Be Quick But Not Hasty

Like most photographers, I dabbled into street photography. I used to do a lot of this when I was just starting out and this was how I practiced my composition. So after accomplishing my task to shoot a stall owner in a wet market, I sneaked in some time to re-live those fun days.

Here are some of the shots.

Next time you're shooting in the streets, remember to take time to think about your frame before you trip the shutter. Consider elements, lighting condition and wait for the right moment. Be quick but not hasty. This will make the difference between a good, story-telling-photo and a common snap shot.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

Less...Or None is More

This image has always been one of my favorites, so simple yet so full of character.

Another reason why I like this shot is because of the simplicity of how this was shot. It's actually an out take from a resto shoot and was one of those oh-i'll-take-this-shot-anyway kind of shot. The shoot was already done when I spotted these charming little cupcakes in the showcase. The way the colors played was what caught my attention. I knew that my editors didn't need a dessert shot so I took this one for my own consumption only.

The thing is, I didn't set up any lights here but instead just used the flourescent light above the shelf inside the showcase which created those very nice highlights. I switched to flourescent on my cam's white balance, steadied it on a tripod and shot this from the back of the showcase to avoid glass reflection. I wanted very minimal depth of field and concentrate focus on the cherry so I opened up to f2.8. The first test shot was good but I still wanted more selective focusing. I popped on a close-up attachement on my lens and the result was this shot.

In my opinion, what's good to remember here is that one should always be quick to recognize a good lighting situation. This, of course, takes a lot of practice and discipline and it's something that I am also teaching myself to always do. Just because we know how to light doesn't necessarily mean that we would light everything every time. If it works perfectly, don't fix it. Improve, but don't complicate.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

Fake Sun

Though not a big fan of the show, I felt some sense of pride when I was assigned to shoot Biggest Loser Asia finalist Chef Carlo Miguel. I didn't realize what the fuzz was about until I saw his before photos, and men!...it was really quiet a feat he achieved there!

My client ran a story on weight loss and Chef Carlo was on top of the list as a subject.

We did several layouts for the shoot and almost all of them showed how much weight he lost. I wanted to do something not-so-stating-the-obvious so I decided to have one layout with him just sitting down (this shot is an outtake and didn't make print....it lacked that weight-loss-feel thingy).

I was looking for mood and texture for this one shot with him and saw this part of the restaurant. I loved the textured light at the end of the room and decided that that will be my backdrop. I also liked the sunlight coming in from the door at camera left and planned to use this as my main light. Mood and texture?... check and check.

I framed the shot, metered for the ambient light and did a test shot. For my desired exposure, I needed to set my cam at ISO400, my shutter speed at 1/60 and aperture at f3.5.

Good to go? I thought so, until I did a test shot with a stand-in. The sun wasn't lighting my subject well enough. I didn't want to change any of my cam setting anymore since I already liked what I saw. I didn't want to flood the shot with artificial light either since this was not the mood I was gunning for.

Solution? I placed a single strobe at camera left, beside the door where sunlight was coming in, mimicking the sunlight. Set it at the lowest power setting and bounced it off an umbrella. The result put the shot where I want it to be but still felt that my "fake sun" still looked fake. It was still too harsh and I was already at the lowest power setting of my strobe. Again, I didn't want to change any of my cam setting so I need to do something about my "fake sun". So I placed a white transluscent cloth on my umbrella, ala Softlighter, to achieve the desired lighting.

The result was this shot. Doesn't look fake eh?

Hope this helps. Happy shooting!

Brief Moment With a Legend

Apologies for the long quiet time, it's been quite crazy these past few months. Anyways....

Above everthing else, what I'm really thankful about my profession is that I am able to meet a lot of interesting people. And every now and then, you get the unique opportunity to shoot a legend.

You don't say no to an assignment like that!

Lucky for me I had time and managed to include the rare opportunity to shoot boxing legend, Gerry Penalosa, that day.

Though this shoot/interview sked granted by Gerry was exclusive to us, we didn't want to abuse it and take much of his time. We maximized the sked alloted for us and did not allow for any lull time.

When an assignment calls for both an interview and shoot, I normally let the writer go ahead with the interview first. This buys me time to scout for a good location to shoot and set up. Plus, it helps to loosen the subject up a bit for the shoot. Next time you go to a shoot/interview, let your writer go ahead first with the interview so you have time for scouting and setting up.

