Give me a Smile

Today I am posting another photo of this happy baby I was photographing around X-mas last year. I used my classical setup when I travel to people's homes: key light in softbox, reflector on the other side and speedlite with stofen omni-bounce for the high-key background. Normally I carry the white collapsible background with me but this time a piece of nice white wall fulfilled the same purpose. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm 2.8L IS macro at 100mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

Pretty Baby

Around the X-mas there are only very few weddings in Denmark but I was pretty busy with photographing kids. So here I am posting one of my favorite children photos. I like to travel to the house of my customers and bring my portable studio. This gives the children the safety of their home and it takes less time before they start to cooperate. I have became quite efficient in setting up my studio, so I can build the whole setup with key light, reflector, background light and a collapsible background in about 10 minutes. I have a few more children photos waiting to be presented, so be ready for the next one that is coming soon. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm 2.8L Macro at 100mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

Baby on the Way

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

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.

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.

A Flower for Daddy

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.

A Girl with Roses

This photo I took with three studio lamps (two for the background and one key light with a softbox). I wanted to create a soft and eye pleasing portrait of this pretty lady with roses in the foreground. The photo was converted to black and white in Lightroom and the clarity slider was pulled quite a bit to the left to smoothen the skin. The details in the eyelashes and her mouth where brought back with a selective sharpening tool and by increasing slightly the contrast. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F11 @ 1/125, ISO 100.

Highkey Wedding Photo

Let's take a look at how easy it is to take high-key photos with no extra equipment. Just wait for a cloudy day, position the subjects against the sky and dial up the exposition by something like +2EV or use the manual setting. No flash was used for this picture. I also think that sepia toning on this wedding photo works particularly well. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 65mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 400.