Photography, Model.

Alright, the experience of having minimum time pressure is really painful, especially when many ideas pop into mind. Of course, I wont settle for standard lighting positions only, I would love you change light angles to come up with a different point of image. Adaptation is key though. Since I didn't use a trigger (and I definitely stray my hands off it, because I'm tired of always using it), I have to adapt the light entrance, every time I switch locations, I have to adjust exposures and speed light angle and power, ultimately the part that 2 lights overheated. Here's my top 2 choice of image, without post process.

I like this photo. It has a sense of focus in it, it is serious, and formal. Just the way I want it to be.

I'm pretty sure I saw a similar image of this in "SM Men", the trench coat movement, added excitement though.

Food Photography

This sweet treat, Raisin and Nut Toblerone, was shot at night time. I want a sharp image, while making the background blur. So, I have set my aperture to f/10, and my focal length to 55, and tried to stay near at my subject to form that depth of field I need to blur the background. To compensate the light I have lost because of my slightly closed aperture, I have to set my shutter speed at my comfortable value of 1/30 my ISO at 1600, and flash directed upwards. The Toblerone, is leveled perfectly parallel to the camera, to form that unusual optical sight of the chocolate. Yum!

More Light

3rd

The smartphone app, is something for us to try, well play with.

Anyway, its all about light painting and ISO levels last meeting. Yes ISO, controls overall light, and some parts of the photo's quality (unless it was intentional), but the main highlight was light painting. At first I thought I was light drawing, but I realized that light painting is photography itself, while the painting one is the literal drawing one, with light (and blurriness) at least. It gave me more ideas to portrait like light paintings (Unlike the common paintings, of highway cars etc), its amazing. Without sugar coating t, Sir Ray, your statement is definitely correct, You really should be the best among every class you thought, respect!

On the other part, as an assignment for light painting, I asked Michelle to come with me and do something fun with it, like putting ourselves in a picture frame, of light! With limited time, no tripod, only us two, we have gone to a low light place, where stairs are present for us to place Madonna (My 700D Camera). I have set my settings to Exposure Time10   F/10   ISO100, with the help of some bright lights provided by my phone and some gadgets for 2 seconds. Since Michelle has a Photo-phobia disorder (Eye disorder, where bright lights can cause dizziness, almost similar to vertigo), I asked to cover her face, as well as mine, to make the image look natural. Snap!

Took me sometime to perfect the frame, but this is the best i can draw so far. Its kinda cute though.

To define the Exposure Triangle, well, its consist of Shutter Speed (Tv) , Aperture (Av) and ISO. This 3 components of it controls the entrance of light to the camera. Each has a specific purpose, Shutter Speed, defines the entry of light in time, the lower the shutters peed, the faster the snap, less light will enter, the sharper and "stiller" the image. Higher shutter speed in contrast, captures more light, and is prone to motion blur, useful for light paintings and long exposure. Aperture, is the hole in the camera, where the entrance of light is being controlled. Also this defines the depth of field of the camera. ISO is managed by the camera sensor, and should be the last on to configure. Lower ISO has the highest quality of an image , higher ISO, is brighter, but grainy.

Note: The previous blog was sent to the wrong email instead of raymendoza it was "raybmendoza". Its about time I noticed as I check my mails. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Triangulation

2nd Day. 1st of July

Its all about freezing time, and the entrance of light. Its was an experience. Actually it is more of  a challenge finding something with a limited amount of settings first, since were only allowed to freely change a single setting at first. The Shutter Speed. In that way we have to capture something, duly related to shutterspeed. So what I got is a light painting, which was later deleted in my camera. That case, I have to make another one, and that is the image, I came to develop for the next meeting.

Took the shot before leaving, it was broad daylight, so I have to close all curtains, affecting the overall photocolor.I used a tripod and timed the camera for 10s. I made a lightsaber (sorta) at Exposure Time5   F/10   ISO100.

Aside from that, its another experience, learning more of the Aperture and its depth of field.

