Congratulations Speedlighters!

May you show the world the right way to light-photographically!

Speedlighting Workshops Coming Soon

It’s been awhile since yours truly has posted in this blog, nevertheless I present to you my strobist workshop scheduled for this coming month of October. I hope to see you all!

Shooting The Sexy Natalia Dinis

Professional model Miss Natalia Dinis is the perfect model for yours truly to try the resolving power of the Nikon D800. I was tempted to use a sharp prime lens for her shoot but the Nikkor 24-85mm is more than adequate to capture portraiture details-which still revealed her minor skin blemishes. I have read photographers bemoan spending much time retouching with the 36 MP images of the D800 when using the ultra sharp Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AF-S lens with optimum settings. Sometimes too much sharpness and too many pixels can be unflattering in portraiture, hence, the existence of soft focus lenses and filters of film yore. But shooting large group shots is another story. Thanks to Digital Headquarters Studio for organizing this on-location shoot and muchas gracias, Natalia.

GEAR TALK: New Nikon D800 & D3200 DSLRs

August is a busy month for yours truly testing Nikon's latest innovative DSLR offerings: the 36 MP Nikon D800 FX and the 24 MP Nikon D3200 DX. Both DSLR represent the advent of high resolution cameras that will challenge medium format cameras in the very near future (just a few years back 16 MP was medium format territory, thus, any hi-res DSLR will steal sales). Columbia Digital Star Corp. was able to loan me the D3200 for review as I bought the D800 for studio use. Both bodies will demand only the newest and sharpest f/1.4 to f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor lenses to match their high density sensors. And both cams will demand from any photographer perfect shooting and focusing techniques. Let the megapixel war escalate! Kudos Nikon! Will post some sample shots sooner.

Back With B&W Photography After A Decade

After a decade practicing digital photography, yours truly is back doing B&W photography with a vengance! Thanks to the University of the Philippines for inviting moi to teach photography in the College of Fine Arts-I found the perfect excuse to splurge on B&W again-if not to also educate future generations of photographers in the process. Now looking back, I sorrowfully regret having sold my color enlarger...

Photography On Techie Talk Morning Show

These morning shows are not for the faint of heart-yours truly was at the studio by 4:30AM for a 6 AM channel PTV-4 show segment entitled: Techie Talk. It's my second time to be guested in the said channel's morning show (but different name then, which I shared with landscape photog Mr. Molina).  Hosted by Cong. Angara and the lovely Ms. Izza. Photog guests are Ador Pamintuan, Joey Tañedo and moi. On my cue I explained how digital made photography affordable with less gears-especially with portable lighting strategy called: strobist.

Mr. & Ms. Youth Philippines 2012

Congratulations to Mr. Gelo Flores and Ms. Eien Almirante for winning this year's Mr. & Ms. Youth Philippines. May you guys be a beacon of hope to our Filipino youths! DHQ Photography by Joe Galian and; Sam Nakai. The Nikon D5100 is used with the old Nikkor 18-135mm lens. Wow, 16 MP looks very good in JPEG Fine format! No post-processing yet, except for web resizing.

FPPF Wedding Photo Workshops

Here is a belated FPPF Wedding Photography Workshop class picture. As time can allow me, I do post all photos of the behind-the-scene (BTS) in my blog. The FPPF needs more personnel to manage this wedding workshop's BTS. Congratulations guys: may you be the next generations of Pinoy wedding photogs!