Strobe Fun

A Growing Family

2012-01-23T20:20:00.004+01:00

It was just before X-mas last year I was photographing this family with two newly born twins, a girl and a boy. I used a simple white background with the setup like in my previous post, instead of a softbox I went with a large shoot-through umbrella. After the shot I composed two selected photos into a nice wide image for a wall portrait. I found out that my new 100m macro lens is quite capable as a studio portrait lens, the photos are very sharp and I can even get very close for a detail without changing the lens. Enjoy. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm macro 2.8L IS at 100mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

My Panda and Me

2012-01-19T18:25:00.004+01:00

I took this photo couple of days ago. The setup is easy: white wall illuminated with Speedlite 580EX II with diffuser placed right behind my subject; main light to camera light with 28" Westcott apollo softbox; a silver reflector to camera left. I like the soft expression of my model that was further emphasized in Lightroom 3. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm 2.8L at 100mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

Aalborg Sunset on iPhone 4S

2012-01-06T22:28:00.006+01:00

Today I was returning home together with my daughter from her kindergarten and a close to our house we experienced this beautiful sunset. I captured the photo on my new iPhone 4S and edited in the phone using an excellent application Snapseed. After that I quickly uploaded the JPG file to Lightroom and adjusted the last exposition bits on my calibrated monitor and here is the result. Pretty impressive in my opinion! Camera spec: iPhone 4S at 4.28mm (corresponds to 35mm on full frame), F2.4 @ 1/30, ISO 64.

Autumn Feelings

2011-12-31T23:28:00.004+01:00

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

2011-12-21T22:29:00.004+01:00

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

2011-12-01T21:16:00.005+01:00

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

2011-11-25T14:37:00.004+01:00

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

2011-11-15T16:14:00.006+01:00

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

2011-10-27T21:37:00.004+02:00

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

2011-10-19T22:34:00.004+02:00

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

2011-09-24T22:05:00.005+02:00

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

2011-09-11T22:32:00.003+02:00

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

2011-09-08T08:21:00.006+02:00

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

2011-09-04T11:40:00.009+02:00

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

2011-09-03T12:32:00.005+02:00

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

2011-08-29T22:21:00.006+02:00

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

2011-08-22T22:53:00.004+02:00

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

2011-08-15T21:31:00.006+02:00

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

2011-08-04T20:44:00.003+02:00

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

2011-07-28T19:12:00.005+02:00

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

2011-07-25T10:50:00.006+02:00

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

2011-07-24T12:38:00.008+02:00

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

2011-07-21T11:00:00.004+02:00

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

2011-05-31T20:20:00.005+02:00

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

2011-05-26T21:31:00.005+02:00

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

2011-05-17T22:16:00.006+02:00

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

2011-05-13T18:49:00.005+02:00

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

2011-04-28T08:30:00.004+02:00

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

2011-04-22T23:51:00.006+02:00

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

2011-04-14T21:59:00.005+02:00

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

2011-04-02T10:30:00.004+02:00

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 ...

2011-03-22T19:47:00.009+01:00

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

2011-03-12T13:54:00.004+01:00

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

2011-03-06T18:41:00.006+01:00

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

2011-02-19T11:55:00.008+01:00

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

2011-02-11T20:53:00.007+01:00

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

2011-02-08T16:54:00.005+01:00

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

2011-02-07T15:57:00.000+01:00

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

2011-02-06T19:47:00.004+01:00

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

2011-02-01T19:55:00.005+01:00

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

2011-01-29T10:47:00.006+01:00

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

2011-01-27T15:31:00.005+01:00

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

2011-01-23T18:27:00.004+01:00

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

2011-01-22T18:43:00.008+01:00

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

2011-01-16T20:26:00.008+01:00

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

2011-01-09T22:28:00.004+01:00

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.

