News & Blog

I recently created a YouTube video with some of my portrait images from the Philippines. I thought this would be a unique way for people to see some of my images and of course get more exposure on YouTube. The quality is of course the best it could be for YouTube, but I think it came out alright. I plan to make some more of these slideshow videos if I get some positive feedback. Let me know what you think of the video by leaving a comment. Thanks.

After a few months of planning and organizing I finally sent off around 1500 slides and negatives to be digitally scanned. I feel relieved, but anxious at the same time to see the final digital images which will eventually be added to my stock gallery. These images are mostly from my travels to Latin America, the Philippines and Malaysia.

During the past few months I have been trying to locate all of my old slides and negatives from friends and relatives houses around the country. I have also been looking into purchasing a new Nikon ICE scanner to turn these slides into a digital format. After a lot of research and reading on-line reviews, etc. I decided to use a scanning service called ScanCafe, which is based out of California. I don’t remember how I came across this company, but I think I must have found them while reading a review or in Google. The moment I saw their professional looking website, I bookmarked it and have been reviewing their services and company for over a month now. I must say to this point I am very impressed with my interactions and use of their service. Not only do they have the most affordable prices in the industry, but they are very professional and customer service oriented. Their website is top of the line and shows you exactly what stage of the scanning process they are in for your order. Although, I have just today sent my slides to them, I can tell the next eight weeks will be worry free.

My wife preparing slides to be sent to ScanCafe.

How Scan Cafe works: Basically, you send them your slides and negatives and eight weeks later they send you a dvd with all of your images. Besides having great prices, the best thing I found was you don’t have to keep or pay for all of the images you send them. You only need to purchase a minimum of 50% of the actual amount you send in. This is a great advantage…you don’t have to sort all of your negatives and slides before hand. Just send everything in and select the ones you want later. They make all of your images available on-line for viewing and selecting. I’ve included a chart below to show the entire process.

The standard price for a 3000dpi slide scan is $.24 and $.19 for a negative. I opted for the professional scan which is $.09 more per scan and adds another 1000dpi to the resolution (4000dpi). These are the best prices that I was able to find on-line, by a long way. You may be wondering why they can have such low prices? Well, it’s outsourcing. They send all of your originals to Bangalore, India to be scanned. When I called their office in California, the women said they send everything over by Fedex in a large bundle, so nothing gets lost. They have 24hour security at the facility there with over 400 workstations. It seems like a good operation they have going and I’m not worried at all about losing my slides or having them be so far away. I’ve sent many international packages via Fedex and have never had a problem. You can see some more information about their Bangalore facility here.

Like I said, I’m still at the beginning of this process, but I look forward to seeing the final digital images and I’m excited to have found such a great service. Be sure to check back in a few months to see some of these images in my stock gallery.

A box full of my slides and negatives getting ready to be shipped.

I have been working on a project this past week photographing a newly built Log House in eastern Tennessee. The house actually belongs to my dad and his wife and is a beautiful home. The project manager asked me to photograph the final built house for advertising purposes, etc and I have had a lot of fun with it. It’s hard trying to be creative with a subject like this, but it is possible. I tried to showcase the house in it’s beautiful surrounding environment and focus on the details of the interior. I believe I have captured what the project manager was looking for and pleased myself in knowing I can still let the creative juices flow on a project like this.

I was able to use the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) for the inside of the house and I am learning more and more about the power of this system. There are many sites out there that have great resources for the CLS including the Strobist and Joe Mcnally’s Blog. I hope to blog more about Nikon’s CLS in the future with some tutorials, etc.

For now, I have included a few pictures here to show what I have been working on. A little bit of Photoshop, yes. Some NIK filters were used for the outside color image and I added the moon for the evening shot. Actually, the moon was there while I was shooting the image, however, I wasn’t able to get a sharp picture of it to use. I was borrowing a tripod and it was really shaky…invest in a sturdy tripod if you plan to shoot at night! I can’t wait to get my tripod back.

Let me know what you think of the images.

This is short tutorial to show you how I make quick edits to some of my underwater photos. Most underwater pictures will have a green or cyan color cast that needs to be removed and light/detail that needs to emphasized. This process is very easy to do using Photoshop and can take less than three minutes per photo.

Original image (left) and image after quick edit in Photoshop (right) - It may be hard to see the difference in the two photos if your browser doesn’t read embedded color spaces.

First, I make a duplicate layer of my background to work with.

Next create a new blank layer and go to: Image>Adjustments>Color Balance

This is where you can remove most of the color cast that underwater photos will have. Generally, I will increase my reds and decrease my blues. Just play around with the sliders until you are happy with the result. *Keep in mind - you will also be able to reduce your color cast later using Selective Color.

Next highlight your duplicated background layer. This is where I use a third party filter called Nik Filters. Open Nik Filters from your Filter menu and select Sunshine. Try selecting the four Light-Casting Algo to see which one looks the best for your picture. I generally use A or D(off). Click Ok.

Most of the time the Sunshine effect is too much for the photo and looks unnatural. Most often I will highlight my Sunshine Layer and reduce the Opacity to my liking.

