Jo Avila has finally put up a website where you can find out what and when are his latest photography seminars happening.

If you own a digital camera, does it have a feature where you can change the default name of the image it saves to? If so, I'd suggest you make good use of it.

Just before your shoot change the settings to something you can understand later on.  Example, I can only change the first two characters of the filename on my camera.  So at the beginning of the day I usually set it to A1.  If I go to several events in a single day, I'd usually go from A1 to A2 to A3 and so forth.  Sometimes it takes a while before I finally remember to burn the images to a CD (end of the week, usually). So the next day I set it to B1. Basically, the first character denotes the day and the second character the event of that day.  Once I get to burn it at the end of the week, I set it back to A1.

Of course, if you can change more than just the first two characters, then you can simply set the prefix to a particular date or even a more understandable shorthand of the event you're attending. As for the frame count, I usually reset it at the end of the day.

Hi! I will be giving photography seminars for the months of February to March 2007.

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There will be a Basic Food Styling and Food Photography Seminar at my studio on 18 February 2007 from 1pm to 6pm. Learn the basics of food styling. This is a hands on course that will allow you to food style two dishes (pasta and salad). A guided photo session afterwards will allow you to photograph your creation.

The seminar only has nine (9) slots available.

The seminar fee of P3, 500.00/participant is already inclusive of ingredients, handouts and a certificate of attendance. Participants are required to bring a basic food styling kit, aprons and their own cameras.

Basic food styling kits may be ordered in advance for P1, 500.00 or you may assemble one on your own.

The resource person for the food styling component of the seminar is Pixie Sevilla.

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There will be an Advanced Food Styling and Food Photography Seminar at my studio on 25 February 2007 from 1pm to 6pm.  This is a hands on seminar where participants will learn to food style steak, pizza and ice cream.  A guided photo session afterwards will allow you to photograph your creation.

The seminar only has nine (9) slots available.

The seminar fee of P4,500.00/participant is already inclusive of ingredients, handouts and a certificate of attendance.  Participants are required to bring a basic food styling kit, aprons and their own cameras.

Basic food styling kits may be ordered in advance.

The resource person for the food styling component of the seminar is Pixie Sevilla.

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The schedule of the Basic Photography Seminar (Saturday sessions) for February to March 2007 is as follows:

February 24 – Basic Theories and Principles of Photography
March 3 – Composition Techniques
March 17 – Basic Studio Lighting
March 24 – Basic Photoshop
March 31 – Basic Color Management and Guerilla Shooting Techniques

All sessions shall be from 2pm-5pm.

There are only fifteen (15) slots available.

The seminar fee of P4, 500/participant is the total fee for all five sessions.  All participants will receive handouts and a certificate of attendance.

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The schedule of the Basic Photography Seminar (weeknight sessions) for March 2007 is as follows:

March 6 – Basic Theories and Principles of Photography
March 8 – Composition Techniques
March 13 – Basic Studio Lighting
March 15 – Basic Photoshop
March 20 – Basic Color Management and Guerilla Shooting Techniques

All sessions shall be from 630pm-930pm.

There are only fifteen (15) slots available.

The seminar fee of P3, 500/participant is the total fee for all five sessions. All participants will receive handouts and a certificate of attendance.

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The schedule of the Advance Photography Seminar (Wednesdays) for February to March 2007 is as follows:

March 7 – Composition & Lighting
March 14 – Composition & Lighting
March 21 – Composition & Lighting
March 28 – Composition & Lighting

All sessions shall be from 630pm-930pm.

All sessions will begin with case study discussions of certain shooting situations. All sessions will have a studio shooting session using various light sources and techniques. It is for this reason that the class is limited to a maximum of eight (8) participants only.

Slot reservations are on a first come, first serve basis.

The seminar fee of P4, 500/participant is the total fee for all four sessions and is already inclusive of a certificate of attendance.