Quick Family Portrait

2010-12-29T22:13:00.007+01:00

We were having a family celebration this Monday where I took a portrait of the young family featured in today's post. I like to be challenged by the environment that I don't know beforehand. It is a good practice in finding good backgrounds and angles. Normally, I would not place the family at the exact center but thanks to the simplicity of the scene and a dominant decoration at the top of the frame, I think it works very well in this particular image. The almost shadowless lighting was achieved by bouncing the on-camera flash backwards against the ceiling. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L USM at 32mm, F4 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

On-Location Portrait

2010-12-21T21:42:00.005+01:00

Today I am posting another portrait I took a few days ago. While traveling light with only two flashes, I could still achieve a studio quality portrait. The main light was my 580EX II with shoot-through umbrella to camera left and I placed a white towel to camera right to soften the shadows. The background light was done by the small 430EX II placed behind my subject. No color filter was needed as the wall was actually red/purple, so the effect came for free. I also like the expression of the model and the connection in her eyes. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 at 93mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 160.

X-mas Smile

2010-12-20T21:55:00.004+01:00

X-mas is coming soon and while visiting my parents in the city of Trebic in Czech Republic, I had the opportunity to photograph this cute little girl. It took some time before she got comfortable with the camera but then the images looked great. I used my portable light studio, a speedlite 580EX II with a shoot-through umbrella and a small 430EX behind the subject for the illumination of the background. I was experimenting with Pocket Wizard zone controller to remotely adjust the flash power and it worked like a dream. It seems that this will become my standard on-location equipment. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

A Safe Place

2010-12-13T19:39:00.003+01:00

Today I am posting an image of a few months old baby in the arms of her father. I like how the baby was exploring the surroundings (and me with my camera) from a very safe place close to her father. Lighting was provided by a studio strobe on camera right with a silver reflector to fill in the shadows and a small Canon speedlite 580EX II with a diffuser is placed behind the baby to illuminate the background and create a subtle rim light. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 135mm, F16 @ 1/125, ISO 200.

Baby on the Way

2010-12-08T19:26:00.006+01:00

I like this photo where the couple hold the belly and they look at each other. It is simply the connection between them which works for me. Lighting was provided with my studio lights with an umbrella softbox as the key light and a silver reflector for fill. The white background is lighten just by one studio light where feathering is used to make sure that the light spreads equally on the background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 88mm, F8 @ 1/125, ISO 100.

Relaxed and Smiling

2010-12-04T13:42:00.003+01:00

Here is my favourite photo from a recent photo session in my home studio. I like the relaxed expression of the happy couple. The white shirts and high-key background make the image very simple, focusing all the attention of their faces. The photo was edited in Lightroom 3 and I was very happy about the result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 95mm, F11 @ 1/125, ISO 200.

Happy, happy ...

2010-12-01T09:38:00.006+01:00

Here is another image I took a few days ago. This happy smiling baby really shines on this photo. Apart from this, there are a few things that make the photo interesting. I placed the head slightly off the center and was waiting for the moment when the eyes look towards left (to the center of the photo) to restore the dynamic balance. Also the head position is not following the axis of the shoulders, something I often try to achieve when photographing adults. Here no posing took place, simply waiting for the right moment while entertaining the baby in the mean time. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 115mm, F11 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Curious Eyes

2010-11-24T21:10:00.006+01:00

I was photographing kids over the past weekend and this is one of my favourite photos from one of the session. I like the happy look of the girl and the smile on her face. This is for me the main challenge when photographing kids --- to make them relax and forget about them being photographed. Otherwise the light setup is pretty easy, main light through a softbox to camera right (creating a broad lighting pattern on her face) and reflector on the left. Behind the girl there was one Speedlite 580 EX II with a diffuser lighting the gray collapsible background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F14 @ 1/125, ISO 200.

Dynamic and Elegant

2010-11-08T21:54:00.004+01:00

Last week a took a photography workshop in Prague and today I am presenting one of the portraits that I like quite a bit. It is a simple one light setting with a reflector to camera right and a background light. What I think works well is the direct, confident yet soft look of the model with a less usual off-centered composition which breaks the overall softness and adds some dynamics. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 149mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

Sunset Portrait

2010-11-05T23:25:00.006+01:00

Today I was visiting a summer house of my parents and we experienced a beautiful sunset. I had luckily my camera with me but only a limited set of accessories (read it as one on-camera flash). I was thinking how to light the portrait of my parents and then I saw a white fishing house on the shore, moreover with relatively white wall where I directed my flash to in order to bounce the light back on the scene. Finding the right spot for my parents to stand was little bit tricky (see that attached photo with the location of the fishing house and the place where they stand) but we managed and pulled out a nice photo with great directional light. The same photo with a direct on-camera flash would be flat and artificially looking. The light coming from the right direction was the key to this more pleasing portrait where the light looks definitely natural and more attractive. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L USM at 35mm, F8 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

