So here I am trying to work on balancing everything; freelance hobbies, interests, works, and of course, “rest”. Just recently, I have opened my new site; the “Dabawenyong Maniniyot”. Since I am now officially back to photography, I decided to make my own photo blog and portfolio as a freelance photographer and as a simple hobbyist. This site is currently under beta stage and hopefully be final until I get to fully test the theme I created for it. I have launched a couple of blogs that just went down the drain because of inactivity and lack of updates. I hope my efforts on this one won’t be for nothing.

SEO, SEO, SEO, and SEO. It’s everyone and every blogger’s topic. I hope I can find more time studying this. If I were to be tagged, I might be that oldy and “laos” blogger not knowing about the latest.

More and more blogging. Suddenly I got caught into focusing my interest in WordPress and how to make my blogging world a better place by playing around with plugins and themes.

But basically, my main focus is my photo blog.. *smiles* hehe :D By doing this one step at a time, I will surely get back to this blog and fix it once and for all.

Last April 24 was really one fun-filled day with a very great learning experience for 40 photographers in Cebu. Canon and IMag Photography held a joint Portraiture and Color Management seminar, with instructors from the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging or PCCI, Dail Derri and Jun Miranda, held at Crown Regency, Cebu. lot was taught from portraiture photography (with the chance to shoot with models) to great color management techniques and concepts. Canon also introduced two of their new SLR products; the EOS 550D and EOS 1D Mark IV, together with some of their new printer products. Other than the great learning experience was also the great eating experience. Sana next month or next year ulit. :D *laughs*

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I was ready to work and do some research when I noticed how green Google’s search page banner was. Then I realized, today is Earth Day! *laughs*. As soon as I got home, I grabed and searched in the deep labyrinth of my laptop’s hard drive. I collected all my nature shots from my 2010 365 project and got these 15 picks that I  dedicate to mother nature. Hope you like them. Composed, authored, and photographed by yours truly. :)

[View with PicLens]

You can also view my photostream and my nature set in Flickr for more photos. Once again, Happy Earth Day everyone! ^^

EF 75-300mm USM III, f3-5.6
This is the first ever lens I had when I bought the 500D. Used in Sinulog 2010 celebration and on some (semi) macro shots on my boring free time. I did not really enjoy the performance of this lens especially on low light conditions. Considering its focal length range, I could not use it as an all around lens. Also, not to mention chromatic aberration problems on full focal length shots. But based on its performance during Sinulog last January 2010, I was able to capture great shots as long as the sun was up and with some manual exposure adjustments, even with the crowd in front of me.

EF-S 18-55mm IS f4.5-5.6
Sad to say I regret purchasing the 500D without this kit lens. I could not maximize on practicing with in-depth photography without (at least) an all around lens such as the 18-55. Generally, image stabilization capability of this lens is above average. And generally, the 18-55mm is a good all around lens (that’s why it was a kit lens in the first place. hehe).

EF 50mm f1.8
This 50mm is the best for portraiture shots even when in low light conditions. This lens is also good when in DOF shots with bokeh on the background. Depth of field on your shots are minutely adjustable given it’s f1.8 maximum aperture. As a prime lens, it has no focal length. With it’s fixed focal length of 50mm, you might need to do the “cha-cha” when taking your shots. Since this has no USM, expect a loud noise when in AF mode.

Hopefully, I will be writing full reviews on these lenses based on my user experiences with them. In this way I could also share this with those starting with photography and hopefully help them answer all the confusing questions like how I started in all of this. :) To all my fellow photography-enthusiasts out there, keep those shutters clicking and flashes bursting. ^^

• Sensor – 15.1 million effective pixels (15.1 MP)
• Display – 3.0″ TFT LCD with 920.000 dots
• Image processor – DIGIC 4
• AF Points – 9 AF Points
• Continuous shooting – 3.4 photos/sec
• Video capability – Full HD Video

You can browse over its specs page for more information. Below are also some shots of my DSLR. I used my C902 instead. hehe. :D

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I’m not saying that my cam is the best, but of course, I’m just proud to share one of my own. :)

“Fast and Beautiful”

“Retro Style”

“Feel the beat”

“Lady Eve and the Apple”

“The Fragile”

“Photomanipulation Abstract”

“Color Combustion”

“Attentions”

“Mas Pelas”

More inspiring digital design at Artician, Flickr, DeviantArt, and Behance.