Beauty of the Philippines, a photo from Manila, NCR

Photographer's Note

Filipina women are reputed to be amongst the most beautiful in the world – although some say it is a toss up between the Philippines and Kazakhstan as to which country has the most beautiful women. This young Filipina was sitting on the wall of Fort Santiago, when I was exploring Manila’s old walled city of Intramuros last week, and she kindly agreed for me to take a portrait shot for Trek Earth.

In order to comply with the Trek Earth TOS that postings should teach us something about the world (and in case a discussion about which country has the most beautiful women does not count towards that), I have shot this looking over the tops of the palm trees in Fort Santiago Park towards the clock tower and cupola of the Manila Cathedral. Although the cathedral looks quite old, it was in fact rebuilt in 1951 after being bombed at the end of World War II. This was the fifth time it had been rebuilt since it was first constructed in 1581 – the first four having being destroyed by fire or earthquakes.

I shot this against the late afternoon sun which is partly hidden by some approaching rain clouds, and the narrow DOF has created an attractive ‘watercolour’ effect in the cloud layers. I used an external bounce flash to minimise reflections on the face.

don_narayan, WorldGuru, devimeuxbe, fireflyz, MLINES, saamb, Mistral, kajspice, chefrancisco, claire526, woozbman has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Saule (289) 2006-01-12 22:13

Hey, she is really pretty but i would say Kazakhstan wins anyway :)))
I like how there's two different meanings of the word "beauty" shown in this picture, the beautiful girl and the beuatiful scenery, nice job!
Saule.

markoci (3933) 2006-01-13 4:46

a beautiful pinay and a good compo, i like the buildings in the bg. great use of fill in flash (maybe some of the reflections could be dimmed on the eye and teeth?) also perhaps a bit too much noise in the bg. nice portrait though overall.

kensimage (8563) 2006-01-13 11:57

A well-done portrait, David--the lighting is great! How did you do it? (It can't be just ordinary flash.) Sort of a Mona Lisa thing here--pretty girl, half smile, landscape behind her. If Leonardo had owned a D100, he wouldn't have bothered with paint. (He probably had sketches for a D100 in one of his notebooks, but didn't get around to building one.) Regards, Ken.

capthaddock (28790) 2006-01-13 14:18

Hi David - I haven't been to either country yet, but this is a fine portrait combining flash and natural light in the background, perhaps testing a little the subject standards of this site, but it's a great photo so who cares.

don_narayan (2014) 2006-01-13 17:39

hi David. Very nice, classic portrait with lovely background and DoF. The flash is great, almost like it is not there, nice and subtle. Well, i have never been to the Philippines, but I can certainly vouch for the Kazakh reputation.

Narayan

Mingfang (1415) 2006-01-14 12:04

hi David!

beautiful captured! nice composition with the girl on the side. good Dof.

happy new year to you! (a little bit late, but it is the good time for a Chinese.)

devimeuxbe (58557) 2006-01-16 3:27

Hi David
I have never been in Filipina but when i see this picture i believe thant the Filipinas women are the most beautiful in the word.
This portrait is great with the background nice also.
Have a nice day.
Bertrand

Jocels (79) 2006-01-16 23:07

Filipina girls will always dominate the top most beautiful girls on earth! This one is a prime example. Beautiful shot...captures her exquisite features brillantly, and the background works great too!

poulinp (4528) 2006-01-18 12:32

Superb portrait, well composed and balanced with the blured background. I like it a lot.

fireflyz (2097) 2006-01-18 14:17

What a nice looking cathedral, David! ;)
I like your use of flash here. It's just right. well composed with good DOF. As for the most beautiful women in the word, I don't agree with this list (sorry).. doesn't everyone have their own? anyways.. here is mine: 1. Iran 2. Northern Europe (Norway, sweden,..) 3. Vietnam 4. Russia 5. Ukraine (fine note: this list is subject to change without prior notice!)
Cheers,
Skye

rosaline (0) 2006-01-19 5:05

David
Thanks for visiting my gallery. I notice you have some interesting work from South East Asia. I particularly like the way you have framed this shot with the subject to one side of the frame. The exposure and colouring are good, and the shot has good impact. Thanks for sharing this.
Aubrey

MLINES (12516) 2006-01-31 1:48

David, Good portrait you have captured here. The pose is good and the background is great for you remembering the moment in time. Your story is good. Excellent photo all round.

saamb (1008) 2006-02-01 12:11

they are beautiful for their eyes. i like your nice work of a nice face.
saam

voyagenation (1180) 2006-07-13 11:09

as far as i know at least two Filipinas have been named miss universe, at least three miss international title holders and that perhpas should be a good gauge. i am of course biased i am, after all Filipino, i am sure though the Kazakh women will be equal in beauty.

thanks for this post, your flash lighting is unobstruisve its so refreshing and your text
details is informative as well even to locals such like me. bravo!

pablominto (53746) 2006-07-30 17:49

Hello David,
A very pleasant composition with a very attractive model!
Fill flash works nicely, even if the artificial lighting stands out a bit over the background...
In my humble opinion no one beats SE Asian women when it comes to femininity, in looks but even more in movements and behaviour...
Greetings,
Pablo -

pinakie_slg (861) 2007-03-19 23:15

she, the concept and the composition with the note is beautiful - no idea about the kazakz.