Yza

A pre-debut shoot. :)  Please view my Flickr for better quality. 

Late Night Editing

There's something about looking at old photos that make you wanna tweak them again and give another feel to each one.  The photo below is one I took for my friend's online shop. 

Here's the before: 

I'm all for keeping the photo as close to the real deal (color, contrast, etc.), but once in a while its great to experiment on color, gradient, etc. to make the photo appear dreamy and hopefully more memorable.  Here's my take tonight with the help of this tutorial:

The girl doing the tutorial took a lot of steps, but I just did those that I thought would help with the photo I was working on.  She was trying to get the style of Emily Soto, who I admire when it comes to photography.  My edit and shot doesn't come close, but I'm still happy with mine.  

P.S. I'm really loving Flickr's interface at the moment, but they crash a lot!  Hope they fix that soon. :)

The Tourists

Last weekend, my friends from college came up from Manila.  After years of convincing, this was the only time they were able to come and enjoy Baguio. :)  I volunteered to take some shots while they were here.

We had breakfast at Little John's, located at the commissary part of John Hay.  Their Rib Eye Tapa's quite good. :)

Next, we walked up to The Manor and I showed them the garden.  Their restaurant's dining area leads to this lovely garden with a view of the log cabin-inspired hotel.  You can visit it even if you're not a guest or even if your not dining.  I think.  LOL.  Its a great place to take photos.

Because my two guests wanted a more "Twilight" feel (as in the forest where Edward and Bella roamed around), I brought them to the site where my sister and I shot last December.  I couldn't quite capture a shot as if they were moving and jumping from tree to tree, but I think the picture came out quite cute anyway.  

Also, my friend was trying to do a spoof of our shoot and here's the shot.  Not bad. :)

Here's a shot of me and Karrots, one of my best friends during college. :)

We headed to Chaya after that mini photo shoot and after a brief visit to Mines View, cause I know they like Japanese food.  Which reminded me, I haven't given my thoughts on Chaya, but to sum it up, I love it.  And my friends loved it too! :)  Mines View is still a nice place to visit if you're a first time visitor, but its too crowded that you might just appreciate it less.  

During lunch, we were too preoccupied with our food and our conversation that we didn't really take photos anymore.  It was really fun catching up and seeing my friends in a different setting.  We had a short shopping trip after at the infamous ukay-ukay.  Ukay-ukay's are so expensive now.  Still, we were able to find some things.

Hope this post helped anyone planning a Baguio trip soon. LOL.  I wanted to bring my friends to other more places, but time was our enemy that day.  Anyway, there's always a next time. :)

The Abandoned Shuttle

Hi there!

This will be the last post on the shoot my sister and I had with Sir Ren before 2012 ended.  We found this abandoned shuttle and took a few more shots before it turned into night.  Thus, the dark tones.  I'm not entirely satisfied with the post-processing, but I just couldn't think of how else to do it.  Anyway, here they are. :)

Some shots weren't as sharp as we hoped, but they kinda work still.  This shot below, I might post in black and white in Flickr. :)

Although, we were kinda unprepared for the shoot, I think we still did a good job with the time and equipment we had.  For Sir Ren's shots click - THIS.  His shots are more sunny and I think clearer.  Hahaha. 

Until next shoot! :)

Sonya in the Woods

If you remember my last post and this post of me "mowdelling", then its high time to see who's behind those shots.  Here are the shots that I took of my sister, Sonya.  She actually looked more lost than I was supposed to look. 

This is my favorite one.

I found it hard to edit the rest of the shots since the sun showed up and the actual shots were more yellow than I liked it to be.

You can view the first shot better in my Flickr.  Please visit. :)  I might do a 365 again since I've upgraded to Pro.  What do you think? :)

Wood Nymph

Happy New Year to everyone! :)

Every time my sister comes home from school we have a shoot of some sort.  Last time it was me randomly posing in some areas around our house.  This time around I was a wood nymph.  Hahaha.  This time she had pegs from Kyle Thompson, Karrah Kobus, and Rosie Hardy.

Both of us seemed frustrated at first cause 1.  I'm no model and 2. she just can't seem to get the shots she wanted.  I liked how the photos turned out though.  They kinda fell into place after post-processing.  Here they are. :)

I think this is my favorite one.  I look like a deer ready to be shot.

My attempt on looking lost. LOL.

 And I picked up a pine cone.

And I seem to have magic lifting powers in this shot. Hahaha.

My sister dubs this the "debutante" shot.

Next post will showcase a few shots of my sister, the photographer, taken by me. :)

What do you think?  Happy New Year! 2013 will be awesome! :)

Travel Diaries: Hong Kong Day 5 (Times Square)

On our fifth and last day in Hong Kong, we spent lunch and the afternoon in Times Square, in Causeway Bay.  We were just waiting for our flight in the evening and didn't have anything in mind to do except last minute shopping.  We've checked out from the hotel already but just left our luggage so that we could still go around.  We decided to hop in the train and head to Causeway Bay to check out Times Square.  Compared to Jordan, the area where we were checked in, this part of Hong Kong was more business-y, formal, and yes, expensive, similar to Central where they have the IFC mall.

The mall is huge and and holds several designer brands.  Its connected to the MTR, so you'll see a lot of  people coming in and out.  Some of them even have their luggage.  Like Times Square in New York, the building has large screens that show some advertisements.  So if you've hung out for quite a while outside, you'd see people suddenly starring up.

* Note: I am aware that my photos are not as sharp as I would have liked them to be.  Must practice on that for next time.

One thing we noticed is that Hong Kong is quite strict with smoking that its sometimes surprising to see people from Hong Kong smoking.

 

If you're wondering what's up with all the random shots, its because I really like taking shots of people who are unaware that they are being photographed.  They just come out more natural.  It feels nice to be in a different environment and to capture the mood of that time.  Also, some of the peoples' choices in fashion are interesting.

The photogenic backpack

The women there dress so chic, but seem effortless.  Most guys look smart and put together, which you would barely notice in most parts of the Philippines, sad to say.

Its great how when you look at one side something different is happening and the scenes are constantly changing.

Busy people and their phones and shopping bags.

And that ends my stalking, LOL.  When it was time to get back, we had noodle soup in one of the many small noodle soup shops around Jordan.  It was really good!  Although our Mami in the Philippines is still best for me.  Later on it was time to head back to the airport.  To my utmost delight, the Hong Kong airport had Popeye's.  Popeye's was one of those fast food chains my parents would buy from when I was a kid (in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).  I hope Popeye's do come back in the Philippines because I miss their biscuits.

To conclude, last month's trip was great.  It took me a while to adjust when we got home as the vacation was more than a week.  I might follow up with some photos from my phone.

Hope you found this interesting!