The Lit Landscape (Part 2)

I'm a fan of the hidden nook. While at Cebu Marine Resort at Cordova, where I made this picture of Mangrove saplings, with the family, I found a patch of more mature trees that enclosed a strip of sand at the end of the concrete pier. I peered in and  saw an opportunity to squeeze in an off-camera flash into the scene below.

I changed my camera settings to underexpose the scene by about two stops. I lowered myself a bit more to get a better angle.  I planned to light the tree trunk on camera left, so I changed my position to juxtapose the yellow leaves on upper camera left with the trunk. It was a matter of asking my assistant, the lovely Susan, to move into position with the flash, which had a 1/4 CTO gel on and a grid to warm up and restrict the light coming off it respectively. I shot a couple of frames and varied the shutter speed to control ambient contribution until I got a mix that I was happy with.

I could have shot the manicured lawns and the ornamented interiors of the resort, but I'm sure that most of their camera-carrying clientele have already snapped a picture or twenty of these sights. I am a fan of the concealed cranny because I believe there is beauty to be found and revealed where it is not immediately apparent.

The Lit Landscape (Part 1)

For a portrait guy, I sure have been shooting a lot of landscapes lately. Truth be told, I am working on a number of personal projects that involve portraiture, but these are just in the planning stages for now. I have resigned myself to doing more deliberate and thought-out shoots to generate pictures to add to my portfolio, since I don't have as much time and energy as I would like. As a consequence, I also get to do fewer sittings, so I grab any opportunity to use my camera in between.

On the same day that I shot the picture I talked about in a previous post, I found a patch of Mangroves by the concrete pier that I was standing on. I stared at them for quite some time, watching them sway about in the wind. A light must have gone on in my head because the next thing I know I was grabbing a hot shoe flash from my bag. After which the following thought process ensued ---

Shoot it in under ambient (midday) light.
Blah.

Okay, let's switch WB to tungsten.
Much better. I like how it makes the water a surreal sort of blue.

Let's light this sucker!
At ISO 200 and f/11 your flash contribution isn't registering in the image.

Power on full! We can live with the seconds-long recycle.
Okay, the flash contribution is showing, but it's lighting the stalks and it's a bit distracting.

Let's get the wife Susan to dangle the flash over the water. Maybe ask her to hold it close to parallel to the ground so it just skims off the leaves.
Nice. Great idea on skimming it off the leaves.
Hey, thanks. You helped too.

And if you're wondering why I talk to myself, those who know me well will assure you that as long as I keep the internal conversations with myself to myself, I'll be fine.

Oh yeah, the picture.

Grid-lock

I have contemplated permanently attaching a grid to one of my flashes a number of times now (and that's during one of my saner days). I might just do it one of these days as the grid is one of the most used  light modifiers  in my bag (and probably my favorite). I have always loved how it restricts light, which makes it a great way to isolate (or selectively light) my subject. And plus it weighs next to nothing and requires only a Velcro strap (or a rubber band in a pinch) to attach to a hot shoe flash.

It is this very portability that allows me to bring it with me even on family trips because you'll never know when you'll need a 'kiss' of light to capture a moment like the one below.

My brother and his son were standing near the pool light, which created a warm yellow orange glow around them. However, the light was not powerful enough to illuminate their faces, so I simply popped a flash in the frame. I warmed the light up a bit with a 1/4 CTO gel to more or less match the color coming from the pool light. After making a couple of test shots, it was all a matter of waiting for my nephew to flash his endearing 'cute face'. :-D#

_________

For those who are interested in the technical details, here are my settings:

Camera - f/4.0, 1/25s, ISO 200, WB Cloudy | Off-camera flash (triggered via Cactus V4) - at 1/32 power, +1/4 CTO gel, through 1/8" grid

Project Street Light: Madridejos (Part 3)

Here are back-to-back diptychs of the last batch of lit street portraits I made at Madridejos. Enjoy.

Mae Ann and Chik (left). Camera Settings: 1/10 s, f/3.2, ISO 800, 28 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, behind and slightly to the right of the camera

Mae Ann and Chik (right). Camera Settings: 1/5 s, f/3.2, ISO 800, 26 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, camera left

Susan. Camera Settings: 1/25 s, f/3.2, ISO 800, 19 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, camera right

Carlo. Camera Settings: 1/10 s, f/2.8, ISO 800, 23 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, camera left

Project Street Light: Madridejos (part 2)

As mentioned in the previous post, the pictures here are lit street portraits taken from dusk until nighttime.

Therese Ann. Camera Settings: 1/25 s, f/3.2, ISO 400, 46 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/16 power +dome diffuser, camera left

Chik. Camera Settings: 1/20 s, f/3.2, ISO 800, 28 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, camera right

Susan. Camera Settings: 1/15 s, f/3.2, ISO 800, 18 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/32 power +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, camera left

More to come...

