Project 365: Week 3

I can't believe that I've shot, 21 days of Project 365.  I'm starting to be in a frenzy of brainstorming on what to do next.  Around February 6 or 7 my wife got invited to go to Paramore Night 3.  In preparation I had to get a wide angle lens for the event(Paramore Night blog post) since my kit lens(Canon 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 IS) auto focus is whacked.  Yes, I hate to say it that I rely on the AF motor when shooting fast paced events.

Luckily I have a friend that owns a fish eye lens(Sigma 8mm 3.5).  So you'll see more shots with the ultra wide angle lens, that I used for less than a week.  It was tough at first since I have to hunt for the best position, then later I found out that often times, shooting up close to your subject will really bring out obtuse shape of the lens optics.  

From Night-Morning Shift to Afternoon-Evening Shift

While all this is happening, my work schedule was moved from the evening shift to the afternoon shift.  I usually shoot In the morning once I come home, so now I have to take a step back and think when will be the best time to shoot.  I'll be blogging that one in the Week 4 post. So most of the shots that you'll be seeing here were shot in the morning/afternoon.  The following week will be another story...

February 7, 2013 - #15 Fishing Around

This was the day that I got the lens from Milo(the owner and our friend).  Pogs another guy who's a photo-enthusiast was eager to get first shot with the lens(Thanks for tagging along!).

Shot with my camera(Canon 500d/T1i/Rebel/KissX3), with fish eye lens, and a flash mounted(580 EX II - from Voltz).  In the unedited RAW file you'll see wider view of the Mediahub Headquarters. In post processing, I applied a little lens correction to compress the room, applied a brush tool to over expose the eyes.

February 8, 2013 - #16 Milo's baby

Of course, a nice detail shot of the borrowed lens would be nice while I have it right?  So that's what I did here.  It's a pain to set up my stuff for macro shots, since I have to take out the battery grip of the camera, in case I'm going to mount the camera on a cheap tripod(mentioned in Photo Insight: Lights), pull out the wireless trigger, screw it on the flash, pop on the diffuser, mount the kit lens, set the aperture to desired setting (f/12 is where I start), screw the reverse ring on the front end of the kit lens, remove the kit lens from the camera, reverse mount it, and your ready for your trial and error. Sigh...

Trial and error, here I have to test the flash position, framing/composition, focus, and flash output.  I still haven't written them down for blogging purposes but hopefully in the Week 4 blog I'll be jotting it down(I hope).  Getting the desired shot is the reward that I reap with all of the hard work.

Shot with 500d, wireless trigger mounted, flash positioned at around 4'o clock(from camera position (same level as the camera), power output not sure if it's 1/8 or 1/16+.  I'm satisfied with this shot since I didn't have to bump my ISO up.  And I think I'm improving on macro photography(I hope so).

February 9, 2013 - #17 Places I've been to

During the evening of Feb 8, 2012, me and my friends went out to give Jomart a bon voyage party.  It was a night of laughter and a little drinking.  Above is a shot of a bar sign in Rublou. 1017th Bistro Avenue was one of our last destinations of the day/night(more like early morning).  

As mentioned earlier, I had the fish eye so I'd most likely abuse it till the last day.  Shot with Canon 500d, Sigma 8mm Fish eye lens.  I'm starting to get used to the wide angled lens, since I can really get up close with my subject as you can see above and below.

February 10,  2013 - #18 Skateboard Themed Bar

As stated earlier I loaned the wide angled lens to shoot an event known as: Paramore Night.  We had a hard time parking in Route 196, since it is Katipunan Avenue it was close to impossible.  We came in late as the show draws to the last 3 bands performing for the night, as I had to finish my shift(2:00PM-11:00 PM).  

When we finally got there, I immediately set my things up to shoot right away but the place caught me of guard.  Why? Because the bar is board sport inspired.  In Route 196, you'll see skateboards, hanging or propped up on the wall, above the bar, even on the girl's powder room door.

FYI, I used to skate aggressively back in the day(but that's all history). In between shots, I took this photo of the barrier of the bar where 3 boards were hanging.  It's a nice way of exploiting wood and paint.  

Shot with Canon 500d, Sigma 8mm Fish eye lens and 430 EX II flash.  If you review my shots from the the event's blog post, you'll see the ceiling blown up by the strobe.  I was having a hard time to get it to desired setting since I'm still weak with flash photography.  

Although I've been reading strobist blog, I'm still puzzled on how to expose, ambient light and flash in a single shot.  Maybe I should keep reading and keep testing. 

February 11, 2013 - #19 Thoughts of you in the bathroom

By this time, the I returned the lens to it's owner. So I went back to shooting with the trusty nifty-fifty(50mm), 500d and the 430 EX II(mounted). In the photo above, I was trying to get the flash to sync faster than its sync speed (1/200), so I had to set the strobe to high speed sync(meaning, I can go beyond 1/200 shutter speed, with out the flash failing to get the desired effect.  I learned this through Youtube videos from Adorama TV.  Check them out, you'll learn a thing or 2 for sure!

This one was shot in the bathroom, with the shower running(of course!).  I was trying to get a nice angle without getting my camera wet.  During this time, its just minutes from me preparing for work.  Also shot with a low depth of field to get only the spray of water focus and everything else blurred.

Had a few tries here to get this one down, since I can't seem to get the right bounce for my flash, most of my previous shots were dark or even bland.

Post processing was done in Lightroom 4.  I went ahead and get a little warmth colors to liven things up.  I can't remember if I done it through white balance or curves.

On another note, my wife finds the title of the photo too perverted or maniacal.  I'd like to give my images a nice quirky,and smart(or so I hope) title, which maybe a little to rich for the Netizens of the Earth.  I'll apologize now for titles that may stir your imagination or find it offensive, now and in the future.  :)

February 12, 2013 - #20 Pink or Purple

I didn't have work during that shift so I went outside to shoot something colorful for a change.  I found this flower that was just watered, and found it interesting since I couldn't tell whether its pink or purple. 

This one is shot with a 50mm prime and Rebel T1i(European name for the camera).  I really have a hard time composing and framing with the 50mm since I feel so far away from my subject.  I had to think over things to get an interesting angle.

Post processed with Lightroom, you can say its my weapon of choice.  I like non-destructive editing to retain the original pixels.  I tweaked the colors to make it a tad bit contrasty and more vivid than how it is.

February 13, 2013 - #21 Bokeh Blast

This shot I've seen a lot in the net.  I've seen how this is done and know how to do it.  I was thinking at the evening of Feb 12, 2013, maybe its time to finally do this shot. And so I went to look for the Christmas lights, propped it up on the head board of the bed, and then started shooting in the dark. 

This is easy, you just need to get the lights exposed properly, then set your aperture to the lowest number that you can go, and the critical step, do not focus(yes, that's right!), and then click.

Shot with 500d, and the 50mm lens.  Not much post processing on this was done.

So now, shooting in the evening will be my thing and this will open another chapter, and variety of shots in the coming week.  I'm surprised that I could still keep on shooting despite of the busy schedule.  I'm more surprised that I rely with my DSLR more than my phone, since I have more control.

Hopefully, I can still get a chance to shoot more, and get better results.  I'll just keep shooting, to find out.