Prologue to Visual Arts

Im gonna scroll the pages of the things I learned so far in the 1st day of class. To be honest though, It sounded more like a review to me because I'm very much familiar of the basic technical terms and functions of a DSLR camera. The big thing though, of what I learned is ,emptying my cup to fill it with up once again with new things perhaps. One new thing I learned is about the lenses' depth. I saw different comparisons of shots using various type of lenses, and able to gain the idea of using the depth of a long range "telephoto" lens, for a more cinematic and dramatic image. Also aside from the depth of telephoto lenses, I learned about the most uncommonly observed image format meanings/full names. Like let's say the JPEG, Joint Photographic Experts Group, and many other more.

Still warming up!

Hey there! All the few gamers, or just random passerby, thank you for visiting my blog(at least). It was a huge help as it build up my grade in a course subject. But anyway! I'm still testing gears, for I am fresh in the world of blogging. So far though, Im enjoying it. First is boring, but I'm starting to get the hang of blog-spot.

Stay tuned up gamers! This may be the last day, for subject requirement but my blog is still warming up!

As a "something", I would like to share a video, a montage of "most games" I play in PC.
Gaming, has always been my friend. It's my final resort when things come fallling down. It gave me inspiration to meet real people as an introvert. It gave me knowledge in history and military. "We are gamers not because we don't have a life. We are gamers because we choose to have many."

http://youtu.be/MzORhssB9sk

Click the link above, and watch the gaming montage!

Good day everyone and see you in my next gaming blog post! :)

Dragons in Sky!

Hey guys! Today, I wanted to share to you one of the most popular game, and one of the most highest ranking game ever played, Skyrim! Join me in my adventure in this vast world.

Adventure

Comparing to a movie, Skyrim is Lord of the Rings. Don’t get me wrong though, Skyrim might be slightly similar to LOTR, but it’s different. Well, we have Orcs in Skyrim, but the story goes different. Anyways, this

The road, heading to Riverwood

game is one of my most played single player games, it’s beautiful, and it’s nice and sure to keep you playing longer that you will expect to be. Skyrim, is a game where, you set on your own path, explore a massive world whenever and whatever you want. As a player takes on an adventure, there is always a chance that you will meet in game character’s asking for help or offering a favor. It’s random, very. It’s that game where you plan to go to a place, and then as you to that place, you will see a point of attraction letting you go to that place and discover something very interesting and different. It’s not what the game wants you to do it’s “what the player wanted to do”. And sure, Adventure is really fun, there are numerous fantastic sceneries, events, towns and cities that’s worthy of visiting.

Customization

I would want to quote what I've have said earlier, “it’s not what the game wants you to do, its what the player wants to do in the game”. You decide on what type of Skyrim traveler you wanted to be. One can be

Selfie! of my character at Solstheim 

an assassin, using magic. Another can be a magician, using a bow. Or one can be a warrior, wearing normal clothes. It all depends of the players play style. There are many races you can choose on too, ranging from Nords(Skyrim natives, Humans) to Khajits(Cat men). Lastly, a player ca modify the face, and body of his chosen race or “character” to play. The options are very fast. One will take 1 hour just to achieve the face he wants his character to be.

As of now, my character is a Nord. I use a Crossbow as my primary weapon for long range and assassination. A scimitar (curved sword), for head on melee combat, and a Dagger for stealth attacks. Currently, my choice of clothing is a Light Armor. I intend to make my character ro be an assassin, so I chose the right gear to make the character, as silent, invisible, swift and critical as possible.

Quest

A battle against a dragon, with a Mage in my left.

Questing is fun in Skyrim. A player will most probably encounter a dragon in the game, battle vampires or

join either the Empires’ Legion or the Rebel Stormcloaks, and wage war into cities. Questing also includes, heading deeper into caves, go to a Mage College, or simply be the dragonborn (Dragon slayer) and save Tamriel(continent location of Skyrim)  from “Alduin” The World Eater, as the prophecy foretold.

In the background is the walled city of Whiterun.

Come and let’s play Skyrim! Fus Roh Dah!

Brave new Town

Lets go and join a group of exiles as they build starting from a single house into a busy town, in the game of Banished!

Unlike CityVille, or Farmville (for you casual gamers), this game is a test of balance and governance. But with less politics. The challenge of the game is to make the people alive, and increasing. The townspeople are

the main resource here, as they gather food,build,mine and etc. To keep townspeople alive, the player must have sufficient food to prevent starvation, firewood and clothing to prevent freezing, a hospital and physician to halt a disease, shelter to stay and well's to stop a fire. It's easier said than done, as most of the time, the player experiences scarcity of a recourse, either too much food but the people is freezing vice versa, and there are no extra remaining people to do the work. Every minute of the game is important, and assigning an idle villager to the right task makes a player last longer.

