Breathtaking Bohol: Sanduguan

Quick brush-up on Philippine History: It was in Bohol were local chieftains Datu Sikatuna of Bool and Datu Sigala of Loboc performed the Sanduguan or El Pacto de Sangre with Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi back in the 16th century. The sanduguan or blood compact was a pact of friendship sealed in blood.

It is touted as the world's "first treaty of friendship between different races". The guys supposedly drank droplets of each other's blood mixed in with wine. A monument marks the spot where the blood compact was made. It is located along the road with a spectacular view of the sea.

There is actually a minor controversy over the exact location of the sanduguan. But I don't really care about exact locations. Besides, this supposed pact of friendship kind of paved the way for the Spanish to start their conquest of the Visayan islands. The rest is history, so they say.

Breathtaking Bohol: Panglao Island

Bohol – the mere mention of the name conjures textbook images of the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers, tranquil beaches and the historic blood compact between Sikatuna and Legazpi. The mental images finally became tangible reality for my friends and I last March 8-10, 2008 when our Bohol escapade (which almost seemed doomed to indefinite postponement) eventually pushed through. There is much to see and experience in Bohol that it is but natural to have a series of posts dedicated to it.

First stop in breathtaking Bohol is the alluring Alona Beach in Panglao Island - where crystal-clear turquoise waters gently lap the creamy-white sandy shores. This is the quintessential tropical beach paradise. It is the perfect place to just forget all the cares in the world, bask in the sun with your toes in the sand, and let the rhythm of the waves lull you into a trance. As a beach person, I consider the Panglao escapade one of the best highlights of our trip

Of course, words wouldn't be enough. So, here are some snapshots of the Bohol Beach Club, Panglao Island.

I've Upgraded to Flickr Pro

I finally decided to get myself a Flickr Pro account. Why? For no serious reason, really. I've been a Flickr user since 2005 and I think it's still the best photo sharing website today. Unlike other services such as Photobucket or Imageshack, Flickr is not just another photo storage facility.

What I love about Flickr is the interaction with other users, from professional photographers to amateur shutterbugs like me. I get a kick out of random people appreciating my humble photos (all taken with an old point-and-shoot digital camera) by leaving a comment or even adding them to their 'Favorites'.

Flickr is also home to a mind-blowing collection of images from around the world (over 2 billion). I can waste hours just ogling at the impressive photos, wishing I can also take such awesome shots. There are also other cool stuff to do with my photos using third-party Flickr toys. By the way, I made that 'Dextr' logo using this Flickr logo maker.

Flickr Pro comes with additional features and privileges not available to free accounts, such as unlimited storage, unlimited sets, unlimited bandwidth, permanent archiving of high-res original images, ad-free browsing and sharing as well as account and photo stats. I like the last feature since I'm a bit of a stats freak.

Please do check out my Flickr photos. And if it isn't too much to ask, don't forget to leave a comment. hehe. ;-)

Baguio: Through My Camera's Lenses

Web Finds: Online Image Editors

A few weeks ago I featured some image editing software you can download for free, install and use to edit photos easily. But then I realized, some people may might not have the 'privilege' to download and install stuff from the internet (ex. those using internet cafe PCs or office workstations). So those tools might be practically useless.

Thankfully, there are tools anyone can use to edit photos without downloading or installing anything. There are a handful of excellent online image editors you can try. Here are five of the best ones.

Pixenate - A quick and easy editor, Pixenate lets you work on your photos using basic functions such as crop, resize, and rotate. It also has a spirit level function that lets you straighten photos that seem a bit askew. Aside from the controls for brightness, contrast and saturation, a nifty tool lets you whiten teeth too! The site also offers six fun effects including lomo (short for lomography). Now you can create lomo photos without buying expensive Lomo camera. The site loads fast and you can have good-looking photos in a jiffy.

