PhotoBudz : Projecto 365 - Day 3

by Erik


Hello Buddiez,

          It is weekend again, it's photography again ! Woohoo... unfortunately Leowell and others didn't make it to join us again :(.

          December 20th of 2009 is time for learning photography together with Jake, Bernard, and Bib and this time our model is Riezel E. whom have no experience at all how a modelshoot is been taken but we are sure she have a great time playing with us eventhough we had experienced rain shower most of the time and  thought our photoshoot will be cancel because of it, but we are lucky enough to finished it succesfully.... and of course we cannot forget the PT-04 trigger which failed very often, I guess we really need to invest on a much more reliable and accurate trigger set like Elinchrom or Pocket Wizard, hehehehehe.

          The concept was "Forest Girl" and I think we did it fairly and to be honest I'm satisfied on the output result. And the lightings set up was 2 speedlights with snoot and umbrella, reflector and 2 PT-04 trigger sets.


          Here is the group hug after a half-day of photography (Jake C. left earlier :( )

Thank you to the following people :

- Riezel Espiritu for her time and effort

- Bib Ilano for the strobist equipments

- Yasmin Perez for the make-up, props and hairstyling

- Erik Estrada, Bib Ilano and Jake Castillo for the light set-up

- Bernard  for assisting and participating in the shoot

Congratz,

PhotoBudz

          
         

        

Make a Gears List

by Leowell

Everytime I go for a photo shoot, I bring with me almost my ‘full battle gear’. Maybe other photographers would disagree and they’d just bring the essentials. But my own principle is that it’s better to be over prepared than be under prepared. Especially on paid shoots, it saves me a lot of precious time. More often than not, being over prepared helps me gain the trust of my clients when I’m presented with an unexpected difficult situation and I came prepared.

Bringing a lot of gears comes with the risk of losing some of your valuable items. I have already lost one which is quite pricey and very dear to me. So I came up with a very simple and old-fashion system of listing down all of my items in an Excel spreadsheet. I created 3 columns: Gears, Check 1 and Check 2 then I saved a master file with the inventory of all of my photographic equipment. For each photoshoot, I would then customize my gears list (I delete the rows in which I know for sure I would not need, such as studio lights if I am shooting outdoor), print the inventory list and put a check on the ‘Check 1’ column after I have placed the item inside my bag.

During the photoshoot, a lot of things can happen. I would switch lenses, change the batteries of my strobe, etc. Sometimes, I am in a hurry that I don’t have the time to properly arrange them in my bag. There were a couple of times when I left my items on top of a friend’s bag.

But ever since I made the effort to print my gears list, I haven’t lost a single item. After the photoshoot, I would do the same inventory check and tick the ‘Check 2’ column. I found it more efficient to do this while I am still onsite and still have a chance of looking for the missing items instead of checking the items when I get home.

P.S. It’s also a good practice to put your name, address and contact number on your gears list and put it in your bag for emergency purposes. This is especially helpful when you are travelling.

Please feel free to leave some comments on this post and share your system with us.

PhotoBudz : Projecto 365 - Day 2

by Erik


Hello Buddiez,

     Last sunday (12/13/2009) we had our 2nd successful modelshoot with no rains or guard to ruins our photoshoot with Ruth Orescia, which is her first time to do this such activity. Some of us know that Ruth initially turned down the dress we want for her but with the help of Yasmin, our MUA. She finally agreed to weared it, phewwww! That's was close call again :)

     The concept was "G.I. Jane" and her background will be a "Battle Tank" but unfortunately there was some family activity near the tank after we get there. But I have a back-up plan for our concept "The Howitzer Cannon" which I found also very suited for our shoot :)

     The lightings set up was 3 speedlights with softbox, honeycomb and umbrella and 3 PT-04 trigger sets. We are lucky the PT-04 didn't failed very often.