One of Many

2010-10-23T23:24:00.005+02:00

Today evening I was browsing though some of my images and this one brought my attention. It was taken only a few months ago at the local ZOO and I really like the repeating pattern of the orchid (at least I assume it is an orchid). Also the colors looked nice but I could not remember what lens I took it with ... only after examining the EXIF I realized that it was taken with my pocket camera Powershot S90! Camera spec: Canon Powershot S90 at 6mm, F2.0 @ 1/1000, ISO 80.

Focus on iPad

2010-10-21T09:25:00.004+02:00

Another photo from the fair exhibition that I like. The person is nicely separated from the background and the symmetric green bars on the sides of the frame provide a good framing. I also like motion blur at his right hand pointing at the iPad, but best thing is the light. It was a pure ambient light but at the background there were placed two bluish spots pointing exactly at the right direction and providing cool accent lights on both sides of the figure. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 70mm, F2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 2500.

I Want this Job

2010-10-17T10:05:00.011+02:00

During this week I was ask by DES Job Fair organizers here in Aalborg to do some short photo reportage documenting the event where students from the university meet with companies in order to establish connections. Here is one of my favourite photos I took. I was working completely with ambient light only as I didn't want to disturb the atmosphere with my on-camera flash which was moreover impossible to bounce (ceiling more than 20m high) and off-camera flash would attract too much attention. I found my scene from a distance, set the camera to manual in order to have consistent exposures and then took several frames to get the right expression. On the photo above I like that it has a clear foreground and background and the main two objects in the middle are nicely separated by a shallow depth of field. This creates a feel of dimension. Shooting at ISO 2500 is absolutely no problem, after a slight noise reduction in Lightroom 3 the photos look like shot at ISO 400 on my Canon 40D. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 70mm, F3.2 @ 1/100, ISO 2500.

Life-Coaching Video

2010-10-09T15:43:00.014+02:00

Today I am posting another video that I recorded on 5D mark ii. This time I was shooting a short introduction video for our local life-coach. The task was to create a short, friendly and relaxing introduction to her homepage www.forandringsrum.dk. It is spoken in Danish, but give it a try and let me know what do you think? When you play it in full screen, make sure you switch the full HD quality on. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L IS and 70-200 2.8 IS II lenses, Rode Stereo VideoMic with dead kitten.

Elegant Body Lines

2010-10-03T21:03:00.006+02:00

Today I am presenting another photo from the fashion show last Thursday. What I like about this one are the nice lines in the body of the model combined with the warm a saturated light atmosphere. As in the previous post, the high ISO capabilities of my camera in combination with 2.8 telephoto lens saved the shot. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F2.8 @ 1/250, ISO 3200.

Friis Fashion

2010-10-01T23:50:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I visited a fashion show in Nordkraft, downtown of Aalborg. The show was organized by the fashion shops in the newly build shopping center Friis and was attended by many local citizens. Unfortunately, the lighting of the catwalk was not ideal at all. At the last stop the models were standing in almost a complete dark. What a pity. Anyway, I managed to get a few interesting shots. The one I present today focuses on the detail of the dress and what I think makes in interesting is the tension in the photo. Human eye normal expects to see warmer colors in a closer distance and colder colors little bit further away. Placing objects in the scene to follow this rule allows to create a feel of depth in the photo. In today's post the colors are placed in the opposite; warmer further away and colder on the main model. I really like the drama this trick allows to create. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 1600.

Bertinoro Landscape

2010-09-24T14:01:00.004+02:00

I am visiting Italy these days and would like to post a view that I captured yesterday. It is from a small town called Bertinoro. I really enjoy the view from the town situated on a steep hill and even though I don't take many landscape photos, sometimes I just cannot resist. I like all the lines and curves in the image as well as the top of the street lamp in the right bottom corner and the feel of depth it adds to this image. The colors were, as usual, improved in Lightroom but there was no HDR used. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon EFS 60mm 2.8, F11 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

Musician from KL

2010-09-16T18:00:00.000+02:00

I found recently this photo in my Lightroom catalog and I really liked it. It is shot in a very low light situation with the excellent Tokina lens at F2.8 and at high ISO 1600. Lightroom 3 did a good job in reducing the noise and I also like the long exposition time which made the hands of the musician (from a local band in Kuala Lumpur) very blurred, emphasizing the motion and the dynamics. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Tokina 11-16 2.8 at 16mm, F2.8 @ 1/20, ISO 1600.

