In My Sights And My Insights

A Night Of Food And Photography

2012-02-13T17:37:00.000+08:00

A couple of days ago, some from our photography group had some sort of a mini-tutorial/sharing on food photography thus a night of food and photography.

I am no expert on food photography but I try to be good at it. I just wanted to share information among my peers on what I have read and picked up from the world wide web. Moreover, also to share some experience I had on food photography. I hope this little hands-on experience we had will encourage them more on this area of photography.

Here are some points I've shared:

Quality and Direction of Light

Quality - soft light would be ideal to lessen the hard shadows that can be created by a single light source like the sun.
Direction of Light (Side Light) - usually this gives shape to the subject.

Direction of Light (Back Light) - this reveals the texture of the subject.

White Balance - it's important to get the right white or the color temperature of light for pleasing and true-to-life colors of the subjects.
Composition - basically how the subject would look good and the props that will compliment the main subject. It's easier said than done.

Well, there goes some of the tips that I was able to share. Here are some of my shots from that night.

Candy Art courtesy of Lysander San Jose

Earle's Sandwich courtesy of Jared Adriatico

Green Apple courtesy of Lysander San Jose

After the mini food photography session, some of the subjects became dinner and dessert.

Here's some pretty good inspiration for this topic. Taylor Takes A Taste.

Gear used: DSLR camera with kit lens (MF only), off-camera flashes and radio flash triggers, white styrofoam boards.

Related Post:

Goin' Bananas - Some back-lit banana bread/cake.
My Few Attempts - Some side-lit calamansi/calamondi.

Hot Air Balloon Festival 2012

2012-02-04T01:00:00.000+08:00

I have been wanting for years to go and see this Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga which is celebrated yearly. This year it's the 17th and this time I'll be able to go thanks to my wife and photography friends at work. This will be on the 9th until the 12th of February.

I have seen great photos of the event and I am looking forward in capturing some for myself.

For more information and details of the schedule, you may visit this link: http://www.philballoonfest.net/.

Hot air balloons here we come!

My Journey To Color-Managed Display

2012-02-03T22:48:00.000+08:00

In photography, color can really change the mood of every photograph. 2011 was a year when I lived with my eye-balled monitor to be able to process my photos' colors close to what I have seen and captured. I always dreamed of being able to profile my display and also to be able to print them at the lab printers with great colors. I have had my ups and downs on the eye-balled monitor but I give huge credit to Lagom LCD Monitor Test which have guided me throughout the year.

Lagom LCD Monitor Test was able to somehow able to deliver what it supposed to do. I'll have some bad colors at times when if I accidentally changed some settings in my LCD monitor and when I had to redo I'll have some differences.

Late 2011, I was able to get hold of myself with a monitor calibration unit -- a Spyder 3 Pro. I was excited about it and immediately performed it as the box said that it would only take a few minutes and it would be as easy as 1-2-3. Then it hit me. It was true that it was easy to install and perform the calibration and profiling but I didn't really liked the results as you can see below.

I wasn't really expecting this to happen. It says that I m viewing the Calibrated view but I really didn't liked the fact that there is a red/maroon color cast. I liked my Uncalibrated view (shown below) better.

Doesn't that look much better than the calibrated view? I repeated the steps of the calibration and profiling again and again to no success. This time I had to consult someone who is more knowledgeable and experienced in this field. Jo Avila, one of the country's known photographers and mentors, said that he have seen this kind of result before when the calibration unit's sensor is fogged up. He said that if this is the case then it is a lost cause. Once the fogging has occurred there's no hope of that it would clear up. Honestly, this broke me down into pieces. Along with my calibration unit was a new monitor and was really down that I won't be able to use the full potential of the new monitor that I have.

Anyway, let's get back on the unit being fogged up. So I decided to give it a rest and try again another day. Still being optimistic about the unit still being able to do it's job. Probably gave it a month or so before I tried it again and at the same time I acquired another unit -- the Spyder 3 Express.

So, I tried it using the the Pro unit to calibrate and profile my display again but alas it still gave me the red/maroon color cast. Felt really bad that time and since it's really lost cause, I uninstalled the profiles and software of the Pro and prepared myself for the Express. This time, the Spyder 3 Express was really an express delivery of results as it didn't take too much time to install the new software, perform the calibration and profiling, and then the improved results.

