about dxb chronicles

The saga of Jeff living in the City of Gold. Presently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unravel his journey throughout the city with memoirs and everyday life stories.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

portraits - v

together with a friend's visit from ksa, a mask project and other meetings, my blogging was delayed due to a lot of portraiture/glamour (and nudie...hehe) shoot for the past two weeks.

and now here are some of the shoots i did...

abba and cielo


one hot and steamy night shoot with them. we used cls (creative lighting system) for this.

jane


an import from ukraine, it was her first studio shoot here in dubai. together with a visiting friend from saudi and with the other friends, we held a closed-door session.

trina


an accidental model who stepped in when we're about to go home. a smiling type, she just keeps on posing.

up next, portraits - vi
discoursed by jeff @ 5:27 PM  |  28 comment(s)  |  permalink

Saturday, August 25, 2007

body parts

although i got tons of portrait/glamour shots last weekend, i intend to show you the body parts during the shoot. similar to nude photography wherein u portray the curves of the human body, my purpose here is that you can see something interesting aside from the face (or vital parts) itself.

shots were all taken using available light.

sexy heels

f1.4, 1/80sec, 50mm, iso200, -0.7ev

tattoed shoulder

f6.3, 1/30sec, 50mm, iso200, -0.7ev

punked hand

f6.3, 1/100sec, 50mm, iso200, -0.7ev

up next, portraiture v.
discoursed by jeff @ 3:16 PM  |  4 comment(s)  |  permalink

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

wireless trippin'

a night before the actual shoot, i asked my roomies and borrowed their new speedlight flashguns (sb800 and sb600) and experimented studio shoot using creative lighting system.

i admit that i don't understand the mumbo jumbo technicalities of these speedlights (not reading manuals much...hehehe), i based my lighting thru trial and error. after a few dumps of drained aa batteries, i was able to adjust and getting to know its capabilities.

the setup

f3.5, 1/60sec, 18mm, iso200

we mounted the speedlights (sb600 and sb800) on tripod and placed it between the subject, side by side. i had to adjust my aperture to bigger opening since the power of these flashguns were not enough. headshots were the only thing to do. i also set the speedlights to manual with slave setting.

sinister-lookin'

f5, 1/100sec, 35mm, iso200

there were more shots made for my housemates (we finished at 2am) but my schedule got tangled up with others. i'll post the gallery soon.

find out more about creative lighting system here.

tips:
- rtfm (read the fooking manual)
- don't just fire and fire, assess first your shots
- always check the speedlights. it gets really hot (the batteries) when used continously for hours
- have fun
discoursed by jeff @ 8:47 AM  |  2 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, August 19, 2007

j u m p s h o t s

last week, my friends and i once again ventured to the rocky environment of hatta. it was supposed to be a walk-the-dog plan but it turned out to be a photo trek as well. they did their usual gig of snapshots of the landscape, snipey shots (behind the scenes of photographers), macro and last but not the least... my favorite, portraiture.

my photo buddies called me the wacky master of group hugs due to unusual taking photo of group shots. since the group is too big (26 of them), i could not let them jump all of the same time. i never tried it on a large scale. since most of my buddies were doing their own thing, i asked my other friends to model for me and do the jump.

the masters (of the dogs)

f4.5, 1/640sec, 10mm, iso200

since im using wide angle, i asked them to spread from the scene and stand still while i prefocused the subjects in the middle. i lowered myself pointing a little upward to get the feel of elevation when jumping. i also instructed them to compose themselves for the jump and try to bend their legs while on air. this was the result.

karateka

f2.8, 1/400sec, 70mm, iso200

a little more serious work on subjects part, i asked once again to stand still in their positions while i prefocused. since i was far from where the subjects are, i used my zoom lens and set my aperture just big enough, not to merge the background to the subjects. after a count of three, i got what i wanted.

