About technique and more.

Natural light the best there is

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Well ok, we can discuss on this topic till the cows come home (hope I got that expression correct), but although I love to use strobes I still believe that shooting with natural light can be one of the most fun things to do. If you never shoot with the available light make sure you try at least a few times during a shoot. I find that many people are so focussed onto the look they want to create with for example strobes that during the photoshoot itself they sometimes forget to also take advantage of what they already have available. And trust me sometimes you will find that those natural light shots can be the best of the whole shoot (I know I did some in between shots during sets that I actually liked more than the strobed ones).

The shots in this blogpost were all done with natural light, although I have to add that we had that beautiful soft box in the sky as our “modifier”, if you read between the lines, it was a real Dutch bad weather day, but for photographers a great day. But don’t get me wrong I also love to shoot in very harsh sunlight and get a much more contrasty look as in this image.

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Carry your camera

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When I visit people the chance is very high that I will also bring my “little friend” in my case a photo camera (5DMKII in most cases).
Actually almost where ever I go I will bring my camera, now some people asked me a while ago “what do you shoot all that time” and to be honest I had to admit that in most cases I will return home without images, or with maybe 2-3 images, however sometimes I will always feel “naked” without my camera, and let’s be honest when you don’t have it with you, you will probably see the most wonderful scene that you would have loved to capture.

 Yesterday I had to visit some customers in the Rotterdam area and I decided to show you guys four images I shot during the drive. I have to add that these images are JUST FOR FUN to show you some of the shots I take when on the road. Two of these images I will probably some time in the future use for a composite (also shot some great structures). But overall the images are just for fun and shot on parking places or in and around the buildings where my customers are located. So here we go.

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White silhouette dance

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Last Thursday I did a session with Susanne, the theme for that day was set to “new” sounds simple but in fact I think it’s very important to sometimes just do things differently. We are all busy and it’s easy to be caught up in a routine and before you know it you are repeating the same thing over and over again without any improvements or “freshness” especially in photography it’s (I think) very important to keep changing and evolving. So in this session I decided to do some “looks” I’ve been playing with in my head for some time but never really brought out to the studio. And as you all know I love motion so it’s no surprise that I involved some motion in the first setup I’m gonna show you guys today (it will be a two part series).

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Funky in Red

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Today a single shot called funky in Red.
As you know I’m a strong advocate for making shots look “different”, finding your own “voice” in photography is maybe the most important tip I can give you. And this does not always mean just adding a “magic” Photoshop created look (although that helps according to most :-)), but it’s also a way of looking at scenes.

 

 

For me personally I love it when a shot is a bit off beat, meaning you look at it and go “hummm I wonder if that is supposed to be worn together, but I like it”. For me finding those “weird” combination is part of the fun and it triggers me to go even a step further the next time. Sometimes it will take some time to convince your model however. Like for instance in this shot the model brought a wonderful and nice gala dress, however when I saw the sneakers and the headphones I wanted to put them together in the shot…. “no it will never look right”, “trust me it will” well that conversation took some time and finally she did it, for me personally I love this shot a lot more than just a standard “gala like” shot with just the dress.