My Rim Light Shot!

     This is my entry for our Rim Light Photo. The shot needs to have light on its edges. I have my own title for this shot  and there is a certain reason why I named it that way. At first, I struggled in doing my photo because I have no available light which can produce a good glow. Our flashlights aren't working well also. I am also a bit hesitant if my first work is correct, if it really portrays what a back-light shot should be. Until I've got a surprised visitor that night, the very moment which  I am feeling not contented with what I am doing because I can't take good photographs. 

     I think that it's coincidence that He visited me because my mood changed. What's the best thing that happened that night? Before he leave, he opened the lights of the motorcycle that he is riding. When the light hits the plants, Voila! I yelled and turned very happy. I explained him about the back light stuff that I am doing in my room a while ago before he came. I asked him to keep the lights on toward the direction of the leaves in front of our house. Now, this is my shot! (: Because of what had happened before I finally got my photo, I called it as:

Meant-to-be Serendipity

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!

Alphabet Composition!

     Look at my masterpiece! I worked hard for this. Finding letters from ordinary things wasn't that easy as you think. I regret because what I passed is a collage with white background and I found out after that it would look better with this black background. Well at least, I've learned!

DAY 5: Composition Making

     It's been a long time since we had our class. Though it's only one meeting we missed because of the typhoon, it feels that all of us haven't seen each other for a very long time ago. We thought that we'll already take the online exam as our prelims on that day that's why you would see a lot who were in rush reading notes and asking their seatmates.

     Relieved! Fortunately, we'll not take the exam yet! (because honestly I'm unprepared)

     The first thing we were asked to do when our professor came in is to prepare our portrait shot of one of our family members. We presented our works in front of the class while telling what's the context or situation while taking those photos and also the settings of the exposure triangle. My shot was under-exposed, my model was my sister.

     After the presentation our prof revealed that our topic will be about composition and to test how we see things with the lenses of the camera, we were tasked to do an ALPHABET PHOTOGRAPHY! There we spread outside the room eager to find anything that will show letters of the alphabet. May the best eyes win!The more creative you are, the more chances of winning! Lol.

     The secret maybe is to simply be a kin observer. Look on every small details in the surroundings. They may show the letters you're finding. We learned that in order to identify if you have at least good skills in composition, show your shot to others and if takes time for them to recognize the letter that you're trying to show, it's time to find another subject and work harder, while if they understand the letter immediately, go ahead and keep up the good work!

     These are some of the photos that I took when we done the exercise for almost an hour. I hope you understand what I am trying to show on each picture! All of the photos were shot inside the campus since we're not allowed to go outside the school because it's still our class hours though we're doing our exercise outside the classroom.

     After we tried our composition activity outside the room which we'll pass and present next meeting, our prof told us another new information about cameras that we should not forget. 

     It's about how the camera metering matters. We learned that cameras make black or white colors in the picture into a middle gray shade. Something like the color will always be in the middle tone. 

     Look at the picture below. The first one show the corresponding color where the center have the middle gray. The Second picture is an example of the metering we see in our camera whever we are about to take a shot. It's would tell you if it would be going to be over-exposed (more on left) or under-exposed( more on right), that's why to play safe you should let the pointer be at the middle. 

Photo From Google Images

Photo From Google Images

     It may be just easy and definitely the basics but at least the following sizes are already clear to us now. Thanks to our professor! Hahaha!

3x5 = 3R

4x6 = 4R

5x7 = 5R

8x10 = 8R

11x14 = 111R

     Thanks for visiting and reading! Watch out for my Alphabet Photography soon when I'm done!

May God Bless Us All! 

DAY 3: ISO and LIGHT PAINTING

     We had our assignment last week which is to submit the best photo that we can take, now that we know the purposes of ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture. So, our class starts by presenting the photographs that we have. I’m thankful they appreciate my shot. (If you want to see what I submitted and the other shots that served as my choices, click THIS)

     After the presentation, we had again a short discussion and review about the light control buttons. Our professor stressed out that the shutter speed controls the ambient light. Like on my other classmates’ shots, they can make their shots look a bit dim though it’s 12 o’clock in the afternoon and brighter even if it’s 6 in the afternoon. I can call it, “The wonders of Shutter Speed”. I realized that I really need to memorize by heart the functions of the exposure triangle so I would be able to get the shots that I want to establish.

     Remember ISO? It’s the sensitivity to light. Our professor called me to cite something that I learned and I said the ISO function. If for example you’re in a party which is dark, you can adjust you’re ISO to make your objects clear and visible. It can also be useful in museums and theatres where it’s a bit dark and the use of flash is prohibited.  Meaning if higher ISO capability, you can capture brighter images. It connotes too that the HIGHER ISO the camera has, the MORE EXPENSIVE it will be.

     One thing that I also love when I learned about it is the aperture. Because aside from it controls the light, it is also responsible for the Depth of Field (DOF). It’s important also especially for me who loves having blurry background.

     Our first activity is to experiment with the ISO. We went outside and took pictures with different ISO. Here are my shots. They have the same Shutter Speed and Aperture except the ISO, for me to be able to distinguish the difference between each ISO levels.

  

     When we’re all done with the activity, our professor thought us how to do the LIGHT PAINTING!

    So here’s the list of what I’ve learned:

·         ISO should be 100

·         You can set the camera first to auto, to have find the focus, then set it to manual again

·         You can set the timer to two seconds first for preparation

·         The aperture must be f/ the highest number so the hole would be small and there blurriness would not occur

·         Set the shutter speed depending on the shot that you want to have, for example you want a lot of details in your light painting, set it like 20 o 30, or try 6 if it’s just simple and small

·         You can also choose the bulb as the shutter speed so the time of the shutter to open and close will depend on how long you click the capture button

·         THE MOST IMPORTANT: YOUR LIGHT PAINTING WILL NOT BE AS GOOD AS YOU WANT IT WITH JUST ONE SHOT OR ONE TRIAL SO WHAT IT TAKES IS REALLY A LOT OF PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE!

     Look at the scenario in our classroom while we’re having our light painting session. Look also on what change the ISO did. Only the middle picture shows the exact lighting that we have in the room that moment. Observe the ISO magic! :) 

  

     No further ado, now I introduce you my own LIGHT PAINTING!!
(It took me a lot (as in 60 plus) of trials to have the best that I can)

f/27   30s   100   

f/27   30s   100

f/22   63s   100

    My first concept is to make the light looks like a smoke coming from the glass bottle but then I've realized that it'll be good if I'll try to put some stuff inside the bottle and use other light color.  

Show Your Best Shot

     Our professor required us to give next meeting a 5r copy of the best shot that we can capture. Now that we know the functions of the exposure triangle, he also told us that we need to put the settings that we used on the picture. Editing is not allowed.

     Look at my shot, as of now it's the best that I have!

f/ 5.6     1/90   100

The following are the photos that serve as my other choices:

f/ 5.6     1/15   100

f/ 5.6     1/30   200