Pixelated Braincells

Faking Daylight: Portrait Session with Michael Asino

2011-03-27T12:00:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Michael Asino, an artist, commissioned me to take his portrait to be used in his social networking accounts. Michael, being a very busy person, is just available at night. We did the shoot in my place in Santa Rosa at around 9:00pm.

Mike, wanted his photo to look a bit casual but still presentable as he is being contacted by his clients mostly in social networking accounts, particularly in facebook. We sat for a few minutes and talked about the "feel" he wanted for the final photo. We both agreed to make the photo, black and white to have that "classic" feel. I told him that the photo should also feel "light" and not stiff for him to look very cordial.

I wanted the photo to look as if it was taken during a sunny day. I sat Mike near a window and placed one of my speedlights behind him to make it look like as if the sun is just gleaming through the window. To light his face, I placed a reflector near him to bounce the light from the speedlight to his face.

Mike is not used to having his photos taken and looked very stiff so I started a conversation while I was taking his photo. I wanted to capture a very natural smile so I started asking things about his daughter. Right away, Mike, thinking about his daughter, let out a very warm smile and I was able to capture it. Here's the final photo and a simple diagram of my lighting set up.

camera: 85mm 1/200 2.8 200ISO
speedlight: TTL +1.0

High Key Photography: Available Light

2011-03-07T06:00:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a portrait session with my friend's little sister, Grey. I took her portraits as my graduation gift to her. Here are the photographs...

(click to zoom in)

The location? A studio? Nope. I took the photos in my room's veranda. Grey and her sister, Gretle went to my place at around 3:00pm. I started taking photos at around 5:00pm after all the preparations (make up etc.) and chikahan (catching up). I took advantage of the sun's position in the sky during that time which was directly parallel to us. I asked Gretle to hold a diffuser (my big 5-in-1 reflector's diffuser) behind Grey, with the sun behind it. I metered at Grey's left cheek and overexposed by a stop, set the focus in her left eye and then started taking photos.

Here is a simple diagram of our setup:

Camera Settings: 1/200 1.8 85mm

At that time, the color temperature of the sun was a bit warm and gave the photos a reddish tint for I used the daylight white balance which I thought was ok but after a few adjustments when I was post-processing the photos, I ended up making the photos look colder, which I thought was perfect because Grey was wearing winter clothes.

Laiya, Batangas

2011-02-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

went to Laiya, Batangas with friends and their friends. t'was fun meeting new people who loves spinning. new poi friends for me

PS this is my first attempt to shoot a video. bear with my shaky hands. lack of equipment. hehe

Diane Wilson Matias

2011-02-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

Shot in Kagoshima, Japan

Costa Classica Friends

2010-11-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting anything lately, well, because, yes, I've been very busy. I've been helping my bestfriend's mom run her clothing business.

I've always wanted to post the reasons why I quit my job from Costa Cruises as a cruise photographer but then I really can't find the time to write about it.

For the meantime, I'd like to share some photos I took when I was onboard. People in these photos are those people I befriended while I was in Costa Classica.

I'll start with Chiara and Dimitri.

Chiara, Crew Lecturer

Dimitri, Dancer

Back from Hiatus... The Nightmare that was Costa

2010-10-29T04:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting anything lately basically because life onboard is pretty much busy. A crew has to work 7 days a week 11 hours a day. Luckily, photographers doesn't have to work 11 hours a day. Everytime the ship is docked, the photoshop, my former workplace is closed. But having a workaholic manager, even if the ship was docked, I had to start to work again at night.

Former workplace, yes. I quit from my job. Why? There are a lot of reasons that all boils down to "it's not worth it."

It was fun being onboard. Partying almost every week, the people you meet and places you go. But being an artist, I got burned out with the job. I hate routine jobs... embarkation, gala night, portrait session, dinner shoots, etc etc then it goes back to embarkation shoot again. Also, there's nothing creative with my former job. The camera has been set and all I had to do was click the shutter release button. I wasn't a "photographer" i was just a "clicker."

I'll share the major reasons why I quit... soon... I'm still pissed of with Costa Crociere and how they do their manpooling (which, as a trained photographer, kinda insulted me) and how Costa Crociere treats their employees...

My first

2010-05-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

........warning. Yup I got caught violating a rule. "no cabin parties."

Life Onboard as a Crew

2010-04-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Working for a cruise ship is a lot different from working at land. I am now considering my ship as my new country; a moving island, a different view from your porthole (cabin window) everyday. We all know that a country has its cultures. Being with different races, I must say that "my country" is very rich in culture. You'll learn a lot everyday; customs, traditions and even different words and phrases. But... you really have got to be a verrrry good listener here. Its very hard to understand a lot of people, well, basically because of the different language accents.

