Sony Visionaries: Nunatus Tongkus

Nunatus Tongkus talks about his portrait shoot experiences, his landscape work and his saintly name.

Gerome Soriano

Nunatus tell us about your background? How you got into photography? And is Nunatas is your real name it's quite rare among Filipinos to be named Nunatus.

Nunatus Tongkus

I bought my first slr/slt march 5, 2011... Before buying, i did a lot of researching about the latest cameras, it boiled down to sony a55 and canon's 60d... The rest was history... I bought a camera just for family occasions document my daughter's activities, in short just for a hobby... Thinking just like what people not into photography thinks of a camera, when you get an slr, it will translate to good pictures, which off course is not the case...

My real name is not Nunatus Tongkus, but my mom named me after the Patron Saint of pregnant women(St. Raymond Nunatus)... I just did not like the idea then, to post my real name on social networking site, so i just thought of a catchy name... Hehehe

Gerome Soriano

So Sony a55 won the battle, what happened after you got the camera?

Nunatus Tongkus

I'm a specs person that's why the sony a55 won...

I remember when i got home after buying the camera, clueless as to how to use it, i called a friend who is into photography to come to my house and teach me the basics...

It was then that i learned the use of the manual controls, not fully understanding the science behind it, but i learned quickly... He just said to adjust the shutterspeed until the metering becomes 0 or pag nasa gitna na, tama na ang exposure nyan... (if it's the middle the exposure is good)

It was that night also where i learned my first trick which he thought me... Using bulb mode and lightpainting which really caught my attention and interest... It is then that i decided/realized that i want to learn this art...

Gerome Soriano

Which leads us nicely to your photographs? Would you mind sharing some stories behind them?

Nunatus Tongkus

This photo was one of the first studio portraits i did... Did not know exactly what i was doing, got some pictures from magazines, tried imitating the light, the clothes and the pose, etc, pointed the light above left of subject and this was the product... Ü

NON "Tang-Luts" images...

IT'S A SONY

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

This set was inspired by YowaYowa, the Japanese levitating girl... This kept my brains busy for a few months, thinking of concepts, new places to levitate in, etc... My concept here was just to show my friend levitating in different places with the same outfit all the time, basically that's it... FAQ: did you photoshop him?, does he really fly? Etc etc...

TANG-LUTS (LEVITATION)

IT'S A SONY... #3

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

Composites... I love doing this, I'm not saying I'm good at it, but i just love the limitless possibilities of this technique...

NON "Tang-Luts" images...

n9...

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

Female Studio Portraits... This is what i've been trying to avoid ever since... It is 100 times more difficult to shoot females... One reason is, you can't do without a makeup artist, not unlike males which i can shoot without makeup... Not to mention the post processing which comes after, it is more tedious for females...

NON "Tang-Luts" images...

model: Luningning

make up: ArNie Villanueva

special thank you to: Sir Jiggie Alejandrino

photo: Nunatus Tongkus

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

Portrait, layers, textures, super processed photo... One of my favorite photos... I took this in one of the workshops I took last year... I think I just clicked like 20x during that workshop, I wasn't really planning to shoot that day, I was just really interested on the post processing techniques that I was about to learn... I didn't even think that i took a good photo that day... The original photo of this wasn't even good to say the least... It was only when i decided to process this, as i added layers and layers, textures and textures, clone stamp here, clone stamp there, levels here levels there, that i realized it's potential... It wasn't that bad afterall...

NON "Tang-Luts" images...

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

Landscapes, nightscapes, places whatever you call it... I just had to learn the techniques in capturing amazing photos of these genre... Although i might be limited to capturing nightscapes, reason being im super tamad (lazy), ayaw kong pinapawisan (i don't like being sweaty), i always want to be in places where i can be comfortable... That's why i love studio work... Hehehe

NON "Tang-Luts" images...

n9 in Singapore...

By: SONY Alpha Tang-Luts (LEVITATION)

Next question? Ü

Gerome Soriano

Anything else you want to share

Nunatus Tongkus

Hahaha, I can't think of anything to add...

Gerome Soriano

Guess that will be it. Thanks for your time Nunatus

Nunatus Tongkus

Okegud... Ü