Week 6- Plan

On March 14, 2014, my English teacher talked to us about how we should have a plan for our 20% project. Which is true because I think that most of us does not even have a plan. He also told us that we will be presenting starting May 29, 2014. Moreover, he showed us a video of how we should present. Now back to the plan, our plan is to take more macro pictures, so that we can show tons of the pictures during our presentation. My partner, Divina made a website, so that she can also put pictures there. My other partner, Gino will be running our Instagram account. And I made a Vine account to also share macro videos that i have taken. We believe that the plans that we came up with will help us to have a successful project. Also, I came up with an idea take a picture of my fellow classmates' eyes. Luckily, many of them wanted their eyes taken with the macro lens. Moreover, they were suprised when the saw their eyes up close and thought it was really cool. Please also follow us at out Instagram and Vine account @_macroworld

Week 4- Buttons

Last weeks weekly topic was chocolate; this week is buttons. Buttons may have been invented almost four thousand years ago. In ancient China people used buttons made out of gold and silver. Sometimes they only put a button on the cap, and the clothes were held together by strings and buckles. So initially were used as ornaments. But when people did realize that they could use buttons to hold clothes together, they started making buttons out of wood, seashells, iron or ivory. But today all the buttons are made out of plastic. Early settlers in North America often used buttons in trading with the indigenous peoples. The manufacture of buttons began in the United States c.1826. Buttons, originally made of bronze or bone, have also been made of materials such as metal, porcelain, paste, wood, ivory, horn, pearl, glass, and plastic. There are two main types, those made with holes and those with shanks. The latter have a loop of metal let in through a hole or soldered into place. Below, you can see an up close look of a button.   

Week 3- Chocolates

Last week's weekly topic was spider webs; This week is chocolates. And I will be telling you some fun facts about chocolates. A recent study indicates that when men crave food, they tend to crave fat and salt. When women crave food, they tend to desire chocolate. Aztec Emperor Montezuma drank 50 golden goblets of hot chocolate, dyed red and flavored with chili peppers, every day. Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous 45 second shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, Psycho, which actually took 7 days to shoot. The average American consumes more than 10 pounds of chocolate every year. 76% of Americans say the ears of the chocolate bunnies should be eaten first. 5% think chocolate feet of the bunnies should be eaten first. 4% think the chocolate tails should go first. One ounce of milk chocolate has only a little more caffeine than the amount of caffeine in a cup of decaffeinated coffee. White chocolate has no caffeine. Are you amazed yet? If you want to know more about chocolates, please visit http://morkeschocolates.com/chocolate-facts. 

Week 1- Bugs

Last week's topic was bugs. A bug is a certain type of insect. Some examples you might be familiar with are the boxelder bug, milkweed bug, assassin bug, and stink bug. True bugs have a stylet (a mouth shaped like a straw) that they use to suck plant juices from plants. The assassin bugs use their stylets to suck blood from other insects. The front wings of true bugs are thickened and colored near where they are attached to the insect's body, and are clearer and thinner towards the hind end of the wing. The hind wings are usually clear and tucked underneath the front wings. The picture below is a Fruit Fly. Did you know that fruit flies often feed on decaying fruits and vegetables. This is where they get their name from. However, one most note that they are often found in unsanitary conditions like garbage dumps and trash cans. Moreover, fruit flies are also a hazard to human health. They spread diarrheal illnesses. Their hairy bodies and sticky foot pads can carry germs and bacteria from sites that have been contaminated. Wash your hands periodically. Do not use your hands to kill flies. This week's weekly topic is money, and I cannot wait to see those dollar bills up close!

Week 9- Editing Pictures

It has been nine weeks since we started the 20 percent project. I can say that we are on track. I still could not believe that it has been many months! Last week's weekly topic was donuts, and this week is fruits. During the two-week break, I have discovered some of the cool editing apps that I can use to make my pictures better. The best thing about them is that they are free on the appstore. Snapguide, Camera Plus, and Fotorus are some of the apps that I liked. Why? Because the have everything that i needed to make my pictures better. These apps can brighten the picture, they can give the picture more details, they can give the picture a filter and a lot more! Below is a before and after of a picture I took. Also if you are reading this, please follow us on Instagram @_macroworld and please do not hesitate to like our pictures. We are working really hard to give you the best macro pictures we can take. 