Orange and Blue

2010-09-09T21:02:00.005+02:00

Another photo from Aalborg Carnival that I like to present today is called Orange and Blue. The position of the dancer is more out of the center creating a more dynamic composition. What makes the photo interesting in my eyes is the contrast between the warm orange background and the cold blue dress of the dancer. The light is a pure ambient as in the photo below. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/400, ISO 500.

Screem for Joy

2010-08-31T21:00:00.007+02:00

Today I am posting my favourite photo from Aalborg Carnival and the battle of carnival bands. The show took place in an open stage which was lit by excellent tungsten light spots, so there was no need for any flash. I really like the energy in the photo which shows how the dancers of the Vimoroz group enjoy their show. What adds to the photo is the background, which is evenly populated with relevant objects related to the show with the light spots at the top of the frame. I love this image. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 400.

Nordkraft

2010-08-27T18:34:00.005+02:00

I have recently had a chance to visit an old industrial building Nordkraft in the city of Aalborg that is changing into a modern cultural and sport center. All the old brick walls and steel constructions of the old building were preserved and complemented by nowadays building materials resulting in a really interesting mixture of styles. Our guide through the building said that either you love it or hate it; nothing in between. I think he was right, it is a very impressive building worth visiting. I took several photos but the one I post today is particularly interesting thanks to the converging lines in the whole image: the lights and ceiling cooling boxes, the metal bars on the walls and the tables on the floor all point to the same point in the middle of the frame. The lighting in the room was mixed and little bit distracting, so it was quite natural to covert it to black and white. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Tokina 11-16 2.8 at 11mm, F5.6 @ 1/25, ISO 400.

Who Is There?

2010-08-20T19:20:00.004+02:00

I took this image while walking in the city of Brno this summer. There was a wedding shoot taking place and a wedding photographer was doing well her job. The couple was posed behind a pillar and I though that the view I got from my position was worth capturing too. Luckily I had my long lens on my camera, so I could get the shot without anybody noticing me. I love the image, it is full of expectations ... and trust me, the bride was gorgeous. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F4 @ 1/500, ISO 200.

Dreamy

2010-08-17T08:26:00.000+02:00

Here is another portrait of Katerina. I found several repeating pillars in a shade with beautiful soft light. Only ambient light was used this time, providing a very gentle look and dreamy feel. I think that the composition is also pleasing thanks to the repeating pattern and the diagonal lines achieved by slightly tilting the camera. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 90mm, F2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 200.

Three Times Framed

2010-08-10T19:57:00.010+02:00

Another photo from the City of Brno, at the hill called Petrov, right below the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The pillars provide an excellent shooting location. I decided to frame my model Katerina in a perfectly symmetric composition. The first frame is given by the borders of the photo, the second frame are the outside pillars and the last frame is formed by the pillars at the background. The repeating patters make the composition interesting. In order to break the symmetry, I asked my model to take a slightly asymmetric pose. Light is ambient with a rim light from the back provided by my 580EX flash. You may wonder where was the light placed. Well, I cheated little bit. As there was no way to hide it behind the model, it was actually placed on a monopod and my assistant (hiding behind the right pillar) was holding it about 3 meters behind my model. See the attached image as it came out of the camera. The stick of the monopod was then removed using the clone tool in Lightroom 3.0. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 85mm, F4 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Centered and Dynamic

2010-08-08T08:19:00.002+02:00

Today I am presenting a portrait of Katerina which I took during my visit in Brno, a beautiful city in the middle of Moravia in the Czech Republic. This photo is about two things. First, it is the pose of the model with many diagonal lines adding lots of dynamics. Second, it is the composition. I placed my model into the center of the frame knowing the all lines will point towards her; and see there are really many lines this time. Regarding the lighting, this is a simple one light shot with shoot-through umbrella to camera left, creating the loop lighting pattern on her face. This type of lighting works simply all the time. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 85mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Reflections

2010-08-07T12:33:00.005+02:00

While taking portraits of Veronika we found some rain water puddle from yesterdays' storm and I immediately though of taking some photo with reflections. I simply asked her to place one of her hands to the water, which provided a nice diagonal shape in her body and took the shot with little bit of on-camera fill-in flash. The resulting image worked best in sepia toning. I should keep in my mind to use natural reflections more often in my photography, one or two such shots are always a nice addition to the series of portraits. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 70mm, F4.5 @ 1/400, ISO 100.

