Over a week ago, I was invited to the launch of 5 new Canon PIXMA photo printers. Being a Canon printer user myself (I currently have 2 in my computer shop), of course, I didn’t pass up the chance to find out what’s new.

First off, let me tell you why I am a Canon printer user. It’s all about the printhead. I love the fact that if the head fails, I can easily replace it without having to take all the parts out or without needing to replace the whole printer completely. This is extremely important for a business like mine where they take on the challenge of printing a ton of documents weekly. Most of my customers print their resumes in multiple copies (in preparation for applying to various ERP Jobs probably), photos they got from Google for their research or assignments, etc. My Canon printers don’t just save me money, but they make me more efficient ‘cause they’re heavy-duty compared to other printers I’ve tried.

Here are the 2 Canon printers I use:

I am IN LOVE with my Canon PIXMA MX416 printer. It’s a scanner, copier, fax machine and printer in one! Plus, you can send print jobs to this baby wirelessly! Cool, eh?

I got rid of my old all-in-one printer because I needed a copier that can handle long or legal-sized paper / documents. This printer has a feeder at the top so you can use it for copying those long documents or if you don’t want to manually open the scanner’s cover for every document you’re copying. Just leave them all on the top feeder and wait.

This other printer I own, a Canon IP3680, is no longer available in the market the last time I checked. It’s a photo printer and have been really good to me. Now, I use it primarily for document printing because it no longer feeds photo paper properly, probably after moving it around during typhoon Pedring.

But, this printer has delivered to its promise. After a couple of adjustments with the color settings, it printed out photos just like how I see them on the screen. I wish to buy a new  photo printer very soon so I can achieve that photo print quality again.

Anyway, going back to the launch event of Canon’s new printers, Allen Chang, marketing manager of Canon, proudly shared with us that the brand have grown since 2007. They are now leaning towards products that are environment-friendly and energy-saving, but still with sleek features such as high-definition quality and even wireless printing. These were the new PIXMA printers that were introduced to us that night:

Canon PIXMA MP287

It’s a very compact all-in-one (AIO) printer. The design reminds me of my old AIO printer from a different brand, but I love Canon’s because of the texture and overall look. I love black, that’s why.

It’s also very affordable. For only Php 3,495, you get a fully-functional all-in-one printer for you to scan, copy and print your documents.

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Content thieves – we all hate them. One of the things we bloggers hate the most is other people copying our contents, especially our images, and posting them like they’re their own. Being familiar with coding and photo editing software, I know there are a hundred ways for other people to get what they want from your blog even if you have installed plug-ins or scripts to disable this and that.

Don’t worry, I won’t be sharing HOW one can steal your contents. This post is actually about some ways you can make it more difficult for others to do so. Yes, HARDER, not impossible ‘cause, again, there are ways, really. (Okay, I need to stop before I eventually give in and tell you how else you can take someone’s contents. )

Ways to Ward Off Content Thieves

Most content thieves would easily give up when you make it harder for them to steal your images and texts. So, here are some of the ways I’ve tried myself to cause them more hassle than the usual:

Watermark Away!

It may be troublesome placing watermarks on your images, but it does fend off those who’s in the business of stealing photos. Again, they can still cut or crop your watermarks out of the picture, but some are too lazy to edit so they choose those that don’t have any.

Most of the people I know use Photoscape for their batch watermarking needs (it’s also great for quick photo edits). I personally use Visual Watermark. It’s not free though, but I won the license from a giveaway so I’m using that.

For small number of photos, especially when I want to place the watermark somewhere else other than the lower left or right of the photos, I use Adobe Photoshop.

Disable Highlighting of Text

Did you know that people can steal your content by simply highlighting and copy-pasting them on Windows Live Writer or even their online blog post editor? Yes, including your images and they even end up leeching your bandwidth!

Leeching – Direct hotlinking of images or files uploaded to your own server by others. Also referred to as offsite image grabs or piggy-backing where the content owner’s bandwidth is stolen as well.

I haven’t personally used any script on Blogger for disabling highlighting of text so I can’t recommend anything for now. But, you can check out these search results. I may update this post with a recommended script.

For WordPress, I use the same plug-in as for disabling right-clicking. See below.

Use Scripts or Plug-ins That Disable Right-clicking.

Why disable right-clicking? This is to prevent others from right-clicking your images and saving them on their computers. It also stops others from finding out where your images are hosted so they can’t leech your bandwidth by simply getting the image location or link.

For WordPress, I use the plug-in WP-CopyProtect. What I like about it is it can disable highlighting of text too. Plus, it gives you the option to use a popup message to notify your reader that right-clicking is disabled. Here’s the plug-in’s settings page:

!IMPORTANT NOTE!

There’s actually a loophole in Google Chrome for content thieves to steal your contents when you have the popup message enabled.

When they continually right-click on your blog, they will eventually get this message:

When they check that box and click on OK, they can continue on your blog and right-click away. So, my tip is to not show any notification message anymore. Most of our readers now anyway are smart enough to realize that you disabled highlighting and right-clicking on your site… well, after a couple of attempts.