Apparently, all countries have rules and laws too. "My country" has a lot and people here are very strict in enforcing the law. One big mistake and it will cost you your job. As a new crew, you have to undergo a lot of training on your first weeks onboard and take an exam after. If you wont be able to pass the exam, you will be given another two chances and if you still won't pass it, then you'll disembark the ship in the next port. P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E!

Being in a ship as a crew, well, after working here for a few weeks, without a doubt, is not easy. Everyday, I'm missing my family and friends back at home. Its like starting over here; yes you'll meet new friends but it takes a long time for me, and I'm sure its the same with most of you guys, to really trust someone. It's a good thing that there are a lot of Filipinos here, its part of our Pinoy culture to be nice to fellow Pinoys. and with our number here, sometimes I feel like I never left home.

Ericson and Edgar, my Pinoy Colleagues

Another thing is the work hour. People here, well including me of course, work 11 hours a day 7 days a week. But as a photographer, my work sched is lighter; my workplace, the photoshop, is usually closed when the ship is docked.

me in Yokohama

Everyday, I am expected to smile as I am working now in the hospitality industry with my ship, being considered by our guests a hotel... a "moving hotel." Earlier this morning, I looked in the mirror and noticed some small wrinkles in my cheeks... talk about over smiling.

spell EXHAUSTING...

Costa Classica

2010-04-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

Finally! I'm about to embark my ship, Costa Classica and work as a cruise photographer. I spent the night in an inn here in Okinawa, Japan after a whole day of connecting flights.

will keep you guys posted.

Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill Tool

2010-04-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

I'm speechless

The Jellies

2010-03-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, March 26, 2010, I did a shoot in Manila Ocean Park, again, for my hometown. This time it's for the Rosas ng Santa Rosa Pageant. I had a hard time setting up the lights for flash photography is not allowed in certain areas of the park.

What I enjoyed the most in our shoot was the "jellies" part of the park. I was again with Anton and we were soooooo GV (good vibes) with the jellyfishes that we did a lil video thing.

Will post the photos soon...

Life's a Beach... in Caramoan

2010-03-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... this blog entry is long overdue. I've been busy lately with some projects (and trying to ask for payment from a certain client.)

READ: I've learned an important lesson. Never ever ever ever ever work without downpayment... even if that project is from an old friend... especially if he's working for the government.

Anyway, back to this blog entry... a few weeks ago, or should I say, a month ago... I went to Caramoan, Camarines Sur with two of my very good friends, Tom and Jojo (pretty much sounds like Tom and Jerry, eh? and yes, they're a couple) to celebrate their Nth anniversary (6th, I think). Jojo, being the oldest (hehehe) prepared everything. He booked our whole tour, the place where we stayed, and our transpo. Touring Caramoan is pretty cheap, I must say. It costed us 6, 000 PhP per head, all-in (transpo, accommodation and food for our 3days-2nights stay). There are no five or four star hotels in Caramoan. If you are the maarte (snob) type then I suggest you go to Boracay or Dos Palmas instead. What I love in Caramoan is of course, the beaches, they are all (well, the beaches we visited, six of 'em) pure and untouched by civilization and you're gonna miss this if you are "maarte."

We left Santa Rosa, Laguna (our hometown) at around 6PM to go to Alabang where we embarked on the bus going to Naga. Before embarking the bus, we had our dinner and bought a few snacks and drinks in Festival Mall, Alabang to prepare ourselves for the long trip ahead. The bus arrived in Alabang at around 10:30PM and left at around 11:00PM. Jojo, booked a bus with lazy-boy seats so our 8-hour trip was pretty comfy. We slept most of the time during our trip and tested if google map would work in places were 3G is a bit, umn, low. We arrived at Naga Terminal (beside SM City Naga) at around 7:00AM. We then took a two hour-long van ride going to Sabang Port and another two-hour long ride, this time by boat, to Caramoan.

(all pictures with dates are from Tom's camera. Click on the images to zoom in)

Port going to Caramoan and view of Mt. Mayon from the boat

DAY 1

We arrived at Rex Tourist Inn an hour before lunch. Rex Tourist Inn is located in the town's poblacion or bayan. We rested, had our lunch and started our beach-hopping tour with our guide, Eli.

way to the Inn and front view of Rex Tourist Inn

our room and what's inside Rex's

Eli helping me embark the boat we used to beach hop

first stop... Matukad Beach, Matukad Island

next stop... Bitchara Beach, Lahos Island. hmmm... dontcha just love the name of the beach? hehehe

on our way to our final stop for the day....

Carbanilad beach, Cagbanilad Island

by 5:00PM we were back in Rex's and rested for a couple of hours and ate our dinner.

view of the "bayan" from the inn's balcony and our dinner

there's nothing much to do in the "bayan." most shops are closed before 7pm so i just went online to post some photos and do some facebook updates. if you love beach partying, then this place is not for you.

DAY 2
We had our breakfast at around 7am and had our lunch packed so that we won't go back to the inn to eat our lunch. Food are included in the package (breakfast, lunch dinner). Eli (our guide) advised us to have heavy breakfast. We had no idea why but did what he said. After some rest, we started our travel going to the first stop for the day's itinerary...

road to...