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

All sessions will be held at Unit 114, Gold Building, 15 Annapolis, Greenhills, SJ.

Participants of my past basic photography seminars may attend any session of my upcoming basic photography seminar for free as a refresher course.

Please feel free to contact me for queries or suggestions regarding the seminars.

Cheers!

Jo Avila (0917) 5305133
pinakamagalingako@gmail.com

This was a shot without a flash. Dark, isn't it?

This is a shot of the same spot with the flash pointing straight on.

Same shot. Flash pointing towards the ceiling.

Last shot. Flash still pointing at the ceiling but now with the CD case bounce card.


Frankly, I kinda like the last shot. What do you think?

It's not the best of photos, but it will do for now. This was given to me by Albert Yan a couple of years back.

It's an early Zenobia C I. It is a 6x4 folding camera. It was made around 1952. And Albert is going to kill me for not using it as much as he expects me to. (Sowwee!!!)

But today I took it out from it's plastic wrapping (See?! I still took great care of it!). From the time I got this I had promised myself to have the lenses cleaned. I still haven't done that. But it doesn't look like the glass was any cloudier than before.

And yes, it still works. And yes there's still film inside it.

I took it out for two reasons. One is that I got envious of Gen's newly acquired Yashica TLR. That's when I decided that maybe we could hook up and shoot stuff. Oh yeah that would be super!

Secondly, I decided to try out my new flash. I was talking to Elwin earlier and he suggested using those CD envelopes from CD-R King. I tried it out and... I think I just made myself a better bounce card. Haha! If you're going to try this, get two CD envelopes, remove the plastic, use the soft white material and slap them onto your flash with a rubber band from the side of the flash.

After buying the flash yesterday, I found myself in an event with Art Ilano.  Nevermind that I wasn't dressed for the ocassion.  But at least I had my camera with me.  I left the flash in the car though since I still had no idea how to effectively use it.  That said, I took a few shots and soon put my camera back in the bag.  I was getting insecure with all those photographers in the area with their big bad flash guns. Haha!

Note:  I'm lousy in event photography.  Hence you won't see photos of the event.  Well... maybe.

Anyway, I also met Hans Villarica, Art's editorial assistant.  Turns out he's into photography as well and was suggesting I buy a stofen or a lightsphere.

Me:  "You do know how much that thing costs, right?"
Hans:  "Yes. I bought one myself."

Ah. Lucky him.  But I'm a hobbyist, thus I can't really afford buying a diffuser which I just might rarely use.  And again... do you know how much a sto-fen or a lightsphere costs?

Which brings me back to economics and physics.  Heck, it's light after all.  So I really just need something to diffuse the light with.  What would be good cheap alternatives?  Try wrapping your flash with tracing paper.  Try a DIY bounce card using a stiff white business card.  Or take a tip from strobist and get a cheap translucent plastic container to fit on your flash.

Fred Miranda's site has instructions for a home-made soft box.

Then there's a video for a better bounce card over here.  I might try this one out. Have to check the craft shops for some nice white felt cloth/paper to use.

I finally got to go to Photoworld today.  Despite my aching legs (must remember to stretch before jogging next time), I was able to go visit all the shops.  Actually, I almost missed one side.  I was looking for a circular polarizer for my camera but the cokin polas were unavailable.  So the next thing I considered was a new flash.

My old Sunpak Auto thyristor had already given up on me, so I decided to might as well get a new strobe unit.  The Olympus flash guns were... expensive. And out of stock as well.  So I decided to follow a friend's advice (many thanks to Jay Camus!) and hunted for a Sunpak flash.

My search came up empty.  So I decided to sit down for a while on one of the benches.  (My feet were already killing me by then.  Mental note: when shopping, do not wear heels.)  I was wondering where the shop owners from Hidalgo were.  For some reason, those shops were missing in action.  Then I realize that I hadn't visited the area that was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.  I got up.  Went forward.  And found myself staring at a Sunpak auto 383s at Avenue Photo Shop.  The original price tag was at 6807.  I got it for 6200.  Not bad. :D  I'm happy now!