tips:
- find a suitable jumpspace, preferable on a low-angle shoot to get the feel of elevating the subjects
- faster shutter speeds (at least 1/250 secs) will give you most desired results
- ask your subject/s to compose themselves before jumping else they will get tired (after many takes...hehehe)

see more of the jumpshots @ multiply
discoursed by jeff @ 2:15 PM  |  7 comment(s)  |  permalink

Thursday, August 16, 2007

workflow: pinhole effect

this was taken at the dubai museum in bur dubai when i accompanied new friends for a mini-tour. i asked a friend to take a candid shot of me riding on a cannon. later i realized that it would look nice if we make it antique-looking.

so i decided to make it like taken from a pinhole camera. i used adobe photoshop cs2 for post-processing.

the original shot


curves, saturation and levels adjustment (global)


burning the midtones to let the subject stand out more


more of curve adjustment to have better contrast


the blur part


- duplicate the layer of the desaturated image. next is use radial blur (filter > blur > radial blur) with these options... amount: 3, blur method: spin, quality: best

- use the radial blur filter once again but this time use this settings... amount: 5, blur method: zoom, quality: best



- still on the duplicated layer, we wanted to see the subject more sharper. by applying layer mask (see screenshot), erase the subject using an eraser tool (brush mode, opacity 30%). make sure the color palette is set to default (white foreground, black background).

the final output


- putting the finishing touches, flatten the layers and sharpen the image once again by applying unsharpen mask (filter > sharpen > unsharpen mask) with the settings... amount: 18, radius: 40, threshold: 0
- hue adjustment, add sig

tips:
- we were told that composition is best when off-centered. we break it here. i suggest that you take your subject on the center.
- square format is ideal (1:1 ratio) but not really necessary.
- it works for barren landscapes for an eerie and surreal feel.
discoursed by jeff @ 10:06 AM  |  4 comment(s)  |  permalink

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

triple d's

a portrait shoot with dinx, diane and their dogs. few weeks back, i was excited to shoot these pets since this was the first for me for animal portraits.

there were mixed emotions during the shoot and most of the time i feel elated when the dogs posed still while pressing the shutter. as for the human models and assistants, they were very cooperative to make things work.

i used nifty-fifty (50mm, f1.4) and an external flash for this shoot.



meet diego, a cross breed of golden retriever and rotweiller. he is one of my favorite canine friends. he was exhausted from the session and got the chance to get a clear shot of him in this expression.



the original plan was to shoot the masters and the pets together in a bed. while holding their smiles the dogs were very mischievous and the owners had to intimidate by shouting and giving serious orders. later on, they obeyed.



combination of blacks and whites are also put into view.



this was accidental. max, a full-breed golden retriever and father of all the other dogs in the scene, came from behind and posed. instantaneously, i told them to pose and snapped.

tips:
- try to be calm as possible. don't show fear nor hostility to them.
- when doing the job well, always give a compliment. everybody will be happy.
- when they're not looking, try to make a small whistle (sounded like a bird) they will looked at you with alerted ears. not too much else you'll get a bite and couple of vaccines in the butt. lol.

see more photos @ multiply
discoursed by jeff @ 12:26 PM  |  5 comment(s)  |  permalink

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

r e b i r t h

after years of stagnation, i was able to do the site facelift. busy with photo sessions, work, and social life, finally i was able to upload the new look.

what's with the new look?

i got tired of dark backgrounds (although it will be ideal for photographs) and decided for a cleaner look and less clutter. a nifty header with a logo of a photographer depicting me (thanks to tet) and some of the naturesque bling-blings. the bloodspatters signifies affiliation with my personal site, bloodwork, since they're both owned by me. the desert colors and the arabic text (mozakarat dubai or the dubai diary/chronicles) are related to where i am now.

what's in store?

since most of the time shifted to photography-related topics, i'll be posting more of my workflow, discoveries and gigs. life experiences in dubai are still be told but less of a deep personal matters (ie, family, love life, etc..)

although there are some sections to fill in and debugging other glitches, i am happy with the new look.
discoursed by jeff @ 11:05 AM  |  11 comment(s)  |  permalink