Picnik - This site has a pretty interface and great editing tools. There's a cool 'Auto-fix' button that works just like Picasa's 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button - it lets you enhance your image in just one click. Other notable image editing tools include an Exposure button that lets you adjust exposure and contrast and even adjust levels with the 'Advanced' button. In terms of editing tools, Picnik may well be the online version of Picasa. However, the site uses Adobe Flash Player which might not be installed in some computers.

Phixr - Another photo editing tool with most of the basic functions offered by the first two mentioned sites but with a less attractive and less user-friendly interface. Yet it works well too.

Cellsea - Taking online image editing a few notches higher, Cellsea introduces a wide range of tools not found in the first two previously mentioned sites. Aside from the basic editing tools, Cellsea also lets you remove noise or smooth out grainy looking photos. There are also tools you'd normally find in advanced editing software including a variety of blurs, effects and distortions. These are probably for more advanced users.

Facefilter Live - This is an interesting site that offers instant online photo makeover slash facial reconstruction. Simply put, it lets you change your facial expression provided that you upload a photo subject that looks directly forward. The site wasn't working and I couldn't edit the photo I uploaded so I can't give you a first-hand account of how it works.

However, there is a sample photo mode you can experiment on. There you can select from 'emotional templates' to change the facial expression of the pre-loaded subject. Some are funny (like 'Monkey' and 'Young' modes), others a bit freaky (like the 'Angry' and 'Fox' modes). If only the site works, I could have posted a photo of myself in 'Monkey' mode. Haha. Buti na lang 'di gumagana ang site.

So there, five useful online image editing tools you can use to work on your photos without the need to download or install anything. Overall, I liked using Picnik for quick editing and touch-ups. Pixenate works faster though. Meanwhile, the one from Cellsea is tops when it comes to versatility.

Just a friendly tip for those accessing these sites in their office workstations, if unnecessary web browsing is prohibited, make sure you visit these sites only at your spare time (like on breaks, for instance) so that you will not get in trouble, okay? Hehe. ;-)

Dex Recommends: Free Image Editing Software

Do you find MS Paint's functions too basic and you need more image editing features when working with your photos? Are you a wannabe photographer like me who needs an easy-to-use but costless photo editing and manipulation software? If you don't have access to, or have very limited knowledge in Photoshop and other professional image manipulation software you can opt for more user-friendly but effective software you can download for free. Here are some image editing software I use:

Picasa - If you need an idiot-proof and very easy-to-use image editing software and photo organizer, Picasa is highly recommended. It is a freeware application now owned by Google which helps you clean up your digital photo collection by easily locating and organizing the photos in your computer. The best features Picasa offers are the basic photo editing tools such as color enhancement, red-eye reduction, cropping and many more. You can also add effects that can transform your photos from ordinary to exciting in just a click of a button.

Neat Image - Does your digital photo look grainy and rough? That's called image noise. Unless you intentionally want a grainy looking photo, these visible image noise can be quite annoying. Now, you can reduce image noise in your digital photos with the help of one application: Neat Image. This app makes your images look better by reducing the visible noise and grain. You can even use it to even out skin tone or smoothen your portraits for a picture-perfect finish. Just don't overdo it or you'll end up looking like a very smooth balloon.

Paint.NET - Do you want a less costly (Read: free) alternative to Photoshop with most of the functions you need right at your fingertips? Then you should definitely try Paint.NET. I have been using this app for two years now -- basically for minor editing tasks -- and it works like a charm.I have yet to unlock the full capability of Paint.NET, though, since I still have limited knowledge of most of its functions. But it's definitely a permanent fixture in my list of must-have applications.

The GIMP - Short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP is another top-notch photo retouching and image manipulation software that offers almost all the functionality of Photoshop but none of the cost. GIMP can process digital graphics and photographs with excellent results. I have yet to fully use GIMP's features though. Anybody want to give me free lessons on how to use GIMP? Hehe

FastStone Photo Resizer 2.4 - Want to protect your photo from plagiarism? Add a text watermark to it using FastStone's Photo Resizer/image converter. It also lets you rename, resize, crop, rotate and change the color depth of your photos in a quick and easy batch mode.

