All about Photography and PP

Thanks for MRF(TPC) / Multiply / PIPHO members for attenting this small workshop of mine. Hope you all enjoyed it and hope to see you guys next year again.

The New AirsoftXtreme Issue #10 coming out in 2-3 weeks (around July 2009) from now (FILBARS, Books for Sale, all local airsoft stores etc.). This was the last and fnal shooting I had with the AX team. Haayz...wish I could stay a little bit longer in the Philippines...

Make Up Artist: Tiya Pusit
Location: Tomas Morato Photo Studio
Thanks to Publisher: Christian Uybengkee

Another busy day, another batch to share my techniques in lightroom/photoshop. A cool group that was really willing to learn alot of stuffs. Passionate photographers who want to extend their knowledge in Post Processing their Photos. I really enjoyed teaching them and it was easy to get along with them. Hope to shoot with u again guys. Good luck in trying out your new skills! Sana di niyo nakalimutan. Basta pag may tanung, just PM me guys! =)

Another busy Sunday, waiting for my two clients/students to arrive after lunch and having some Photography related lessons together at my house. Once they arrived, we couldn't resist but to watch Paquiao's fight before we start anything else. I could hear my neighbors and my parents shouting and shouting from all sides, screaming for joy for every punch that Manny gives the opponent. Sadly, after 2 rounds of Manny's fight, the fun was over. So we resumed to our lesson. We started talking about camera basics, I wanted to know how much they already knew so I could level myself to the level they are currently.

Originally planned, a model from QC was scheduled to drop by at my place so we can use her for test shooting and post process her photos for her portfolio. But for some emergency reasons she couldn't come, so we decided to go down to the creek behind my house and photograph the people living there. I was happy that the weather played with us fairly, and as always the people from the creek were happy being photographed by us.

Now that we have captured all the photos we needed to start our Post Processing lesson, we went straight ahead to my house and started transferring my RAW files to my laptop. Step by step, I showed them my techniques on how I initially sort, order and post process the raw files in lightroom. I showed them how powerful the tools of lightroom are and how amazing it is to use.

Once we've finished our Lightroom Lesson for initially post processing the raw files, we now started to work one by one the photos using Photoshop CS3 (I don't want to use the latest version yet, I want to give it a little bit more time before I jump to the latest version). The first tips I gave them is how to convert photos into black and white with a good and balanced contrast and sharpness. There are many ways how to do it, but I gave them my technique and how to do it in a fast and efficient manner.

I must say I have missed shooting Street Photography style. Anyway, let's get back to the topic... As time passed by, I was teaching them colored photos (the ones you can see at the beginning of this blog), the emboss effects, the proper sharpening methods and how to work efficiently and fast in batch post processing photos, segregating landscape from portrait style photos on the fly with some softwares. I also gave them further recommendations bout brushes I use, and some links useful for editing and shooting. Before we ended the lesson, I gave them some overview how I shoot the Dave Hill style, and how I post process the Dave Hill style. I used the female Client/Student for test shots.

As we ended our lesson, they asked me how to do the photoshots where the same person appears several times from different angles. So I said "hey, before you leave, let me take photos from you two here in my living room". They were excited and were happy to participate. I've setup my 580EX II on my stand with a diffuser on it, my DSLR on my tripod and used a shutter release chord to execute each photo without any shake. Once were done, I postprocessed the photos and merged them all together, and voila, end product:

I also want to credit Mr. Christian Oliver Talampas, who was my previous student and a very fast learner: http://nativity08.multiply.com/photos From my students yesterday: http://krisarellano.multiply.com http://leiodungo.multiply.com/photos

If you are a purist and have by faith came upon my journal, then I encourage you to keep on reading with an "Open Mind". Now if you're like me who likes to tweak or manipulate his photos for a good purpose, then I encourage you also to read since I will make some strong pointers that you can also use as argument towards purists.

Almost every subject nowadays has evolved the past 50 years. Even Photography has evolved. The Digital Photography is one of the biggest evolutions in Photography. The way people treat and shoot photos was never like they do it today. And many purists CANNOT accept that. Why? Because they believe it became too easy making good photos now. What they did in their darkrooms and spent lots of money in there is now replaced by a simple software like Photoshop. Because shots are now saved on a memory card people can keep on shooting and shooting which you couldn't do during the film days...and the list goes on.

Oh maybe some purists don't give a shit about that part. Maybe what disturbs the others is what the new generation does: Post Processing Photos or Photo manipulation.
Seriously, I have a question on you if this bothers you: Why does it bother you? Why do you complain? Why do you say they shouldn't edit?

Did a photographer who edits photos ever say to a purist: "Hey edit your photo it looks too plain and common".
Did this ever happen? Did they ever complain about purists? (excluding magazine printed photos since editing here is ‘sometimes' inevitable).

But why do purists always complain? Not us? Yes in fact on many purists, we have something against your photos but not all of them and we respect you all.
Why is there always something like "ay panget kasi inedit na" or "ay bakit mo inedit?" or "ay di magaling sa photography ito kasi nageedit e"? Why do you say that? Why don't you look at the final output? The message? The emotion? The composition? The creativity?

