We weren’t around for the first few days of the tournament, but we were there for the final day – and it was quite a day.  Play began a bit later than the planned 2:00 p.m. start, and ran well into past the night and into the next day.  We’ve decided to share a handful of images with you – don’t you feel so privileged?  =)

Check them out after the jump, and click on any of them to see a larger image.

Sitting down with Noel, Alan, and Eugene

Vic looking tough for the cameras

The stray cat (pusang gala) can't help but smile

"Don't you dare touch my chips!"

The man gives final instructions

Maike takes a breather before the cameras roll

We're down to the last 18 players

I want a good, clean fight... wait... wrong sport...

Look at that stack of chips...

Pusang Gala loosely translated: stray cat

"Ok masahista ko! (My masseuse is pretty good!)"

Who has the best poker face?

"I want that one too!"

Ozzie (did I spell it right?) seems pretty happy

Uh, oh!

Everybody's happy

Everybody's still happy

We're in the final table!

We're in the final table!

Take cover!

1,384,625... 1,384,626... 1,384,627...

Willing the flop to go his way...

Watching the turn

PUSANG GALA!!!!

Somebody's happy

What's up?

Yeah!

"That's it for me."

Don, Freddy, & Vic

We gotta give props to the host, right?

Who wants the trophy?

"We're down to the final two players..."

"How bad do you want it?"

"Salamat sa inyong lahat (Thank you, everbody)"

One last time: PUSANG GALA!!!

FPT Hi-5 winner Vic de Guzman

We submitted quite a few more to PokerStars, but we didn’t think you’d want to see all of them here. Besides, it would’ve taken ages for all of that to load. Anyway, we hope you liked what we’ve shared with you here.

On one last note, if you want to read about the event, you can check out the following:

• The Metro Hi-5 Breaks all records in Philippine poker, Prize pool to exceed P6,000,000!
• The Metro Hi-5 Down to 16 players, Champion to Emerge Today
• Vic De Guzman Bags P2,000,000 Top Prize in The Metro Hi-5
• The Official Filipino Poker Tour site

Mind you, I wasn’t hired to cover the wedding.  Heck, I wasn’t even there to cover their first reception.  Instead, they flew all the way from California to the Philippines to have a second reception – that is what I covered.

The tiny image you see on the left (click on it to see something larger) is one of the products of that coverage.  Yeah, their wedding was a few weeks earlier, but they still wanted to get some more portraits for their album, so we played around as the reception came to a close.  We found a little love seat, set up a couple of lights, tore apart a few dozen roses, and made a big mess.  The image you see is the result of that mess.

Of course, that isn’t the only image from the whole event.  I still have quite a few images from the wedding (yes, the wedding I missed) to share with you.  After the jump, you can check out a few spreads from the wedding preparations as well as the wedding itself.

Like I mentioned, I wasn’t there for the wedding, so credit for the photography goes to my (now Singapore  based) colleague, Sly Samonte.  The last spread, however, focuses on the Philippine reception.  I think most of those images are mine, but at this point, I don’t really know and I don’t really care.  All I care about is that Nico and Sarah love the album.

chimpin’ by me

CC-BY-NC-ND

What DSLR should I get?  That is one of the most common questions I hear, and with this post, I’m hoping to help you answer that question.

If you already have a DLSR and you’re looking for an upgrade, you can probably skip this.  Then again, you might as well read this – somebody is bound to ask you the same question some day.

Getting back to the point, if you’re buying your first DSLR, which one should you get?  To answer that, you have to ask yourself quite a few more questions.  Keep in mind that we won’t be discussing any specific brand or model.  Instead, we’ll be asking questions that will help you figure out which camera to get.

Also keep in mind that image quality probably won’t be an issue here.  Almost all DSLRs in the market today will perform similarly.  Yes, some will be better than others, but if this is your first DSLR, the biggest issue will be how much better it performs than your current point-and-shoot.

How much are you willing to spend immediately?

I’ll ask the question again, how much are you willing to spend immediately?  When you buy a DSLR,  you’re not just buying a camera – you’re buying into a whole system of lenses, lights, and other gear.  A camera and a lens are all you may be getting now, but eventually, you’ll be spending quite a bit more on two or three lenses, a flash or two, and quite a few other things.  That being said, we’re trying to figure out which kit you’ll be getting now.

Put simply – if you can’t afford it, then don’t even consider buying it.  On the other hand, if you can afford it, it’s something you should probably consider.

