Day 26 - Gates

2012 366 Days 366+ Pics Project

Day 26 - Gates (1) 
Canon EOS 550D, 18-135mm lens
1/40 sec., f/5
ISO 400, 28mm focal length

Day 26 - Gates (2) 
Canon EOS 550D, 18-135mm lens
1/40 sec., f/5
ISO 200, 37mm focal length

Day 25 - Sunset on Window

2012 366 Days 366+ Pics Project

Day 25 - Sunset on Window
Canon EOS 550D, 18-135mm lens
1/40 sec., f/8
ISO 100, 135mm focal length
(image cropped)

Day 18 - Old Train Station

2012 366 Days 366+ Pics Project

Day 18 - Old Train Station
Canon EOS 550D
1/160 sec. exposure, f/11 aperture
ISO 200, 18mm focal length

I haven't asked around but it's my guess that this was formerly the Guiguinto Train Station. The old train track is to the right of the structure, and is also where the North Rail (Manila to Clark rapid transit) will pass through. The tracks have been removed and soon the elevated train will start construction here. I'm not sure where the new train station will be situated.

What I really want to do is to shoot this structure with either the morning sun shining from the right, or a light painting. I doubt if I can accomplish the light painting as this is very near the road, with relatively heavy traffic. Even if there was a blackout, the place would still be bright.

For inner Sherlock, those are ipil-ipil trees growing from the cracks between the bricks. Ipil-ipil is a fast growing tree and those trees are maybe a year or two years old.

Day 7 - Ready for Occupancy

2012 366 Days 366+ Pics Project

Day 7: Ready for Occupancy
Canon EOS 550D
10 seconds exposure, f/10
ISO 400 
18mm focal length

I had some problems on the post-processing on this one. The light was from a strong amber streetlight, on a yellow ochre painted house. The sky was a bit cloudy, with a waxing moon (about three-quarters). 


[Tech talk follows. You can skip this part.] I do my post-processing on GIMP, and usually limit it to adjusting the levels. I'm not sure if I could have gotten better results with the Canon RAW file editor. The MacBook needs to visit the shop. I think it's a hard disk problem. But I digress.  


This time, I had to adjust using the curves as well. If you're familiar with the tools and the pictures, you can imagine that the histogram would be high on the dark end, with the red spread thin from up to the highlights. The green and blue would be spikes on the shadows and that's it. You need to adjust the curves on the greens and blues to get the dark blue sky. Otherwise, the black sky would blend with the top of the house, resulting in an invisible roof. [End tech talk.]


I am learning a lot about my camera and what it can do. In an ideal world, I would have used a wider lens. The 18mm on a Canon EOS 550D is roughly equivalent to a 2mm on a full-frame DSLR or a 35mm film SLR. For this kind of a shot, I would have wanted a wider lens, bordering on a fish-eye. Like any photographer, the wish list is very long and keeps getting longer. [End of more tech talk.]

I don't blame the equipment, in fact, I am pushing my camera to see both my limits and the camera's as well. This is the edge of the envelope as far as this goes.


This house was finished before Christmas, but the owners have not yet moved. This is the same site as the bulldozer pic I posted a while back.