Follow the light

One of the best photography tip I have ever encountered is "follow the light" or "pay attention to the light". Focus on the light and not on the subject. See how the light works on a subject.

Every time I remember that tip (I still forget it sometimes), my photos would always come out much better than those where I focused more on the subject. Try it the next time you take your photos. You will not regret it, promise.

When I took this photo of the raindrop, I was actually following where the light was and there it was - just where it gave the sparkle to the drop. Perfect, isn't it?

solar eclipse (partial)

I took photos of the solar eclipse today. It was just partially seen here in the Philippines. Since I limited myself to just one photo a day in this blog, I am posting only one photo.

This shows the sun at the maximum (partial)eclipse here. Lens flare created a double image. Isn't it neat?

If you want to view more photos, please click on either of the two links below.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3733344-solar-eclipse

http://saanva.multiply.com/photos/album/18/Partial_Solar_Eclipse

Photowalk

Last Saturday, we (our camera club) joined Scott Kelby's 2nd Worldwide Photowalk. For those of you who are not familiar with the photowalk....This is an activity participated in by photographers from all over the world. You need to register your site for the walk and invite as many as 50 photographers to participate in the walk. The idea is to shoot anything that you encounter during your 2-hour walk around your site and at the end of 2 hours all of you meet at a designated place wherein you share the photos you took and discuss and bond with fellow photographers. Then each photographer can upload to Scott Kelby's site a maximum of 2 photos that can compete for prizes with the photos from other photographers from around the world.

Our site was Antipolo City. We were lucky that there was an activity going on at the park last Saturday so we were able to take photos of dancers as well as other things, people and places around the area. There are so many interesting things and places in Antipolo but we could not cover all of them. The photowalk was limited to only 2 hours.

Anyway, we had fun and we really enjoyed the activity even if it rained later.

taking a short break...

I will be out for a few days and will be back Saturday or Sunday.

While I'm out, please check what I have done to some of my photos at:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Make-Me-a-Picture--Write-Me-a-Line

See you soon!

All the best!

body langauage3

I love this photo of the bond between my daughter and the puppy. Just look at how the puppy is so trusting and full of adoration as my daughter held its paw. What do you think?

body language2

We were on a photo shoot at a park once and we chanced upon this pair beautifully framed by the window in an abandoned tower. Their body language is so beautiful and perfect, I don't even need to write words to describe it. All of us immediately took out our camera and started shooting. They never seemed to notice. They were oblivious to what was going on around them.

You know what, we were shooting around the park for about 3 hours and when we ended, the pair was still in exactly the same position as when we first chanced upon them. Talk about everlasting love or endurance or whatever.

body language

I follow a website that has monthly photo contests on themes that are challenging. Although I don't join the contests regularly, I always learn from the photos of winners.

Last month, the theme was "body language" - supposedly photos that tell something using any body part except the face.

Well, I found that challenging. I did not have time to go shooting though so I just went over my photo files and selected some photos that I thought would fit the theme. We were limited to only one photo though so I had a hard time deciding which to send.

Anyway, I'm sharing today the entry that I sent. Sad to say, I did not win. Still, can you give a title to this photo? I will not tell you what I title I gave it. I'll just tell you another time.

bayan ko

This is the original baseline photo of the collage I shared yesterday. Notice that there is a big white board on the left side. It was thus a perfect place for the two photos I added to make the collage.

Anyway, I wrote down the lyrics of "Bayan Ko" in this white space so that it will not appear too empty and bright. The eye is usually drawn to the lightest spot in a picture in much the same way that we automatically look at a source of light when in a dark room like a movie house. This is one of the many lessons I learned in photography.

When you want to draw the attention to something, then make it lighter than all the others around it. Of course the reverse is true, if you don't want to draw the attention to a part of your photo, then either make it darker or blur it.

collage, bayan ko

I've long wanted to create a collage but I never got around to doing it until we had a photo contest wherein we were supposed to interpret the song "Bayan Ko".

This song was composed during the time of war when we Filipinos rebelled against foreign domination. It describes our country as a land of riches and beauty and has captivated many foreign invaders. However, we have become captives in our own land and we wish to be free.

I thought that the best way to interpret the song was through a collage. However, I learned later on that collages are usually discouraged in photo contests. So what to do with the ones I already made? Well, since I could not submit them as entries to the contest, I might as well share them here. Right?

So, here is one collage I created.

To make a collage, you have to create a new file. Then open the photos that you want to use and move them to this new file as layers. If you want to make a certain layer transparent as what I did here on the left side, then you have to create a layer mask and then use the brush to make a specific part transparent. That's it.