Autumn Feelings

In the last few minutes of the year 2011 let me post one more engagement photos from this year. It was taken late in autumn and the light was disappearing very quickly, so the exposure was little bit extreme but thanks to 5D mark ii without much compromise in quality. I had to use a small touch of on-camera fill flash to separate the couple from the background. What I like most on this image is the connection between the couple and the relaxed feeling that I always try to establish during engagement sessions. Happy New Year!!! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 200mm, F3.2 @ 1/125, ISO 1600.

Hold me Tight

This is one of the engagement shots I did this autumn. The photo was taken with natural light only and the backlight separated the couple nicely from the green background. Compositionally, I placed the couple off center to create a dynamic portrait showing the nice background too. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 400.

Grand Prix Macao

During my recent trip to Macao, I was lucky enough to see the Macao Grand Prix race from very close and took several photos. The one I am posting today shows how close the drivers get during the turns to the concrete walls. In general, the track looked quite dangerous in my opinion, though I am not a regular fan of the racing sport. I chose continuous focus on my camera and was quite surprised how sharp images I could get with 5D mark ii and the cheapest 70-200 lens that I use mainly for private/travel purposes (it is very light). More than half of the photos were completely sharp; not a bad result given how many people complain about the focus system of the camera. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with 70-200 4L at 200mm, F5.6 @ 1/2000, ISO 800.

Galaxy Casino

I am sitting right now at Hong Kong airport, getting ready for my flight to Amsterdam, and browsing through the photos I took at Macao. Couple of days ago I visited the newest Galaxy Casino in Macao (or rather Taipa) opened just a couple of months ago. The entrance is impressive and I especially like the background of the entrance to the casino. I was lucky enough and in just a few minutes four girls arrived to pose for me, and I didn't hesitate I took this photo. The colors are great but it is interesting also compositionally as it is symmetric both vertically and horizonally with nice reflections of the background on the floor (being polished every 30 minutes). I just wished I had a wedding couple at this great location ... Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 17-40 4L at 19mm, F5.0 @ 1/50, ISO 2500.

Bride in Red

I am travelling these days, visiting the city of Macau. Couple of days ago I was at a famous place of St. Paul's Ruins where a wedding photography is taking a place almost constantly. I saw this beautiful bride and while the photographer was getting ready for the next shot, I smiled at her and she kindly allowed me (with her eyes) to take a photo. I really like the colors of the background and her dress, the negative space in the image and her soft expression. What I pity I didn't get her email to send her this photograph ... Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F4 @ 1/320, ISO 2500.

Framed in Colors

On every wedding I photograph I always try to pull out a great "official" portrait. This happens typically in the church where I can use my off-camera speedlite 580EX II on a stand with shoot-through umbrella, irrelevant of the weather conditions outside (very important when living in Denmark). Today's post is an example of such a couple portrait where I used the off-camera flash just to the right of the frame and on-camera flash as a fill. I really like the nice colored background with the flowers in a matching color. In order to emphasize the symmetry, I was very careful the place the couple exactly in the center. I think it worked very well this time. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 47mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 500.

Rainy Portrait

A few months ago I was asked to photograph this pretty couple. We had to change the agreed time two times due to rain and it was drizzling even the third time. I simply placed the couple under a big tree and picked an even, green background. The lighting was provided from camera left by speedlite 580EX II and shoot-through umbrella and the fully opened lens at 190mm gave me a great and uniform background to pull out the portrait. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 190mm, F2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 1250.

Wedding Bouquet

As promised, let me post more engagement and wedding photos I took recently. Today, I begin with a photo of a wedding bouquet I photographed several days ago at a wedding here in Aalborg. I always try to photograph the bouquet in a different way so that all of my couples get something special and original. This time I noticed a wall with autumn-colored leaves and I quickly found a nice spot for the bouquet. I shot at 200mm in order to get the leaves out of focus completely blurred and placed the bouquet according to the rules of third. I was quite happy about the result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 L IS II at 200mm, F 5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 500.

