vibrant colors

It's not an everyday affair when you go out in the open and able to shoot your subject and get rich and vibrant colors. I'm referring to subjects other than persons. Foremost consideration is, of course, your camera settings. For Nikonians like me, we have options to pick our Picture Controls and D2X Mode III is particularly effective in projecting rich and vibrant colors for your pictures.

The best time to shoot in the open is when the sun is hiding behind the clouds so that direct sunlight is filtered out thereby eliminating glare and too much highlights. In this kind of shooting condition, it is also best to choose a small aperture so that every thing, from the foreground to the background, are in detail. Besides, picking wide apertures is very limiting because of the bright light unless you fit in a Neutral Density filter to block some degree of brightness.

Even with portraiture, shooting under these conditions could give your photos the magical effect of an enormous diffused light from the skies above. What is good about overcast skies is that the sun is not so dominating and the shadows not at all prominent. These shadows, if there are any, should even give more depth and definition to an image. The selection of all the images featured here were all taken in RAW format, hence, I have to use my Capture NX software in converting it to JPEG images. I wish to further share a technique which I found to be useful in giving punch to your captured images. To get rich and vibrant colors like the sample images, tweak the focus slider in the NX a little bit more to give it a sharper look and add some green punch by tweaking the RGB sliders according to your taste.

Inasmuch as you've gone the extra mile of taking RAW shots, you might as well tweak them a little more by calibrating the colors of your image. And this is easily said and done if you're quite familiar with the features of the Capture NX software provided by your friendly Nikon maker. How to get the green punch is like increasing the saturation of the Green color and darkening the shadows at bit more and reducing the Gamma flare to make up for a darker and more appealing shadows. In Photoshop, there are lots of ways of achieving this look and it will all depend on your familiarity and customary flow of work on what suits you best

Generally, what seems to be the predominant contributory factor in getting rich and vibrant colors is the overcast skies serving as a huge and diffused source of light. All these images were taken in Baguio, a mountain city in the Philippines, either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and this is the time of the day when great images abound in the highlands.

Ricoh GRD3: The Small Wonder

I’m not switching brand but sometimes I feel the need to carry with me a small and unobtrusive gear for taking instant shots when opportunity presents itself. Although I love my Nikon, I simply think that there is nothing in their Coolpix line can truly match the superior features offered by the Ricoh GRD3. It has been three months since I acquired my Ricoh GR Digital 3 compact camera and it never ceases to amaze me with its usability and ease of use. I’ve been using this pocketable camera as my wide angle lens option being equipped with a fixed focal length equivalent to 28mm in 35mm format. It boasts of having a faster lens of f/1.9 aperture, thus it can take pictures on low light environment at a faster shutter speed or the same shutter speed but with a lower ISO sensitivity setting. This third generation GR Digital camera from Ricoh has a new GR Engine III Image Processor which they claim to be capable of producing photos with enhanced image quality.

What I like most from this little gem is its 3 inch high resolution LCD screen with 920,000 dots making your images look so clear and vibrant when viewing them on the LCD. However, the clarity of images you see on the LCD screen is sometimes misleading and is not a guaranty that you’ll have a clearer or sharper picture if you view it on a larger computer LCD screen or monitor.

As a compact camera, nothing beats this GRD3 when it comes to customi- zation. It is designed like a DSLR where you can find the main controls ergonomically and strategically located where your fingers can reach them. On the top right is the Mode Dial where you can either select a choice of Full Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Full Manual and the Scene Setting. At the back is the Adjust Dial where you can access various menu for setting Exposure Compensation, White Balance, ISO Speed, Quality and AF target. The front circular control acts as Aperture Dial while the toggle lever at the back operates as your Shutter Dial.


Since I am more interested in showing you sample photos from this little gem, I will purposely shun from talking about its paper specs but dwell more on what it can do and can produce as photographic image results. This GRD3 truly excels when shooting landscapes and street scenes or when you simply would want to come closer to your subject.

Overall, what I can do with my DSLR, I can easily do it in this small wonder. I can set the built in Flash to Manual which I usually do instead of relying on its Auto Flash capability. I can avail of its Front Curtain or Rear Curtain setting just like a Nikon can, thus, I can also do remote flash photography using my Nikon SB-800 speedlight in its SU Mode.

Shooting night scenes is a possibility with its extremely longer shutter speed choices of setting thereby allowing you to capture enough light just like when using a Bulb setting while placing it on a tripod and activating the self timer button. Macro photography or those taken in close distance is likewise an easy task because you can focus in as close as 1cm away from the subject.