Mount Carmel, Brgy. Tabgon

500 steps... (nah, just an estimate. lol)

halfway there. catching our breath. with our guide, Eli

view from up there

view from up there and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Lunch in Manlawi Beach, Sitio Manlawi, Lahuy Island
This place is absolutely stunning. We ate our lunch in a hut about a kilometer away from the shore but the water is just below our knees.

...and the last stop for the day was the location of Survivor Israel...
Sab-itan Laya Island (a.k.a. Bagieng Island)

we spent a couple of hours here, dozed off a bit and cam-whored.

DAY 3
The sunburn...

on our way home, since we expected that we'll all be tired, jojo booked us a plane back to manila.

more photos posted in my facebook albums... Caramoan and Caramoan from tom's camera

Sunburned... again

2010-02-23T03:15:00.001-08:00

just got back from my Caramoan beach hopping trip with friends... will post photos and stuff soon...

a little preview...
thanks Tom Villanueva for taking this photo for me

Richard Faulkerson Jr.

2010-02-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

As I was packing up my things after finishing the shoot for Ginoong (Mister) Santa Rosa for that project I said in one of my previous blogs, a new friend asked me a favor to take photos of the 2009 Mr. Santa Rosa, Richard Faulkerson Jr.

With Richard's uber cute angelic boy-next-door-type face, who could say "no"?

Francisco Barrio, Fashion Designer

2010-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Gyno Ferrer

2010-02-05T00:59:00.001-08:00

portrait of a make up artist

Happy 18th Bday, Carm

2010-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Styling: Anton Belardo
Make up: Gyno Ferrer

Be My Dangerous Muse

2010-01-31T13:33:00.000-08:00

'been terribly busy these past few weeks. won a bidding for a project in my hometown. i'll be shooting 14 guys for this contest thing. i've been organizing the photoshoot these past few days; been looking for assistants etc. we did a pre-prod meeting and the director told me what concept he wants for the shoot. i found it a bit tacky though so i'm gonna be tweaking it a bit.

a couple of days ago, i chanced upon this video in youtube and it hella inspired me to do the shoot asap. the video is by Dangerous Muse.

Angelo Villaruel

2010-01-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

spaces

2010-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

some notes on post processing portaits/fashion photographs

2010-01-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been seeing a lot of works of "photographers" that look like, well, uber-edited. These photographs are those usually edited using photoshop 3rd-party actions... with the photographer or the one who post process the photo not exerting any effort to make the photo look like it was not edited/post processed. I've seen a lot of photographs of people having skin that looks very... unnatural... reminds me of photos of Mariah Carey and that Madonna for Louis Vuitton Ad Campaign.

I used to work for a magazine publishing company as a photo editor (long before I started taking photos myself) and learned a lot from my former boss about post processing photos of models/people. Being able to know what photo editors do, I always try to shoot photos now that requires little or no post processing at all because we all, well, most of us know that the more you photoshop a photograph, the more you destroy its pixels.

We've always been told that nobody is perfect. Physically, even models have flaws... pimples, wrinkles, scars, etc etc. What most people do when editing photos is like what I mentioned earlier, use 3rd party actions. These actions usually take the details off the skin of the subject by blurring off those details making the skin look smooth. Downside is, the skin will look unnatural... like the texture of a mannequin.

When editing off skin imperfections, I use the healing brush and stamp tools, making sure that my brush size is not bigger than 10 (for a photo from a 12 or 15 megapixel camera). This helps to retain the texture of the skin and as much as possible I keep some little imperfections to make the photo look unedited. It usually takes me 2 to 4 hours editing a 12-15MP photograph. A li'l practicing with the healing brush tool and you'll be able to master using it.

(click images to zoom in)

original image

edited using the healing brush and stamp tools

with Imagenomic's Noise Reduction in Portrait setting

I have nothing against using "skin perfecting" 3rd party applications in photoshop. It really depends on how you want your final photo to look like. But if you want natural-looking skin texture in your final photo, I suggest editing using the healing brush tool in 10 brush size.

D90 as a lomo camera

2010-01-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

When boredom attacks, I always end up doing unexpected things. Lately, I've been hanging out with friends doing absolutely nothing. Obviously I got bored, picked up my camera and experimented. I wanted to come up with photos looking like they were taken using a lomo camera... Over saturated, high in contrast, having psychedelic colors and looking as if they were taken not following the traditional rules (perfect exposure, well composed, etc etc).

THE COLORS
I am no expert with picture control settings of my camera so i just decided mess up with it. After experimenting and a few test shots... I came up with these setttings...

