I haven’t published a lot from this shoot, because some non-published images will be shown at my upcoming exhibit, and I want to keep a small surprise for my visitors there. you have seen ‘Cirrus’ here before.
At the very end of the shoot, I shot a roll of film on my Rolleiflex. 12 shots, I like this one the best.
shot on Rolleiflex 3.5, Kodak T-Max 400 film.
Shot at the site of ‘Shoes or No Shoes’, with permission.
thank you for watching. Any comments welcome.
ludwig
A small series from the same shoot I did with Marion.
The ZEN pool. Magnificent environment and great weather on this early morning.
This is the kind of things you cannot plan before. I hadn’t been at this place in about 10 years. There was no house at that time, and certainly not a pool, so this came kind of as a bonus with the planned old chalk oven on the same location.
Marion felt completely Zen after half an hour of sunbathing and being next to Buddha. 🙂
thank you for watching, …
ludwig
Putting the final decisions together for the upcoming exhibit in Gavere.
I will present my work on the main stage, the selection has been made, the sizes have been decided, the stage setup has been decided.
Now the work is in the hands of the print shop (Fifth in Ghent) and the frame makers (‘t Schilderken in Geraardsbergen).
Printed invitations will arrive soon, the models have been invited, some special guests too.
for your information, below I’ll add the opening hours (on the official event poster) and as a teaser a rendering of what the setup will look like – it’s blurred, I know. 😉
I sincerely hope to be able to meet some of my followers/enthusiasts in Gavere. If you plan a visit, give me a sign, I’ll try to be present as much as possible, but i won’t make it every day.
I have recently found out that:
Concert laser shows, and other laser sources can, literally burn your DSLR sensor. The problem has not been very obvious for a long period of time, since we used to take only stills with DSLR’s, exposing the sensor for only a very short period of time. The shorter the exposure, the less chance there is that the laser beam hits the sensor at that very particular moment.
Now that DSLR’s are also capable of filming, the problem is appearing more frequently. While filming with your DSLR, the mirror of your camera is up, and the sensor exposed. Laser beams although often spreading over distance a little bit, are known for their very linear and small beam. This beam hitting the lens, then refocused on the sensor, can ruin your sensor at the very first hit.
there is a lot of documentation on the subject on the internet (search for ‘laser beam killing sensor’) but I think this single movie tells the whole story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzyKLoEDb64
Someone filming with a Canon 5D mark II (a 2500$ camera) not aware of the possible damage that might occur. At the end of the song, his sensor is turned completely useless.
Beware if you care.
Ludwig
PS.: Share if you have other friends with digital gear, interested in picking up on a concert from time to time, … Same thing can happen to your video camera, and I suppose to your cellphone camera sensor too.
As I told in a previous post, a very cold day, cold wind, no sun … great light for a shoot.
A black coat, a set of nice lingerie and some sexy boots plus a very beautiful alley of trees as a background. That’s what we needed for this fine series of images. Hairdo: my wife Nathalie 🙂
Farmers went and came trough the alley, they must have wondered what we were doing there. I kept the car heating on, so Jenn could get warm in between different takes.
Taken with Canon 5D II and Canon 135 mm f2.0 (except second, with Canon 24 mm f1.4 L II), its been a while since I used this lens for a shoot, but it still is a nice piece of glass with great contrast and perfect sharpness wide open.
Jenn told me she didn’t look good in pictures, what do you think?
And a last image with Rolleiflex 3,5 Tessar 75 mm on Kodak T-max 400 film.
thanks for watching, come back again soon.
ludwig
Marion never posed before, but she contacted me as she loved the images she had seen with Pauline. She listened carefully to my instructions, working for a natural and beautiful look, and we ended up with this result. I am really proud of this shoot, this is only a small part of the entire selection, with a white blouse and a black hat as the main props.
It was the first time I worked in this location. A beautiful house, with an annex ancient building. The weather was great, although very bright sunlight doesn’t make it easier to work within the dynamic range of the sensor.Nut the sun kept Marion warm and cosy as she got partially undressed on this spring morning.