It was a mix of joy and disappointment (for the Pro unit). Now, I am working on a color-managed display and I hope to processing photos more accurately.

So, that's my journey to a color-managed display. No pain, no gain!

Happy New Year with New Color Scheme

2012-01-07T10:34:00.000+08:00

Recolored my blog to a fresh color theme for the new year and hoping for a brighter days, months, and years to come!

Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-30T07:40:00.000+08:00

Happy Holidays to all and welcome the New Year!

Cheers!

Mini Studio Work

2011-11-15T21:05:00.000+08:00

From the recent post 'Be Your Own...', I worked again in my mini studio to practice product lighting but this time with a different light setup. Slightly different from the previous setup.

This time I was working on smaller objects/products and therefore I was able to use a table for this setup. It is worth-mentioning the table as it played an important role in the setup of the lights. The main light remained at the same position and the second light was placed under the table facing the wall (background). The table was not fully pushed back to the wall but instead a gap was left out. This gap was intentional as the light below the table that was aimed to the wall that will create that almost perfect white seamless background as you will see in the images below.

If you can see from the images above, a light reflection was also captured as there was a slightly shiny material that I placed there.

I was able to work fast with this setup than my previous setup when I used continuous CFL lights. There was minimal post-processing done with these images not like when I used the continuous CFL lights as the exposure was purely dependent on the ambient light.

The off-camera flashes were a big help. It's my first step in making my work a lot easier.

Be Your Own...

2011-11-08T20:45:00.000+08:00

It's been awhile since I wrote a post and I hope that this new post can be an interesting one.

Be your own boss is what I can think of to finish the hanging title when I see the photo below.

But to add a little interest, it was my intention to hang the title as the title can actually 'Be Your Own... Model'. You'll find out why at the end, so keep on reading. I was shooting some products the other day and I thought it will be a good way to cap the session by doing a portrait session using the two-light setup I have for the product shoot. This photo is actually a composite. The background, text, and watermark is obviously digital addition via GIMP.

What I want to share here is the two-light setup for the product shoot that was used as the base setup for the two-light setup for the portrait session used in the final work shown above. Though I tweaked the light positions a bit from the original positions for the product shoot, the basic methods were almost the same.

My work area was a tiny corner in the house that I'll show you in awhile but before that here's the lighting diagram that I used for the product shoot.

I've got the two lights in front that are directed towards the wall for an instant large source of soft light all over. This is to illuminate both sides of the product and hopefully kill the shadows to show every part of the product.

Since the corner was small, it didn't require too much power to light the entire scene. The light on the left was about two stops lower that the light on the right. It required more power as there's more room to light than on the left side on the camera's point-of-view.

I used a reflector/gobo on the left side light so as not to let the light coming from it go into the camera lens and create flare.

Here's a sample photo of the outcome from this light setup.

I've extended the left and right sides of the photo to give it a square look. When I took this shot, I filled my view finder with the entire product thus I need to adjust and extend the left and right sides.

Now, for the lighting diagram for the photo at the top of this post.

Now, I placed the light on left on to the opposite corner of the light on the right. I did this to reflect some light back to the subject and give it a little back light and create dimension to the subject.

I placed a gobo or a black panel to prevent the bounced light to come into the lens and prevent flare too. This light is about three stops lower than the light on the right side light because it's distance to the subject is not that great in order to avoid a washed out effect on the left side.

Here's the photo at the top again.

Anyway, the funny thing is, that I was working in a small space thus the heat and therefore I was half-suited on this shot. Yes, literally half-suited as I was working in my shorts and bare feet when I did this. I cropped the photo really good huh?

And so now, I'm gonna let you crawl into the mini-studio and you'll see how cramped it can be. Just the things that you can't see at the time of production.

Okay, the reflector wasn't circular as shown in the lighting diagram above rather it was just a piece of white/black card board and the gobo or panel was simply a foam sheet I wrapped around the flash unit.

And there's even a tripod leg sticking out of the door frame!

Despite all of these, it didn't stop me from making good photos. Actually, I used it to benefit me rather than to be an obstacle.

