DAY 9: Rim Light

     Some of the videos as our midterm exam were shown in class. Those were 1-minute videos showcasing ourselves. After each video, our professor is giving his comments and recommendations on the videos. By giving constructive criticism, it's not just the owner of the video who's learning but the whole class as well.

     One of the new learning that I get is the 80/20 Rule in Videos. 80% must be you, facing the camera while talking and only 20% are the shots of you from different angles. I guess my video got 100% face the cam haha!

     By the way Here's my VIDEO! YOU'RE.JUST.ONE.CLICK.AWAY!

     Rim Light was discussed to us which is our next photo to pass on Wednesday. It is a photograph in which the edge of your subject has lights on the edge that seems glowing. I hope I could borrow a good camera and take a good shot! I should think of my concept as early as now.

    Thank you and God bless!

DAY 8: Introduction to videography

     Look how time flies so amazing, we're now into video stuff! 

These are what our professor wrote on the board which are in need to check in the video:

1. Frame Rate
2. CF Cards/ SD Cards
3. Audio
4. Lighting
5. Composition
6. Exposure (Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO)

These are the other equipment that could make your video better:

1. External Flash/Speedlight
2. Tripod
3. Lights
4. Reflectors
5. Video-Head (for tripod)
6. Microphone (for audio)
7. Script

We also have choices where to try in shooting: in Studio, Outdoor shoot, or with the use of Speedlight. Our Professor showed us videos that explain things we should know in shooting videos. He also explained some concepts after the videos. Here are what I've learned from the video and from my professor:

SD - Standard Definiton

HD - High Definition

FPS - Frame per Second

SDHC - Secure Digital High Capacity Card

Tips:

•  In buying Memory cards for your camera buy the CLASS 10. Bring your camera with you and check the memory card. Shoot a 3-minute video. If it's not fake, it shouldn't stop until it completes the 3-minute video.
• To have a good slow mo, you should have 60fps.
• When you have interviews with busy backgrounds, make it a point that the aperture is big so as you could have a blur background.

     After the discussion, we started to shoot for our midterm videos!

DAY 7: Lighting and Food Photography

     Our professor introduced to us the Photolight Pro App. The app lets you practice visually the lighting in a studio. You can freely move the lights anywhere you want. By the help of this app, you can still learn new techniques and ways in lighting your models all by your own,though you have no studio at home. 

     After the demonstration of the use of Photolight Pro App, some studio equipment available in our lab were shown to us. These are the following stuff:

•  Light Reflector (which our professor challenge each to fold) - it's circular and have two sides with different color. One is silver for a neutral reflection and another is gold to give a warm lighting. You can use reflectors if for example the lighting is not enough and you don't have any extra flash to lighten your subject. 
• Umbrella Reflector - we often see on TV umbrellas during photo shoots in a certain TV Series where the protagonist is a model. I thought it's just a normal umbrella but it isn't. It has different layers for additional purposes and a good light modifier. 
• Strobe Lights - these are the common lighting equipments with stand that you see in studios.

      Take not that the bigger the reflector, the softer the light.

     When we're all done in trying to fold the light reflector, we had an activity. We form groups and set up on our own some studio equipment! We had discussed also about the stop of light. It's the measurement of light and we found out that it can be divided into 3. 

• 1/3- 2/3 - then 1 stop  like in aperture,  4 - 4.5 - 5 - 5.6 

     After the discussion, we finally had our food photography! We made it by groups. Thank God I was able to borrow a camera from my classmate who's already done in their food pictorial.

     Our concept was simple, a birthday. hahaha! We bought cupcakes, colorful candies, creams, and cute candles! Look at my shot, I think it's a bit dramatic. I was flattered when my professor told me that it's a composition. I just need to add some fill light. He mentioned us before we do our activity about the fill and key lighting which we talked about also in our Film Theories class last semester. 

    The photo was warm with a dark background that suggests certain dramatic effect. A lonely birthday indeed, Lol! 

DAY 6: Color Temperature!

     Do you experience taking a bluish shot? Have you encountered problems about the color of the shot different from what you want it to be?

     The answer for those problems is simple. You just have to know the concepts of color temperature. In connection with this, you have to know the purpose of AWB of Auto White Balance in your camera. I didn't know before how to adjust colors and why on earth an SLR have a something such as AWB with cute little icons. Thank God I'm enrolled in Visual Communication class. 

Now I know! 

     Look at the pictures below, I shot them with same level of the stuff in exposure triangle, it's only the AWB I've changed in every shot. See the differences between each shot. 

   

An outdoor shot

An indoor shot

     I bet the differences in each photo are very visible that I need not to explain it anymore, right? Can you see now the power of White Balance?

     Actually, you could edit your shots in Photoshop if ever you didn't get your desired color for your photo but imagine if your in a wedding and each shot are a bit bluish or very yellowish? It take a long time to edit all those in your photo editor software. In order to save time, you should know how to play adjust the colors in your camera so you'll not need the help of photo editors anymore. 

     A good photographer doesn't rely so much on Photoshop anyway, one click by a skilled person who's always willing to learn is enough already. 

     Our professor gave us an activity which I think will be very helpful for all of you guys who don't know yet adjusting the color temperature. Let's discuss it step by step. Before we go to the 6 Basic steps, read this first, you might be needing this in the future, or it might help you understand some basic concept.

NEUTRAL COLOR  - In Digital (Additive)  

         White            -100% RGB

         Black             -50% RGB

         Gray             - 25% RGB

    Okay, Are you ready? Here are the 6 Basic Steps to Custom White Balance! I'll use a larger font size to emphasize them. I also took pictures for better understanding.

1. Set WB to Daylight

2. Shoot a Neutral Color

The background is a white board. It's neutral!

3. Set Custom WB to photo

4. Choose custom WB in camera settings

5. Take photo again

6. See if WB is correct

The photo has a correct white balance now!

     Go and play with your camera's white balance! I hope my learnings could help you too!