Have you noticed how I rarely have my models interact with me? I think this is part of my style, and one secret to creating intimate, natural looking images.
I shot a couple of rolls of film too on this shoot, these images will follow later on.
thank you for watching, I hope you liked the images.
Ludwig
Well no, actually it was freezing cold when we made this image, but I love it. It has a lot of character and charm in my opinion. (although I do not want to promote smoking 😉 )
Rolleiflex 3.5 with Kodak T-Max 400 film. Lab-developed, home scanned.
ludwig
now, if you could jump from the window in the roof, …
grts,
ludwig
I always get a déjà vu feeling when I receive a newly developed roll of film.
I had a bit forgotten about this one, so it has been a while since I posted the digital images on my blog here.
Images taken with Rolleiflex 3.5 on Kodak T-max 400 film.
I’m getting better at scanning 🙂
come again soon,
ludwig
A single image from a very recent shoot. Great weather, a new model and a new location. Yummie 🙂
soon more of this,
ludwig
I have printed a couple of books trough the Blurb services already, and wanted to make a new collection of prints for my location search. It is always handy to carry an overview of recent work with you, if you want to negotiate the possible use of a place/building/location for future shoots.
I had made a lightroom book, which I mostly do, and published it to the Blurb website the usual way.
Blurb has proved to be a quick and reliable partner, and this was not different this time, hardly a week later, my order got shipped, next day delivery at home. March 20th.
Curiously running trough the pages however, I noticed something wrong all the way, on two facing pages. A stain running vertically over the pages: (sorry for the sloppy images)
So I opened up a support ticket with Blurb.
Received a message that same day, that I would get a replacement copy printed, at no extra cost.
(very swift reaction and no discussion, thumbs up for Blurb)
Second copy arrived a week later. March 27th. Of course I ran trough the book immediately, finding out that there were no stains in this book, but that every page had an ugly bue-green color cast on it. My models certainly don’t look good in green. 🙁
Re-opened the same support ticket I had before, thanking them for dealing with the print stains, but complaining that my models looked green, and that the color reproduction was too far off target for a photo book. … It took a while before I received an answer this time, and first thing they answered me was that they needed advice from a colleague that was not present at that time to make sure that this qualified for a reprint, so it could take a while. It took a week, before I got nervous and re-asked my question on the status of my support ticket. Then came the answer from another person, that indeed ‘people at Blurb need to work very fast and that colour shifts happen in digital printing, etc … ‘
Well then, I’ve answered the friendly person, I have been working in the printing industry before (which is true, I am a graphic designer and I worked in prepress and publicity companies before) and that I am aware that some colour variations do occur, but that I was also aware of the existence of calibrated workflows, and that Blurb, as a main partner with Adobe Lightroom needed at least to be able to prove that they could do better than this, as they had done in the first print (which had good colour reproduction). That this was a portfolio piece that I wanted to be proud about, and that it was not the case right now.
One day later I received a message that I would receive another printed copy of the book, at no extra cost.
A week later my new book arrived, a good one this time.
thank you Blurb, for dealing with your own quality issues.
ludwig
I would call it a perfect day.
Perfect weather, perfect location, perfect model.
A first single image of this shoot with Pauline. Pauline had been my first model in the series ‘at the Mansion’ shoots, about 2 and a half year ago. Shortly after that shoot she suffered severe injuries from a traffic accident. But she’s back, and she loved being in front of the camera again.
Congratulations to you Pauline, for your courage, your perseverance and your hard work, for getting back your life, I think you came out stronger.
Cirrus, named after the clouds, that so nicely accompanied this shoot.
Canon 5D II with Canon 17-40 mm f4.0, 1/125s at f 11, ISO 100.
come again soon for more images of this wonderful day.
Location: SONS
thank you for reading,
ludwig
thoughtful, spontaneous, fun, serious, wondering, open minded, …
… Jenn told me she didn’t fit too well on images. That was until she saw the results of our shoot.