VIVID
sharpening 5
contrast +3
brightness +1
saturation +2 (or it really depends on how saturated you want your photos to be)
hue - 3

WB (if gonna be used in daylight or with a flash) 2940K
G-M G5
A-B A4

THE EXPOSURE
As for the exposure, I wanted the ambient lights to affect the final photo so i followed my usual work flow when dealing with flash and ambient light (I've learned this from the Nikon website)... first, use the camera mode in auto mode to come up with the right exposure so that the ambient lights will end up showing in/ affecting the photo, then use the settings given by the auto mode in manual mode and use my flash, off-camera, to light up the subject. also, the zoom setting of my flash was 85mm so that it had that "spot light" feel. The flash power? well it really depends on you. but I think over exposing the subject looked nice.

MULTI EXPOSURE
Since d90 also has this multi exposure feature, I decided to use it to come up with multi-exposed lomo-looking photos.

VIGNETTE
The vignette.... we were taught back in my college photography class how to manually give photos those soft black corners. Either, burn and dodge the photo when developing it in the darkroom or just cut a piece of black paper and tape it at the end of your lens hood (you're basically extending your lens hood until you see black edges when you looked through the viewfinder). I did the latter, of course.

Anyway what's important if you want to able to take photos like these, you just have to remember the keywords... experiment, play and have fun.

enough said.. here are the photos....

no photoshop editing =)

I Love You Lindsay!

2010-01-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

Frances Karla Paderna

2010-01-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

dresses by John Paras, Katie Pineda and Tracey Tabora

Noir Et Blanc

2010-01-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

Portraits

2009-12-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

portraits of friends I took these past few days

Nagsasa - HDR

2009-12-07T23:08:00.001-08:00

Click images to zoom in

Pure Sores

2009-12-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I joined my cousin, Mina, on a trip to Anangawin, Zambales with her husband, Jake and a couple of friends. The night before the said trip, I stayed in Jake and Mina's place in paranaque. We left early, I think around 5am, to avoid heavy traffic in North Luzon Expressway.

To reach Anawangin, one must take a 30 minute boat ride from Baranggay Pandaquit to Anawangin beach but if you prefer to experience more adventure, you can choose trekking instead. it'll take approximately 4 hours to get there. The boats there are a bit small. A boat can accomodate 5 persons, including the bangkero and his assistant but since my cousin and her husband have a contact there, we were able to rent a bigger boat which can accomodate 6 to 8 persons.

Anawangin beach has pine trees instead of coconut trees which makes it different from other beaches here in Pinas. There are no hotels and resorts (the loo? just a toilet bowl covered by sawali) and no electricity, just pure outdoor experience. Unfortunately, after a 3 hour drive going to Pandaquit from Paranaque, we've learned from our bangkero (the boat guy who took us to the beach) that a lot of people were going to Anawangin for the weekend so we decided to go to Nagsasa Cove instead. Nagsasa Cove, which is an hour away from the Pandaquit, is much like Anawangin but it has a longer stretch of beach and a waterfall (30 minute hike from the beach).

We did things in Nagsasa any camper group would do in Anangawin... put up tents, cook, swim, trek around the place and of course, take a lot of photos. Being a first time camper, it was kinda hard for me to adjust with the idea of going back to basics (especially their idea of the loo back there), well almost... but i must say that the place is simply divine! Here are some photos and snapshots ...

Nagsasa

The size of the boats

Our camp site

Mina and Jake

Jake taking photos

Where the river meets the ocean

Our camp site at night

The girls preparing our dinner

The long walk to Nagsasa falls...

Mang Pepe, guiding us to Nagsasa falls

i enjoyed swimming (practicing things i learned from my SOLAS training... hehe) and taking photos a lot of photos out in the open sun... well... spell sunburn. Now I'm experiencing "pure sores." My skin hurts like hell. But it's worth it naman.

I also took a few shots for HDR processing... will post them as soon as i finish post processing the photos.

Love, Fashion and Everything in Between

2009-11-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

' helped Anton in layouting his blog last night...

blah blah blah

2009-11-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

been terribly busy these past few weeks. not with work or something but traveling back and forth Manila and Santa Rosa, Laguna, my hometown, catching up and spending more time with my family and photo-hungry close friends. I'm surely gonna miss these camera whores when I leave 'Pinas...

Tina D. for PFW S/S 2010

2009-10-26T05:19:00.001-07:00

'Went to SMX last saturday to watch Tina Daniac's collection for Philippine Fashion Week S/S 2012. 'Was supposed to watch but it was too crowded (congrats Ms. Tina D.!!!) so I just decided to help backstage and stay there. Saw a lot of friends and familiar faces.

more photos in my Facebook Account

@bar0s... where have you been?

2009-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've been very inactive here for a long time...

not just here but also in almost all of my accounts... facebook, twitter, etc etc.

my online social life / identity has suffered a lot... but I guess... it's gonna be worth it =)

A few months ago, I received a text from a company called Magsaysay, asking me for an interview, a job interview. I went to their office a few days after, went to a series of interviews and ta-dah! I got hired as a Cruise Ship Photographer for Costa...

