behind the lens

The revival of the Nikkor 35mm f/2D AF

2011-06-13T10:31:00.011+08:00

There is a renaissance of 35mm focal length lenses ever since the DX format DSLRs came into existence. I love my Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX lens so much so that when I parted with it, I realized I have to get one with the same focal length, hence, I got this lens – Nikkor 35mm f/2D AF for my new Nikon D7000 DSLR with an APS-C format sensor. Initially, I thought this is a better lens compared to the 35mm DX simply because it is more expensive and has a full frame coverage. Based on my recent takes, I’m quite dissatisfied with the results for being slower in focusing compared to the DX version which I presume to be faster because it focuses silently. Aside from generating a louder noise when focusing, it has a tendency to witch-hunt when shooting in dimly lit environment. Had it not for the high ISO capability of the D7000, this lens would be less useful compared to its newer DX version. The f/2 aperture pales in comparison to the image quality of photos taken in f/1.8 wider opening setting of the DX version.
The lens, although made in Japan, is not supplied with a plastic lens hood unlike the Thailand-made DX version. It may have a better build quality than the predominantly plastic DX version which is lighter and scanty. The bokeh is less exciting, dull and crunchy unlike the DX version, though not that pleasing, was nevertheless much smoother. The bokeh circles are bigger though and this is attributable to the wider diameter of its lens opening compared to the DX version but they share the same deficiency in the background highlights which are not circularly shaped at wider openings.
Having tried this lens on available light and flash photography, I would say that it is more useful at f/4 and up and this is where it shines or may even exceed the DX version in image quality. The best uses of this lens would be travel, environmental photography or general purpose photography. This may be a good portrait lens but judging from its earlier results coming from a better camera like the D7000, I would rather prefer a wider focal length, say the 28mm or the 24mm as my next lens.
This lens was not a hit when it came into production for use on a 35mm film plane but with the advent of smaller APS-C sensors, it suddenly got a new lease of life. Whatever deficiencies it may have on a FX sensor, the smaller plane of a DX sensor would not expose such downfalls like light fall off on the edges and softness on the corners. Designed as an FX lens, it benefits from the sweet spot advantage on the APS-C size sensor of D7000. I’m not expecting much from this average lens and this would surely end up at my favorite ad section for sale again in the very near future. Next to the Nikkor 20mm, the 24mm focal length on a DX body might suit my compositional style of taking full body shots more than half body or head shots.

from DSLR to pocketable camera

2010-07-18T06:45:00.005+08:00

DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex or a Digital SLR camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. The basic operation of a DSLR is as follows: for viewing purposes, the mirror reflects the light coming through the attached lens upwards at a 90 degree angle. It is then reflected three times by the roof pentaprism, rectifying it for the photographer's eye. During exposure, the mirror assembly swings upward, the aperture narrows and a shutter opens, allowing the lens to project light onto the image sensor. A second shutter then covers the sensor, ending the exposure, and the mirror lowers while the shutter resets. The period that the mirror is flipped up is referred to as "viewfinder blackout". A fast-acting mirror and shutter is preferred so as to not delay an action photo. Source:Wikipedia
Since DSLR allows the use of interchangeable lenses, it is rather bulky and heavy and requires extra caution in carriage and handling. Lately as an enthusiast, I find the need to carry with me on a daily basis a pocketable camera which I can take out easily when shooting opportunities present itself. Thus, I found myself owning a Canon PowerShot S90. This little point and shoot camera was dubbed by Ken Rockwell as The World's Best Pocket Camera.

I like Nikons and I'm a staunch critic of Canons when it comes to DSLRs but when speaking of compact cameras, Nikon models suck and Canon has the better line up. Sometimes, sticking it out with your favorite brand would limit your photographic options and knowledge on what the other brands have to offer. These are the reasons why I tried other brand/model like the Ricoh GRD3 and this current gem among the smaller-sized sensor compacts, the Canon S90. Like the GRD3, the S90 sports a similar 1/1.7 inch high-sensitivity CCD sensor and designed to compete with the popular Panasonic Lumix LX3.

Considering the smaller size sensor inside compact cameras compared to APS-C or full frame cameras, image quality will of course suffer aside from the obvious lack of other features found only on more expensive DSLR models. But if you only post your pictures on the net and printing large copies of the images you took is not one of your preferences, then compact cameras should do the trick.

vibrant colors

2010-04-16T21:10:00.005+08:00

It's not an everyday affair when you go out in the open and able to shoot your subject and get rich and vibrant colors. I'm referring to subjects other than persons. Foremost consideration is, of course, your camera settings. For Nikonians like me, we have options to pick our Picture Controls and D2X Mode III is particularly effective in projecting rich and vibrant colors for your pictures.

The best time to shoot in the open is when the sun is hiding behind the clouds so that direct sunlight is filtered out thereby eliminating glare and too much highlights. In this kind of shooting condition, it is also best to choose a small aperture so that every thing, from the foreground to the background, are in detail. Besides, picking wide apertures is very limiting because of the bright light unless you fit in a Neutral Density filter to block some degree of brightness.

Even with portraiture, shooting under these conditions could give your photos the magical effect of an enormous diffused light from the skies above. What is good about overcast skies is that the sun is not so dominating and the shadows not at all prominent. These shadows, if there are any, should even give more depth and definition to an image. The selection of all the images featured here were all taken in RAW format, hence, I have to use my Capture NX software in converting it to JPEG images. I wish to further share a technique which I found to be useful in giving punch to your captured images. To get rich and vibrant colors like the sample images, tweak the focus slider in the NX a little bit more to give it a sharper look and add some green punch by tweaking the RGB sliders according to your taste.

Inasmuch as you've gone the extra mile of taking RAW shots, you might as well tweak them a little more by calibrating the colors of your image. And this is easily said and done if you're quite familiar with the features of the Capture NX software provided by your friendly Nikon maker. How to get the green punch is like increasing the saturation of the Green color and darkening the shadows at bit more and reducing the Gamma flare to make up for a darker and more appealing shadows. In Photoshop, there are lots of ways of achieving this look and it will all depend on your familiarity and customary flow of work on what suits you best

Generally, what seems to be the predominant contributory factor in getting rich and vibrant colors is the overcast skies serving as a huge and diffused source of light. All these images were taken in Baguio, a mountain city in the Philippines, either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and this is the time of the day when great images abound in the highlands.

Ricoh GRD3: The Small Wonder

2010-01-25T20:00:00.012+08:00

I’m not switching brand but sometimes I feel the need to carry with me a small and unobtrusive gear for taking instant shots when opportunity presents itself. Although I love my Nikon, I simply think that there is nothing in their Coolpix line can truly match the superior features offered by the Ricoh GRD3. It has been three months since I acquired my Ricoh GR Digital 3 compact camera and it never ceases to amaze me with its usability and ease of use. I’ve been using this pocketable camera as my wide angle lens option being equipped with a fixed focal length equivalent to 28mm in 35mm format. It boasts of having a faster lens of f/1.9 aperture, thus it can take pictures on low light environment at a faster shutter speed or the same shutter speed but with a lower ISO sensitivity setting. This third generation GR Digital camera from Ricoh has a new GR Engine III Image Processor which they claim to be capable of producing photos with enhanced image quality.

What I like most from this little gem is its 3 inch high resolution LCD screen with 920,000 dots making your images look so clear and vibrant when viewing them on the LCD. However, the clarity of images you see on the LCD screen is sometimes misleading and is not a guaranty that you’ll have a clearer or sharper picture if you view it on a larger computer LCD screen or monitor.

As a compact camera, nothing beats this GRD3 when it comes to customi- zation. It is designed like a DSLR where you can find the main controls ergonomically and strategically located where your fingers can reach them. On the top right is the Mode Dial where you can either select a choice of Full Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Full Manual and the Scene Setting. At the back is the Adjust Dial where you can access various menu for setting Exposure Compensation, White Balance, ISO Speed, Quality and AF target. The front circular control acts as Aperture Dial while the toggle lever at the back operates as your Shutter Dial.

Since I am more interested in showing you sample photos from this little gem, I will purposely shun from talking about its paper specs but dwell more on what it can do and can produce as photographic image results. This GRD3 truly excels when shooting landscapes and street scenes or when you simply would want to come closer to your subject.

Overall, what I can do with my DSLR, I can easily do it in this small wonder. I can set the built in Flash to Manual which I usually do instead of relying on its Auto Flash capability. I can avail of its Front Curtain or Rear Curtain setting just like a Nikon can, thus, I can also do remote flash photography using my Nikon SB-800 speedlight in its SU Mode.

Shooting night scenes is a possibility with its extremely longer shutter speed choices of setting thereby allowing you to capture enough light just like when using a Bulb setting while placing it on a tripod and activating the self timer button. Macro photography or those taken in close distance is likewise an easy task because you can focus in as close as 1cm away from the subject.

This little gem is a small wonder. Though only a compact camera, it can take great photos too and this is a very customizable tool in the hands of a serious photographer. Photography, after all is not owning the better gears but what matters more is what you do with what you have.

black on black

2009-11-28T07:30:00.001+08:00

This is a lighting technique which I would like to share to some people who have been asking - how to light a black subject on a black background in low key style. Using your flash mounted on its hot shoe or doing a wireless remote lighting even in CLS fashion won't get you this softly diffused lighting. Even using light modifiers like honeycomb, snoot or soft box can't get things right either. So, how did I do it?

Light painting must be the answer. How did I set it up? well, you must do it at night in a room without any stray light. Of course, you can do it on a day time as long as you keep the daylight away. Put on a sturdy tripod where you can mount your camera. Tripod is the key equipment to this lighting technique because you will set up your camera in a long exposure release mode using a self-timer to trigger the exposure.

In the first two photo samples here, I randomly picked 6 seconds as my shutter speed. The shutter speed you will choose should let you have all the time you will need to paint your subject using your chosen light source. Since you are exposing your subject in a longer time than usual, you should also pick a smaller aperture so that light will pass through slowly into your sensor. The choice of a smaller aperture would likewise give you a deeper depth of field which is important in product photography where details of the product should be emphasized or made readable.

And now this is the clincher - what light source did I used in painting my subject? Well, since I'm a Nikonian, I can only experiment using my speedlights on hand - the SB800!! I fitted it with a snoot but of course without taking off the diffuse dome to make the light softer. Then using its modelling light by snaply pressing its button, I painted my subject with light coming from the localized light of my diffused flash. Six (6) seconds is more than enough for you to circle around your subject and get the illumination you wanted.

To show you the difference of doing black on black using a lighting technique other than painting with the light, I posted this third sample photo where I used my SB800 mounted in a soft box and wirelessly triggered in CLS. Despite using a manual flash setting of 1/64, the harshness of the light can still be seen despite diffusing the light with a softbox. Light painting is therefore the better technique because it can give you more latitude on experimentation.

Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX: The DX-format normal lens

2009-09-08T19:30:00.004+08:00

It has been four (4) months since acquisition and I only have good things to say about this lens. Price-wise, it's a bang for the buck and affordable prime lens although I was able to purchase mine over and above the published listed price. Its performance and optical quality have so far exceeded my expectation for a cheap prime lens costing USD250 or less.

When fitted to a DX-format Nikon DSLR like my D300, the 35mm focal length renders a picture angle approximating the classic normal angle of view of a 50mm lens on a Nikon FX-format digital SLR or a 35mm film camera. A normal lens, without limitations on the viewfinder, would give you a field of view without magnification of the image or increasing or decreasing the field of view of what you're seeing with or without the viewfinder. This 35mm DX lens multiplied by Nikon's 1.5 crop factor would equate to a 52.5mm focal length or approximately that of a 50mm standard lens.

The lens comes with a supplied plastic lens hood maybe because it was designed as a wide angle and it is prone to chromatic aberrations on high contrast scenes or where there are extreme highlights on the background. Though considered as a normal lens, the bokeh is not that pleasing compared to a similar 50mm f/1.8 lens much more the 50mm f/1.4 lens. Although an AF-S lens, the focusing speed of this version is only comparable to that of the 50mm AF-D versions without the gliding sound of the D versions.

Having tried this lens on available light and flash photography, I would say that it renders sharper image when used with flash but as long as there are sufficient light source, natural or deflected, it will still produce a wonderfully sharp image. Because it is made of hard plastics, it is lighter than the usual 50mm D versions or even the 35mm D version. From the samples uploaded, one can easily perceive that the best uses of this lens would be travel, environmental photography or general purpose photography.

Next to the Nikkor 20mm, the 35mm focal length on a DX body perfectly suits my compositional style of taking full body shots more than half body or head shots. It can even fulfill the role of a portrait lens if you want to shoot half body or head shots and the results are surprisingly amazing. You will need to come closer to your subject in order to get the desired compositional crop and this takes sharper images because of the shorter distance between the lens and the subject.

Shown in the photo on the right is my portrait shot where it was taken so close to the subject to get a head shot crop like this. Perhaps the only complaint they have on this lens is its tendency to produce barrel distortion. It's not an issue with me as the same can be easily remedied in Capture NX or in Photoshop. All told about its respectably reliable performance, I still have to test this lens shooting portraits on natural and available light. It is said to perform well in low light situations but I have to try and evaluate the experience myself.

For modelling credits, from top to bottom, I would like to thank the following pretty ladies: Ingrid Dela Paz taken at U.P. campus, Diliman, Quezon City; Edzen Pineda and Kim Dimatulac taken at the Heritage Park in Taguig City; Sandra Palma taken at Nu.Vo Greenbelt, Makati; Joanna Gonzales and Kristin Villarosa taken at Luminosi Studio in Makati.

Jasmin Ouschan at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships

2009-06-12T13:32:00.016+08:00

It's a weekend and I had nothing much to do so I went to see the few but interesting matches left at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships held at the SM City North EDSA Sky Dome in Quezon City. This sports event was participated in by 48 of women's top pool players including Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Karen Corr and lots of others.

Last June 2-6, 2009, the Sky Dome and The Block of SM North EDSA were the venues of some of the better matches I've seen in women's pool circuit. Jasmin Ouschan, who earlier competed in the Philippine Open battling top male pool players was also present in this women's 10 Ball event. During the elimination round, Jasmin was surprisingly outclassed by Hsiang-Ling Tan but went on to win her remaining matches and beat Miyuke Fuke in the round of 16.

In the other matches in the round of 16, Karen Corr of Ireland won over Yun Mi Lim of Korea, Akimi Kajitani of Japan bested Yuan-Chun Lin of Taiwan, Jeanette Lee of the U.S.A. sneaked past Tamara Rademakers of Netherlands, Rubilen Amit of the Philippines disposed off Hsiang-Ling Tan of Taiwan, Allison Fisher of England was stunned by Yu Ram Cha pf Korea, Shin-Mei Liu of Taiwan easily defeated Charlene Chai of Singapore and Kelly Fisher of England advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Chieh-Yu Chou of Taiwan.

In the quarter finals, Karen Corr was crushed by Akimi Kajitani, Jeanette Lee was trounced by Rubilen Amit, Jasmin Ouschan trumped Yu Ram Cha and Shin-Mei Liu drubbed Kelly Fisher.

In the semi-finals, Jasmin Ouschan was pitted against Shin-Mei Liu who seemed to have the better luck in the later racks and went on to beat Jasmin. Rubilen Amit had a more difficult time slugging out with Akimi Kajitani.

This sight of a helpless Jasmin in her match with Shin-Mei Liu might have broken the hearts of her fans who prefer seeing an Amit-Ouschan face off. But Shin-Mei Liu was the steadier player that night and moved on to meet Amit in the finals. Being the reigning European pool champion, Jasmin easily captured the hearts of the local crowd with her powerful hard breaks and beauteous look on and off the camera.

Despite her loss, Jasmin remains a darling of the Filipino crowd. Next to Rubilen Amit who won the championship, Jasmin Ouschan was the player with the most number of fans and local supporters for being such an amiable and approachable person. She will never turn you down when you ask for an autograph or pose with her for a picture taking.

This first-ever Women's World 10-Ball Championships was the inaugural staging of the event and was promoted by Dragon Promotions and sanctioned by the WPA. Hopefully, this women's 10 Ball sports event will return again next year with the same top women players.

Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR: The Inexpensive Performer

2009-05-31T14:05:00.000+08:00

I recently had a chance to try this lens for a period of four months shooting everything from landscape to portraits, with flash and in available light. Like all kit lenses, they are manufactured cheaply and comes in plastic mounts and therefore, we should not expect them to deliver outstanding results in comparison with other lenses that are usually sold separately. Even with a VR feature, this lens is still considered a slow performer but nonetheless, the VR comes in handy every time you're in a low light situation and would want to pick a slower shutter speed.

Being more inclined to shoot portraits, the samples shown here are all portraits shot by this inexpensive performer. I must confess, this lens did not yield any spectacular images when I used it in available light, hence, all the sample shots here were aided by an artificial light source either from my SB-800 or from the built-in flash of my D300.

If you're expecting a pleasant blur of the background or what we call the bokeh, you will be disappointed because its lens opening of f/3.5-5.6 at a focal length range of 18-55mm can never produce a blur of the foreground or the background unlike if it is with a telephoto range where the lens opening of the lens is not at all crucial. After a brief stint in my dry box, I decided to sell this lens not being worthy to keep and for use in taking better images. In its place, I purchased the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX which is currently on the test run on my D300. Incidentally, if a lens stays with me for over a year, then it must be good!!

Thanks to Jacqueline Karen, Brandy, Rida and Janice for posing in the photos. The first and second photos above were taken at Johndel Beach Resort in Nasugbu, Batangas. The third photo was shot at Lewis Grand Hotel in Angeles City while the fourth and last sample photo was taken at Narra Park, Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City. All photos were taken using a Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR.

conquering the back light

2009-04-10T14:10:00.005+08:00

Backlighting is such a nightmare for some photographers but for me, I always find it a challenge and a new experience to harness the light coming from the back of your subject. I had a shoot stretching late in the afternoon and I specifically waited for the golden hours of 4pm and up when the light is at its softest when I positioned my model in the right place. With just enough edge light on the facial contours, the nose and shoulder, I brought out a softbox with SB-800 and attached it to a light stand to fill in some light and tame the backlight. The results are the sample photos

With the sun serving as the key light, being the stronger light source, there is a need to provide for a fill in light to achieve this kind of images. Where to place the SB-800 with soft box to provide for a fill-in light is critical in these situations. On these sample photos, I placed it on the left side forty five degrees away and in front of the model. Placing it on the right side would flatten out the light and would not make your image as edgy as the ones in the sample.

This kind of set-up will likewise give you that elusive Rembrandt light with the sunshine as your main light. For a review of these terms, Rembrandt effect is a high contrast lighting scheme and is achieved by placing the main light at a high angle to your subject's face. The Rembrandt effect is characterized by a triangular light underneath the subject's eye. It also allows the nose shadow to blend in with the shadow on the dark side of the face.

With the sun directly shining at an angle above the model's back, a stray of light will produce the triangular light below the eye of the model with the high bridged nose carving the shadow on the left cheek forming a triangular high contrast light.

The last two photos also showed some edge light on the arms and face of the model creating an edgy effect which for me is a very pleasing effect - a combination of highlights and soft shadows.

For modelling credits, many thanks to Maya Vasayllaje, a former Palmolive Circle of 10 model.

Equipment used: Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF, SB-800 Speedlight with Falcon Eyes soft box

window light

2009-02-03T15:20:00.000+08:00

I have always been fascinated by the light streaking in from a window. For photographic purposes, such ambient light creates expressive effect on portraits where you can harness the light either as a key light or fill light. Shooting in ambient light would, however, give you shadows in unwanted places. Shadows can either make or unmake your photo depending on their placement or location where you let them appear. Perhaps, the most appropriate time to shoot using window light as your light source is when the sun is at its peak of strength.

Although I havent tried it yet but worth experimenting would be to block or temper down the strong light with a diffuser to soften it like a modelling light. The first two photos were taken in mid daylight and the venetian blinds separating the subject from the light source acted as diffusers to tame down the strong mid-day sunlight. Using reflectors would also help disseminate some light to recover details from the shadows. The third photo was taken late in the afternoon and it is during this time of the day when an artificial light source should be considered and mounted to provide additional illumination.

When shooting in ambient light like this, it is always a good practice to mount your camera on a tripod, use a small aperture and longer shutter speed and tell your model to stand or hold still for at least 2-3 seconds. This way, you can let in more light into your sensor using a lower ISO. Meter your subject using spot metering or if you have a light meter, you can choose to meter your settings by placing your light meter on the particular area where you want more light to appear.

Lately, i tried combining window light with artificial light from a speed light to get a more predictable result. In photography, you cannot always capture what your eyes can see. You should introduce additional light somewhere to eliminate or create shadows. The last sample photo was also taken in mid-daylight but the window light was diffused by the curtains, hence, i tried introducing artificial light from my speedlight mounted on a diffuser umbrella and placed at the back of the model to eliminate the shadows. The result is a more natural looking photo just like what my eyes have seen from the location where I took the photo.

Modelling credits from top to bottom: Gabrielle, Nicole, Camille and Elaine

Lenses Used: first two photos - Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF, third photo - Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF and fourth photo - Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX VR

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX VR: The Cheap All-rounder

2008-12-20T14:45:00.006+08:00

For curiosity's sake, I bought this lens last November 7 to try it out on my D300. As expected, I was not surprised at all at how superbly sharp and clear were the images taken by this cheap all-rounder. Comparing it with the previous kit lenses that I've tried, nothing seems to beat this latest kit lens offered by Nikon as packaged with the Nikon D90. For the record, I've had a chance to play with these kit lenses: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G (D50), 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G (D70), 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G (D80) and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (D60). These are all good plastic mount lenses but the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR was so far the best of them all.

It has a VR (Vibration Reduction) feature making it useful in low light applications despite its slow aperture opening at f/3.5-5.6 at the wide to telephoto range. Though it doesn't have a VR II feature which is available in its 18-200mm VR, 70-300mm VR and 16-85mm VR predecessors but nonetheless, it gets the job done by reducing blur when taking photos at slower shutter speeds.

With its usable focal range at 18mm on the wide and 105mm on the far end, it is virtually a walk around lens like the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX where you can shoot landscapes, street scenes and portraiture. Its optical system features a single ED lens, hence, chromatic aberration is minimized. Though it has a SWM (Silent Wave Motor built-in), this lens is very slow in focusing especially in low light conditions. My Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF even beats this lens when it comes to ease of focusing.

What is desirable with this lens is the image quality of the photos taken by it. It is comparable to that of the 18-200mm VR at half the price if you're going to buy it separately as a lens. It is a plastic mount lens and it is very light which is a turn off for me considering that they are more prone to breakage if you hold your camera thru the lens and with the D300 attached to it, chances are it may not carry the weight of a bulkier and heavier D300 with vertical battery grip attached.

Having tested this on various shooting conditions, I am quite satisfied with the photographic output. In outdoors, it is a venerable lens but when shooting indoors, you must light your subject with external flashes to get good results. It is likewise slow when shooting inside a studio with dim light because it has a tendency to witch hunt for available light. With lights turned on, it is a breeze to focus accurately on your subjects.

In almost all my shooting experience with this lens on outdoors or even indoors, I have been shooting in CLS (Creative Lighting System) where I use external flash to help illuminate my subjects. I am more of a portraitist that's why i prefer lighting my subjects on the sides to get a more interesting portrait. Definitely, this is not a good lens using it in available light where the usual f/2.8 lenses might be the only choices.

If you're going to ask me if I like this lens? Well, I would tell you that I have already sold this lens because I'm not satisfied with it. But for its price, you don't have any reason to complain at all!! It's like looking at the two photos below - the moment I acquired it, I was smiling like I'm the happiest person with a new toy to explore and when I parted with it, I was kinda sad that I looked like the one in the bottom picture :)

Modelling credits from top to bottom : Nadine Dixon at Eco Park, Brandy at Linden Suites, Victoria Wise at Linden Suites, Zette at Eco Park, Acir at Heritage Park and Annie Lopez at DPI Ortigas Studio

under the shade

2008-10-31T07:17:00.004+08:00

Perhaps the trickiest of the lighting condition when it comes to daylight shooting would be that of shooting under the shade. In daylight shooting, you may either shoot under a direct sunlight, under a cloudy sky or under a shade. When we speak of daylight, we mean the combination of sunlight and skylight. Both should combine to produce daylight. Shooting under a shade means you are either surrounded by trees and leaves with some or few streaks of sunlight creeping in in some instances. That's what makes it tricky and based on my experience, shooting without fill in flash won't give you any exciting results or output.

This is where the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) comes in handy again where the artificial light from the mini strobes would fill in light on the shadows on the head or facial portion of your subject. Without the fill in light, you will lose a lot of details on the eyes and other depressed contours of your subject making your portraits flat and lifeless. Of course, you can still remedy the situation but you have to be good in your photoshop skills and this would entail time in post processing. If you want to avoid any fancy retouching, you might as well use the extra light to lighten up your subject.

It is not necessary that you have to flood your subject with excessive light from numerous speedlights. Even a single mini strobe or speedlight can give you a desirable output if you know where to strategically place your light source. A good portrait doesn't require sufficient light to make it good. It only needs a quality light to make it interesting. I shun away from using reflectors because they create uneven skin tone. A diffused light looks more natural and taming the light from your speedlight may require you to either use a shoot through umbrella or a soft box and in the sample photos, I just used a Sto-fen diffuser.

Another camera setting to look out when shooting under a shade is choosing your White Balance and Picture Control. In the sample photos, I experimented using the Vivid Picture Control and the Daylight White Balance. It turned out that the colors are richer but I personally prefer the more natural look so I made some adjustments in Capture NX, the supplied photo-editing software of Nikon. If you are shooting in RAW, you can easily change your choice of settings but you won't learn to trust your instinct if you always rely on RAW adjustments every time you take pictures. It's better to train your eyes and judgmental call and let your mind decide on what settings you would fix on your camera. It is an accumulation of years of practice and experimenting before you can intuitively trust your judgment.

Photography is indeed a challenging travail but in order to get good pictures, you should know your camera by heart. And there's no better way to learn photography except to shoot regularly. And there's no better way to entice yourself to shoot periodically except picking what you like shooting the most. In my case, I get more inspiration when I do portraits of woman. And thanks to Sarah Josef for her patience and for being a good sport.

Make-up credit is given to King Pacifico. Without her, I wouldn't have the chance to shoot Sarah. All photos were taken by a Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF. Nikon SB-600 with Sto-fen attached was used as an artificial light source. Thanks to you, Vince, for lending me your speedlight.

multiplicity

2008-09-25T17:25:00.002+08:00

When I posted my multiplicity photos in flickr, I was asked by a few guys on how I did mine. Well, I always reveal my photoshop secrets when politely asked and whenever I have the time to make a tutorial. Multiplicity photos are simply made by cloning the same person on the same frame.

How do we do that? We start by getting a stable tripod where you can fix and attach your camera which will take multiple exposures of the same subject appearing on different location in the same background. For this, you should likewise choose a not so busy background or a quiet static place where there is no movement of anything on the background. Doing it on outdoors where there are passing vehicles or branches or leaves of trees swaying would not at all get the effect you needed. Remember that the camera must remain fixed and stationary during the entire photoshoot and you can avoid camera shake or movement by using a remote shutter release trigger or activating the timer switch of your camera.

Start taking pictures with your model moving to a different location each time. The more frames to combine, the harder it will be when you're cloning them in photoshop so in my example, I shot only two frames of the same subject on a different location in the background. Using a wide angle lens in these kind of shots would be most helpful so that you can cover more space in your frame. Also bear in mind that the subject should not occupy the same space occupied in the previous frames, otherwise, an overlapping subject would be difficult to deal with in photoshop. That's about it for the photography part and the next step would be the post editing work.

In photoshop, open the two frames or so much frames that you have taken with the same background. In my example of two frame shoot, you're going to select the second frame using the rectangular marquee tool then move that selection on the first frame using the move tool. While working on the second frame which is the top layer, create or add a white layer mask. Set black as the foreground color and white as the background color. Using the brush tool, slowly paint over the portion where the subject on the background layer (first frame) is located. Voila!! that's about it. You now have a multiplicity photo. Flatten the image and save it!

Another alternative would be using the eraser tool instead of the layer mask technique. I personally prefer the layer mask technique more to my liking but in photoshop, you can always get what you want in so many ways or means possible.

environmental glamour portraiture

2008-08-24T10:49:00.000+08:00

Shooting glamour portraits with environmental element is what fascinates me these days, being my latest photographic interest. Often, we see glamour portraits of pretty models shot in an out of focus backgrounds intended primarily to isolate the subject and to put emphasis on the model or the item she’s wearing or selling. This is the typical glamour portraiture we knew as differentiated from an environmental portraiture where the background plays an important element.

As more popularly defined, an environmental portrait is an image of a person in a place – they are portraits of people in their workplace, home or places of leisure which says something about themselves as a person. It is a portrait taken in an environment or in a location. Shooting portraits in an environment is therefore called environmental portraiture and shooting pretty girls in a location might be rightly called environmental glamour portraiture if the surroundings or the background where the subject stands plays a key element in the photo.

In this style of portraiture, the background should be integrated with the subject and not taken as out of focus element. Mixing glamour with environmental elements therefore necessitates the use of wide angle lenses shooting at smaller apertures to capture the background in a wider depth of field. In the sample photos, I used a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D, for the first five photos and a Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AF, for the last photo, and if given a choice of what lens to use, I would take a medium range zoom like the Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8G AF-S or the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G AF-S DX. The Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AF was recently borrowed from a friend and this is the culprit why I am now putting my sights on this style of portraiture – environmental portraiture, that is.

By the way, I recently sold my favorite and most abused lens, the Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G AF-S in the hope that I could buy a better replacement but up to now, I haven't had a chance to get one due to financial constraints so I settled on a fixed focal length lens, the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AF, to fill in the void on my wide angle shots. I had previously used the same lens on a Nikon D200 and was not impressed with the results but fitting it this time to a D300 gave me a more amazing output.

One important tip on shooting environmental portraits is to shoot your subject in an environment where the surroundings will not dominate your shot, or aptly put, the background should not be distractive or cluttered to detract the attention of your viewers away from the subject. The background or the surroundings by itself should give a hint on where your subject is. Looking at the photo of Hanna above, one may deduce that the subject was on top of a building with a nearby construction of another building seen on the background. The photo below would also give you an idea of Hanna on a high altitude location inasmuch as you can see the surrounding cityscape on the background. The first four photos of Angelyn were shot on the same location at the roof deck of City Land Tower located at Pasong Tamo in Makati City.

For modelling credits, special thanks to Jim Go Yarisantos for letting me shoot these two young girls, namely, Angelyn Tensuan and Hanna Mae Padilla. Make up services was volunteered by Wren Yuson.

balancing flash and natural light

2008-07-25T02:35:00.001+08:00

It's my nth trip to Eco Park and had done a lot of photoshoots there but this time I tried to perfect a lighting technique - and that is how to balance the flash with the natural light. Specifically for this shoot, my objective is to seamlessly blend the flash with the existing ambient lighting of a particular scene. Using Nikon's Creative Lighting System, such task can be made easier but still you have to do a lot of trial and error until such time you get what is pleasing to your eyes.

It was a rainy day at the park but I still proceeded with the shoot knowing fully well that there will only be a few promenaders at the park which is very desirable when shooting your models who will not become conscious by the presence of people watching them or stopping by to peek a look at what they're doing. The sun was hiding behind the nimbus clouds, hence, it was an overcast day and an appropriate time to bring out the flash to contribute some artificial light to your images.

Blending the flash seamlessly with the ambient light is easier said than done. Some do it to sharpen the image or bring out details on the subject while others do it to create a more dramatic lighting or to put some edge definition on the subject. I tried doing all these but my results leave so much to be desired. Having had plenty of experience shooting in available light, I find it more appealing nowadays to combine both light sources into my portraiture.

To achieve this lighting technique, you can always think of it this way - and you have to choose whether you're going to make the sun or the natural light as your main light and your artificial light from your flash as your fill light and vice versa. If you'll treat your flash as your main light and the natural light as your fill light, you have to overpower the natural light by fixing your flash to a setting with a much higher light intensity. This will create or give you with a more dramatic image with edge definition on your subject.

The second and the fifth photos from the top are good examples of this where the flash overpowers the natural light. With the rest of the photos, I think I was able to get a balanced lighting from my artificial light source and from the natural light then obtaining.

