on Shooting Macro Wide Open

The only limit to your creativity is your imagination....

I have come to accept that in the world of photography there is no sacred rule. Mastering rules and concepts is a must; but that's just the tip of the iceberg. After attaining the basic skill comes breaking rules. The real skill set comes when you find your own way of breaking rules to show off your creativity.

I'd like to highlight landscape photography (which is admittedly one of my waterloo) a field where the basic rules are rigidly applied. You shoot at f8 to f16 on wide angle lenses, apply the rule of thirds, properly expose the foreground and background and all the other stuff. But no one ever said that you cannot shoot at wide apertures or with telephoto lenses. It's how you use what you have that makes things interesting.

And no one ever said you can't shoot macro photography wide open...

I know that in macro photography, depth of field is important. You really want as much of your subject in focus and shooting wide open will give you very little depth of field. But that shallow DOF can be used in many ways to highlight certain parts of your subject; that is where creativity comes in.

Here is an ant looking fierce with only its jaws in focus.

And a cool black true bug coming out of the hazy background.

This little green fly looks nice with only its eyes in focus.

You don't need that much DOF when you shoot parallel to your plane of focus as seen in this photo of the green fly. I still had enough details to make the photo look nice even when shooting wide open

I have to admit that shooting macro wide open is very hard. But when you get it right, you will surely be proud of it. This is what I always say to those who ask me about ideal setups, settings or whatever: maximize your gear and creativity. The most important part of photography is the thought process.

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.

on CS6, Tunnels and Portrait #30

One photo will make your day...

You can quote me on that statement above. I have said it before and always say it when shooting models or clients. I just need one photo to make my day. Everything else I shoot will just be for posterity sake. I mean, I am already there so might as well shoot some more right?

And last night I really thought I had a lot of time to edit an entire photoshoot set from a month ago. But then I selected my first photo, I didn't stop tinkering until I got what I really wanted out of it. I spent about an hour and a half doing stuff I normally don't do in photos like removing stray hair and all those portraiture stuff. Well, I guess there is a first for every thing.

Oh, and I did it in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta release. And I had so much fun because everything was faster and smoother. I learned how to use the color mode in the clone stamp tool and the new feature which is content aware move tool. But I didn't really move the subject around with the tool, I just extended the photo a bit to look more pleasing (in that rule of thirds kind of way). And the action scripts I use don't freeze my laptop anymore.

For those wondering how this shot was done. It was shot using my trusty Nikon D7000 and a Nikkor 85mm 1.8 AFD @ f1.8 and ISO 500 in ambient light. This was shot in a tunnel and I wanted to get the right light to expose my subject as well as the light from the other end of the tunnel for that starbust like effect. I am really liking the 85mm 1.8. I hope I can get one by the end of the year.

The model by the way is Mary Claire whom a co-shooter met while walking his dog. she does professional modeling here in the city. One this I really like about her is her confidence and easy going attitude. Well, come to think of it, those who get into my 100 Portraits project are all easy to work with.

 Portrait #30: Mary Claire

PS: Special thanks to Karina Asetre for the makeup and styling and as usual the Photobomber Crew for the Shoot. Do like the Photobomber Crew Facebook page.

on Black Saturday Hunchback Fly Sighting

I had nothing to do today because it is Black Saturday and decided to go look for macro subjects again. I was disappointed to see that the neighbor flattened my usual macro hunting grounds to have a parking lot. Technically the land doesn't belong to them but they decided to use it anyways. My macro search area shrunk by a couple of square meters.

Anyways, I found some aphids and beetles but I got drawn into shooting another hunchback fly. It is only the second time I found this sort of fly. It maybe slow moving but it is definitely hard to spot as it doesn't really move much. What I learned is to go look for unusual black spots in flowers as this fly feeds on nectar and is a pollinator. I got two photos before sunset.

Front Profile

Side Profile

Technical Notes: Shot with Tamron 90mm F2.5 Macro 1:2 plus 55mm extension tube.

on Simplicity, Monochrome and Portrait #29

I process my portraits depending on how I see my model's personality. And most often, I end up having simple black and white portraits.

I have said it often that I really work best in monochrome and with simple portraits rather than elaborate sets and a plethora of colors. And this matches Marfegen, my newest addition to my 100 portraits project quite well. She is both simple and stunning at the same time. Though she is a professional model, she sure does retain a lot of her simple girl charms when you meet her.

I really enjoyed this shoot because I really didn't need to direct Marfe. She knows her angles and what looks good. And I have been wanting to do a shoot with her since I first saw her. I'm glad that I finally get to add her to my ever growing project.

Portrait #29: Marfegen

PS: Special thanks to Karina Asetre for the makeup and styling. And to the crew (usual suspects) for the shoot.


PPS: This is a super late post. I have been kinda busy lately. I'll shoot another blog when I have the time.

on Prom and Portrait #28

Seriously, what are they feeding teens these days?

My friend asked me to do a shoot for her sister about a month ago because it was her highschool prom and she wanted to have a souvenir of sorts for that special occasion. I didn't hesitate to say yes because I have always wanted to take a portrait of Adreane for my project. I saw her on facebook and I knew I wanted to add her to take a portrait of her.

And then I was surprised to see a tall lady instead of a blooming teen.

She is still sixteen and in highschool and I was thinking I would be shooting something that was more on the teen(y) side. And so my plans went out the window when I saw how matured she looked. It was a good thing that I quickly found out her angles and got to the business of doing her photoshoot. It is her first time but she got the hang of posing and how to project in front of the camera. I am glad she was comfortable during the shoot.

While reviewing the shots I took, I realized how different it was from what I originally envisioned. And I am glad I still pulled it off. Like what I always say to my models, I only need one shot to make my day. And after post processing only a handful of shots, I can say I had two (or more) keepers on that day. I will go back for a second look at this shoot when I find some time.

Here is the portrait I will add to my project. I had a hard time choosing between the B&W photo and the one I chose because I think both are good enough to be in my portrait project. I decided to take this closeup as it is a bit more unique. Plus I love the reflection in her eyes.

Portrait #28: Adreane

PS: Special thanks to Amylae for inviting me to do the shoot.

PPS: This is a late post because I have been swamped with projects this past month. I wish I can shoot and post process more often in the coming days.