The following months, I must say, was pretty uneasy. I had to complete a lot of requirements and pass a series of medical and dental exams (and I'm damn scared of needles) which required me to have some teeth extracted (ugh... I hate the sight of blood). Going through these, I met new friends... my batchmates and fellow Costa photographers.

After completing the medical and dental requirements, we went to a lot of training in MIHCA (Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts) and Magsaysay Training Center. We were taught on the know-hows and know-whats of the Cruise we will be joining, Costa, a refresher course on photography and how we can shoot faster since we will be required to shoot a lot of people and events onboard, and some basic marketing skills since we will also be manning the photo booth of the ship and of course, SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) or BSC (Basic Safety Course) for seafarers.

Now, me and my batchmates are all just waiting for our assignments, which ship we're gonna embark... I'm pretty much excited for this new job... meet a lot of people of different nationalities, experience different cultures and see new places.

So I guess I'm not gonna be online that much when I start working onboard. All my trainers told me that it's terribly crazily uber busy onboard... But one thing's for sure, I will do my best to find time to still post photos here, photos of about everything onboard and the places I will be able to visit... =)

If You Forget Me...

2009-08-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

'did some changes...

Madonna- if you forget me (mike maguigad mix) - Michael Maguigad

hope u guys like it

Brent Chua for Dimitri

2009-08-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Co-photog: Henry Anima IIStyling: Anton BelardoGrooming: Nanan VillalbaHair: George Delfin

Dimitri Clothing is available at The Ramp in Glorietta 3, Makati

Cesca Alberto for Franko Bo.

2009-08-08T02:47:00.000-07:00

Portraits

2009-07-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Photos of friends I took these past few months

Self Portrait - 7-15-09

2009-07-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

and the camera whore took his photo again...

Hotel Uno - Food Shots

2009-07-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Food shots for Hotel Uno in Sukhumvit Soi 19, Bangkok

Sacha's Hotel Uno, Bangkok

2009-07-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Photos I took for Sacha's Hotel Uno in Sukhumvit Soi 19, Bangkok

Belair Panwa Resort, Phuket - Part 2

2009-07-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

more photos from my shoot for Belair Panwa Resort in Phuket

Belair Panwa Resort, Phuket - Part 1

2009-06-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

Photos I took for Belair Panwa Resort in Phuket

Migs, Iz and Paolo

2009-05-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

Digital paintings I did for some friends.

Migs

Iz

Paolo

click images to zoom in

.

Laiya - HDR

2009-05-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

'reprocessed the HDR image from my post "My First HDR photo"

click image for larger view

...and again... it's not that great, i know. I'm still learning =)

Hope and Wonder

2009-05-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Knikkolette Church, one of my twitter friends, an artist and a full-service interior designer, transformed one of the photos I took during the street children's party in Hidalgo a few years back to an artwork in a canvas for her "faces" collection.

checkout Knikkolette's blog or follower her in twitter =)

My first HDR photo

2009-05-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

I know it's not that good but I'm still learning...
Photo taken when I went to Laiya, Batangas last weekend with highschool friends.

Ninoy Aquino's Old House

2009-04-27T01:57:00.000-07:00

John (Paras) invited me to go with him to Tarlac Pampanga last weekend. It was his dad's birthday and their town's Fiesta Celebration. On our second day there, we visited Ninoy Aquino's old house and I took photos...

Event Tarp Layout for TIENS Philippines

2009-04-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

click image to zoom in

Lake

2009-04-16T00:49:00.000-07:00

a digital painting

click to zoom in

Portfolio Update

2009-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

'posted an updated portfolio. it can be downloaded here

Finally...

2009-04-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

waited for more than an hour for the programme to start. good thing i have a camera with me. took snapshots with college batchmates.

with heidi, one of my college friends I love getting annoyed the most. hehe

with Rigson, one of my thesis groupmates. Our thesis was awarded best thesis last year

with Rigson and Joum

with sweet lil CJ
with one of my favorite professors, Mr. Dizon

with crazy guy Joum. Smoking was prohibited but look... lol

with dianne

the "diploma"
I got bored... the programme was soooo long.

with my bro, mom and dad

with highschool bestfriends

SM Santa Rosa for Earth Hour --WEIRD

2009-03-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

News about Earth Hour have been circulating the trimedia and the cyberweb for quite sometime. Being an advocate for our planet's well-being, I'm one of those people who got excited to witness such event. Sadly though, because of stress and tons of errands to run for my graduation, I completely forgot about this. I went to my school today to have my photo taken for, yes, my graduation. I've been going in and out of the city for more than a week now. I'm staying in Santa Rosa, Laguna for the week. 'Good thing that I turned on the idiot box when i got home and tuned into national geographic channel and got reminded of the Earth Hour.