      Here is the group hug after a half-day of photography

Some photo is here CLICK

Thank you to the following people :

- Ruth Orescia for her patience and trust 

- Bib Ilano for the strobist equipments

- Yasmin Perez for the make-up, props and hairstyling

- Patrick Castillo for assisting us

- Erik Estrada for the light set-up

- Bernard & Jake for participating in the shoot

Congratz,

PhotoBudz

PhotoBudz Secret #5

Secret 6 : Preset your Exposure and Focus

PhotoBudz, don't you hate that annoying delay
between when you press the shutter button and when the
camera takes the photo.

I definitely do! I press the shutter button, but by the time
my camera actually takes the image, my subject has moved
out of frame.

Argh!

Fortunately there is a way to stop this. And it's really
easy to do too. 




When set to auto, some cameras can take a while to adjust for white balance and focus. This is the 2-3 second delay between when you first push the shutter button, and the shot actually being taken.
If this happens with your camera, try presetting these by holding the shutter release half way down to tell the camera to focus before you need to take the shot.
Then, keep your finger held half way down until you get the perfect shot, or use your camera's 'lock exposure' feature to keep the exposure settings locked until you find the right time to shoot.
Presetting your exposure and focus can REALLY help out when taking shots of children. They tend to not sit in one place waiting for you to adjust your camera, so the best shots are taken when you are prepared for a candid moment - eg when the child is engrossed in a task.


Credit to Digital Photography Secrets 

PhotoBudz Secret #4

Secret 4 : Take More, And Erase Your Shots

I love shooting with digital, PhotoBudz! And this
tip is one of the major reasons why.

You see, with digital there is no film cost. So you can
take as many shots as you like to make sure you get
that perfect image.

 
There's lots of other advantages too:

The ability to erase your photos is one of the major advantages of a digital camera. You'd be mad not to use this to the fullest extent!
Take MANY more shots than you think you need, and then erase those that aren't right.
Every half an hour, go back through your most recent photos erase any that don't make the grade, or you have better versions of.
Because you'll be erasing often you can just keep the 'best of the best'. Erasing often also ensures you don't need a large memory card, as it will not be storing your not-so-perfect images.
If you're always pressed for time, you can either invest in a larger memory card, or copy your images to another storage device like a laptop or card storage unit until a later point.
This is also a huge tip when photographing groups. With such a large number of people, there always seems to be someone blinking, or looking the other way. Having a large number of shots means you can pick the best of them to keep.


Credit to Digital Photography Secrets

Uphold the Photography Business

by Leowell

We have formed a group to pursue our passion for photography and build stronger friendship along the way. We have one goal in mind, and that's to get better, hopeful to land on that priced deal one day.

We might still be on the stage of building our own portfolios, but we are conscious that we will not step on anyone's shoes. By saying anyone, we mean anyone - be it amateur or professional photographers.
I'd like to leave a little reminder to the group and to the rest of the aspiring photographers who want to turn pro one day.

Building your own portfolio is a huge task which requires a lot of time and dedication. Sometimes, you might accept TFCD (Time for CD) or TFP (Time for Prints) job to create photographs and enhance your collection. But if an advertising agency, magazine publisher or business owners approach you one day, please make sure that you will not be taken advantage of.

With that in mind, I would like to share with you an article I found while browsing the internet searching for photographer's rates in Singapore.

Here's the link to the article:
http://prophotosingapore.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/rates/

Professional Photography in Singapore

Advertising

Rates: $20,000 to >$100,000/project
a. Photographer usually works through an ad agency handling the client account. Typically, loading fees are enforced and photographer keeps copyright for images.
b. The figure looks good but a shoot usually involves a full production team and a great amount of liaison work. Typically takes 1 to 3 weeks of casting, production & logistics. Post production work on images is approximately 1 week to 4 weeks of digital retouching/imaging (DI). Depending on complexity of deliverables, digital retouching work might be outsourced to specialist 3rd party DI companies.
c. Photographer typically uses a digital medium format system.
d. Fees are usually paid 6 months after invoicing.