Next create a new blank layer and go to: Image>Adjustments>Selective Color

Here you can take more control of individual colors within your image. I find for underwater images you need to increase your magenta (within the Cyans) and also add some yellow. The best thing to do is to experiment with all the colors and all the sliders. See what works best for you.

The last thing I do to my underwater images is increase the contrast. (You will need to flatten your image before doing this or merge your background and sunshine layers together).

Highlight the flattened layer and go to: Image>Adjustments>Contrast

I will generally increase the contrast of an image with the amount depending on the picture itself.

That’s it. This is one way to quickly improve the quality of an underwater image.

IMAGES Camera Club successfully held a three day exhibit at Ayala Center Cebu this past weekend. The exhibit had over 100 pictures on display, showcasing the Best of IMAGES. I had two images on display and received some positive feedback. It’s always nice to see your work in print and watch other peoples reactions upon seeing it. For me, I left the weekend with more inspiration to continue doing the work that I so much love.

IMAGES CAMERA CLUB 23 Years of Seeing the World Through A Lens

Think of photography in Cebu and the first thing that probably comes to mind is Images Camera Club, which has spanned 23 years of exceptional work and evolving artistry.In 1984, the club began as a spin-off of a photo workshop organized by Island Photo Center Inc., with the late Eliseo Casia of Kodak Philippines as the speaker. He taught the workshop participants many key elements of basic photography and encouraged them to form a hobby group.It was not long before the loose association of enthusiasts who got together after their daily routines to talk about their common passion for photography became a legitimate organization with a professional membership and budding artistic goals.

Founding members included Carlito So, Celso Dayo, Hockson Go, Jerome Tanco, Alfred Ong, Jr., Benjamin Barria, Henry Tenefrancia, Jean Tiu, Baby Madrid, Tina Reyes, Kinwing Lou, Andrew Si, Jose Mari Canizares, Bamba Vestil, Henry Fernandez and Victor Uy, Jr. The club’s first advisor was the late Peping Perez while the founding president was Carlito So, assuming the presidency for the first two years.The club went on to hold photo contests with increasing regularity. Among the first notable themes were “Beautiful Cebu” and “Faces”. Under its second president, Jerome Tanco, the club added more new members and expanded its vision for experimentation. This willingness to break borders led to a streak of Sinulog Grand Prize victories.Under Vicente B. Vosotros, who became president in 1987, the club went on its first exploration outings. The first trips were made to Badian Island Resort and Club Pacific, and the first events covered were the Helix Hot Air Balloon event, the Camel Motocross and a beauty pageant, the Mutya ng Cebu. It was at this time that the club increased its social presence and realized the importance of taking its members on out-of-town shoots.Ted Madamba was the president in 1988 and he took the club to even greater heights, going on film-documented trips to Camiguin and Badian. Slide documentations of the club’s work as sponsored by Kodak Philippines were the first of their kind and were subsequently shown to new members as an orientation to the club. As funds increased, the club was able to purchase its own display panels for future exhibits.

In 1989, the first Picture of the Month contest is held. Under Celso Dayo, the regular Quarterly Photo Contests were elevated to a different level as major competitive events within the organization.As Images’ popularity continued to rise, more and more local and expatriate members joined the organization. Officers also brought in some honorary invitees. Throughout the years, there have been consistent membership gatherings, internal photo contests, prestigious national and international wins, continual skills development seminars and workshops and various artistic exercises that have enhanced members’ talent, added valuable shots to their portfolios and increased the overall visibility of the club as a potent mover of society.

Members have benefited greatly from all these programs as many professional careers have been launched through consistent participation and networking. Those already working as prominent professional photographers, on the other hand, derived much fulfillment from mentoring young hobbyists and being able to showcase their work to a larger audience.

As photo technology evolved quickly during the late 90s, the first members moved on to consider digital photography. No sooner than the first Nikon D70s were launched, the rest of the group fully went digital, recognizing the benefit of this technological innovation to their craft. Alongside the rest of the world, Images shifted its perspective to today’s modern approach to photography. Now the club includes digital post-production workshops as part of its routine mentoring programs.

Just as much as it values skills enhancement and artistic motivation, the club is mindful of its origins: that all this is founded on good old-fashioned fun and camaraderie. Although the present culture is all about healthy competition, about pushing each other to do better and reach greater heights, it keeps the founding values of the past: Photography, to Images Camera Club, is still about making friends, and finding other human beings to share a common passion.

Philippine Airlines proudly announces the winners of the First Philippine Airlines Photo Contest, following awarding ceremonies conducted November 10, 2007 at the SM Mall of Asia. Led by top photographer George Tapan, the judges and executives from Epson and Philippine Airlines presented the winners with their awards and over a million pesos in total prizes. First Philippine Airlines Photo Contest Website

My entry (Coconut Float) made it as a finalist in the Enthusiast Division, Beauty of the Philippine Scapes.

The First Philippine Airlines Photo Contest will have its official awarding on November 10th, 2007. Be there when the judges reveal the winners and finalists of this year’s most prestigious nationwide photography competition.

For more information on the PAL Photo Contest visit their official website.

IMAGES Camera Club will hold a photo exhibit at Ayala Center, Cebu this coming November 18-20. IMAGES has been in existence for 23 years and the exhibit will surly be worth a visit. There will be a range of photography on display representing the 40+ current members of the club.