I immediately texted my friends to remind them to switch off their lights at exactly 8:30PM. A couple of them replied and told me to go to SM Santa Rosa because our local mall, SM, here in Santa Rosa will participate in the event and will conduct a programme for this.

So I dressed up and went to the said mall. Ok, there were performances of dancers and singers and to my surprise, there was a bonfire. YES, a bonfire.... during Earth Hour.

Isn't Earth Hour about fighting global warming? and what is the cause of global warming? and a bonfire? WTF?

Dimitri Posters

2009-03-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

'Did a quick layout of posters for DIMITRI here are the artworks...

Old Photographs

2009-03-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Since I'm sorta new here in blogger, i'd like to post some of the photos I took these past few years when I was still studying / freelancing.

shoot for John Paras

shoot for my highschool alma mater

children photography

shoot for my college thesis

John Herrera

lemme know whatchathink. =) thanks

For John

2009-03-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

My peace offering. Thank God were ok na.

=============

here is John's original photo.

I learned how to achieve this effect through this tutorial but I tweaked it up a bit by removing some of the hard edges and softening it using the healing brush tool

Photography Icons Photoshop Brush Set

2009-03-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Download

I created this set of brushes from some vectors I created in Adobe Illustrator. Just wanna share it with you guys. Have fun using this free photoshop brush =)

Old Sketches

2009-03-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

I've been going through a lot lately. Or maybe I'm just overstressed. I tried organizing my HDD and found my old drawings. Did these from 2002 to 2004-ish. I just wanna share it with you guys.

Dimitri's Label

2009-03-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

I designed the label of a local clothing brand, Dimitri.

Photoshop and Painter Tutorial: The Impressionism Effect

2009-03-02T04:45:00.000-08:00

This tutorial will teach you how to edit your photo to give it that roughly painted / impressionism effect I did in my previous post.

In this tutorial, I would like you to experiment and play around later on in photoshop. I'm just gonna teach you the technique on how to achieve that "painted" look without actually painting the subject in corel painter or photoshop.

before and after

you will be needing:
-a tablet
-know-how in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop
-Corel Painter (I'm using Painter X)
-Adobe Photoshop
-a keen eye for details

==================================
Open the jpeg file in corel painter.

I'm gonna use my friend, Lotho's pic in this tutorial. Lotho, BTW, is a very talented, fab and one of the most sought after stylists here in Manila. Checkout his blog in ISKANDALOSA.

The resolution of the photo is 1250 x 1563 pixels.

The background of the photo is plain and I wanted to put in some colors. use the brush tool and select oil and then fine camel brush. In this photo, I'm gonna use the shades of red, orange and yellow.

now... paint...

Its now time to blend the colors and distort the whole picture...
Using the brush tool, select blenders and then "just add water."
Use a brush size that you think would be great in distorting the photo.

Distort the photo using this brush...

Create atleast three versions of this distorted photo. In the other versions I created, I used blues and greens in the background.

now open the three photos you distorted in photoshop

drag the photos into one PSD file

The keyword is "PLAY!"
The trick now here is layering and masking: play around with the settings of each layer ( multiply, linear burn, difference, overlay, soft light, screen, etc etc) and mask out those part of the photo which you think needs masking.

Flatten the PSD file and adjust levels, hue, saturation etc etc. if needed.

This is my final artwork:

If you have any questions, pls leave a comment and I would gladly answer it for you. =)

Misty Belardo

2009-02-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

I tried applying the same technique I used in one of my earliest artworks as a graphic designer, Prinsesa, to edit Misty's ( @mistygirlph )Photo from my blog entry, Misty.

The original photo:

Here's the final artwork:

'gonna post a tutorial on how I did this piece in a few days...

feel free to comment. lemme know whatchathink.

===========

UPDATE: the tutorial for this is posted here

Burst

2009-02-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

'wasn't doing anything last night so i edited one of my photos....

Photoshop 101: Soft Focus

2009-02-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

This is just a basic / simple tutorial to achieve that "dreamy" soft focus look in photographs. I usually do this in photos I take for dramatic/romantic portraits and/or wedding photos.

step 1: open the file in photoshop. Im gonna use here the photo I took for my high school friend's pre-nup shoot.

step 2: duplicate the photo in the layers palette. (select the photo then press command+J or ctrl+J)

step 3: with the duplicate of the photo selected in the layers palette, apply gaussian blur.