Check online.  Check your local retailers.  Check the 2nd hand market.  Find out what options you have available and list them down. DSLRs don’t come cheap, so finding out what your options are is definitely a good idea.

Once you know what your options are, then you can ask yourself the next question.

How big are your hands?

I know it might seem like a strange question, but let me explain first.

Twee by Amanda M Hatfield

CC-BY

The major players in the industry have DSLRs that come in different sizes.  One player seems to be focused on making smaller cameras, but for the most part, cameras come in three basic sizes: small, medium, and large.  Quite conveniently, these sizes usually correspond to three classes of cameras: entry-level or consumer, enthusiast (sometimes called pro-sumer), and professional.  Not surprisingly, their prices also fit into similar categories: expensive, very expensive, and I-can-buy-a-@$#%-car-for-that-price.

If you’ve got tiny hands, then you’ll probably end up with a small, entry-level camera.  You might be able to afford something better, but if that’s what feels comfortable in your hands, it’s likely the one you’ll enjoy using more.  It may not have the latest and greatest set of features, but since technology trickles down, the latest entry-level camera still has quite a few tricks up its sleeve.

If you’ve got big hands and a small budget, don’t fret.  If you want the latest model but can only afford a small camera, squeezing a little more out of your budget to add a battery grip could work for you.  If you’re willing to buy used or refurbished, you can upgrade to one of the bigger cameras – you won’t have the latest technology, but you’ll have something that feels comfortable in your hands.

Look around and check out a few camera stores.  Get your hands on some different cameras and see how they feel.  At this point, size is pretty much your main concern – you want to figure out which cameras feel right in your hands, as well as your budget.  When you figure this out, then you can come up with a shortlist.

What do others say about your choices?

You know which cameras feel good in your hands, but you don’t know how well they actually work yet.  This is when you gather reviews from others.  Ask your friends, check online, bug your neighbor, harass your local camera store clerk, and check out the local photography club.  Others can tell you what they like and don’t like about the cameras on your list.  Of course, you should still take whatever they say with a grain of salt.

You can also check out, not just what people say, but what they do with the cameras you want.  Flickr has a nifty little tool they call the Camera Finder which lets you look for images taken by a certain brand or model of camera.  You probably won’t see any significant differences between different cameras, but it will definitely prove one thing – not getting the latest and greatest model won’t keep you from taking great images.  Like I mentioned earlier, practically all DSLRs today will give you much better image quality than your current camera.

This is very important – what systems are your friends and family using?

equipment by Marc Lacoste

CC-BY

Like I mentioned, when you buy an SLR, you’re not just buying a camera.  I strongly suggest getting something that lets you share equipment with people in your circle.  You’ll probably start out with only one body and one lens, but if you buy the same brand that some of your friends have, then you immediately have quite a few toys to play with.  Of course, this assumes that they trust you enough to be lend you some of their toys.

Of course, you won’t always be mooching off others.   Eventually, you’ll fill up your gear bag with other goodies that you can share with them too.  Before that though, comes another advantage of sharing a system with friends and family: the chance to test gear out before buying.  If, for example, one of your colleagues at work has a new wide-angle lens that you’ve been reading about, you can try it out yourself before you decide to buy one.   If you don’t want to go that far, you can at least grill him extensively about how well a certain piece of equipment performs – online reviews can only say so much, after all.

Yet another advantage of sharing a system with others is the potential for sales and trades.  You can see your friends treat their equipment, and they can see how you care for your gear too.  Should a friend decide to sell a lens you’ve been thinking about buying, you can get a pretty good idea of the condition it’s in, and consequently, how much it’s really worth.  You could also get a friend’s discount, or maybe some other deal.  Also, if you decide to unload any of your gear, you might have some ready buyers immediately.

At this point you’ve probably trimmed your list down to one or two choices, and this is the point where I give you some actual advice on what gear to get.  Here it is: whatever model you choose, get the kit lens.

Yes, I know there are some who will argue that the kit lens isn’t that great.  They will insist on getting expensive lenses that, admittedly, perform significantly better than the usual kit lens.  I’m telling you to ignore them.

