on Music Videos and Minimalist Concepts

It is 29 days to the New Year and I want to catch up on my blog so that by the start of 2016 I will be free of backlogs.

One other reason why I find the need to write is because I need to diversify. I accepted a part time gig writing articles of an automotive website based in Australia. I want to write other things besides cars and what better way than to get my blog updated with my current projects.

I have to admit, I am not much of pop music and it has been awhile since I last watched a proper music video. When my partner in crime Chawie wanted to do a shoot that was inspired by the music video of Good For You by Selena Gomez, I had to watch it to get the idea. And I will admit that before this shoot, I only knew of one song done by her and that is because she collaborated with Zedd, who I listen to.

Anyways, with Chawie and our frequent muse Krestle, I knew it would be another fun shoot.

And I was right; it was a very relaxed shoot. We had a white wall and a long bar stool and ambient lighting. I really enjoy minimalist concepts because I find that I can do a lot more when I have fewer distractions. A plain blank wall works best for me.

Here are some more photos from the shoot...

There you have it, another set with Chawie and Krestle. It’s always enjoyable working with them. No stress and I am guaranteed that I will have some keepers worthy of posting in this blog. I'll be posting collaboration with chawie probably this weekend. Until then!

PS: Thanks to Charisse Ann "Chawie" Bibera and Krestle Deomampo for this shoot. And to Chawie's grandma who welcomed us into her home so we could use the blank white wall in her backyard.

on Backlogs, Clothing Ads and Portrait #45

This is long overdue!

I have had the priveledge to do three shoots with Fatima already and I haven't had the chance to publish any of it here in my blog. Truth be told, I always have fun doing a shoot with her because I do not need that much effort during the shoot because she is just simply awesome in front of the camera.

I just want to share with you guys the shoots I have done with her and to officially add her to my portraits project.

This shoot happened about a year ago inside the pedestrian underpass to the airport.

The next shoot was for a makeup competition where she and her makeup artist Paulyn Dy made it to the final cut.

 

The last shoot was taken about a month ago. This one was a quick strobist shoot with my good friend and peer Charisse Ann Bibera. I was inspired by the advertisements from clothing companies and tired a hand at making my own.

 

 

And this will be my entry to my portrait project:

Portrait #45: Fatima

This is probably the most number of photos I have published in one portrait blog. I know there will be more shoots in the coming months when she visits Davao again. She will always be one of my favorite models.

PS: Special thanks to all those who made these shoots possible. To Paulyn Dy of Makeup Magic by Paulyn Dy for the makeup on the first two shoots and for introducing me to Fatima. And to Charisse Bibera for being my co-shooter for the past few months. I hope to collaborate with all of you in the near future.

on Fashion Photography, First Time, and Portrait #37

Photography... it is a never ending learning process.

I have never been someone who people would think of for a fashion photography shoot. I am not that comfortable shooting whole body portraits compared to shooting head shots. And I know next to nothing about fashion. You wouldn't really expect a guy who wears the simple t-shirt - jeans - sneakers combo to be much of a fashionista right off the bat. But then again, I went to a very hip and trendy college and do browse magazines from time to time so I do have some sort of idea what I am getting myself into; or at least that was what I thought. And believe me, I never expected it to be a workout.

 

 doing my usual head shots...

I took this fashion shoot as a challenge and told Paulyn, who invited me for this shoot, that I have very little experience shooting fashion stuff. Well, she had faith in me so I got the gig. I did my homework and got some inspiration from popular fashion bloggers in the country; and there is always 500px as reference material.

 testing out if the strobes would look nice...

My usual shooting order is find my models angle, place her in the right location, shoot my keepers and do my experiments later. This is how I shoot when doing headshots as I already have that basic formula from experience. I can get from finding angles to shooting keepers in about a few minutes time. The experimental part takes a lot longer. This is my usual workflow because shooting keepers first makes sure that the effort to do the shoot doesn't go to waste. Only after I know that I have some decent output do I even try to play around with what I have.

 I also tried if monochrome would work...

I went about the shoot in reverse of what I usually do. With this shoot, I first had a location in mind, did a few test shots and then worked for my keepers. I first had to experiment to see what worked and what didn't since I still don't have a formula for shooting fashion stuff. I spent more time experimenting than nailing down keepers since this is a first.

trying out composition I figured would look close to what I usually see in blogs...

I am happy I did this shoot. I learned a lot and gained valuable shooting experience which I could apply. There are things I need to learn like shooting details and knowing how to match my subject to my location. And I do have to overcome that mentality that I have to highlight the model's face; I need to learn how to balance my shots so I can show her beauty as well as her outfit. Overall, I did good considering it is a first time. I am still in the process of mastering the popular way of doing this fashion shoots for blogs. Sooner or later, I will find my own way of shooting fashion.

 I still have to learn how to shoot the whole outfit...

And before I forget, my model Paulyn is a fashion blogger, stylist, and makeup artist rolled into one. She is easy to work with and really comes prepared for a shoot. I can't wait to do the next shoot with her. We will start planning it soon.