Hopefully, I can make more behind-the-scenes photos to truly appreciate the final outcome of the work that was put into each photo that I try to create.

It took me 33 shots to get that one shot I used at the top. Working alone -- being the photographer, model, director, stylist, and editor at the same time is a fun challenge -- I think.

Oh well, there goes my little secret!

Cheers everyone, hope you found this little article helpful in your lighting your photography.

Related Post:

On-Camera Flash And Small White Room - What a small white room can do even only just by using an on-camera flash.

85mm Street Photography

2011-10-01T18:49:00.000+08:00

On a recent trip to Singapore for the 2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix, I tried to do a little street photography with my 85mm as the event is surely filled with subjects.

I'm really not into street photography but I wanted to try it out and the Formula 1 Grand Prix is a perfect place to do it. So I tried a little of it on my last day. I was more busy taking photos of cars zooming across.

This first photo was actually taken with a 70-200mm. This little Mardi Gras was swarmed with people and this is only one of my keepers. I'm really not sure if this is part of the real street photography.

Anyway, it was on the streets.. :D

Here's an Indian dance presentation in the streets.

And a pretty lady walking by the Indian dance.

There goes my shot at street photography. :D

Playful Session

2011-09-10T17:07:00.000+08:00

I had a chance to take photos of great comic character toy figures a few weeks ago and it was indeed a playful photo opportunity. I then wanted to try to do composite editing. I would like to share the result of my effort on one of the toy figures and here's what I got. It's not that great but it's a start.

The Hulk (Composite)

Your comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Here's the original photo:

The Hulk (Original Photo © Angelo Chiu)

And here's a little transformation slideshow:

I'm looking forward for more playful sessions.

Lighting setup: Off-camera flash was used using a DIY softbox on camera left with silver reflector on camera right. Another flash with a flag to light up the background.

Related post:

Volkswagen Photoshoot -- Die-cast - A photo session with a Volkswagen Beetle die-cast.

My Portraiture Workflow

2011-08-30T22:31:00.000+08:00

I would like to share my recent workflow that I use to process select portraits. I'm sure, there's a lot of workflow out there but I thought of sharing mine today as I have been more out with portraits lately than product shoots.

The more I learn about portraiture, my workflow have changed as well.

Old Workflow	New Workflow
Levels
...	Curves
Heal/Clone
Gaussian Blur
...	Noise Reduction
Color Balance (Test Mode)

Some details on the steps. On what I try to achieve upon performing the steps above.

Levels - I use this to assign a black point (and sometimes a white point). Before, I use this also to improve the contrast of the image until I started to use Curves.
Curves - Now, I try to improve the contrast of the image by using this instead of Levels.
Heal/Clone - I usually use Heal to take out the most obvious blemishes and Clone for cloning out distracting items in the image. I also use Clone to improve the image.
Gaussian Blur - This is to give the smooth skin effect. Here's a little tutorial on how this is achieved though I don't use Photoshop but GIMP, the process is practically the same.
Noise Reduction - Since I was able to obtain a neat plug-in for GIMP called Wavelet Denoise, I find it very impressive.
Color Balance - As the name suggests, this aims to balance the colors in the image. But as of now, I most likely destroy the image than improve the overall output. So right now, I'll leave it as in test mode or if I may say, learning stage.

So, there you go, my portraits processing workflow. If you have your workflow, come on and share it as well.

By the way, here is a side-by-side before and after look of the sample image above.

Related post:

New Learning: Portraits - smooth skin..

VW Beetle Photo Up!

2011-07-20T01:37:00.000+08:00

I just want to share my excitement to see my VW Beetle diecast photo up at Infotex's website as I have mentioned from my previous post: VW Beetle Hoodie. I hope that this opportunity opens the door to new other possibilities.

Here's a screen shot of Infotex's website:

Infotex's website

Cheers and thank you to Infotex for the opportunity.

Share Eat!

2011-07-11T22:25:00.000+08:00

Share what? Share Eat! -- the 'Joy of Eating' with Clara Olé. My family decided to go to this event at Mercato Centrale despite of the 'bed weather' last Sunday morning. We arrived early with just enough time to go around. It was my first time to go to Mercato Centrale which my wife boasts of having a wide array of food choices to fill up the belly.

