Don't panic, it's organic.

I'm a firm believer that this world needs innovative thinking to save it. As it is, this planet, yours and my home is in constant decay because of careless industrialization which in time will kill it.

--

I'm from Manila, and it is quite frequent to see esteros (actually, any body of water in that case) filled with water hyacinths here in the Philippines. That's why it's refreshing to see people who make it a point to re-purpose these seemingly useless plants. 

A normal sight specially in the provinces
Image from: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01929/philippines-digger_1929226i.jpg

With that being said, my task was to shoot these journals that were made from water hyacinths. I think there are other products from these plants, but these journals were what I was tasked with so that's what I'm going to discuss.

Pardon the green-ness, I didn't want to mess with my custom white balance.

These are Jacinto and Lirio journals which are made from water hyacinth leather. Yes, leather. They will be available soon on livingsocial's website.

And now on to photography.

The setup

I wanted a rustic feel to it, a kind of Katipunan vibe, because I think our forefathers would be so proud of us thinking about saving the world. And really, leather bound journals just called for the proper setting.

So I got a spare recycled paper I had lying around, which you can buy from bookstores for less than P20 per roll. Get the thick one, it will last longer. 

"Snoots"

I also used the paper as an improvised snoot for the other light that will serve as a hilight for the photo.

Black side of an illustration board

There was no way for me to find a decent background for this shot. In my mind, I wanted a window  of an old house but, I only had a white background so I just cut corners and made do with the back of an illustration board.

I also added props. I thought it would look bland if I only shot the journals as is. The plant was from my office mate's and the lamp was from a previous task. There's an electronic candle inside the light and I wanted the light to be seen on the final product to add some mood for the photo; more on this later.

Without the props

Over to the right side, I put an air freshener which was also from another deal and another office mate's paper pompoms just to add more props. I also put my phone and orange-gelled the LED light to light the paper pompoms for balance. The cigarette pack was there to flag the light to avoid too much light spill on the illustration board.

Kids, don't smoke. Seriously, don't.

The actual setup

There was also a "strip light" over to the right side that would illuminate the subject without producing too much hot spots.

And of course, a pen.

Now the shooting proper.

I had two problems.

1. I needed the light from the lamp and a little light on the backdrop to show on the photograph.

2. Because I was using speedlights I had no modelling light, meaning I had no idea where  the lights from the flashes were going to hit. Even the studio light had a busted modeling lamp so I needed to do the only option I had.

         

Trial and error.

After I locked on the composition, put the lens on MF after focusing, I put the camera on a very slow shutter speed but high aperture so that everything would be in focus. I switched off the light so that the only lights remaining were the lamp's and my phone's. Relying on the camera's light meter, I exposed for the ambient light which if I remember correctly the camera needed to be on around 10" and an aperture of f13. 

I self-counted. I needed 8 seconds of available light to be exposed to the sensor and fire the flashes before the shutter closed. I also needed the studio light (the one with the recycled paper snoot) to hit the plant for it to create shadows of the leaves onto the journals, which means still, trial and error.

So there I was, pressing the shutter, waiting 8 seconds, fire the flashes, adjusting the lights, repeat.

After around 20+ takes, I think I got it. A little editing in photoshop and voila!

The finished product

Sidenotes:

- NEED MORE STROBES

- NEED MORE STUDIO LIGHTS WITH A MODELLING LAMP THAT ACTUALLY WORKS

- Recycled paper is amazing.

- Plants make everything better

PS.

If anyone is reading this and you have comments on how to better my work, please do not hesitate to comment. I need it. Also, if there are questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers guys!

Heroes and Free Time.

Two strobes, black cartolina, a black tile, color gels, seven hero themed USB flash drives, some free time and a smartphone.

I needed to take a photo of these superhero themed USB flash drives

The concept was simple. I just wanted the USBs illuminated from below and just have a colored rim light on a black background. And what better way to light a small product from below than to put it directly on the strobe. I thought the lamp of the strobe would look cool as a lighted stage for the products.

The setup

I put the strobe on the lowest possible setting which was 1/128,  and a colored 1/4 power snooted strobe on the left back side of the product.

I think I was using 1/180 at f22 ISO400, I made sure that my aperture was small and had a fast shutterspeed so that the background would be pure black.

Final Product

And it was boring.

There was something missing, it was too plain for my taste. I wanted energy for the shot, so I grabbed my smartphone and googled their logos for backgrounds. My plan was to lightpaint the logos on the background using  my phone.

I was experimenting on how aluminum foil would fair as a reflector since I needed one on top of the product. I needed the light  from the strobe below to also bounce from above, giving additional light to the subject.. It didn't really work though, I still liked using folders as reflectors. 

Lightpainting is a technique that requires a very slow shutterspeed, low ISO, preferably a small aperture and a very dark location. The basic idea is to open the shutter for some seconds and literally paint light onto the sensor. Google it, the internet can explain better.

So I turned off the light, readied my phone and started.

The camera was set at f22 and about 10" shutterspeed, with 100 as ISO. I turned off the triggers and put the strobe below at S1 setting, optical slave mode, still at 1/128. The other one was still at 1/4 but this time, I needed to control the strobes manually. After I "paint" the background using my phone, I need to press the test button on the snooted flash to fire the strobe below. All in under 10 seconds.

It's a hit-miss kind of thing.

This was a test, I wanted to see if it would work.

Here are the hits.

 

As usual, a little saturation boost and a play with curves in photoshop and it's done!

Sidenotes:
- Must find a better application for the aluminum foil theory. It's too much of a handy thing not to use in photography.
- More strobes, the better.
- Let x = strobes.

If x < need == 1;
else
 "You need more folders or BUY MORE STROBES."

Scented Candles (Again)

I realized that flickr was not really a good medium to use in terms of documenting what my lighting setups were for my shoots so I decided to create this blog.

So there.

The task was to shoot these scented candles for Livingsocial PH's scented candles deal. I wanted the viewer to see the quality and somehow, "smell" these candles.

Safety. Always.

I always make it a practice to shoot generic shots of the product if ever whatever in my mind doesn't work. Specially when it comes to "perishable"items. If I were to create the shot that was on my mind, I needed to light the candles and when the wick was lit, there was no turning back.

Drawing board

The setup was pretty simple. To create a nice bokeh, I needed space between the products and the rice lights at the back. 

The actual setup. I added a gold reflector to right side of the table for more fill light.

I actually wanted more space but due to the size of the studio, I was limited on what I had. The black tile should reflect the candles from below, for that (feeling)"pro" look.  On the left hand side, a snooted strobe will provide the key light and the fire from the candles should act as the fill. 

You can make your own DIY snoot by wrapping a black cartolina on your flash head. There are professional snoots for sale from camera shops, but I just like making them. This saves a lot of money which could be used to fund other purchases but I think I will still get the pro one in the future.

And now we are ready to shoot (a lot). 

Sans key light.

I find it easier to light a subject by lighting the frame individually. By doing this, you can just "layer" the lights as needed according to your image. Lighting the background first makes it easier to determine what kind of lighting you will need for your subject.

Snoot lighted from the side.

I did several takes to see where the snooted strobe's light falls on. As expected, the right side were still dark, but the fire from the candle should take care of that.

The final product

After I got the placement of the light of the strobe, I lit the candles and there you have it. Some minor retouching in Photoshop and it's done!

Sidenotes:
- Using snooted strobes are a hit-miss kind of thing because the strobe has no modeling lamp.
- I can't remember the settings of the camera, I think it was 1/180 f4?
- As well as the flash settings.

- Remember, one light at a time.