ExpoDisc Portrait White Balance Filter

I am amazed with this ExpoDisc Portrait White Balance Filter.  I was playing around with it yesterday and I  was surprised how off the colors of what camera captures.


This shot on the left is from a cafe house and the area was tungsten lit.  I had a lamp on my right side.  My camera setting was f2.8, 1/20 @ ISO 800 I think.  The first shot was set to Auto White Balance the second is Tungsten Balance and the last was Manual White Balance using the ExpoDisc filter.


If  you want  to know about this product check their website.   I will be posting more samples after my shoot this sunday.









Image courtesy of Expoimaging.

Fireworks Photography Tutorial

New Year is just a few days away and for sure there are some of you photogs out there who are planning to shoot some fireworks so I thought of posting my own tips.

Equipments:

SLR Camera (preferably with Bulb function)

-Tripod

-Shutter release/remote

-Black cardboard

1.  Mount camera in a tripod.

2. Use Shutter release cable or remote to trigger the camera

3. My working aperture is around f8-11.  I prefer to use wide angle lens for this kind of shot and setting it to its widest angle  and place the focus on infinity and manual.

4. Set your shooting mode to Bulb mode.



Before opening your shutter  or shooting place your black cardboard in front of  the lens to cover it from capturing when you open your shutter.  Now press your shutter release to open.   If you want to capture the light trails remove the black cardboard to capture the trail then cover it again with the cardboard.  After the first bang remove again the black cardboard cover to capture the burst.  Then release your shutter to save the image.   Timing is of the essence in capturing beautiful fireworks and it takes a lot of practice.  Hope to see your shots soon!

Happy New Year!!

Lazy Saturday

Didn't do much today except being a couch potato.  It was cold and hazy outside and didn't realize it was 5:30PM.  I peaked out on the porch and noticed it was hazy.  The light on the dock just overlooking my place just turned on and got a few shots.

I turned my white balance setting to tungsten and this made the grayish ambient turned blue and it gave the feeling of coldness on the scene.

Another Christmas Day

It has been a long time since I spent Christmas in the Philippines.  Usually Christmas day is spent with family and visiting relatives.  Christmas is probably the only time of the year that family members got together but since we moved in Hong Kong our Christmas is mostly spent visiting friends or if not, just strolling around.  Here are a few shots I got today.

Another Favorite Photographer

I was browsing  the net to get some new inspirations and I came across the name David Tejada.  He's a photographer who uses small strobes like the famous David Hobby or Mcnally etc.  Anyway he's got some great videos on youtube if you want to check him out.

note: this post is in no way promoting David's work in anyway.  Im just admiring.  I hope I get invited in his blog :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...""

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

From Me and my wife Joanne, Have a wonderful Holiday!

My Go To Sites

I have been thought in the net.
I have always been asked where and how did I learn how to shoot.  I have always been a self thought photographer and I think there is a vast knowledge that can be learned over  the net.  But of course coupled with a lot of practice.  So I thought of sharing my go to sites.
For learning:
Strobist This site promotes, among other things, the use of off camera flash.
Lighting Essentials This site is dedicated to photographic lighting.  It has tutorials, online workshops and assignments.  It also has page for Models called Model Behavior.
ZA This site is owned by Zack Arias, an Atlanta based photographer that runs the One Light Workshop.
Squeeze The Line This site is run by Belgian photographers Bert Stephani and Pieter Van Impe.  They have cool on the spot videos on how they shoot.
Digital Photography School This was my first go to site when I was starting.  Anything I want to know I check on this site.  It covers Tips and Tricks, Post Processing and Camera Equipments discussions.
Well that's it for now and let me know if you have other sites or video sites that are great resource.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II firmware update version 1.2.4

Canon has released a new firmware version for Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Click here for details and download.

From the Archive

Intense
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

I was going through some old photos in flickr which I took early this year and I found this photo of Machi.

This photo was taken with one Canon 580 EX II with portable beauty dis that I bought in Manila on that same trip. I placed the light camera left aout 45 deg high from the subject. I underexposed the ambiant light by 1stop and exposed for the flash. A little editing on Photoshop CS3 with dodging and burning and saturation.

Camera and Setting for this shot

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/13.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

My Wife in Beijing China (Natural Light)

In the streets of Beijing
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

This photo was taken early this year in Beijing China. It was half past 5 in the afternoon and we were walking around and asked my wife to lean on a street post. The sky was cloudy and the ambiant light was a bit low.

On post processing I have done a bit of dodging and burning and levels adjustments to achieve this look.

I really like how this photo came out after processing. If you're interested how I processed this just reply on the post.

Camera and settomgs:

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 77 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Natural Light Portraiture

EMMA
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

This was one of the photos I have taken last year during a One on One Workshop with Manuel Librodo in Thailand.

Camera and settings
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 1 EV

Creating my Twilight feel (Tutorial)

New Twilight Character ")
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

This is a shot I have done last October with my favorite teen model Nikki. My objective of this shot was to create an edgy look. so i have lighted the model so.

For the lighting I have used Elinchrome Ranger Quadra positioned on the left and the right side of the model to create the edgy feel.

