Innocent Blue

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 ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.