Right now, you don’t know what the kit lens can do yet, so don’t knock it.  Right now, you don’t know what kind of lenses you’ll want.  Heck, right now, you don’t know what you can do with your (future) DSLR yet.  What the kit lens will do is allow you to do a little bit of everything.  It won’t be that great at anything, but it’ll still do a pretty good job. It’s not the fastest lens, but it’ll work for most of your needs.  It’s just wide enough to give you a wide angle, and just long enough to give you a little telephoto.  When you learn what you want that your kit lens isn’t giving you, then you spend more on other gear.  For now though, stick with the kit.

equipment by A A Photography

CC-BY-ND

Ok, I’ll backtrack a little on this point.  One lens you might want to consider getting immediately is a nifty-fifty.  Most manufacturers, or at least the two biggest players, have a 50mm f/1.8 (we’ll get to lens nomenclature some other time) that’s just cheap enough to be worth buying immediately.  Aside from this though, I’m telling you – stick with the kit lens!

I think that pretty much covers it.  To those of you thinking of buying a DSLR, I hope I helped you out.

To the rest of you, if you’ve got some tips that I missed, please leave a comment and tell me about it.

Before getting to the images though, I’d like to say that the dishes don’t just look good – they taste wonderful.  Everything you’re about to see is edible… very edible!  My team and I ended up sampling most of the 21 dishes, and we were stuffed silly.  I would definitely love to eat here again.

With that plug over, now we go on to the images:

Mixed Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I’m not sure exactly what it’s called, but it’s got 3 (or 4) different varieties of tomatoes in the sauce, and it’s yummy!

Again, I’m not sure what this is called, but sun-dried tomatoes, basil, chorizo (I think) and other good stuff definitely make for some great flavor.

Chicken cutlets, a tasty hot sauce, some yellow rice… yum!!!

Dessert, anyone?

The best carrot cake.

Korean Beef Stew to die for… and with San Miguel to go along with it, you’ll be in heaven.

Spiced Calabasa (Pumpkin, I believe) Soup

(Not So) Greek Salad – Sukang Iloko instead of lemons gives this Greek Salad a different twist

Tuna Croquetas to start with – these little babies will disappear quickly.

Twenty One Plates
205 Aguirre Avenue
BF Homes, Parañaque

food styling for some dishes by Jan Uichico

One last note: if you want to see what the place looks like, check out Jayvee’s post on Twenty One Plates.

Yeah, the collage you see on the left is pretty small, but you can see a (slightly) larger version of it after the jump.

In case some of the images look familiar, they’re from the Manila leg of APPT 2008.  I wish I could say that we took the cover shot, but I can’t – that’s just there so you know what the front of the magazine looks like.

I also wish I could include snippets from the article that I found particularly interesting or insightful, but unfortunately, I can’t read Finnish.  All I can tell you is that the article was about, well, APPT Manila.

Anyway, follow the jump to see more.

I say “almost purely a photojournalist” because I still staged a set of formal portraits as well as some images of the rings (including the image you see to the left).  I also took a few group shots at the end of the day because the couple asked me to.  Otherwise though, I tried to stay as unobtrusive as possible.

I realize I try to do this with my usual wedding coverage, but this time, it was even easier than usual because as I’ve already mentioned, there were six other people tasked with covering the events of the day.  I didn’t need to go from table to table taking group shots – that’s not what I was there for.  I was there to give a different perspective – so that’s what I did.

Now, the set of images below is a small sample of what I’ve given Alex & Via. It is also composed of only black & white images.  Why?  Well, while I was processing the images, I found myself converting a lot of them to black & white – it’s that simple.  Somehow, I ended up with so many of them – enough to fill up an album – that I decided to make this post completely in black & white.  I’m sure I’ll be giving them both color and black & white images for the final album, but I think this set looks pretty good despite the lack of color.

So, what do you think?

To Alex & Via, I hope you enjoyed this little album.  I’ll be dropping by again soon with another album – this time something you can actually hold in your hands.

I’m not quite sure what to say right now, so you might as well check out the Poker Stars Blog (specifically APPT Manila Coverage) to see the latest images (and of course news) from the event. There are other sites too, but I don’t know what they are yet.

I’ll probably post a few more links later if I find the time.  In the meantime, you can follow the jump to see a bunch of images.

Click here to see the whole set on Flickr. There might be more up there by the time you read this, but at the time this post is published, that’s everything.

It still isn’t the beach wedding I’ve been dreaming of covering, but it was still quite a beautiful occasion, and it was a joy to cover.

Enough of all the talk though – let’s get to the images.