Look at You

Let me finish the photo series I took in South Africa with this one. I was walking nearby the camp and was able to get quite close to the animal featured on the image. The backlight created a beautiful separation from the background and I was very happy about the result. I have also recently photographed several engagements and weddings, so next time I promise to post more of these photos. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 70-200 F4 at 200mm, F4 @ 1/250, ISO 800.

Not Any Closer

Here comes another image from my recent trip to Mabalingwe Nature Reserve in South Africa. Right in the camp where we were staying I had the change to meet this nice ape. I tried to get closer but just at the point I crossed the border, the animal showed me an angry face and I pushed the shutter. Apart from the animal's expression I also like the uniform and pleasing background without any distractions. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F6.3 @ 1/800, ISO 400.

Zebras in Backlight

One of my favourite animal photos from my trip to South Africe are these two zebras. The image is compositionally interesting but what sells it for me is the light. I know that backlighting works very well for human portraits and now I know that it suits animals equally well ... Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F5.0 @ 1/400, ISO 200.

African Sunset

There days I am travelling in South Africa and one of the many amazing things to see is the sunset. Today's image is an example of one that I captured during couple of days ago. We were on a game ride and this photo was taken shortly after the sun completely disappeared, hence the high ISO setting. I have taken many more animal photos too that I will post shortly, so come back again soon. Camera spec: Canon 40D with 70-200 F4 at 91mm, F4.0 @ 1/125, ISO 3200.

When the Hearts Speak

I like to photograph in Danish churches. This is an image I captured recently. I used off-camera flash with a translucent umbrella to soften the light, this time the flash was placed to camera right. I asked the couple to close their eyes, touch their foreheads and think of the first time they met. Shortly after I was able to capture the soft expressions in their faces. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L USM at 96mm, F5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 400.

Lost in a Cornfield

Today I am presenting another photo from the wedding I shot last weekend. It was really hard to choose one as there were many worth sharing but at the end I chose this image in the cornfield. Even though the couple is small, they are the first thing an eye gets attracted to. The couple is positioned according to the rule of thirds with many lines pointing to them (some of the lines are only suggested in the cord field and in the clouds) and I thing it works quite well. I used my on-camera flash for a fill. First of all, I could shoot at 1/250 even though my camera can synchronize only up to 1/200 but using the Pocket wizard MiniTT1 allowed be shoot little bit faster. I also zoomed in the flash little bit and pointed it to the couple in order to avoid blasting off the corn close to the camera and adding more strength to the flash. The rest was fixed in Lightroom. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L IS at 24mm, F8 @ 1/250, ISO 50.

Just Married

A few days after returning from my holidays I was very glad to photograph the couple from the engagement photo I posted last time. Both the bride and the groom were gorgeous, the weather was perfect and we got taken many nice photos. The one I am posting today simply popped out when I was browsing through the portrait images. I like its simplicity and the relaxed expression of the couple. Lighting was achieved by an off-camera flash 580EX through a translucent umbrella held by an assistant and fire using the new pocket wizards with the zone controller that is great to manually set the flash power remotely. Compositionally, I placed the couple to the right upper corner in order allow for the empty space to the left adding to the mood of the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 155mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Far Away and So Close

This is a photo from my recent engagement shoot. I am posting it because I like the dynamic tension in the photo created by placing the couple on the opposite sites of the image and at the same time their eye connection. The lighting was just he ambient light and the body poses add the last bit to the whole scene. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 95mm, F2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

Professor Look

Today I am posting one more photo that I took a few days ago in ZOO in Jihlava in the Czech Republic. The bird's expression looks sort of funny to me, recalling the look of one of my professors when I was studying ... I used selective coloring in Lightroom to emphasize the eyes. Normally I tend not to use this technique too often but I am on my holidays, so let's have some fun. Enjoy! Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 60mm EF-S macro, F4 @ 1/200, ISO 200.