“the end result really is ‘WAW’, so you were right that being a good model is linked to the qualities of the photographer … whenever you have a location again I’d be most pleased to be your model again.”
I think I’m flattered. 😎
Same setup as the color version of this shoot. Only this time developed in a black and white version.
I Hope you like the images.
Come back again soon, to see the results of my next shoot. I promise now already they’ll be fantastic. (that’s because I’ve seen them already :p )
All the best, thank you for stopping by.
Never hesitate to leave a reaction.
ludwig
Simply because it is my birthday today 😀
Another new limited edition print available. ( 7 copies + 1 Artist Proof) ‘PEARLS’.
60 x 60 up to 100 x 100 cm on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta – finishing/framing on demand.
pls contact me at
ludwig – at – renderhouse -dot- eu
for more info.
see you soon,
ludwig
I will be featured as ‘guest photographer’ on the next ‘Gafodi Photosalon’ exhibit.
If you would like to see my latest work, meet me, buy me a beer, be there 😉
see you soon,
ludwig
As the title says, a very good morning indeed.
We had a solar eclipse last friday here in Belgium, and we left our make up assistant when the eclipse was at its maximum. Only a small smiley poked trough the otherwise gray and fully covered sky. Off to Ronse, for another ‘at house Adelaide’ series.
A first series, in color, from this splendid session with Jenn. Not used to posing, but she did very well. Natural, spontaneous, beautifully …
Not very much else to be said, except that I enjoy my focusing screen ‘engraving’ as seen in last post. – don’t try at home 😉
All images on Canon 5D mark II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG Art. Does it need to be said, I love this lens 😉
Happy viewing.
come back again soon, to see the B/W images from this series.
hope to see you soon 🙂
Ludwig
Since photographing with the Rolleiflex camera, I have enjoyed it so much that I wanted a square crop compositing aid on my Canon 5D mark II.
I had read about Katzeye optics on the internet, mailed them, but they were unable to make me a replacement focusing screen for the 5D II.
After searching the internet, an alternative option seemed to be unavailable.
I have been using a special focusing screen replacement for a while (Eg-S, also called super precision focusing screen), that has a better visual reference for the actual depth of field.
This has left me with two no longer used focusing screens (the original ones for my two camera’s), so I thought I’d give it a go.
Brute force and an ‘I don’t care’ mind is the only thing left 😀 so I decided to ‘scratch’ my focusing screen with square crop lines.
What you’ll need:
A focusing screen that is of no importance to you (one you can do absolutely without)
A needle
An iron ruler
A loupe
A fine marker pen
fine motor skills
some nerve.
Some pictures of the process (I’m not responsible for any camera abuse that might result from this blog post)
the following steps will be needed : (FS=Focusing screen)
1. With the help of the focusing screen replacement tool (delivered with the Canon focusing screen replacements) you will remove the FS.
2. With a fine marker put a small reference dot at 6mm from the edge of the ground surface of the FS, this is not the edge of the FS.
3. With a metal ruler and a sharp needle (any kind of sewing needle will do) just slightly scratch the ground surface of the FS parallel to the edge of the FS.
4. Do this on two sides (left and right)
5. Put back the FS in the camera, with the help of the provided tool.
Tadaaaah, two vertical lines in the ocular view. They give at least an idea of where the square crop will fall.
thank you for reading, remember, I take no responsibility for possible damage to your gear.
ludwig
New limited edition print ( 7 copies + 1 Artist Proof) available.
100 x 100 cm on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta – finishing/framing on demand.
Sudden gust of wind
Pls. contact me for more information. Be quick, they’ll be gone before you know it. 😉
ludwig.
Or better said. Flanders culture.
Strictly catholic, the smell of manure, admirers of small chapels, and of the ‘Tour de Flandres’ cycling race of course. Soon on your tv station everywhere around the world. Schorisse, Belgium.
at the left side: a bas-relief of some great bicycle racer, in the center, the Lord Himself, at the right side, the winners of the great ‘Tour de Flandres’ from 1913 to 2010 I suppose the list on the right doesn’t get updated every year. Too expensive probably. To be continued …
I told you before I would talk a bit more about the Rolleiflex I use for shooting on film.