When positioning the flash, moreover than not, I always place it 90 degrees or 45 degrees from where my subject is standing and this is how is light my people subject whenever I combine both flash and natural light. This set-up would give you a more dramatic facial contours inasmuch as the light falling or spreading down on the face are uneven which is your objective in the first place to avoid getting flat portraits or those where both sides of the face are similarly illuminated. A little darker on one side is, for me, a more pleasing image than one where both sides of the face are lighted with the same intensity.

For modelling credits, I'd like to thank Issa Ortiz-Luis and Nadine Dixon for being my models on this edition of my Eco Park series.

bluer than blue

2008-06-25T08:05:00.002+08:00

I had a chance to shoot outdoors last June 19-20 and this opportunity lent me a time to experiment on my landscape camera settings. The landscapes of the Ilocos Region presented me with some fascinating places where i could try such settings that i have in mind like the Bangui Windmills and the nearby Cape Bojeador Lighthouse.

Familiarizing with your camera's controls and settings should be your first priority if you want to improve on your photography. So, i ventured into an experiment where i tried using the D300's Active D-Lighting feature to the hilt in most of my settings. Common sense further dictates that i should try tinkering with the Vivid settings of the Picture Control to get rich and vibrant colors.

Based on what we have read on the manuals, "Active D-Lighting preserves details in highlights and shadows, creating photos with natural contrast. Use for high contrast scenes, for example when photographing brightly lit outdoor scenery through a door or window or taking pictures of shaded subjects on a sunny day." It is an in-camera extension of dynamic range and as distinguished from the previous D-Lighting feature of some models of Nikon DSLRs, Active D-Lighting is activated before taking the photo and not the usual post editing correction tool where you can tweak the highlights and the shadows after the image had already been captured and stored on the memory card.

Since the feature was meant to increase and record a wider range of lights and shadows, it will take the camera a longer time to process and record more information about the image before saving it on the memory card and this is where the faster CF cards should reign supreme over the cheaper brands. I'm only using Ridata and PQI or what you call the lesser brands but i don't find any significant drawback on their writing speeds.

With the Active D-Lighting turned ON, one is supposed to expect a reduction of the blown highlights and a preservation of details on the dark areas. I experimented with the various options available on the Active D-Lighting feature and i found out that on landscapes with extreme contrast on a sunny day, the High setting is the most desirable for my needs. Why? because it makes the blue skies bluer and that was my objective in mind when i ventured into this shoot. Of course, the Vivid setting on the Picture Controls played an important role too in darkening the blue skies but this setting should be tamed a bit if you're taking environmental portraits where you have people on the foreground. A Vivid setting will likely give you a reddish to orange brown skin tone and this is not natural.

With the right camera settings, one can do away on the use of polarizing filters which are meant or designed to make the skies a little bluer than what the eyes can see. I shun away from using filters primarily because it gives the photographer an easier task and the results are somewhat predictable to the trained and experienced eyes thus making you look more like a cheater than a creative photographer. This is aside from the fact that filters are an extra cost and additional bulk to what you might be bringing on your photoshoot trips.

On hindsight, i was also thinking that my Sunny white balance setting contributed a significant role on the overall results that i got from this shoot. The contrast is very much desirable and was further enhanced by the Active D-Lighting on the D300 which i find effective especially when shooting on harsh lighting conditions. If properly used, the Active D-Lighting feature would give you an HDR look image without the vulgar and extremely artificial effect of an overdone HDR. It pays a lot to tinker and play with your camera's controls and settings and if i were you, i would start shooting more than buying or accumulating gears which you don't know how or when to use when the need arises.

The first two photos above were taken at the beaches of Bangui Bay where the fifteen windmills generating the power requirements of the province of Ilocos Norte were presently installed. The rest of the photos were that of Cape Bojeador Lighthouse which is situated atop of a hill in Burgos, Ilocos Norte.

I am very much grateful to Vince Gaspar for tagging me along while he's on a business trip on the northern part of the Philippines.

My D300 Experience

2008-05-27T08:30:00.005+08:00

I got my Nikon D300 last week of April and it's barely a week in my custody when I was presented with an opportunity to test its mettle on an outdoor and studio shoots using two of my least favorite lenses, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF and the Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S. Don't get me wrong when I said 'least favorites'. They are the cheapest lenses in my dry box but nonetheless, the most abused and ironically, you might call it my 'most favorite' lenses indeed. If you're going to ask me, what lens is dearest to my heart right now and without blink of an eye, i would say the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF, since i shoot mostly portraits.

Without much variance in ergonomics and control panel placements, the D300 is very much similar to my previous D200 except that I now enjoy the Expeed image processing capabilities, high ISO shooting and longer battery life of the D300. I'm not a sports shooter so I still have to appreciate its faster FPS and its vaunted 51 focus points in 3D. But initially, after pressing the shutter release button when I first got a hand on it, I find the D300 a more snappy camera compared to the D200. I'm not a landscapist either so I haven't discovered the benefits of it's Active D-Lighting feature yet which according to papers, can greatly enhance dynamic ranges of the shadows and the highlights for a more vivid and detailed image capture.

Last May 2, I had a chance to shoot Roxanne, a local celebrity here and the results I got were very much pleasing. In this outdoor shoot, I fitted my old reliable 50mm f/1.4D to the D300 to find out if it can exceed what the D200 had achieved in the past. Though I had better results in using that lens before with the D200 but those photos were taken when the lighting was extremely helpful for an outdoor portrait session. With harsh lights producing unwanted highlights, the first two photos of Roxanne were an instant success having been taken without any aid from my speedlight which I usually bring out from my bag when giving an extra hairlight would make the image more pleasant.

After a brief outdoor experience, we decided to shoot indoors on a studio set-up using regular strobes. For more flexibility, I have to change lens and this time I fitted my slow but reliable Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S to the D300. Being a consumer grade lens, it is obviously inferior to what my 85mm f/1.4D can produce under the same shooting conditions but nevertheless, it can respectably provide good results too.

Using a softbox and a brolly and later on a third light placed at the back of the model, we were able to get results like the last four photos in the samples. While tinkering with my settings, I am quite a bit surprised when I was able to fire the strobes at above 1/320 flash synch which is the rated max speed for the D300. I reviewed my flash settings and these were what I got: the D300 was set to flash in TTL Mode, the SB800 was set to manual @ 1/128 flash intensity or just enough to trigger the sensors of the strobes. I shoot in Manual Mode as always and whenever I exceed the shutter speed to more than 1/250 sec., I get a black or blank image.

With the D300, the flash synch speed can go as high as 1/320 as long as you choose the Focal Plane option in the menu. But with my experience, I was able to fire the strobes and get an image even above 1/320 shutter speed. I experimented with different speeds and discovered that I can get away with it only up to 1/500 sec. shutter speed. Beyond that, the usual black screen or blank images will now appear on your LCD screen.

The journey and experimentation will continue and photography is such a never ending conquest of technology and capture of beauty. Years or months from now, the D300 may have another iteration but my resolve to grow old with this hobby will not preclude me from trying out new gears as they come in the future. As they say, enjoy it while it lasts and for now, I'm looking forward to an FX format in a D300 body.

For modelling credits, much pleasure to thank Ms. Roxanne Barcelo for the shoot. Make-up by Pam Dionisio while the venue for the studio shoot was offered by Jobbit Mata.

dramatic lighting set-ups

2008-04-10T09:55:00.004+08:00

The basic purpose of lighting is to bring out the subject to make it visible in a photograph. But for the advanced photographers who are simply tired of flatly lighted portraits, lighting is a process of setting up the lights to impart personality and character to a portrait and fill it with emotion. Unknown to many, dramatic lighting can be achieved with just a single light source strategically placed to a location where it can create high contrast shadows on the face of a subject. Before we venture into this discussion, we should first familiarize ourselves with the basic lighting set-up composed of three lights: the key or main light, the fill light and the back light. Since I am using Nikon speedlights, SB800 and SB600, in my sample photos, I will limit my discussion on lighting techniques with these speedlights as my light sources.

The key light is the strongest light usually placed on a high angle and on the side of the subject. It is mostly mounted on a reflective umbrella directed towards the face of the subject. The fill light or the weaker light can be provided by a light source mounted on a shoot through umbrella or if dispensed with, can be sourced from a reflector or from an existing natural light. The back light separates your subject from the background to create an edge light on your subject.

Going back to our topic on dramatic light set-ups, a single light source may just be enough to light your subject if you know how to set it up in such a way that your light direction will properly hit your subject's facial contours to give it an outline of shadows and highlights. In my first sample portrait above, the light source was placed on the left side at angle in front of the subject to create shadows on the right side of the model's face.

The second photo from above was lighted by a key light placed on the right side slightly at the back of the model while the third photo was lighted by exactly the same set up but this time the model was instructed to move a little bit backwards. The light provided by the key light perfectly illuminated the facial countours and since it was placed at the back of the model, it serves as a backlight too and created some edge light on the head and shoulder of the model.

The fourth sample photo was lighted by two light sources and they were set-up to achieve a Rembrandt effect. The Rembrandt effect is a high contrast lighting scheme and is achieved by placing the key light at a high angle to your subject's face. The Rembrandt effect is characterized by a triangular light underneath the subject's eye. It also allows the nose shadow to blend in with the shadow on the dark side of the face.

The last two photos were shot on an indoor location and ligthing the subject with a light source mounted on board a camera would not achieve the same effect so using two light sources placed away from the camera will do the job. On the fifth sample photo from above, the model was asked to posed on a hallway corridor. The key light was placed on the right side and in front of the model while the fill light/backlight was placed on the right side at the back of the model. On the last photo on the stairway, the key light was placed at a high angle on the left side of the model while the fill light was pointing directly towards the face and was placed on the ground.

For modelling credits, I would like to thank Klaudia Batzler, a Filipina-German who gamely followed my instructions. Make-up services was provided by Pam Dionisio.

high dynamic range images

2008-03-30T13:55:00.001+08:00

High Dynamic Range imaging (HDRi) is often called the process of combining bracketed images with different exposures and subsequently tone-mapping the resulting image to give a high and exaggerated dynamic range with more details on the highlights, shadows and midtones.

When doing HDRi, I use the trial version of Dynamic Photo HDR from Media Chance and it is a better software, for my requirements, than what the Adobe CS3 can offer.

Your very first concern when processing images in HDR is to get at least three (3) images with different exposures. The more images of the same scene is of course better so that you can set the EV value increment to a narrower figure. Getting a series of the same scene would require you to set up a stable and sturdy tripod where you will mount your camera. Fortunately for me, I am using a Nikon D200 where it can take a series of shots up to nine (9) frames. Other Nikon DSLR models like the D80 and lower models can only take three (3) frames. Doing this would again necessitate to set the camera to a Continuous Shooting Mode and triggering the shutter release button thru the built-in timer function or with a cable release gadget you attach to the camera to prevent any camera shake from affecting the frames of images you will need to combine when doing HDRi.

Now, assuming you already have at least three (3) images to process with, load this image using Dynamic Photo HDR. For a quality compromise, it's better to have at least five (5) images of the same scene to work with.When these images with bracketed exposures were already loaded, the next thing to do is to check whether these images are properly aligned. You can align them automatically or manually but I'd rather do manual alignment and rely on my sense of sight's judgment. You can tweak the merged images with advanced options like pin warping and anti-ghosting options but that is for the advanced users.

After you've finished the alignment process, you're now ready to tone map the exported HDR image. With Dynamic Photo HDR software, you have six (6) tone mapping options: Eye-Catching, Ultra Contrast, Smooth Compressor, Auto-Adaptive, Photographic and Human Eye. Ocassionally, I always get better images for my taste whenever I process the HDRi on the Eye-Catching mode but I also have great results using the Ultra Contrast mode. When you want subtle results or less-than the hyper realistic HDR effect, you can either process your HDRi using the other options mentioned above.

In the examples given, the 3rd and 4th photos from top were both processed in Ultra Contrast mode while the rest of the images were all process in Eye Catching mode.

creating composite photos

2008-02-17T15:30:00.015+08:00

Composite photos are two or more photos merged or combined together to form a single image. Compositing pictures can be easily done in Photoshop but I will limit my discussion here to merging two images only. First, pick your photos to be combined by opening both image then choose which one will be layered on top of a background image. In my samples, I picked a subject or a photo of a person to be my main image and an environmental or a landscape photo as my background image.

I have to choose a photo with a plain background or any portrait shot in a studio with a solid color background would be fine. We can select the subject by using the Color Range Tool and point it to the colored background. Set the Fuzziness to a level where the selected portion would be uniform all throughout. In my samples, I set the Fuzziness to 100 but this may change according to each individual photo you're working with. When the selection is done, go back to Select -> Inverse to inverse the selection to choose the subject.

Now that the selection (looks like a running colony of ants encircling the image) is transferred to the image of the person, click the Move Tool in the sidebar to activate it. Using the Move Tool, transfer the selected portion to the background image. You now have to scale the size of the main image to a size you think would suit on the background image. You can do this by going to Edit -> Transform -> Scale. You can now resize the main image. If you want to correct the perspective and adopt it the background image, use the Perspective option Edit -> Transform -> Perspective.

The most common problem that I always encounter is how to smoothen out the selected image from the main photo when it is already transferred to the background image. There is usually a residual color from the background of the main photo that is also transferred to the background image. In my samples here, the sky blue color of the background from the main photo is too disturbing to be left ignored. I use the Eraser Tool set at a very low opacity to slowly but surely erase those unwanted color residue. You should zoom in on the image to work more accurately when you are erasing those residual colors and do this on the layer of the main image.

When you're done with the resizing and erasing tasks, you can still move the selected image to any place or position on the background image as long as you have not flattened the layers yet. Once you are finished with these tedious tasks, you can now flatten the image. In my two samples, I preferred merging the layers first before proceeding with my usual workflow on image enhancement but nothing will prevent you from doing the image enhancement on the layers itself if that is your pleasure.

All images used in this tutorial are copyrighted and strictly prohibited for distribution or downloading without my express written consent. Special thanks to my two favorite models, namely Pearl (first model) and Madie (second model) and to Wren Yuson for doing the make-up and who, incidentally, is also one of my favorite model.

Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF: The Creamy Lens

2008-01-31T19:09:00.001+08:00

I sold my Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S to fund the purchase of this much acclaimed lens. It's not that the Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) Nikkor is no good but I'm simply not fond of shooting wides because of DX resolution issues with ultra wide angle lenses and I'm more of a portraitist than a landscapist. I don't want to rot the Nikkor UWA in my bag so I decided to let it go and got myself this portrait lens.

This lens is not locally available so I ordered it from someone who sourced it out in Hong Kong. After four days of eagerly waiting, I finally got this lens and the next day I tried using it on a studio, shooting some lady friends. My first hand experience was not depictive of its capabilities because of the controlled lights we used inside the studio. An outdoor photo opportunity was forthcoming two days after my studio shoot and I was so excited trying out this lens on outdoors for the first time.

It was indeed a pleasurable lens to use and I had a chance to see it in action shooting this wonderful lady from the United Kingdom by the name of Natalie. The Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF is one of the best lenses that I have used so far. It is extremely sharp, the contrast and color saturation are good and the bokeh is so smooth and silky that's why it is fondly called as "the creamy lens". The build quality is likewise beyond reproach and good lenses like this are always Made in Japan unlike consumer grade Nikkors which are usually manufactured in Thailand.

The 85mm focal length is best suited for 3/4ths, waist to head shots or half body portraiture while the 105mm focal length is good for head and shoulders portraiture. Having tried it outdoors for the first time and with Natalie as my first subject to work with it, it was really a pleasurable experience. Natalie is a very professional model who is currently based here in the Philippines. Despite her constant movement, which is a sign of an experienced model, the creamy lens is fast enough and can easily adjust its focus with the D200 spinning its motor. I tried shooting at wide open, f/1.8 to f/2.5, the sharpness is impressive and the out of focus portion blends well and the bokeh circles are rounded and not polygonal like my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF. It's bokeh rings are bigger than its f/1.8D sibling obviously because it has a wider maximum lens opening.

The blurry background or what we call bokeh is so creamy and not crunchy like the bokeh of my long forgotten Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G. Compared to my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D's bokeh, this 85mm is a lot sweeter and smoother. Having tried it indoors inside a moderately lit restaurant, the D200's setting can go down as low as f/1.4 aperture, 1/60th shutter speed @ ISO 200 shooting at 2500 Kelvin to eliminate oversaturation of colors. This lens is very heavy and is made to last for a long time. I am more of an available light shooter than a strobist that's why this lens is a must for me. Although I like playing with the lights in CLS, I still think getting this fast lens can make me a more versatile portraitist. This is a very pricey lens but in photography gears, we always get the advantage of what we pay for no matter how miniscule it may be.