A graveyard

My first try of the game, I assigned at least 50% of my total villagers to gather food. Later on as my village became larger, my people one by one started to starve, and eventually dies. Like every 3 seconds there will be a notification saying that a villager has dies of starvation. "Well!, its time to leave this city"

Second try of the game, I assigned more villagers to gather food, via fisheries, few to farms. My village lasted longer than before and is also larger. But as I acquire new villagers, food started to deplete fast, disease came, death rate increased by 1 death per second. "Goodbye, scumbags! On my way for another village..."

Blacksmith provides tools for the villagers

Third try, I'm starting to have my grip on the game, assigned 70% of my villagers to farms, and the remaining

The Yellow marks are needs of the people, that is lacking

5% as fisherman's, hunters etc. In short, food is my priority. Major problems occur, execpt of starvation. Workers are loosing tools, people are starting to freeze. Good thing though, as time passes in the game, population increase, and I was able to fill out jobs to fulfill the needs of the people. That is then I realized, I made such a big town! Later, since food is staple as well as other major needs, I gave focus to other resources such as coal, wood, stones iron. All has gone well, until, my population reached 300, and woodcutters and blacksmith are not able to provide enough tools and
firewood. Death rate also increased, not because of my folly, but because of a villagers old age. That is the start of where I'm in now. From 300 people I'm down to 150. I'm still thinking of ways on how to boost villager count to provide my people with proper needs to further expand my town.

By the way, my towns name is Fort Salt Lake!

Top View of my town. Back when my Current Pop is 300

Here's a sample game play of me playing Banished

This is during the time of Winter in the game. You will notice me clicking rapidly on a window, that is to reassign villagers in a specific job. Since its Winter, Farmers wont be able to harvest anything, to I'm reassigning them to be a fisherman temporarily.

Join me in this game, and test how good you are in organizing a small town!

Company of Russians!

There's this latest game I've been playing lately, it's called "Company of Heroes"

Company of Heroes 2, is as great a World War II itself, with the player acting as a role of an Allied Russian Captain. It's a big, and robust game. This is one of the very few strategy games Iv'e played, that really uses strategy. I'll go in detail on why is it like that. For instance is, players can command the squads to move behind cover, defend something, bombard a location, repair a vehicle,
hide inside a building, build variety of defensive materials, merge with a squad and pick up vehicles. It's not that game, where players build a huge massive army and just assault the enemy full headed, and just watch then sway their swords as they overwhelm the opponent with their mass numbers. So far, I found the game really time consuming as, it will

really use your time to think, "what will happen in the battlefield" or "how will I control the battle". It all
depends in how one positions his/her squads and how well the squads is organized. When something wrong happens in the battlefield, the player will really notice his/her error,"what he/she would have did 3minutes ago to prevent losses of squads"

As for the negative, well the game usually freezes every 30 minutes (although it was probably caused by Auto Save). The mouse turns into a bar code sometimes, that even when a player leaves the game, the mouse stays as a bar code, and I find it really inconvenient. Lastly is, well, on behalf of Russians. Isn't it kinda offensive how Russia in the game (Russians are protagonist by the way) are portrait as a very brutal nation? Like, when Russian soldiers retreat for their lives are shot by their own allies, because they say its cowardice. I am not into "full" history of Russia, true that Joseph Stalin, did ordered the shooting of his own troops, for some good reason, but it might be over portrayed in the game.


Here are some videos, of my playing Company of Heroes 2

Sniper, taking position for recon and taking out a squad, in preparation for an assault

A battle, to capture a vital location, after sniper's role in taking out guards.

Gamer-o-Meter

Everyone has that inner gaming ego that is as far as I believe.  Some are in denial, because they haven’t even tried it yet. Some simply, dislikes games, and some addicted to it. Let’s see which of the gamer categories you belong, from Non-Gamer to Hardcore-Gamer according to my Gamer-o-Meter. Enjoy!

All statements are rated by YES or NO.

