Steampunk / fantasy portrait

  Felt that I need a portrait shoot yesterday, so I asked my spouse if she could model for me. You really don't need much for a portrait shoot, but I wanted to do a bit of a fantasy / steampunk kind of a shoot. An old cap that I'm still using sometimes, funny welding glasses, a scarf and then of course some extra props like an axe, white globe, old keys etc. and there you go, your model has been transformed to the hero you need for your shoot.

  For lighting I  used mainly one flashgun from the camera right, shot through a softbox, and a white reflector camera left to fill in a little. In a couple of images we had a flashgun inside the globe as well. Here's the results. You can make up the stiry by your self. Enjoy...

A fairy tale shoot in the garden

  Had a wonderful shoot in our garden this week. As so often, Krisi volunteered to model, so big thanks for her. I had planned for a while a photo shoot under the walnut tree, and finally we had the opportunity. This time it took a while to prepare, but it was definitely worth it. During the last couple of years I have made a nice small collection of lanterns, so I thought it would be nice to use them as well. Then we had a nice set of other props as well, white mask, candles, wine bottle, moose horn, birdcage etc. just to ad to the mood of the shoot. Happy that none of the lanterns didn't fall as we were shooting. The theme was something like "fairy tale supper in the garden". For the lighting I used only one speedlight shot through an umbrella.

  

It takes only few minutes

  Thought I'd share a few images from yesterday. For a long time I've wanted to make a fantasy themed photo shoot in a forest, but it seems that I'll just can't find the time for it. As I'm waiting I'll try to use the time as well as I can and use the opportunities in between, for small photo shoots. This time the session didn't take more than 15-20 minutes. I used some props I've collected from here and there, a top hat, my own coat, my wife's scarf, an umbrella, the models iphone etc.
  For lighting only one simple small speedlight and a shoot through umbrella. As the walls were white and I wanted darker surroundings I hanged a dark cloth on the wall. It's simple as that.

    

Control

  If I could choose where to shoot, it most certainly would be away from home. Maybe in an abandoned building or in a mysterious forest. But as much as I do love to shoot outside it can be a challenge sometimes to haul my self out there, you know because of laziness. One more thing is that if I have the privilege to work with someone who is willing to model, I just don't like the idea of him or her freezing to death. It's not that much of a problem during the spring, summer or fall, but the winter. So if the weather isn't fine enough just stay at home. It's so nice to work inside when it's warm and cozy. Good for me, good for the model and the equipment. So what would you have to have in mind when shooting portraits at home?
  I'm not lucky enough to live in a fancy place with lots of square meters. What's worse is that the ceiling is pretty low, you can stand and touch it with your hand without a ladder or chair. The ceiling is white as they tend to be often and the walls are painted light beige. Not too bad if you want to shoot images that require light, maybe some hi-key portraits. But how about some dark low-key stuff? Biggest issue would be the light bouncing from the ceiling and walls, and hitting things you don't want. So definitely a problem, but solvable problem.
  A large black piece of fabric will make a nice dark backdrop and kill some of that light that otherwise would reflect from the walls. The next thing would be to control your light. For the following images I used two different kinds of light modifiers, a home made grid which nicely directs the light to only one direction, and a flash bender, which allows you to direct the light and prevent light hitting for example the wall or ceiling or both.
  So in the end it's all about controlling the light. In a a large space it's obviously easier, but if you are working in a small room you still can manage. Fastest sync speed possible, stopped down f-number, inverse square law, light modifiers, all of these help you to have control over your light.

Lighting up the winter

  I'm on little vacation from nature photography it seems. Of course I'm already eagerly waiting the herp season 2017 to get off, but it will take a while until we are there. So what to do while waiting? Days are getting shorter and that means less light. Good time for some portraiture with some artificial lighting. You don't need to fancy equipment. One flash light may be enough, just as I wrote in my previous post. The rest is up to you. A model and some props. As a model for this shoot was chosen my lovely wife. She was the MUA as well. Clothes from her wardrobe. Some props hanging around were chosen as well... grandpas old alarm clock, a small hat hanging on the wall as a decoration, one free running cat, a snifter and some cheap brandy ( the idea was to use some red wine, but some moron drank it all.). Oh, and a fabric that's waiting to become a dress some day was used as a backdrop. Simple, right? Afterwards some PP. Tried to achieve some kind of a steampunk western look with the filters I used. For an half an hour shoot I'm pretty satisfied with results.