Flower Romance

2010-08-05T12:52:00.005+02:00

Here is another simple portrait of Veronika. Using F4.5 at 200m blurred nicely the background, allowing my model to pop out. It is important for portrait photography that hands look natural, which is most easily achieved by occupying them with something, in this case by holding the flowers. I only asked my model to place the elbows further away from the body so that there is some air between the body and the arms, making the figure visually slimmer. I used on-camera fill flash. As I shoot mostly in manual and the image was taken shortly after the jump below, I forgot to change the settings. Normally, I would go for 1/500s at ISO 100. Nevertheless, the expression after the funny jumps was more important for me because if I was fiddling with the camera settings, she could get quickly tired and lose the expression. All over, I think that the final result is pretty pleasing. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F4.5 @ 1/1000, ISO 200.

Jumping for Joy

2010-08-04T13:33:00.007+02:00

A few days ago I had the change to photograph an 8 years old model Veronika. I found out that in order to relax the atmosphere when photographing children, asking them to jump often brings lots of fun and more natural expression in their faces. I set my camera to manual at 1/1000s in order to eliminate the motion blur, added little bit of on-camera fill-in flash, decided on my composition (note the leading lines pointing towards her and the larger tree on the left balancing out the image), asked her to jump and pressed the shutter release. I enjoy the result a lot. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 85mm, F4.5 @ 1/1000, ISO 200.

Summer in BW

2010-08-02T11:26:00.006+02:00

Let me post today a landscape photo from nearby a small village Valdikov located in the Czech Republic. I was thinking about the composition when making the image. First of all, the rule of thirds was applied such that the horizon is where the upper two thirds meet and the small white fishing house is located also where the vertical thirds meet. There are moreover several lines leading towards this small house (note for example the branch starting the the lower right corner and extending towards the house, followed by the shadows in the water). Finally, the whole picture is framed using the branches of the trees in the foreground. The image was converted to BW in Lightroom 3. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 24mm, F16 @ 1/60, ISO 200.

Atelier Portrait

2010-08-01T13:15:00.009+02:00

I had recently a change to photograph Marietta in the atelier of a Czech painter Frantisek Hanacek. The atelier was full of great paintings and in this portrait of Marietta I have chosen to show only a fraction of the paintings at the background, hinting at the place where the portrait was taken but not distracting the attention from the main object. The light was provided as usual by my 580EX II speedlite with shoot-through umbrella to camera right, defining a beautiful mask of her face via a loop lighting pattern. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 105mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Innocent Blue

2010-07-31T18:46:00.006+02:00

Natural light coming from the right direction on a cloudy day is hard to beat. It creates almost shadowless portraits like the one on the image posted today. My model Marietta provided this very strong look with innocent but determined accent. It was my favourite photo from the shoot. I hope you will enjoy it too, just make sure to click on the photo to see it in larger format. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 155mm, F4.5 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Waiting and Waiting ...

2010-07-30T08:56:00.005+02:00

Here is a portrait of Lucie that I pulled out a few days ago nearby a small village Ludikov in the Czech Republic. As usual, I used my off-camera 580EX flash to camera right with a shoot-through umbrella. I like the shallow depth of field and the look of Lucie. It feels like she is waiting for somebody, being little bit impatient which is symbolized with the moving fingers of her right hand. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 110mm, F3.2 @ 1/100, ISO 400.