The amount of the gaussian blur will be tha amount of the "dreamy glow" of the photo. The sample photo here was taken using an 8MP camera. I set the blur here in 15.4 pixels.

step 4: Set the opacity of the blurred layer in layers palette. Experiment. Try what opacity level works for you. I usually set the opacity from 30% to 45% depending on how soft I want the photo to be.

step 5: create a mask for the blurred layer, then use the brush tool (set to 30% opacity) to mask out the eyes and the lips and other important highlights that you want to be a bit sharp. this will make the catchlights in the eyes and the lips to be a bit defined. don't over do it though.

step 6: now select the two layers (click the first layer then while holding command or ctrl, click the blurred layer)

and merge them (command+e or ctrl+e)

step 7: now we're gonna add a bit of contrast to the photo. duplicate the merged layers (select it the press command+J or ctrl+j)

then set the duplicated layer to "overlay" and set opacity the opacity to 8% to 15% whichever would look best.

ta-dah!
now we have given the photo that "dreamy" soft focus look
here are the before and after photos:

Word Play

2009-02-23T03:51:00.000-08:00

Misty shared this weblink to me a few days ago. Its a really cool site. It layouts words to form an artwork. I know for graphic designers out there like me or adobe illustrator users or even photoshop users, this is a bit much easy to do. but this website made this task much easier by just letting you finish a "word cloud" by clicking.

You can tell stories or things about you or just about anything. I tried using the lyrics of one of my favorite songs by The Killers, Mr. Brightside and came up with this...

The website's tool lets you choose font types and color schemes for your word art. The webbie is called wordle. hmmm word + doodle = wordle?

go check it out, guys.

click click click!>> WORDLE

The Sunset (Mike Maguigad Mix)

2009-02-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

For all of you beach bums out there. I mixed this song a few months ago. I think it'd be perfect listening to this track while you're in a beach chair, drinking ice cold beer, watching the sunset.

The Sunset (Mike Maguigad Mix) - Andre Harris

Unwanted Need

2009-02-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

and I mixed another song in Garageband... this time I wanted it to sound very haunting. Something that feels like you cannot need what you want or want what you need... the feeling of being in the dark and not doing anything about it. Confusion, scandal, secrets, unaffordable luxuries and self indulgence.

hope you guys will like this track...

but before clicking the play button, you might wanna stop my sidebar player (the ipod touch in the right part of my page) first =)

Unwanted Need - Michael Maguigad

and umn, if you want a copy, just contact me and i would gladly send you a copy. you can find my contact details in the upper right part of my page.

Quaker Oats

2009-02-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yey! The site of quaker oats is now up! I did the shoot for this site (mentioned in my entry Misty). I did the portraits and the product shots... pls checkout the site. thanks

Quaker Oats

styling was done by Anton Belardo

makeup by Archie Tolentino

the shoot was directed by Caloy Tirona and Lei of BBDO-Proximity

of scibbles, smoke and torn papers

2009-02-22T08:02:00.000-08:00

Anton Belardo

2009-02-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

Anton Belardo, a stylist BFF, asked to me edit his photos and i came up with this...

Anton loves mixing and matching/mismatching clothes (he's a stylist, what do you expect?) and accessories and loves cats (he has 14 cats). He also loves doodling and writing whatever things in his cute li'l notebook, he's into pop art and loves Anna Wintour (notice the bob hairstyle). Also, being his friend for years now, i think he is one of 'em "dither" guys: indecisive. Dither, in the geek world, means having no sharp edges in bitmaps. I gave the artwork sharp edges to contrast Anton's being dithered. Thus, the artwork showcases all of these traits.

Laguna

2009-02-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, maybe I'm missing my hometown... the view of Mt. Makiling and the water hyacinths in Laguna lake. I did a quick sketch in Corel Painter. 'did this in less than an hour.

click the artwork for a larger view

Boracay Sunset

2009-02-17T02:17:00.000-08:00

I took photos of the sunset on my last day in Boracay. Here are the photos...

How I Spent My Valentines

2009-02-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

A lot of guys are asking me how did I spend my Valentines. Ok, I'm so pathetic, I know. I went to a coffee shop, ordered a a grilled cheese sandwich and two frappes, sat down and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's in my iPod. The ending of the movie can still give me goosebumps. I was about to cry but then I realized I was in a public place. Ugh. Probably gonna do a DVD marathon if I'm gonna be free this week.

movies for me to watch (again):

Somewhere In Time

Affair To Remember

French Kiss

You've Got Mail

and other chick flicks...

Yeah, pathetic I know. But this is how i get my regular dose of romance... through movies. Who knows? I might end up drawing with pencils and charcoals again if I get depressed. hehe

Boracay Nights

2009-02-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos during my nightouts in Boracay. Everyday, after working, we would hit the showers, dress up and party. As what JP Avendano told me, "you have to work hard... and play harder!"

Well I guess I'm missing a lot then.

Here are the photos... from being sober to being "half way there."

...and of course i'm not gonna post my "already there" photos. those pics are gonna stay in my Mikey's Hall of Shame. hehe

The Sambuca shot in Juice Bar that started it all..

in Hey Jude

after having Lani's surprise dinner party in Monaco Suites

prepping up before getting "lost"

"half way there" in Juice Bar"

Thanks Wan, Lani, JP, Char, Jaydee, Junee and of course Nicole, for making my stay in Boracay super FUN! hope to work with you guys again soon. =)

Palassa Spa

2009-02-16T02:17:00.000-08:00

After taking photos for Fairways, i took photos for Palassa Spa in Alta Vista, Boracay. Here are some of the photos.

