January Prime Challenge ends today and here are my last four lame shots :P Can't wait to go birding with lens though

28/31 Seven Sisters|Pleaides

29/31 XnO's

30/31 Wind Chime

(MrFreeze, meet) MrFog
There's was a fumigation in our neighborhood today.

That's all folks and thanks to all for bearing with me for 1 whole month :P

Next up: February pic-a-day
1st and last week of February and I get to choose any lens and its not confined to primes
hmn... kit lens or another Rokkor lens.
Let me sleep on that first.

Okay, here's 24 to 27. I'm really running out of stuff to shoot and my work is not helping me with time :D

24/31 - Puzzled Spidey
My youngest son wanted to do his Spidey puzzle again :)

25/31 Piggyback Shuttle
I use to do this for my oldest son, now he can attach it by himself.
Time flies and so does Superman.
He actually hums the Superman Theme while
pretending Superman rescuing the Space Shuttle which got stuck...
y'know the rest of the movie :D

26/31 Old Trophies
Aah, from the good old days. My wife's trophies :)

27/31 Shaky Lamp Post
interesting but lame still :D

drat, three consecutive uninspired shots. grandslamE shots :D

21/31 roof 1

22/31 roof 2

23/31 mobilefi

20/31 Inauguration Day

(fixed links to bigger images :P)

A lame attempt for 16/31.
That's the white wine's cork. I tried ISO6400 again :P
17/31 Watergun Gang ep2009
That's soldier Enji up front and Police Coby on the background
(Yep, no pp on that one)

Outtakes:
Gonna Wet Ya! Pt1

Ya!
(PP'd)

Gonna Wet Ya! Pt2He almost got me, 300mm is too short to shoot a portrait of a watergun wielding subject :D


18/31 Lookout
(PP'd)

Outtake: Find the Bird :D
19/31 Bokeh, Colors and The Gray Card... or should I say Grey Card?
Thought about getting this shot after reading the revived Bokeh and (yet another) Skin Tone issue threads.
Used the dropper on the graycard and the colored changed appropriately, nice!
(therefore pp'd)

I tried agorabasta's setting using the zone matching's low key setting

official 15/31 here's to agorabasta
ISO6400

and the outtakes

I was quite surprised with the results from my 'theme' yesterday: Minimum and Maximum
Originally was intending for just the minimum focus distance (MFD)
but when the light wasn't enough for me to get a decent shutter speed,
I had to bump the ISO and thought of trying its maximum setting - 6400!
Actually it still wasn't enough so I switched the antishake on - it helped a great deal.
After shooting the swan, I was really impressed with the noise so I shot some more...
images were only downsized and minimally sharpened.

Official 13/32: Astronomy

Outtake 1 13/31

Outtake 2 13/31

Outtake 3 13/31

14/31 Senior Citizens

12/31 Lion King

I'm just beginning to get the hang of this. Thanks jquia and evill! :)

and just to share how the sky looks like tonight.

It's really windy and cold lately :)

can you spot the Moon? :)

11/31 Blowin' in the Windwe're having a windy and cold weather, brrr
and some outtakes

10/31 CatDog
A700|1/320s|ISO800|Min300f4@f4
Sorry had to crop it a tiny bit because he was behind a wall, no PP though.

Click here for 8 outtakes

Dyxum's prime challenge wouldn't be complete without a shot of my kids' toys.
This time, I'm giving you Optimus Prime.
Looks like he just fought with MegaTron :P

09/31 O.P.!
1/320s@ISO200|300@f4
w/ flash in highsynch mode

08/31 rain.drops.

7/31 ARF (Airplane Repair Facility)

borrowed light

06/31 Early Bird

62% Waxing Gibbous on a cloudy night
05/31

The January Prime Challenge 2009 @ dyxum is on.
I recently sold my Bigma to fund a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity to get a Min300/4. It was offered to me some time ago and I was surprised it was still available when I am not contented with the Bigma's output anymore.
This is my first G lens. It's heavy but I don't mind. My left arm needs the workout. Haha!
Here are the shots so far - mated with the A700, opted for no crop|PP but I had to adjust the first shot a little.

01/31 Feast of Mary, Mother of God

02/31 The Collector

03/31 Outtake: Rugbird

03/31 Bubbles

04/31 LightsOn
Stay tuned :)

Happy New Year and all the best to everyone :)

Got the chance to drive for almost 12hrs last week.
I had fun behind the wheel driving for almost 12hrs - from 4am to 3pm. Going automatic has its benefits :D
I am now fully convince how efficient and powerful the Nissan Livina is
(cough - no this is not an advertisement :D)
The roads are all cemented already with a mix of smooth and rough roads
due to wear and tear or erosion that makes the asphalt feels like an accordion
or the cement feels like a barren land with lots of cracks which made the ride noisy and bumpy.
Nevertheless, I rate the overall experience very good except for those drivers who still don't know how to place safe when turning on sharp curves. They just don't endanger themselves but other viajeros as well.
Many thanks to my wife's relatives who 'toured' and adopted us for 4days :)

Some of the usual rides that you can see at Cagayan Valley

A visit at Magat Dam (pano shot)

A visit at the famous Callao Cave

and some shots on the way back home
Dalton Peak|Pass - border of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija
It was foggy when we passed by


Had to stop
to shoot this scene

again, thanks for looking :)