Soft and Dreamy

2010-07-28T11:41:00.009+02:00

Today is coming another of my favourite photographs of Marketa. I noticed the nice dramatic wall and when making the picture I planned to allow for lots of negative space on the left. I used short lighting to give a nice shape to her face; the light was provided by my shoot-through umbrella with Canon 580EX II to camera left. I also like the curved body-shape of my model. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

Such Pretty Eyes

2010-07-26T22:34:00.006+02:00

While trying to extend my portrait portfolio, I was happy to spend couple of photography hours with a new model Marketa. Among the number of great pictures, the one I present today kept popping out for me. I like the look over the shoulder, with a little bit shy expression in her face. It is a pure natural light portrait where simplicity was the keyword. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 80mm, F5.6 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Rocky Confident

2010-07-24T22:06:00.004+02:00

Today I would like to present another of my recent favourite shots. I saw the nice rocky surface and immediately thought that it would make a good background for my model Barbora. The problem was that it was exposed on a direct sun and I imagined a soft light on her face when composing the photo. The problem was solved by holding a silver reflector above her head in order to block the direct sun light and at the same time providing a nice soft light with my shoot-through umbrella with Canon 580EX II positioned slightly to camera left and casting a butterfly light pattern. I had only one assistant holding both the reflector and umbrella on a monopod at the same time, which was little bit tricky but we managed. The result was definitely worth the effort. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 70mm, F8 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

Summer Beauty

2010-07-22T20:02:00.008+02:00

While enjoying my holidays in the Czech Republic I arranged yesterday a photo session with a young model Barbora. We had plenty of time to visit several locations and this shot was one of my favourites. There are a few things that I like here, of course apart from my pretty model. First of all I enjoy the colors where the background nicely complements the model. I applied some vignette to bring the attention more to the center. Second point I like is the pose where I tried to arrange her legs and arms so that there are virtually no vertical or diagonal lines. This adds more drama to otherwise a very harmonic photo. Last but not least the lighting adds the last bits to form this portrait. It was provided through my shoot-through umbrella with Speedlite 580EX II fired remotely through pocket wizards. Enjoy! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F5.0 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

Psss ... Listen

2010-07-20T19:21:00.005+02:00

Being on my holidays in the Czech Republic, I have been taking some photos of kids. This one I enjoyed most from the yesterday's shoot. I like how the baby and the dog look at the same direction and carefully listen. I was lying on the ground to get a good angle and the light in the face of the baby was enhanced with a silver reflector placed to the camera right. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 115mm, F5.6 @ 1/160, ISO 400.

Kicker Light

2010-07-17T14:05:00.000+02:00

This is another photo from the belly dance meeting in Aalborg a few months ago. I placed a small Speedlite 430EX at the back left corner of the stage, equipped with Pocket Wizard FlexTT5. The main light was ambient with a kicker light emphasizing the line of the body and separating it from the background. I also like how the position of the dancer fills nicely the whole frame. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 135mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 400.

Belly Dance Shapes

2010-07-15T14:02:00.002+02:00

The scene at the belly dance meeting was lit very well so I took most of my photos this time with ambient light only. This was one of my favorites, showing nice body shape and flow of the arms. The background was black with only little bit of ambient hitting it, so pulling the Black slider in Lightroom little bit to the right increased the contrast in the photo and erased completely all details at the background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 118mm, F4.5 @ 1/250, ISO 1600.

Isis Wings

2010-07-14T13:51:00.000+02:00

Couple of months ago I photographed a yearly belly dance meeting here in Aalborg and would like to share couple of photos with you. Let me start with this photos of Isis Wings. These wings are fun to photograph and I like the composition of the photos and the colors. I was using only the light from the halogen spots on the stage as the whole scene was very nicely lit. One should be careful because these wings reflect lots of light back to the camera and can confuse the exposition readings. The best is probably to shoot in manual, given that the light situation is not changing much across the scene. Alternatively, one can try to compensate to +1EV up to +2EV on the camera in the AV mode. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 35mm, F4.5 @ 1/320, ISO 3200.

Penguin Again

2010-07-13T13:41:00.003+02:00

I could not resist to post a photo of this penguin from Aalborg ZOO. Whenever I take photos in the ZOO I always try to find an angle so that the picture does not reveal that the animal lives in captivity. Usually going down to the ground and finding a simple neutral background works. In this case I zoomed all the way to 200mm and used the aperture 4 (the largest hole on my lens) to blur the background. The depth of field is just a few inches as you can see on the ground. I like the moment and the negative space adding to the feeling of loneliness. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F4 @ 1/500, ISO 100.

