Aerial Silk

I have had recently the opportunity to photograph our local aerial silk artist and present today one of the best photos from the shoot. We took the picture in a gym using two lights. The main with a softbox standing to the camera left and then a rim light behind the model on the right. The background was not completely dark as I hoped to, so I had to darken it in Lightroom using the brush tool with edge detection. Camera spec: Canon 5d mark iii with Canon 70-200 L2.8 II at 85mm, F8 @ 1/160, ISO 100.

Net Beauty

 I have recently participated in a workshop on nude photography and would like to show you one of the photos I took during the workshop. There is not really that much nudity on this particular photo but I really like the expression of the model and her look. Window light was used to create this photo and I on purpose changed the composition so that her face is leading the eyes out of the frame, creating a nice dynamic tension. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark iii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 80mm, F3.2 @ 1/200, ISO 640.

A Tram Tunnel

Here comes another photo from the workshop of black and white photography mentioned in my previous post. We moved down to the tram station where a nice directional light was coming from one end of the tunnel. I asked the model to look towards the light and pressed the shutter button, resulting in this pleasant portrait of our beautiful model. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark iii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 120mm, F2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 800.

Black and White Beauty

It has been more than a year ago I posted my last photo. The reason was that I was simply too busy with photographic assignments and didn't really find the time to blog about my pictures. In the meantime I gathered bunch of nice photos that I would like to share. Today I start with the first photo that I took recently at the workshop of black and white photography in Brno. I enjoyed the way the workshop was run and today's image is one of my favorites. It was photographed in a natural light in a small tunnel close to a local supermarket. After setting my camera to a correct exposure, I was together with my model exploring different poses until I ended up with something interesting and dynamic. Hope you will enjoy today's photo and stay tuned for more to come! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark iii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 100mm, F3.2 @ 1/250, ISO 400.

Empty Corridor

Today I am posting another photo from my recent trip to Tallinn. It is from the university building. I liked the large and spacious corridor with no people and took some photos on my iPhone. Then I though that having a single person would add to the emptiness of the space. I composed the frame so that the converging lines meet in the upper right part of the frame and waited for some to pass in spot where the lines meet. Luckily, after a few minutes the lady on the photo was walking exactly where I wished her to and her framing in the inner frame of the light door opening is another bonus to the photo. After that I used some effects available in Snapseed and the whole image was edited solely on the iPhone. Camera spec: iPhone 4S at 4.28mm (corresponds to 35mm on full frame), F2.4 @ 1/20, ISO 100.

Tallinn 987

I took this photo on a my recent trip to Tallinn in Estonia. Close to my hotel were these old buildings that seemed to be recently partially burt down. The light was good in the early morning so I picked my iPhone 4S and took this photo using HDR feature of the camera. The resulting photo was edited in iPhone using Snapseed. I think the result is quite moody. Camera spec: iPhone 4S at 4.28mm (corresponds to 35mm on full frame), F2.4 @ 1/160, ISO 64.

Butterfly Portrait

Here comes one more portrait that I took recently. I used butterfly lighting through a shoot-through umbrella and a reflector under my model's face. One speedlite with a grid was used for hair light and another one with Stofen omnibounce to light the backgroud. The higher position of the camera created, in my opinion, a very pleasing result. Camera spec: Canon 5d mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L IS at 105mm, F11 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

Happy Sunset

Today I am posting some of my recent photos of this happy girl. I chose to expose for the sun, turning the rest of the background into silhouettes. The off-camera light on my subject is coming from left and it is a remotely fired Canon Speedlite 580EX with Lumiquest Softbox III. I like the colors, composition and in particular the expression of the girl. Enjoy! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 120mm, F4 @ 1/200, ISO 160.

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.

