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Tag : Michael Cruz

365 Project : Day 004

You need patience and lots and lots of it.   Add a dependable macro lens, a ring flash adapter, a flash gun and most importantly a very cooperative insect model! wheew! that’s the recipe of a successful 1:1 macro shot (at least that’s from my experience).  To be honest, this is my first 1:1 macro shot, because I have all the above ingredients for some time, except for the cooperative model, but today… it came!  Just when I needed it the […]

365 Project : Day 003

I’m starting to feeling it… It’s not easy but in a way its good because you learn to push yourself to your limits. Today is day 3; I was in the office the whole day doing the stuff that I do pretty much all week and there I was, on my cubicle thinking of day 3.  I really couldn’t think of anything to shoot when you are answering e-mails at work.  Until it’s 6pm and it’s time go home.  This […]

365 Project : Day 002

This is day 2.   This is an old Mosque in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. This project forces you to go out and experiment.  It is exciting in a way, but I have 363 more pictures to go! Here’s how I took it: Gear: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20 Settings: f8.0 | -3,0,+3 exposure bracketing Post processing : Aligned and tone mapped in Photomatix Cleaned up in Photoshop CS4 (Curves, dodge & burn, contrast) Added texture and made the texture white […]

The Roundabout @ Christmas

Taken from our balcony at Christmas day. What’s so special about this roundabout on Christmas day? Nothing.  That’s Christmas for you here in the Middle East. Well, at least we celebrated in our new flat; had some grilled chickens, pork liempo, carbonara, mixed buttered veggies, leche flan and some chocolate mousse. How I took this shot: Settings: f9.0 | 30 secs | single exposure (no hdr) Gear: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20 + Manfrotto Tripod Post processing: Adjusted contrast Sharpened […]

The Burj Dubai (now Burj Khalifa)

Here you go, the tallest building on Earth.  It is not easy to take a picture of this building because it is surrounded by water and the only way you can shoot this (front angle) is on a very crowded small bridge.   With a wide angle lens and proper point of view, this my photo interpretation of Burj Dubai. wiki: Burj Dubai ("Dubai Tower") is a super tall skyscraper under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest […]

The Address Downtown Burj Dubai

This is really a nice 5 star hotel.  If you think it already looks good, well, you should see how it looks at night! wiki: The ‘The Address Downtown Burj Dubai’ is a super tall skyscraper rising 306 meters (1,004 feet) alongside the Dubai Mall, the Old Town, and the Burj Dubai Lake in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This hotel and residential tower contains a total of 63 floors. The tower is another supertall structure in the massive development named […]

Forgotten Windows

Another one from Jazirat Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaima, UAE.  This is an abandoned village, also referred to as “ghost town”, according to locals there, it was an old fisherman’s village. I really have no idea whatsoever on what this room was before they abandoned the place.  All I know is that, those 3 windows caught my attention. Here’s how I took it: Settings: f8 | 3 bracketed shots 2EV +/- @ 20mm Gear: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20mm […]

Kalesa : A closer look

A closer look at the Kalesa. I asked the Kutsero’s (Kalesa Driver) permission on this shot.   Taken weeks ago on my vacation from Manila. Hope you like it. How I took this shot: Gears: Canon 7D + Sigma 10-20mm, hand held Settings: f9.0 | 1/100 | 3 shots (AEB) Post process: 3 Images, aligned, converted and tone mapped in Photomatix Cleaned in Photoshop CS4 Anyway, thanks for your time! /Mike

History

Another angle of the Manila Cathedral Sometimes when we look back on our school days, there are things that we wish that we could have done better or at least paid more attention to.  For me, that’s my history class.  Well, good thing about history is that it doesn’t change (unless further discoveries will be made), so it’s still not too late to learn more about it. I like what they said from the manilacathedral.org : The story of the […]

Abandoned

Taken from Jazirat Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaima, UAE.  This is an abandoned village, also referred to as “ghost town”. from wiki: Ras al-Khaimah (ras al-Khaymah, literally “The Top of the Tent”) is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the southwest of the Persian Gulf. It is in the northern part of the UAE bordering Oman. The emirate has a population of about 300,000 inhabitants. It covers an area of 656 square miles (1700 km²), […]