     

How many do you need?

  Obviously the essential form shaper in photography is light. We have the ambient light and then there is the artificial light. So often we tend to love the first, and to fear the second. It feels so safe to rely on the surrounding light. Just choose your aperture and shutter speed and go. But how about when the light surrounding us is not good or there just is too little of it? Of course we could always pump up our ISOs or use a slower shutter, but all this could introduce some other problems, like noise or unsharp subject. That's when the artificial light comes in handy. There's lots of options available, but my favorite is manual speedlights. They are cheap and easy to haul around where ever you go. So, how many lights do you really need for a shoot? I own a couple speedlight units. I carry them with me almost always and everywhere, and then I usually found my self using only one single. We are pretty satisfied with only one sun, so why wouldn't one speedlight do just as well? The only thing to remember is, get that thing off camera. No matter if you use a cable, optical or radio trigger... Get it off your camera! And learn to work with one light first, later it's easy to ad some more lights if you feel or have to. Here's a few portraits made with only on single off camera flash...

         

A photo shoot in an abandoned military base

  Abandoned buildings and portraits, that's a cool combination. Yesterday a friend asked me if I would like to make a few images with him in them. When someone want's to be photographed and asks me to do it, I'm more than happy to help. So, where to go, is always a good question. I didn't need to think too long, because lately I've been visiting an abandoned army base quite often. A peaceful place for walking the dogs, but works as a scene for photos too. So there we went. My buddy wanted to have a guitar in the pics, so we took one with us. For the images I mostly used a speedlight with a DIY grid attached on, plus one extra flash to get some extra light on the background or as a fill.

                                     
                            

The midwinter sun

   Dark days during December, so an additional light or two might be a good thing. One speedlight can do a lot for an image. A little snow might have been helpful, I mean it's winter anyway, but it seems that the climate exchange is doing its job so no natural reflector from the all white ground. What's cool, is that the weather was sunny, actually almost springlike. So, here's a few photos from a short and healthy walk accompanied by one Yongnuo YN-560 speedlight and Nikon D300s + my lovely wife as a model...

DIY for flash photography

  Without light there wouldn't be any photography. So true, it's all about the light. Where the light goes, how much of it, and of course where it does not got. For all this you need some tools. You need light and you want some light modifiers. When it comes to modifiers, you can always buy them, but there's an option... DIY! Basically I hate DIY, but I decided to try to make my own speedlight honeycomb grid. With some black plastic straws, glue, black cardboard, black tape and a little patience you'll end up with a light modifier that controls your flash in an awesome way. As a base for my grid I used this idea. I really don't believe that my bungle will last forever, so I probably will be buying one in the future, but for now I'll try to cope with this handmade thingie. Here's a couple test shots...

Lady in red

  Saturday was a big day for my friends, Nikolaj and Petya. I had the honor to be the photographer, so later when the post processing is done and the couple has got their images I'll try to post a few photos. At the venue I saw this beautiful (mysterious) lady, dressed in red. Just couldn't help my self, but had to ask her to pose for a couple of shots. Used my old faithful Nikon SB-600 on a stand behind a white glass door to the right from the model.

More kittens... (sigh!)

  Working on my flash technique and trying to figure out how to use a reflector by my self. Really, I feel like I need one more hand, two for the camera and one for the reflector or flash. I guess an assistant would be even better... maybe one day. So, anyway, the kittens are growing and we even got rid of with two, both went to good homes. One'll stay, so it means three to go. Meanwhile, as I feel it's too hot to get out, I'm shooting kittens inside. As said, I'm trying to hone my lighting skills. Still quite faraway from Joe Mcnally, Frank Doorhof and other lighting gurus, however I'm trying. So here they are, more kittens, enjoy. ( I'm sick of kittens already, but what can I do? )

Cats, cats, dogs and one wife...

  During the past two weeks I've hadn't had too much of spare time over for photography, but when there's been those moments it's mostly been pets in the focus images. So here's a few.

             No flash or any other equipment than camera and a lens. Very convenient.

                          Some extra light added with a white card from the left.

                                            Kitten version of Count Dracula.

                                     Clean towel and your new box home

                                               Kitten with a flash.

                                Kittens with a flash and a reflector on the left.

                                ...Same as the previous.

                                The dogs need some attention too ( and my wife. )

                               Anu, Sussu and high speed sync... What a combination!