Blog - Page 27 of 28

How to use the public transport in Bangkok?

09Mar By irma

Bangkok is a vast and at times chaotic city plagued by traffic jams, smog and lack of traffic signs. Exploring it on foot is really not advisable – not only can it be physically demanding, it can be downright health-threatening.

If renting a car is not an option, you can try local buses, taxies or the traditional Thai Tuk-Tuk, but the most reliable mode of transport around the city is the metro. The first two lines run aboveground, the rest underground. The metro is clean, safe and in many ways more modern that for example the London Tube.

Before embarking from point to A to point B, you need to find your location and destination on the map because the price of the metro ticket depends on where you are going. This is easy because all names are written in Thai and English. You can either use an automatic ticket machine to buy your ticket or ask the station staff and they will give you a token with a magnetic reader confirming your payment. Tickets cost a couple dozen Baht, which is comparable to ticket prices in European cities. It is possible to buy rechargeable travel cards, but they are not the best option for tourists.

At the metro entrance place your token on the turnstile reader, which will register your location on the token and off you go. At the exist station simply insert the token into the turnstile, which will verify your journey has been paid for and let you pass.

Because of the frequent protests in Bangkok, some metro stations have been fitted with security scanners, which are mostly ignored by travelers without any luggage. If the staff asks you to pass through the scanner they will ask you to do so with everything you have, giving the scanner a beeping fit, which the guards just ignore.

The Bangkok metro is fast, reliable and traveling on it is very pleasant, which cannot be said about the remaining available modes of transportation. Thai people are generally nice, respectful of each other and quiet. Unlike in Europe, it is customary to offer your seat not only to pregnant women, but also to monks and children. On the other hand, the elderly largely ignored and left to stand — different countries, different customs.

Perks for our Indiegogo.com campaign fans

01Mar1.3.2014 By irma

We would like to thank all our fans, future customers and generous investors. We have launched the Indiegogo campaign to be able to prepare more content in different languages for our Fripito application before its launch in May 2014. The more language versions we will have, the larger community we can create, which will make our guides up-to-date and comprehensive. We would like to kindly ask you to support our project by any amount and choose from the gifts we prepared for you as a thank you.

50+ nature hi-res for free use on your desktop or your iPhone/iPadWe have prepared a collection of over 50 hi-res nature photographs covering six continents to adorn your desktop or iPhone, or other smartphone and iPad

screen. The quality of these high-resolution photographs meets the highest requirements of Retina displays. You can use this photographs to build website,

print in brochure or any other way. This perk will be delivered in a ZIP archive downloadable from Fripito website (www.fripito.com)

Fripito credit
Are you looking forward to Fripito launch? As a thank you for your support, you will receive an electronic voucher that you can use to charge your credit after Fripito’s launch at AppStore. The voucher will be valid for 12 months and can be used for any guide or destination. The voucher will be delivered via e-mail.

Dinner with Jan Brezina
Are you a fan of Fripito and are you dying to meet its founder Jan Brezina in person? Would you like to learn more about the project, photography or Apple products? You will have a chance to ask him yourself over dinner. We will offer several dinners, which will be limited to 15 participants per date.

20 x 30” fine art printed photograph of your choice signed by founder Jan Brezina
Would you like to have an original of a beautiful photograph on your wall? If you choose the Cute Panda package, you will receive an original print on an archive paper signed by Jan Březina.

The photograph will be sent by mail. Shipping to donors from USA or EU countries will be included in the price. Donors from other countries are kindly requested to add additional $20 for shipping.

three 90 minutes educational videos performed by founder Jan Brezina
Would you like to support Fripito and learn something new at the same time? We have prepared three exclusive online videos for you. The first video will help you get ready for your trip. The second one will teach you how to edit your photographs in Apple Aperture and the third one will show you how to make the best of Lightroom to add the final touches to your photographs. The videos will be available in English only.

What will you learn?

1. How to prepare your photo trip?

How to choose the best fit equipment for your trip
How to pack your equipment for different countries
How to handle airline restrictions for photographers
How to store your photographs while traveling

2. Photo editing in Apple Aperture/Adobe Lightroom

How to import your photographs while traveling
How to organize your digital archive on trip
How to classify, select and organize your photographs
Basic photograph editing
Tips and tricks
Exporting and printing photographs

90-minute online live seminars taught by founder Jan Brezina (250$)
Are you interested in interactive learning? Sign-up for an online seminar led by Jan Brezina. The ninety-minute session will teach you how to prepare for a photo trip, what to do to get the pictures you want and how to avoid problems. We will offer several sessions of the seminar over six months in English or Czech. Each webinar will be limited to maximum 30 participants.

Individual portfolio consultation and one-to-one online discussion with Jan Brezina
Hungry Tiger investors can look forward to personalized program consisting of an individual portfolio consultation with Jan Brezina during which he will review up to 30 of your photographs and answer your questions over up to three hours videocall in English or Czech.

Four-day photo workshop in Prague
The most generous investors will be treated to a four-day photo workshop of their dreams. You will be invited to Prague, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. We will help you prepare the trip and make arrangements. The experience will include accommodation in a **** hotel and four full days of photography sessions guided by professional photographer, lecturer and founder of Fripito Jan Brezina.

The program will include the following:

Day 1
Morning: brief review of basic photo techniques and QA
Afternoon: Old Town photo tour followed by dinner and discussion about photography

Day 2
Morning: photo tour of Prague castle.
Afternoon: Portrait photography with models in professional photo studio
Evening: Photo shoot of Vltava river banks at dusk followed by dinner and discussion about photography

Day 3
Morning: The art of nude photography taught in a professional photo studio
Afternoon: Photography processing followed by dinner and discussion about photography

Day 4
Visit to Czech countryside including an historic castle and spa city followed by a dinner in an authentic Czech brewery.

You can check our complete list of perks on Fripito campaign page on Indiegogo.com.

How to clean lenses on the road?

01Jan18.1.2015 By irma

Even if you are attentive to your photo equipment, you can’t avoid the necessity of cleaning your lens. Unlike the cleaning of DSLR sensor, the lens care is not difficult while traveling, you just need to have the right equipment. Let’s describe whole process step-by-step:

Step One: Clean by air

The gentlest way to clean your lens is blowing of clean air. In this way you usually remove most of the impurities without any scretches. Never blow by mouth! Always use the special blower.

Step Two: Brush

If the solid contaminants like dust stuck remained on the optics after the first step, gently remove it using special dust removal brush. I have very good personal experience with Lenspen which combines brush and non-liquid cleaning element from graphite.

Step Three: Moistened Cleaning Tissue

The special solution for cleaning the optics must be used for removal of greasy soils. The liquid transportation is not very practical specially for air traffic safety regulations and that’s why I’m traveling with Moistened Cleaning Tissues. These one use moistened tissue perfectly clean the greasy soils without any spots and if you have followed the step 1 and 2, you don’t need to be afraid of scratches on your lens.

In conclusion it is good to highlight that there is no need to clean the optics if you can’t see any impurities on your photos. Minor dirt will not endanger the lens or camera because they are far away of depth of field.

Less cleaning means longer lens life!

Do you have your own favourite style of cleaning? Let us know and we will share it to others!