Things I've Learned from my Photograhy Mentor: Basic Color Management and Guerilla Shooting

Last February 5 (2011) was our last day in his class. But instead of going to Sir Jo's class late in the afternoon, most of us are in a race who would arrive first at his studio as that day was also "The Race Day". The race day is a contest for his students that whoever comes first, shall have his picture printed on a canvass plus other goodies courtesy of Sir Jo's sponsors.

Unfortunately, I arrived second at 7:15am which the first person arrived four hours ahead of me XD. We simply exchanged stories as we both waited for sir Jo's studio to open. Then one by one, my fellow classmates came and wasn't surprised as we got earlier than them. By past 10:30am, Sir Jo has already arrived and started warming-up his printer to print our assignments. We had our lunch at the studio and took some more snapshots while waiting for the other to arrive.

Anyway, on our last module, Sir Jo discussed to us is Basic Color Management and Guerilla Shooting when Shooting. Color Management is pretty new to me as I am always contented with having my pictures posted on social media websites. But its actually better to have it printed and smell the photo paper once its printed. He also discussed to us the proper way on having you images print as close as what your eyes see. 

I guess I need to save up on a high-quality printer for me to print some of the images I really liked. Anyway, here are some of the things I've learned from Sir Jo. 

1. One of the worst things to do in Photoshop is to open Photoshop right away. Let your display warm-up first before opening Photoshop. 
2. Make sure that display profile is accurate and/or you should have an embedded software in order for Photoshop to display the actual image (color/brightness). 
3. If you will use your photos for the web, you may use sRGB. If you will have your photos printed, use Adobe RGB
4. Color workspace is like a box of crayons. 
5. Over-saturated images makes it more difficult to print. 
6. Calibrate and Profile your display at least once a month to make your images better. 
7. Rendering Intent is the method used on Gamut Mapping
8. The best shot is the safest shot. 
9. As you raise your camera in height and you point your lens down, your light source should be lower. 
10. Do not be afraid to experiment

If you fin some of the tips too foreign or too weird, visit his website or better yet, enroll in his basic photography classes. 

At the end of the session, your photograph is useless unless you print it and share it with your loved ones and I couldn't agree more.  ^_^

Sir Jo Avila together with his Saturday Class

I'm looking forward to enroll in his Advance Class soon. ^_^