Modelling credits goes to Natalie with whom I'm very grateful for having had the opportunity to shoot a British national for the first time. Make-up by Pam Dionisio.

slow shutter night portraiture

2007-12-31T23:30:00.000+08:00

Night photography is one field of photography where experience on time exposures will come in handy. In this type of photography, light meters or even metered camera settings of your high tech DSLR camera will not yield or give an accurate resulting image. In all likelihood, you will take your shots on a trial and error basis and adjust your settings accordingly depending on the results of the initial images taken by your digital camera.

On the photos given as samples, my goal is to get a properly exposed background for my models who should stand still for at least two seconds to prevent or minimize any movement while the shutter is letting in some light from the background. A desirable set up would be to mount the camera into a stable tripod and use a cable release trigger or set the camera's timer delay trigger to prevent any camera shake from affecting the clarity of the image. Don't forget to instruct your model to stand still for a few seconds even after the flash had long since fired.

The photos uploaded as samples were all taken on a time exposure of more than one second. The camera's flash was set to a rear curtain flash setting and was mounted to a tripod. Rear curtain fired flash means that the flash will fire right before the shutter closes as distinguished from front curtain flash firing where the flash is triggered immediately right after the shutter release button is pushed to the hilt.

The Creative Lighting System of my Nikon gave me a reliable and predictable results from its wireless flash photography. When shooting night images, white balance setting is also critical to appreciate the image you're taking. In these examples, my experience and familiarity with Kelvin settings provided a nearly accurate and desirable results of balancing cool and warm temperature settings for the image. For credits, I would like to thank Zette, Nadine and Darlene for this lingerie shoot and to Pam Dionisio for providing the venue and make-up services.

extreme ways

2007-11-30T12:30:00.003+08:00

Extreme shooting takes place when you're taking pictures on outdoors on a sunny day or where there is an overcast sky where there is an uneven flow of light, thus, your camera's metering becomes unreliable in balancing the highlights and the shadows it sees in the frame. With these existing conditions, your camera's metering and white balance will have some difficulty compensating for the colors and if you're shooting portraits, you may either get a tanned skin or a washed out portion of the skin due to the presence of highlights.
If you are using a Nikon camera with matrix metering capabilities, these extreme shooting conditions will be much easier to handle. In my case, I optimize the image by using either the Normal, Softer or Portrait preset setting in the Optimize Image Menu. Avoid using the Vivid or More Vivid setting for the reason that these settings will oversaturate the skin tone which is not good for a portrait under these extreme shooting condition.

As mentioned in one Nikon handbook, "Nikon's 3D Matrix Metering employs methods of exposure calculation that automatically apply exposure compensation, depending upon scene brightness and contrast and distance information. As a result, your subject, whether it is centred in the viewfinder or not, is given corrected exposure in most lighting situations." Canon calls this metering algorithm as "Evaluative Metering" but if you'll make a research on who came up first with this innovation, you'll find out it will be Nikon.

Nikon's Matrix metering, introduced as "Automatic Multi-Pattern" (AMP) metering in the FA camera in 1983, was the world's first meter that actually measured exposure, instead of just light. It is one of the most important advances in photographic technology. This meter knows how to make white snow or sand look white, instead of a conventional light meter's making everything look medium 18% gray. It applies the zone system automatically to attempt to render a correct exposure under difficult and contrasty situations. When shooting in a hurry under rapidly changing conditions, which is the whole point of using a small format camera like a Nikon, there is no better way to meter your exposures. excerpts from Nikon Matrix Meter by Ken Rockwell, 19 August 2001

With the later Nikon DSLRs, Color Matrix Metering is now a standard feature and this is perhaps why Nikon images have a better color rendition. Based from what I've read, this metering function allows yellow as light as it should be while it captures red as dark as should be.

I particularly like these photos to show how extreme shooting can be fun. The last six photos uploaded were taken under extreme conditions and no ordinary photographer would dare taking these images if they are not equipped with technical knowledge on how to choose the proper settings on their camera. The streaks of light lend some sort of niceties on these images.

Special thanks to my favorite model, Pearl Cedro, for this photoshoot. The first four photos were taken by a Nikon D200 fitted with a Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S ED-IF VR lens while the last three photos were taken using the same camera fitted with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens. You will notice that my favorite Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D takes sharper images compared to the Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S ED-IF VR lens but the latter's bokeh is very much desirable.

my Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR zoom

2007-10-31T05:55:00.000+08:00

It's been more than a month since I acquired this lens from Mayer Photo and it replaced my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D as my work horse lens since then. For shelling out a moderate amount of P25,000.00, I can now shoot in a low light environment on almost any place with poor light conditions, with its VR feature turned ON and pushing the ISO setting to ISO 800 . On an overcast day, like in the photo above, I can shoot at 1/60 without blur using a 170mm focal length at ISO 250. At this focal length, bokeh will appear on the background which is generally smooth and not crunchy compared to the blur produced by the Nikkor 18-200mm VR at the same focal length.

This lens is a full format lens suitable for any future full frame Nikon DSLRs like the D3 but with my D200, with a crop factor of 1.5X sensor, the scope of its field of view would be in the focal lengths of 105-450mm. The sample photo above was taken at 230mm focal length with a shutter speed of 1/200 at f/5.3 aperture in ISO 400. One can readily notice the smooth blur of the green grass which is called bokeh, or pleasant blur.

At ISO 400, one can get better color rendition than shooting at ISO 100, which is what i've experienced in the two or more years that i've been shooting in digital. Again, the sample photo on the right which was shot at ISO 400 is another classic example of a good color rendition.

With not much choice of lens, I tried the 70-300mm AF-S VR inside a studio with strobes as main sources of light, and the results were equally amazing - sharp image and accurate and fast focusing even in low light where my 50mm f/1.4D would have faltered and encoutered difficulty. The two sample photos on the left were taken at its shorter focal lengths and who says one can't use a telephoto in a studio set up?!

Of course, using the 70-300mm VR in a cramp studio would limit your ability to take better shots and would confine you to only facial or head shots or half body portraits. When using strobes, you should also turn OFF the VR function to save on battery power as the VR would be a useless feature when your subject is being lighted by strobes.

One last test I made on this lens was shooting with it indoors using continuous lighting from a home lamp. The result was the sample photo on the right which was taken at ISO 800 shooting at f/5 at a slow shutter speed of 1/8 at a focal length of 165mm. Without VR or any anti-shake feature, the rule of thumb would be to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/(focal length) or in this case 1/200 to avoid any blurring of the image. With the VR feature ON, one can have more luxuries in shooting in low light conditions.

Credits goes to the following in the order of their appearance from top to bottom: King, Margarette, Tey, Wren, Bianca and Pearl, I am very much grateful to all of you.

lighting the nude

2007-09-30T21:15:00.000+08:00

There are lots of ways to light a nude subject but in this particular shoot, I experimented with low key lighting. Low key light is characterized by predominantly dark areas than light. It is also interchangeably referred to as mood lighting where the light is used to illuminate the subject to evoke a certain mood or emotion.

When we say low key lighting, it doesn't mean that we have to underexpose the image. It is merely selecting a certain portion of the image where we choose to apply the light. In the first two photos I sampled, the light was placed overhead with the strobe set at half power to achieve a butterfly effect, meaning the light will taper down below the subject illuminating only a certain portion of the subject which in this case is the nude woman's breast and facial contours.

Low key lighting has always been a popular choice when lighting a nude subject. It is characterized by dark tones and minimal lighting to expose only a part of the subject while avoiding lighting up the background. In the last two photos I sampled, in addition to the main key light placed on top of the model, I used accent light which is either placed on the left side or on the floor beamed towards the model. The efect is a more illuminated subect but at the same time avoiding the extra lighting to strike on the dark background.

For credits on this shoot, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Zette who, graciously and without hesitation, accepted my invitation to shoot her in birthday suit. Likewise to Pam D. for making that body art on Zette.

eyes that glisten

2007-08-31T11:06:00.000+08:00

Time and again I'm very much fascinated by portraits with bewitching eyes. As they say, eyes are the window to one's soul and girls with sparkling eyes pierces the soul and emotion of its viewers. The technique I have been using to put a sparkle to my portraits' eyes came from a flickr friend named Elizabeth Salib who unselfishly shared her PS technique with no strings attached.
There are a lot of means to achieve a certain effect in Photoshop and this technique is just one of those ways of getting eyes that glisten. This is particularly useful in photos of head shots when you want to draw the attention of your viewers to the eyes of your subject. First, zoom in your image to isolate the eyes to get a bigger workspace. Duplicate the image to create a background copy. Then select the Dodge Tool with settings at 3% Exposure, Range at Highlights and slowly dodge to lighten the white part of the eyes to your desired taste. Next would be to dodge the iris to reveal its true color. This technique is particularly effective if you use it on people with colored eyes.

After getting the effect you wanted, duplicate the Background Layer to get a Background Copy 2. Move the Background Copy 2 layer above the Background Copy. Blend in Color Mode and adjust the opacity of the blending in the Background Copy layer. The result is a glowing iris and a more defined eyes making your portraits a lot more stunning with ethereal look.

Special thanks to my models above, namely Apple David and Sheena Marie Uy, respectively. The first two portraits were taken in available light with Apple David on location at Sonya's Garden in Alfonso, Cavite while the last two portraits were also taken in available light with Sheena on location at the Acosta-Pastor Residence in Batangas City.

the lady in red saved my lens

2007-07-31T14:30:00.000+08:00

The Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF used to be my favorite lens, being the fastest lens that I have in my arsenal. Aside from being reasonably priced, it is dependable in low light photography with its aperture set at wide open. It is likewise capable of producing smooth blur or "bokeh" which is pleasantly silky at f/2.8 and wider. Being a prime lens, any amateur photographer or hobbyist alike shouldn't leave home without this "normal" or "standard" lens tucked inside their camera bag.

Lately, I was tempted to sell this precious gem and get myself a real portrait lens as what they call an 85mm f/1.8 to be. Last July 14, we had an out of town photoshoot in Batangas City and the location of the shoot is an old ancestral house of the Acosta-Pastor clan situated along D. Tirona St. in Batangas City.

When the magic hours started to set in, I went shooting outdoors and replaced my ultra wide lens (Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G) with my estranged normal lens (Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D). The drawback of using a fixed focal length lens is that your composition will be limited to cropping the image unless you resort to what we call in jest as "walk zoom" shooting where you either step back or move forward to get the framing you want for your image.

A little bit inconvenient but getting used to it should be a part of your work attitude. Patience being a virtue in photography, I did my composition by walking to and away from the model just to get that desirable framing in my viewfinder. The resulting images when seen after each click of the shutter is very rewarding to the visual senses. Rich and smooth bokeh will make you smile when you chimp after each and every push of the shutter release button. On this particular shoot, I fixed my aperture at f/2.8 since I had a terrible experience in the past when I availed of the widest aperture where the shallow depth of field ruined my photos.

ISO setting was dialed to ISO 200 to afford a little flexibility and to maintain a cleaner image. The shooting started off with Clarisse in red dress as my model. I started with the shoot by letting her pose by the Steinway piano sitting upstairs and with the aid of my reliable Nikon SB-800 speedlight, I balanced the lighting exposure provided by the available light coming from the window and the fill in light provided by the speedlight. The result - an astonishingly clean image of a lady in red dress with a smooth background of the fully furnished old Spanish style living room of the olden days.

Working outdoors, I kept the same setting but this time shooting in available light during the magic hours of the day. When we say magic hours, we usually refer to the window of time beginning 4pm up to 5pm in the afternoon where the outdoor lighting of the setting sun is occasionally diffused by the clouds above.

After the shoot and upon seeing my photos of Clarisse, I resolved not to sell my normal lens and decided to keep it for good. A wise decision indeed for the obvious reason that having a cheap lens like the 50mm f/1.4D would afford you few luxuries in composition on low light conditions. You just have to muster enough patience in walking to and from your subject to get an image which will suit your shooting style. That I don't mind at all and for now, this Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D will stay here for good. Thanks to the lady in red for without her as a very inspiring subject, I would have parted with this lens when I was visited by my lucid intervals.

For this shoot, I would like to give credits to the following who made this event possible: Igor for inviting us to join him, Gina Pastor and family for being such a gracious host, King for doing the make-up and to my fellow shooters, Joel, Tipoy and Jobert. Of course, we would also endeavor to thank our pretty models namely Clarisse, Sheena, Erika and Jonah.

Apple at Eco Park

2007-05-26T12:15:00.005+08:00

At the heart of the city lies an ecological park located near Fairview in Quezon City. Frequented by weekend promenaders, the La Mesa Eco Park is a favorite shooting venue among wedding photographers and hobbyists like me. One sunny Labor Day became a memorable day for having met this wonderful lady named Apple.

Gifted with natural talent of showing different emotions, she became a darling among some flickerians. A very patient girl, she can pose under the sun without qualms and complaints. This photo on the left is reminiscent of a scene from the classic "The Sound of Music" movie with her dress and the flower on the foreground providing a perfect subject for the grassy and hilly slope background. This photo eventually made it to the Nikon Stunning Gallery on May 15, 2007.

The photo on the left was taken at the Shell Flower Terraces, a favorite spot for taking prenuptial shots by wedding photographers. This is my favorite among the photos on this set. The model is simply emotive here and a fill in flash from an off-board Nikon SB800 speedlight contributed some dramatic lighting for this image.

Taken in available light near the Orchidarium, this photo shows Apple's knack for emotive posing as well as her versatility on producing different angles of view for the photographer to capture with a press of the shutter release button. Her simplicity without ever trying is very alluring.

The photo on the right was taken at the dock of the pond and was a capture of a candid moment when she was caught off guard who, upon calling her name, instantaneously looked at me while I was clicking for this shot.

The lagoon at dusk with a boat on the background is another marvelous backdrop for this kind of shot. Using a single off cam Nikon SB800 speedlight mounted on a deflector umbrella, this photo was captured using Nikon's Creative Lighting System of remotely triggering an off board flash in the commander mode. You may also configure the setting in such a way that the built-in light will contribute some fill-in light frontally into your subject.

This image is likewise a favorite of mine and using the same lighting set up mentioned above, the dark waters on the pond with faint reflections of light on the background is a fitting enhancement for a black on black theme photo.

Many thanks to Nuah Alpha Princess for being such an amazing person inside and out.

Workshop at the Ranch

2007-04-19T21:50:00.000+08:00

This project was inspired by Dave Black’s Photography whom I admire most for his unselfish effort of educating us with his lighting techniques and experiments on exploring the capabilities of Nikon Speedlights more particularly the SB800. Last April 7, 2007, I had a chance to apply what I’ve read and learned from his site and put into action my SB800 and a friend’s SB600.

Night shooting is the perfect occasion to do some experimentation on strobe lighting and how a different placement of the lights would change the mood of an image. By arranging the speedlights and adjusting their flash intensities, one can see dramatic changes on the image being produced. Just take a shot then look at your LCD display and do the adjustments right in your camera’s menu until you like what you’ve been seeing. That’s how Nikon makes life easier with its advance wireless i-TTL flash system. One is spared from going to each individual speedlights to do the adjustments.

Most of the sample photos posted here were the product of the classic three lights set-up - one speedlight on each side of the subject while a fill-in light from the built-in flash of the D200 was fired to further clean up the shadows.

The photo on the right was taken with the SB800 mounted on a deflector umbrella and was positioned on the right side about 50 degrees from the model. The SB600, fitted with a Stoffen diffuser was placed on the left side and beamed towards the model. The third light source came from the built-in flash of the D200 which was fired to fill-in some light. All of the lights' flash intensity settings were configured in TTL using the Commander Mode of the D200 and were triggered wirelessly in CLS fashion.

The photo on the left was taken on the poolside with Alyssa and Ylla posing together. Due to prevailing low light condition on the poolside, the ISO setting was pushed to ISO 640 to increase sensitivity. Shot in the Manual Mode, the focal length was 75mm, the shutter speed was set to 1/50 sec. and the aperture was f/6.3. The same three lights set-up was employed with the SB800 mounted on a deflector umbrella being placed on the right side while the SB600 with Stoffen diffuser was placed on the left directly beamed at the models. A fill-in flash from the D200 was also deemed necessary.

