on Sail Boats, Beaches and Panoramas

It has been awhile...

I have been planning to write a blog for weeks now and yet I haven't had the inspiration to actually start writing; until now.

I finished stitching up some panoramas from a recent trip the island of Boracay. These photos were taken during our island hopping trip via sail boat or known locally as Paraw. While the weather during the trip was sketchy, there were times that we had clear blue skies. It was my idea to ride a Paraw instead of the regular boat with an outboard motor. It was fun, sometimes harrowing because of the wind and waves, and a very unique way to explore the island.

Here are the panoramas I took during the trip.

Station 1 Boracay

Station 1 was our jump off point. We were picked up by the boat there. It was around 6Am when I took this photo and in the distance the clouds were looking very ominous.

Magic Island

Magic Island is a small island not far from the main island. The trip to the island was a bit scary because we were facing the huge waves. There were times when one side of the boat would get lifted up to about 10 feet or get swallowed by waves. It was like a roller coaster ride of sorts; one that lasted about 30 minutes.

Puka Beach

The last photo was taken from Puka Beach at the tip of the main island. The scenery made the trip worthwhile. The sand was powder white, the breeze was cool and the waters were crystal clear. I could imagine myself staying in the beach, with a book and a nice milk shake. I promised myself that when I return to Boracay, I will spend a day there.

I only had a short stay in Boracay and only got to shoot a few times mainly because of the weather. I plan on returning probably in a year or so just to explore more of the island. I hope the next time I will be blessed by good weather.

PS: All photos were taken with my  Nikon D7000 and stitches in photoshop CS6.

on Summer Beach Getaways and Processing Portraits

Photography is like cooking, when you overcook something it wouldn't taste good. But leaving it raw can be a good thing.

We had our annual summer beach overnight with photographer, model and makeup artist friends in Talicud Island last weekend. It was yet another fun-filled stay in a beach where there is no electricity or running water and can only be accessed by boat. And of course we still had the usual sunset beach shoot. But this year we weren't so lucky because the sunset was shorter than what we normally expect during the summer months.

I decided to go against the norm for summer beach shoots and aim for black and white. I knew most photos from my photographer friends would come out in color because it is in the beach and around sunset plus you have a lovely model with nice skin tone. Well, going against the grain is what I am known for anyways so I might as well stay that way. And simple is always better for me. I don't need for it to be razor sharp or for the contrast to pack a punch. I just want my photo to retain the character of my model.

And I will never over process because I'd lose the essence of the portrait and get some sort of digital Frankenstein. It is a common mistake which photographers without their own personal styles make. They do all sorts of Dave Hill, Rarindra Prakarsa, Luko or Manny Librodo sharpening and stop only when they think its all there. For me HDR and portraits don't go well. And all those unnatural looking eyes and skin tone seem like they have been inspired by horror flicks. Funny thing is they spend hours and hours just to get THAT look. ** insert face palm here ** Experimenting is good but knowing how much post processing can be applied is what works best especially for portraits where you really have to retain the personality of the model.

A little color efex and totally rad action scripts here and there plus a bit of preset editing from lightroom and I am done. A good photo is a good photo even when it is unprocessed and no amount of post processing will make a bad photo look good. Just like a steak is good when it is rare or medium rare and ruined when it is well done.

Once again, thank you to Kate for being a fabulous model. To Karina Asetre and Kaye Garino for the makeup and styling. And to the Photobombers for another successful summer getaway.

The Queen of the Bay (Festival)

"Your body's worth more than the expanse of the sea..." -- Urbandub (Gravity)

I've known War Queen (or Waqui) for almost a year now and have seen her mature in many ways. But in the last few months, with the help of Kaye (our very own MUA), she has transformed into a bombshell. She only models for the group usually in a casual setting and she's learned a lot on how to pose and project. And after the last shoot we had with her, I am convinced that she can really pull off those model photoshoots. And by far, this is the only shoot that we were really seriously shooting her; and the output speaks for itself.