Now all I have to do is learn how to use this thing.

I've been remiss in my updates on what's been happening with my photo seminar.  Day 02 we learned about composition, what makes a good photograph, framing and to avoid shooting a cow eating grass.

Day 03 was about lighting. Gosh!  There was really so much to learn about flash photography and strobes.  I need to get several books from Fully Booked soon.

Tomorrow is Day 04 where we get to learn how to use Photoshop for the basic retouching.

Finally, at the end of Day 03, I ended up buying a set of WarmCards at Jo Avila's studio. Until Oct 31, the price is pegged at 2,800 pesos.  Using it (specially the gray card) did make a difference on the color of my photos.

Hmm. I should get a Spyder during PhotoWorld Manila. :D

Hi! There will be a BASIC FOOD STYLING AND FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY SEMINAR at mystudio on 19 November 2006 from 1pm to 6pm. Learn the basics of foodstyling. This is a hands on course that will allow you to food style twodishes (pasta and salad). A guided photo session afterwards will allow youto photograph your creation.

The seminar only has eight slots available.

The seminar fee of P3, 500.00/participant is already inclusive ofingredients, handouts and a certificate of attendance. Participants arerequired to bring a basic food styling kit, aprons and their own cameras.

Basic food styling kits may be ordered in advance for P1,500.00 or you mayassemble one on your own.

The resource person for the food styling component of the seminar is PixieSevilla.

The seminars will be held at Unit 114, Gold Building, 15 Annapolis st.,Greenhills, SJ.

Please send me an email at pinakamagalingako@hotmail.com if anyone wishes tosign up.


Cheers!
Jo Avila (0917) 5305133

So you've spent all your hard earned cash on a camera that shoots RAW images.  You need to do your magic now.  Then you realize... you need Photoshop.  Plus some plugin to open that RAW file.  But you need  money to buy the stuff.

So, now what do you do?

First thing everyone will tell you is, "Try GIMP!"  GIMP is short for the GNU Image Manipulation Program.  It's free (as in free beer).  But alone, GIMP won't be able to open your RAW files.

Enter UFRaw.  This other free program can be used by itself or as a plugin to GIMP.  For Nikon users UFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera's tone curves. Even if you don't own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images.  Check out this page to see what cameras are supported in UFRaw: http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/Cameras.html

Hi! I will be giving photography seminars for the month of November 2006.

This will be the last set of photography seminars that I shall be offering for 2006.

My photography seminars will be resuming in January 2007.

The schedule of the Basic Photography Seminar (weeknight sessions) for October 2006 is as follows:

November 7 – Basic Theories and Principles of Photography
November 9 – Composition Techniques
November 14 – Basic Studio Lighting
November 16 – Basic Photoshop
November 21 – Advanced Photoshop and Guerilla Shooting Techniques

All sessions shall be from 630pm-930pm.

There are only fifteen (15) slots available.

The seminar fee of P3, 500/participant is the total fee for all five sessions. All participants will receive handouts and a certificate of attendance.

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

The schedule of the Basic Photography Seminar (Saturday sessions) for November 2006 is as follows:

November 11 – Basic Theories and Principles of Photography
November 18 – Composition Techniques
November 25 – Basic Studio Lighting
December 2 – Basic Photoshop
December 9 – Advanced Photoshop and Guerilla Shooting Techniques

All sessions shall be from 2pm-5pm.

There are only fifteen (15) slots available.

The seminar fee of P4, 500/participant is the total fee for all five sessions. All participants will receive handouts and a certificate of attendance.

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

The schedule of the Advance Photography Seminar (Wednesdays) for November 2006 is as follows:

November 8 – Composition & Lighting
November 15 – Composition & Lighting
November 22 – Composition & Lighting
November 29 – Composition & Lighting

All sessions shall be from 630pm-930pm.