This little gem is a small wonder. Though only a compact camera, it can take great photos too and this is a very customizable tool in the hands of a serious photographer. Photography, after all is not owning the better gears but what matters more is what you do with what you have.

black on black

This is a lighting technique which I would like to share to some people who have been asking - how to light a black subject on a black background in low key style. Using your flash mounted on its hot shoe or doing a wireless remote lighting even in CLS fashion won't get you this softly diffused lighting. Even using light modifiers like honeycomb, snoot or soft box can't get things right either. So, how did I do it?


Light painting must be the answer. How did I set it up? well, you must do it at night in a room without any stray light. Of course, you can do it on a day time as long as you keep the daylight away. Put on a sturdy tripod where you can mount your camera. Tripod is the key equipment to this lighting technique because you will set up your camera in a long exposure release mode using a self-timer to trigger the exposure.


In the first two photo samples here, I randomly picked 6 seconds as my shutter speed. The shutter speed you will choose should let you have all the time you will need to paint your subject using your chosen light source. Since you are exposing your subject in a longer time than usual, you should also pick a smaller aperture so that light will pass through slowly into your sensor. The choice of a smaller aperture would likewise give you a deeper depth of field which is important in product photography where details of the product should be emphasized or made readable.

And now this is the clincher - what light source did I used in painting my subject? Well, since I'm a Nikonian, I can only experiment using my speedlights on hand - the SB800!! I fitted it with a snoot but of course without taking off the diffuse dome to make the light softer. Then using its modelling light by snaply pressing its button, I painted my subject with light coming from the localized light of my diffused flash. Six (6) seconds is more than enough for you to circle around your subject and get the illumination you wanted.


To show you the difference of doing black on black using a lighting technique other than painting with the light, I posted this third sample photo where I used my SB800 mounted in a soft box and wirelessly triggered in CLS. Despite using a manual flash setting of 1/64, the harshness of the light can still be seen despite diffusing the light with a softbox. Light painting is therefore the better technique because it can give you more latitude on experimentation.

Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX: The DX-format normal lens

It has been four (4) months since acquisition and I only have good things to say about this lens. Price-wise, it's a bang for the buck and affordable prime lens although I was able to purchase mine over and above the published listed price. Its performance and optical quality have so far exceeded my expectation for a cheap prime lens costing USD250 or less.


When fitted to a DX-format Nikon DSLR like my D300, the 35mm focal length renders a picture angle approximating the classic normal angle of view of a 50mm lens on a Nikon FX-format digital SLR or a 35mm film camera. A normal lens, without limitations on the viewfinder, would give you a field of view without magnification of the image or increasing or decreasing the field of view of what you're seeing with or without the viewfinder. This 35mm DX lens multiplied by Nikon's 1.5 crop factor would equate to a 52.5mm focal length or approximately that of a 50mm standard lens.

The lens comes with a supplied plastic lens hood maybe because it was designed as a wide angle and it is prone to chromatic aberrations on high contrast scenes or where there are extreme highlights on the background. Though considered as a normal lens, the bokeh is not that pleasing compared to a similar 50mm f/1.8 lens much more the 50mm f/1.4 lens. Although an AF-S lens, the focusing speed of this version is only comparable to that of the 50mm AF-D versions without the gliding sound of the D versions.

Having tried this lens on available light and flash photography, I would say that it renders sharper image when used with flash but as long as there are sufficient light source, natural or deflected, it will still produce a wonderfully sharp image. Because it is made of hard plastics, it is lighter than the usual 50mm D versions or even the 35mm D version. From the samples uploaded, one can easily perceive that the best uses of this lens would be travel, environmental photography or general purpose photography.

Next to the Nikkor 20mm, the 35mm focal length on a DX body perfectly suits my compositional style of taking full body shots more than half body or head shots. It can even fulfill the role of a portrait lens if you want to shoot half body or head shots and the results are surprisingly amazing. You will need to come closer to your subject in order to get the desired compositional crop and this takes sharper images because of the shorter distance between the lens and the subject.

Shown in the photo on the right is my portrait shot where it was taken so close to the subject to get a head shot crop like this. Perhaps the only complaint they have on this lens is its tendency to produce barrel distortion. It's not an issue with me as the same can be easily remedied in Capture NX or in Photoshop. All told about its respectably reliable performance, I still have to test this lens shooting portraits on natural and available light. It is said to perform well in low light situations but I have to try and evaluate the experience myself.

