on Opportunities and Portraits #32 & #33

Always shoot like it's your last day...

I was asked to do a class picture for the graduating accountancy class of a university here. I knew two girls from that class so I decided to go for it. And it has been a tradition of sorts for me to shoot a graduating class each year. Sadly, the shoot didn't go well. The location of choice was cramped so it ended with a not so nice group shot.

But it wasn't a total loss though. I made sure to take portraits of my friends. I've been asking them to model for me for a very long time and I final got the opportunity to do so. It was a quick shoot. I took just about ten frames each since I was seriously low on memory card space. Good thing I got keepers out of those few frames.

I'm sad that I didn't do well with the class photo but at the same time I am still glad that I took the gig so I could shoot the portraits. I learned that making the most out of every opportunity is very important. If you think about it, it's like I broke even on this shoot; failed group shoot but good portrait shoot. It's a learning experience and I hope to do better next time.

Here are the latest additions to my portrait project.

Portrait #32: Alfe

Portrait #33: Chesca

on Revisiting Claire

I should make it a habit to revisit my previous sets.

Last night, I found some unprocessed keepers from a shoot that happened about six months ago. I was bored and there was nothing good on TV so I decided to do some quick post processing. And since a lot of my previous posts were in black and white, I went with some colors for this one.

I really need to work on my post processing skills especially when doing color adjustments. I still haven't found the right mix for those vintage looking photographs. I have some scripts that I tweak to my liking but it isn't as consistent as my B&W photos. I guess there are just too many variables in color photography; or I am just too lazy to post process photos until I get the hang of it.

Anyway, I have some more photos from this set that I would like to publish. I just need to find the time to work on them. For now, I'll be busy with some other stuff like taking a class picture for a graduating class and an upcoming portrait shoot.

on Studio-ish Macro and Reflections

Happy accidents!

I've been having trouble with my new stacked macro lens setup. I stacked a Nikkor 50mm 1.8D on top of my Tamron 90mm 2.5 SP Macro lens with a cheap 52mm-52mm coupler ring. I like the resulting 2.5x magnification but the problem is that the spiders keep on jumping on to my lens. It must be the shiny chrome bayonet mount that attracts them to jump up to my lens.

While out shooting near our black Honda sedan, a spider jumped on my lens. I went to the back of the car so I could lean on the trunk and find where the spider was to remove it. I blew it from the lens to the top of the trunk. The Jumping spider just stood still and I took the opportunity to take some shots. The output was totally unexpected.

I accidentally found a nice shooting location that provided something of a studio feel and at the same time added a reflection. And when lit up by my strobe, the dust added some bokeh to the shot as well. I have tried shooting with the other car which had white paint but the shots were prone to sensor flares.

After discovering the studio like effect of the black paint job, I have had a lot of success shooting on top of the trunk lid. I'll some more photos soon.

on Lightning and Interval Shooting

I just love it when there is a lightning storm. It's like nature is putting on a light show. I can just sit and watch it for hours.

Better yet, I could shoot it.

There have been lightning storms over the weekend. Since I have been under the weather, I decided that I'd shoot the storm tonight just to keep myself busy. But I did it in the relative safety and comfort of our living room. So, I mounted my camera on a tripod, set the interval shooting mode to shoot one hundred ten second exposures at one second intervals. I had a total of three rounds with the same settings and got these three frames.

It was the first time I tried shooting lightning using the interval mode and it turned out better than I expected. Too bad I didn't have a better angle on the lightning cloud or a wider lens. I hope to do better next time.

on A Jumper's Story

It's been my mantra that one photo will make my day. But I have always been asked how long it takes me to get that one photo. I don't really know how long it takes me. There are times I get it in the first few clicks or on the last out takes.

For macro photography, I usually spend an hour or more shooting. There are times I shoot over five hundred frames to get around ten keepers; and ten keepers is already a very good haul. Sometimes I shoot until it gets dark, my batteries run out or my memory cards are full.

And there are times when I just sit in the shade observing as insects go about there daily lives. Sometimes I forget that I have to shoot these insects. And there are times that I focus on one subject for hours that I get to construct stories with my shots; that is when I'm lucky that they'd cooperate and I'd get my shots in focus.

Here is one of those times when I got to see a Jumping Spider decide when it would jump to another leaf. This three shot sequence was taken from about 50 consecutive shots (with more than half out of focus because the leaf was swaying with the wind) where the Jumping Spider measures its jump and decides when to go for it. It jumped a distance of probably a foot with a another foot of drop.

You think I should go for it?

It looks so high from here... but what the heck... I have a bungee cord.

I'm ALIVE!!!

Shooting macro stories like these make me appreciate this field a little more. Being there and observing how these little critters go about their business makes me think a lot about my life and how even briefest of moments can make an impact. I think I'll shoot more of this kind of photo stories in the coming months.

on Two-Striped Jumpers

What I like about Jumping Spiders is that I find them in the oddest places. I found a few in the window sills, the screen door and the carpet. They go exploring a lot since they have such good eye sight.

I found a pair of Two-Striped Jumpers (Telamonia Dimidiata) about a month ago and did some research. These jumpers are distinguished by the long legs and two bright stripes around the back. Most females have bright rings around the eyes and males are dark colored.

And apparently I unknowingly found a male and a female.

Female Two-Striped Jumper found in our garden.


Male Two-Striped Jumper found clinging to the wall.

These are very skittish jumpers, unlike the common ones I find in the garden. They react to movement and run away when possible. I find them difficult to photograph because of this behavior. They do apparently have short term memories and when I stay still for some time they seem to forget I'm there. I just wait around for them to forget me after I have my camera pointed at them; very minute movement is key to taking pictures of these spiders.

Hopefully in the coming days I find more of them so I can learn more on how to handle or take photos of these jumpers.