The gigantic Christmas tree lights up Eastwood Mall. The lights and décor at Eastwood are perfect photographic subjects, especially for those into night shots. Anyone can go to Eastwood Mall’s Christmas tree/décor and shoot. Photo by Jude Bautista

Click on link for full screen pics:

http://judebgallery.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/eastwood-lights-bokeh/

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flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14686025@N00/sets/72157638436934786/

Written and Photographed

By Jude Bautista

Over dinner I was flipping through channels and saw NEWS CAFÉ from the SOLAR News channel. It was an episode with Rey Langit, Jarius Bondoc and May Paner aka Juana Change. The topic was about media, the emerging social media, how one affects the other. Each week, the show has 3 journalists from different media like print and broadcast.

News Café host from left Mitzi Borromeo, Guests Rey Langit, Jarius Bondoc and May Paner and Host Amelyn Veloso. Photo from official News Café facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SolarNewsCafe

The show was able to deal with a very important topic and had great insights from both guests and hosts. The concept is vastly different from primetime news shows we’re blasted with on a daily basis. It gets to discuss issues on a deeper level and combines them with the emerging social media.

Mitzi Borromeo Photograph by Arlu Gomez
Image from Mega Magazine’s Ten Most Beautiful, May 2010
From Hand Picked By Ron and Chris http://www.handpickedbyronandchris.com/2013/04/throw-back-thursday-ronald-mabanag.html

When the camera panned to host Mitzi Borromeo, I was both intrigued and captivated. Hers was a very refreshing voice and face that I had not seen before on TV. Although a cursory check on the web showed that she has extensively worked in broadcast.  She was producer and host to STREET SMART in National Geographic and also works with the Mind Museum in Taguig.

Mitzi Borromeo’s facebook cover had a shot of defocused lights, which reminded me of my own photos I recently took at Eastwood Mall.

Her facebook account, (at least I’m assuming its hers) has a VERY interesting cover photo. It has red, yellow lights in the darkness that are slightly defocused. And it reminded me of photos which I took very recently. I took a similar pic about a week ago at the Eastwood Mall.

Shot of Eastwood Mall’s Chritmas lights technical info: 1/20th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

from right: Moy Ortiz and Sweet Plantado of THE COMPANY, Kevin L. Tan, Megaworld 1st VP& Commercial Div. Head, Christine San Joaquin Megaworld VP Mall Mgt., Jericho Go Megaworld 1st VP Business Dev & Leasing, Lourdes G Alfonso Megaworld COO and THE COMPANY’s Cecile Bautista, Annie Quintos and Jay Marquez. Photo was taken during Eastwood’s tree lighting ceremony Nov. 28, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista

As a photographer I was lucky enough to shoot the tree lighting ceremony at Eastwood. Touching news is that MEGAWORLD has donated millions of pesos to YOLANDA victims and rehabilitation of typhoon affected areas, which is the topic for another article. The lights and décor at Eastwood are perfect photographic subjects, especially for those into night shots. Anyone can go to Eastwood Mall’s Christmas tree and shoot the décor and lights, in fact there were quite a few families doing so when I was there.

Toddler inspects Eastwoods Bedazzzling Christmas sign. They have the Bedazzling Christmas Promo which gives you a chance to win a Mini Cooper, a condominium at Eastwood LeGrand , a trip to Singapore for 4 or a cruise for 4 to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Visit http://www.megaworldlifestylemalls.com for details.

Shot of Eastwood Mall’s Chritmas lights technical info: 1/20th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

The real reason for this blog entry is my own photos of defocused lights, the bokeh effect and how I achieved them. Bokeh is the creamy, defocused, subjects or shapes that result from extremely shallow depth of field. Others may interchange the term with Circles of Confusion, the point where out of focus areas become circular.

THE VOW with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum used the lights bokeh as background in one of their scenes. Click on link for full review:
http://judebgallery.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/rekindling-love-in-the-vow/

Shot of Eastwood Mall’s Christmas lights technical info: 1/20th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

For me the photo has a graphic and textural quality, which is great as a background. They also make great shots themselves as abstract subjects, the challenge is being able to distort them enough to create those shapes and glowing lights. I’ve also seen similar photos or even film footage from the title shots of a big Hollywood production company. But one I can’t forget is from THE VOW, which stars Rachel McAdams, used it in their promo stills. Shooting the lights in Eastwood Mall with different lenses, would be able to show different effects and also the bokeh or defocused lights similar to THE VOW.