For modelling credits, from top to bottom, I would like to thank the following pretty ladies: Ingrid Dela Paz taken at U.P. campus, Diliman, Quezon City; Edzen Pineda and Kim Dimatulac taken at the Heritage Park in Taguig City; Sandra Palma taken at Nu.Vo Greenbelt, Makati; Joanna Gonzales and Kristin Villarosa taken at Luminosi Studio in Makati.

Jasmin Ouschan at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships

It's a weekend and I had nothing much to do so I went to see the few but interesting matches left at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships held at the SM City North EDSA Sky Dome in Quezon City. This sports event was participated in by 48 of women's top pool players including Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Karen Corr and lots of others.

Last June 2-6, 2009, the Sky Dome and The Block of SM North EDSA were the venues of some of the better matches I've seen in women's pool circuit. Jasmin Ouschan, who earlier competed in the Philippine Open battling top male pool players was also present in this women's 10 Ball event. During the elimination round, Jasmin was surprisingly outclassed by Hsiang-Ling Tan but went on to win her remaining matches and beat Miyuke Fuke in the round of 16.

In the other matches in the round of 16, Karen Corr of Ireland won over Yun Mi Lim of Korea, Akimi Kajitani of Japan bested Yuan-Chun Lin of Taiwan, Jeanette Lee of the U.S.A. sneaked past Tamara Rademakers of Netherlands, Rubilen Amit of the Philippines disposed off Hsiang-Ling Tan of Taiwan, Allison Fisher of England was stunned by Yu Ram Cha pf Korea, Shin-Mei Liu of Taiwan easily defeated Charlene Chai of Singapore and Kelly Fisher of England advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Chieh-Yu Chou of Taiwan.

In the quarter finals, Karen Corr was crushed by Akimi Kajitani, Jeanette Lee was trounced by Rubilen Amit, Jasmin Ouschan trumped Yu Ram Cha and Shin-Mei Liu drubbed Kelly Fisher.

In the semi-finals, Jasmin Ouschan was pitted against Shin-Mei Liu who seemed to have the better luck in the later racks and went on to beat Jasmin. Rubilen Amit had a more difficult time slugging out with Akimi Kajitani.

This sight of a helpless Jasmin in her match with Shin-Mei Liu might have broken the hearts of her fans who prefer seeing an Amit-Ouschan face off. But Shin-Mei Liu was the steadier player that night and moved on to meet Amit in the finals. Being the reigning European pool champion, Jasmin easily captured the hearts of the local crowd with her powerful hard breaks and beauteous look on and off the camera.

Despite her loss, Jasmin remains a darling of the Filipino crowd. Next to Rubilen Amit who won the championship, Jasmin Ouschan was the player with the most number of fans and local supporters for being such an amiable and approachable person. She will never turn you down when you ask for an autograph or pose with her for a picture taking.

This first-ever Women's World 10-Ball Championships was the inaugural staging of the event and was promoted by Dragon Promotions and sanctioned by the WPA. Hopefully, this women's 10 Ball sports event will return again next year with the same top women players.

Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR: The Inexpensive Performer

I recently had a chance to try this lens for a period of four months shooting everything from landscape to portraits, with flash and in available light. Like all kit lenses, they are manufactured cheaply and comes in plastic mounts and therefore, we should not expect them to deliver outstanding results in comparison with other lenses that are usually sold separately. Even with a VR feature, this lens is still considered a slow performer but nonetheless, the VR comes in handy every time you're in a low light situation and would want to pick a slower shutter speed.


Being more inclined to shoot portraits, the samples shown here are all portraits shot by this inexpensive performer. I must confess, this lens did not yield any spectacular images when I used it in available light, hence, all the sample shots here were aided by an artificial light source either from my SB-800 or from the built-in flash of my D300.


If you're expecting a pleasant blur of the background or what we call the bokeh, you will be disappointed because its lens opening of f/3.5-5.6 at a focal length range of 18-55mm can never produce a blur of the foreground or the background unlike if it is with a telephoto range where the lens opening of the lens is not at all crucial. After a brief stint in my dry box, I decided to sell this lens not being worthy to keep and for use in taking better images. In its place, I purchased the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX which is currently on the test run on my D300. Incidentally, if a lens stays with me for over a year, then it must be good!!