Architecture/Corporate/Food/Interior/Product
Rates: $1200 to $2800/day
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images, this practice is very prevalent, especially with government bodies. This is due to the abundance of photographers in this sector.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.

Events/PR (concerts, events, functions, etc)
Rates: $50 to $200/hr
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images.
b. Photographer is expected to own camera system.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.

Magazine
Rates: <$300 to $400/image
2008-2009 : $800-1200 for full shoot (6 images or more)
a. Photographer might be able to keep copyright of image, it depends on the magazine.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs/medium format systems
d. Fees are usually paid 3 to 6 months after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.

Press (a rough guide)
Rates: $1400 too $5000/mth (salary) for staffer
$55 to $110/day for stringer (freelancer)
(depending on seniority, education and experience)
a. Photographer’s images are owned by newspaper or agency or company.
b. Photographer’s gear is provided by company for staffers and sometimes stringers.
c. Photographers work with DSLRs.
d. Photographers normally work around 8 hour shifts with anywhere between 1-5 jobs in that time.
e. Photographers are expected to be on call anytime in case of breaking news.
f. Photographers are expected to be able to shoot anything and everything.
e. Payment is monthly, transport is normally covered by an allowance or is claimed.

Photographer Assistant
Rates: $900 to $1500 (Salary)
a. Please note that this is not the same thing as Assistant Photographer.
b. Assistant is expected to carry equipment, be responsible for safety and care of equipment plus other duties.
c. Assistant doesn’t need to own photography equipment.

Portraits
Rates: $250 to $500/person
a. Photographer is usually forced to sign over copyright of images.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Fees are usually paid 1 month after invoicing.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.

Weddings (Bridal)
Rates: $1200 to >$3000/day
a. Photographer has option to keep copyright of images. Depends on how the photographer has been trained and value of the work/style.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Deposits of up to 50% of fees prior to shoot and 50% on collection is common.
e. Some form of retouching work is expected.

Weddings (Wedding Day or Actual Day)
Rates: $300 to >$3000/day
a. Photographer has option to keep copyright of images. Depends on how the photographer has been trained and value of the work/style.
b. Photographer is expected to own all photography equipment, including lights, accessories, etc.
c. Photographer usually works with DSLRs.
d. Deposits of up to 50% of fees prior to shoot and 50% on collection is common.

And then, you might say, "Well, I am not a pro yet so I have no right to charge these amounts."

True, but you can be creative and charge a little less and make sure you won't be taken advantage of, especially if you know you can deliver.

Nowadays, DSLR cameras have been very affordable to almost everyone who wants to do photography. Let's hang on to each other and uphold the business. Please do not kill the photo industry. Please be wary of those people who are shooting images to feed their families.

PhotoBudz : Projecto 365 - Day 1

by Erik

Hello Buddiez,

         Good day! We had finished the 1st Official Shoot Of PhotoBudz, the original plan was to shoot Sasha in the swimming pool but unfortunately some circumstances cannot be avoided - MUA was late due to traffic jam, heavy rain, condominium restriction so we had to be creative to push through with the  model shoot.

          Due to the limitation of our pieces of equipment, we managed to push-through an indoor shoot and it went quite well eventhough Bib place become a mess after the shoot hehehehehe... I'm sorry Budz Bib :)

          Thanks for Sasha for being a good sports and the patience she has given to us and also to Norman for helping/assist us during the photoshoot, lastly for Bib in providing foods and the location place.

Here is the group hugz :

     


Congratz,
PhotoBudz
   

PhotoBudz Secret #3

Secret 3 : Place your subject off-center

Most people place the person or thing they're photographing
smack bang in the middle of the image. While that looks
okay, you don't need to do that. In fact, placing
your subject off-center can make a much more pleasing
image.

In today's tip, I discuss the Rule Of Thirds, a
convenient rule to help you place your subjects in the photo.

This rule can be broken though!