Paradise

2009-02-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

Just got back in the metro from my trip in Boracay. Here are some of the photos I took for Fairways.

I also took photos for Palassa Spa in Alta Vista. Will post some of the photos soon. Gotta work gotta work gotta meet a deadline. Ciao

"Burned Out"

2009-02-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

its my second day here Boracay. I went here to do a shoot in Fairways for their marketing collaterals because they're redeveloping the resort. They have realllly nice villas here and I'm staying in one. =)

I took photos of the sunrise, the sunset, the hotel facilities, and a model named Nicole. She's so nice. I'll be posting some of the photos as soon as i get back to Manila.

After every layout, we ate our breakfasts, lunches and dinners in D'mall. I am soooo loving the food of Aria and Cyma... very nice restaurants... I soooo love their foods.

and because I've been taking photos the whole day since I got here.... I am... so... BURNED OUT... literally... hahaha im suffering from the pain of sunburn. Stupid me forgot to buy sunblock.

will post photos soon... =)

note to anton: I'll post your photos as soon as i get back in manila. I miss you guys

Misty Belardo

2009-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

'did a shoot for an advertorial yesterday.

Misty Belardo, the activation and digital director of BBDO-Guerrero, asked me to take her photos during our breaks. Here are some of the photos, including a photo wherein Caloy, the art director of the project, tried to be in the photo... riding a bike. lol

Misty

Lei, Misty and Caloy

New Twitter Background

2009-02-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

I updated my twitter profile's background. here's the artwork...

follow me on twitter :-)

bday bday bday

2009-02-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

thanks thanks to those who greeted me on my bday. =)

thanks thanks anton and john for your surprise. you guys made me cry. bwiset. hahaha

Crillon Logo

2009-01-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

logo for Crillon Trading Inc.

and another untitled drawing

2009-01-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

i posted this in my tumblr a few weeks ago. just wanna share it with you guys...

Tristan

2009-01-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

Tristan, Anton's friend from Davao, visited a dew days ago. The two asked me to take Tristan's photo and edit it. When Anton saw the finished artwork, he asked me edit one of his photos.

and yet another photo...

2009-01-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

...of me. hehe

New Year Party Photos

2009-01-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

I know its a bit much late to post these but here are some of the photos i took from our new year dinner party hosted by our local fashion designer friend, John Paras.

John Paras

2009-01-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

John Paras, a BFF, asked me take his photo a few weeks ago. I think he needs to prove something to his special someone. lol. here's the photo...

New Year, New Hopes

2008-12-31T22:30:00.000-08:00

As the year draws near to its end and mobile network services get jammed up, I’m left thinking about 2008 and the important events that happened in my life; my group’s best thesis award, the depression of being jobless, my failed attempt to be in an another romantic relationship, the support I got from my BFFs, being able to realize who really are my friends and of course, the things I got this year including new luxury clothes, bags, accessories and techy gadgets despite of having an irregular income (haha).

A lot of experiences and mistakes taught me how to become stronger. If it weren’t for those people who wronged me I wouldn’t be able to see my path clearly. If it weren’t for those people who said I wouldn’t be able to achieve things, I wouldn’t be fighting for being to where I am now; being considered to be an art director for one of the leading local ad agencies here.

I’ve learned how to become a positive thinker despite of all the negativities that surrounded me this year. With a lot of help from my BFFs and close friends, I was able to survive all the depression that hit me this 2008.

John, who's been there with me through my ups and downs, who made me realize the importance of not being in a plateau. And also being my leading guinea pig in photography.

Anton, my all-time crying shoulder when I feel like putting down my mask and just be plain weak without receiving any judgments.

Emman, who kept on telling me that I should dream big.

These people showed me how much they believe in my talent and skills and taught me how to become focused with my career.

Ate Misty, who kept on telling me the words “kaya natin yan.”

Patricia, for keeping me sane with her very loud laugh and antics with her yaya.

Tita Au, Ate Gerry, Tita Ann, Daddy J and the Paras siblings for having me in their family. You guys made me feel I have a second family.

Kat and Cesca, for teaching me important facts of life.

BJ and Mike, for teaching me the value of respect and commitment in a romantic relationship.

And to all my new friends and acquaintances who made this year full of fun, drunk nights, shopping, coffee drinking, up-all-night-cramming-for-deadlines, spur-of-the-moment photoshoots, I-am-so-drunk-so-I-should-kiss-strangers nightouts, purely “show ‘em what we got” nightouts, stealing internet connection from neighbors and all the crazy things we do and would still do just for the heck of “kabaliwan.”

So guys, thank you.

I guess I am now ready to face another chapter in my life, another bundle of paper full of stories waiting to be written with my dearly beloved friends. I can’t help but be excited to what 2009 has in store for me.