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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yesterday I have got a new toy: a selective focus Lensbaby Composer. This is one of the very first pictures I have taken with it. I am surprised to see how sharp this lens is! Take a look 
at 100% crop from the area in focus. It is pretty amazing but also quite tricky to achieve a good focus with this lens (manual focusing is the only option here). I am looking forward to more experiments with this new piece of equipment. I have a feeling that it has quite some potential. By the way the lighting was achieved by my on-camera flash pointed to the wall on my left. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Lensbaby Composer at 50mm, F5.6 @ 1/30, ISO 800.
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