The photo on the right is a classic example of lighting the background to improve contrast and separation of colors. The placement of the lights being the same, the ISO was set to ISO400 but the flash intensities of both speedlights were increased. At 35mm focal length, the aperture was set at f/5.6 while the shutter speed remains constant at 1/50 sec. Since I was shooting with the VR on, a slower shutter speed can be safely selected to capture more light from the background.

With Alyssa sitting on the step of a steel ladder, a colored beach ball instantly became a good accessory for this shot. The lights placement being the same, the focal length was noticed at 56mm. The two Speedlights were in the Remote mode and are mounted to lightstands. Each of the speedlights are located approximately 12-15 feet away from the subject. With slight variation, the photo below utilized only one SB800 mounted on a deflector umbrella placed on the right side and slightly angled to light up the back of the model. With a fill-in light coming from the D200's built-in flash, a moody image of Ylla was captured sitting in front of colorful playpen as an interesting backdrop.

I would like to thank Lissa Co for being a gracious host and for inviting us over at their farm house in Lipa City, Batangas. Modelling credits goes to Alyssa and Ylla while make-up and styling was provided by Myca. To my other companions in this shoot namely Igor and Airic - thanks guys!!

2007 Manila International Auto Show

2007-03-31T23:01:00.000+08:00

The 3rd Edition of the Manila International Auto Show was held last March 28 up to April 1, 2007 at the same familiar venue at the World Trade Center inside the CCP Complex, Manila. Compared to last year's event, it is less prominent with the noticeable absence of Toyota among the exhibitors. Fewer booths were seen and there's a remarkable decrease in the number of attendees.

The event is an annual venue for car or motoring enthusiasts to take a closer look at the latest models and brands of cars and other motor vehicles available locally.

As usual, gate entrance fee was pegged at P50.00 per head which will entitle the guest to roam inside the venue and perhaps take pictures of pretty ladies and the cars they are promoting just like what i did when i went there for a peek. Entertainment is likewise offered on various times of the day and I was privileged to see Jennifer Lee (the girl on top photo) in person on the day I visited the venue.

From my observation, Subaru came in as the most flashy exhibitor during the entire duration of the event. Since this edition of the show was the baptismal year of their participation, they paraded their popular Impreza line, a perennial contender in the World Rally Championship racing. The Subaru Impreza WRX is a turbo-charged 2.5 liter class all-wheel drive automobile.

Predictably, if there are good-looking cars, there must be some charming and pretty girls along side these gorgeous cars. Sarah, an Elan International model was among the familiar faces I saw gracing the Subaru booth, of which I was lucky again to have been granted the privilege of taking a few snapshots of her. This photo of Sarah made it to the Nikon Stunning Gallery days after it was posted in flickr.

Joanne, another pretty lass and upcoming model is likewise seen here among the Subaru girls.

Another exhibitor, Motolite, a local manufacturer of motor vehicle batteries came up with a different theme. They showcased a highly modified car, replete with colorful paint works and lighting effects to demonstrate and show off their batteries' superiority in providing power to a motor vehicle.

my NSG photos

2007-02-28T13:00:00.000+08:00

The NSG is the term i coined to that flickr-oriented website found at www.nikonstunninggallery.com . I started tagging my photos with "nikonstunninggallery" as early as August 2006. I was very much elated when my initial offering was picked by Nikon and that was the portrait of Camille taken at a bar (see lower-most photo).

Diane Claire
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

The NSG site is a Nikon sponsored Flickr gallery of "stunning" pictures shot from, and taken by, a Nikon camera. It is supposed to showcase "stunning" photos from the point of view of Nikon inasmuch as they are the ones who pick and choose which photos qualify to their standards as worthy of being publicly displayed in the NSG website.

April
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

Nikon chooses an undetermined number of photos which they feature and add to the gallery once or twice a week. The frequency and the days when they pick the "stunning" photos are invariably unpredictable to make it more appealing and exciting to Nikonians who wishes to see their photos featured and added to the gallery.

Kiomi
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

Here are some tips that i have logically discovered on how to increase your chances of making it to the NSG. Your photos should have EXIF files showing that it was indeed taken by a Nikon camera (that is obvious, right?) As much as possible, tag your photos with Nikkor lenses you used in taking those photos. Nikon wants to highlight the superiority of their lenses too and they know very well what lenses they have in their archives and what lenses they do not manufacture. I've submitted quite a number of photos taken from Sigma lenses and only one of them was inadvertently picked (i guess) by Nikon.

Nikon girl
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

Since they only select photos once or twice a week, post your best photos tagged with "nikonstunninggallery" three to four days after they made their last pick. No matter how stunning your photos were, if they were posted right after they had already made their selection, chances are, those photos will be overwhelmed by succeeding photos posted right after yours. Nikon only sees the latest posted images first and by the time they have seen your photos, they have already picked and selected several photos as their featured photos of the day.

Jorgette
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

Avoid putting signatures or watermarking to your photos. Nikon wouldn't want you to be that famous, you know!! Another point to consider is to refrain from too much image manipulation and tag or post only photos that are natural looking or those photos which are minimally photoshopped.

Ruby
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

Be considerate to others and let them have a share of the limelight too! When you already have a featured photo on the first page of the NSG, refrain from posting any further. Wait until your photo moved down to the second or third pages and that would be the best time to tag your candidate photos again. Lastly, don't fool yourself - make sure that what you're posting are indeed "stunning" photos from your own honest to goodness assessment!!

Camille
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

The Nikon CLS

2007-01-28T16:02:00.000+08:00

When dusk sets in and the sky turns into a sunny overcast and you’re on an outdoor location shoot where guerilla-type of shooting is the name of the game, this is where the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) reigns supreme over its main rival, the Canon e-TTL wireless flash system.

With just a flick of a button, you can turn your Nikon SB-800 into a wireless slave flash unit and aim it at an angle where you can achieve better lighting effects to be triggered by the D200 in the commander mode. The niceties of the result is that you can expose the background and at the same time light up the profile of your subject. Doing this without a flash would overexpose and wash out the background or if the shooting is done with an onboard flash, soft or even harsh shadows would appear in the most unpleasant places. Results gained from previous experience usually dictates where you would intuitively place your slave flash unit to attain a natural lighting with less prominent shadows.

In the sample photos shown, Nikon’s CLS was called upon to light up an extremely difficult lighting situation. With shadows falling in and the face of the model appearing as darkly lit, a fill in flash becomes a necessity. I set the CLS of the D200 in the manual mode with the built-in flash acting only as a pre-flash trigger to avoid contributing further shadow cast on the background. The SB-800 acting as remote flash to fill in some light on the face of the model was placed below the eye level. Flash compensation was set at -1/8 EV which is just enough to clean up the subject where the use of a flash is not too obvious. The main advantage of doing this is that the use of a fill in flash would not blow out the highlights which can hardly be corrected even in Photoshop.

The last of the sample photos was taken under extreme conditions where darkness was starting to set in so I increased the Flash Compensation to -1/2 in the manual mode. The result – an acceptably well-exposed shot where the background was still captured with so much ambience to impart the time of the day when the photo was taken.

Modelling credit goes to Erica

Toned Black and White Photos

2006-12-14T16:55:00.000+08:00

Kiomi
Originally uploaded by ronrag.

As they say, presenting a nude photo in black and white or duotone is more dramatic and it evokes emotion. That's why after shooting some nude portraits in colors, i searched the net and found another way of converting a color picture into a high contrast black and white using the Calculations Option in Photoshop CS2. After opening your photo, go to Image -> Calculations.

There are a lot of choices as your Source configuration but I found this combination: Background-Gray, Background-Gray, Pin Light, New Channel as the most suitable for my purpose. Click OK and voila... you now have and instant high contrast black and white photo. This is perhaps the simplest way of converting a Color photo into a striking Black and White.
You cannot, however, save the photo in the JPEG format unless you go to Mode -> Grayscale then Save. It doesn't have to stop there... you may want to improve it further by applying a simple toning technique and here it goes. Bring down the dialogue box again Image -> Mode -> Duotone. Then after seeing the Duotone box, choose Type: Quadtone.
You can find 4 different presets in the Quadtone and in the PANTONES folder, i selected this option Bl 541 513 5773. Click the LOAD and hit OK. To save your processed work, you will have to convert it back as an RGB file in order to save it as JPEG file. IMAGE > MODE > RGB then Save the file.

Thanks to Kiomi for being such a fabulous model

The Nikon Rebirth

2006-11-18T15:25:00.000+08:00

Last November 11, 2006, the Nikonians in the Philippines were given a treat by Nikon's local distributor, Columbia Digital Sales Company, in a party thrown for the purpose of reuniting, and igniting the passion of, the more gifted and privileged photographers who uses Nikon as a tool of their craft. The Canonians can boast and claim of having a better technology packed inside their DSLRs and a reliable local support service but ask a Nikon guy and he will have a gritting and intantaneous refutation to the contrary. Well, let's cut the crap and be more objective!! Whatever brand of camera you use, your photos will only look as good as your artful taste will dictate - that's a fact and we should leave it at that!

At the helm of the new management of soon to be known Nikon Philippines is Anderson C. Tan, President and General Manager of Columbia Digital Sales Company, a venerable guy who took over his father as the chief operating officer of this old but reemerging company, and who candidly promised to take the Nikonians into a higher level of satisfaction when it comes to service support and more dominating presence in the local photography industry.

Nikon as a camera brand has long been the choice of creative photographers and hobbyists and got a snag only when it can't cope up with the technology advancement made by its main rival, Canon, who now uses CMOS sensors in all their latest models of DSLRs, which if compared to Nikon's CCD image sensors, are known to be more power efficient thus, supposedly better in the field of noise management as theory would spell it.

Canon who manufactures its own sensors reigns supreme for quite sometime but Nikon, who either buys or have its sensors custom-made by Sony, didn't throw its towel and conceded defeat to Canon, when it subsequently regained its reputation in the world of digital photography as soon as it bagged several citations and consumer awards as a result of the world-wide acceptance of its better DSLRs. Reviews and consumer evaluation as well as feedbacks from professional users have it that a Nikon designed DSLR reproduces more vivid and richer colors. The user-friendliness of its features and the tank-like build quality, even in its plastic DSLR models, sets it apart from its main competitor's similar products.

Despite knowledge of Nikon DSLR's shortcomings, I would still prefer getting a Nikon anytime for the reason that, aside from what had already been mentioned and its publicly known reputation, i like Nikon's Creative Lighting System. Their DSLR's may not excel much on low light conditions when shooting on High ISOs but this system is, nonetheless, a more versatile tool in the field of flash photography. Using its wireless TTL system to the hilt, one can simulate a studio set up on outdoors thru the compliments of several SB-800s or SB-600s flashing like strobes in multiple lighting set-ups where the photographer can control each of the speedlights flash output from the camera itself in the Commander Mode.

Columbia Digital Sales Company revealed a new revolutionary face of Nikon and officially launched its newest offerings, among which is the "The One" Privilege Card, an exclusive service card for Nikon users who owns at least an item purchased from Columbia Digital Sales Company even if all the rest of the members' gear were sourced from somewhere else. The party was held at the Tavern on the Square located at Greenbelt, the hub of Makati's premiere entertainment place. Graced by at least 200 Nikonians, who were invited thru the online community, the event featured a mini fashion shoot where eight beautiful models paraded with Nikon's latest line of point and shoot cameras available in the local market today, namely, the Coolpix S10, Coolpix S9, Coolpix S7c, Coolpix L6 and the Coolpix L5.

These eight models were the subject of the on the spot Nikon Rebirth "Becoming" Fashion Photo Contest in four categories: The Bronze Beauty, White Wash, Color Splash and Yellow-To-Me, with the winner in each category getting a surprise package from Columbia Digital Sales Company. Deadline of submission of entries was yesterday, November 17, and winners will be judged by the "Big 3" Ad campaign endorsers, namely, Kai Huang, Lito Sy and Xander Angeles.

The best is yet to come for the Nikonians! Columbia Digital Sales Company will fortify its product range and marketing campaigns and will strive hard to accomodate even owners of gray market units, which unfortunately is killing their local presence. Despite this predicament, however, CDSC promises to lend a helping hand in uniting and making the Nikonians, a very proud and happy users and owners of Nikon products.

NB: the writer of this opinionated feature article has not, in any way, been paid by Nikon Corporation or by Columbia Digital Sales Company

film-like digital black and white photos

2006-10-12T15:15:00.000+08:00

My previous techniques in black and white conversion is not at all simple and easy as I have previously discussed. And as time goes by, we discover ways of improving our photoshop skills and I just discovered another photoshop way of approximating the film-like contrast of a black and white print from a black and white film where the blacks and the greys seem to be sharper.
The simplest way is not always the best way but if we can simplify our work flow with the least steps and at the same time achieving a desired effect, then, it is an effective way! Black and White conversion using the Channel Mixer is a very tedious trial and error of mixing and sliding the red, green and blue channel. An improvement which susbequently caught my attention is by using the Highlight/Shadow Adjustment Layer after the desaturation step but still, it didn't get the desired film-like effect, much more the simplicity i've been looking for.

I found a new b&w conversion technique in the CMYK Color Mode with the least complications thus far. Open your image, go to CMYK Color Mode, desaturate your image, then create a curve adjustment layer where you only have to push up the Black curve to increase the contrast and darken the grays into blacks!! as simple as that and for me it works. You can also add a tint of color by tinkering with the individual Cyan, Magenta and Yellow curves. Adding some film grain will further enhance your black and white images but for now, i'm satisfied with my new found conversion technique.

Many thanks to Jorgette for the modelling efforts...

getting rich and vivid colors in photoshop

2006-09-01T13:25:00.000+08:00

Oftentimes, you wonder how you can emulate the richness and vividness of the photos taken on films compared to your dull and lifeless digital photographs. Film pictures radiate more impact. They have more punch and definitely more vivid and richer colors compared to unprocessed digital images taken from a digital camera.

We can fairly get close resemblance of film colors if we process our digital photos in the Lab Color Mode instead of the usual RGB Mode in Photoshop.

First, convert to a different color space (Image > Mode > Lab Color). In Lab Color processing, the colors can be harnessed and controlled much easier because they can be separated based on their lightness in Channel A and Channel B unlike in the RGB Mode where controlling the lightness will also affect either the Red, Green and Blue channels.
Using a Levels Adjustment Layer, select Channel A and change the values of the Input Levels to (55, 0.90 and 200). Do the same to Channel B using the same values. Don't worry if you'll get a highly saturated image.

Create another layer and this time a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer in order to fix the saturation and achieve a fairly natural colors. I prefer fixing the Red color first by sliding it to (-30) value, then the Yellow color by applying a (-20) value, then the Cyan color by sliding it to (-30) value then finally, the Magenta color by substituting it with a (-30) value. The values will of course depend according to your taste and may vary from one photo to another inasmuch as each may have different lightness.

By now, your image should appear like the sample photos I've uploaded. Since you are working on the Lab Color Mode, you can't save your work without going back to the RGB Mode, so go to (Image > Mode > RGB). You can now apply your other post-processing techniques like adding highlights and shadows, sharpening and other fixes you may wish to employ.

Model: Karla Paula Ginteroy
Fashion Consultant: Dexter Alazas

perspective distortion

2006-08-08T12:25:00.000+08:00

Perspective distortion occurs when there appears an unusually or disproportionately large part or portion of your subject relative to its remaining parts when shooting a portrait using a wide angle lens at extremely short focal lengths. In this first sample I've posted, you may notice that the head is out of proportion vis-a-vis the entire body which appeared smaller and tapering down in size. The reason for this is that I used a 24mm focal length on my zoom (or in 35mm language, equivalent to 36mm based on Nikon D50's 1.5 crop factor) and I was very near the subject standing right in front of her with my camera slightly above her head.

This kind of distortion is dependent on the distance of the camera in relation to the subject you are shooting wherein the nearer you are as photographer to your subject or model, the greater this distortion would be. Some refer to this as a wide angle distortion which is also accurate in the sense that, you can only get this kind of distortion when you use a wide angle lens. Perspective distortion is often pleasant in landscape photos as they give a wider view of a scene but doesn't hold true in portraits where the nose appears relatively bigger as compared to any part of the face or head which is farther away in distance from the lens. There are instances when perspective distortion even enhances a portrait but most often than not, it ruins what otherwise would be a great portrait.