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Here’s the continuation of my tips for food photographer wannabes or beginners like me out there. Make sure you’ve read part one. These are so basic and are based on what I’ve learned so far as a newbie food photographer and blogger. I don’t consider myself a professional, but these tips are for those who are starting their own food blog and just gotten into food photography

Tip #7: Take a Lot of Photos… and Quickly!

It’s pretty funny dining with people who don’t understand that I’m a food blogger and I need to take photos of food I eat. Take for instance, my mom and bro (before we put up Certified Foodies). They’d really be impatient with me and I end up with photos with their spoons already on the food (*LOL*).

Can you tell how much my brother wanted to grab one of those Sylvanas?

So, if you’re dining with people who aren’t into food photography like you, take photos quickly! Plus, the quality of food degrades fast so it’s really important that you take your photos immediately after it’s served.

And, of course, you should take LOTS of photos. That way, you’d have a variety to choose from. Remember to use different angles and distances.

Tip #8: Take Photos of the Menu instead of Note-Taking.

This tip is not really for newbie food photographers, but for those who post their photos on their blogs and have to describe it and mention the price, too.

I used to copy/write down descriptions and prices of food we order. It could take a lot of time, especially when you ordered a lot of food. It’s also a hassle on your part when the waiting staff need their menu back for new customers who haven’t made their orders yet.

So, my solution was to take photos of the menu, capturing the description and the prices. That way, I can quickly return the menu to the waiting staff and I can start eating already when starters or appetizers are served. Plus, you get to spend more time bonding with the people you’re with at the table than note-taking for your blog.

Here’s an example from Bigby’s Restaurant:

I even take photos of the menu posted on restaurant’s walls, especially at fast food chains, just like this one at Krispy Kreme in Greenhills.

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Are you getting married soon? Or there’s an upcoming celebration and you need a professional photographer to capture the special moments in one of the most important phases of your life? Well, look no more. The 12 Masters at your service!

The 12 Masters is composed of 12 photographers specializing on weddings. The main man, Marvin Dungao, is actually a high school batchmate of mine and he completely surprised me when I saw him posting his works on Facebook and on his website. So, I knew I had to blog about him.

If in case I’ll be getting married in the future, I will surely hire Marvin with the rest of The 12Masters. I so love the effects and feel of his photographs. He captures those special moments like he actually feels the couples’ emotions and passion for each other. Don’t get me wrong, he knows how to have fun as well. Oh, I tell yah, he’s pretty awesome. And this ain’t a sponsored post, okay? I’m truly amazed by Marvin’s work.

Let the photos speak for themselves:
Image credits: The 12Masters

Prenup Photos

Wedding & Post-Nup Photos

Impressing, right? These are a few of my favorites from Marvin and his gang’s portfolio. For more, please check out The 12Masters Photography website.

All the photos on our food blog Certified Foodies were taken by me (except indicated otherwise). And, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m still a newbie when it comes to food photography. But, I’m proud to say that I’ve improved a lot since I started taking photos of food.

I’m no expert in food photography, but I have learned and discovered a couple of things along the way while I self-train myself into "professional-looking" food photography. These tips that I’m about to share should help other newbie photographers out there.

Included in this post are a couple of my food photos, some were taken about 2-3 years ago before I knew better (lol). I’m posting some unedited photos (except for the watermarks and resizing) so you could see how awful they look and to prove my point.

By the way, I was using a Sony Cybershot DSC-T2 point-and-shoot camera before. Now, I’m using Canon PowerShot SD1000. I’m planning on purchasing a new point-and-shoot in the next weeks. By middle of next year, I’m hoping to already own a DSLR for my travel and food photography.

Tip #1: Use Good Lighting.

This is a very general and no-brainer tip. If you’re taking a photo of something you cooked at home or you ordered at a restaurant, try to place your food subject in front of a window where a good amount of light comes in. That way, you’d get a natural look and colors on your photos. That’s the best way to take photos of food. Just look at this one that I took while we dined al fresco at Best Friends in Monumento.

Tip #2: Avoid Using Your Camera’s Flash.

Yes, I used to use flash A LOT. Just look at my photo of this chicken dish. Though it does look delicious, the colors have been altered already and there are just too many shiny spots on there.

So, my #2 tip is as much as possible, do not use your camera’s flash when taking photos of food. It makes the food unappealing with all those unnatural shiny spots. Plus, like what I’ve mentioned earlier, flash alters the true colors of your food. It makes the whole photo look flat in my opinion.

Now, compare that first photo with this one, where I turned off the flash. Doesn’t it look more natural, and yummier?

Now, if I apply a little post-processing to that natural-looking photo…

That looks GOOD, considering I only used an 8.1-megapixel point-and-shoot camera. Most people won’t notice ’cause the food just looks yummy.

Tip #3: Use your camera’s ISO and White Balance settings.

ISO refers to light sensitivity of the image sensor on your camera. This is pretty easy to understand:

Bright scenes = Lower ISO = Finer photo

Dimmer conditions = Higher ISO = Grainy / Noisy photo

Now, take note though that you shouldn’t set your ISO settings way too high because your photos would end up too noisy. Unless you’re using a REALLY good camera, of course, set your ISO to only 100.

I usually adjust the white balance or brightness settings on my camera instead of changing the ISO. That way, I won’t end up with a too noisy photo.

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