Luminaire Corsets Ltd Now Online!

Visit http://www.luminairecorsets.com/ to checkout my shots of Ms. Irish for some European fashion corsets last year-just click on the Gallery page. British corset designer Jerry Ocampo came early April to shoot their new 2009 lines. I will post their new designs here soon. Ms. Valerie modelled for this years collection. Meanwhile have a look at these behind-the-scenes pics captured with Nikon’s new Nikon D90 DSLR with its sharp 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens. Last year’s photo shoot was done with Nikon’s humble D60 DSLR with its equally sharp kit lense. Nina Dumpa of Hollywood did Val's hair and makeup. Stay tuned!

Pro Technique: Simulating Wedding Sunsets

Wedding photographer Jomel Gregorio hired moi as 2nd photographer for Isaac and Kats’ wedding. For their late afternoon portraites I challenged myself to simulate sunset lighting at the cool and shadey Mango Farm reception. Because of the many huge mango trees planted around it’s impossible for any sun rays to pass thru (except noon). So I setup my off-cam Nikon SB-27 Speedlight with my TriStar radio receiver coupled with a Lee orange filter on a junior stand (approx. 25 feet away). Setting the SB-27 power ratio at full power with a 50mm zoomed head I shot this picture (above). Try this when the natural sunset lighting is impossible.

Bingle and Odie Pre-nupt in Tagaytay

Dewey Sergio of the Alpha Camera Club and moi found ourselves shooting Ms. Bingle and SPO4 Odie for their pre-nuptial photographs at the Grand Canyon Woods in Tagaytay. (Dewey is one of the few, winningest photogs who made a career in topping many major photo contests locally for years like Chito Cleofas). The weather that day swung from sweltering hot to a cool drizzle whimsically like a yo-yo. It’s always fun to shoot with Dewey who brought a huge, white translucent studio umbrella to act as a “Scrim Jim” to block the harsh sunlight during pictorials (and with which was my protection against the rude drizzle and direct sunlight). Thanks much Dewey! See you in their wedding celebration.

Pro Technique: Digital Infra-red (IR) in Sepia

For this sepia -toned IR photograph above, I screwed an R720 (IR) filter onto my lense. With a saturated olive colored panel I used the Custom White Balance (CWB) setting on my Nikon DSLR under a shade on a cloudy day for a data reading. It was the longest expoure for a white balance picture reference at 30 seconds! By filling my frame with this olive-colored panel I’m assured of an approximately neutral colored green leaves. My camera settings are in colored Vivid mode. Of course you will need a tripod as my exposure took 30 seconds to make under cloudy skies. I shot in JPEG file mode and the colors were slightly enhanced in Adobe Photoshop.

GEARTALK: Nikon D90 Road Test

Here's the first DSLR that incorporates 720P HD (high definition) video as part of its feature. At 24 frames per second the videos taken with the new Nikon D90 is jerky, so what I do is to pan quickly and/or do a cut-to-cut transition. Canon answered the D90 with a full-HD version in their 5D MkII model. I tried shooting both photo and video for a wedding coverage with the D90 and found it difficult. It's always best to concentrate on one aspect of the coverage to anticipate some unrepeatable "decisive moments". Nikon certainly started a small revolution here: converging the photographer and videographer into one artist. Expect all DSLR models to include HD video as standard issue. Next month I will post some sexy European corsets I shot with the D90 once I get the "go" signal from my British designers. So stay tuned...