Portraiture in Nature Workshop with Manny Librodo
by Tess
It was a long wait and wish come true attending a Manny Librodo workshop.
I was excited to meet “The Man” in person. For me, it was truly a different feeling seeing him in person, star-struck they say hehehe.
It was a one-day photoshoot cum photo-editing session, so i need to absorb all information that my brain can handle especially when it comes to photoshop. Haha you guessed it right! I’m a total noob with this photoshop thing. c”,)
And so the workshop day comes, 11th July 2009 Saturday. I arrived Manila a day before at 4AM and back again to Singapore a day after the workshop. Wheeww! It’s a bit tiring but all worth it when I saw the raw pics from my CF card. 
Anyway, the location was in Mt. Makiling Botanical garden in Laguna. Manny Librodo introduces himself along with his model Kharu. Yes indeed, it was the very pro Kharu. A note from his introduction also is that he said he’s an ‘Aperture Priority’ man. He shoots on ‘aperture priority’ mode, he loves those creamy bokeh and if it allows to, is to shoot using big apertures (ie. f2.8, etc.) And so I set my camera at f2.8, Av, ISO 100 / ISO 200.
(Photo grabbed from Mr. Joel Garcia)
We were divided into groups of three. Each group was given a chance to shoot Kharu face-to-face while the others are sniping around to get some good shots while waiting for their turn.
The setup practically is working with natural light and just using two reflectors. Manny and Kharu was very good in finding where the light is. Once finding the good spot, be ready with your camera and CF as Kharu is very professional when it comes to poses. She changes her pose a lot but with grace and emotions. Imagine, I used-up my two 8Gb CF cards!
Now the afternoon schedule was into the post-processing session. Manny Librodo showed us some of his workflow, how he processed those beautiful eyes (visit his pbase account) by using the Shadow/Highlights in the Image->Adjustment option.
Another is how he isolates the subject from the background using the ‘Multiply’ blending option and/or by selecting one of the ‘Red, Green, Blue Channels’ selection.
Along with the very popular Librodo sharpening technique. Here it is:
Background copy
USM 18-40-0 (Amount-Radius-Threshold)
USM 150-.3-0
Edit>Fade USM 100% in Darken Mode
USM 150-.3-0
Edit>Fade USM 50% in Lighten Mode
Flatten image
Manny Librodo also showed us how he processes his well-known high-key effect. He uses the ‘Screen’ blending option which I think I still need to learn more to get the correct effect. c”,) Here btw is the sample high-key that Manny Librodo intially processed, shot is taken by me.
I recommend to everyone if you have the opportunity to attend to one of Manny Librodo’s workshop, take that chance, you’ll never regret it. 