(Before)

(After)

Week 7- Coins

Last week's weekly topic was plants. This week, our topic is coins. This time, coins were not hard to find. They are everywhere at my house! I was really looking forward to take pictures using the lens, unfortunately, my partner Divina has the lens. Moreover, my teacher assigned  our class a small project. We will have to make a presentation about what we have done so far. I believe that this is a great activity, because my teacher does not know if all of us are on task. He also told us to change a setting to our blog, so that it would save him and other people time to comment on other people's blog. Back to What I was saying! Coins are something that people hate having in their wallets. I agree, but we also have to think that if there's no coins, there are no paper bill. The picture below are the coins that I keep in a jar. And I cant believe how many coins I have from different places around the world! And I cant wait to look at each one of them through my macro lens.

Week 6- Plants

Last week's weekly topic was flower. This week's weekly topic is plants. It is my partners turn, Divina to take three best pictures of plants. I believe that plants are helpful to every living things because it helps us to breathe in fresh air, while we animals help then by exhaling carbon dioxide. Bamboo is one of my favorite plants because it is the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth. Sensitive or sleepy plant is also one of my favorites because leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, to protect them from predators, re-opening minutes later. That is why we chose plants for our weekly writing topic. Moreover, taking a picture of a plant should be really easy, unlike diamonds and insects that we did in the past few weeks. Furthermore, my teacher assigned us to do a brief presentation about our project. Later on, we will all present it in class, and I think that this is a good activity, because we have a chance to share and get to know our classmate's project and what they have done so far.

Week 5- Diamonds & Flowers

Our weekly topic last week was diamonds. I have to admit that taking a picture of a diamond was kind of hard, because it was shining through the camera. This week, it was tough for me to come up with a weekly topic. So I asked my partner, Divina to come up with our weekly topic. Our topic for this week is flower, and it is my turn to take pictures using the lens. In the past few days, I have been looking everywhere for small flowers, so that I can take a picture of the whole thing. Luckily, I have found two. Also my teacher made us fill out a form about our 20% project, and in addition, we will also get points just for filling it out! Moreover, we have been getting more followers and likes on our Instagram page. The only hard part for me is that i have to come up with a caption the goes well or somewhat with the picture. Please, if you are reading this, follow us on Instagram @_macroworld. We dont bite, we only bark! Arf! Arf!

 

Week 2- Taking Pictures

In week two, my teacher assigned us to make a blog in order for us to share what we are doing every week. Our weekly topic for week one is about eyes. My partner, Divina was in charge of taking pictures of eyes, and she was also responsible to post the pictures she took on Instagram for people to see. She stated that taking pictures of other people's eyes was very fun. She enjoyed looking at the different shapes, colors, and textures of the eyes. The weekly topic for this week is about insects. In the past few days, I was able to find insects, however it was very difficult for me to take good shots. The insects were always moving and some of them flew away! Finally, I decided to capture them and put them in a clear container.  Problem solved! These are my partner's link to their blogs. Please feel free to look at them: http://20percentgino.blogspot.com/?m=1 (Gino Delatorre)

http://bartolomedivinaproject.blogspot.com (Divina Bartolome). Below is a spider i put in a class container, so that i can take a good shot. 

Week 1- Planning

My partners and I's project will be taking pictures using a macro lens. Planning our project was somewhat challenging. Maybe because this is the first project that we will be working on for a long time. What i will be looking forward to this project is of course learning the responsibility and also learning to communicate better with my groups. What we did this week one is that we planned our timeline. For example what are we going to this week? Or what will we be doing next month? This week had also been a challenge for me because my teacher made us turn in our work electronically! I believe that all of the teachers should be doing this. Teachers should let their students turn in work online rather than wasting paper and killing more trees! The picture below is a cockroach! Yes, a cockroach. Disgusting right? I took this photo with an IPhone using a macro lens, and did you know that cockroaches are clean? Yes, you read it right. Cockroaches are like cats, they clean themselves all the time. The cockroach on this picture is cleaning its antenna. So if you thought they were dirty, you are definitely wrong.