Anyway, we were there to attend Clara Olé and Mercato Centrale's event for the day of Share Eat! It's an interactive cooking demo with Chef Eugene Raymundo with guest Appetite EIC magazine, Nina Daza-Puyat for Clara Olé's new slogan 'Joy of Eating'. In the event, they also held an on-the-spot photo contest that was open to everyone. Surely, a lot of photo junkies came as well as bloggers that somehow shared the pot alike.

Thanks to Clara Olé for the special gift I received for being one of the first 20 participants for the on-the-spot photo contest. Not bad for a weekend at Mercato Centrale.

Before the event started, I was able to scout some stalls for food shots that looks interesting and yummy. Well, it's my first time here and I believe it's a real haven for food and photography enthusiast.

I wasn't able to go around the venue much and was only able to take these photos that made it through my selection process that's worthy of posting and sharing.

Some fresh kebabs being grilled on the spot.

Some hearty meat with cucumber, onions, bell pepper and tomatoes.

Here's an interesting sight, a not so common sight. I remember watching this type of burger being featured in one of the food channels I watch. Instead of bread buns, they use Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts.

Here's another interesting sight -- a hill of potato balls with cheese and bacon bits with garnishing. A quick bite similar to baked potatoes except that these are bite-sized.

Now, let's go back to the Clara Olé's event with Chef Eugene Raymundo cooking three dishes using Clara Olé's sauces.

Recipe 1: Penne Gamberi (using Clara Olé Chunky Tomato with Basil and Cheesy Pesto Pasta Sauces)

Recipe 2: Moroccan Paella (using Clara Olé Mix Mo Paella Flavor)

Recipe 3: Mango-Kani Roll Salad (using Clara Olé Mango Mio Viniagrette)

That was surely a wonderful Sunday for our family. I bet my kids truly loved the eating part of our visit at Mercato Centrale. See for yourself. :) My daughters sharing the joy of eating. Sweet!

Cheers!

On-Camera Flash And Small White Room

2011-07-08T23:21:00.000+08:00

Last week I had a chance to participate in an open photo shoot organized by Terry Jorgensen at The Bulb Studios. It was my first time to shoot in a studio with those big mono lights with their big soft boxes. The first shot I took with those big lights made me drool over them and makes me wanna get myself some of those lights too. I will someday.

Okay let's get back to the title of this post before I get carried away with those big lights introduction. What I really wanted to share and concentrate on was my favorite shots that I was able to take outside of the studio, actually it still inside the studio but away from the big lights -- the reception area of the studio. The reception area that was about, maybe 10 feet by 30 feet with a ceiling height of about 10 feet also. What was great about the reception area was it's painted white all over -- the walls, floor, and ceiling. One more thing, the entrance to this area was a glass door that allowed lots of light to enter into the room.

Model: Cathy Frey

The photo above was shot in the reception area. The reception door is on my left (model's right) side. I had my speedlite on my camera and from what I've learned, direct on-camera flash isn't really flattering at all. I have been practicing how to bounce flash with on-camera flash and I believe this is one big accomplishment for the little speedlite. I bounced my flash towards my back angled up about 45 degrees. This filled up the room with light scattering all about and bouncing all around the walls and ceiling and floor and created this big soft light source. As a result of this, the shadows behind the model and the motorcycle was almost eliminated and created a wrap around light on the subjects. As I didn't have much experience with big studio lights but have ample experience on bounce flash, I was able to get this awesome shot! Below is another shot on the same setting.

Model: Cathy Frey

At the opposite end of the studio entrance was the reception desk and it had a stair case on it's right side still painted white. Again, I was able to use it as my "own" small studio with only having my speedlite as the light source. I applied the same technique as I have done above but tweaked the angle of the flash.

Model: Stephanie Gaña

In the photo above, I believe the flash was toward my back-right hand side. On the next photo, the flash was on the opposite side as the model change positions, I had to adjust the direction of the flash. If I didn't change the direction of the flash, I would've lit the model's hair instead of her face.

Model: Stephanie Gaña

I was able to make good use of the white walls and on-camera flash using bounce flash techniques. I have to thank Neil van Niekerk for his tutorials on flash photography techniques. I did quite learn a lot from his blog on the use of on-camera flash bounce.