Portrait #37: Paulyn

 

PS: Uber thanks to Paulyn for being very game model and for the confidence that I could deliver output, to Alfe for recommending me as a photographer and Francis for being the instant support crew for her sister. Until next time! :D

 PPS: do visit Paulyn's blog at http://dypaulyn.blogspot.com

on Workshops, Backlogs and Grain

Having backlogs has always been a part of my photography and blogging life; come to think of it, it is a part of my daily life as well. There is no shortage of things to do and stuff to place in the back burner.

Anyhow, I found some time to publish this long overdue set for my good friend Waqui. She's no stragner to this blog as she's has a number of photos here. One good thing I like about her is that every time I get a chance to shoot her, she gets prettier and prettier; and this shoot is no exception. She always finds ways to level up whether it be her fashion statement or her looks. And it is never boring when she's around.

I took this photos during the Photobombers / FPS workshop with the Philippine Institute of Architects as sample photos for the participants to have some sort of idea how I shoot. I took only a few shots and mostly during times when they stop shooting either to change pose or location. I'm glad I had some good shots even though I only took a fraction of what I usually take during photoshoots.

The post processing is again film inspired since it goes with the retro / boho / vintage theme. I like the old film look. Grain is always good in my book. I edit the matte film look using the S-curve slider in lightroom and I think I'll be doing more filmy looking photos in the near future.

PS: Thank you to the Photobombers crew / FPS people and the PIA for making this workshop for a cause possible. To Waqui and LA for being great models. And also to Iris for the awesome styling and makeup.

on Typhoons, Workshops and Portrait #36

Last December, Typhoon Pablo hit the western part of Mindanao and the damage was really significant. A lot of people died and a lot more are left homeless and trying to rebuild what was left of their lives. Some of the people from the Photobombers thought that it would be good to come up with an activity that would help the school kids of Compostella Valley. There was a school that had to be rebuilt from the ground up and they decided to help the kids by providing much needed school supplies. So a workshop was set to benefit of the Corazon S. Aquino High School in Compostella Valley Province.

I was fortunate enough to help during the basic portraits shoot by guiding the attendees on how to shoot portraits. I got off a few clicks while multitasking as I was often holding the reflector as this was an ambient light shoot. And it has also been a long while since I had a proper portrait shoot as I have been focusing on macro photography lately.

The set I am posting is from my takes of L.A. as I was helping out during the portrait shoot. Most of the shots were taken as examples for the attendees to follow and while I was holding the reflector. L.A. was really game in posing for the participants and it was great working with her. The theme was Boho inspired so I did the post processing to look a bit 70's as well. The entire set was done in ambient light with the Tamron 90 f2.5 and the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AFD.

And after a five month hiatus, I finally add another portrait to my 100 portraits project. And I must say, this one has inspired me to shoot portraits again.

Portrait #36: L.A.

I am glad that I found the time to help out the crew in this project even a little bit. I say kudos to the Photobombers Crew and FPS people who made this event possible and to the attendees from the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA - Davao Chapter). Although my time with the attendees was short, I realized that I miss sharing what I know with those starting out in photography. I hope this will be an annual event for the group.

credits to Bren Ang for the group hug

PS: I find the new flickr upgrade as cool but a bit confusing at first. It is nice that I can view all my photos and download the original resolution images from wherever. I have yet to check out the new android app.

On Confidence, Fashion and Portrait #23

The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt. -- Henri Cartier-Bresson

I do portraits and I find interesting. Well, not as interesting as Macro Photography; but still interesting. There is that need to show the personality or the soul of the model in the shots you take.

But the hardest thing for me is doing fashion shoots. And in this set, I attempted to do just that. I wanted output that I could place on a billboard. That is something hard for a guy who doesn't really look at magazines or care about whether his shirt matches his jeans.

This shoot was done in one light, with a blank wall that was painted in a funky shade of pink. I chose to do shots with a whole lot of negative space and I used the lighting to walk the eyes towards my subject. It is kind of like those billboards with the negative space where you place the brand or the tag line for the clothing line. I'll just leave that space for my viewer to add whatever he/she wishes.

I know that I need to work on my fashion photography a bit more but this is a start. When I get better with the simple outfits, I'll try and do complicated ones. I'll watch some Zack Arias DVDs so I'd get a better idea of how to deal with fashion photoshoots. Working on my weaknesses would be a real confidence booster for me if and when I do solo shoots.

Here is the set...

Fashion Monochrome

 

Fashion in Motion

 

And before I forget, the model is Margarette Shane. Shes a nursing student at a popular university here and has a really bubbly personality. Though shes not a professional model, she does look the part in front of the camera. Outside the shoot, shes a bit boyish and simple which is a bit of a contrast to what she shows when doing shoots. One thing I do know is that her confidence is evident the moment you see her strike that pose.

Portrait #23: Margarette Shane

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.