1 -At least once in my lifetime, I have played Space Impact, Minesweeper, and Spider Solitaire and enjoyed it. If there’s a spare time, and those three are the games available I might consider playing those it.

2-I love reading books. I do it on a regular basis.

3-I love studying. It’s my bestfriend.

4-Junk food, pizzas are my most favorite snacks.

5-I like watching War, action, crime, fiction films.

6-A smartphone is my partner during the boring part of the day.

7-I prefer a laptop than a desktop.

8-At least once in my life, I got to own a game console. (Nintendo,Akari,Playstation,Xbox)\

POINTS.

If you answered YES to statements 1,4,5,6, and 8 you get 1 point for each of those, with a total of 6points.  If NO, it’s a -1.

If you answered NO to statements 2,3 and 7 you get 1 point for each of those, with a total of 6points.  If YES, it’s a -1.

Compute your points, and see below.

If you got 5 points above, well consider yourself a potential Hardcore Gamer.

Hardcore Gamers, are people, usually prefers to stay in a game than the reality. Sometimes, these people spend most of the night eating their preferred snacks and playing a game. Also, a hardcore gamer knows how to choose a “rig” to use in gaming. May it be a PC, a PS4, or an XBOX One. Most Hardcore gamers, throws a huge amount of cash for the sake of gaming. They explore various game genres’ like First Person Shooting, Racing, Mass Multiplayer and etc.

If you got 4 points, you’re a potential Mid-Gamer

Not typically the same as hardcore gamers, but both have similarities and few differences. Let’s just simply say Midcore-Gamers, still values social life. Though still, they know how to play.

If you got 3 points, you are a Casual Gamer-

Most basic type of a gamer. People who prefers mainstream games (ie.Flappy B. / FB Games/ smartphone games and etc.). Midcore’s and hardcore’s usually mock proud Casuals.

If you got 1-2, You are a Common Human.

There’s a gamer in you, but No.

If you got 0-below.  Not a chance-

Don’t even think about it.

Note: All above, are just estimations, don't take it way to seriously, thank you. Images are from Google Images.

Lazy Gamer 5-Step Guide!

Many people think that gaming is just simply playing games a gamer is simply playing games. Well, being a lazy gamer, is a big sign of being a hardcore gamer (I use "gamer" way too much). Actually it is! Here's my top 5 steps on a to be a professional, lazy gaming lord. (I would also advice to read the disclaimer at the end of the article, seriously)

Step #1

Pack loads of junk food

No one wants to get hungry in the middle of a battlefield, or a speeding car. It's like watching a 3-hour long movie, without popcorn and soda(Isn't it annoying?). So always bring these good guys before starting a long gaming session and get those controllers, keyboard/mouse and your fingers wrapped in cheese powders!

Step #2

Get comfortable

Wear a jacket if its too cold, open cooling devices when its too hot. Place a soft pillow on you back, and sit as comfortable as you can, no need for fancy and formal sitting styles, just sit the way you want to, and prepare yourself for a long ride to a virtual world.

Step #3

Play that music

Nothing like a good music while playing something. If you want to play hard, metal and rock comes to the rescue! Pick a music that will fit the genre' of the game you are playing.

Step #4

Procrastination

As I said, this is a guide to be a lazy-dazy gamer. Forget homework! There's still time tomorrow(although it's already due)! Every second is important, and not a second to be wasted on stuff's lesser than playing a game. Escape reality and play games, period.

(Students Creed: Everything is Due, Nothing is submitted)

Step #5

Choose game. And play.

This is what is all about. Playing the game. Take your time, you have the whole day, or even the next day if you may(it rhymes). You have there a decent supply of snacks, to cover up your lunch, or even dinner, or even breakfast for the next day!

 Choose the genre' of the game, suggested are Online games, MMORPG's, FPS games. And when you got bored enough with those, set up a back up. Prepare the next game you intent to play. And the best part of it all, is to ENJOY , happy hunting!

*DISCLAIMER (READ!)

Following this post will, ruin your life. Of course, do everything in moderation, and look at the steps above as warnings/cautions, instead of a guide to being lazy. Gaming is never bad, in fact it can teach players, variety of sensible things but as I have said, ALL IN MODERATION :)

*Images from- Google images and its external links.

Keep Flapping the Bird! and RIP.