All sessions will begin with case study discussions of certain shooting situations. All sessions will have a studio shooting session using various light sources and techniques. It is for this reason that the class is limited to a maximum of eight ( participants only.

Slot reservations are on a first come, first serve basis.

The seminar fee of P4, 500/participant is the total fee for all four sessions and is already inclusive of a certificate of attendance.

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

All sessions will be held at Unit 114, Gold Building, 15 Annapolis, Greenhills, SJ.

Participants of my past basic photography seminars may attend any session of my upcoming basic photography seminar for free as a refresher course.

Please feel free to contact me for queries or suggestions regarding the seminars.

Cheers!

Jo Avila (0917) 5305133
pinakamagalingako@hotmail.com

Start:	Apr 29, '07
Location:	http://www.pinholeday.org/

What is Pinhole Day?
Anyone, anywhere in the world, who makes a pinhole photograph on the last Sunday in April, can scan it and upload it to this website where it will become part of the annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day celebration's online gallery.

While searching for a receipt among the many boxes in my bedroom, I found my book on Nudes by Anna Henly (Camera Craft series. Ava Publishing. ISBN 2-88479-024-1).  It's the very first book I ever had about nude photography.

I admit, when I stare at people from a distance I'm mentally stripping the clothes off them.  Yes. You too.  If you're over the age of 21, human and not a relative, at some point in time I will start thinking of you in your birthday suit.  Doesn't matter if your lithe and trim or huge and pudgy.

My first foray into nude photography was when I was invited by Eddie Boy Escudero to pose for him.  Well, semi-nude.  I still had a bathrobe and knickers on.  At that time I couldn't tell anyone about it.  But I soon realized that this was Eddie Boy Escudero we're talking about here.  I should be flattered!  And I really was!

Then there were the times when I assisted Jo Avila during his FHM shoots a few years back.  From both men I learned how to handle a nude model.  What to do and not to do.  This helped a lot when I joined in a group figure study shoot held by John Mateos Ong.  My last shoot was when I had a couple girls, best friends with each other, pose for me semi-nude a couple years ago.

There are many types of nude shoots.  With FHM, it's more of a glamour or pin-up shoot.  On the book that I have, the author gave her opinion that there are six different types of nudes:  commercial, artistic, pin-up, erotic, nude abstract and creative.  My preferences lean more towards artistic, abstract and erotic.

The human body absolutely fascinates me!  I don't know why but I find the nakedness absolutely beautiful.  There have been quite a number of people whom I've met over the past couple of years that I'd like to shoot in the buff.  A lot from Mensa Philippines, several PhPhoto members, three or four JGL, ten Mapalad, three from Hinge Inquirer, and a couple from CSGC.  And not to mention people from current and previous work.

If you're wondering who these people are on my wish list, I could tell you.  But then I'll also have to shoot you.

Seriously.

I attended my second photography seminar yesterday.  This also happened to be my first digital photography class.  I have to admit, I learned a lot more than what I got from my first one.  The wonderful thing about this is that the seminar lets me see the film and digital perspectives side-by-side.

While I reviewed reciprocal failure and the makeshift tripod, I also learned exactly how to read a histogram and what really is the difference between the Program ("Professional") mode and the Auto mode in digital photography.  Thanks to Jo, I have an idea on what I need now.  Close up filters from Cokin, Warm Cards and a Spyder for my laptop.  I borrowed Jo's Cokin filters to try out for the meantime.  Oh! And I learned how to clean the sensor! :D

Now, my problem is finding out how to do my assignment for next week:  Shoot a Coke bottle while not making it look like a Coke bottle.

EEK!

I talked about setting the white balance using Pringle's lids a few days back and how these lids are now transparent and not translucent. I haven't tried the coffee filter option yet, but I have found another option. The local SPUDS! potato chips that come in a similar pacakging as Pringles have translucent white lids. I bought a small SPUDS! canister and used the lid to adjust my white balance.  What do you know? It works! :D

I'm going to try the coffee filter technique soon... when I have my coffee filters, that is.

