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.

                                     
                            

A day in the Vrachanski Balkan

  Definitely had fun today hiking up the steep rocks of Vrachanski Balkan. It's not really the best time of the year, still some snow here and there, and even some rain came down when we arrived to Vratsa. Who cares if the weather is not on your side, the most important thing is to have fun. For me it meant enjoying good company and some landscape as well as portrait photo opportunities too. 

No time? It's time to combine

  When you don't have enough time for everything, it might be a good idea to combine things.Like for example at the moment I'm writing this post and enjoying my morning coffee. Lately it seems there has not been too much of hours left for photos so even there I try to find a way to do many things at once. Here's a couple of images from a combination sports/walkingthedog/photography/urbanexploration. Lots of things I just love. All the images made with my smart phone.

Getting 2016 started

  First photo trip for this year is behind and it meant wet feet. But it was nice, not the wet feet, but the trip it self. When the snow starts to melt all the tiny brooks turn in to rivers and if you don't wear rubber boots it means that soon you are not as dry as you would like to. I'm eagerly waiting already for the spring to come, when all the tiny small critters crawl out from their holes and caves. That's after, maybe about two to three months, so until that I'll just have to shoot other things such as landscapes for example.  

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...

Sun

  Thought I'd like share a couple of images from this fall. Even if some people still seem to think that it's best to shoot the sun behind the back, it might be a time to change the point of view. Sun makes an interesting element in your image if used right. Just be careful with the flare so that it don't ruin your image.

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...