However, when I say this church, I wanted to show in my shot the other side of the coin, showing the heightened structure of the church--implying coldness, grandness, and omnipotent energy surrounding it. I opted for a low ISO setting since I was in broad daylight, a fast shutter speed to lock in the details of the church's intricate sculpture and form, and just an average aperture number since I did not necessarily want a blurred background for the shot. Coincidentally, the blue-stained glasses of the church go well with the theme I was going for. With this shot, I opted to emphasize the symmetry of the structure, leading lines (vertical and diagonal lines) that naturally lead the viewer’s eye to the upward point of the church, contrast of the blue to the white color of the facade, and somewhat rule of thirds with the cross being guided by the upper horizontal grid line. Moreover, the negative space above was just enough to emphasize the tallness of the church more, and also where I shot it. I would also like to add, however, that there was a car parked in the middle--which I deem as the best spot to stand on that could've approached a more lower-angled shot, but I made do with what the situation had to offer. I was just really flabbergasted that out of all spots where the car could park, it was there. To take note as well, no cars were parked, only that car with that sweet spot in the middle.  

Description:

For this shot, I wanted to capture the pattern of the railings I saw just beside the church. I chose ISO 32 since I was also shooting this broad daylight, wherein this low ISO gives me the cleanest image, with minimal noise and distortion as possible--ideal for shooting crispy architectural patterns like the one above. I have chosen a f/1.8 aperture to ensure that there is a deep depth of field, to make sure that the trail of railings is all sharp enough until it ends the frame. At 1/350 shutter speed, this allows me to capture it with no blurs since motion is not a necessity for this shot. Overall, these settings allowed me to have evident patterns in my shot, a leading radial movement with the trailing rails, contrast of the highlights and shadows, and good evidence of repetition and rhythm from the pattern. Furthermore, changing this to a black-and-white shot allowed more emphasis for the viewers to see the pattern, as making this colored would just distract the viewers from what to look at. I named this shot curved control because this can be depicted that life is not a straight line, and having yourself become disciplined as steel from the curvatures of life is what leads you to growth and movement.  

Description:

Since this shot was taken at night, I had to borrow my friend's phone since his is significantly better. I wanted this shot to capture the essence of having an isolated moment with yourself--basically a mouse moment--a popularized term a few years ago on TikTok where you eat alone by yourself outside, enjoying your own company. But in this case, the subject, who was my high school teacher, is reading a book in an enclosed space and enjoying the figurative company of The Art of War. For this shot, I had to make use of a high ISO number because the enclosed space had no light, where the ISO was just enough to not create noise in the blacks of the photo and add drama/mood to the shot. To give context, this was shot in Ayala Triangle Gardens, with a small, dark, and semi-enclosed library hub in the middle of the park. To accompany the darkness, I had him hold my phone with full brightness to still capture his face and hit the light on his eyes to add more dimension. This also adds drama and the "lightness" that reading brings. For the shallow depth of field, I used the iPhone's portrait mode feature and manually adjusted the aperture to f/1.78, which partially blurred out the bookshelves. I did not opt to go all the way down for a bigger aperture since I still wanted the books to have form in the background and see that it is a shelf full of books. As for the shutter speed, the subject was not moving that much, which allowed me to keep the balanced darkness of the overall shot and have a lower shutter speed. Overall, I implemented a frame within a frame shot with the triangle-shaped library hub, contrast of the shadows and light, emphasis on the subject, rule of thirds by aligning the eyes to the upper-left quadrant of the grid, DOF, and movement with the subtle page flip. 

Description:

Noticing the shot, there was a part of the flower that had already withered. Unfortunately, almost all Kalachuchi's that I can shoot from my height were withered; however, I had a realization upon shooting this. I named the shot perfectly imperfect since the flower is like us with our insecurities. Just like us, we may have regarded some parts of ourselves as unloved and unwanted, but that does not diminish nor define your overall beauty. I chose a low ISO because a perfect time came down from the rays of the sun, the moment I tried to capture this photo. This allowed the shot to have that golden glow--aside from adjusting the dials of the saturation of post-processing--it was naturally delivered. With my phone's portrait mode, I manually dialed the aperture to f/1.8 to give a shallow depth of field and give a medium blur that allowed negative spaces from the branches and the other kalachuchi clusters to still peek through. Having to shoot a flower that requires details in its structure, I also chose a high shutter speed to lock in the fine details and softness of petals that show through the flower, allowing the viewers to envision the texture. Overall, I used the rule of thirds by placing the main subject at the lower-left quadrant of the grid, emphasizing the cluster of flowers as the subject. 

Description:

Last but not least, which is also quite a different shot from the many, is how I took this shot before the assignment. I must admit that I was not able to prioritize shooting fast enough for my assignment's deadline. However, I was fortunate enough to have a shot on hand, which prioritized motion very much. Originally, I have also shots of motion taken with my previous entries in this assignment, but they were not good enough for my liking--considering that the shutter speed of my phone is just limited, and I wanted to do more for my work. For this shot, I manually lowered the brightness dial and chose a higher-end ISO to brighten up the area, but not so much that it would generate noise on my shot--this allowed me to prevent overexposing the fire as well. For the aperture, I was able to stick to this range like my previous shots, which was just enough to show the crisp background surrounding the fire which is the sand, and a 1/59 shutter speed just enough as well to keep the structure of the fire and have it gradually fade to glowing motion at its peak. For this shot, I have incorporated rule of thirds, placing the base of the bonfire at the lower middle horizontal line of the grid.