on October 9th, 2011
Knowing the shutter actuation count of your camera (or a 2nd-hand camera your buying) is important if you want to know the “age” of the camera based on how much it has been used. The higher the number, the more pictures it has taken in its lifetime.
Recently, I was interested to know the shutter actuation count on my Nikon D200. I found that is was relatively easy and straightforward to do in Linux. I use Ubuntu in my setup but it should be quite similar with other Linux distributions as well.
First, open up Terminal and install exiftool by typing/copy-pasting the following command:
sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl
You can also open up Ubuntu Software Center, search for exiftool, and installing the libimage-exiftool-perl package.
Next, take a picture and copy it to your computer and navigate to it in Terminal, like so:
cd Pictures/20111009
Lastly, use exiftool to bring up the EXIF info of your picture.
exiftool DSCN_4738.NEF
This will show you A LOT of information. Since we’re only interested in the shutter count, use this instead:
exiftool DSCN_4738.NEF | grep “Shutter Count”
And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this post and may it find you when you need it!
Enjoy!
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on August 1st, 2011
I rarely do heavy post-processing on my work. All I usually do when I get my photos from my camera to the computer is convert them from RAW and do a little bit of curve adjustments and white balance tweaking, and that’s it! Take for example the picture on the left. From the camera, the photo is already how I would want it to be. I wouldn’t call myself a purist, but I’ve been called that a couple of times.
Back in the days of film, when I was still learning, I didn’t have my own darkroom. So whatever post-processing the lab was capable of, such as color adjustment and push-processing, was applied to the whole shot. No dodging, no burning, no enhancing features and cloning out flaws. When I do my RAW conversion, that’s basically what I do as well–curves for color adjustments, white balance, and exposure adjustments (kinda like push-processing).
Check out the rest of the photos in our Facebook Page!
More on the gun shoot after the jump.
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on July 1st, 2011
I saw this photo while I was browsing YowaYowa’s blog.
It reminded me of a shoot we did a couple of years ago in Sagami Ono, and made me think could this be on the same line of tracks we shot on or if it was in a completely different part of Japan? It looks quite similar, but then again there are miles and miles of tracks in Japan, and a lot of places where houses are just beside those tracks, with similar looking rocks!
Compare for yourself YowaYowa’s picture:
With this photo from the Project Victory shoot:
Makes you wonder…
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on June 23rd, 2011
Last February 1, Gina Lopez, the Managing Director of ABS-CBN Foundation, launched a signature campaign to save Palawan from both illegal and legally-questionable (allegedly, some politician’s hands were greased to approve the mining contracts) mining activities in Palawan.
The goal is noble, and the ideals are lofty. Indeed, that which they are fighting for is quite dear to my heart.
However, whether we are fighting enough or not is a question that I have to ask. The title to this blog post actually has two meanings: 1) We are far from the goal of 10 million signatures and 2) Having signatures just isn’t enough, 10 million or otherwise!
Last April 28, Ms. Lopez called on the President to present the campaign and educate him on the perils of mining, to which the President basically responded that he’d get his Cabinet to “look into it”, and to refine policies on mining.
Refine policies on mining?! Are you kidding me?! These mining companies aren’t wasting any time digging away. Why then are we? We can’t afford to sit patiently and wait. We have to keep the pressure up on the President and whoever is in the way of true environmental progress.
You can be sure I’ll be looking for ways to put more pressure on our politicians, so stay tuned. If you know of any politicians who can help, or who best to approach or send mass emails to, or if you have an idea on what other ways we can do to help, or if you simply are not afraid to get shot for being an activist, kindly post your info and ideas in the comments section below.
In the meantime, you can sign the petition at http://no2mininginpalawan.com/ We have less than 1.4 million signatures as of this writing. Post a link on your wall or tweet and retweet. WE NEED A HELL OF A LOT MORE.
I reposted Gina Lopez’s letter below. You can also view it at http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/insights/01/31/11/appeal-gina-lopez where it was originally published.
My dear friends,
On January 24 a very dear friend and colleague Gerry Ortega was shot in the head dead. I was just with him that weekend – and a few minutes before he died what we were discussing over the phone was an anti-mining campaign in Palawan – given that on December two huge mining applications were railroaded – and they were to be near protected sites.
Gerry is dead but we will not let go of his dreams – and mine – and probably yours too.
Palawan has 17 key bio diversity sites – which means it is part of the 70% bio diversity sites which are essential for sustaining life in the planet. It has 2 world heritage sites, 8 protected sites. Yet if you see Palawan on the map you will note that it is a very thin island – which is 82% mountain. It means that if the forest gets denuded and the minerals excavated – the tailings seep directly into the sea affecting the coral reefs. The top soil is thin – and the island eco system is fragile.
