Street Tour

Street Tour a photo by Guam Photography on Flickr.

I was on my way to the airport from Seoul to Incheon in December 2010. It was not snowing on that day. Patience paid off to capture this image with my Canon G10.

Cool cat

Cool cat
Originally uploaded by Guam Photography

This was taken in San Diego wild animal park. I used a 70-200mm lens to capture this shot on my Canon 40D.

Latte Stone



This structure commonly known as the Latte Stone is one of Guam's popular tourist attraction. Archaelogist have dated this structure as far as 800 A.D. However, there is no concrete proof of the use of this structure based on scientific research. One of the many unsolved mysteries of the world.

Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot

In 2010, I had the opportunity to shoot the pre-wedding photo shoot for Molly and her fiancee from Hong Kong. The weather was perfect and kind to me. I did no enhancement to this photo which was taken at sunset in Guam.

Ancient Ruins of Nan Madol

While I was in Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, I visited the Nan Madol. It is an ancient ruin city which was once a network of canals that spread out for more than 1.5km long by 0.5km wide. Since I had limited access to maps, we had to ask for direction twice and kept driving till we could see the ruins from a distance. My colleagues and I then walked for 20 minutes to get to the ruins. We had to walk through water at low tide to get to the ruins. Another route to get to the ruins is by boat which is more conducive but where is the fun without some adventure.

Nature's Beauty

Last year I visited a small island in the Federated States of Micronesia called Pohnpei. The island has one of the highest rainfalls in the world exceeding 300 inches a year. This photo was taken just around sunset at a hotel resort "The Village" located about 45 minutes from the central part of town, Kolonia.

Congratulations Debbie and Alex!

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love builds up the broken wall

and straightens the crooked path.

love keeps the stars in the firmament

and imposes rhythm on the ocean tides

each of us is created of it

and i suspect

each of us was created for it

--Maya Angelou

It was a lot of fun shooting the pre-wedding for Debbie (Hong Kong) and Alex (Australia). This was taken at Tumon Beach, Guam.

Sumahi

Sumahi is the cutest girl. Taken when she was 2 1/2 years old.

Smoke photography - Crystalizing Smoke

I see lots of photographers taking photos of smoke or digitally creating smoking. It intrigued me enough to set me off the same path. A hasty attempt to create the smoke effect led me to create the image below.


I liked my first smoke image but I was not completely satisfied. So, I decided to take it up a notch and edit the first image further. It took me under 45 minutes to complete the image below. So now we have a crytalized effect of the smoke!

Dark Light (click on the photo)

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

~ Robert Frost ~

Evening Romance

This was a photo captured in Foster City in San Francisco. It was my lucky day to capture this shot right about sunset.

My favorite portrait

Having fun at a party in San Diego.

Nature at its best - La Jolla

I capture this photo several months ago. The evening was perfect and the sunset was truly a heavenly experience. By far, experiencing the sunset is beyond comparison with this photo.
(Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs on this blog are copyrighted by the photographer, whose permission is required for any usage)

ISO Sensitivity

Before unraveling the mysteries of ISO, I want to take a step back and explain what is an image sensor. Before digital cameras were popular, the exposure of light emulsified traditional film to produce an image. The film would then be processed to produce image. The technology of electronic image sensors replace film cameras. Image sensor's function is the same as the traditional film rolls, to gather and produce the image data. Common image sensors in the market today are CCD (Charge-Coupled Devices) and CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor). You don't have to remember this to take photos like Ansel Adam's although I thought it is imperative to mention what it stands for especially for those of you that might turn out to be a world reknown photographer in the future and if some geek uses these terms like me, it certainly won't sound foreign to you.

The CMOS sensors are the thing of today and gaining popularity rapidly because of its conventional manufacturing process that makes its production cost effective to many manufacturers.

You are probably wondering what has all this got to do with ISO? You probably ask yourself this since I have not mentioned anything about ISO sensitivity yet. See, bad judgment on your part to pick reading this article over the chain letter you received from that wealthy Nigerian that needed your help to transfer his money into your bank account.

Sorry about my short attention span today. Where were we?? I will try to stay focus. ISO has everything to do with image sensors. They are like Pele and Football, French Fries and Coca-cola, Bread and Butter....... you get the idea..?

ISO is a measure of light sensitivity to the image sensor. The ISO numbers are such as 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc. The larger the number, the more sensitive the image sensor is to light that is present. However, the larger the ISO, the image presents more "noise" to the image produced. For those of you who do not know what "noise" means in photography lingo, think about the photos you took that appeared grainy. The grainy photos are caused by image "noise". To keep it short and sweet, the higher the ISO, the higher the "noise" level ( more grain) in your photo.

The lower the ISO number, the slower the shutter speed or larger/wider aperture is needed. Remember aperture and shutter speed in my previous articles? Read them to understand what i am saying here. For those lazy readers out there, let me sum it up for you. The lower the ISO number, it requires more light to be transported to the image sensor to produce the image. So, when ISO is low, then lower shutter speed or larger/wider aperture allows more light into your lens to capture the shot! The ISO sensitivity increases 2 times the sensitivity of the image sensor results. A 200 ISO sensor is twice as sensitive as an ISO 100 sensor. The 400 ISO sensor would then be 4 times as sensitive as an ISO 100 sensor, and so on. Eureka!!....I hope...

In photography, there are several methods to promote more light to your image. They are as follows:-

1. Increase the sensitivity to your image sensor (ISO)
2. Increase the time which allows the image sensor to be exposed to light. (Shutter Speed)
3. Increase the opening of the camera lens (Aperture)
4. Let there be light!! (Flash)
5. Natural Light (Sun) and Unnatural Light (Neon, Fluorescent, etc)

One point I would like to make before I conclude. In digital photography, it is a challenge to reduce image noise when the ISO is higher. However, when your ISO is set at 400 or lesser, it will be difficult to observe image "noise". It should not bother you if you take photos and just store them in your computer for fun. It should however bother you if you plan to blow up your photos into larger prints and hang in on your living room wall. Grainy photos of a beautiful sunset hanging on your living room wall might not really be appealing although there are exceptions to that rule. ;)

Have fun with your camera and hope I was able to answer more questions than raise more doubts by this tutorial. Either way, I am more than happy to enlighten you with my humble knowledge if you still need more insight on ISO sensitivity. Happy clicking!!

Graffiti

I was in San Franscisco in April 2007. It was my first time visiting. One of the places I visited was Haight & Ashbury. This is a place which was popularly known for its hippie movement in the 60s. The place still has its liberal presence from the outlook of the streets and stores like the cafes, clothing boutiques, booksellers, antiques and so on. The bohemian ambiance on these streets certainly made me seem like a kid in a candy store. I had my jaw-dropping experience when I walked into Amoeba Music. This is a large music store which sells music turn table records, audio cds and dvds of every genre on the planet from any era at good prices.

I stopped by a dainty cafe afterwards on the same row as Amoeba Music for coffee. This is when I noticed the graffiti across the street in the image below. If I knew the graffiti artist, I would invite him/her to my house to paint my walls. If I had offended anyone by praising graffiti artwork, my profound apologies but beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I liked what I saw.

(Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs on this blog are copyrighted by the photographer, whose permission is required for any usage)