taken at a Lexus showroom, I darkened the back by directing all my lights to the subject
helping Eve untangle the skirt
instructing my model
I placed a fan behind my model's skirt to create movement
Yup there are a few times I dress more formally than I usually do. This shoot was done at 8pm and I happened to come from another shoot where I photographed corporate executives.
I’ve done many Traffic Stoppers for Top Gear Philippines and this is one of my faves. The team was great, including makeup artist Chris B and stylist Jae P.
testing my lights
viewing my shots with Sheng of TGP and stylist Jae
with Dinzo of TGP
my old reliable Hensel Tria
Composite of 11 players taken individually
taking Nate's shot from a high angle, using grids and louvres
we padded the floor where Christopher would land to protect his knees
that's my son Kale doing the jumping header
Kaya Futbol Club is one of the Philippines’ premier football clubs, composed of past, present and future National Team (Azkals) members. My son Kale is its playing assistant coach.
For their ad for Mizuno, which is one of their sponsors, the first concept was action shots of the players against a dark background. Final image was to be composed, so I photographed them individually.
I used grids and louvres on the lighting accessories to make the light output more directional.
old-school photography, no post-prod
wanna-be fresnel lighting
a good surface adds that extra
my fave of the series
One of my favorites to work with, my good friend Patring recently produced the launch of Lenovo Mobile phones. They needed photos of the phones for the marketing collaterals and website (please visit http://www.lenovomobile.com.ph).
There were two requirements: 1) theatric on black background, and 2) straightforward standard on white.
As much as I can, I shoot the old-school way, no post-prod. I enjoy adjusting the lights to the specs I want before shooting.
For the first, I recreated the soft-edged beams of fresnel light by using:
straightforward catalog shot
strip boxes to create even lighting
final image
going up to my perch
the set
I stayed on my ceiling beam for 4 hours
minus the 3rd wheel
with Jim, hairstylist
Archie, makeup and Deb, stylist
Bel, production designer
Have you heard of an instant professional shoot? To come up with a shoot, it usually takes a while to deal with closing the contract, presenting and finalizing the concepts, pre-production meets, logistics and actual shoot. In this shoot’s case, these were all done in a little over 31 hours!
The requirement was urgent, so when my friend Lester of Branders.com called, I was game. After agreeing on a final concept, the task was then to book a team. With short notice, chances are the team you’d want would be already booked But I got extremely lucky and got an excellent team, the top of my shortlist, whom I’ve worked with very well in the past and fortunately were all available. I got Archie of Maybelline to do the makeup, Jim to do the hair, Deb as stylist, Bel as production designer and 3 good models.
The client wanted a sleazy motel room look and feel. They also required a diffused spot on the upper bodies of the couple. I used:
with Jay and Lester of Branders.com
spiderman, anyone?
Cebu: 24-70mm, f:5.6, 1/80 sec
Batangas: 24-70mm, f:2.8, 1/6 sec
Boracay: 17-44mm, f:4, 1/15 sec
Palawan: 24-70mm, f:2.8, 1/1000 sec
Beaches are location favorites, and there are quite a number of beautiful Philippine beaches. Between the actual shoots, I get to see the beaches from a different perspective and try to document them as I perceive them at that moment.
After a supersized lunch of delicious fresh seafood at Shangri-la Hotel in Cebu (yep, it bordered on gluttony, burrrp), we walked about 500m to this place where we did the shoot.
On a weekend shoot in Batangas, I took a walk at around 5 in the morning, hoping to catch the sunrise. What I caught was so much more. I saw a couple of fishermen hauling the day’s catch. I shot it at a slow speed handheld, so I sat on the water, took a deep breath and steadied my hand.
Walking back by the beach to my hotel in Boracay after a day’s shoot, I saw the sun setting at half past 6. But the boat made a better subject, so I decided to make the sunset incidental instead.
Maggi Magic Sinigang packaging
MMSinigang in use
shooting our hand model
the first of the many images required
final food shot
art director Zul (who flew in from Singapore for the shoot) and food stylist Bel
Recently, Maggi Magic Sinigang powdered soup base (sinigang is a Filipino soup with a distinct sour flavor) decided to update its packaging. The packaging has many elements and we shot each element separately.
First was the hand model holding the soup pot. The pot was silver and highly reflective so I had to cure that.
Next was the food which Bel prepped. Bel has learned a few tricks on prepping soups since her first job which was a stew.
Last were the raw vegetables which were photographed individually.
