For this assignment, I took advantage of every gala I had with my family and friends. To me, it felt like hitting two birds with one stone — enjoying being outside (as someone who's a home buddy) and ticking off the prompts from the bucket list. Additionally, I shared in the introduction of this website that I wanted to make a point to feature nature and music in my photography. I like to think that this is the perfect opportunity.

Overview

Flower Shot

Taken on April 1, 2025

Height

Taken on April 1, 2025

Night Photography

Taken on April 5, 2025

Pattern

Taken on April 1, 2025

Motion

Taken on April 1, 2025

April 1, Tuesday — It's April Fools! Since everybody's home, our family decided to visit UP Diliman for a quick jog. Then, we went to SM North to have our guitars fixed. I've honestly captured a lot, and I believe these are my best shots.

Flower Shot

Blooming Bougainvillea

I got inspired by Sophia Hillary Tan's flower shot (featured in my Assignment 1: Knowing Where I'm At - Part 2 page), in which she said that her photo looked straight out of a wallpaper. I wanted to achieve exactly that.

As unserious as it may seem, I kept murmuring "wallpaper" while taking pictures to better immerse myself in the process.

The people around me probably thought I was weird for murmuring, but at least I'm very happy with the result!

EXIF Data

The camera settings were default, except that I adjusted the focal length to 34mm to get a more intimate shot of the flower. This adjustment also helped isolate the subject from its surroundings.

Height

Reaching the Giants

There were a lot of trees in the area, and I genuinely think that capturing them has been one of my main struggles for this assignment. They are the hardest to shoot. I struggled to capture their entirety, mainly because of their height. They often exceeded the camera frame.

I often found myself debating whether I should focus on the trunk, the branches, or the leaves. In this shot, I decided to focus on just one tree, hoping to make it stand out from the rest of the greenery. I also initially planned to do some post-processing, especially to remove distractions like the large trunk in the front. But in the end, I chose not to. I wanted to preserve the authenticity of the scene, the way it actually looked in that moment.

EXIF Data

I relied on natural lighting once more, since it was very hot and the sunlight served as a filter. Therefore, the settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed) remained the same. The only difference from last time was the focal length (again), as I zoomed out in hopes of capturing the height of the subject.

Pattern

Rocker

Our family went inside a music store named D&D. It's been our go-to store ever since we collectively became interested in music. It's also a plus that the staff are always warm and welcoming.

As soon as we entered D&D and I saw the guitars, I knew I had to take a picture to accomplish the pattern prompt. How the guitars were arranged, as well as how their colors complemented each other, made this shot visually pleasing — or, in our Gen Z vocabulary, aesthetic.

EXIF Data

It was quite a dark place, so I had to increase the ISO to 1,000. The adjusted focal point was because I wanted to capture all the displayed guitars.

Motion

Keys

This is truly a satisfying picture to me, as I got to use our tripod and set the shot up myself. Thank God for the camera timer, which I was so surprised to find out about! There were three options, namely 2s, 5s, and 10s, and I ended up choosing the 10s timer to give myself enough time to get into the position and play some random song for the shot.

Additionally, it's been a while since I had my hands on the keys. I was caught up in academics and didn't have time to play music until this moment.

EXIF Data

I quickly figured out that my fingers were too small for the weighted keys. I couldn't move them as freely as I would have liked, so I settled with the default 1/100s shutter speed setting of the camera. The speed was enough to capture the movement of my fingers on the keys without much blurriness, except for my left hand.

I increased the ISO to 1,200 because of the darkness of the room. I also adjusted the focal length to 66mm so as not to capture my face.

Night Photography

April 5, Saturday — As I've mentioned in the previous assignment (Blog 1), I wanted to try out shooting images at the UP Fair. It's just a bummer I wasn't able to bring my camera. I thought it was prohibited inside the fairgrounds, so it was a surprise to see tons of people carrying their DSLRs. This time, I borrowed my sister's phone (Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra) and utilized its zoom feature.

Lua

I've been a fan of Over October since 2021, and I'm proud to have seen them on several occasions, including the UP Fair.

The man in this photo is named Joshua Lua, Over October's lead guitarist. Lua (as we call him because there's another Joshua in the band) is a clear favorite among the fans, while I had another favorite band member. But then, as I looked back on the photos I captured during their set, I thought Lua was the most eye candy of them. I may have to reconsider my favorite member after all.

EXIF Data

Among the five photos, this one clearly had the greatest amount of focal length. We were far from the stage, so I had to zoom in to get a clear shot of Lua.

The stage benefitted from the lighting setup, so I only had an ISO of 160. The shutter speed here was 1/60, which means I had to be extra steady with my hands — especially with that much zoom — to avoid motion blur.

Conclusion

Honestly, I felt so much pressure prior to doing this assignment, mainly because I thought there were several prompts to work with. But I gladly enjoyed taking pictures and had so much more learning with the camera than the last time.

For my entries in this assignment, I think it's clear that I mostly played with the ISO and focal length and didn't have much room to explore the aperture and shutter speed. I do hope I can experiment more with those settings in future projects. Still, I am pleased with the photos I shared here and feel more confident to continue practicing my photography skills.

My favorite picture would have to be Keys, which is my take on motion photography. I feel proud of the outcome since I was the one behind and in front of the camera. I also thought it was good practice for my Assignment 5b if I do decide to go for self-portraiture.

All in all, I love that this assignment pushed me out of my comfort zone! Each photo tells a part of my story, whether it’s rediscovering my love for music, navigating how to fully capture trees, or finding out that I could take photos while enjoying my favorite band's live performance. And for that, I am grateful.