Project 365: Week 7

When the 2nd week of March came rolling in, I had to look for a way to keep on shooting and make use of my spare time wisely.  So my friends at Mediahub were hoping to borrow my camera to shoot a corporate SDE for a prominent company here in the Philippines. I thought of tagging along to help them out-extra camera equipment, extra man power and all that jazz.  So that means that my rest days are booked for video shooting.

Before the Mediahub team picked me up to travel to the province of Pampanga. I opted to go out and shoot a panoramic view of the sunset. I was lucky to borrow my brother-in-law's tripod as well.

March 7, 2013 - Earlier Today 

Shot with a Canon 500d, 18-55mm f/3.5-5.2 IS, mounted on a tripod.  I think this shot is tilted a little, since it seems that the horizon may look like it's slanting.  But if you look closely the fore ground would give you a straight line so I'd stick with this composition.  I'll try another one probably, it's only the 3rd month of the year right? 

March 8, 2013 - A helping Hand

We were already in Pampanga to shoot an onsite video for a famous company here in the Philippines.  Shooting video has been a challenge for me since I'm not used to holding out my camera away from my face and not looking at the view finder instead I'm forced to look at the LCD to add to that I had to work on the focus constantly.  Now, I know that video recording is tough.  I'd probably need to practice and get the hang of things.

I shot this one with my iPhone 4S, since I couldn't afford to miss a single thing.  The camera which is off the frame has Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG APO from my friend and it was recording a scene from the event.  

I always edit my shots on the phone through Snapseed, since it is a free app and it is pretty versatile and very easy to use.

March 9, 2013 - Mornings 

If you've been checking out my blog posts, you'd probably notice that I play with strobes a lot!  I hope you guys don't get sick of it.  Getting back from Pampanga, I was able to borrow a Canon Speedlite 580 EXII.  As soon as I was able to get my strength back I started to test the combination between wireless trigger, 580 EXII and 430 EXII.  I was puzzled since I can't seem to get them all to work at 1/200 sec.  I have to stop down to 1/125 sec to get them to sync.  Take note that I can only get one receiver to work, and have it mounted to the 580 EXII while the 430 EXII is slaved wirelessly, and all strobes are set to Manual.  So here's one of the test shots of the day where I had my wife sitting on the floor and 2 strobes to fire.  I think the 430 EXII is the one to the right and one behind the camera is 580 EXII.  I'm still not taking notes of the setting of the strobes here, sorry.  And I haven't been posting EXIF data of the shots here because I'm writing this post in the office which doesn't give me access to the EXIF data.  I usually get them in Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Bridge.  Shot with 500d, 50mm f/1.8 and strobes and remote trigger and receiver mentioned earlier.

March 10 , 2013 - In his jammies

For me this is the best setup shot with speedlites that I've shot so far in my life and I'm very happy with the result.  

I never would've thought that subtle lighting setups would give this portrait of my nephew a dark tone.  I love the effect it's done here. 

The couch was repositioned, so that I can have the bookshelf as a background.  
The 580 EXII and 430 EXII were positioned on the left and right side of my nephew, probably 2.5 meters away and power output is at 1/16 or 1/32  (I can't remember, sorry).  Shot with my trusty 500d, with 18-55mm kit lens from Canon.  I have another shot of this with a 50mm prime but I just don't have enough coverage for the background and the couch.  Comparing the two shots, 50mm is cleared than this shot, but the wide coverage has over compensated for it.

March 11, 2013 - Do not disturb

Another 2 flash setup as my wife works her rest day away writing for our blog and other stuff.  As you can see the light spilling into the frame is one flash and another one behind her.  I'm not going to go into technical details here since most of the viewers here may find it to boring.  

Post processing done here was a little bit of sharpening, curves to bring out more red, since my wife requested that I make her hair that way.  It's almost the same concept as the previous shot, but this time its brighter, and more saturated.

March 12, 2013 - Removing dependencies

I had a feeling that if I take out the artificial light out of the equation I would be crippled.  Which is why I shot this.  Using 50mm and high ISO to get a decent exposure just to focus on the fore ground flash. Its just a little reminder for me that there'll be times when I can't shoot with flash/es.  

March 13, 2013 - Textures: FANaticism

This shot of a fan that my grandmother uses. I was looking for a way for the light to fall so that weave will be complimented by light.  I had a few tries that doesn't give me the result that I was looking for, until I propped the fan a little closer to the flash and tilted it to get this effect.

At the same week I had this photo participate in a textured themed contest, and it did well as it qualified as one of the top 10 of the theme.  It didn't win but I was happy to participate in the friendly competition.

As the week ends, I think I'm depending to much on my equipment.  So I ask myself what if I don't have the control that I have with my camera.  I'll probably work with my phone and post some shots here, and on my facebook page.