Project Street Light: Madridejos

On my yearly trip to the sunshiny hometown of my parents, I always bring an assortment of lighting gear with me in the hopes of creating dramatic photographs with them. I must admit that I have a compulsion tendency to overpack on these excursions. And I must admit too, albeit begrudgingly, that on most of my earlier trips; I rarely used any of the gear that I had lugged with me for hours through a number of car, bus and boat rides.

Which brings me to this year. I vowed to pack light (well, lighter) and make the most out of the lighting gear that I brought. I virtually had no excuse not to: Subjects? Check. VALs? Check. Interesting locales? Check. Cahones? Check and check.

I thought about why I had left most of my lighting gear in the bag all those years, and I realized that I balked at the thought of going through the streets and shores of Madridejos with a couple of lights and various modifiers in tow. I gather that my confidence in my photographic skills (and myself in general) had not quite caught up with that of a few, yet highly encouraging, family and friends.

I don’t know what it was, but I believe this year was different. I was hot (literally and figuratively) and on fire (just figuratively). So, I took to the streets with a camera in one hand and a hot shoe flash in the other. And the portraits that follow are the results of my first foray into lit street portraits.

 

Carlo. Camera Settings: 1/250 s, f/5.6, ISO 200, 17 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/8 power +1/4 CTO gel +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, upper camera right

Chik and Mae Ann. Camera Settings: 1/160 s, f/5.6, ISO 200, 36 mm | Strobist Info: YN560 at 1/4 power +1/4 CTO gel +1/8 Honl Speed Grid, upper camera left 

The different looks for the images above were finished in post. I’ll be posting nighttime street portraits next. More to come…

Tarps for Pictures

Tarp (short for tarpaulin) is the new print medium of choice. It’s definitely cheaper than good quality paper and a lot more durable to boot. The now ubiquitous printing surface finds a variety of uses, limited only by intent or occasion.

During the campaign period for any election, you will find it with a headshot of a politician who apparently ate too many carrots (orange complexion), but chain-smokes at the same time (yellow teeth). At a toddler’s birthday party, you will find it with the cropped face of the celebrant tacked onto the body of an adult-sized cartoon character (poor Batman should have drawn up more stringent stipulations in the use of his image). And in front of your neighbor’s house, you will find an overly retouched photo of what seems to look like their child who just happened to (insert milestone here; ex. turn 18, graduate from college, pass the board, viciously attack their parents for putting up such an unflattering picture etc.)

Yet, after the occasion has passed, these tarps will mostly stay in some dark corner of the house, never to be seen again (until some relatives from abroad come visit and ‘beg’ the parents to show them the unflattering pretty picture of their kid). I’ve actually seen some tarps being repurposed as rain covers by the local tricycle drivers, which I highly commend (Note to the kid with the excessively proud parents: Why settle for exposure at the barangay-level when you can go municipal?).

I, however, found another use for these potential landfill fodder as a background for portraits. You can view my contribution to being green-minded after the jump.

Single Strobe Sessions (Remix)

feat. VAB1979 (aka Queenie)

What if you had to light and shoot a picture but had no light stands or clamps to secure your flash? Well, someone could always assist and position the light for you, right? What if the person helping you out is also your subject?

Hmmm… Why not?

There are lighting details and a short feature on Queenie the fledgling artist (not the chemist) after the jump.

Single Strobe Sessions

Patty (aka Frances Ann)

*Starting with this post, I will leave out the category to which the article belongs to in the title (because they can often get too long for my taste), since these can be accessed via the links on the navbar on the left. If you need a reintroduction to the Travelling Light series, you can check out its premise here.

Patty is an old soul. In fact, to be more accurate, I should say she is a fellow old soul. And one of the drawbacks of being such is that you are simultaneously aware of two things:

1. Life is unfair (and often crappy).
2. There’s rarely anything you can do about number 1.

I know, I know. I’m being cynical, but you have to admit — I’m also being realistic. Okay, some of you might say that you can always control how you react to life’s pricks and barbs. Well, that is true. But, unless you can exhibit some form of mind control over your emotionally-draining, soul-sucking co-worker, then good luck with that.

In her soul-searching, Patty may still be paddling her boat in the churning seas, but I hope she presses on, finds her beacon and gets herself on land soon.

A glimmer of hope light can be found after the jump.

Travelling Light: Single Strobe Sessions

Khristian

Khristian was busy working in the lab when we ambushed politely asked to shoot him. He insisted that he properly wear his PPE (personal protective equipment), which was the safe thing to do (especially if our chair happens to be reading this). I wanted to capture the moment that he combined the contents of both test tubes, so I asked him to pour slowly. However, I was about 3 shots in when he said he was running out of solution to pour, so he poured the contents of the full tube back into the empty one (which was unsafe).

I hope it was well worth the risk of causing a minor lab accident for the sake of making this picture.

This image is one of my favorites from that day, the lighting details of which can be found after the jump.