Top left is little Mika – I still can’t quite decide if she looks like her dad or her mom, but I think you can decide for yourself as you see the rest of the images. Below that is her mom, the bride. Yes, she did her own make-up – I know that’s not very common here, but like I said, it’s not like most weddings here.

To the right is the groom waiting outside the room while his bride gets into her gown.  The bride and groom saw each other before the wedding?  I’ll say it again, it’s not like most weddings.

You want proof that the Jose and Tinette were in the same place?  This is it – that’s the couple walking down the same hallway you saw earlier.  Normally, you’d see just the bride, her face covered in a veil.  That wasn’t the case here – you’ve got the bride with no veil on her head, the groom at her arm, and the beginnings of a laugh on her face.

Fortunately, we still got a little bit of alone time with Tinette for her portraits.  As usual, my favorite shot from the set wasn’t a planned one.  In the image here, she suddenly struck a pose – and we ended up with a fantastic shot for the album.

Going again with the not-your-typical-wedding theme, the bride and the groom walked the aisle together.  Here, it looks like they’re asking each other if they’re ready for this.

The answer to the previous question, obviously, was yes.  That means I can share a couple of solemn and joyful moments with you.

Of course, the first kiss is a must-have.  Also here are some other portraits of the newlyweds.  Sly took the one on the upper right – I just provided the light.

These shots pale in comparison to the next image though – what is probably one of the cutest first kiss images I’ve ever gotten.

Come on… you have to admit it’s cute.

Ok, this next one isn’t quite as cute, but I really like it.  I wish I could say I took it, but Sly took this one too.  I was too busy packing gear so we could move on to the reception.

If I remember correctly, in every wedding I’ve covered, there has been a cute little kid that simply loved having his or her picture taken.  In this wedding, this little girl in the green dress played that role.

If I also remember correctly, I’ve never had the bride and groom take over the exit at their reception.  Jose and Tinette did just that – they stood by the door and made sure almost everybody had a picture with the couple before they left.  I say almost everybody because a few people had already left by the time Jose and Tinette blocked the exit.

Of course, while nobody was leaving, the couple took time to give each other some attention.

What are these last two images?  The one on the left is the last photo of one of those glasses – I accidentally smashed it moments after I took this image (yes, I smashed something again).  The groom then immediately informed me that out of over 200 guests, I was the only one who ended up breaking a glass.  Thank goodness I didn’t smash any glass on my lenses.  Anyway, breaking a glass at a wedding is supposed to be good luck, right?

What’s the story behind the image on the right?  Well, that’s just a shot of the boys at the wedding horsing around.  While the bride was getting dressed (remember the hallway shot from the first set of images above?), we had nothing better to do.  The dude with shaved head is Jose, the groom.  The ones in white are his brothers.  The guy in the suit is Pao – I’m not quite what exactly he did, but he definitely helped keep everything running smoothly that day.  The gun in blue is Christian (a.k.a. X) – he shot the video.  The other guys in black (but not in suits) are the two photographers – Sly is on the top right holding the flash that lit us up and I’m holding the camera.  Yes, I had to share that image.

That’s why I recently embarked on another wave of DIY projects.  My goal this time was to come up with lighting mods that not only worked well, but looked good – or at the very least didn’t look like 3rd-grade art projects

The images below are the results of this DIY spree.  You want instructions?  I’ve also posted several links below.  I didn’t follow them completely, but I definitely used them as guides for my own projects.

For Strobists, here’s some lighting info:
With the exception of the grids, everything was lit with an SB-800 on one side and a bounce card (i.e. a piece of white cardboard) on the other.  The grids were lit by the said SB-800 and the 430EX you see.

How to get your own lighting mods:

speed strap / cinch strap
If you don’t want to build your own straps, you can get a LumiQuest® Cinch Strap or a HonlPhoto Speed Strap.  Since I don’t mount the straps on the edge of my flash – I need the room for my grids – I recommend the Lumiquest version.  The wider HonlPhoto straps give you a lot more space to attach your mods, but are so wide they have to go to the edge of the flash.

If, on the other hand, you want to make your own straps, check out the links below.  I pretty much combined ideas from both sets of tutorials.  On this note, I should make a disclaimer – I use a baller ID to keep the strap in place.  I place it around the flash, then wrap the strap around it, and the strap stays in place.  This rubber band (that’s what it is, essentially) also serves another purpose – it keeps my gel holder in place.

