Filed under: Portraits, Strobist | Tags: DOF, Fashion, flash, glamour, Location, model, photography, portrait, Strobist, sunlight, tips
A while ago back I did the second session for the FillesFolles girls. While we had cool locations indoor something else caught my attention outside. The garage was made of these glass square tiles and would make for a great backdrop.
The sun was out hard that day so to avoid racoon eyes I need some fill flash.
On the first portrait one 580EXII was used on 1/2 power shot trough an umbrella camera left from close distance to the subject (for softer light) Now when using external flash I can’t go faster than 1/250th of a second so I had to close my aperture down not to get the image overexposed because of the harsh sunlight.
While technically there is nothing wrong with this first image I wanted a different look … a shallower depth of field. We opened up the garagedoor and positioned the model inside. With the same lighting scheme, the flash now acted as the main light (power to 1/4) and the light falling inside on the right acted as a fill. The hard sunlight hitting the glass tiles provided the backlight.
I now had control over the amount of available light and was able to open up my aperture to F2.8 to get the effect I wanted. I could also play around with the lighting ratios left & right. There even is a nice triangle of light on her left cheek (camera right)
I love it when a plan comes together 
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: belly, couple, photography, photoshoot, Pregnancy, Pregnancy & Maternity sessions, pregnant, session, woman
So it is true what they say about photography, only 30% of your time is spent shooting, the other 70% of your time is spent behind a computer screen. This shoot took about 3 hours.
The day the shoot after I skimmed through the images selecting the “keepers” & deleting the failures. (approx 1 hour) What I’ve learned so far is that you have to let the images rest a couple of days before going trough them a second time, the second time reviewing gives you a totally different view on things. I also show my selection to Wenti or Tom, depending on that, I’ve got more or less keepers. I noticed that my ratio of hit/keepers has increased dramatically since I’ve started out, so practice does make perfect a difference.
Yesterday I’ve spent 4 hours editing the keepers. Editing is a difficult thing … so many options but where do you draw the line ?
In the first picture I took a radical turn from what I normally do. Call it an artistic impression …
Maybe this is a bit daring , the reactions on BD and flickr are mixed. I agree this edit is not the most commercial approach, but it IS different… If this would have been the only picture I supplied for a pregnancy session it would be bad, but here it more of bonus. (black&white or color)
When I do a session like this I try to do a couple of different looks & work with the location so there is no 1 style throughout the shoot. Although “my” style is starting to show.
And now for some other pictures …
 |
 |
A big warm thanks to Anne & Kristof for this very fun shoot and for letting me use all images.
We’ll probably meet again in a couple of weeks
Filed under: Engagement & Wedding Photography | Tags: Engagement & Wedding Photography
Maybe a bit off topic …
This weekend we were introduced to a game called geocaching, we were able to lend a GPS device from a couple of friends and took our first steps in the game.
At the heinkenbergs chappel a couple of newly-weds stepped out of the chappel surrounded by a bunch of family photographers led by htvmonique
I watched them for a while taking pictures in the garden, against the hedge, trees etc … not really taking advantage of the very shiny H20 hummer. I gently redirected everyone towards the hummer & took a shot myself
I can’t seem to keep my camera stashed away, but it was good practice
Processing : cloned high wires & number plate. gradient filter on the sky, vignetting and a minor dave hill approach. Wanted to add some punch to a rather classic pose.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: belly, photography, Pregnancy, Pregnancy & Maternity sessions, pregnant, Strobist, woman
A small teaser preview from a wonderful & fun pregnancy session I had with Anne & Kristof last night.
Kristof is a painter/graphic artist, so this conceptual idea was thought of beforehand. I knew I wanted to do a paint theme, the artworks are made & thought of by mr. kilar himself. And let me tell you what you see here is only the tip of the iceberg.
Check out some of his work on his site. kilar.be