Thanks to Jacqueline Karen, Brandy, Rida and Janice for posing in the photos. The first and second photos above were taken at Johndel Beach Resort in Nasugbu, Batangas. The third photo was shot at Lewis Grand Hotel in Angeles City while the fourth and last sample photo was taken at Narra Park, Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City. All photos were taken using a Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR.

conquering the back light

Backlighting is such a nightmare for some photographers but for me, I always find it a challenge and a new experience to harness the light coming from the back of your subject. I had a shoot stretching late in the afternoon and I specifically waited for the golden hours of 4pm and up when the light is at its softest when I positioned my model in the right place. With just enough edge light on the facial contours, the nose and shoulder, I brought out a softbox with SB-800 and attached it to a light stand to fill in some light and tame the backlight. The results are the sample photos

With the sun serving as the key light, being the stronger light source, there is a need to provide for a fill in light to achieve this kind of images. Where to place the SB-800 with soft box to provide for a fill-in light is critical in these situations. On these sample photos, I placed it on the left side forty five degrees away and in front of the model. Placing it on the right side would flatten out the light and would not make your image as edgy as the ones in the sample.

This kind of set-up will likewise give you that elusive Rembrandt light with the sunshine as your main light. For a review of these terms, Rembrandt effect is a high contrast lighting scheme and is achieved by placing the main light at a high angle to your subject's face. The Rembrandt effect is characterized by a triangular light underneath the subject's eye. It also allows the nose shadow to blend in with the shadow on the dark side of the face.

With the sun directly shining at an angle above the model's back, a stray of light will produce the triangular light below the eye of the model with the high bridged nose carving the shadow on the left cheek forming a triangular high contrast light.

The last two photos also showed some edge light on the arms and face of the model creating an edgy effect which for me is a very pleasing effect - a combination of highlights and soft shadows.

For modelling credits, many thanks to Maya Vasayllaje, a former Palmolive Circle of 10 model.

Equipment used: Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF, SB-800 Speedlight with Falcon Eyes soft box

window light

I have always been fascinated by the light streaking in from a window. For photographic purposes, such ambient light creates expressive effect on portraits where you can harness the light either as a key light or fill light. Shooting in ambient light would, however, give you shadows in unwanted places. Shadows can either make or unmake your photo depending on their placement or location where you let them appear. Perhaps, the most appropriate time to shoot using window light as your light source is when the sun is at its peak of strength.

Although I havent tried it yet but worth experimenting would be to block or temper down the strong light with a diffuser to soften it like a modelling light. The first two photos were taken in mid daylight and the venetian blinds separating the subject from the light source acted as diffusers to tame down the strong mid-day sunlight. Using reflectors would also help disseminate some light to recover details from the shadows. The third photo was taken late in the afternoon and it is during this time of the day when an artificial light source should be considered and mounted to provide additional illumination.

When shooting in ambient light like this, it is always a good practice to mount your camera on a tripod, use a small aperture and longer shutter speed and tell your model to stand or hold still for at least 2-3 seconds. This way, you can let in more light into your sensor using a lower ISO. Meter your subject using spot metering or if you have a light meter, you can choose to meter your settings by placing your light meter on the particular area where you want more light to appear.

Lately, i tried combining window light with artificial light from a speed light to get a more predictable result. In photography, you cannot always capture what your eyes can see. You should introduce additional light somewhere to eliminate or create shadows. The last sample photo was also taken in mid-daylight but the window light was diffused by the curtains, hence, i tried introducing artificial light from my speedlight mounted on a diffuser umbrella and placed at the back of the model to eliminate the shadows. The result is a more natural looking photo just like what my eyes have seen from the location where I took the photo.

Modelling credits from top to bottom: Gabrielle, Nicole, Camille and Elaine

Lenses Used: first two photos - Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF, third photo - Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF and fourth photo - Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX VR

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX VR: The Cheap All-rounder

For curiosity's sake, I bought this lens last November 7 to try it out on my D300. As expected, I was not surprised at all at how superbly sharp and clear were the images taken by this cheap all-rounder. Comparing it with the previous kit lenses that I've tried, nothing seems to beat this latest kit lens offered by Nikon as packaged with the Nikon D90. For the record, I've had a chance to play with these kit lenses: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G (D50), 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G (D70), 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G (D80) and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (D60). These are all good plastic mount lenses but the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR was so far the best of them all.

It has a VR (Vibration Reduction) feature making it useful in low light applications despite its slow aperture opening at f/3.5-5.6 at the wide to telephoto range. Though it doesn't have a VR II feature which is available in its 18-200mm VR, 70-300mm VR and 16-85mm VR predecessors but nonetheless, it gets the job done by reducing blur when taking photos at slower shutter speeds.