The camera is a Twin Lens Reflex, built in the late 50’s, so the camera is about 60 years old.
The construction with the two lenses, of which the upper lens is for viewing only (viewing lens) and the lower lens is for taking the image (taking lens) has advantages and disadvantages. In comparison to the older camera’s that used flat film sheets, where one had to remove the matte focusing screen before putting in the film holder for taking the image, this camera allows to shoot multiple images without moving anything. There is a 45° tilted mirror behind the viewing lens, projecting a mirrored image on the horizontal focusing screen.
Of course viewfinder camera’s existed as well, but they had no visual reference of the focusing plane, or the sharpness of the subject when changing focus. A photographer using a viewfinder camera had to use the distance scale on the lens, and the not so trusty guesswork for camera to subject distance.
Both lenses of the this TLR move forward and backward while focussing, and so provide an identical image on the ground glass as the image to be expected on the film. Still, the smallest amount of inaccuracy of the lens focusing mechanism leads to bad focusing, and I believe this camera suffers at least some looseness in the forward-backward movement.
Dealing with this complex mechanism of focusing, meant also that these camera’s are mostly fixed focal length. Some camera’s came in different focal length versions, but camera’s with interchangeable lenses where very rare. (Except for the Mamiya C)
This camera comes with a 75 mm f3.5 lens, it also existed in a f2.8 version, usually much more expensive on the secondhand market. 75 mm on 6×6 film format has an equal viewing angle to a 38 mm lens on Full frame DSLR, or a 24 mm lens on a 1.6 crop camera, so a rather ‘wide-standard’ viewing angle.
The lens is certainly not paramount, and suffers heavily from flare, as can be seen in the images below (does somebody have a lens hood for this camera for me?). An aperture of 3.5 gives a good amount of image unsharpness on medium format. 2.8 would be nicer of course. The images lack a bit of contrast and sharpness.
Composing with the mirrored image on the focusing plane is a bit of a habit.
Shutter speed range is limited, from 2 seconds to 1/500th of a second, thus mostly limiting the wide open apertures in bright light. The mirror does not move, since it is not obstructing the film plane, so there are not vibrations from this side. Activating the shutter however demands some finger movement (unlike today’s DSLR’s where pushing the shutter entirely only takes some tenth of a millimeter) causing some hand stress and maybe movement unsharpness. Shutter speeds as long as 1/15th. of a second seem not possible to me without image shake. Maybe with some more experience.
The camera has a built in exposure meter, but it no longer works, so exposer should be metered with another camera, or with a hand held meter, I use the latter.
Film for this camera is widely available here in Belgium, both black and white and color film. Not sure about slides. Development is still available too, although it can take a while (1-2 weeks) before getting the negatives back. Scanning the negatives, as well as retouching them (from dust) is a tedious process.
The biggest advantages for me is that I spend more time composing, and checking out if everything is well in place before taking the image. It learns me to concentrate more on details, on exposure, on posing etc. … One roll of film equals 12 exposures, after that the fun is over. 😀 The fact that you see the image mirrored gives you a fresh view on your scene, revealing flaws in your image/composing remaining unnoticed as you set it up. (But I still have a lot to learn)
A second big advantage is that the images are square format. This gives me a more relaxed feeling when composing, and I believe that the images are more harmonious too. I kind of like this square format more and more. (This made me thinking about modifying a matte screen for my 5D mark II to indicate ‘square’ cropping).
changes I have had:
I had the original focusing screen replaced with a focusing screen with split prism and microprism focusing aids, and that adds to the accuracy of focussing with the camera. I also had the shutter speeds checked out by the same specialist repair shop that also changed the focusing screen.
To be continued. Enjoy this small portrait series I made with Pauline lately – Rolleiflex 3.5E – Tmax 400 film.
thank you for reading, see you soon,
Ludwig