I forgot to mention, she's not really a model but rather a photographer. She only does modeling for the group; and she's doing a real fine job at it. I'll be changing my portrait of her in the my project to one of the two photos here.

On the Edge of the Frame and Portrait #11

I've been thinking lately about having a signature style for my portraits. It took me hours to scan my archives and look for that common thing. It was hard since I was looking for something original.

After some time, I finally admitted to something to myself: my shot has something to do with having my subject being at the edge of the frame.

It’s hardly original I know. And I am not making it my own (this is in reference to something Xander Angeles once said in a workshop). But it’s my preferred shot probably because I hate having the AF point at the center. It’s not about the rule of thirds or whatever; I hate rules. It's just a preference to have my AF point somewhere other than the center; my camera allows me to place it in 11 different points on my viewfinder. I find it easier to "compose" shots when I am not placing my subject at the center.

And it probably has something to do with my preferred lens too since I usually shoot with the 35mm these days. If I placed my AF point at the center and focused on the eyes, I would either be too far to capture the eye details or I'd cut some part of the face because I'm too near.

In my recent shoot with Sofia and the Photobombers, I used the style and was trying to refine it. I wanted to play around with having the subject not in the center but at the extreme edges then capturing a bit of the landscape in the process. I realized that my camera doesn't have enough AF points for me to compose properly.

Here are two of my shots from the set.

It’s a good thing that Sofia was very game in modeling for the group. I had a lot of time to practice the output I wanted. And it was the first time I ran out of memory cards for a single model; normally I consume about two-thirds of a 4GB card or around 200 shots per model. I stopped shooting only after I consumed two cards. I promise to post more of her shoot soon.

And of course, I had to add one for my project since it’s my first time to shoot with Sofia.

Portrait #11: Sofia

Xmas Eve Sunrise Shoot

It’s been quite a long time since I've blogged about anything. Even though a lot has been going on in my photography hobby, I just simply haven’t found time to blog. In the past few months, I haven't even had the time to sort out all the backlogs.

In the early morning hours of Xmas Eve, my friend Arthur had the brilliant idea of shooting the sunrise since the sky was clear. He insisted that there would be a spectacularly orange sunrise. So I went along with the idea. And there we were, at five in the morning, at the very edge of Seawall (a local "park") to capture the sunrise. There were people jogging, doing group aerobics and taking a stroll after the last of the Simbang Gabi.

There were quite a few curious folks there that wanted to know what two guys with cameras and tripods were doing so early in the morning. Some even asked us to talk pictures of them. Of course, Arthur obliged and got some of his amazing jumping silhouettes. While he was so engrossed with shooting the perfect sunrise, I just wanted long exposures. I love how the water seems so calm when you expose the shot for more than five seconds. Then, there were the reflections / shadows.

It's amazing really, that I cannot comprehend how I got to be creative at such an unholy hour. Perhaps, I need to shoot more in the early morning hours. I'll get lucky one of these days and capture that perfect sunrise. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.

Life's a Beach

We are at summer’s end. One more beach outing before school opens again and the last flights of the tourists depart. There is my last beach set for the summer of 2010. Perhaps the next time I will be in the beach, it won’t be as crowded and hot. I’ll try to explore new beaches; those hidden from the public’s eye.
And I need to go back to street photography because in two and a half months time it will be Kadayawan. Also I am enjoying the Urban HDR genre right now; I’ll practice landscape later.

The Pearl of the South

“Trust me, it's paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.” – Leonardo DiCaprio (The Beach, 2000)

The beach is one of those places that I will never be sad. The waves keep my spirit calm, and the wind keeps me cool. It is for me, a sanctuary; a place where I can find peace. Nothing ever bothers me when I’m walking along the shore or when I am sitting and watching the sunset.

And this is one of the best beaches here in my hometown; this is the Pearl Farm Beach Resort. Only forty-five minutes from Davao by boat, this is a very accessible island getaway. What you pay for here is money well spent. How I wish I could afford to go there every weekend; that way I won’t ever be stressed out.

I hope that I’ll take more trips to the beach this summer and that I can take more photos to share with you guys. Enjoy the rest of the summer!