Blue Twins

While on my holidays, I find it quite relaxing to walk with my old 20D and the great 60mm macro lens and shoot everything with this setup. This allows me to see things I would normally not notice, like the two flowers on today's post. Even though I do not take many macro images, this one, I think, is worth sharing. Camera spec: Canon 20D with 60mm EF-S macro, F8 @ 1/200, ISO 800.

Pipaluk on a Ride

I took this image couple of weeks ago as a part of a series I photographed for the parents of this pretty young girl from Greenland. As usual, the setup was easy. I found a green background without a direct sunlight and placed the girl further away from it so that the long focal length and F3.2 made the background completely blurred. Unfortunately, the position of the girl let some direct sun beams hit her face and T-shirt, so I asked someone to hold a larger silver-black reflector between the sun and the girl, with the black side facing her. This created a very nice and soft light on her face with some catch-lights created by reflections from the nearby buildings. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 200mm, F3.2 @ 1/400, ISO 400.

Happy Family

Many weeks have passed without me blogging any new photo. I took many photos I would like to share in the meantime, there was just not enough time during this busy period for me. Anyway, it seems that things calmed down again and I hope to continue my regular blogging frequency. Today I post one of the very recent family portraits I took. I like to use off-camera flash but this photo is just a natural light. The main reason being that when photographing children, I like to keep my setup as simple as possible. I simply positioned the family under a tree with the sun behind them and made sure that there was a nice pleasing background behind them, preferably without any areas directly lit by the sun. Then it was just the question to entrain the family and press the shutter at the right moment. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 400.

The Witches’ Dance

This is another of my favorite photos from the same event as the one below. There is no flash light, all is ambient light coming from spot lights. The show of the witches was very entertaining and the final composition where all of them gathered is nice and very relaxed. I liked the show and I like this photo a lot. Enjoy the witches' dance! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 75mm, F4 @ 1/320, ISO 1600.

Brazilian Samba

Here is a recent photo I took at a local meeting of dances here in Aalborg. The photo is of a local group called Poco Loco dancing samba. The stage was very nicely lit but the dances were dancing on the floor under the stage which was essentially completely dark. I quickly grabbed my flash that I otherwise didn't use at all during this shoot and bounced it over my shoulders back to a relatively high ceiling. This created a nice balance between the foreground scene lit by my flash and the background with ambient light. I also like the central composition of the photo showing the foreground dancer, two dancers little bit behind and the band playing in the background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 F4 L, F4.5 @ 1/200, ISO 1600.

Vintage Look

Here comes the second promised image of this adorable baby. The setup was exactly the same as on the photo in the previous post, the props changed and in editing I added a vintage look by starting from the preset called Steller Guru GreenGold and tweaking it from there in Lightroom. As a result, a small change and completely different feel of the photo. Variation is the keyword here. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 90mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

A Happy Baby

I love photographing babies and children. The shoot is always different, you never know what to expect and they always look good on the photos. This is a recent photo I took in my home studio, the set up for baby shoots is always simple, one softbox, one reflector and this time I chose a gray background. I like the baby smile and the right leg raised up. I have one more photo that I will post soon, the same set up but very different atmosphere, just check the block in a couple of days. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 95mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Aalborg Garden II

Let me post today one more image related to Aalborg Garden band mention in my previous post. Again, a simple lighting setup with one main light with a softbox and a reflector. I like the shape of the body and the nice "formal" look of the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 80mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Aalborg Garden

Today I am posting an image I took a few weeks ago. The young gentleman joined a band called Aalborg Garden and wished to have a nice photo in his new uniform. The lighting was provided in my home studio with one light and Westcott softbox on camera right, reflector on camera left and a Canon 580EX II speedlite right behind him. I guess we got a rather very nice result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 75mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Pull her Down

The wedding season is starting here in Denmark and a few days ago I shot my first engagement session this year. I had a beautiful couple to work with and we were even lucky to get a sunny and a relatively warm day. When scouting the locations, I found this older building with nice yellow walls with a dominant corner. I though it could be fun to separate the couple by this corner. To increase the dynamics, I placed the corner edge to about 1/3 from the left. Then I asked the couple to connect their hands and look at each other. The final point was to get the right expression, so a simple request "pull her down" took care of the rest. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 155mm, F5.0 @ 1/160, ISO 320.