Yes. I'm going to take another course again in photography.  I'm taking the Saturday classes starting October 7, 2006 under Jo Avila.

If you're interested, there are still slots available for the Saturday class. Feel free to hook up with him and inquire.

Jo Avila's Basic & Advanced Photography Seminars

"Light is a verb"

At Strobist, our goal is to promote more effective use of small, shoe-mount flashes. To teach you to use your small strobe to get results like the professionals get. Over 10,000 photographers from around the world have been bitten by the bug, and it's about to happen to you.

Why small strobes? Because that's all you really need.

As I said previously, I have a problem with white balances. I don't have any background on videography and I don't want to adjust this during post-processing. Besides, I don't have the cash to buy one of those gadgets that calibrate the monitor. My solution: Buy a set of WarmCards.



Henry's Camera Shop in Quiapo sells this set. I'm hoping to buy this sometime next month.

Well, either that, or the ExpoDisc:


I can also use the ExpoCap:


In the meantime, I'll have to use the "Pringles Lid" way of setting the white balance.


Ximina's Photography [Lessons - Lighting]

The best I have found is the Pringles lid method. It works on the same principle as a $100 Expodisc. The only downside is that we've got to eat those chips. You can also use the stuffing in the can to attract potential subjects. Works well on: Ducks, birds, squirrels, kids. Doesn't seem to work well on: Hot chicks.

UPDATE # 1: DARN IT! The Pringles lids here are now transparent instead of translucent. I'll have to look for another cheap option...

UPDATE # 2:  I just found out that a single layer of a cone coffee filter also works well, and might be even better than the Pringles lid.

Pringles Lids are a rip off! More test results...: Digital Photography Review

I did another set of tests today, and all I can say is that those of you who are buying Pringles for the lids are getting ripped off! There is a much cheaper contender...

Test conditions: Subject: IT8.7/2- 1993 standard chart; histograms below are a crop of the lightest rectangle in the grayscale row. This should yield equal RGB values if CWB is perfect, I believe.(someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

Lighting: Sunlight at around 60 degrees through light hazy clouds. Although I set the CWB immediately before each shot, it is possible that the color of the sunlight shifted in the time it takes to set CWB and shoot the target (about 15 seconds).

Test media:
1) Single layer of coffee filter (cone type); stuck the lens inside the cone
2) double layer of coffee filter (cone type); stuck the lens inside the cone
3) Closed-cell foam from a lens filter box; held in place by thin glass
4) a piece of white plastic from a plastic bottle of some sort
5) Pringles lid
6) Paper plate
7) Expodisc

The big surprise is the single coffee filter- it looks even a bit better than the ExpoDisc. Of course, that wasn't what I found the last time I did this test, so it could be a fortuitous change in cloud cover...nonetheless, pretty impressive. The real test is under unvarying blue skys, repeated over several days. My test to date show the ExpoDisc to be most consistent, but the coffee filter is a BIT cheaper.

During my friend's party yesterday, me and a couple other people ended up talking about photography.  I mentioned that since I've now crossed over to the digital side, I see no reason why I shouldn't shoot everyday.  I have to admit, it's so much easier to be shooting in digital.

Then again, that doesn't mean everything I learned in my film photography days is of no use to me.  I see a HUGE difference between a beginner who started off with film then moved to digital and one who started off with digital.  Those with a film background make it a point to perfect the shot as much as possible straight off the camera. Those that didn't have a film background tend to depend heavily on photoshop during the post-processing phase.

In my case, I tend to shoot "slide style".  This means I tend to shoot with full-frame in mind, which is the reason why I invariably cut off limbs and foreheads when I shoot using negative films.  But now with the Olympus E500, I don't have to worry much about my "negative film syndrome".

I do have a slight problem with white balances though.  But that's for another post...