yourphotographymentor

I captured this 14 years ago to the day, Manila time. I won 1st Place in Popular Photography’s Your Best Shot, and was published as a spread in February 2010 issue. And was also published in the Your Best Shot Book. The abbreviated caption: I captured this at the annual Black Nazarene procession in the Quiapo district. During the procession, which travels through the narrow streets of downtown Manila, barefoot devotees struggle to touch the rope pulled along through the procession, or the image of Christ itself. If you're not participating, you can easily get trampled. A friend of a friend let me use the second floor of her store to shoot from—but I wanted a more immersive image. Forsaking safety concerns, I hung from the fire escape with an ultrawide-angle lens, extending my body as far as I could into the crowd." 🏆

Symmetry, as above, so below. Imperial Beach Pier at sunset.

Fire, water, earth, and air! Asymmetrically balancing each other. Yes! I believe air is there somewhere, even though it cannot be seen.

What are the principles of composition that you can find in this picture? Does the composition make this engaging?

New York City is always breathtaking at night. I captured this scene from the top of the Empire State Building. The foreground is Manhattan, and across the East River is Brooklyn. Please send me a message if you want to learn more about creating this cityscape from photography to post-processing. ,

To capture the majesty of the San Diego skyline, I went to the location at dawn to take advantage of the soft, warm light that creates a beautiful glow and adds depth to the scene.
I used my Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera mounted on a tripod with an EF24-70 lens. Shooting with a tripod allowed me to prevent camera shake and capture sharp RAW images with a deep depth of field.

Setting my camera at ISO 100 and an aperture of f/11, I took several shots with varying shutter speeds to capture a range of light and dark areas in the scene. The resulting RAW images captured the entire skyline with fine details. I later blended these shots in post-processing to create a final image that showed the highlight and shadow details. The resulting image showed the texture of the clouds, the buildings' dimensionality, and the mood that it would be a beautiful day.

I am pleased with this final image. By carefully planning the timing of the shoot, selecting the right equipment and techniques, and paying close attention to the details in post-processing, I was able to capture and show the hopeful mood of one of the finest cities in the world that is San Diego.