With its usable focal range at 18mm on the wide and 105mm on the far end, it is virtually a walk around lens like the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX where you can shoot landscapes, street scenes and portraiture. Its optical system features a single ED lens, hence, chromatic aberration is minimized. Though it has a SWM (Silent Wave Motor built-in), this lens is very slow in focusing especially in low light conditions. My Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF even beats this lens when it comes to ease of focusing.

What is desirable with this lens is the image quality of the photos taken by it. It is comparable to that of the 18-200mm VR at half the price if you're going to buy it separately as a lens. It is a plastic mount lens and it is very light which is a turn off for me considering that they are more prone to breakage if you hold your camera thru the lens and with the D300 attached to it, chances are it may not carry the weight of a bulkier and heavier D300 with vertical battery grip attached.

Having tested this on various shooting conditions, I am quite satisfied with the photographic output. In outdoors, it is a venerable lens but when shooting indoors, you must light your subject with external flashes to get good results. It is likewise slow when shooting inside a studio with dim light because it has a tendency to witch hunt for available light. With lights turned on, it is a breeze to focus accurately on your subjects.

In almost all my shooting experience with this lens on outdoors or even indoors, I have been shooting in CLS (Creative Lighting System) where I use external flash to help illuminate my subjects. I am more of a portraitist that's why i prefer lighting my subjects on the sides to get a more interesting portrait. Definitely, this is not a good lens using it in available light where the usual f/2.8 lenses might be the only choices.

If you're going to ask me if I like this lens? Well, I would tell you that I have already sold this lens because I'm not satisfied with it. But for its price, you don't have any reason to complain at all!! It's like looking at the two photos below - the moment I acquired it, I was smiling like I'm the happiest person with a new toy to explore and when I parted with it, I was kinda sad that I looked like the one in the bottom picture :)

Modelling credits from top to bottom : Nadine Dixon at Eco Park, Brandy at Linden Suites, Victoria Wise at Linden Suites, Zette at Eco Park, Acir at Heritage Park and Annie Lopez at DPI Ortigas Studio

under the shade

Perhaps the trickiest of the lighting condition when it comes to daylight shooting would be that of shooting under the shade. In daylight shooting, you may either shoot under a direct sunlight, under a cloudy sky or under a shade. When we speak of daylight, we mean the combination of sunlight and skylight. Both should combine to produce daylight. Shooting under a shade means you are either surrounded by trees and leaves with some or few streaks of sunlight creeping in in some instances. That's what makes it tricky and based on my experience, shooting without fill in flash won't give you any exciting results or output.

This is where the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) comes in handy again where the artificial light from the mini strobes would fill in light on the shadows on the head or facial portion of your subject. Without the fill in light, you will lose a lot of details on the eyes and other depressed contours of your subject making your portraits flat and lifeless. Of course, you can still remedy the situation but you have to be good in your photoshop skills and this would entail time in post processing. If you want to avoid any fancy retouching, you might as well use the extra light to lighten up your subject.

It is not necessary that you have to flood your subject with excessive light from numerous speedlights. Even a single mini strobe or speedlight can give you a desirable output if you know where to strategically place your light source. A good portrait doesn't require sufficient light to make it good. It only needs a quality light to make it interesting. I shun away from using reflectors because they create uneven skin tone. A diffused light looks more natural and taming the light from your speedlight may require you to either use a shoot through umbrella or a soft box and in the sample photos, I just used a Sto-fen diffuser.

Another camera setting to look out when shooting under a shade is choosing your White Balance and Picture Control. In the sample photos, I experimented using the Vivid Picture Control and the Daylight White Balance. It turned out that the colors are richer but I personally prefer the more natural look so I made some adjustments in Capture NX, the supplied photo-editing software of Nikon. If you are shooting in RAW, you can easily change your choice of settings but you won't learn to trust your instinct if you always rely on RAW adjustments every time you take pictures. It's better to train your eyes and judgmental call and let your mind decide on what settings you would fix on your camera. It is an accumulation of years of practice and experimenting before you can intuitively trust your judgment.

Photography is indeed a challenging travail but in order to get good pictures, you should know your camera by heart. And there's no better way to learn photography except to shoot regularly. And there's no better way to entice yourself to shoot periodically except picking what you like shooting the most. In my case, I get more inspiration when I do portraits of woman. And thanks to Sarah Josef for her patience and for being a good sport.

Make-up credit is given to King Pacifico. Without her, I wouldn't have the chance to shoot Sarah. All photos were taken by a Nikon D300 fitted with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF. Nikon SB-600 with Sto-fen attached was used as an artificial light source. Thanks to you, Vince, for lending me your speedlight.