When shooting portraits, it is therefore recommended to use a short to moderate telephoto lenses with a focal length of 50mm to 125mm. If what is attached to your camera is a wide zoom, you can minimized this distortion on your portraits by moving back away from your subject, thus creating instead a pleasant environmental portrait with any conceivable background of your choice very much seen on the frame.

capturing still pictures on TVs

2006-07-18T20:52:00.000+08:00

Shooting a television image is quite a tricky task especially if they are from a CRT screen. In the examples shown here, a high resolution flat screen was the medium and the pictures were shot in available light. When shooting a TV image, bear in mind that the picture takes a little time to form completely on the screen so you must try shooting at different shutter speeds until you finally get a clear picture.

I took these images on a trial and error approach until i discovered that at a shutter speed of 1/60, the images will stabilize without any ghosting and blurring. It is also advisable to use a tripod if shooting an image would entail you to use a shutter speed of less than 1/60. A much more effective apporach would be to freeze the frame if you're viewing a movie played from a DVD Player and from there make your test shots until you come up with a good image. There's no hard and fast rule here so experimention is always an option.

dark tone photography

2006-07-09T16:25:00.000+08:00

Dark Tone photography is becoming popular nowadays and it is a broader field in photography, inasmuch as it includes low key portraiture and grungy-feel pictures, which has commonly more depth and drama compared to high key photos. With this in mind, I decided to make an experiment on Ria's photos by using Photoshop to convert them into dark toned portraits. Dark tone images create some kind of a wow factor and draws more attention to the viewers to appreciate the photo and study it more closely.

In these dark tone images, the light which was captured in low key evokes more emotions and the photos sometimes talk to their viewers thru various sensibilities they impart. Using the layer mask in Photoshop, create two layers of curve adjustment with the first layer pushing the curve up to lighten the image while the second curve pulling down the curve to darken the image. Then using the brush tool on the second curve adjustment layer set at less than 50% opacity, you can choose those areas or portion of the picture which you would like to recover or restore to its original colors or contrast.

Another alternative method which I usually prefer would be using the gradient fill in the layer mask mode and by doing the same techniques with the brush tool, you can achieve a similar effect.

Many thanks to Ria Villacarillo for posing as a model in this series.

Michaela

2006-06-10T21:55:00.000+08:00

The human face is such an interesting, and perhaps the most explored, subject in photography. This set of portraits is particularly dedicated to Michaela whom i think is gifted with an x-factor and a cheerful smile which can transcend from one mood to another in an instant. Taking a good portrait is not only choosing the right face. Consideration should also be given to selecting the appropriate background and good composition or cropping style as well as the lighting available at your control.

Sometimes a plain backdrop will work best like blank walls and other single color background to avoid stealing the attention of the viewer from the main subject.

If shooting indoors, it's better to use a flash bounced off from the ceiling to achieve a more natual lighting effect, though sometimes shooting with available light can do more wonders if you're projecting a certain mood.

If you want to emphasize the face, try shooting at least from the shoulders and up or just go near or zoom in the face to concentrate on the facial contours. Focus on the eyes as this can to capture the emotion and the enagaging gazes and glances from your subject to create an inviting feeling that draws the viewer into the picture. Positioning the subject in off-center often yields better results than merely placing her in the middle or center of the frame.

Talking to your model before taking the shots should put her in a relaxed mood thus, allowing her to smile sponstaneously to project a certain mood and expression. Take charge and give instructions if what you're seeing is not to your own liking.

light painting

2006-05-22T20:03:00.000+08:00

Light Painting is the slowest form of lighting and it is done by taking a photograph with a timed exposure then illuminating the subject using a light source to light up the part of a subject where you wish to be seen by constantly moving the light source during the duration of the time exposure.

how it is done? a complete darkness or a dark environment is a must so that you can paint the light while the shutter is still open in a timed exposure shot. i tried doing my version and here's what i got. this is a 10 second time elapsed shot of a rotating platter of a record player with red strobelight. then i painted a green color using a stick light on the portions of the photo that i wished to be lighted. red and green looks nice...

Bamboo, the Band

2006-05-12T18:55:00.000+08:00

Bamboo is an alternative rock band fronted by Bamboo Mañalac, the former lead vocalist of Rivermaya, who founded the group composed of illustrative band members like Nathan Azarcon on bass, Ira Cruz on guitars and Vic Mercado on drums.

Bamboo and Nathan were from Rivermaya, then Nathan fused with Kapatid, worked with Ira Cruz who, together with Vic Mercado, were formerly members of Passage and that's how they came to know each other.

Perhaps tagged as the most popular band in the Philippines today, they have already released two albums, namely "As The Music Plays" and the "Love, Peace, Love". Bamboo won an MTV Pilipinas 2004 Awards for Best New Artist, Best Group and Favorite Song for "Noypi". Lead singer Bamboo Mañalac even managed to win an MTV style Award for Best Rock Style.

On the question on which is the better band, Bamboo or Rivermaya? well, Bamboo's vocal prowess was the key to Rivermaya's success as an alternative rock band.

The talents behind Bamboo is certainly more mature and their songs are livelier than ever although some say Bamboo's popularity is still no match to Rivermaya's more organized management and bigger fan base.

Rivermaya was once fronted by Bamboo along with Nathan on bass, Rico Blanco on keyboards, Mark Escueta on drums and Perf De Castro on lead guitars but Rico took over the limelight as the lead guitarist when Perf left the group due to some musical differences with some members of the band.

When Bamboo left the Rivermaya after releasing the Atomic Bomb album, Rico Blanco took over as the lead vocalist and propelled the band to a new musical dimension.

Rivermaya is presently composed on Rico Blanco on vocals and guitars, Japs Sergio on bass, Mike Elgar on guitars and Mark Escueta on drums.

Rivermaya won the Favourite Artist Philippines award at the recent MTV Asia Awards held in Bangkok, Thailand.

photos taken during the Fresh capades Summer Escapade concert at the Harbour Square.

sunset photography

2006-04-30T23:41:00.000+08:00

Sunset photo graphy fascinates a lot of people because of the rich colors and warm tones they usually offer. One cool rule in shooting sunrise and sunset is to keep in mind that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. We're quite lucky to have our Manila Bay on the west where the sun sets on the bay horizon.

Photo graphing sunsets can be tricky because the scene you may want to capture fades away in a blink of an eye, so an early preparation and set up of equipment is very much advisable. Perhaps, the best lens to shoot with is a tele-zoom lens with a range of at least 200mm on the far end of the zoom if you want to make the sun a bigger piece of object in your photo. When shooting with telephotos, tripod can be useful to eliminate or minimize blur.

With the advent of digital cameras where you can preview your shots, exposure settings can easily be had. I shoot sunsets before, during and after the sun appears on the horizon. In most cases, spectacular sunset shots can be had after the sun had already disappeared in the horizon. A good example of this is my photo of yachts below where the sky casts a visually appealing tone on the waters. Sunset shots taken before the sun appears in the sky are equally magnificent too and a good example of this are the first two photos above.

I occasionally under expose my sunset shots because of the over powering light of the scene. Since the sunlight may become so bright and dominant, don't stare at the sun for quite too long using your viewfinder to avoid any eye problem. I usually meter and adjust my settings in the manual mode with two to three stops underexposure either on the aperture or shutter controls but always choose a small aperture to achieve a more expansive depth of field. To add spice to a sunset shot, it also wise to frame some silhouetted figures such as boats, buildings, bridges, people or trees to impart a better scale, depth and perspective on the photo.

Another cool rule when taking sunset shots is never divide your photo in the middle. Either you emphasize the sky or the foreground but do not place the division in the middle. As you may see on the examples I've posted, emphasis is either given on the sky or on the waters depending on what you want to achieve. Sunset shots should either accentuate the colors of the sky or the reflections on the waters or both.

Photographing the nude

2006-04-19T18:59:00.000+08:00

Photo graphing the nude is perhaps one of the most popular branch of photo graphy for the obvious reason that we are all perpetually attracted to the human body of the opposite sex. I had my first experience to shoot a naked woman just recently and to tell you the truth, it's not a worthwhile experience taking photos of the nude body the first time around for lack of knowledge on how to do things smoothly.
A successful nude shot would be that of being able to show the curves of a woman and the shape of the female body and if you can catch an emotion, then it would be an embellishment to the photo. Lighting plays an important factor too and the proper placement of light sources would be critical in creating the right mood. Light and shadows can make or break a nude photograph so you must be selective on your choice of background and decide on where to place your model in relation to your sources of light. A plain black background is always a favored choice and will highlight the natural tone of the female skin. As much as possible, using colorful backgrounds should be avoided unless you want to take away the mood in your photos.
On how I took these shots, I let the model do the posing without much inter vention and according to her choice of comfortable positions and projections that in her opinion and previous experience would exude much of her sensuality. The photo session I attended was held in a studio with four other photographers who are all newbies in this field of photography. Our lack of familiarity of what the rules should be and the seemingly conflict of views on what should be done with the model negated an opportunity to capture excellent nude photography.

Joining a photo shoot with several photo graphers in one session may not be an ideal event to harness one's creativity but nonetheless, it was a learning experience for me on proper lighting and correct exposure settings in a studio backdrop.

Radial Blur

2006-04-09T23:53:00.000+08:00

The use of the blur filter in Photoshop can be an effective tool in eliminating distraction while at the same time impressing an abstract effect on your photo. The effect is also applied to isolate a subject or draw attention to a part of a picture. Radial blur can be most effective when your subject is in the center of your image like the two cars shown in my example. The simplest way of achieving this effect are as follows: open your image in photoshop, zoom in to have a larger workspace. select the subject using the polygonal lasso tool or any selection tool. inverse your selection, feather your selection to at least 5 pixels if you're working on a large image, apply the blur, which may either be the spin blur or the zoom blur, and that's about it.

The yellow car above is an example of a zoom blur while the red car below made use of the spin blur to suggest a spinning motion or a vertigo effect. If used on the moving car or any subject in motion, the radial blur can also be an effective way of dramatizing speed.

Corregidor, "Fortress of Freedom"

2006-04-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

Also known as the "The Rock", Corregidor is an island fortress built and fortified by the Americans during the

early 20th century when the United States succeeded control of the island from the Spaniards. The island, strategically located on the mouth of the Manila Bay, was the last to fall into the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army during the World War II. After being restored and developed by the Corregidor Foundation, the island is now a memorial of the Pacific War leaving behind ruins of buildings, antiquated big guns, tunnel and tell tales of bravery and heroism of Filipino, American and Japanese soldiers who fought and died for glory during World War II.

Middle Side Barracks, located at the middle sector of the island, these are the ruins of what used to be the barracks of regiments of American and Filipino soldiers who defended the island.

Malinta Tunnel, basically used as a bomb shelter offering protection from artillery and air attacks. it also served as a seat of the Philippine Government and headquarters of the USAFFE Defense Command during the World War II.

The photo on the right is bus replica of a pre-war tram used as a means of conveyance in the island

The Battery Way boasts of four heavy mortars capable of lobbing explosive shells in any direction.

the barrel of one of the four mortar guns at the Battery Way. converted to B&W and added a film grain

the photo on the left was post processed in PS CS2 to get the desired Holga effect

Battery Hearn, this gun emplace- ment hosts the most powerful cannon during its time, capable of firing projectiles reaching as far as Bataan and Cavite. extensively manipulated in photoshop to achieve an old look effect.

Battery Grubbs, is located on an elevated part of the island overlooking the sea. it was armed with two guns mounted on disappearing carriages which will rise up vertically when firing projectiles but will retract back to its normal position after usage under the cover of thick walls beyond the sight of enemy ships.

a stairway in Battery Grubbs leading to an open view of the Manila Bay from the northwest side of the island

Battery Grubbs is situated on the west central part of Corregidor and this gun emplace- ment was intended to fire towards the direction of northwest.

Pacific War Memorial, a tribute to honor the Filipino and American soldiers who fought in the Pacific War. located at the Top Side of the island.

one of the howitzers stationed on the Parade Ground on the Top Side of the island. converted to B&W and added a film grain effect

Pacific War Memorial Museum, located at the Memorial is a repository of relics and memorabilia related to the history of Corregidor.

Eternal Flame of Freedom, located at the rear end of the Pacific War Memorial atop a platform overlooking the panoramic view of the Manila Bay, the Bataan Peninsula and the coastlineof Cavite. It is a large steel sculpture which symbolizes the Flame of Freedom burning eternally. The sculpture commemorates the sacrifices, hopes and aspirations, and the heroic struggle by the Philippines and the United States to preserve freedom for future generations.

Spanish Lighthouse, located at the highest point of the island on the Top Side. The second lighthouse constructed by the Americans to replace the original Spanish lighthouse was destroyed during the Pacific War. This post war lighthouse was built on the same site where the original Spanish lighthouse was erected. If you're on top of the lighthouse, a breath-taking view of Corregidor, Manila Bay, the South China Sea, and the neighboring provinces of Bataan and Cavite, awaits you.

a pole sign within the lighthouse compound showing the relative direction and distance of some key cities.

communication tower beside the lighthouse

Japanese Memorial Garden, located at the tail end of the island, this garden hosts several memorial shrines and markers. The construction of this garden was partly funded by some Japan based private groups.

our group shot in front of Malinta Tunnel

Daniela Hantuchova

2006-03-28T00:10:00.000+08:00

Here’s a profiler of Daniela Hantuchova, my favorite woman tennis player. Born on April 23, 1983 at Poprad, Slovakia, she presently resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Standing at a modelesque height of 5’11 ¼” (1.81m) and weighs in at 123 lbs (56 kgs.), she’s a right-handed player and returns the ball with a two handed back hand. She turned professional on 1999 and won her first career singles championship at the Indian Wells in 2002. She achieved her highest WTA career singles ranking at No.5 on January 27, 2003 which was considered as her best year so far in pro tennis.

She plays on court using Yonex racquets and wears Nike clothes and Nike Vapor S2 tennis shoes. Presently ranked at No. 15 in the WTA Rankings, her favorite surface is grass and considers the Wimbledon as her favorite tournament.

An energetic and gutsy player, she displays sobriety under pressure and she never questions any bad calls, a wholesome attitude in her that I would admire the most. She doesn’t grunt like Maria Sharapova which I find too unfeminine. I might say, she’s more of a finesse player comparable to the likes of Chris Evert during her younger days. I love the way Daniela smiles and how she makes it look so easy to play graceful tennis. I’ve read about how loyal she was to Ai Sugiyama who’s been her doubles partner for quite sometime. Rumours had it that she declined playing with Martina Hingis in doubles play because she wants to stick it out with Ai Sugiyama. A depiction and epitome of how loyalty and friendship should be!

The most memorable match I’ve seen of her was when she lost to Maria Sharapova in Round of 16 at the 2006 Australian Open. The dream match I would love to see most is how a match between two of my favorite woman players, Daniela Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic, would turn out to be if they play against each other. I wouldn’t cheer for anyone of them but would be glad to see who’s going to be the more finesse player.

photo credits belong to Robyn Wilson and you can read more about pro tennis tour at her Planet Tennis Fan blog while you can view more of her photos thru Flickr.

Faux Vignetting Technique

2006-03-26T10:50:00.000+08:00

Vignetting in a photograph was previously considered a lens attribute or a lens defect inasmuch as the lens cannot transmit light equally to all parts of the frame most especially on the edge corners. Wide angle lenses are more prone to vignetting inherently due to lens design where light fall off on the corners of the frame is a natural occurrence. With the advent of photo editing softwares like PhotoShop, creating vignettes in a photo is now a breeze. Vignetting is now used mainly for creative effects of drawing attention to the center of the frame.

The photo above, taken at the Harbour Square near Manila Yacht Club along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, is an illustrative example of how a vignetting looks like. It was post processed in PhotoShop CS2 version.

