Considering I make music, you’re probably wondering why the hell this post is in the “photography” section.

You guessed it – I had the chance to accompany Nono to one of his studio photo shoots in DPI Photography Center, just behind UA&P (formerly CRC).

I had an awesome time, as I learned first hand about the usage of studio lighting equipment. From the backdrops, to the metering, to the different light source combinations.

In the middle of the shoot, I even got the chance of suggesting lighting, shooting angles, and subject poses. It was insane! I loved every minute of it! Again thanks to Nono for yet another great learning experience. IN NONO WE TRUST! as I always used to say =)

We used strobes for the lighting. For those of you who don’t know, studio strobes are like (or primarily) flashes. Industrial grade flashes at that. Unlike dedicated continuous light sources (high luminance lamps), they emit a low lamp-like light for modeling and positioning, but their primary lights are actually flashes.

This was what made the light meter so important, since it’s impossible to adjust your settings after seeing a split second of “ideal brightness.” I have found a newfound respect for the “light meter” after that experience.

One caveat though, is that if you want to be more creative with the lighting (say if you wanted something like this in the studio), either you should know your calculations down pat, or get ready for a lot of guesswork. Nono was able to fire some similar shots, but we did a lot of trial and error on the lights before we got it. Obviously a solution for such situations is having a continuous light-source, where you can see the effects immediately.

We even saw our benchmate; director Quark Henares (who didn’t recognize me cuz of my hair). Nono and I, as well as everyone in the floor fell victim to one of the “projects” he was doing (not that we mind) hehehe. In any case check your TVs in two weeks and you just MIGHT see us. ;)

‘Twas an enjoyable day all in all, looking forward to more studio trips.