Soft Connection

This is another of my favourite engagement shots. It was taken in a beautiful place called Rebil Bakker on a hot sunny day. I placed the couple in a shadow of a large tree with some spot highlights on her hair and his shoulder. The background was much brighter which created a nice high-key effect with the tree branches at the top creating a natural burning effect. I also like the connection of the couple, all in all, I was very happy about this image. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F4 at 84mm, F4 @ 1/500, ISO 200.

Some Time Ago ...

When talking about engagement photos, this is another one I took at a local company Akvavit in Aalborg, producing the famous alcohol products. It was taken in a big production hall where the alcohol is stored in large barrels like the one in the background. The lighting was provided by my shoot-through umbrella to camera left and filled by the on-camera flash bounced against another metal barrel to camera right. I asked the couple to bend forward and made some joke to get the expression I wanted. The sepia toning only adds to the old days feeling of the image. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 58mm, F5.6 @ 1/80, ISO 400.

Playing on the Beach

Today I continue with another photo from the engagement shoot. This time I simply asked the couple to walk on the beach and make some fun with each other. It is often quite relaxing for the couple as they can have some time together without thinking too much about me and my camera. This image is also a good exercise on the basic composition rules of thirds. The horizon line is precisely in the upper one third of the image and the couple is positioned in the intersection of the right vertical and horizontal third. It is also important that the couple is moving into the image and not out of it. All together, I like the photo a lot. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 25-105 4L at 24mm, F13 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

A Kiss in the Sand

The winter has been lasting little bit too long here in Denmark, so I think it is the right time to remind some of the summer days that are hopefully coming again very soon. Today I have chosen one of my favorite photos from last year. It was an engagement shoot on a hot sunny day at a nice beach at Blokhus and I like how the couple relaxed and forgot completely about me being at the place too. I composed the photo in the way that the foreground shows pieces of grass which adds to the depth of the photo and provides a natural framing of the image. I also preferred the final photo in sepia with an extra vignette. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 45mm, F9 @ 1/400, ISO 100.

Grandma, Daughter and Mom

A few months ago I was asked to take a quick portrait of a daughter, mother and grandmother in a restaurant while visiting Czech Republic. I had no extra lighting equipment except for my on-camera flash. So I found a piece of white wall, posted the family tightly together and bounced the flash over my right shoulder against the ceiling, with the wide angle diffuser on. This created very pleasant soft light source, even if the ceiling was very low. The final step was to get the right expressions on their faces and to take the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 70mm, F4 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

Ready to Serve

Today I am posting another photo from Hotel Hvide Hus and its restaurant on the 15th floor. I had to balance the outside light conditions with the interior lighting. This was achieved by two speedlites 580EX II. One to camera left with a shoot-through umbrella and another one bounced off the ceiling on camera right. I used tripod this time as I had to carefully adjust the positions of the camera and the lights in order to avoid reflections on the glass behind the waiter. This was little bit tricky but once I was ready and happy with the result, I simply asked to waiter to step in and took this photograph. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 28mm, F6.3 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Wine at 15th Floor

I was recently shooting some photos at the Hotel Hvide Hus for their web-pages and other propagation material. The hotel is probably the highest one in Aalborg and there is a beautiful restaurant at the 15th floor with view over the city center of Aalborg. The photo in today's post was light by shoot-through umbrella with Speedlite 580EX II high to camera left and another 580EX II at camera right bounced off the ceiling for fill. Both flashes had to be carefully positioned to avoid reflections in the glass window. I used the new Pocket Wizards with AC3 Zone Controller for quick manual adjustment of power right from the camera. The image was cropped in the way to point to the bottle of wine while showing the beautiful skyline of the city of Aalborg at the background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 50.

