The Adventures of Jorge: Librodo Workshop

Have you heard of Manny Librodo? If not, then you are not into digital photography addiction. hehehe, pun intended. Seriously, Manny is known in the Philippines for his outstanding portraits, digital gallery in PBase, and series of lectures conducted all over the country. Now, we got a chance to learn from him and listen to his tips on how to improve in our craft.

Excited, I was, I set my alarm clock at six am but... failed to wake up with the rrrrinnngg!!!! I didn't hear it! Silly it may sound, my clock was not defective nor the ringer was just not loud but simply because I was deeply asleep. And you know why I sleep like lard today? I went home at around 4am in the morning. hehehe... I went out with "the girl" last night - not in her place, of course, (I already wrote about it yesterday), but in some neutral places where I wouldn't get into trouble.

Nevertheless, I arrived at our meeting point at the Chinese Garden just in time when Manny started giving briefing on our day's activity. Hmm... so this is Manny! I thought. He's younger than I imagined and, well, looks ordinary for his name. Well, that's the problem when the reputation preceeds a man. People, me included, would expect larger than life personality from the man.

Okay enough for that... let me tell how Manny works.

He told us his camera settings when shooting for portrait: Cloudy -2. Then he explained the importance of light and how to work with the available ambiant lights in the environment. He also emphasized the need to capture the light on the eyes of the subject. It may sound complex if not mystifying but the truth is, these were the basics. Simple yet ignored by most photographers because of their dependence on advance savvy gadgets. Manny just showed us how to go back to the basics and explore our own creativity. He's right! Rafael, Nadal and even the Leonardo da Vinci, all became immortals because they mastered the effects of lights, shadows and colors.

I didn't shoot that much during the workshop. I had less than a hundred pictures taken. What I did most of time was observed and listen on Manny, and I was hoping I can pick up something that is worth remembering. I watch him how he handles the crowd and how he guides the model towards the lights and shadows. Gee, I admit, he has tons of ideas when dealing with the models. I guess, these were accomulated with his years of experience. I also observed his acute sensitivity with the environment and his quickness to adjust when the available light changes. This is one important factor that every photographer should take note when shooting outdoor.

Later in the afternoon, he showed us how he post process his pictures using Photoshop. I was lost with this one, actually, because I don't have much knowledge with Photoshop. I tried to jot down notes but couldn't catch up with the 100mph speed of Manny. Anyway, the organizer promised to provide notes later. Now, after watching Manny how he edit his pictures and makes magic on it, I have decided to put photoshop on my must-learn task. Would you believe that I don't edit my pictures except resize and crop using only Microsoft Picture Manager? That will surely change from now on.

The day was fullfiling. It was nice to learn from the "master" and at the same time, enjoy the camaraderie with my fellow photonski photographers. Frankly, there were many loopholes in the workshop but I let it go considering the size of participants- 30! This one i'll not pass: Yes, Manny guided the models but he didn't teach the photographers how and what to shoot. I was expecting that he would show us his style on framing, composition, angle of shoot, and other advance techniques. But he didn't. Instead, he joined with the group and also take pictures too, leaving the newbies like me clueless on what to do. I am just frustrated!

Hmm... how about the models?

Well, we were lucky to have two beautiful models with us - Kharu and Tessa
Nietto. Kharu is famous as an endorser for Avon products in the
Philippines, while Tessa is better known as the partner of Alex Compton
on that Coffee Mate commercial in the Philippines. Tessa also appears
in international prints for the product Brother Printers. They were
both excellent models.

Here's a sample on my take on Kharu and Tessa - out of the box.