I am a multi-genre artist and consequently I have a few websites and few portfolio's. It was all too scattered so I decided to put all of my best work together in one folio, in separate categories. It took me a few days to update my entire portfolio on Smugmug. I went through all of my photos and picked those that I personally think represent what I do as an artist. New portfolio holds all types of photography: portraiture photography, architecture photography and cityscapes, street photography, photoshop manipulations and digital art, black and white photography, nature photography and landscapes, boudoir and body art photography, and Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art.

All photos are in their original size at 300dpi. Some of the files are as large as 160MB, so if you are viewing them in original size it may take some times to load them up. All of the images are quality edits which is exactly why I uploaded full size files. Enjoy!

Portrait photography service, Tokyo - website
http://www.portrait-photography-tokyo.com/
Photography workshops in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/photography-workshops.html
Hire a photographer in Tokyo: http://www.ryuurui.com/hire-a-photographer-in-tokyo.html
Photo blog: http://www.japan-in-photography.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ponteryuurui
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PonteRyuurui
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PonteRyuurui/posts
For more tutorials and how to videos check out my photoshop and photography tips and tricks YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEOVGZ2rpLhR7gSPvaexxxQ

We all have photos that we are not sure what to do with. Most of them are casual emotional snapshots of something that we though looked cool at the moment of taking. Either that, or we just take shots with the photoshop compositing in mind. To the left is a photo of one of my photoshop workshops students, taken in Croatia. Below, you can see my photoshop manipulation of that shot, in attempt to redesign the entire composition and feel to the photo. I really like that wall, it adds a lot of the Continental feel, that fragment of an island is something to balance that wall with, but the original image had no clear focus or a self sustained subject of the photo. Success of a photo is based on balance between the shapes and light, and it can be weighted like on a scale. Half of the job is to capture an image, and the other half lays in post production. Either is equally important, though as you can see from this example, knowledge of photo editing can be more powerful that the ability of capturing a good image. I teach photography with the vision of post processing, and you can see why I put so much stress on mastering photoshop. If you are interested in improving your photoshop knowledge you can read more about it here, or contact me directly. 

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art
Check out my new portrait photography services in Tokyo website!

When I was younger I hated school with passion. Not because I do not like to learn, quite the contrary, simply school was too intellectually confined, lacking finesse, and rather dull. I teach photography art the same way as I would like to have learned when I was a kid. I teach not what I know but whatever is that interest you, bearing in mind your current level and skill. I also teach with the vision of post processing and image retouching, as I believe that post processing is equally, if not more important than taking photos, and I really mean that. The technical side of photography, like setting proper ISO, shutter speed and aperture is not that complicated, and sooner or later you will pick it up naturally with practice.  Photography is an art, not a geek show. Leave the technicalities to those who cannot see a bigger picture. The most essential thing to master in photography is understanding the light (with the exception of portrait photography, in which case you also need to understand human psychology, to be able to evoke or comprehend their body language and reactions). You have to fall in love with light, learn how to adjust to it or control it. Light determines compositions, both during night and day. Photography does not exist without light, and good photography does not exist without understanding of how to capture it. I put a huge stress on composition, not in a technical sense, I rather emphasize the artistic  feel of composition and how to sense balance in the image. I teach how to find a photograph in a mess of nothingness, a scene that is loud and convoluted, how to appreciate art in what you thought was mundane, how to see and compose with energy and aura of a scene, rather than place items on the crossing lines of rule of thirds, because the book or article told you to do so. In addition, I also teach post processing and advanced photoshop manipulation online via desktop sharing, so once you return home with your images that you took in Tokyo or any other place, we can continue the education through the internet. My experience and scope as an artist goes far beyond photography, which allows me to see a much bigger picture. I do not just teach photography, I teach art. Contact me for details here. Available photography workshops:  portrait photography, street photography, architecture photography and night photography.

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art
Check out my new portrait photography website!

Here is another image from the sci fi series of futuristic Tokyo. It is a photoshop manipulation of several images. First I digitally blended (watch my tutorial on digital blending in photoshop)a few photos in photoshop to get as much traffic and trains into one photo to make it look busy and crazy overcrowded. Then I added some spacecrafts (deviant art stock images, but soon I will be creating my own 3D art, so stay tuned). Finally I added some light effects, flares, toning, textures, etc. You can watch  a speed art video (scroll below the image) on how this image was created from start to finish. I also created a special section on my YouTube channel devoted to speed art, digital art videos, and photoshop manipulation, because this is what in absolutely love doing! Enjoy!

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art
Check out my new portrait photography website!

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and in photography it usually refers to a scene that has a massive differences between the dark and bright tones. Unlike a human eye, most of the digital cameras, or any cameras, cannot capture extreme dynamic range scenes, though the technology is drastically improving (Alpha Sony 7s comes to mind). So if you cannot dish tens of thousands of dollars for a medium format camera, then HDR editing software is the way to go, or at least it was for me. I used to work with Photomatix and HDR efex PRO 2 from Google software, but to be honest I never was fully satisfied with the results. The process is mostly automated and relatively fast, even if you will make final adjustments in photoshop, but when I started to manually blend layers in photoshop, my photos are clean, artifact free, without any crazy micro contrast or fake looking pale washed out colors (mainly red). Below is a short video that I made today, I am revising some of my older photos and I re-edit them. You can see below the RAW file, then my old HDR edit, and at the very bottom a manually blended image. For full length tutorial on manual blending see my 50 minute long video here. 

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art

Manually digitally blended image

Tokyo is like a vision generator for anyone who is a fan of science fiction. Spaceships, hovercrafts, cyborgs, lasers - yes please! And Akihabara - the Electric City of Tokyo - is N.U.T.Z. God I love this place. When I was taking this shot, in my mind, it was a cut-scene from a sci fi flick. I mean come on, just look at it, it asks to be digitally meddled with. Anyways, the point is, when you shoot, always shoot with a vision of post processing, ALWAYS. And if you cannot post process your shots - learn it how to do it properly. No one is going to do it for you the way you would like to see your final photos. Got to have a vision guys, that is so important to your evolution as an artist. Taking photos is 50% of the fun, the rest happening inside your PC. There is a reason we all shoot in RAW, or at least you should, and it is to get the best ingredients possible and the most flexibility for your artistic cooking. So, learn how to cook, chicks dig it!

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art

Out again today to the streets of Tokyo for capturing some night portraiture. If you follow my blog you know that I love night in the city, and consequently I love drama and deep strong shadows in my photos. Portrait shots are no different. So we popped outside today to capture a few urban portraits, in a semi glamor slash fashion feel to it.  This portrait was shot at a funky angle, with one speed light lighting my model, the rest of the lights are reflections or ambient light on the scene. If you wish to have your portrait photo taken, feel free to contact me directly. To see more of my work, simply browse my portfolio.

My Youtube channel with free photoshop tutorials
Photography workshops in Tokyo - click for more details.
Hire a photographer in Tokyo
Buy original Chinese and Japanese calligraphy art

model: Eccaia