Screem for Joy

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.