• DIY Photography Lighting – The DIY Speed Strap | DIYPhotography.net
• Strobist: Mount Your Mods with Speed Straps

grids
I already linked to some instructions in a previous post on DIY grids, but I’ll list them again here:

• Strobist: Free and So Easy: DIY Grid Spots for Your Flash
• Studio Lighting – Homemade Gridspot | DIYPhotography.net
• Lighting Mods: DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Part 1)
• Lighting Mods: DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Colored)

I pretty much used the black straw (colored) tutorial, with some differences.  One is that I added a little tab with some hook tape to latch it onto the speed strap on my flash.   The critical difference however, is that I didn’t use cardboard.  I’m pretty sure you can tell what material I used based on the images above, but all I’ll say about it is this – doesn’t it look so much better than cardboard or duct tape?

bounce card
My bounce card here is pretty much a stiff version of ABetterBounceCard.com with hook & loop tape.  As you can see, it’s white on one side (it’s a bounce card after all) and black on the other (so the people behind me don’t go blind).

You want to see the bounce card itself?  See two more (not so glamorous) images below. If you still want a tutorial after seeing this, leave a comment telling me so.  I think the images are pretty clear though.

gel holder
This one item stymied me for quite a while.  I didn’t particularly like David Hobby’s way of attaching gels.  For one thing, it left the gels prone to more wear and tear than necessary.  On top of that, the the Roscolux gels I had didn’t leave me with much room to attach some hook & loop tape.

The HonlPhoto Rosco Gel Kit didn’t look that much better either – without some modifications (i.e. adding hooks on the other side), there was no way of stacking gels or attaching bounce cards, gobos, and other wonderful lighting mods.

The LumiQuest FX, Gel Set with Holder looked interesting, but also looked too bulky.  I don’t think I could put my bounce card on with that gel holder on.  A DIY gel holder (plus a snoot and gobo too) by Thomas Schwenger caught my eye, but fell out of favor too – I thought the gel holder was a bit too flimsy.

I then saw this DIY gel holder over at DIYPhotography.net which almost, but didn’t quite fit the bill.  One line in the post caught my eye though:

This got me thinking on alternatives to gel holders and the thing that popped to mind was name tag pockets. Those are pretty cheap and once you place on over your flash, you can freely insert and remove colorful gels.

After a short trip to the local bookstore (or rather, a conversation with my girlfriend, who then took it upon herself to go to the bookstore), a bit of thinking, a fair amount of cutting, and some experimentation, I ended up with the little contraption you see on the right.

It looks a bit like the acrylic gel holder mentioned over at DIYPhotography.net, but it’s significantly lighter, nowhere near as bulky, and basically smaller.  It slides in under my DIY speed / cinch strap (under the baller ID I mentioned), and it’s small enough not to interfere with most other mods, so it can stay on my flash practically all the time.  I only remove this when I put on my grids, which have their own gel holders built in.

So, are you ready to start work on your own lighting mods?

It’s a piece of a picture frame that ended up smashed into little pieces.  I placed it near the edge of a table while trying to stage an image I had in my head – it landed on the floor less than two minutes later.  Needless to say, I didn’t move any other breakables around that day.

Fortunately, I ended up with more than a shattered picture frame.  Check out some of my favorite images (and maybe a short story about each) after the jump.

It seems like the men in the family didn’t really smile a whole lot, but when they did, you knew you would end up with a fantastic portrait. Take, for example, this jolly man above. To me it seemed like everytime he laughed or smiled, he looked a whole decade younger. I still have to smile when I see shots of him smiling like this.

On the other hand, this little boy didn’t want to smile for me.  I took the image above and showed it to him hoping for some reaction – I got a poker face.  Oh well – at least the rest of the family seems to love that shot.

As a photographer, catching a couple in “a moment” is, for lack of a better way of putting it, a cheap thrill.  In the images above, I caught Lolo and Lola (Filipino for Grandpa and Grandma) in one such moment.  I know she’s not fixing his tie (he’s not wearing one), so I guess he’s fixing his collar, or maybe brushing something off his cheek.  I don’t really know what she’s doing, but all I know is I almost missed this moment.

Of course, a little post-processing helps.  You see, I practically shot this from the hip – I ended up with a skewed (around 10 degrees, I think) and off-center image.  Thanks to the wonder of post-processing (and yes, you can do this in a darkroom), I got better symmetry, and best of all, you don’t have to tilt your head.  Also, you can check out the image in its original colors over on Flickr.

These are a few of my favorites from that day.  I hope you enjoyed them too.