Photos [P] Some Photos from Boracay, Philippines

Have been in the Philippines for the last few months, staying on the island of Boracay for the last two months. Just wanted to share some of my favourite photos so far. Have been inspired to get out with my camera quite regularly as the island is so beautiful with a wildly different sunset every night! The only thing that worries me is the extra fine sand on white beach which has a habit of getting EVERYWHERE. Perhaps it's time to try out the weathersealing on some of the more expensive Olympus lenses

Here we go

1. A typical morning scene on White Beach. If you get out early enough, the sun is coming over the hills behind you perfectly lighting any subjects on the beach.



2. Morning prayers in front of the grotto on White Beach.



3. A scene looking down White Beach just before sunset.



4. Two Paraws shot just after sunset. I had to take several shots to get the effect I wanted with the two masts parallel, due to movement in the water.



And my two favourites:

5. This photo I feel nicely captures the spirit of barangay, or community spirit as we might describe. As this banka neared completion, most of the barangay inhabitants turned out to help carry it onto the beach so the outriggers and finishing touches could be completed. I have several shots of this but I like this the most.



6. While the typical sunsets are generally picture perfect with a large orange ball sinking into the see, I found this scene to be rather striking. Taken about twenty minutes before sunset on a cloudy evening. This is now my desktop background!



Please feel free to offer comments and critique. I won't pretend to know all there is to know about photography and would welcome constructive criticism.

I hope you enjoy the pictures

PS, should probably say, all pictures were taken with an Olympus E-500 and either 14-45 or 40-150 (mostly the latter I think)

8-ball

 

4 doesn't work for me, the rest however, mainly 1 and 3 are superb.
And that sunset is a winner for me too

 

Some really nice photos there. Number 1 is a great one, looks just like a postcard or something with that aspect.

Number 3's really nice, with the long beach trailing off, any chance of a slightly larger version?

Love the sunset one, that's really nice. Looks like you had a good time!

I wish I'd had a decent camera when I went to Mauritius a few years ago, utterly beautiful place.

 

Thanks for the positive comments guys. Am really enjoying taking pictures out here. I feel spoilt for choice at times. Gonna be here for a year though so should have plenty of time to explore and find some less developed parts.

As for larger copies, have slightly larger versions on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexwgreen/

Will hopefully put more photos up there when I get the time, but will definitely post them here too.

Also, how do the colours look on your monitors. I think they look ok on mine but it isn't calibrated, so it would be interesting to get feedback on what other's think.

Thanks again

8-ball

 

The colours look fine to me, but then again, I'm not a photo buff.

Cheers for the linkage to your flickr account.

What are you out there for? Exchange year or something?

 

Colours look ok here, but I am on a half dimmed laptop in the dark.

Numbers 3, 5, and 6 are the picks of what you posted.

3 is a lovely wide shot with great lines leading in to the image, interesting mid-ground, and the excellent cloud in the sky filling an otherwise empty space. Wonderful light, too.

5's an excellent documentary shot. You've really captured the feeling of people clubbing together for a common goal - something that isn't easy to do - so kudos due.

Finally, I love the light shafts you have in 6. I would say the very foreground could be a little better - maybe the beach or harbour - but aside that niggle, it's great.

Keep snappin'!

 

@ Krikkit,

Came to the philippines to visit my gf just before christmas, originally for 4 weeks. Kept rebooking my flight back to the UK, then we came down to Boracay with her family for 4 days at the end of January and never left. Going back to the UK for a couple of months then back out here for the rest of the year.

@ Hwulex

Thanks for the comments.

no 3 is definitely growing on me the more I look at it. I'm not sure how much I was thinking about the compositional elements as I took it, just felt like a nice picture as I looked through the viewfinder.

no 5 was a lucky one I guess. was just going for a walk with my girlfriend and decided to run back up to the house to get my camera. Not sure why as the light was pretty poor and that's definitely a weakness for Olympus cameras. Had I taken it with me, I would have missed the scene cos I would have already been round the headland when they came out. Most of the shots were soft and noisy because of the low light, but that one seems to be ok.

no 6, apart from the quality of that particular sky is fairly typical of most of my sunset shots. It was taken from the living room terrace and and the tree line is all I have to work with for foreground.

Foreground is definitely something that I have in the back of my mind, though I'm still not sure how best to achieve the effect. Any tips on getting foreground and sky both in focus and correctly exposed?

I feel like I have an eye for some photos, only most look a little lacking for lack of certain elements, foreground being the most common.

Thanks again for the input guys.

Will try to PP some more of my shots and get them uploaded. Maybe can do a big session when I get back to the UK in a couple of weeks.

8-ball

 

Great shots!

4 doesn't do much for me, but 1 to 3 are brilliant!

 

1 and 5 for me,
Both just capture a moment in time, and can't be replicated (well not exactly )