on Rain Drops and Lens Flares (Portraits #26 and #27)

I will shoot portraits at any given time as long as I have strobes; and in any weather condition as long as my models can stand it.

This particular shoot happened three weeks ago in the middle of a rubber plantation and while it was rainy. One good thing was that the overcast wasn't as bad so we still had lots of ambient light. And I had this idea of using the strobes as rim light so that the rain drops would be illuminated. Thankfully it worked.

Instant bokeh raindrops!

 

Too bad the rain didn't last the entire first set of Aubrey. When the second model, Angela, came out, there wasn't a single drop of rain; and so I settled for lens flares. Having flares is easy when you have large aperture lenses. Just place the strobes in the frame and you get flares.

 

And just to note, this isn't the first time I had a shoot with either Aubrey or Angela. But this is the first time I had output. The other shoots are buried somewhere in my archives. I'll visit those soon. It was a pleasure doing a shoot with them as they were really professional during shoots. I hope to publish some more shots from this shoot because there are other keepers that I need to look at.

Before I forget, I also have their portraits for my project.

Portrait #26: Aubrey

 

Portrait #27: Angela

 

PS: As always, thank you Kaye Garino for the MUA and the Photobombers for the shoot.

on Damsels and Valentines

Since it is Valentine's Day... I'll be blogging about damsels. Well, its not girls but the gentle insect called a Damselfly.

I used to find these creatures in our front yard but they have been really scarce this past few years. These insects are predators and eat smaller insects they pluck out of leaves or in the surface of a pond. We used to pit them against each other to see who would yank off the head head of the other first. But even though they are predators, they are quite fragile. If you hold on to the wings too long, they be crumpled and would leave the damselfly grounded. I miss seeing all the different colors and sizes of these insects which really reminds me a lot about my childhood days playing near swamps.

 

Oh, and I have to mention that damselflies belong to the same family as dragonflies. Like their bigger cousins, they are born as in an aquatic environment and only become terrestrial when in adult form. That is why the are most often found near bodies of water. I wish next time I can find a damselfly couple mating.

Anyhow, I'll blog more next time about this. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

on Comebacks and B&W

It's been awhile since I've done portraits... well, portraits for my portfolio that is. I've been shooting for clients lately. And with clients, you don't really get to do much experimenting; it's always about the tried and tested formula when you are paid.

So, here is my comeback shoot.

I've done a whole lot of black and whites in my portraits. I can't recall the last time I went for the overexposed film look. Well, it fits the concept quite well in my opinion. We were shooting in a plantation and I really hate it when there is too much greens and not a whole lot of other things. I was tempted to do muted (desaturated) or cross processed output but I decided to go overboard and killed all the colors. I experimented with the infrared preset in Lightroom and changed the values a bit on this set. Reminds me of the overexposed shots I had when I was still learning.

Well, I still like how it turned out. Oh, and there’s more to come as I am not yet done with the portrait that I will add to my project. And I'll tell you about the model in my next blog.

PS: thank you to Miss Kaye Garino for the makeup and the photobomber crew for the shoot.