The rest of my photos from this photo shoot session can be seen here: Heroes & Villains Open Photo Shoot by Terry Jorgensen.

Again, thanks Terry for the spot and opportunity.

Details, details, details...

2011-06-27T23:43:00.001+08:00

Stained Fork

Got myself excited to shoot some detail shots over the weekend as it was very gloomy and rainy outdoors. Here are some of what I was able to take last Saturday night. How I did it at the end of my post. :D


Don't Fret		Pegged


Glitz!		Fedora Stitch

Here's my favorite shot of the night:

I made my bunch of cookies as my midnight snack after photographing it as it really made me hungry.

Sunday, blessed me with a slight overcast afternoon with a little sun peeping through the clouds. Since the rains have stopped since morning, little critters were out too and so was I. :D

Crab Spider

Big Red Eyes

I'm Hairy


Red Bulb		White Veins

The leaf shot reminds me of science class where we used to peek into a microscope to look in closer on leaf structure though this is nowhere near as a microscope photo.

Cereals???

I just found this interesting.

The How.

I used an extension tube coupled with my 85mm with the shots that were produced on Saturday night and then with my defective-AF kit lens for the Sunday afternoon session.

The extension tubes that I used were the dumb cheap ones. It's really like a tube except that it has mounts for the lens and the camera body to be coupled together. Using the extension tubes meant physical manual focus. I said physical is because it's either I or the subject moves forward or backward to get the part I wanted in focus as this type deals with really narrow DOF (depth-of-field).

I used a flash with a diffuser cup with varying light intensity and distance to light the subject. The built-in flash can also be used but I wanted to control the direction of the light thus I used an external flash. Another tip, I used my maximum flash sync speed (1/200 sec for my camera) to eliminate camera shake and get photos that are sharp enough.

The physical manual focus was really a challenge but my love for macro has just been revived! :)

Cheers!

The rest of the other photos are in this album:

Macro

Brown Flower (Chico flower)

One Light

2011-06-24T01:54:00.000+08:00

Here's a photo that is pretty much Zack Arias - inspired shot. I have been planning to take this heart pendant of my daughter but during the time I wanted to shoot it, we can't find it. So I told my wife about this plan I have and a few days ago, guess what, they found it and I just shot it.

Here's the result:

Heart Pendant (Zack Arias - inspired)

Yup, that's pretty much it! So, what's with the title 'One Light'? Well, I used only one light for this photo. I practically just lit the background to blow it away to close to white.

The setup. I had a small table propped up in front of a white wall in our home then I placed a white semi glossy white board on top of the table. The table was about a foot away from the wall. Yes, there was a gap between the table and the wall. I then placed my flash on the floor just barely beneath the table's edge pointed to the wall. The gap between the table and the wall was the place where I need my flash to light the wall and bounce that light back somewhere. During the shot I placed a card board wrapped in foil to act as a filler light to shine a little light on the front of the pendant.As you can see there's a small highlight on the metal loop that holds the beads and the heart. I hanged the necklace and pendant close to the glossy board enough to get a reflection/shadow for drama.

Viola!

Heart Pendant (Zack Arias - inspired)

It was a very nice exercise as I had the chance to apply what I learned from reading Zack Arias' blog/website.

I hope you can pick-up something new from Zack Arias' blog/website as I did.

Cheers!

VW Beetle Hoodie

2011-06-16T18:20:00.000+08:00

In relation to my previous post: Volkswagen Photoshoot -- Die-cast, I received an email from a website design firm recently asking for my permission for them to use one of my photos that I took of the VW Beetle die-cast about a week ago as they would like to use it for one of their campaigns for their new website.

Naturally, I was flattered that they'll going to use one of my photos. :) Here's the photo they've asked permission to use:

VW Beetle 1/24 Scale Die-cast

I received another email from them with an attached e-newsletter they're going to use or are using with the VW Beetle photo of mine with an appropriate byline and I just wanted to share it with you how it looks:

Infotex E-Newsletter

This opportunity is a real big inspiration for me. Now, I'm really looking forward for more sets with die-cast toys. One more thing, this photo was taken only with a kit lens and only shows that creativity is what matters and how it's executed, right?

