Film Grain Mode

Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (18 November 2011) — I’m still in the “My Color Mode” of my Lumix LX5. This time I played around with the “Film Grain” feature. Last night we got invited to a birthday party and I took this opportunity to give the “Film Grain” feature a run. While waiting for the celebrant to arrive, I took the liberty of going around the house to take photos of very interesting fixtures and decorations that were abundant in the living room and dining room.

Happy Birthday -- the birthday celebrant who just arrived from the airport. His mom organized a surprise birthday party for him. Former classmates and friends (my son Diego is one of them) were invited without the celebrant knowing.

Buddha and Mary -- A small dining table found in between a bust of Buddha and a statue of Mary.

After looking at the shots taken that night, I think I am hooked on this feature.  I so love the grain that is generated in each shot. I also love the contrast produced. Looking at the photos, I see more blacks and whites rather than different gradients of grey as what is produced by the normal monochrome feature of the camera. Before, when I want to produce black and white photos, I utilize the channel mixer feature of Photoshop to mix (as it were) a balance between the blacks and the whites . Most often however, I feel frustrated in not being able to get the “right” level of contrast between the blacks and the whites. The photos most of the time, end up with more greys than I would like to have. With the film grain mode of the Lumix LX5 less time is spent on post processing. For the set of photos I have taken that night, I only did minor adjustments in Curves or Levels and resized the photos for easier viewing on the net.

Come, rest a while --- This is what this scene seem to be saying. Found this in in the living room and looking at the shot after uploading into my computer, it looked like an exhibit in a museum rather than a fixture/furniture in a house.

Money Horse --- A horse and coins, two symbols of power and strength. I saw this figurine also in the living room and took several shots from different angles. This is my favorite.

As I have been accustomed to, I kept the lens focal length to its widest (24mm). I find zooming a point and shoot camera a bit slow and sometimes less precise. I’d rather use my legs to zoom in or out of a subject. In film grain mode, the camera keeps the ISO at a constant 1600 regardless of the light levels. Shutter and aperture are automatically adjusted by the camera. Since the ISO was constantly in ISO 1600 (cannot change this though when in film grain mode), I didn’t worry about the relatively low light level of the indoor lights. Shooting in black and white also removed my worry about getting correct white balance. There is no need to deal with color cast brought about by mixed light temperatures. All I did was concentrate on composition, play of shadow and light and make sure that the focussing point selects the part of the subject I want to be in sharp focus.

Double Shadow -- A wooden sculpture of what looked like a Thai dancer found in the living room located directly opposite the main door to the house.

Chow Time! -- For the boys.

Chow Time! -- For the girls.

Pinhole Photowalk

Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (16 November 2011) — Since I discovered the “My Color Mode” feature of my Lumix LX-5, I am still fascinated with one effect the camera can produce and this is the effect of a pinhole camera. Since I discovered this, I never had the chance to use it extensively since yesterday.

Every afternoon, after school, my children attends Kumon sessions. The Kumon center is located a good 2.5 to 3 kms away from our house. Yesterday our vehicle was used by my wife for she needed to attend a meeting downtown so we were forced to walk. I decided to take photos as we walk to the center. I set the camera to the pinhole effect and fired away. Here are some of the shots I’ve taken that afternoon and early evening on our walk home.

Our Morenga -- Morenga or known in the Philippines as "Malungay" or "Kalamungay" in the Visayan dialect, we planted in front of our house. Good source of iron and vitamin C.

Neighbor -- A photo of our neighbors house. Their house got completed almost at the same time ours was completed and they transfered almost at the same time as we did two years ago.

Strolling Strollers -- Nannys on an afternoon strolling of their wards around the subdivision.

The experience somehow showed me how our subdivision and immediate environ (the place we normally see everyday) looks like through the eye of a pinhole camera. I kept the focal length of the lens to its widest (24mm) and utilized my feet for zooming. In a pinhole mode, the shutter speed and the aperture are in automatic mode. ISO setting is also automatic but goes up to ISO 400 only.

Leicester Road -- One of the road post found in the HIllsborough Pointe Subdivision.

Ampatuan House -- One of the houses (uncompleted) allegedly owned by a member of the Ampatuan Clan of Maguindanao.

Waiting for a ride -- Construction workers waiting for their ride home outside the subdivision after a hard days work in constructing houses in the subdivision.

I Will Follow You -- A student from Xavier University Grade School walking home to one of the many subdivisions located around the campus of the university.

No Littering -- A view of the Xavier University High School Building from the other side of the road.

As soon as we reached the highway (Fr. Masterson Avenue), I experimented on panning shots of vehicles passing by. Here are some of the “successful” ones.

Electric Jeepney -- Yes! The Pueblo de Oro, the developer/company that established the township has a jeepney powered by electricity. The jeepney plys the major roads around the township. Why can't we have more of this for the city?

Red Car -- A red sedan cruising along the Fr. Masterson Avenue.

Bicycle Lane -- Streets in the city still does not have designated bicycle and motorcycle lanes thus they share the main road with all the other bigger vehicles.

On our walk home, despite the sun having already set, I continued to take some shots. Of course most of the shots came out blurry as I didn’t have a tripod. However, I continued shooting handheld and tried my best to keep my hands as steady as possible.

Kumon -- The Kumon center where my children goes to for their mathematics exercises.

Night Class -- Xavier University High School Campus at night.

Hump Ahead -- A jeepney passes by a warning sign of a hump ahead.

Brothers Walking -- Diego and Gabriel walking ahead of me on our walk home as a taxi passes through.

Home Sweet Home -- Home at last. A signage in one of the post of our front gate.