About technique and more.

Poses

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One of the things that I always see as an eye opener for people struggling with getting forward in Photography is pointing out what you can achieve with lights only. And to be honest that’s not that much. Yes you can make stunning images with great light, you can light models in a way that other people maybe aren’t able to pull off, but in the end for me that doesn’t make the shot. For me a good shot is carried not only by technique but also by pose, expression and of course technique but technique to be honest is just a small part of the total package.


To experiment a bit with this topic I asked Stephanie to work with me during a very quick photoshoot and just only concentrate on poses, so we used a very simple light setup (one light) and let Stephanie really be the center point of attention with her poses, and of course we also played a bit with some of her clothing like for example the shoes, just to create a fashion image you normally don’t see. As you can see in this series it’s very easy to shoot a model just standing there, but it becomes increasingly harder to find the curves, poses etc. that fit the model. This is also why I always strongly believe in the fact that if you pay a model because she is better than the models you normally shoot on TFP (Time For Print) you will get a lot better in your photography, they can teach you so very much just by showing you the poses, and you can build from there.

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Cherelle small flash

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A few months ago I started teaching the small flash workshop.
I did use small flash before this of course but somehow never taught a workshop about it, until I talked a bit with Joe McNally who pointed out to me that there was a lot of interest for small flash workshops in a more technical approach, and because I’m a strong believer in understanding what’s going on when you shoot I decided to write a workshop that does not only tell you about ETTL and show some light setups, but a workshop that tells you where ETTL goes wrong and how you can solve this, but also how to shoot (and meter) for full manual mode, and of course how to use creative light setups, groups, ratios etc.

Last week it was time for Cherelle to be my model for the small flash workshop.
In this blog post some more information about the techniques, gear and of course some of my favorite shots from that day.

 

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Which lens to buy, or not

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I think one of the most asked gear questions I get is which lens to buy.
Let’s first make one thing clear, I love that people mail me questions and I always answer them (and will continue doing that of course), some of those questions however trigger me into writing a blog post about them, and without a doubt this is one of them.


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All people that …… are ……. WORD!!!

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Must be the weirdest title I ever used for an article.
You can fill in the blanks yourself, but let me start by doing one that I wrote this article about.

 

All people that don’t meter are stupid……
And before you explode and start mailing me, please read on.
Every week I get a few mails from people that have seen me using a meter and they are always in 2 camps. 1 group will try to convince me that they love the work I do but advise me to stop using a meter, the other group wonder why there are so many people out there on the web, on youtube, on training sites etc. who still struggle without a meter.


It’s no secret that I love to use my meter, in every workshop there is some attention to the meter and how to proper use the tool. And there we go already please do remember that the meter is just a tool. In the end it all boils down that we tell a story with our images, move people with our images or/and make something interesting for other people to enjoy, endure or love. That’s photography. Using a meter is just a tool to get to that end result.

 

First things first
Don’t read this as if I say that you shouldn’t use a meter, no way.
I strongly (and really read STRONGLY) believe that if you’re into photography, and you don’t even have to be a pro, you will have to use a meter to get accurate and constant results. I really don’t care if people say that they get great results without meter, my answer to them is “you will get there quicker and probably even get better results when you DO use a meter”. But in the end, and please do remember this…. you can make shitty images with a meter and great work without. But let’s look at some things I want to clarify.

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