Boracay 2011

2 girlfriends and I were at Boracay from November 30 to December 02, 2011. Of course, I wouldn't miss this chance to practice my photography by taking pictures of this famous beach!

When I got back to Manila and uploaded the pics I took, I realized that I didn't take that much pics. Oh well, blame it on the fact that I really enjoyed the waters of Boracay this time and swam to my skin's burning.. hehehehhehe!

Anyhow, here are some of the shots I've taken.

Assignment for Day 2

For the 2nd Sunday of my Basic Photography, we were made to submits shots with the following concept: 

1. Shallow Depth of Field

2. Deep Depth of Field\

3. Motion Freeze

4. Motion Blur

5. White on White

6. Black on Black

7. Portrait using window light; and 

8. Glassware on Black Background, using light bounced from window

I was not able to shoot all the 8 concepts. I didn't have portrait using window light and motion blur. As for the  rest, here's what I have submitted:

Shallow Depth of Field

Glassware on Black Cloth Using
Bounced Light from a Window

Deept Depth of Field

White on White

Motion Freeze

Black on Black

Sunny f16 Rule

The following is something I received thru email at work from a fellow member of our Company's Camera Club. Just thought of sharing this to my fellow photography enthusiasts! 

Much like an incident recommendation, the sunny f/16 rule is based on the quantity of light falling on the scene and or subject, negating background tonal influence, and subject size relative to the image frame. It is because on a clear cloudless day the sunlight will peek consistently in intensity depending on latitude from mid morning to mid afternoon that we are able to use this rule consistently and accurately to set the midtone. The formula is an easy one 1/ISO @ f/16 and it was included with every box of film sold. Most never paid attention to it, choosing instead to discard it, going with their expensive in-camera meter.

Example -	ISO 100 = 1/100 @ f/16
	ISO 200 = 1/200 @ f/16

When shooting with the sun over your shoulders shoot at the suggested rule, backlight subjects generally require you open up two EV, with negative film or when exposing for shadow detail side lit subjects require you open up one stop is therefore often necessary to compensate the exposure when trying to render detail in areas at the end of the tonal scale.

When shooting a sidelight bird/subject in sunlight my exposure remains the same, sunny f/16 or equivalent plus or minus compensation for the highlight. Remember, when a subject is side-lit, a portion of the subject is in shadow, and this shadowed area will be rendered under-exposed when metered as suggested above, especially when minus compensation is applied. This is where fill flash comes in, and it is an integral part of this methods success. By choosing different amounts of flash compensation, we are able control the degree of shadow detail rendered independent of the ambient light. The key lies in illuminating the shadows without obliterating them. If you know how to effectively compress the image brightness range to that of the capture medium, you can capture detail in both highlight and shadow without sacrificing one or the other. And, you can shoot in light otherwise never considered. Light illuminates - shadow defines.

Exposure Value - all of the exposure combinations below are equivalent for a given quantity of light and ISO. It is up to you to determine which combination best suites the situation in hand.

ISO 200 is the most widely used in nature photography. Typically the best sunny f/16 equivalent compromise in shutter speed and aperture is 1/800 @ f/8. An easy to remember acronym is 88. Therefore, if you are shooting ISO 200 in unfiltered sunlight you need only remember 88 - 1/800 @ f/8 as your reference point.

ISO 200 Sunny f/16

1/100

1/200

1/400

1/800

1/1600

1/3200

f/22

f/16

f/11

f/8

f/5.6

f/4

ISO 100 Sunny f/16

1/50

1/100

1/200

1/400

1/800

1/1600

f/22

f/16

f/11

f/8

f/5.6

f/4

ISO 400 Sunny f/16

1/200

1/400

1/800

1/1600

1/3200

1/6400

f/22

f/16

f/11

f/8

f/5.6

f/4

Basic Photography Workshop Day 1

It was something that has been on my bucket list for more than a year now. I remember distinctly writing it as one of my "to-do" for 2010, take up photography lessons.

Honestly, I got my Nikon DSLR camera for no specific reason. I got it in December 2009, as a "remembrance" of the very generous Christmas bonus we got at that time. But save for few occasions, I wasn't really using my cam. Most of the time, I got my Olympus point-and-shoot camera with me. I've never gotten around to really enrolling in a basic photography workshop for the whole of 2010 either, since my work load back then didn't allow me to do so.

This year, I resolved to finally chucking out an item or two from my bucket list. Yep, a language class was also among them. And yes, photography workshop.

I have been browsing FPPF's website since 2010. By 2011, I knew that they have the cheapest fee for a 5-day workshop, this and the option to attend a weekend workshop has done it for me. I paid for my 5-day workshop fee on  July 2011 with the intention to attend the August 2011 Sunday workshops . Thankfully, nothing major has cropped up between the time I paid for my fee and the workshop began. And so on August 7, 2011 I officially became a digital photography student. :)

FPPF Batch 22 with Sir Ador Pamintuan

There were 22 of us in the class, which according to one of our professors is "konti"; since during the summer season one class can have as much as 60 students. Our group was composed of a doctor, 3 or 4 psych majors, 1 or 2 who are into IT, a housewife, 2 businessmen, etc.

On our 1st day, we were taught the so-called "triangle of photography", namely: Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed.  We were also taught how to use our cameras properly. A funny thing about this portion was that a lot of us were going like "ah yun pala yun". We were made to shoot using Depth of Field (Deep and Shallow); Motion Freeze and Motion Blur and the most exciting of all, what they call as Panning. Haha!

See the photos below on some of my attempts:

Motion Freeze

Motion Freeze (Panning)

Shallow Depth of Field

Oh, and not to forget were the "homilies" of Sir Lito. For Day1, this is what he said: Talent will not make you successful; what will is your determination to overcome your fears.

At the end of the 1st day, we had our assignment composed of 8 shots! I shall let you see what I submitted on my next entry! Until then!

A New Journey

Hello everyone, 


Welcome to my new blog account which will record my journey as a digital photographer. 


As I have written in my other blog account, Live, Play, Pray and Love, sometime August 2011 I have finally enrolled in a Basic Photography Workshop conducted by the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation (whew!) or simply, FPPF. It was a 5-Sunday affair which, as I have also mentioned, capped off with a graduation of some sort where I ended up placing 7th in the Open Space category. 


Since then, I have endeavored to practice my new found skill as a photographer. I am much more active now in my company's Cam Club and is more appreciative of this world in which I literally move in. 


Join me in my journey and let's see the world through my shutter!