Volkswagen Photoshoot -- Die-cast

2011-05-28T21:02:00.000+08:00

Diecast? What comes into your mind? Yes, toy cars, usually. Die-cast are model toys made by the die-casting method using metal, plastic, and rubber. More details about die-casting can be found in this link.

I am stuck at home and it's raining outside and I thought it was a good time to spend time with a little photography. Actually, I was really planning on taking some photos of a die-cast VW Beetle that I borrowed from a co-worker at the office.

I knew shooting this beetle will be a challenge as this model have a lot of curves. I was planning of using two lights for the photographs but I ended with only using one 24W CFL bulb in my DIY soft box and lots of card boards for fill-light and shapers.

VW Beetle 1/24 scale - Door Ajar

The above photo is edited. I frosted the headlamps with a hint of yellow just to give a little color. I wish that it had real lamps. The following photos, I retained the original color of the headlamps.

VW Beetle 1/24 scale - Parked

My one 24-Watt DIY softbox is placed directly on top of the model and card boards are placed around depending on the what needs to be filled with light and shaped.

VW Beetle 1/24 scale - Hood Up

Now from this shot you can really see that this is a die-cast car as the detail under the hood shows that it is really a scale model. I like though the detail of the spare tire inside the 'front' trunk.

VW Beetle 1/24 scale - Bin

Here's one shot that I did where I placed it beside a perfume cap. Actually, I thought that it can be substituted as a model garbage bin just to have some accessories.

Well, it was a very interesting afternoon and I'm looking forward for another set of die-cast stuff to shoot.

Who Wants Pear?

2011-05-05T15:25:00.000+08:00

Related to my previous post: Back To Stock. Here's one of the unlucky ones that didn't made the cut. Actually, it's a good thing it didn't as I wanted to share how I lighted this and how I really liked the way it came out.

f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO 100

I had the pear on a transparent glass lined with tracing paper and a CFL bulb beneath the glass. Yes, this was a back-lit subject. I had to touch up a little flash on the upper-left corner of the pear. This then created a crescent-shaped shadow. I had to lift up that shadow to reveal some details there by placing a white cardboard opposite of the flash. The flash was diffused by a DIY 12"x12" soft box.

The highlight and shadow defined the shaped of the pear while the back light revealed some texture - a bit wrinkled up. The pear seems to float as there are no shadows on the sides or beneath it.

The photo of the brown bear in 'Back To Stock' post had the same lighting applied.

Back To Stock

2011-05-02T22:32:00.002+08:00

I've been out of the loop on stock photography for quite sometime as I have been preoccupied with portraiture. Here's an extra shot from the recent stock photo session I had. It's one of those shots not really for stock photos as this photo have identifiable marks as you can see below:

LV Bear Key Chain

So this was not submitted for review for my portfolio with Fotolia. I am currently waiting on my submitted stock photos' acceptance or rejection. I'm wondering how will I do this time? I submitted 15 new stock photos. Right now, since it's under review, it cannot be seen in my portfolio as accepted stock photos only appear in my portfolio. I hope all appears in my portfolio.

Cheers!

Session With The 85mm

2011-03-31T19:01:00.006+08:00

I was able to setup a practice session with Canon's EF 85mm f/1.8 last Sunday. The place where the session we went to was indeed nice and have probably lots of potential spots to shoot. But due to the private and high-class nature of the place, I was on my toes for anyone that might make us wrap-up prematurely. Brought along the kids during the practice session to add a little distraction.

I've planned to shoot with ambient light only and some flash when possible. Oh well, the ambient light setup was a bit tricky as the afternoon was overcast. Moreover, add some wind and drizzle into the mix.

