Early this December 2009, I had the opportunity to back up my good friend, Greg Morales, in covering Danielle Regina De Leon's debut.
Danez, as her friends adoringly called her, is a vivacious little tyke. The first time I saw her was when she came bouncing out of Sofitel's elevator to pick us up from the hotel's lobby. She was small but so full of confidence, at least that was my impression.
PHOTO #1
We quickly hit it off and started shooting. The following photos and the one I used above are my favorites from over an hour of shooting in and around Sofitel before doing the program. On a side note, the day that we shot was a busy day for Sofitel. When we were shooting near the breakwater, there was an ongoing wedding, a birthday party and another pictorial for a couple that just got married plus the tens of guests that were strolling.
The shot at Photo #1 is of Danez after she wore her first outfit with the second on on the mannequin. I used an off-cam flash bounced on an umbrella at camera left.
She was a bit shy when her Mum helped her wear her dress. Ain't she a pretty lady don't you think? I think the red dress suits her fine.
PHOTO #2
The next shot (Photo # 2) is a more heavily post-processed shot of Danez in the same location but from a slightly different angle. The post processing was done to infuse a different mood into the shot. This is more of my personal taste rather than Danez. I thought of doing this to picture her as a maturing woman...coming of age right? I used Nik Software's Glamour Glow and Photo Styler filters for this shot.
This close-up of her at Photo #3 was shot prior to us going out. I used the windows' drapes as a background. If I remember it right, this is a two off-cam flash setup. One was behind a shoot-through umbrella and the other flash bounced in a reflector umbrella. I then used Nik's Vignette Blur filter to focus attention on her face, which to my opinion, looks pretty darn good.
PHOTO #3
The next photo, #4 , is my favorite of the bunch. This is just off the breakwater. There was a wedding ceremony at camera right and a birthday party off at the left side. Suffice it to say that there were quite a few people in the area and it was very hard to get a clean shot. Then an idea hit me to include the couple also having their pictorial at the background. I timed it when their photographer asked them to kiss and I also took a shot of Danez. I think its pretty neat. I also need to tell you, my dear readers, that there was a light stand in between Danez and the couple at the back. I cloned it out in Photoshop, added a little vignette and voila!
The sunset was just great. Nature gave us just less than 10 minutes to set up and get the shots we needed. In the end, what matters is getting the shot. This is where we photographers get fueled to continue on with our passion for photography. I love making people shots!
PHOTO #4
For the image I used at the staircase, Photo #5, I had Danez sit down, that she gamely did, and positioned one off-cam flash in a shoot through umbrella at camera left and shot with a very slow shutter, 1/15th of a second, to capture the lights emanating from steps. The red of her dress and the yellow color of the staircase's lights is nice contrast to the overall image. My lens on this one was my Nikkor 12-24 mm f/4 shot at 18mm.
PHOTO #5
In the end, I came up with slightly over two thousand photos of the whole debut. I spent almost twelve hours to capture the photos that I hope where valuable to Danielle. One of the nice things about being an event photographer is that you contribute in documenting a person's history that you know they will look back to.
Please also find below a gallery of the other shots I took. These shots were only treated with slight color and density correction using Adobe Camera Raw by the way. No cloning. Email me your comments at edwin@edwinarceo.com. God bless you!
Danez, as her friends adoringly called her, is a vivacious little tyke. The first time I saw her was when she came bouncing out of Sofitel's elevator to pick us up from the hotel's lobby. She was small but so full of confidence, at least that was my impression.
PHOTO #1
The shot at Photo #1 is of Danez after she wore her first outfit with the second on on the mannequin. I used an off-cam flash bounced on an umbrella at camera left.
She was a bit shy when her Mum helped her wear her dress. Ain't she a pretty lady don't you think? I think the red dress suits her fine.
PHOTO #2
This close-up of her at Photo #3 was shot prior to us going out. I used the windows' drapes as a background. If I remember it right, this is a two off-cam flash setup. One was behind a shoot-through umbrella and the other flash bounced in a reflector umbrella. I then used Nik's Vignette Blur filter to focus attention on her face, which to my opinion, looks pretty darn good.
PHOTO #3
The sunset was just great. Nature gave us just less than 10 minutes to set up and get the shots we needed. In the end, what matters is getting the shot. This is where we photographers get fueled to continue on with our passion for photography. I love making people shots!
PHOTO #4
For the image I used at the staircase, Photo #5, I had Danez sit down, that she gamely did, and positioned one off-cam flash in a shoot through umbrella at camera left and shot with a very slow shutter, 1/15th of a second, to capture the lights emanating from steps. The red of her dress and the yellow color of the staircase's lights is nice contrast to the overall image. My lens on this one was my Nikkor 12-24 mm f/4 shot at 18mm.
PHOTO #5
In the end, I came up with slightly over two thousand photos of the whole debut. I spent almost twelve hours to capture the photos that I hope where valuable to Danielle. One of the nice things about being an event photographer is that you contribute in documenting a person's history that you know they will look back to.
Please also find below a gallery of the other shots I took. These shots were only treated with slight color and density correction using Adobe Camera Raw by the way. No cloning. Email me your comments at edwin@edwinarceo.com. God bless you!