Color Depth

Another image from the yesterday's wedding fashion show. This time it is not a bride but a "guest" with a very nice social dress. I chose this photo because I like the colors in the scene. The blue background and the warm tones on the model and her dress really add to the depth of field as human eye expects to see warmer colors closer and colder colors further away. I tilted the photo slightly so that the lines at the background are not vertical and the photo has more dynamics. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS II at 115mm, F3.2 @ 1/250, ISO 1600.

Bride Fashion

I have visited today the so-called Bryllupsmesse in Aalborg (Wedding Trade Show). Lots of inspiration for wedding dresses, music, photography ... it is clear that the wedding season 2011 is starting soon! There was a small fashion show there too where I was taking some photos. The background behind the catwalk was not very attractive so I moved myself to the side where I saw some blue lights at the background and this was one of the photos that I took. I like its simplicity, rim lighting and nice triangular shape of the wedding gown. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 125mm, F3.5 @ 1/120, ISO 1600.

Aalbog Skyline

Let me finish the series of panoramas I was posting recently with the one from my home town of Aalborg. It was taken from the 15th floor of the Hvide Hus Hotel. It is created from 9 vertical shots in the full resolution of the 5D mark ii, resulting in a huge resolution where the long edge has more than 15000 pixels and the JPG file at 95% compression has about 45 MB. It is impressive how much detail 5D mark ii can record. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 45mm, F8 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Panorama of High Tatras

Yesterday early morning when leaving the mountains of High Tatra in Slovak Republic we stopped in the nearby city of Poprad and at that moment we got a magnificent view over the mountains. I quickly grabbed my camera and took six vertical shots that I later on stitched together using the software Hugin that I mentioned also in my previous post. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon 60mm EF-S macro, F7.1 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Lonely Trees

I am visiting High Tatra mountains in the Slovak Republic this week and today I had a walk nearby the town of Stary Smokovec. I took three photos of the lonely landscape with a few alone-standing trees and stitched them together using Hugin. It was a foggy day so the mountains in the background are not visible, but I think that it only adds to the loneliness feeling in this image. Most of the trees where taken down by a storm about six years ago and it will take many more years before the nature restores the landscape to its original beauty. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Tokina 11-16 2.8 at 11mm, F9 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Young Talent

During the weekend here is Aalborg, there was a big festival of starting music bands with some young star performers like the one on today's post. I like the composition and colors of the photo. Given the high ISO, there was very little noise in this photo and the combo of 5D mark ii with 70-200 2.8 really rocks at such situations. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 200mm, F2.8 @ 1/250, ISO 3200.

Winter Lines

Today we were downtown in Aalborg and I took this portrait. Not that many days ago I was walking through this place and saw the lines of trees without any leafs. I immediately knew what kind of image I want to take here, so today I made it. I love the leading lines, all pointing towards my subject and the shallow depth of field. Also the colors, though not that typical for winter, are very harmonic. Even though I had my off-camera flash equipment with me, I didn't need it. This is a pure natural light portrait. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 200mm, F2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

FotoXtra New Website

Today I am not posting any image with technical explanation, I would simply like to let you know about a new design of my website www.fotoxtra.dk, focusing mainly on wedding and portrait photography. You are welcome to take a look. Even though it is in Danish, there are many photos in my portfolio. Any comments are welcome. Cheers, Jiri

Boxing Vikings

This weekend I attended the Viking Box Cup 2011 boxing competition here in Aalborg. It is not that often I shoot sport but from time to time I like to photograph something new and challenging. And this even was indeed challenging. The light was pretty bad and weak. Essentially typical gym lights high at the ceiling without anything else. I had to push my equipment to the limits this time. Nevertheless, shooting at ISO 6400 and having only 1/200 shutter speed still resulted in a few sharp and decent images. You can see more photos here. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 6400.