For this, I decided to drown out the ambient light of the gym by using the max sync speed of my cam and lit our subject with two strobes. One for key and the other for high/backlight. ISO was set at 100 and aperture was f5.6.

The key light was softened up with a transluscent white umbrella in shoot through position set at 1/2 power and placed just outside of the frame, camera right. The other one also placed just outside the frame, camera left, and gridded to limit light spill. It was set at 3/4 power. I used two Foresto's for this by the way.

I did a few test shots with a stand-in to check for proper exposure and after that all I needed was to put the legend in the frame.

Once interview was done, we had Gerry change into a boxing outfit, put him in the ring and shot his portrait right away.

Mission accomplished! Portrait shoot with no waiting time for the legend.

Next?.....The Pacman......I hope.

Happy shooting!

Mood Lighting for Product Shots

Product photography is no easy task, much more when it's stylized product photography. But I've always enjoyed these kind of shoots because your subject will never complain no matter what you do with it.

Ok that was lame.

The truth is I like stylized product photography because it gives me the opportunity to explore and learn new and different lighting styles. The people I work with are very talented individuals, interior designers, stylists, and I've always looked at them as a good source of new knowledge and skill. Their artistry and creativity inspires me to continually push myself to learn new things and hopefully bring myself to another level. "The only way to get better is to surround yourself with people better than you", the masters of this craft say.

So for this shoot, our team wanted some mood and drama. "Texture and contrast is the key" that's what they told me.

I lit this using 5 studio lights. 2 on each side and 1 overhead on a boom. The first light I set up was the overhead light. It had a grid attached to it and pointed at the couch. I had it just high enough to get the hotspot on the couch and have light spills and fall off throughout the frame. Once I was happy with it, I over exposed for the hotspot just a bit so that this will be the highest point in my contrast. Oh by the way, my shutter was set at the highest sync speed. I wasn't letting any available light in. Next light to come was for the plant and the side table with the basket lamp on it. I didn't have a softbox big enough for the desired softness I wanted so I just bounced the light onto the white wall at camera left just outside the frame. To prevent light spill beyond the side table, I used a black cardboard as gobo. Next I lit the round stool with a small softbox then placed it real close to the stool just outside of the frame. On the other side of the frame, I had a light on a floor stand pointed towards the basket on the floor. I had a sock on my light's standard reflector and flagged it so I won't spill light towards the orange chair. Last I had a gridded light aimed towards the back wall and floor to have separation between that and the orange chair.

I set my aperture at f/11 to get good depth of field for this shot. I can't remember the exact power settings of my lights, I chimped for this shot and everything was seasoned to taste.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

Cross Lighting for Texture

Please allow me to start with a disclaimer before I go any further. I am in no way endorsing any of the brands and products seen in this photo. The image shown is a product of an assignment given to the photographer. It was agreed upon by the photographer and his client that images produced from the shoot cannot be used in any commercial way except for the photographer's portfolio and other means of self promotion. Such image is simply being used as an example for demonstration purposes.

Whew!

So I was assigned to shoot these beauty products in group, and our very stylish stylist cleverly used rose petals as background where our products would lie on to have that pampered sort of thing (get it?.....bed of roses?).

To enhance the feel of the set up, I decided I wanted to capture the texture of the petals, have subtle yet obvious contrast and direct pronounced light unto the products.

Obviously, this is a top shot on a table and for this, I used two Forestos for cross lighting. I placed my lights across each end of the table, placed them just outside of the frame and leveled them. The one on the right was slightly lower just so lighting wouldn't be too stiff. Both lights had standard reflectors on. Though I wanted to isolate light, I decided against using a snoot or a honeycomb since I wanted to spill some light through out the frame to let those petals pop out. Instead, I put on socks for both my lights to soften it up a bit and flagged them to control the spill. I dialled down my aperture to f/11 to enhance shadow and contrast and didn't let any available light in by setting my shutter speed to maximum sync speed.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

　

Small Details Count!

It's vacation time again!  Where ever you're going to or where ever you are right now, I sure hope you didn't forget to bring your camera (duh?!).

By travelling, we create memories, and by shooting, we preserve those memories. Aside from shooting your friends or family with that landmark on the background, or shooting that breathtaking sunset, it's also a good idea to shoot the smaller details.

Keep your eyes peeled for small details that would describe the places you've been to. Look for colors, patterns, anything that would speak about the character of the place.

Hope this helps, happy shooting, stay safe!