Mining is not the way to go for Palawan. I have five eco tourism sites wherein the communities involved can now send their children to school, can dream bigger dreams. Mayor hagedorn in Puerto Princesa has banned mining and logging – and focused on tourism and agriculture. From 2 flights a week, Puerto Princesa now boasts 10 flights a day. His revenues have gone up from several million to several billion.
Mining as an economic path in a magnificent “Last Frontier” is based on a paradigm of economic growth that is myopic and archaic . In this age of climate change and global warming any economic development that does not recognize and revere the web of life should be thrown in the dustbin.
Please please support the ten million signature campaign to Stop Mining in Palawan. The richness of Palawan is the wealth and pride of the country, it is the wealth of the world. Log in to no2mininginpalawan.com .. register your vote and please please send it to thousands others. You can also include your household by downloading the form printing it – and faxing it to 4152227 or you can scan it and send it to signatures@no2mininginpalawan.com. Questions can be sent to signatures@no2mininginpalawan.com.
Gina Lopez
Managing Director
ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on March 13th, 2011
Last week, I had a toy shoot for some Castlevania toys that were going up for sale. The shoot was pretty straightforward, and all I needed was one off-camera strobe and a shoot-through umbrella. I initially planned to use my DIY macro studio, but it was too small for these action figures, and the ration of the diffusion sides to the size of the action figures wasn’t that favorable as well. If you want to make your own macro studio, there’s a tutorial over at the Strobist website. It’s easy to build and is a quick and effective way of getting great lighting in a jiffy. (more…)
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on February 15th, 2011
Fireworks from the 2008 World Pyro Olympics, Manila Bay, Philippines
Normally, new year’s resolutions are declared when the year is new. To be honest, I did create a very short list, but I thought I’d wait till after the Chinese New Year.
You may ask why. And the simple reason is that I wanted to have more time to think and reflect what aspects of my life I wanted to change for 2011. Sure, anybody can say, “hey, I’m not gonna swear anymore in 2011.” But we all know how that goes. If I were to make a list of resolutions, I’d want it to be meaningful, life-changing, and sincere. And that’s also why I only have 4 for this year. ‘Coz if you can’t do 4, what makes you think you can do more, right?
So without further ado, my resolutions: (more…)
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on November 14th, 2010
Jason finds out how cold an ice shower is
When I was young, my brother and I used to draw on the corners of notebooks. Each page had a slightly different drawing, so that when you flipped the notebook the drawings appeared to be moving. It’s still fun. And you aren’t limited to drawings either; you can also do this with a series of sequential images!
So how do you take your collection of images and turn it into some sort of flip book? It’s easy and today I’ll show you how to do it in two ways! (more…)
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on November 7th, 2010
It's official! I'm a photographer!
Everyone has seen them. More and more people have them. You know, photos of people who buy a brand new DSLR, get introduced to the world of photography, and inexplicably can’t find a better subject to shoot than themselves in front of a mirror holding a camera up to their face?
So, in honor of that time-honored tradition, here’s my take on making a declaration that I, too, am a photographer as well. Call it what you want, a satire of photographers, if you will. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also taken a photographer’s self-portrait back in the day, but thank goodness I had the sensibility not to post it for all to see. Trust me. It wasn’t a pretty picture.
So here’s a challenge: I would love to see all of you take the photographer’s self-portrait to a completely different level. Post a link to your pictures down in the comments section or post it on our Facebook wall and I’ll post the best ones I find here on my blog. And don’t forget to overlay the words “I’m a photographer! ‘Coz I have a picture holdin’ a camera!” on the photo (how you layout it is up to you).
Start shooting!:)
Posted by punongbisyonaryo on April 4th, 2010
I apologize for the incredibly long delay. But without further ado, the conclusion…
After our mini food-trip around Laoag, we were now back in Balay de Blas. Some of us chose to rest, while playing Monster Hunter, and some of us wanted to…uhm…relieve ourselves. I had gone first, and partly due to the poor ventilation of the CR, partly due to the intensity of my power, it took Rhoy, who was next in line, a few minutes before he could acquire an immunity to it. It was very unfortunate to Rommel, the third person in line though.
After our little rest, we went out to find a great place to cap off our whole trip. And we went to one of the best places there is in Laoag. We had sinanglao, some insrabasab, and a few more dishes that I can’t now remember. For dessert, our resident cheesecake aficionado, Leon, decided he wanted to treat us all for cakes. He bought three kinds for us to share. The carrot cake was delicious. Sadly, it was the blueberry cheesecake that fell to last place. It’s not that it wasn’t good, but it was just mediocre.