Picture Resizer 2.0 - This is a no-fuss, easy to use Photo Resizer that takes up very little space in your computer. Simply download the file to your desktop, which appears as a simple icon, then drag and drop your image files on the application icon to resize. By default, the app resizes pictures to 400 pixels but you can change the size by renaming the icon -- for example, rename to Photoresize200.exe to produce 200-pixel images.

So there, all these applications are freeware and they're readily available on the net. Just click on the links I provided. If you have other image editing software in mind, don't forget to leave a comment. :-)

Web Finds: Photographs that Changed the World

Life Magazine, established in 1936, was one of the most popular publications that put emphasis on photojournalism. In fact, it was the first all-photography U.S. news magazine. Over the years, Life has published in its pages thousands of photographs from all over the world that captured both the mundane and the profound; both the fleeting and the unforgettable; and both the insignificant and world-changing.

One website I encountered while browsing for Photography (one of my passions) resources is The 100 Photographs that changed the World, as published in Life Magazine. Although the claim that these photographs indeed changed the world is dubious, It cannot be denied that these photos captured the interest of the public all over the world and may in one way or another influenced actions and decisions. Another remarkable site on the same topic is Slate.com's Pictures that Changed the World.

Although the two sites featured less than the supposed 100, the selection of photos presented were undeniably powerful. It's mind-boggling how a simple photo of a wide-eyed, rather plain-looking girl can be called world-changing. But if it's a photo of Anne Frank, one understands. Most of the photos explicitly showed the sordid reality of human folly and its effects.

War, famine, death, terrorism and injustice are condensed into a few photos - from the shocking photo of a dying Igbo child afflicted with a degenerative disease to a photo of a lynching mob looking grotesquely happy while their two black victims hang dead on a tree. As one of the captions says: the images remind us that we have not come as far from barbarity as we’d like to think.

Still, there are positive images that reminds us of the heights we have reached over the last century - from that old photo capturing the moment when the Wright brother's strange contraption realized man's millenia-old dream to fly all in a few seconds, to the amazing image of our planet, shining amidst the pitch black of outer space, captured by astronauts on the moon.

I hope you take the time to check out these two sites and appreciate the value of these images just as I did. The photos may or may not evoke something. Because in the end, the power of a picture is in the mind of the beholder.

SkyscraperCity

Ever since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated by architecture, urban planning and the art of building habitable spaces. I remember I used to doodle my own versions of skyscrapers and houses on the last pages of my school notebooks, especially when the lessons get all too boring. And in the really boring subjects, I think there were more doodles than notes. LOL. Even before PC games such as SIM City were popular, I already had my own city, complete with wide avenues, seaports and airports, residential and commercial zones, etc. haha.

I also used to pore over news articles of new and upcoming building projects in Manila, even though I barely understood some of them. I actually kept some of those full page ads of new skyscraper projects (though I have already lost them). I’d really get hyped up when a new project was announced through the papers. Back when the Petron Megaplaza was still the tallest building in the country, I conceptualized my own tallest building on the back of a pad paper using a ballpoint pen. (You may be wondering why I didn’t pursue architecture in college, but that’s a different story altogether, LOL.

Anyway, I still love architecture, urban planning and skyscrapers. Thus, it is no wonder that one of my favorite websites is related to these interests of mine. I have been a member of SkyscraperCity forums for almost 2 years now. I discovered the site while browsing for aerial photos of the Philippines. Since then, I have been hooked by the huge wealth of information (and photos) of skyscrapers, cities, towns and other development-related topics. Some of my co-forumers have also become my friends too, although only through the web. So there, if ever you have the same interest in architecture, urban planning, photography, history and general development topics, I highly recommend SkyscraperCity forums, my fave online tambayan.