My Camera setting was:

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200

On post processing I used Photoshop CS3 and the plugin of Niks software. Below is the workflow:

1. Resized the image 8x12
2. levels adjustment: Image>adjustment>levels>options under algorithms click enhance monochromatic contrast then ok. Still on levels go to Channel and shoose blue and adjust the middle slider to left then choose channel red and adjust middle slider to the right. All adjustment is to my taste. Then press ok.
3.Unsharp Mask to remove the hazy look: Filter>sharpen>unsharp Mask>A=20 ar=60
4.Instead of niks software to adjust contrast you can add an adjustment layer and choose Brightnes and contrast and adjust contrast to taste.
5.Flatten the image
6. Final sharpening use this method:
Duplicate Background layer
Background copy
USM 18-40-0
USM 150-.3-0
Edit>Fade USM 100% in Darken Mode
USM 150-.3-0
Edit>Fade USM 50% in Lighten Mode

The final sharpening could create a little noise. If so just add a a layer mask with black and using a white brush tool just reveal the areas you want to appear sharper like eyes, hair,texture of the clothes etc.

Let me know how this works with your image.

Again I am not a pro in PS and what I do is based on what I have learned throughout the years in the net.

On the spot Strobing on Savilles '09

IMG_1516
Originally uploaded by Jun Madayag

This shot was taken with Canon 5D Mark II and one Canon 580 EX II triggered with Pocketwizard Flex tt5 and Mini TT1. This boy was playing rugby with his father around 2pm. We were watching a Savvilles Corporate Rugby Game and I was so bored as hell and wanted to do some strobist shot on my colleagues team. They were all busy warming up and cant get one to pose so and when I saw my colleague's kid playing with his pup I took the opportunity to have one.

I asked the father to hold the flash top above subject's face on camera axis (sort of a spotlight) and used these settings straight away.
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 27 mm
ISO Speed: 200
I was guessing the sun (behind the subject) is around f11 so I used f22 to underexpose it. Why f11? Hmmmm I dunno... well I heard about the sunny 16 rule, the sun being at f16 at high noon and it was around 2pm , I think, when i took this. The sky was a little cloudy as well so I was guessing the ambient light was slightly lower than f16 and i guessed f11.

The shot came out great but I thought of putting a little more PP. His mom and dad liked it and asked for the print :) Darn I should have made this a paid shoot :)

Holiday Portrait with Jon Kath and Lauren

Here are a few images I took for Jon Kath and Lauren for my Holiday Portraits. I took their family portrait early this year.

Family Session in Tsim Sha Tsui with the Santiago Family

Recent family shoot with the Santiago family in TST Hong Kong.

Strobing a Triathlete

I have been so excited when I spoke to my client/friends from Philippines last month when they agreed to let me take their photo as a triathlete. These are my banker friends who are very active in the sports.

I finally did the shoot last weekend when I had my business call (to my full time job as a financial broker) in Manila.

Trina and Jojo met with me at Mandarin Hotel Makati for breakfast. I also called one of my friend, Mikey, to help me out with the lights. Sort of like an intelligent tripod. Mikey is a fellow hobbyist who was based in Hong Kong but moved back to Manila just recently.

This shot on the right is Trina. I used Elinchrom Ranger Quadra A to light Trina positioned at front top of the model acting as a spot light. I used the sun as a back light and under exposed the ambient light to create drama. This was shot at 1/200 @ f18 iso 100.


This shot is Jojo. I used two 580 EX II one positioned on the left of the camera and one on the right. I used the new Pocketwizard Flex and Mini to trigger both flashes at 1/1250 f2.8 iso 100.


Mikey posted some behind the scene on my flickr photo page here












After about 90 shots of Jojo and Trina we were interrupted by a roving security patrolling the are. I was told that we needed to get a permit to be allowed to do photoshoot in the area. Oh actually you needed to ask for a permit to do photoshoot in any area in Manila. If you are a photog and using an SLR I can assure you that 90% you will be asked if you have a permit specially you have a model with you. Kinda weird for me considering that in HK you can shoot a model anywhere without being hassled. Anyway I pretended not to know the rules and told the guard just a few more shots. After a few minutes I asked the guard to join in with Jojo and Trina for the last photo. He was reluctant at first saying this might appear in a magazine (yeah right!) but after convincing him that it was just a fun shoot he gladly joined. See the shot below.

Since we cannot continue the shoot on the open field we then decided to do some swimming shots and The Serendra courtesy of Trina's friend. Tina and Lionel joined us for this part and here are a few shots on the pool.

The lap shots were really tiring. I asked Mikey to follow the swimmers while pointing the flash to the swimmers trying to capture them when they were gasping for air. The flash were triggered by Pocketwizard Flex and Mini on ETTL mode. On the last photo I used two 580 EX II to the left and the right of the subject triggered by PW on ETTL.

Check my flickr set to check the rest of the photos.

Family Session at Repulse Bay Hong Kong

This was the family session with the Lairdy's at Repulse Bay Hong Kong. I had to wake up early in the morning as my schedule was 7AM for one hour.

The sky was overcast and the light was so flat. I was thinking of using a strobe but shooting a tuddler with a flash is a bit cumbersome with all the running around. I ended up using natural light and my ever reliable Canon 85mm. Some shots I used a reflector.

Here are some of the shots.



Please let me know what you think. Just leave a comment. Thanks!

Mercado Twins Baptismal

This was my last Baptismal shoot in Kowloon Hong Kong. Those twins are really cute!

Got the chance to use Elinchrom Quadra

Got my new Elinchrome Quadra AS and had the chance to use it with Nikki and Lejane. Here are some of the photos I took.