See what I mean? Though it wasn't drizzling when the photo above was taken. We were able to take shelter on a small play area for kids when it drizzled. It was a nice area as it has an open door and huge windows where an adult can easily pass through. It's a good opportunity for good light but if I were to consider the direction where the light should come from and and the subject's position, it meant I should be out of the play area?! Come on, it's drizzling outside.. =) Here's a couple of shots:

f/3.2, 1/100sec, ISO 200

Both photos were retouched to remove some blemish on the skin as the light direction emphasized it. Additionally, the corner where these two photos were taken was dark and it drowned the her into the background. I fired a flash behind her which is more evident on the second photo to give space between the subject and background. I liked how the black and white post processing worked on the image and the accent made by the flash behind her. =)

After the drizzle, we went back to the hut where we left our stuff and went on a break. After a light meal, we tried to get some snaps with one of the support beans of the hut. I had my 4-year old daughter hold up the flash for me when I took this shot. What a dandy light stand. =)

f/3.2, 1/320 sec, ISO 200 + flash with diffuser cup

Jolly after the snack. =) We then headed out again since the drizzle had finally stopped but still very overcast. We found some steps and leveraged the steps for a different angle -- from a low point of view.

f/3.5, 1/160, ISO 200

The spot on the steps was very windy and we decided to look for a better spot. We strolled further after steps and found this green bench beside a tree. The sun was behind the tree and the bench in front of the tree. It's a good spot indeed. The sun peeked a little from behind the tree and somehow gave a slight rim light on her on the following photo below:

f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 800

I wanted a shot seeing the green bench and how it complemented the green background and the flowery dress.Using the wind too to open up her face a bit.

f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 200

It was a fun practice shoot with the 85mm but as I reviewed the photos, I was a little disappointed on the sharpness of the photos. Since the 85 is a longer focal range that I am used to using -- 17-50mm, it's really important to take note of the DOF and should be careful where to focus. Still the day ended well, a little exhausted but truly worthwhile.

f/5.6, 1/50 sec, ISO 800

Well, I guess I will be looking forward for another practice shoot with the 85mm. =) The next photo is not taken with then 85mm but I just thought it's worthwhile to post the cast and crew (supportive wife and adorable kids). =)

f/5.0, 1/80 sec, ISO 400, flash bounced on roof of the hut

Cheers!

Coffee Assignment

2011-03-26T16:09:00.002+08:00

I am a part of a young and passionate photography club called Quezon City Photography Club (QCPC). It's a growing club in the city where I currently reside.

One of the club members wanted to start of with something like of a contest or some sort and we ended up having a monthly themed assignment. For the month of March, we have a coffee-based theme.

I joined this activity to push my creativity and as well as to develop more my photography skills. It's really a part of learning I guess. When this theme was announced, it came to my thought that for sure there'll be lots of coffee cups and saucer and teaspoons photos. I wanted to be different so I thought of using coffee beans. Using just coffee beans was too simple of a shot and I don't how to make it more interesting.

Then I remembered seeing an ad on the TV of coffee beans being roasted. I wanted to recreate this picture I have in mind.

So, I was able to loan a half-cup of coffee beans from a colleague of mine from work. Here's the result of my session with the loaned coffee beans.

Hot Beans

I wanted an effect that looked like that the coffee beans were recently roasted and are still venting off steam.

Hot Shot

Took a shot glass and I wanted the same effect as the one on top.

Spilled Beans

Tipped off the shot glass and still trying to get the effect on hot coffee beans.

Where did the smoke come from you might be asking. The smoke came from some incense and I waited for the smoke to be wafted towards the coffee beans for an effect the smoke comes from the coffee beans itself.

The one that I entered in our club's themed assignment is the 'Spilled Beans' as it has some other element in the photo which is the shot glass and making it not look too bare like on the first photo: 'Hot Beans'.

All photos were taken at 85mm, f/11.0, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, Off-cam flash with the setting below:

Black background and coffee beans were set on top of a glass table for the reflections on the beans. The snooted flash allowed the environment to be dark and only shed light onto the subject. The reflector bounced of some light from the snooted flash to fill-in some light on the right side of the photo where the shadow should have casted due to the position of the flash.

Position of the flash was considered for two things: 1) to get the texture of the coffee beans and 2) to shine light on the smoke just like the way I did on my smoke photography.

Cheers!

Flowers Delight!

2011-03-08T12:49:00.002+08:00

Over the weekend, my wife together with my two daughters and I, went to church early and ate out for breakfast as I wanted to go to the Orchids Festival that was just recently concluded last March 7, 2011. These were taken at the Quezon City Memorial Circle where the festival was held.