"I see that new Iphone you've got there, it would be a shame if it doesn't have a FLAPPY BIRD."

Flap right there, flap around there. And within a short span of time you can hear, people shouting, swearing, and throwing their phones in a graceful way of anger. Yep, this is indeed Flappy Bird. My first impression of the game is like a Super Mario style game with a bird acting as Super Mario himself, but its worse. And Iv'e been seeing lots of Tweets, FB post's about it, and broken phones as well. Well, Super Mario is indeed hard, especially it's earlier versions, but when I first laid my fingers on this game, it made me realize that this game was made by Satan himself (a figure of speech, no offense). Nah, the truth is the game is fun. Once you get the first try, you will continuously ask for another. Just like eating a bag of Cheetos, you wont stop grabin' till the bag is empty. The bag, is the phones battery level.

Me and my friends were suffering from a common disease called boredom, until my friend, Nelson, summoned his magical tool of entertainment, the Ipad. He introduced us the game, and each of us tried it.
One would randomly shout with pain, then pass the Ipad to another, until it reaches me. It's my turn. I took a deep breath, changed my sitting position into a focused one, fixed my hair, and tap'd the retina LCD display of the tablet. I got a score of 1.

4 hours later, I saw my mates, wailing like sea lions, with their smart phones up, playing the most annoying game ever. they compare their pitiful scores with each other, and those things.

The next day though, I got myself the app too. First try on my smartphone was very outstanding. I got a score of 100! I was excited to learn my current rank on flappy birds' leader board. Expecting to reach the top 100, because most of what I see in my Facebook wall are scores of 30, 40, 50 and 75. People are so amazed with it, so I think 100 is Godlike. That is until I saw the high scores all over the world. The score aren't what I expected, except there's a  9,223,372,036,854,776,000. Probably hacked though.

For some good reason, my Flappy Bird app is special. Well, my bird, flies slower than the app you have there. Not that my phone is slow, the game I installed has this 50% reduced speed, making it,well, sorta easier. Other people find it a lot difficult though.

Anyhows, Flappy Birds' leaving the app stores. Although, the reasons are not quite clear why. News say that
according to his Twitter post's, Dong Nguyen, flappy brid creator, will remove F-Birds from app store, because the press are overrating the game's success, and he does not like it. Probably to save smartphones from extinction.

"Squishy birds, here I come!"- says the raging Flappy Bird player, who can't reach a score of 1.

The Kingdom of Aura

Hands down to one of the best Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing game I've ever played,  Aura Kingdom! Its an anime inspired online role playing game, with a twist. When I say twist, the gaming experience feels slightly different than those other MMORPG's. Although its quite similar to Dragon's Nest. .
The game is still in Open Beta as of now, meaning its not the official release yet. But the players progress will not be deleted when the official game goes live, so it's not bad to start now. The problem is though, log-in issues occur, servers crashing sometimes and those things. Developers are continuously finding a way to fix such problems though.
My first experience in the game was weird, that there is this feeling that you get conscious of the game's graphics,music/sounds and specially the controls. It took me a long while to get oriented with the controls, until now. I just recently discovered that the character is able around to move using W+holding the mouse' right button, because at first it just moves the camera angle around the character and doesn't change the pathway of it. Anyways that's one of the Noob books

Aura Kingdom offers a variety of classes,The Gunslinger, Duelist, Bard, Grenadier, Sorcerer, Guardian, Wizard, Ravager and Katar(upcoming) with each special abilities and characteristics. A player, can also, choose a single subclass, by level 40. Here, the skills of the chosen subclass is added to the players skills table. Very technical isn't it?
The fun part of the game is the community, I remember running around doing quest with 50+ players with me in the same location, doing the same quest, or just flying,dancing,farming,chatting or dueling around. It's not that laggy either, yeehaw!


 The party system(Teams) is very well done. Finding a team is very easy, so as recruiting a team member. Unlike other MMO's out there, where one needs to buy an expensive Megaphone to speak in the world chat to recruit, where everyone could see it *cough*Perfect*cough*World*, in Aura Kingdom one just simply make a team, and there, all players can see it through the Party Tab. Speaking for recruitment is also free, just saying.