Shown below is another post processed example of vignetting. On PhotoShop, go to Filters --> Distort --> Lens Correction and play with the Vignette slider.
The photo on the right is the Manila Cathedral, also known as the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. It is the ecclesisastical seat of the Archdiocese of Manila. This present structure was constructed in 1954 to 1958 under the leadership of Archbishop Rufino Santos of Manila (who later became the first Filipino Cardinal) and under the supervision of National Artist for Architecture Awardee, Architect Fernando Ocampo. It was elevated into the rank of Basilica Minore in 1981 by Pope John Paul II.

miniaturized effect

2006-03-12T23:09:00.000+08:00

I've been seeing a lot of photos simulating the effects of tilt-shift lenses lately. I tried doing my own version of fake model photography with few variations from the usual techniques employed by some photoshop geeks. Using the radial gradient tool in the quick mask mode, i was able to select the portion where i would apply the blur. Since we are simulating the tilt-shift lens, it is only proper to blur the unwarranted portion using the lens blur filter. To get a good artificial contrast, the curve adjustment layer is used to blow out the colors in the image. To achieve a level of distortion to impart a feeling of artificiality and to simulate false lighting on the model, i applied some vignetting effect putting some gaussian blur on the extreme four corners of the image. Another desirable effect would be to render some simulated lighting like omni-directional lighting or spotlight effects using the render filter -> lighting effects. The photo above was the result of the simulation of a tilt-shift lens effect of the photo shown below.

the f/1.4 advantage

2006-03-06T00:15:00.000+08:00

Aside from being the only choice lens in available light photography, another advantage of a wide aperture lens or the so called "fast lens" is that it is capable of producing a nice blur or "bokeh". There are only few fixed lenses that can go as wide as f/1.4, namely, the 50mm normal lens, the wide 35mm and the 85mm portrait lens. Gone are the days when the kit lens of an SLR you would purchase was bundled with a 50mm normal lens. Interchangeably called as the "standard" lens, the 50mm fixed lens was virtually replaced by the more convenient stock zoom lenses of today like the 18-55mm zoom or 18-70mm zoom. Lesser informed consumers never realized that a fast prime lens like the 50mm is a lot more superior in many aspects than the present day consumer zooms. An f/1.8 50mm is considered a fast lens by any standards. It offers greater speed, that is, it can allow more light to seep in thru the lens. Compared to a consumer zoom with f/3.5-5.6 minimum to maximum apertures, the former has the advantage of having at least 3 stops which makes a very significant difference especially in available light photography. This extra stops can let you shoot indoors and with today's DSLRs where you can push the ISO to at least the standard 1600, it would afford you few luxuries in composition in low light conditions. Since the trend of consumerism by the camera manufacturers is to float the inferior stock zooms, the need to buy an off-camera flash becomes a necessity. Thus, these manufacturers will end up raking more money into their coffers. I still believe that full understanding of photography, most especially the lighting techniques, should first begin with the mastery of the "classic" 50mm lens - being the sharpest lens there is.

hygrometer

2006-03-03T08:37:00.000+08:00

the Philippines is such a humid country most especially during the summer months of March to May. to protect my spare lens from fungus growth, i put it in an improvised "dry box", which is actually an air tight transparent food keeper, with several sachets of silica gels and a hygrometer to monitor the moisture content. if the moisture inside the box reaches a relative humidity of more than 60%, then it's time to recharge the silica gels by putting them under the sun until the red "beads" turn into blue.

Bowers & Wilkins CDM1SE

2006-02-19T10:05:00.000+08:00

Bowers & Wilkins, one of Europe's biggest manufacturer of loudspeakers, developed the use of Kevlar, the material used in bullet-proof vests, for loudspeaker cones to reduce unwanted standing waves. The tweeter on top technology ensures that the sound remains focused and that stereo imaging is presented in three dimensional accuracy.
This model, a CDM1SE, is a pricey bookshelf speaker system when it was first introduced in the market five years ago. It was already superceded by newer models but compared to current models, it never pales in comparison to any one in its class!

Bokeh

2006-02-04T07:15:00.000+08:00

Bokeh is a Japanese word and it means "blur", "fuzziness" or "dizziness". As a photo- graphic term, it is the word used to describe a nice or pleasant blur in a photo. A camera lens capable of producing a good bokeh or the out of focus areas in a photo is a desirable lens in portraiture applications for the simple reason that it reduces distractions by rendering the foreground and the background in an out of focus state thus drawing more attention on the subject to make it a stand out. A camera lens with a wide aperture produces a nice bokeh. The sample photo shown was taken by a Nikkor f/1.4 AF-D 50mm lens.

Low Key Portrait

2006-01-15T08:17:00.000+08:00

In a low key portrait, there is a dominance of a dark background and this requires a more subtle lighting to create a mood and statement. The goal or purpose of the photographer in a low key portraiture is to create images with vitality and luminance despite the lack of brightness or a darker tonal balance of the photo.

In this portrait, I added a deep blue photo filter and a mist filter to create a subtle tone and to draw the eyes of the viewer to study and appreciate the image more.

High Key Portrait

2006-01-10T17:02:00.000+08:00

High key portrait is fast becoming a popular branch of portraiture nowadays. It is basically a kind of portrait where the subject or the person being photographed is placed on a light or clean background with the sole purpose of drawing the eyes of the viewer to the subject and away from any distracting objects in the background since there is no background object at all in the first place. This isolation of the subject creates a high impact image more especially if they are presented in Black & White.

What I did here is a simulation of high key portraiture using the PhotoShop. I used the extract tool to remove the background, layered it to a white background, converted it to B&W, pushed the curves to create a wash out effect and adjusted the highlights to fine tune. I was about to add a diffuse glow filter but my better judgment prevailed upon me to stop!

Black & White Conversion Technique in PhotoShop

2006-01-05T00:20:00.000+08:00

Converting a digital color photograph into a black and white gives a totally different look into a photo. There are various ways of doing this and based on my experience after trying out several techniques, I discovered an effective method which I will share here.

First, using the Curves Adjustment Layer, i tune the contrast of the photo to a desirable sharpness. Then, I desaturate it using the desaturate adjustment layer. Applying the shadow-highlight adjustment layer dropping down all options, i play with all the parameters available to get the desired effect. This technique was the one I applied in the two photos above.

My old method of Black and White conversion is done thru the Channel Mixer. This tool allows the user to control how much each of the three color channels (Red, Green and Blue channel) will contribute to the grayscale brightness of the monochrome version of the photo. The last two photos above were converted into black and white using the channel mixer tool.

Photographing kids

2006-01-03T17:26:00.000+08:00

Photo graphing kids is a rather tricky ordeal for a portraitist but they are indeed marvelous subjects. A good way to start with is to stoop down to their level even if it would entail you to crouch or kneel down so that you could be seeing them eye to eye.

Kids are by nature, very unpre dictable coz they move a lot so you should be prepared to shoot in continuous mode to have greater chances of capturing more wonderful moments.

Letting them pose for you requires patience and demanding time and effort so photo graphing them when they're busy or preoccupied with something or while they're at play will bring more successful results and you'll be getting or capturing spontaneous moments or natural facial expressions instead of them thinking about you with the camera which may either result in them being seen with a frozen look or showing off for the shoot.

Shown above is Jovi whose smile slowly faded when it took me quite some time to adjust my camera's settings. The kid in red and blue shirt is Iggy. He seems to be frozen while staring at the camera which is pretty bad but fortunately, i liked the result here. The kid in orange shirt is Mattie. He is showing off while I'm taking the shot.

25 years after

2005-12-31T16:30:00.000+08:00

We had our reunion last December 29 and it was fun to see old friends and school mates. Twenty five years ago, we were just kids who will try to make and shape our future destiny on separate ways by taking different courses in college. High school or middle school is probably the happiest and most memorable time in one's life and seeing the people with whom you grew up with and shared your adolescence is a time for reminiscing old episodes and exchanging new stories in one's life. It was a day of pure and clean fun, a night of drinking and partying - and one of the happier days of my life this year! seen on the photo are two of the prettier girls in our batch 25 years ago!

warm tone and cool tone

2005-12-25T22:31:00.000+08:00

The tonality of a photograph can either be a warm tone or a cool tone. A warm tone imparts ambiance and warmth in a photograph while a cool tone produces an impression of coolness. In film photography, you can either use a warming filter or a cooling filter to get the desired effect. In digital photography, these effects can be achieved at no cost to the photographer. If you want to make your photograph to impart a warm tone, just set the White Balance of your camera to "Daylight" while a "Tungsten" setting will have a tendency to produce a cooling effect. Shown above is an example of a cool tone while the photo below it exemplifies a warm tone.

Photographed in the example is a Direct Drive Turntable fitted with different cartridges, Ortofon Concorde Night Club E (above) and Shure White Label (below). In a direct drive turntable, the motor is located directly under the spindle (center of the platter) and is connected directly to the platter.

Svetlana 6L6GCs

2005-12-23T19:11:00.000+08:00

Vacuum tubes never fades away unlike solid state amplifying devices where they become a fad now and a fade later. This is a fact, these 6L6s were introduced in the audio world some seventy (70) years ago and they still sell today with new production tubes coming from China and Russia. The 6L6 is a "beam" tetrode and was originally developed by RCA engineers and became an instant hit when radio manufacturers started using it in the output stages of some audio applications.

Cambridge Audio 640P Phono Pre-amp

2005-12-18T20:01:00.000+08:00

I recently got this phonostage to replace my QED DS-1 MM phono preamp and I would say that I'm happy to hear a big leap in the quality of sound reproduction of my LPs. Before I took it home from Audio Den, the local distributor of Cambridge Audio here, I compared it with Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII since they are in the same price range. And what's the result? the 640P is an amazingly superior solid state phonostage!!

Excited to hear it on my system, I immediately hooked it up and played some mint records to initially judge its performance. Spinning Holly Cole's "Don't Smoke in Bed" album, I was mesmerized upon hearing "I Can See Clearly" track of the album which I never heard with so much ambience and airiness in Holly Cole's captivating voice. It's like having a premium cart attached to a Technics Direct Drive turntable where details abound and soundstaging is at its finest. Since I dig Crystal Gale's vocal prowess, I tried and played some of her better albums and I got the same impression, the details are oozing with so much abundance. I used to listen to my LPs at the 12 o'clock volume dial in my M99plus integrated amp but with this high gain phono pre-amp, I'm now enjoying music at the 10 o'clock volume dial. The causal effect? it takes my listening pleasure to higher level because i can now hear a cleaner sound without much of a hum unlike with my previous phonostage. This may be attributable to its design configuration where the power supply is isolated from the main chassis, hence, unwanted noise and other interference were minimized. This design equates to a much cleaner and more conditioned sound with no annoyance from the AC power source.

Next test discs were my good old rock albums and it predictably brought out the results i was expecting. This time the instrumentation were dissected with clarity and i was elated to hear more high frequency extension and greater dynamics from the beat and thump of rock music. I can say that this phonostage gave me a warm and dynamic welcome to the world of pure analog supremacy. I can now hear extended high frequencies, more defined bass and superb spatial resoultion in stereophonic experience. Performance-wise, nothing beats this creature if compared to similar products at the same price range.... Pro-Ject Phono Box and NAD PP2, step aside coz there's a new champion!!!

Technics SL-1210 MK2

2005-12-17T11:00:00.000+08:00

I have already photo graphed this same turntable before at the same angle but with different mood light and i keep coming back. you might now agree with me that the SL-1200s might be the most photo graphed turntable of all time. this venerable disk spinner was introduced in the market as early as 1972 and it's still kicking ass, not much with the audiophiles but with the vinyl lovers in general. perhaps, the only inherent shortcoming of this turntable is the fact that it was a direct drive spinner. for the hardcore audionuts, they would prefer the belt driven turntables because accordingly, these types would not have any micro vibrations that produces edgy sound character and they would be constantly spinning at a uniform or more refined and stable speed as compared to direct drives.

what the heck!! so much ramblings on sound quality issues... for me, the SL-1200 is a very sturdy turntable. this is the turntable that i considered as the best buy when i went back into vinyls. not that i can't afford the new production belt drives but for me, i find them quite fragile and not worthy of any experimentation. on the other hand, the SL-1200, despite being a rugged device, is seen and reputed as a high quality analog playback device. The SL-1200 is a very quiet turntable but it can amplify ticks and pops as well depending on the quality of your phonostage. i've used quite a number of phono preamp loaned by friends and paired with this SL-1200 and so far, based on what i've listened to, i'm very much satisfied with what i have... the Cambridge Audio 640P phono preamp. the one thing i noticed though is that the SL-1200 lacks the air and space i've heard from such better rigs as the Rega P3s but over all, it's ease of operation and very engaging sound attributes are what makes it so close for comfort!

103.5 K-Lite FM

2005-12-14T16:10:00.000+08:00

On the FM band, 103.5 K-Lite, Manila's Lite Alternative, is my favorite FM station. They play a variety of musical genre, from rock to pop and mostly alternative rock. they also play some classic rock and new wave music on weekends. what I like most with this station is that they have plenty of contests where any listener can join and have a crack at winning CDs, movie tickets, concert tickets or anything under the sun.

shown in the photos is a Cambridge Audio 640P Phono pre-amp sitting on top of a Pioneer F-403 tuner.

Margarita sings at The Boulvar

2005-12-10T13:30:00.000+08:00

Dining can be a lot more fun if someone like Margarita sings in front of your table. Her engaging vocals suits her repertoire of music which includes a lot of interpretation of fine jazz classics. You can see her perform every Thursday night at The Boulvar Lobby Lounge of Manila Pavillon Hotel. Fun starts at 9:00 P.M. onwards.

Aurum Cantus F6600

2005-12-07T20:42:00.000+08:00

this is perhaps the cheapest decent sounding two-way bass reflex floorstander speakers that i've heard. it sells at P10,500 a pair at Audio Amplified in Libis, Quezon City.

Dali Ikon 2 vs Concept 6

2005-12-06T17:41:00.000+08:00

I had a chance to hear these two fabulous Dali speakers at the Architectural Audio in Greenbelt. The Ikon 2 is a bookshelf equipped with a hybrid tweeter module composed of a ribbon tweeter and a soft dome tweeter. The midbass driver is 6.5 inches delivering sonic reproduction capability at a frequency range of 42-30,000 hertz.

The Concept 6, on the other hand, is a 2 way bass reflex system with two 6.5 inches low frequency drivers and a 1 inch textile dome high frequency driver boxed in a floorstander capable of delivering a frequency response of 41-25,000 hertz. Nominal impedance of both speakers is at 8 ohms.

Verdict: the Ikon 2 is a lot more pleasant to hear with a broader stereo dispersion. Its attribute of being discrete in sound reproduction makes the speakers disappear in the soundstage while the listener enjoys unprecedented 3D-like audio experience with so much ambiance and airiness in music. Play some Jacintha songs and you'll immerse yourself in a total aural experience.

Mariz

2005-12-04T22:40:00.000+08:00

it's a Saturday night, December 3, and the inebriation went on till the wee hours of the morning,

and a friend of mine was still able to flash a smile and remain energetic at past 6am of December 4. it's amazing how some people, at a youthful age, would have a very high threshold on stress and fatigue. i was dead tired, burn out and wasted the following day and spent most of the Sunday recuperating from a malaise brought about by a hang over. taken inside Street Life Acoustic Bar

J3 and Nico

2005-12-03T09:43:00.000+08:00

i went to Cebu a couple of weeks ago and visited some friends. shown in the photo are the two kids of my brod, J3 and Nico, 4 y.o. and 3 y.o. respectively. the close proximity in the ages between these two little brothers is giving their parents a difficult time tempering down sibling rivalry. they would always compare notes when they receive something by way of gifts. give them identical toys and after a day or two, they won't touch them again. give them different toys and they will start nagging their parents to buy another of a kind like the other one has.

moral of the story: when making kids, be sure to space their birth at least 3 years apart if you want to have them in the same sex. :)

while tinkering with this photo on the PhotoShop, i just discovered a new b&w conversion technique using the desaturate adjustment layer followed by the shadows/highlights adjustment layer. i used to appreciate the channel mixer technique but when i tried manipulating this photo using the channel mixer, i can't get the right mix inasmuch as the photo was fairly overexposed. however, using the shadows/highlights adjustment layer after desaturation, dropping down all the menus and options for adjustment like the radius pixel, tonal width etc., i was able to eliminate the flash glare on the face of Nico while at the same time maintaining a good contrast on the face of the two kids.

into the groove

2005-11-27T17:50:00.000+08:00

this cartridge, a Grado Green, was the first audiophle grade cart that i've listened to and appreciated. my Ortofon Concorde Night Club cart was designed for use as DJ cart and if compared to this cart, i would say that the Grado Green excels on music with predominantly vocals like that of Diana Krall, Patrcia Barber, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jacintha and the like. in short, i would choose this cart if playing jazz and soft music is the order of the day. on the other hand, DJ carts like the Ortofons would thrive on the club scene or when playing bouncy beats and bassy tunes is way up in your preference.

platter in strobelight

2005-11-15T14:12:00.000+08:00

This is a close-up photo of the SL-1210 MK2's rotating platter. The red dots shown on the platter of the turntable is an indication that the rotation speed of the platter is in synched with the chosen RPM which is 33-1/3 RPM for a long playing album. If you will adjust the Pitch Control, the red dots will either appear streaming forward if the pitch control is pushed to a faster speed or will appear streaming backwards if pulled to a slower speed. The red dots will either shift upwards or downwards depending on the chosen RPM bias setting. A clever Japanese innovation which is not thought of by the Americans in their direct drive turntables. and that’s why the Technics SL-1200 MK2 and its later siblings were all-time favorites!