I wanted to be early so I can still have soft natural light and didn't want to use flash in this occasion. Indeed the day was blessed with magnificent light. I really like taking photos of flowers under ambient light. Flower photography is my first love in photography and I can't wait to get myself a true dedicated macro lens for this (but it has to wait for awhile).

So let me share some of my favorites which I am very happy to share with you along with some description of the photo.

Here's an orchid where my intention is to focus on only one or two blossoms and let the others in the cluster blur in the background. Though the other blooms are blurred, it retained it's general form, shape, and color suggesting that the only focused bloom is part of a group and not a solo.

f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 200

Here's another bloom where I intentionally took a shot of the top part only of the cluster and show the color and the remains of the previous night's rain on them.

f/3.2, 1/640sec, ISO 200

A close-up shot (not a macro) of a bloom from a cluster of orchid blooms where I intentionally shot only one to reveal the patterns and color of this particular bloom. Actually, if you can look closely, there seems to be an alien's face (similar to movies -- big eyes, small mouth, and probably a third eye on the forehead) there in the pattern.

f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 200

This particular bloom is quite interesting for me as this variety is very seldom seen. The common color of this bloom is pink. I am actually trying to grow the common variety of this in our garden.

f/4.0, 1/125sec , ISO 200

I remember that this is my second shot from the series of photos that I have taken from this trip. My wife actually spotted this particular bloom for it's peachy color. The shallow DOF was intentional as I wanted to introduce dimension to the flower. I hope I achieved this. :)

f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 100

Ain't that delightful? Thank you for viewing. I hope you were enjoyed the photos as I enjoyed taking photos of them.

Share your delight and mine by sharing this blog entry to your friends.

Cheers!

Studio or Not?

2011-03-07T13:26:00.000+08:00

Previously, I posted my favorite photo from a recent portraits photoshoot session here. That was ambient light only. These ambient light only shots were only additional shots after the actual session.

Here are some of those studio shots -- not!

I was commissioned to do some portraits to be used for a debut invitation. Client wanted a studio session but I didn't have one so I improvised. The client was willing to go to our place and I planned out where the shoot will take place and I've picked our veranda which was spacious enough to move around and of course it has lots of good ambient light!

I didn't rely only on the ambient light that's coming from the left of the subject. I had to mix it with artificial light from my flash. I positioned it at the subject's right side to act as a filler so I'll have two sides with light. Balancing the output of the flash was a bit tricky since I have one light source that's varying in intensity as the clouds move across the sky. :) I guess that's why on the first photo, the right side has a warmer (yellow-orange) light.

Here's an overview of my setup. Can you see Mr. Sun on the right side smiling? :)

I would like to have more opportunities to have this kind of sessions in the coming weeks. :)

By the way, I did edit a little on the background to make it that white and remove the not so visible creases on the white cloth used in the background.


Original Background	Edited Background

With additional lighting, I could have done it without any editing. Next stop, additional light. :)

Cheers!

Beautiful Ambient Light

2011-03-05T02:04:00.001+08:00

Last weekend I was able to take another portraits session and I just want to share this ambient light that I was able to use -- soft and just beautiful.

Sharp Eyes

It even created wonderful catch lights on the eyes and casted soft shadows. It's one truly a softbox made in heaven.

This was taken in full shade at around 11:00 AM where the sun is probably almost peeping from the edge of the roof where we were.

Monochrome It!

2011-02-24T19:30:00.000+08:00

The past weekend, I took photos of our visiting cat. Yep, the cat's only a visitor because it's not ours. It usually visits our lawn area to take naps and probably frighten the rats away.

I was able to take a nice photo of this cat while it was resting before it scampers away again. It usually goes away when I approach it as it is very aloof from us who are living in this house. Anyway, I was happy with the technical stuff of the photo but wasn't really happy with one aspect -- the background! I had no time to clear away the clutter or change angle or view. Check the photo below:

Very nice, right? Well, it is to me. There's a little distraction and would you know what it is? Yes, that's right! The green band on the background is taking away the attention from the cat. You tend to look that way, right?

So what did I do? You've guessed it right! Read the title again. I believe that by doing that, it helped bring back the attention to the visiting cat of ours.

Ciao or should I say Meow! :)

Which one do you prefer?