Photobin: My New Portable/Home Studio

Studio Photography by Ryan Macalandag



I had made myself a portable/home studio to add to my gear list. It's not the expensive studio equipment but instead the cheap yet sleek and portable. I can bring it almost any where.







I had purchased a background stand in Manila last December from Hobby Depot for a very reasonable price. I also bought background sheets from a local department store. Bought the stiff sheets for cross stitching. Made nice backdrops too.

I had also purchased an old SB-24 online for a steal. I now have 3 flashes including the SB-600 and the Vivitar 283. Cool. Strobist.hehe

The photos above are just some initial experiments. Had some good shots too. Lighting really made the photos pop I think.

Note to self: get real models next time.


For more of this set, please click here.

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Photobin: Crosslighting Excercises

Photography by Ryan Macalandag



Crosslighting is one of the basic lighting techniques in flash photography. This technique involves using at least two lights each on the opposite sides of the subject. This creates a very sculpted look for the subject.

For this one, I used two small portable strobes. One SB-600 with an omnibounce on camera left and one Vivitar 283 camera right. Both are positioned slightly behind the subjects axis.

Shot using a Nikon D80 fitted with a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens.

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Photobin: Jasper, photographer

Jasper used to art-direct our shoots way, way back when we were still regulars at LifestyleBohol and even when we worked together (he was my boss, kinda) at the City Hall before doing special projects for the mayor. But then he had to go abroad and to look for work. In Thailand, he now teaches high school, mentoring Thai students, while speaking perfect (native tongue) English. Jasper's from Spain so that shouldn't be a problem. At all.



And so after a year (and some) of living it out in Thailand, he's back home for the holidays. He visited us at our apartment because 2. he wanted to drink beer and 1. because he wanted to have his picture taken. He's vain like that you know.hehehe

And of course, I had to show him some Strobist-action there and taught him a few
new lighting tricks I learned online.



Uhm, so yeah, I still suck at doing the (said) new lighting tricks. Well, that or I just needed a proper model to work with. (hehehe) It must be the beers though.

It has to be the beers, yeah.

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Photobin: Asus Eee PC

Product Photography by Ryan Macalandag





Check this out. This is the new Asus Eee PC subnotebook. Cheap, yet perfectly useful. It's small yet powerful with 1 GB of RAM and an Intel Celeron processor. Comes in different colors too.

This unit also has USB ports, wi-fi, LAN port and an expandable 2GB solid-state flash "hard disk". To keep the price low, Asus didn't include a modem, a CD-ROM drive, a big clunky hard disk and used an open-source Linux OS.

My wife bought this from PC Corner for P19,999.00 only. This is the 7-inch version. Fits right into a lady's shoulder bag.

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Gear: Shoot Thru Umbrella

Basically, the output and diffusion level of a white umbrella and the silver one can be the same really if used skillfully. But the main difference is that you can actually stick the shoot-through nearer to the subject to get more of the wrapping effect of a huge light.

Here's the set-up of the photo above:


Had I used the silver version, the umbrella would have to be much farther from the subject.



The lovely light fall-off on my semi-clenched hand also shows the effect of the white umbrella being really near. The light source is now bigger which translates to a more softer light.

Learn to Light at Strobist.

(More of this set, here.)
_________________________________
Photos by Ryan Macalandag
Gear: Nikon D80, SB-600, umbrella, lightstand
Copyright ©2007 All rights reserved.

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Photobin: Aris

Aris or Aristotle loves to be photographed. One day, he came by our shop and brought some pull-outs fresh from a copy of GQ. He wanted the photos to look like the ads on the magazine.

"I can't do exact copies," I said. "We can play around and see what happens though. Come back Thursday."

So, come back he did, thus, these three photos below are some of the layouts from the shoot. :)


#1 Strobist info: One Vivitar 283 bounced silver umbrella camera left perched on a stand. Photoshop: Curves, Color Balance, Dodge/Burn

#2 Strobist info: One Vivitar 283 bounced silver umbrella camera right and slightly behid the subject perched on a stand. Photoshop: Curves, Channels, Color Balance, Softening Action

#3 Strobist info: One Vivitar 283 on camera left and high above subject perched on a stand. No diffussion. Photoshop: Curves, Channels, Color Balance, Dodge/Burn and some USM

Photography by: Ryan Macalandag
Location: Tagbilaran City, Bohol
Equipment: Canon EOS 350D, kit lens, Vivitar 283, light stand, umbrella
Subject: Aris

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NetFinds: Strobist Lighting 102

Starting on the 4th of June this year, throngs of amateur and professional photographer from around the will be flocking towards the Strobist website to participate in yet another exciting online-based photography lighting workshop.

Click here to read more about it.

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