Hi Stranger!

2010-07-08T17:32:00.003+02:00

Here is a photo from our local ZOO in Aalborg. I like the direct look of the giraffe and the simple background. The photo was exposed for the animal and the clouds provided a nice high-key look. No flash, just natural light. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 163mm, F5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 200.

Sofia Sunset

2010-06-23T21:27:00.005+02:00

Here is another photo from my recent trip to Sofia. It was taken from the window of Rodina Hotel on the 12th floor. I was getting back to my hotel room and saw the beautiful play of sun behind the clouds. Grabbed my camera and took a few shots. A few minutes later the show was over. One has to stay alert all the time ... Camera spec: Canon 40D with Canon EF-S 60mm 2.8, F8 @ 1/60, ISO 200.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

2010-06-18T14:56:00.005+02:00

While visiting Sofia in Bulgaria, I went to see the famous Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. There were some clouds in the sky and I moved little bit to the side to make a more dramatic photo of this impressive building. The wide 11mm Tokina lens helped with the impression. The final touches were done in Lightroom 3.0. Camera spec: Canon 40D with Tokina 11-16 2.8 at 11mm, F9 @ 1/250, ISO 100.

Carnival Beuaty

2010-06-12T23:08:00.009+02:00

I took this photo during the Aalborg Carnival and I decided to post it today. First of all, the dancer is very pretty but there are a few other elements that make this photo to pop up for me. The composition follows the golden rule of third and she is presented on the light background and the negative space on the right is darker which adds some balance to the scene. The dancer's face is in almost a perfect classical 2/3 view (she is photographed so often so I guess that she knows how to pose without any thinking :-) and my on-camera fill-in flash is used to add some catch-lights to her eyes. Because I was close to her at the telephoto end of my lens, F5.6 was enough to provide a pleasing blur of the background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 159mm, F5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 400.

Carnival Parade

2010-06-07T22:29:00.004+02:00

As promised here comes another photo from the carnival parade in Aalborg this year. What I like on this photo is the expression and engagement of the dancer as well as the composition. When I photograph such events I always try to hide the surrounding buildings, street signs etc. This time I used the opportunity that the outfit of the dancer covered the whole frame in my camera. I simply don't like the corners on my photos to be empty ... Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 70mm, F5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 400.

A Guitar Hero

2010-05-30T22:34:00.010+02:00

Yes, there was again the great Aalborg Carnival this weekend and I have plenty of photos that I have to edit at some point ... Today let me just post one of them from a concert of the group called Superstition that took place on Saturday afternoon. There was still lots of natural light and this mixed with strong tungsten spots added a nice warm tone to the guitarist, contrasting nicely with the somewhat cooler tones at the huge LCD background. This is essentially how the shot came out of the camera. There was no flash used and the trick was really the composition and timing. I was waiting for the rotating background screen to show the player in order to use the repetition. That had to synchronize with a good expression of the guitarist. During one song I was able to get about 4-5 great shots and this was one of the best. Hope you will like it too. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 91mm, F5.6 @ 1/640, ISO 400.

Grease Style

2010-05-23T13:49:00.009+02:00

Not a long time ago I was asked by our friends to photograph their daughter. There was a nice, old car standing in front of their house and I was thinking about how can I create something special for them. It was a sunny day, everybody was relaxed and the famous musicals Grease and Saturday Night Fever came to my mind. I opened the front door of the car, ask the girl to sit with her legs crossed over and suggested the position of her hands to make the photo look natural. Then it was a question of finding the right angle so that the leading lines point to her (there are really many of them on this photo) and press the shutter. The main light was provided by my off-camera speedlite 580EX II with 1/4 CTO gel to camera left and the accent light at her hair is thanks to the sun. Normally I would shoot with an umbrella but the sun was very strong so I fired a bare flash to create the butterfly lighting pattern. The picture also took a deal of postprocessing in Lightroom but it never saw Photoshop. I followed a great Lightroom tutorial by Scott Kelby here to create the effect I wanted. I might write little bit more about this in some future post. But now let's return to the sixties and seventies and enjoy the photo! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 82mm, F13 @ 1/250, ISO 200.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-05-21T14:20:00.005+02:00

