photojournalista

fun shots @ the beach

2010-04-28T20:38:00.002+08:00

Alvin Me-an

2010-04-24T08:49:00.003+08:00

Happy Birthday

2010-03-18T20:45:00.001+08:00

Pre-Nup

2010-03-07T09:28:00.002+08:00

Learning

2010-02-15T14:16:00.007+08:00

It's been quite a while since I last shot photographs out in an open park. Unfortunately an intrusive pro photographer disrupted my rhythm and mood in shooting and learning. He kept yelling at me to shoot with the flash set at manual. But it is already at manual. I just ignored the guy and finally he approached me. So I told him that the flash is in manual mode. Now he wants me to shoot with the flash set at full power. At that point I decided to stop shooting and pack up. I'm not going to learn anything from that guy. He just assumes things without any basis. He literally blocked my view. He wants me to set the flash to a specific setting without knowing what my shutter speed, apperture, ISO and seemingly don't care about the flash distance. He didn't even see what the test shot's exposure and histogram looks like.

I've learned a lot from random photogs suggesting things, but the others explain the "why" and not just shove a parameter down my neck like this guy did. Like I always say, ability to do is not always equal to ability to teach. I hope the next random photog, eager to teach, I encounter will be the type who explains things and not the pushy, shove it down your throat type of guy. Yes I'm willing to learn more, but not from the pushy, "just do what I say, I'm a pro" types. Knowing why is a lot different from (and more important than just) knowing how.

BTW, he kept saying the the photo will be underexposed. I actually brought down the exposure of the photo above by almost 2 stops since it was way overexposed.

Happy shooting. Maybe next time for me. :)

The Passion - YMCA inter-school tournament

2010-01-28T17:22:00.003+08:00

The Serves - YMCA inter-school tournament

2010-01-26T08:56:00.004+08:00

Let the kids have it

2010-01-08T11:05:00.003+08:00

Sometimes we're afraid to let the kids use our gadgets. Just teach them how to take care of it, how to use it properly and let them loose. You'll be surprised with what they come up with.

These were taken by my 6 year old niece, Alysa. Model is her older sister:

Shutter drag

2010-01-08T11:00:00.003+08:00

1/2 second shutter speed
The flash freezes the person.

On darker places, you can use even longer exposures and let the flash be sort of your shutter to stop the action.

Wedding

2010-01-03T12:43:00.003+08:00

Lessons learned:

. It's difficult to shoot with just 1 camera body.
1 fitted with long lens, 1 with standard lens.

. It's difficult to shoot with just one photographer. You can't cover different angles and views.

. It's difficult to shoot without an assistant.
To download images to laptop. To hold the off camera light. To Look after and carry the equipment.

. The more you shoot, the more difficult it is to weed out gold from pyrite.
There is "TOO MUCH" shooting. You shoot shoot enough to avoid "blinker" issues but shoot too much and you'll have trimming down the photo count issues.

. Don't forget your candies, water bottle and cookies.
You need to need to stay hydrated and not starving, otherwise your hands will shake, you'll lose focus and concentration.

. Eat fast.
You need to be there when action starts to happen. You should always be caught holding the camera, not the spoon and fork.

Long Exposure

2010-01-03T12:16:00.001+08:00

30 second exposures

At the tournament

2009-12-17T12:03:00.001+08:00

Ambient window light

2009-11-18T10:37:00.002+08:00

Camille Debut

2009-11-18T10:28:00.002+08:00

Photo Tradeshow

2009-11-18T10:12:00.003+08:00

The Shadows

2009-11-18T09:57:00.002+08:00

Slow shutter speed gives you ghostly shadows

Fast shutter speed gives you silhouette

Shooting farther than usual

Effect with a restaurant mirror

At the Jeans Shop

2009-09-22T15:58:00.004+08:00

Shot with a Canon A610 Point and Shoot camera.

More Pre-Nup

2009-09-22T15:29:00.004+08:00

Pre-Nup

2009-08-06T17:28:00.003+08:00

Group shots

2009-06-23T11:24:00.002+08:00

When shooting group shots you can try ...

Mixed action/pose

Scattered

Isolation and expression

Wacky

Action/ jump shot

Shooting from above

2009-06-23T11:13:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, shooting from above makes a photo different and/or interesting. Give it a try.

Shooting Entertainment

2009-03-16T09:49:00.010+08:00

I wasn't able to bring the big camera so I shot the following with a point and shoot.
Due to image noise problem, exif data were lost after filtering.

Several things to keep in mind when shooting stage performances:

Watch for the light.
Constantly changing lighting effects can make or break your photo. If it momentarily
goes out, your photo is underexposed. If the light hits your lens, it burns the photo. If too much
hits the subject, it overexposes the photo. But if you timed it right, it adds up to make an interesting picture.

Look for interesting background on stage.
If the backdrop is interesting, you can use it to add interest to the photo.

Get close to the action
If at all possible, get near or up the stage, snap, then get out fast so as not to be distracting.

Watch the action
Entertainers normally do something fancy. They jump, twist, spin, grind etc.
Focus ahead of time, keep your finger on the shutter release button,
keep one eye on the viewfinder. Open both eyes and watch the show while tracking the subject.
When they make the move ... click!

More photos ...

9th FCAAF - Singles (Part 1)

2008-10-07T20:09:00.003+08:00

9th FCAAF - Singles Event

Frances Serves during the round of 4
Girls Singles Event Grade 5-7
(bronze medal winner)

Girls Singles Event Grade 5-7
(bronze medal winner)

Daniel lunges an attack
Boys Singles Event Grade 5-7
(silver medal winner)

Not enough lift
HS 1 to 2 Singles Event
(gold medal winner)

Agony and Jubillation
Boys Singles Event HS 3 to 4
(bronze and gold medal winner respectively)

More photos at the gallery:
Part 1
Part 2

9th FCAAF Table Tennis

2008-09-16T09:31:00.007+08:00

9th FCAAF Inter-Scholastic
Table Tennis Championship

Opening
(Click image to view gallery)

Day 1 Morning
(Click image to view gallery)

Day 1 Morning cont'd.
(Click image to view gallery)

Day 1 Afternoon
(Click image to view gallery)

Day 2
(Click image to view gallery)

Awarding
(Click image to view gallery)

Please contact us via photojournalista @ gmail.com or rom_flores @ yahoo.com if you need to publish any of the image for your local community paper or school paper. Prints are also available.

Moon shot by rom flores

2008-07-28T14:01:00.000+08:00

My first try at a moon shot.
Done with a 70-200 F4 L lens.
This is a 100% crop of the image. Not enough resolution to be printed.
Saw on the internet several shots like this. Upon capturing it on my own,
I said, ugh, this is nowhere near their result. But I soon enough found out that
the result was due to heavy sharpening in post process. This was processed in Digital
Photo Professional.
F8
1/200 s
ISO 100

/rom