Travelling Light: Single Strobe Sessions

Harold

A person’s patience can definitely wear thin over time. Not even the steadfast optimist can keep his calm temperament from fraying at the edges after it’s been unraveled by a monumentally bad day.

If the ‘beating’ one took while working on his undergraduate thesis could be compared to the wear and tear on a pair of jeans — Harold would have one of the most tattered and faded pair among his fellow chemists-to-be. Did it bother him?

It probably did for a brief moment in time, but now he's probably thinking — 

Wow, these pair of jeans come pre-tattered and pre-acid washed! Rock and roll!

Lighting details can be found at the end of the rainbow after the jump.

Travelling Light: Single Strobe Sessions

Jonathan

The notion that men aren’t as comfortable in front of the camera as the ladies is one that hasn’t met Jonathan yet. I suppose he would have struck a pose for the doctor when she delivered him. But, could you really blame the guy for being aware of how photographable (yes, that is a real word) he is? And he’s not even close to being a good-looking one-trick pony because the guy has notable musical skills as well.

And no, he didn’t pay me to say that.

I’ll take credit for making this photo, but Jonathan’s parents can take credit for how hard it is to shoot a bad picture of him. For those who aren’t just reading this to ogle the guy holding up the ‘Chemist in Lab’ button, lighting details can be found after the jump.

Travelling Light: Single Strobe Sessions

Timothy

Meet Tim. Air instrument extraordinaire. Air guitar? Watch that solo! Air drums? Groove to that roll! Just the other day, I caught him slapping a funky bass line in the air while walking down the hall. But, to the guy’s credit, he can actually play a number of musical instruments quite skillfully. Tim could very well be a music major who submitted his enrolment form to the wrong department. Hopefully, that is not the chance happening that brought Tim to chemistry.

And before I forget, you can view the lighting details after the jump.

Hey, Tim, drum roll please!

Travelling Light: Single Strobe Sessions

Arlene

In the universe (well, the one we’re in at least), entropy is king. I know the liberties that I’ve taken with that re-statement of the second law of thermodynamics would be enough to make any physical chemist quizzically raise an eyebrow (and I do know one who just might do so). But, entropy, disorder, chaos or clutter is pretty much a part of life as we know it.

I have constantly made futile attempts at keeping clutter from taking over my pictures (and my desk), and yet it has always found a way to creep back in.

Cue internal dialogue:

You know what would push this shot from good to great? A hair light! No, make it two!

Hmmm, maybe we could amp this shot up by having the model dress up in Filipiniana…

Or maybe a full band can be blurred in the background to give it a ballroom-like atmosphere?

In the course of shooting portraits, it is so easy to forget that it should be about your subject (or subjects) first — always.

Thus, armed with a single strobe, I am off to beat the chaos back into the darkness from whence it came.

Travelling Light: Using Light to Create a Dramatic Portrait (Part 2)

Acting All Snoot-y: Using a Snoot

A snoot (click on the image on the left for a larger view) in many ways is similar to a grid in the sense that both restrict the light that’s coming off the source. This particular (usually tunnel-shaped) attachment allows you to control the part of the scene that is lit by focusing the light in the direction in which the snoot is pointed.

This is one of the first attachments that I made myself using some illustration board, duct tape and hook-and-loop fasteners. A DIY project that led me to finding an alternate use for plastic placemats, and one that I would’ve happily continued if not for my wife’s sudden realization that our placemat numbers were dwindling.

‘Four? Didn’t we just have three of these?’

Travelling Light: Using Light to Create a Dramatic Portrait (Part 1)

Ah, June. It should be raining with a welcome regularity any day now. Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy the feeling of sticking to my chair, but I for one would like to bid summer goodbye.

As a parting shot to the sweltering heat, allow me to share my experience shooting portraits at twilight during my Bantayan trip.

If you’d like to know how I did it, then do read on.

Travelling Light: Blaze of Glory

Travelling Light features my attempts at using off-camera flash to make pictures. It can be one of two things or on rare occasions, it can be both. First, it’s an account of where I’ve literally travelled to with my lighting kit. Second, it describes how a certain photo can be made with minimal gear (hence, to travel light). However, I often falter on the second purpose as I have a compulsion to lug whatever gear I can fit into my bags wherever I go. Well, at least I get some exercise.

In keeping with the theme of making the most out of what remains of the summer, I would like to share about how I was able to make memorable sunset portraits during a recent trip to Bantayan Island.

The key here is to use the setting sun as a rim light (also called backlight). A rim light essentially creates separation from the background by causing parts or all of the subject’s outline to glow (It has an especially dramatic effect on hair).

Just keep in mind that the sun won’t linger, so don’t waste too much time chimping*.

*A term used to describe the act of previewing images on the LCD screen almost after every capture, making chimp-like (Oooh! Aaah!) sounds while doing so. It’s not only going to drain your batteries quicker, but will cause you to miss shots as well.