Using My Brand New Backdrop that I bought on Ebay a year ago!

Yup. I've had this backdrop with 5 different muslin backgrounds sitting at home collecting dust oh these many months! The reason I never used it before this weekend is that it takes up a lot of space when setup. Its a bit of a pain in the ass setting it up in the first place and it takes a goodly amount of time putting it back in its carrying case. Plus its definitely a 2-man job assembling and dissablembling the bloody thing.

I must admit that after having used it for portraits at TechCU's Annual Employee Party on Saturday, I see the advantage of having a real photographer's background. I plan on using this more often albeit I still have to deal with the setting up part. =(

Check out these samples of the Portraits we took from the party. The camera used was Israel's Canon 40D mounted on Manfrotto tripod using his 17-40L F/4 Lens with the clear Gary Fong dome on a 580EX flash. Camera was set to Aperture Priority F/8 1/250 sec at ISO 200. No EV.

-JP

Harlem Globetrotters in the Bay Area

Once in a while an opportunity comes up that you just can't refuse. Last week one of the VP's at work was looking for some photographers to take photos of the Harlem Globetrotters who would be in the Bay Area for the week. So, yes, I broke out with my Nikon D2h to see what kind of cool photos I could take. Here's a sample of my favorite photos.

Cheers,
JP

Topaz Actions Simplify

Hi All,

Here's a new set of actions (using trial version right now) that was recommended to me by my fellow photographer, Israel. It has a one touch/button that shows the before and after. It can make a good landscape image into a Masterpiece. Best of all, its affordable. The Simplify action package is around $40.00 US. A better price than Kevin Kubota's action packs which starts from $100.00 US and above. Try it out and you'll be amazed!

-JP

Ex: This is the original image I edited.

Ex: This is image after using Topaz Action. What a difference eh?

JP's Headshot photo of Printroom's CEO

Yup. I'm definitely proud of the photo that I took of Printroom's CEO. It was sent last week as part of printroom's mass email to all the customers. Its amazing what you can do with a good camera/lens, couple external flash guns (with a Gary Fong diffuser) and some photoshop editing!

JP

Teeth Whitening Tutorial

Hey Everyone,

I thought I would share this photoshop tip that I created for teeth whitening. As a portrait and wedding photographer, getting your customers' to look their best is crucial for customer satisfaction. Let' s face it, not everyone has great pearly whites. With the magic of photoshop, you can give them those pearly whites in the photos. Check out this tutorial. As always, send me any comments or feedback.

Cheers,
JP

JPP welcomes 2009!

To all my dear friends,

Have a safe and happy New Year!!

Warmest regards,
JP