On Post Processing Hell and High Key

I have this habit of looking for leftovers inside the fridge in the middle of the night and making a meal out of what I find. It's something I have been doing since college and I usually write blogs while I'm eating; it helps me think better.

Last night, I did something similar. I scanned my old archives for shots I haven't done any post processing on. I actually found a couple of whole shoots that were left unprocessed. Most were dated around November to December last year. Back then I had photoshoots every weekend. The set I chose was one sandwiched between a prenup shoot and volunteer work. I have been trying to find time to do some light post processing for this shoot but newer shoots keep coming up and it gets stuck in the back burner.

In the IT industry, we call projects that are stuck in the back burner as being in the "Development Hell". I'll call this "Post processing Hell" since the shoot has been done but the photos never got to the post processing stage.

Well, I made some progress last night and found some pretty interesting shots of Anne. The photos belong to the High Key session (our group refers to shoots either by the name of the model or the concept); I never got to publish any of the shots from that session. I applied some of my newer post processing workflows to this set; my workflow from November last year didn't really do much to get the most out of my shots. A few plugins here and there, some clone stamps, and then some cross processing and B&W conversions later, I got some quality output. Funny, how a little post processing can go a long way.

I should do this more often as I think I am doing a better job post processing some time after the shoot than having to rush my output. But then again, I don't want my shoots to end up in limbo for a long time.

High Key B&W

High Key

Cross Processed

The Last of Summer: Portraits #12 and #13

It's the rainy season again which means summer is officially over and schools have opened once again. There is a heavy downpour outside I can't go home so I’ll just write another blog. I think it’s time to buy one of those rain covers for my camera and try shooting bad weather photos again.

And speaking of seasons, I have been shooting with the PhotoBombers in a remote part of the city where I have seen the seasons changed. First it was parched, and then burnt (naturally or via human intervention), then green shoots started appearing and lastly, a spectacular sea of green. It is a very versatile location and that’s why it is my favorite spot; plus the fact that its secluded.

And our last shoot with the waist high grass sporting those fluffy cotton like things on top was for me the most memorable.

We had Dexia and Michelle for models the last time out. Dexia is an image model for a local clothing line and Michelle is a first time model. They were classmates since kindergarten and are practically inseparable; not to mention they mirror or complement each other in looks and behavior. I enjoyed the shoot but I was having a hard time controlling aperture priority mode while being against the light. It was too late when I figured out how to work through it. Lesson learned, next time use the Manual mode. One other thing I failed to do is bring out my zoom lens as I wanted to have lens blur of a different sort. Anyway, I'll get my chance soon.

Here are a couple of shots from the set. I used only plugins for Adobe Photoshop in this set. Nik Software can really make life easier when you know what to do. Since I don't, I spent a week experimenting on what effects to use.

Dexia (Indian Summer)

Michelle (B&W Film effect)

And here are the portaits I will be adding to my project.

Portrait #12: Dexia

Portrait #13: Michelle

On Shooting Fashion Shows...

Everybody has a waterloo... even Napoleon, Achilles and Custer.

In photography, mine is fashion photography. I suck more at doing fashion shoots than I do at landscapes. In landscape photography, its about waiting for that right time to shoot and composition. In fashion, its knowing what looks good and deciding on what angles would work best. And for a guy who doesn't care about fashion its hard to decide on what looks good. There are a lot of things to consider like the lighting, the model, the dress, the runway and a whole lot of other stuff. Frankly, I do not really care much about rules but when shooting fashion shows, I find it difficult working with the same angles and lines over and over again. I tend to stray into my traditional street style shots; I work best with weird angles. Perhaps I need to watch America's Next Top Model a little more to get a better grasp of how to shoot.

Anyhow, I got lucky last weekend and got to shoot a fashion show. It was fun but at the same time hard work. I don't shoot fashion shows that often, and when I do, I tend to goof off more than anything. But, since I'm covering a live, I do look for good output. Good thing I had some lucky and got the hang of shooting runway models. I just had to observe their styles for a little bit before I could play around with my composition. Here are some of my takes, the rest got uploaded to facebook.

Alaiza Flor

Au

 

Keyt

I do not know her name yet... but I'm working on it... :D

At the end of the day, I had fun because it wasn't just a fashion show but a concert as well. And I met some really interesting people during and after the show. Thats one thing I enjoy about shooting people, you get to meet new ones every now and then.

PS: special thanks to Alaiza Flor Malinao for the invite, Lalai for getting me in and for the models.

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.

Stinky Little Bugger

Ever since the Nikon Photo Safari here in Davao, there has been a lot of people who got into macro photography. In the local forums, there is a constant stream of macro shots, especially insect macro. I've been into it for some time now since I love photography and science and macro merges the two fields together. I love to learn and am often curious about the bug that I took shots of. I can't ID most of them because I'm not an entomologist. I only know the common names ones.

Here are another couple of shots of some brownish gold bug that I found in that same patch of greens just across the street from our house. What I can tell you is that its a species of "true bug". It is most probably under the stink bugs family; I'm not sure about this but it does sure look like one. True bugs are common in the area I shoot as there are shield bugs, planthoppers and cottonstainers there. This is the first time that I saw this one bug so I took the chance and I was also looking for an entry to the DPP magazine macro shots.

It's fun when you shoot and learn at the same time. What's not fun about shooting insect macros is that you have to wake up relatively early in the morning and crawl through shrubs and whatnots just to get to your subject. Macro photography is still my first love even if it's hard to get up early in the morning.

PS: if someone knows the identity of this bug or any of the other bugs I shot before, please do leave me a message or comment. 

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