Let me post a third picture that I took on my S90 compact camera recently. I was impressed by the light at the end of the tunnel on one morning couple of days ago. Lucky enough, I had my S90 with me that day. The photo was taken in JPG so that highlights at the end of the tunnel are completely blown out but I really don't mind it in this kind of situation. The ceiling and the ground were full of dark green which was very easy to selectively desaturate in Lightroom. After cleaning a few color spots with a brush and adding some vibrance and vignetting, the photo was ready just in a few minutes. Camera spec: Canon Powershot S90 at 6mm, F4 @ 1/25, ISO 80.

Converging Lines

2010-05-18T17:59:00.006+02:00

This is why I love my new Powershot S90, it is always with me! A few days ago I was delivering my daughter to the kinder garden and it was very early in the morning. On the way back I noticed the beautiful shadows of the trees and the converging lines giving a nice feeling of depth of the scene. Picked up the S90 camera, went to the AV mode with -2/3 EV and took the shot. Enjoy! Camera spec: Canon Powershot S90 at 6mm, F8 @ 1/80, ISO 80.

Aalborg in Colors

2010-05-12T18:01:00.001+02:00

Two days ago I had a nice walk in downtown of Aalborg with my new Powershot S90 in my pocket. The weather was still little bit chilly for this time of the year but the sky was beautifully blue. I used the FART method and realized that I like the contrast among the green grass, blue sky and red/white building. After finding the right angle and framing with the tree in foreground I got this shot which I truly like. The colors from S90 came out really great (I used the vivid setting and shot in JPG). Seems like that this small compact camera will become my good companion! Camera spec: Canon Powershot S90, F5.6 @ 1/800, ISO 80.

Leading Lines

2010-05-09T10:47:00.006+02:00

Today I would like to share with you a photo of this young pretty lady that I took a couple of weeks ago. In all my recent work I try to focus on composition and I have become a big fan of negative space, as seen on the right of the photo. Moreover, the subtle lines in the bricks at the background all lead towards her, which makes the photo dramatic but soft at the same time (if you don't see the lines, you have to adjust the contrast and brightness of your monitor). I have to thank to David Ziser and his blog DigitalProTalk.com for teaching me to see the lines in his numerous video tutorials. The lighting was also done ala David with a shoot-through umbrella on a monopod at camera left. I opted for a broad lighting on this photo as it, first of all, suits my model very well and second it provides a very nice high-key background effect right behind her which is slowly disappearing as we progress to the right where the leading lines become visible. The on-camera flash was bounced to the wall on the right to fill-in the shadows just a bit. The colors of the final photo were only slightly improved in Lightroom to achieve a more fashion-like look. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 90mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Tulips Again

2010-05-07T20:07:00.007+02:00

Well, I could not resist to post this photo. What is so special about it? I took it on my brand new camera, Canon Powershot S90. Yes, I know ... it is a compact camera but there are a few things I quite like about it. First of all, it is as portable as it can get, which means I can always have it with me. Second, the quality of the photos (especially in a good light) is very good. The lens is sharp and the colors are reproduced very nicely (I used the vivid mode for this photo). Take a look at the 100% crop on the right. Third, it has all the Av, Tv and Manual modes I am used to from my SLR cameras. The ISO performance is ok up to ISO 400, which feels like ISO 3200 on my 5D mark ii (which is actually not bad at all). Further on it get quite noisy, but this was to be expected. A nice feature is that the lens at its wide end is F2.0, which is really good. So far I try to shoot at ISO 80 (the lowest possible) as often as I can and the results look very good. I somehow thing that more photos taken with S90 will follow in the future on this blog. If you want to read more about this nice little camera, take a look here. Camera spec: Canon Powershot S90 at 10.7mm, F3.2 @ 1/60, ISO 80.

A Flower for Daddy

2010-05-05T22:40:00.007+02:00

A few weeks ago I have received a nice tulip-flower from my three years old daughter at the occasion of my name day. It was such a beautiful flower that it deserved to be published on my blog. I though how to make the flower stand out and decided to do a purely natural light high-key photo with lots of negative space around. I very much like the result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L IS at 200mm, F5.6 @ 1/40, ISO 400.