Tonearm Controls

2005-11-14T08:10:00.000+08:00

Tuning the turntable is quite a time consuming task with so many rituals to perform. What is shown in the photo are the basic tonearm controls on my Technics SL-1210 MK2 turntable.

Adjustments made on the counterweight of the tonearm counterbalances the weight of the arm and the cartridge. The use of a tracking force gauge is indispensable here but you can blindly do away with it if you know your cartridge’s recommended weight which is now readily available thru the internet. This can be done by doing your calibration on the counterweight dial which should be properly set to defeat the tonearm’s anti-skate mechanism which is initially set at zero. If you do not have a tracking force gauge, but the arm does have a calibrated counterweight, defeat the arm’s anti-skate or set it to zero or whatever setting you have in your anti-skate mechanism control.

Another control that requires tweaking is the Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA) adjuster which calibrates the arm height. Altering the height means increasing or decreasing the tracking force on the vinyl grooves which may, of course, produce a different result not only in terms of sonics but also on the wear and tear of the vinyl record. More height means more pressure applied on the grooves by the touching stylus and vice versa. The more pressure on the weight applied by the stylus also produces a bigger sound and the lesser weight means shallow bass, muddy lows, dull sound or harsh midrange. Tune according to what you hear while playing and listening to your most familiar music. If the tracking force is too light, you’ll need to raise the VTA to achieve a deeper bass and more detailed presentation of your music but doing so will accelerate the wear and tear of your favorite vinyl record.

Adjusting the anti-skate mechanism opposes and balances the force of the natural inward drag of a pivoting arm while playing. If not corrected, the stylus will produce a so-called inner groove distortion which is what happens when the stylus would have the tendency to push up against the inner groove wall, thus, the distortion is the result of mistracking while the record is rotating or playing. The anti-skate force is properly set if the arm would no longer sway towards the spindle or the label of the record and if it would stand still while tracking the vinyl grooves when playing. The safest approach to this tuning process is to increase antiskate force until the arm starts to slowly drift outward or away from the record label.

Individual adjustments made on these three controls mentioned would produce a change in sound so an optimization usually depends on the ears of the listener.

Deck Controls

2005-11-10T15:55:00.000+08:00

Some trivia for you guys who are not much into hi-fi audio....

The Technics SL-1200 MK2 was not originally intended as a DJ deck when it was first released in 1972. it became popular only as a DJ machine because of its versatility and rugged build which was highly appreciated during the advent and popularity of disco and hip hop music. This sturdy turntable has been around for more than 3 decades now and it has withstood design changes even with the latest MK5 which was last produced in 2002. This turntable is built like a tank because it weighs more than 26 lbs.

”Here’s where the Technics stands head-and-shoulders above, well, everything else. Virtually every control has a positive, very expensive feel (except the pitch slider, which feels a little ‘scratchy’ as it moves). Tap the ‘start’ button and in 0.7 seconds, the platter is up to speed. Tap it again and it stops just as quickly. Adjustable electronic braking can bring the platter to an even quicker halt if for some reason one second isn’t fast enough.

The platter weighs five pounds and is damped with hard rubber on the bottom. Whack it with a baseball bat and it still won’t ring. (The rubber record mat adds another 17 ounces.) Give the platter a spin with your hand, and it whirls like a greased roulette wheel. I wondered if it would ever stop spinning! It has great flywheel action, and judging by the smoothness of rotation, the bearing must be pretty well machined.” (quoted from an Audiogon Review of the SL-1200MK2)

SACD Player vs. CD Player

2005-11-04T17:40:00.000+08:00

playing the same title in SACD and the redbook CD format, which would you choose?
With Rebecca Pidgeon's The Raven album (Chesky SACD & CD) as the test CDs, both the SACD and CD version were alternatively played for purposes of an A-B comparison of the two formats using Sony DVP-NS915V for the SACD and NAD C542 for the CD. The SACD Player was hooked to Consonance m99+ tube amp using Tara Labs Prism 5 interconnects while the CD Player was linked to the same amp using Ixos 1014 Gamma Audition II Interconnects. The 2 interconnects have the same or similar characteristics being copper-based ICs. The speaker is inconsequential but for the sake of mentioning - it is a pair of Mordaunt-Short 914 floorstander.

The result: The SACD is no good or to put it plainly, it did not exceeded my expectation that it would sound a lot better than a good CD. In fact there were even times when I can say that the CD copy has more bits of resolution than the SACD copy. So, if I were you guys, don't waste your funds trying to appreciate the over-hyped and misplaced superiority of an SACD.

But that's just me.... you might have a better SACD Player.

I had doubts on what I heard so I let my eyes compliment my logic. I opened up the hood of both players and visually compared what's inside and carefully located and identified the critical components like the power transformers, DACs, op-amps, and capacitors since these are the parts that play vital roles in the amplification process or in sound reproduction in general, and here's what I found out:

The CD Player is equipped with a toroidal transformer thrice the size of that of the DVD Player which is so disgustingly tiny and miniscule. Although the DVD Player may boast of having the Sony CDX2753 DSD chip to decode SACDs, the audio circuitry was designed in such a way that the front left and front right channel share only one op-amp, the rear left and the rear right channel also share only one op-amp as well as the center and the LFE out, totaling only three (3) op-amps for the 5.1 channel outputs. On the analog outs, there is another op-amp being shared by the right and left channel in stereo mode. These op-amps are fed to Elna capacitors of so miniscule in size and in value. Compared to the CD Player, it is gifted with Burr Brown PCM 1732 DAC with integrated HDCD Decoder and separate op-amps for the left and right channel with audiophile-grade Nichicon capacitors with values ranging from 1000uF to 6800uF. Looking at the connectors, the CD Player boast of having a pair of gold-plated RCA connectors compared to the tin-plated connectors of the DVD Player.

So, how in the world can these low end DVD Players (like the Sony SACD Player) beat the hell out of the CD Player's capability and potential to make better music even if you play SACDs on these DVD Players? I would have to agree that SACDs may sound a lot better if these are played on high end SACD Players which are prohibitively priced beyond my reach.

I am not an avid fan of multi-channel music for the simple reason that I can hardly appreciate music coming out from 6 different sources. What's so thrilling about listening to the two-channel medium is that it affords the listener the chance to localize the instruments being played through your system's capability to project imaging and visualize ambience through its soundstaging facility. I just can't equate multi-channel music from a real concert performance where the sound emanates only from the fronts unlike with multi-channel systems where sounds may come from different directions.

To each his own maybe?

NAD C542 CD Player

2005-11-01T11:20:00.000+08:00

My first CD Player was a NAD C521i. Because I love this gear so much, I decided to let it go to let the newer C542 mystify my senses. Inasmuch as owning a NAD C542 is a big leap from my former entry-level CD Player, I immediately noticed remarkable improvements, both aesthetically and sonically. The C542 is a notch higher model than my previous C521i and equally smartly built based on NAD's signature of simplicity and superb technology.

Except for the HDCD decoder LED that I now see on the faceplate, the all-familiar battleship grey color on its casework is still immaculate although the newer model now sports a rounded or circular corners on the front plate. The inside mechanism of its moving parts audaciously stands out with remarkably silent operational feel. The C542's sonic character is one that exudes desirable qualities like superb fidelity letting you enjoy more dynamic range, precised imaging, focused soundstage and extremely natural vocal and musical timbre - being an HDCD equipped player. It is like akin to inserting a WS Tono Preamp between the source and the amp whereby the previously faint or unheard of reproduction suddenly becomes alive and readily discernible. As reviewed by its maker - the C542 is boasting in low frequency slam and extension with timbral accuracy and lucid harmonic structure of its predecessor, the C541i.

This is a player that I would like to settle with for keeps and enjoy over time or until an itch to upgrade to a higher model would, once again, become an incessant craving. I don't profess to be an expert in evaluating audio gears but certainly I wouldn't be contradicting my pair of ears when I say there is little much to be desired in its lucid and clean resolution. Compared to Rotel's RCD 1070 and Exposure's 2010, the best sounding CD Players that I've heard so far, this player doesn't quite rise to the heights of the better models I've mentioned above. Nonetheless, the C542 can recreate the full richness and detail of any recordings, though it may lack the expressive dynamic range of the 2010 and the punch and thump of the 1070. With proper coupling using better interconnects and cables, one can expect plenty of aural experience from the C542. By and large, the C542's overall signature can well be categorized as a good all-rounder CD Player with capability to play a wide variety of music types without slump in overall sonic quality.

As an example, Fleetwood Mac sounded so alive in "Dreams" while my favorite Style Council track "You're The Best Thing" is much like reminiscing the happier moments in life. Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" reminded me a lot of my good ole days while listening to "Pieces" by Patricia Barber is so involving. Diana Krall's "Look of Love" simply made me aware of her virtuosity as a pianist while at the same time letting me visualize how seductive she was in that music video of the same title. Playing my reference Chesky CD "The Ultimate Demonstration Disc", the C542's resolving prowess is an epitome of excellence in Rebecca Pidgeon's "Spanish Harlem". Some serious audiophile would say, the first upgrade we should mind to care is to make the most out of our source - based on the time-honored principle of "trash in - trash out". No matter how good our amp can be, aural fantasy simply begins and boils down to how proficient our source can decode, colorize and convey those signals to our amp's input.

Inasmuch as the C542 was christened by the ever reliable NAD, a Canadian firm advocating affordable but musically superior audio gears, this CD Player is warmly recommended.

Ortofon Concorde Night Club E

2005-10-30T14:25:00.000+08:00

fitted with an Ortofon cartridge, the tonearm of the Technics SL-1210 MK2 glides seamlessly along the grooves of the vinyl. the Night Club series, tried and tested for its ruggedness, is not only a popular DJ needle but is likewise good for home audio analog applications. the Concorde mounts directly to the tonearm, thus, eliminating the need for a headshell or constant calibration.

this photo was desaturated using Photoshop Elements 2.0

vinyl is groovy

2005-10-30T14:05:00.000+08:00

The attraction to the rituals and beauty that vinyl LPs have is what keeps me spinning the black disks thru my Technics SL-1210 MK2 turntable rather than the convenience offered by playing CDs in my NAD C-542 CD Player, a respectably good CD Player with 24-bit DAC and HDCD Decoder.

My obvious preference for the analog format is what keeps me photographing my old analog turntable and LPs, perhaps maybe because I’m sold out on the universal verdict and opinion that the finest sound quality currently available is from the analog microgroove record.

Consonance M99plus Integrated Vacuum Tube Amplifier

2005-10-29T07:15:00.000+08:00

I'm not an avid fan of tube equipped gears until I auditioned the Consonance M99plus integrated vacuum tube amp. Tube amps are misconceived as expensive pieces of equipment and are available only to a privileged and moneyed audiophiles. Inasmuch as this amp had been mass-produced in China, they are reasonably priced to afford tube newbies like me to explore and experience the wonderfully magical sound of tubes. Thus, owning this competitively priced tube amp, sporting the Consonance brand, adds pride of ownership and brings tube quality sound within the budget of almost every music lover.

My preference and growing interest on tube audio was the result of my conclusion that CD sound can never approximate the analog sound of the resurrected vinyls. Be that as it may, a tube amp can nonetheless, give life to the clinical and harsh sound of most CD players, which can often sound smoother and more musical when played through a tube amplifier. This premise goes without saying that tube amps are the better amps if compared to solid state amps but since my musical preference is now leaning towards the quieter genre and more relaxing music, it necessarily follows that I have to follow the route that would put me closer to the music. Gone are the days when I crave for the slam-bang and kick-ass bass of a solid state amp. Now, my aural experience begins when I listen to the more soothing sound of tubes that occasionally brings shivers to the bone and spine-tingling sensation when playing some of my favorite CD tracks.

The m99plus features 4 Shuguang 6P3P output tubes (which can be replaced by 6L6s, KT-66s and 5881s), 2 Shuguang 6N8P driver tubes (which can be replaced by 6SN7s and VT-231s), 2 Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH pre-amp tubes configured in a SRPP circuitry, 3 toroidal transformers, 3 gold plated line inputs, large high quality gold plated 5-way speaker binding posts in 8 ohms and 4 ohms tap, all housed in a massive metal chassis with wooded side panels, weighing almost 18 Kgs. The m99plus is a solid-state rectified amp and equipped with a solidly-built remote control allowing you to adjust the volume from a distance.

M99plus on mood light

2005-10-29T07:00:00.000+08:00

shown on top of the rack is the fifth anniversary model, with volume and input selector. Due to reasonable input sensitivity, can be connected direct to CD source. If connected using a separate pre-amplifier the sonic result will be even better. The circuit composes of three stages: Sovtek 12AX7LPS (ECC83) as the first SRPP stage, followed by Shuguang 6N8P (6SN7) driver stage with Shuguang 6P3P (6L6GC/KT66/5881) as the final power stage in class push pull class AB configuration. This is a classical circuit and the sonic performance is very high due to the design of the output transformer, tube circuit optimization and years of experience in the development of the M100SE. Uses fixed bias design with external individual bias adjustment for each 6P3P.

Control Functions: Volume, Select, Power On/Off
Inputs: CD, Aux and Line in

Specifications:

OUTPUT IMPEDANCE: 4,8 ohms. (User selectable)
Output Power at 1 kHz for less than 1%THD: 25W x2
Bandwidth at - 3dB: 6Hz to 60kHz
Input Sensitivity for Rated Output: 180mV
Signal / noise: 90dB
Input interfaces: 3 groups (RCA)
Input Impedance: 50k
Consumption: 90W
Tubes: 6P3Px4, 6SN7x2, 12AX7x2
Dimension: 446 (L) x 264 (W) x 155(H) mm
Weigh: 17kg(Net); 21kg(Shipping)

mixed system

2005-10-28T06:45:00.003+08:00

when i was new in the hobby, i was afflicted with an obsession they call SARS or short for "Severe Audiogears Replacement Syndrome" and this used to be my previous audio set up: a Consonance m99plus vacuum tube integrated amp, NAD C542 CD Player, NAD C352 solid state integrated amp and a Mordaunt-Short MS914 floorstanders.

starting over

2005-10-27T10:45:00.001+08:00

the grainy effect was the result of applying the illustrator filter

front view

2005-10-26T10:30:00.001+08:00

Ortofon Concorde Night Club E cartridge

side view

2005-10-25T10:15:00.001+08:00

Technics SL-1210 MK2 Direct Drive Turntable fitted with Ortofon Concorde Night Club E cartridge

tilt view of a cartridge

2005-10-24T10:00:00.001+08:00

the cartridge houses the stylus or the phonograph pick up needle coming into contact with the grooves of a vinyl record.

the LPs seen in the backdrop:

Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Ghost in the Machine - The Police
Cargo - Men At Work

spinning black disk

2005-10-23T09:45:00.000+08:00

seen from a different angle

analog and tube audio

2005-10-23T09:30:00.000+08:00

the analog source is the venerable and rugged Technics SL-1210 Mk2 direct drive turntable while the amplification is delegated to Opera Audio's Consonance M99plus 6L6GC integrated vacuum tube amp.

tweeter

2005-10-22T09:14:00.001+08:00

the 25mm aluminum dome tweeter provides a silky smooth high frequencies extension up to its rated peak of 22khz and combined with the 16.5cm mid/bass driver, it delivers a real sense of scale and impressive low frequency power with midrange subtlety and clarity.

Mordaunt-Short MS914

2005-10-22T09:00:00.000+08:00

floorstander with a 6.5" Continuous Profile Cone (CPC) mid/bass driver using an aluminum cone that does away with a dust cover or central pole to create a smoother pistonic movement at the low frequencies and better control on the high ranges in unison with its aluminum dome tweeter. a marvelous and vibrant sounding speaker.