Creating a very wide image, known as panoramic photograph, will cost you a bomb if you are using a specialized panoramic camera, like the Fuji GX617, Linhof 617SIII and Hasselblad XPan. But thanks to modern image processing technology, you can now create a panoramic photograph using any camera and stitch multiple images together using panoramic photography software like AutoPano Pro, PanoramaPlus, PTGui, EasyPano, Panorama Factory and many others in the market. And if you own a Canon digital camera, you will have a free software from Canon that will allow you to stitch images to create a panoramic photograph. Some of these software are pretty advanced and can really create a high quality panoramic photograph.

But, thanks to technology again, both on software and hardware, many of you can now create a panoramic photograph on the go. You can shoot multiple images and let the software stitch them all together for you. And while it’s stitching the images, you can still receive a phone call from your loved ones on the same device, checking where you are. So, guys, if you own an iPhone running iOS 4 or later (mine is the iPhone 4s running iOS 5), buy this app called AutoStitch that only cost  you US$ 1.99 and you have a little panoramic machine in your pocket.

These two panoramic images of the Singapore Marina Bay were shot using the iPhone 4s and stitched using AutoStitch app. The second one below was taken 23 minutes after the first one above (7.03pm and 7.26pm). The light changing fast after sunset and the “twilight zone” caused the sky to become more bluish. The iPhone seemed to increase the ISO automatically and hence you can see the one below is a little more grainy than the above. But, I guarantee if you print it, you won’t really notice those grains.

Pretty impressive huh? So, go out have fun and create panoramic images using your iPhone. Don’t just play Angry Birds. 

My sincere apology for being late and thank you to those who have emailed me asking about the free wallpaper for July 2011. Here you go, the free wallpaper for July 2011 for your personal use only. The wallpaper has 3:2 format and has been re-sized to 1920 x 1280 pixels.

You can download it here.

I am very tired now. Very little sleep in the past two days, but I just want to post these before I go to bed. I shot these on the same day when I shot the Kuda Kepang / Kuda Lumping dance at Joo Chiat. After that performance, I saw the nice sunset colors in the sky. I didn’t have my tripod with me, so I had no choice but to shoot handheld with Leica M9 and 90mm Summarit lens. Shooting low light photography without a tripod is tough. Hence, technically, these photos are not the best, but I would like to post them anyway, so when the weather is good and there is a good chance that the sunset would be nice, you can go there to shoot. Bring your tripod and have fun shooting the sunset.

gently it goes down
as the sky turning to dark
another day gone

Boracay is well known for its beautiful sunset. The sun is setting, hiding beneath the horizon, just in front of you.

So far, I have been in three beaches where I can see this. The other two are in Kuta beach, Bali and Pundaquit beach in Zambales, Philippines . I am sure there are many other places like this, but … so little time. The one below was shot from Pundaquit beach, which is the jump-off point to Anawangin Cove and Camara and Capones Islands in the province of Zambales, Philippines.

It’s not one of my favorite sunset photos because of the lack of foreground subject and part of the sun was over-exposed. But I am showing it here in case some of you are planning to visit this place, so you have an idea.

Did you notice the Haiku I wrote just below the first photo above? This is the first time I am writing Haiku. Not easy, especially since I never consider myself a good writer, let alone a poet. But I decided to find out about Haiku after one of my friends contacted me few days ago with regards to her photography book project (to help Japan) that will have Haiku for each photo. So, I found out about Haiku and tried to write one. I am using the 5-7-5 syllable format.

I like the above Haiku but I think I like the one below more. I modified the last part. The one above may sound a bit pessimistic (“another day gone“), while the one below sounds more optimistic (“tomorrow will come“).

gently it goes down
as the sky turning to dark
tomorrow will come

What do you think?

I traveled to El Nido, Philippines in June 2007 with my family and few other friends. We left Manila early morning and took a small propeller aircraft, I believe it was an 18-seater, that brought us to El Nido, at the northern tip of Palawan island. The hotel where we stayed was another 1 hour wonderful-full-of-blue-sky-and-water journey by boat from the El Nido airport. Full of mid tone color, and you know when you are shooting a scene that is full of mid tone color, you almost can’t get anything wrong. Your camera exposure system will be alright as that’s how they are calibrated. So, just point and shoot, but since you have traveled that far, try to check the LCD monitor once a while to make sure everything is OK.    The technology is there to help you. The photos posted here were shot using both my DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras.