Bel prepping the other elements required
one of the veggies for the foreground
always with a cup of brewed coffee in my shoots
Star (Maggi) and Tin (Maggi Magic Sinigang) overseeing the shoot
one of the corner images, sampalok (tamarind)
blue skies and hardened lahar make an impossible contrast to the 4-wheelers
discussing with Stephen (writer) at the first interesting terrain I found
one of the Land Rovers traversing the waters towards me
Jinbei ring flash and batt pack with me, Hensel Porty with 1 1200 head with my assistant
Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4 doing its thing in its environment
20 years after Mt. Pinatubo's last eruption, plants have adapted and grown on hardened lahar
the photo we almost never took: after 6pm I boosted the diminishing sunlight with strobes
the boys relaxing while waiting for the other guys who trekked
With a bunch of big boys with big toys, I traveled to Pinatubo for a day to photograph Sammy Liuson, importer of Nitto tires, for Top Gear Phils. We congregated at 4am at my favorite pandesal (local bread) producer, Pan De Amerikano. Yup it is the one in the inverted building in White Plains. Its owner. Jun D.O. was with the group with his 2009 Land Rover.
On the way to Mt. Pinatubo, we encountered a Mitsubishi Canter that has just turned turtle at NLEx (North Luzon Expressway).
When we got to Pinatubo Spa Town, we were initially barred to bring our vehicles (3 Land Rovers, 1 Pajero) to the site because of a recent accident, where a private vehicle got caught up in muddy waters and disappeared with its passengers.
6pm, mixed lighting: sunlight and 2 strobes (ring flash and 1 head)
local monkey at the animal sanctuary
Mitsubishi Canter after it turned turtle at NLEx
the difficult terrain: only for the big boys with big toys
the shoot team
residents Gov. and Mrs. Peter Medalla were featured on the cover
with Dianne, Nimu and the rest of the team of Southern Living, Mt. Makiling at the back
with 3 strobes as fill, 17mm f:4 1/200s
10am: to balance the blue sky, I used fill for the shadowed areas
slow shutter to show movement, mixed lighting
I treated this as an outdoor shot because the huge windows and doors brought in a lot of light
For the cover of Southern Living, we featured Ayala Greenfield Estates in Laguna, a residence area with an expansive view of Laguna’s natural wonders (like Mt. Makiling and Laguna de Bay). My task was to highlight the vastness and nature-friendliness of the place.
Laguna is known to have rains in the afternoons, so when I shoot there, I try to finish by 3pm. I was to shoot outdoors and the interiors of a house. So some of my layouts were done while it was drizzling.
When shooting this kind of project, it’s a good idea to shoot outdoors first because if it rains, the skies turn grey but the indoors can still be considerably bright.
drizzling but the grey sky added a little drama
taken from the top of a truck
shot during a 2-minute window between drizzles, with 17-40 L on 1Ds Mark III
for Robinson's Dept. Store: one of the easiest kids I've photographed
for Robinson's Dept. Store: Hensel Tria 2400 in 13' x 22' lightbank
for Robinson's Dept. Store: shooting toddlers will test your patience to the limit
for Nido: this boy was easy to direct because of his experience
for Nido: available light with fillflash and california sunbounce reflector
still standing after a whole day of shooting kids
There are not many professional photographers who would want to photograph kids. Are kids really that difficult to shoot?
You can’t really predict if your shoot will be easy or not. Great if your models are professional and experienced, but many times you work with first-timers.
Even though I have photographed Nido (always with kids) and Robinson’s Dep’t. Store (for their kids’ fashion) for many years, I still get different situations, each one different from the last. What I have learned though, is that I will be the one to adjust to my kid-models.
When shooting kids, you have to be a psychologist, primarily, then a photographer, secondarily. You have to understand the kids’ moods and what they are feeling at that moment. There’s nothing much you can do if your toddler-model is sleepy, therefore, cranky. You will have to let the baby take a nap.
A couple of tips when shooting kids:
Solenn Heussaff, 50mm f:2.8 speed 1/30
Solenn with one of her paintings
showing Solenn the first few frames
taken at around 1030am, with fill
shooting at the garden
at the outdoor den where Solenn paints, 50mm f:2.5 speed 1/40
Survivor Philippines finalist Solenn Heussaff is one of the few women I’ve met that registers almost exactly on camera how you see her in person. Her beauty and wit come across in her photos.
When I photographed Solenn for Yes Magazine, I photographed her house in Forbes as well. Though we started at 9am, the natural light coming in was insufficient, and was further lessened by the dark wood in the walls that (obviously) wouldn’t reflect light.
Indoors, when I mixed natural light with strobes, I had to sacrifice my speed, thus a bit of clarity. Even though I was using a tripod, the minute movement of my subject would cause minor blur. I had to shoot at slower speeds than I’d like, to balance my strobes with the natural light, because I wanted to shoot Solenn and the place the way I saw it. I ended up shooting between 1/13 and 1/40 for Solenn indoors and 1 sec for the rooms. For the shoot at the garden, speed wasn’t a problem. I used strobe as fill.
to get the highlight, fill was set at minimum
