Grandpa Is Posing

My grandpa is soon turning 88 years and a few days ago I had the opportunity to take his portrait. The sun was high so I used my on-camera flash to fill in the hard shadows on his face. What I like on the photo is the composition which divides the space in three parts with my grandpa standing in the middle. The contrasting colors---beautiful blue sky, green grass and brown cottage wall---add a dramatic feeling to the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark II with 24-105 4L at 24mm, F8 @ 1/400, ISO 50.

Saint Michel at Night

I little bit less than a year ago I was at a conference at Saint Malo in France and we had a conference trip to Saint Michel. This place was amazing and at night I took this long 15 second exposure of this rocky tidal island. I used my portable manfrotto mini-tripod placed on one of the tables in a nearby restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. Camera spec: Canon 20D with 28-105 3.5-4.5 at 105mm, F6.3 @ 15s, ISO 200.

Bulgarian Beauty

I took this photo during my recent trip to Ruse in Bulgaria. It was just a quick candid during a political meeting on the main square in Ruse. I like the soft light on her face and the reflections in her glasses. The shoulder of the man in foreground provided a nice framing and a feel of depth. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3.5-4.5 at 105mm (168mm on full-frame), F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 800.

A Portrait of my Farther

I took this portrait of my father about a week ago. We were visiting a summer house of my wife's parents and the old window frame together with a soft natural light provided a result I was very happy about. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark II with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F5.6 @ 1/800, ISO 1600.

Wedding Photography Workshop

On July 23rd 2009 I took part in a whole day workshop on wedding and reception photography in Brno given by a professional photographer Jan Branc from Prague. This was a very interesting event, in particular the afternoon exercises with our beautiful models Veronika and Michal were a real fun. Take a look at some of their pictures.

My personal goal on this workshop was to take as many shots as possible in natural light only. Since I got my new Canon 5D mark II I realized that noise in high ISO images is not that much of an issue any more and I am rediscovering the beauty of natural light portraits. I think that I got a couple of great shots of Veronika and Michal. A few more images can be seen here.