A Growing Family

It was just before X-mas last year I was photographing this family with two newly born twins, a girl and a boy. I used a simple white background with the setup like in my previous post, instead of a softbox I went with a large shoot-through umbrella. After the shot I composed two selected photos into a nice wide image for a wall portrait. I found out that my new 100m macro lens is quite capable as a studio portrait lens, the photos are very sharp and I can even get very close for a detail without changing the lens. Enjoy. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm macro 2.8L IS at 100mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

My Panda and Me

I took this photo couple of days ago. The setup is easy: white wall illuminated with Speedlite 580EX II with diffuser placed right behind my subject; main light to camera light with 28" Westcott apollo softbox; a silver reflector to camera left. I like the soft expression of my model that was further emphasized in Lightroom 3. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm 2.8L at 100mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 160.

Aalborg Sunset on iPhone 4S

Today I was returning home together with my daughter from her kindergarten and a close to our house we experienced this beautiful sunset. I captured the photo on my new iPhone 4S and edited in the phone using an excellent application Snapseed. After that I quickly uploaded the JPG file to Lightroom and adjusted the last exposition bits on my calibrated monitor and here is the result. Pretty impressive in my opinion! Camera spec: iPhone 4S at 4.28mm (corresponds to 35mm on full frame), F2.4 @ 1/30, ISO 64.

Autumn Feelings

In the last few minutes of the year 2011 let me post one more engagement photos from this year. It was taken late in autumn and the light was disappearing very quickly, so the exposure was little bit extreme but thanks to 5D mark ii without much compromise in quality. I had to use a small touch of on-camera fill flash to separate the couple from the background. What I like most on this image is the connection between the couple and the relaxed feeling that I always try to establish during engagement sessions. Happy New Year!!! Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 200mm, F3.2 @ 1/125, ISO 1600.

Hold me Tight

This is one of the engagement shots I did this autumn. The photo was taken with natural light only and the backlight separated the couple nicely from the green background. Compositionally, I placed the couple off center to create a dynamic portrait showing the nice background too. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 400.

Grand Prix Macao

During my recent trip to Macao, I was lucky enough to see the Macao Grand Prix race from very close and took several photos. The one I am posting today shows how close the drivers get during the turns to the concrete walls. In general, the track looked quite dangerous in my opinion, though I am not a regular fan of the racing sport. I chose continuous focus on my camera and was quite surprised how sharp images I could get with 5D mark ii and the cheapest 70-200 lens that I use mainly for private/travel purposes (it is very light). More than half of the photos were completely sharp; not a bad result given how many people complain about the focus system of the camera. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with 70-200 4L at 200mm, F5.6 @ 1/2000, ISO 800.

Bride in Red

I am travelling these days, visiting the city of Macau. Couple of days ago I was at a famous place of St. Paul's Ruins where a wedding photography is taking a place almost constantly. I saw this beautiful bride and while the photographer was getting ready for the next shot, I smiled at her and she kindly allowed me (with her eyes) to take a photo. I really like the colors of the background and her dress, the negative space in the image and her soft expression. What I pity I didn't get her email to send her this photograph ... Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 4L at 200mm, F4 @ 1/320, ISO 2500.

Framed in Colors

On every wedding I photograph I always try to pull out a great "official" portrait. This happens typically in the church where I can use my off-camera speedlite 580EX II on a stand with shoot-through umbrella, irrelevant of the weather conditions outside (very important when living in Denmark). Today's post is an example of such a couple portrait where I used the off-camera flash just to the right of the frame and on-camera flash as a fill. I really like the nice colored background with the flowers in a matching color. In order to emphasize the symmetry, I was very careful the place the couple exactly in the center. I think it worked very well this time. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 47mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 500.

Rainy Portrait

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.

Wedding Bouquet

As promised, let me post more engagement and wedding photos I took recently. Today, I begin with a photo of a wedding bouquet I photographed several days ago at a wedding here in Aalborg. I always try to photograph the bouquet in a different way so that all of my couples get something special and original. This time I noticed a wall with autumn-colored leaves and I quickly found a nice spot for the bouquet. I shot at 200mm in order to get the leaves out of focus completely blurred and placed the bouquet according to the rules of third. I was quite happy about the result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 L IS II at 200mm, F 5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 500.