Did you as a purist know that in the Digital Photography World you can't be called a purist anymore? Ok here a technical explanation:
The standards of a camera feature to make a photo are usually shutter speed, iso and aperture (we wont talk about the sensor and processor). But we also have other settings like picture styles and white balance. On some cameras even noise reduction and hdr features. Are these normal features or are they there for "enhancement" of a photo? Your DSLR by the moment you click the trigger produces a RAW file, regardless what saving format you've set on your cam. In case you've set it to JPEG, your camera will produce a JPEG using RAW and applies all additional features of your cam to a final compressed file format: JPEG. Then it throws the RAW away. Oh by the way, during the process, the final JPEG file has lost 30% data of the original shot. Conclusion: Post Processing is inevitable since digital cameras do that already for you, unless you shoot in RAW.

Now what if you shoot in RAW? Does this make you now a purist? What if you convert it to TIFF or JPEG? Crop it? Add watermark? Or even resize it?

Remember this: Post Processing means everything you do with a photo between taking it off your cam up to the final printing.

Remember also this: Photo Manipulation starts when you add or remove elements to a photo. Dodge and Burning is NOT Photo Manipulation. Sharpening, Cropping, Enhancing Colors are also NOT Photo Manipulation.

Finally, Remember also This: Photo Manipulators are NOT automatically Graphic Designers. Same goes to those who Post Process Photos. Graphic Designers CAN do post processing and photo manipulations, but it doesn't mean that everyone who does that is automatically a graphic designer. For example, if I would be the best photo manipulator, could I apply as a Graphic Designer on a Multimedia Company? No, because I don't know how to "draw graphics". Remember also that graphic designers are divided into Digital arts, Traditional arts and 3 Dimensional arts. There is more, but these are the common ones.

Ok, now that we have clarified the part of editing photos, now let's say you call yourself a purist because you don't edit photos (this is getting more literal now).

My question is the Purist Photography. Most purists say they want to photograph it the way they have seen it. Unedited. Ok... have you ever seen an animal or a person or an environment only in black and white? Hahaha.

Ok I go into details: Do you use strobe lights? Do you use lens filters? Do you use slow shutter speed on waterscapes or landscapes? Do you use flash? I think you know where I'm getting into. And I rest my case on this part. Only because something is accepted already for a long long time doesn't mean that it makes you a purist since you do only those things. In fact you NEED those things because your creativity goes to a level where your camera cannot go anymore more by its own. Why 2 strobe lights? Why 5? Why 7? Why catch light? Why reflector?

Composition and Creativity is the MOST important part in Photography. Everything can evolve, everything can change on gadgets and tools, but composition and creativity will always be there and will always be the most important part. Imagine you are a purist who knows all gadgets, who knows everything technically and have all experiences technically, BUT your creativity and composition SUCKS. Does your photo matter? It matters in a way that it is a photo captured that moment, but it will stay a photo that sucks.

Note: I am not neglecting the technical side. Neither do I discourage to know it all. For me technicality in photography matters. And everyday I keep on studying and studying...BUT I also keep on studying more on photo manipulation and post processing, also researching more and more about composition and creativity. If I neglect that part, I won't be able to compete with the new generation at all.

Look at the best fashion photographers such as Manny Librodo, he doesn't exclude technicality and editing photos. Look at Richard larrios, one of the best landscape photographer, even he does some editing. Look at Jay Tablante, look at Rick Sammon, Parc Cruz, Jay Jallorina, Randall Cipriano. Look even at the great masters like Greg Gorman and John Chua. They all knew time has changed and added to their workflow the process of editing photos. They've realized it, why can't you who calls himself a purist?

Maybe that sounds a bit rough for you. Maybe you don't want to change. Maybe you want to keep on staying as a purist. And we all respect that. Even I do. But respect us. In fact, accept the new generation. Iba na ang panahon natin ngayon.

We want to be more creative, we want to extend to the point where our CAMERA CANNOT GO ANYMORE but our creativity does. We want to achieve the X-Factor on photos. Accept that. If you can't, imagine if we all call ourselves purists...we all would have the same photos. And it would only go down to that bit of sharpness, to that bit of light and so fort...yes composition would still be there, but it will become common on the digital world. Imagine Hollywood would go purists. Damn, ang boring ng movies natin nyan. Wala ng special effects etc...

Also please see the fact that using softwares like photoshop requires alot of skills and talent. And yes, even creativity. It is a technical skill. And we use these softwares because WE CAN. Can You? Or are you just using the reason of being a purist because simply you tried and tried editing with photoshop but you simply suck in it?

Now a general word for all photographers out there:
Keep on shooting and never neglect creativity, use everything technically to improve your shots. Regardless if it's a filter and other gadgets, strobe lights or photoshop. Always have balance in your study in using the hardware side and software side in photography. But always and always train your eyes and post your photos everywhere to gather critiques and comments from others. They are the ones who will help you to become more creative and become better in composition. People like Patrick Smith, Librodo, Edwin, Parc and others did that...look where they are now.

Remember: YOU are paid for the photos that you made, and not HOW you made them