THE VOW with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum used the lights bokeh as background in one of their scenes. Click on link for full review:
http://judebgallery.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/rekindling-love-in-the-vow/

The background is clearly visible even the Choi Palace sign. This is due to the 15mm wide focal length and the Image stabilization of the lens. technical info: 1/8th sec at 3.5 at 15mm ISO 400—Canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6 IS Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

I started out with my Canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6 IS Lens, on the wide end taking in the posts, lights, wires even the background. Signs can be clearly read such as THE CHOI PALACE Restaurant for example. This happens because on the wide end of the zoom it is able to take more of the scene, with a wider angle of view and has most if not the whole image IN focus or sharp. On the tele end I was able to shoot one of my favorite burger joints in the U.S. –JOHNNY ROCKETS’ neon sign, which is also in Eastwood mall.

On the tele end I was able to shoot one of my favorite burger joints in the U.S. –JOHNNY ROCKETS’ neon sign, which is also in Eastwood mall. Specs: 1/10th sec at 5 44mm ISO 200 Canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6 IS Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

Conventional wisdom would be that you need the opposite end, a long telephoto with a very shallow depth of field. Typically a 70-200mm at 2.8 would be ideal. IS or image stabilization would also be a big help since we’re shooting at night. This is a feature, which stabilizes movement within the lens for sharper pics. In fact I actually saw ANOTHER photographer shooting the lights with a long lens right there as I was shooting. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to achieve bokeh in this way.

Shot of Eastwood Mall’s Christmas lights technical info: 1/20th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

My own personal choice for this task is the Canon 50mm at 2.5 compact MACRO lens. The advantage is the extremely shallow depth of field that it has because it is able to close focus on subjects, inches away. Although the 2.5 aperture is wider than the 2.8, its less of a factor than the close focusing abilities of the macro. A 50mm at 1.8 for example would have very different results. In spite of having a more wide-open aperture of 1.8 bokeh would not be as ‘pleasing’ or distorted.

Late 2011, Charice Pempengco’s eyes are sharp while her tie is slightly out of focus. Two feet behind her, the floor and walls are softly out of focus. This can be achieved with Canon’s 50mm/2.5 Compact Macro. Photo by Jude Bautista

I found out that the extreme close focusing of Canon’s 50mm 2.5 Macro had a wider and more advantageous application in 2011. A bunch of us photojournalists welcomed Charice Pempengco in the airport at that time. And I chose to use the compact macro on her as head portraits as she was being interviewed by reporters. The result was very nice defocused areas while keeping important details of her face in focus, like her eyes.

Shot of Eastwood Mall’s Christmas lights technical info: 1/20th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

So creating defocused areas with these lights would have been easier to achieve with the compact macro. Here I was able to shoot lights with the Christmas balls with one lens shifting from one focusing distance to the next showing the different effects:

Top left: FOCUSED AT 10 feet Top right: FOCUSED AT 5 feet
Bottom left: FOCUSED AT 3 feet Bottom right: FOCUSED AT 1.25 feet
All shots taken: 1/8th sec at 2.5 ISO 400—Canon 50mm 2.5 Compact Macro Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista

Choosing lights, close together or all clumped up is a matter of preference. I suggest you experiment with different angles and distance until you achieve the effect that is pleasing to you. Other MACRO lenses such as the 100mm/2.8 could also work well.

left: FOCUSED AT 1.038 feet but at 1/8th of a second I noticed that I had slow shutter distortion. So what I did was raise my shutter to 1/20th and shot again rendering a ‘sharper’ circles of confusion and darker exposure. (right)

They have the Bedazzling Christmas Promo which gives you a chance to win a Mini Cooper, a condominium at Eastwood LeGrand , a trip to Singapore for 4 or a cruise for 4 to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Visit http://www.megaworldlifestylemalls.com for details.

The background is clearly visible. This is due to the 15mm wide focal length and the Image stabilization of the lens. Technical info: 1/8th sec at 3.5 at 17mm ISO 400—Canon 15-85mm 3.5-5.6 IS Lens Canon 550D. Photo by Jude Bautista