The plane was ready for boarding.

This was my 2.5 year old daughter trying to help herself because of the air pressure that hurt her ears. She did not cry though. Tough little girl.

It’s blue and blue everywhere. The view from my seat.

The fast shutter speed “stopped” the propeller. Can you see the propeller blades?

Now it’s blue and white everywhere.

Looking down, enjoying the God’s creation.

Landed safely at the El Nido airport.

We then took a short jeepney ride from the airport to the beach where we took a 1 hour boat ride to our hotel. Waiting for our boat to arrive.

The boat ride to our hotel.

That’s our destination. Getting there!!! Yay!!!

Arrived at our destination. Beautiful huh?

After a wonderful lunch, we went out for our first activity, visiting the bat cave and snake island. The weather didn’t cooperate though. The sky was getting darker and was going to rain anytime soon.

We arrived at the Snake Island and got off the boat. Picture this … the snake island is actually just a narrow strip of beach in the middle of the sea and during high tide, the entire “beach” is under the water. Can you tell from the photo below? Family photo at the Snake Island, taken by one of my friends.

We ended our first day by enjoying the beautiful sunset from the hotel’s pier.

As I am writing this, I can’t help but feeling that I want to be there again. I’ll be back one day, hopefully.

Have you heard about Singapore Blog Awards 2010? I am one of the Top 10 Finalists for the Best Photography Blog category. If you like this blog and you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate if you could vote for me.

• Voting is open to everybody. For International voters, just use your passport no or ID no during the registration. They need your ID no for verification in case you win the prize for voters.
• Please go here to vote: http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/category/ .
• Click the Best Photography Blog category and click Vote for my blog.
• You can vote everyday even for the same blog. One vote per day per category. So, keep voting please if you can. Thank You! 
• They have prepared some prizes for the voters too : http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/about/prize.html.

This is one the famous temples in Bali, Pura Luhur Uluwatu, taken shortly after sunset. I took this in December 2007 during a vacation in Bali. The temple is located at the top of Uluwatu cliff about 70 meters above the Indian Ocean on the southern tip of Bali. The spot where I was offered a drop dead view of the waves crashing against the base of the cliff.

The sun had gone down below the horizon and the sky was getting darker fast. The wind was strong and it’s getting cold. I had butterflies in my stomach and I had to squat down to minimize the impact of the strong wind on me. I felt that I was going to be blown away by the wind. I was only few meters away from the edges of the cliff (both in front and behind me) and at that height, I didn’t dare to stand especially because of the strong wind that evening. I had to collapse my tripod legs all the way when I shot this using my 70-200mm lens zoomed all the way to 200mm so I could fill the frame. At ISO 200 and f/11, the shutter speed was more than a minute so I could get more lights coming in to the full frame sensor of my trusty Canon 1Ds Mark II.

I took few shots and the sky was already dark when I finished packing up my gears. I felt that I got more butterflies dancing in my stomach knowing that I still had to walk back on the path along the top of the cliff, very near to the edge, to the parking lot where I would be picked up by the driver whom I hired to drive me around. Next time I go there, I will make sure I have my flash light with me.

Montemar beach is located in the Bataan Province, about 3 hour drive from Manila. When the weather is good during sunset, you can see the sun going down in the horizon, similar to what you can see in Kuta, Bali. The photo above was taken when the sun was already below the horizon during the short golden moment after sunset when you can still see nice color of the sky. Exposure was 1 minute at f/13 and ISO 400.

A Surfer on a Bike on Seminyak Beach

Kuta, Legian and Seminyak share a long stretch of beach in the west coast of Bali. And hence the usual beautiful sunset in Kuta can be viewed from either one of them. The wet portion of the dark fine sand beach will serve as a mirror and give you nice reflection to add into the composition.

I was hired to shoot family portraits in Bali last week and decided to leave one day earlier in order to find good photo spots for them. As they would be staying at Seminyak, I walked along the Seminyak beach in the late afternoon to check it out. The sunset was beautiful and I couldn’t ask for more. See additional two images below.

I am normally not a fan of shooting sunset without foreground interest. But I like the above image for its reflection on the ground. The dark portion on the lower right corner helps  to give additional depth to the photo.

So far, Boracay beach in the Philippines and Kuta, Legian and Seminyak in Bali are my favorite beaches for sunset. Hope to see more like these in the future.