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.

Fluffy Dreams

I have recently had the pleasure to photograph this adorable baby and would like to share one photo with you today. I used studio light with shoot-through umbrella to camera left and a reflector on the opposite site. The baby was lying on a nice soft pillow on top of which I placed the fluffy cloth and asked the parents to raise the corners so that we got nice and even background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 100mm 2.8L IS macro at 100mm, F11 @ 1/160, 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.

Vintage Look

Here comes the second promised image of this adorable baby. The setup was exactly the same as on the photo in the previous post, the props changed and in editing I added a vintage look by starting from the preset called Steller Guru GreenGold and tweaking it from there in Lightroom. As a result, a small change and completely different feel of the photo. Variation is the keyword here. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 90mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

A Happy Baby

I love photographing babies and children. The shoot is always different, you never know what to expect and they always look good on the photos. This is a recent photo I took in my home studio, the set up for baby shoots is always simple, one softbox, one reflector and this time I chose a gray background. I like the baby smile and the right leg raised up. I have one more photo that I will post soon, the same set up but very different atmosphere, just check the block in a couple of days. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 95mm, F9 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Aalborg Garden II

Let me post today one more image related to Aalborg Garden band mention in my previous post. Again, a simple lighting setup with one main light with a softbox and a reflector. I like the shape of the body and the nice "formal" look of the photo. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 80mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Aalborg Garden

Today I am posting an image I took a few weeks ago. The young gentleman joined a band called Aalborg Garden and wished to have a nice photo in his new uniform. The lighting was provided in my home studio with one light and Westcott softbox on camera right, reflector on camera left and a Canon 580EX II speedlite right behind him. I guess we got a rather very nice result. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS II at 75mm, F10 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

X-mas Smile

X-mas is coming soon and while visiting my parents in the city of Trebic in Czech Republic, I had the opportunity to photograph this cute little girl. It took some time before she got comfortable with the camera but then the images looked great. I used my portable light studio, a speedlite 580EX II with a shoot-through umbrella and a small 430EX behind the subject for the illumination of the background. I was experimenting with Pocket Wizard zone controller to remotely adjust the flash power and it worked like a dream. It seems that this will become my standard on-location equipment. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 100.

A Safe Place

Today I am posting an image of a few months old baby in the arms of her father. I like how the baby was exploring the surroundings (and me with my camera) from a very safe place close to her father. Lighting was provided by a studio strobe on camera right with a silver reflector to fill in the shadows and a small Canon speedlite 580EX II with a diffuser is placed behind the baby to illuminate the background and create a subtle rim light. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 135mm, F16 @ 1/125, ISO 200.

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.

Happy, happy ...

Here is another image I took a few days ago. This happy smiling baby really shines on this photo. Apart from this, there are a few things that make the photo interesting. I placed the head slightly off the center and was waiting for the moment when the eyes look towards left (to the center of the photo) to restore the dynamic balance. Also the head position is not following the axis of the shoulders, something I often try to achieve when photographing adults. Here no posing took place, simply waiting for the right moment while entertaining the baby in the mean time. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II at 115mm, F11 @ 1/160, ISO 200.

Curious Eyes

I was photographing kids over the past weekend and this is one of my favourite photos from one of the session. I like the happy look of the girl and the smile on her face. This is for me the main challenge when photographing kids --- to make them relax and forget about them being photographed. Otherwise the light setup is pretty easy, main light through a softbox to camera right (creating a broad lighting pattern on her face) and reflector on the left. Behind the girl there was one Speedlite 580 EX II with a diffuser lighting the gray collapsible background. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II at 200mm, F14 @ 1/125, ISO 200.

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.