Rather than placing your main subject in the middle of the screen, place it to one side and ensure something interesting is in the background that fills the remainder of the image.
This can be especially effective if the background has the same theme. For example, if photographing a child opening a Christmas present, frame them to one side and have the Christmas Tree with unopened presents filling the rest of the image. There are a few guidelines that can help you place your subject in the frame.

The Rule of Thirds

One of the most popular rules in photography is the "Rule of Thirds". It is a simple rule that can add dynamism to your photos. Simply, divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. When composing your shot, place important elements either along these lines, or where the lines intersect - NOT at the centre of the frame. For example, place a subject's eyes where the top line is, or place your subject on the place in the image where two of these lines intersect.
 
It's a very simple rule to follow and will result in a nicely balanced, easy on the eye picture. It also helps get rid of the 'tiny subject and large amount of space' tendency because you need to position items relative to the edges of the frame.
Having said this, the Rule of Thirds is also one of the rules you'll want to break often! This is fine 

- the Rule of Thirds is more of a guideline and sometimes you will find a better image when you break the rule.


Credit to Digital Photography Secrets

PhotoBudz Secret #2

Secret 2 : Use Optical rather than Digital Zoom

When zooming in with your camera, sometimes the image looks all blurry and grainy.

There's a reason for that, and fortunately an easy
way to stop it!


Cameras are marketed with both an Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom capability.
If you've used a film camera, you'll be used to optical zoom. Optical zoom uses the lens of the camera (the optics) to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom uses clever software to digitally enlarge a portion of the image - thus simulating optical zoom. So, which is better? Definitely Optical zoom. Here's why. Digital zoom is not really 'zoom' in the strictest definition of the term. Digital zoom just enlarges the image. Eg it takes a portion of the image and enlarges it back to full size. You lose quality because of the enlargement process so photos that have been taken with digital zoom won't look as good as those without. You can perform the same result using image editing software on your computer. In fact, it can be better to crop and enlarge using your image software in your computer as you can decide exactly what part of the image to enlarge, and how much to enlarge by.

So when taking shots, use optical zoom only. If you need to zoom in further, use your editing software to select the best part of the image to keep. Ensure your camera warns you when it's switching to digital zoom from optical zoom, or use your settings to disable digital zoom entirely.
Why is clarity important? The more clarity you have in your image, the larger the printed size can be without the image appearing fuzzy, or blocky. If you want to keep clarity in your images, use the optical zoom whenever possible, and avoid the digital zoom.

How do you use Optical Zoom? When you zoom in using your camera, it will use Optical zoom first and then use Digital zoom. You can usually set your camera to notify you when it starts to use the Digital zoom, or tell it to not use digital zoom at all. Consult your manual for details.


Credit to Digital Photography Secrets

PhotoBudz Secret #1

Secret 1 : Move In Closer

Hi Budz, your first tip is probably the simplest! You don't even need any fancy equipment or settings.


      -- Almost any shot will look better if you take two or three steps closer to your subject. Filling the frame entirely with your subject will make a terrific difference to your photos.
Alternatively, instead of moving closer, use the Optical or Digital Zoom of your camera to get a close up shot. (Preferably Optical zoom - I'll tell you why tomorrow)
When taking shots of family and friends, most people place the subject's full body in the frame, or place head and arms in the shot. Instead, fill the frame with your subject's FACE only - particularly if they are smiling or are in a moment of reflection.
Why does this work? With less clutter in the image, there's less to draw the eye away from the main subject of your photo. Also, human faces (particularly children's faces) are something we all feel pleasure looking at.
If you can't get close enough when you're taking the shot, you can zoom in later using photo editing software - crop out everything except the subject's face and see what a difference it makes.
When using the viewfinder for close shots, be careful of Parallax. Because the viewfinder is not at the same position as the camera's lens, centering the subject in the viewfinder may mean it is not centered for the lens resulting in an off-center final picture. Most digital cameras now come with an inbuilt LCD screen. You can eliminate this problem by using the LCD - which shows you what the lens sees - rather than the viewfinder.


Credit to Digital Photography Secrets