Aura Kingdoms currency is defined by silver, and gold. 1000silver is equals to 1gold. Silvers and gold can be earned by selling unwanted items to NPC merchants, or killing enemies in a cave or a dungeon. I find it easy to earn money so far. Rare "Yellow" weapons and armor are also, not difficult to acquire since its being sold by other players, or a common drop from dungeon monsters and bosses. Stalls are also fun! There are actually two ways, if a player wants to sell his/her unwanted items. First is, setting up a stall, literally. Like any other MMO's right there, a player can set up a stall, and sell items. BUT, players can only set a stall on the Stall Area at the main city,"Navea". Second is, you list the item on an auction NPC with a corresponding price and time(24hrs) that it will be in the auction.
Finally, there is this Eidolon sytem. Eidolons acts like pets,well more of a companion. Eidolons come in
different kinds, a Dragon, a Fairy, a Devil, an Angle, a Tiger and etc. Most of it are hard to acquire, since a player needs to collect 10 key fragments to summon a specific Eidolon. Collecting fragments is the most difficult part that I have encountered. One can obtain a very rare key, or a key fragment from a Hostile Eidolon boss, that randomly spawns from a random location at a given time. When that happens, a huge amount of player, march into the location, and hand-by-hand defeat the very though Eidolon boss for a common goal - to get the key.

All-in-all its a fun and lively game, many people play it. You can really feel the atmosphere of playing and enjoying a game. By just simply, walking around in the main city or any other places in the game, you will see people selling, chatting, dueling, doing errands, dancing, riding an ostrich, having a tour, flying, watch them gather around, cook a turkey, sit and watch the day turn noon/night and Shopping. You feel like your living in another world, a world of adventure!

In my first month playing this game, I already got to
level 53, the highest level a player can achieve as of now is level 75, and it's difficult to level up starting from level 50. I chose the class Gunslinger, and have my secondary class as a Grenaider. Im starting to increase my Aura Kingdom gaming style skills, and yeah I have at least 10kills and 5deaths in most 5 versus 5 player battles. I also found my family in the game!, well they are NOT my real family members, but I found a Guild naming Royals. My in game name is Noir_DeVoux, see you in game!

Stay Tuned, sooner or later, I'm gonna Include Game Commentaries of Aura Kingdom!
*Some pictures were taken from Google Images.

League of Legends Story Blog

An Introduction to League of Legends and Piltover Lore.

    League of Legends (LOL for short, though often mistaken for "laugh out loud") is the most played game of all time as of 2009-present. This game basically replaced (and was based from) the infamous and long running Defense of the Ancients or more known as DOTA after its release on October 27, 2009. The mechanics of LOL is almost the same as DOTA. You chose one among 117 special champions you have purchased on the in-game store or a free champion randomly being offered in the game every week. The objective of the game is to help defend your team's base from constant enemy assault and push through enemy lines to destroy the hostile base. Stealth, discretion, teamwork and game knowledge are the main recipes of a winning team.

    In my blog, I’ll be posting in-game LOL champion reviews, lore, personal opinions. In addition I will check whether a champion’s personality is closely related to you in real life, player or non-player of LOL. For now though, I will share one of the most significant location found in the LOL lore, “Piltover”.

    Piltover can’t be accessed in the game, but it’s the location where some champions take place. Some of of those are Jinx “The Loose Canon”, Caitlyn “The Sheriff of Piltover “, Jayce”The Defender of Tomorrow” and many more. Piltover is advanced when it comes to ecology and technology in the continent of Valoran, thus earning the title “The City of Progress”. Academies located behind the cities walls earned great reputations for its contribution to development and science. And because of that, many travelers resort in staying in Piltover to greatly expand their knowledge, believing that knowledge can help maintain Runeterra (their version of Earth) as good place to stay.

    Except from Piltover’s research academies, it’s also the safest city to live in. Well, it used to be until a rogue girl, Jinx (as called by the townspeople) and other organized crime organizations started plundering the city. Piltover is rich, developed, it’s why brigands took the opportunity to try and rob the city. Now the city lies as a small battle ground for the good and a playground for the evil. Residents even see Piltover destroyed, if it weren’t for Caitlyn “The Sheriff of Piltover”. And that’s another story for another post.

    A place used to be a place of vast advancement of science and technology, now lies as a battleground. Do you know a place similar to Piltover?