Author: ludwigdesmet

model Bjorn

people, Personal Pictures

I went for a shoot in the deserted school building in Ronse last week. I had done some urban shoots there before, so I know my way around. I had an arrangement with Bjorn for a shoot. He is thinking about becoming a model and asked me to help build a portfolio. We did some nice stuff with this vandalized building, some flash experiments etc. … We didn’t steal anything, didn’t break anything, but had to scrape glass fragments from our shoe soles afterwards. Welcome to what used to be a nursery-school.
Some images have been re-colored in Lightroom, just for some extra atmosphere and variation in the portfolio, hope you like it.

Gear used: Canon 5DII, 50mm, 85mm, 17-40mm, 135mm, flash with or without umbrella.

There’s more to come, don’t forget subscribing to my blog if you like my posts!

Click to view full size.










ND filters

personal tips & tricks, Tips and Tricks

Hi,
I bought 2 neutral density gray filters some weeks ago. I would like to show you some results.
ND filters are used to take away light from the scene, to a certain amount.
There are two different types of ND filters on the market: fixed stop value filters, and variable filters. The latter work with two polarizing filters rotating over each other, and they have a stopped down value between 3 and 8 stops. The fixed value filters consist in a single sheet of shaded gray plastic or glass or whatever. The Polarizing filters version has the advantage that you can vary the number of stops of light blocked, they have the disadvantage that they create an interference pattern when used at the darkest setting (showing as a darker cross in your image, especially when used with wide angle lenses on a full frame body)
I have bought a 3 stops (also called 8x because it allows only 1/8th of the light to pass) and a 10 stops (also called 1000x) ND filter, for my 17-40 mm wide angle lens.

a 1000x ND filter blocks 999/1000 of the light, this makes it possible to use long exposure times in full daylight. The examples below are from 20-80 seconds for the exterior images, 400 seconds for the interior images. This makes all moving subjects fade away, to the point of becoming invisible if they do not halt during the exposure time. I have taken images of a crowded train station hall (Gent St.-Pieters) a very crowded shopping street (Gent Veldstraat), the E40 Highway on a very busy day, … without moving subjects visible.
One remark, the 1000x ND filter creates a lot of vignetting and a white balance shift towards red, I’m not sure if this is a typical ND filter thing or specific for the ones I got.
I also joined two images without the use of the ND filter, to make obvious what the effect is. Click for full size!







Model Mien

people, Personal Pictures

Did a shoot some weeks ago, in the last late summer days of september. We tried some different things, had some fun and returned with some beautiful pictures. Unfortunately the model is very unsure of herself, so she didn’t allow me to publish a lot of pictures. Here a selection. Hope you like them.

On some images you can clearly see the effect of the self made reflector.

ludwig

click images for bigger picture!





Serafijn Ronse

people, Personal Pictures

Hi,
on the first of september, I was invited to take some photographs in a newly founded primary school, Serafijn in Ronse.
I had a pleasant morning, photographing moms, dads and kids. The kids were feeling a bit unsure, the moms also I guess. They managed to build a chicken-shed on that very first day, kids loved to put some paint on it!
We didn’t want to publish pictures without the parents consent, so it has taken a while. Some of my favourites, I hope you like them too.

click to view full size!




DIY reflector

personal tips & tricks, Tips and Tricks

Hi,

everybody will know the difficulties of shooting a model in bright sunlight. Working with the model aimed at the sun will get you peeping eyes, working with the sun in the back will get you dark faces, unless flashed. Most fashion/model shooters use reflector screens to overcome this problem. Model with the sun behind, light reflected towards her/him to light up the model. Most famous make is Sunbounce. A decent reflector will make your purse at least 200 euros lighter, similar size as the one described here.
I’ve made a diy reflector last week. Cost to me: 0 Euros, because all re-used materials. Cost if materials bought new, probably below 10 euros. Time to make it: 15 minutes.
1. Take a insulating board, styrodur, (polystyrene) or similar, in a handy size. Mine is 60 cm x 125 cm. (approx 25 x 50 Inch) Make sure it is rigid, not styrofoam, since this will more prone to breaking.
2. Use some dots of silicone/adhesive, spread all over the board, slightly more concentrated on the edges to ensure a good fix. Rather use dots than lines
3. Cut a length of radiator reflector foil (the kind of foil you fix behind a radiator, to prevent the heat from entering the wall in stead of heating your room) , slightly longer than your insulating board.
4. Spread it nicely over the insulator board, reflecting side outwards 😉 . Press gently all over the surface, to make sure the silicone or similar gets well spread.
5. Trim the edges of the reflector foil to match the size of your board. Let stiffen the silicone.
6. Done.

I’ve been using it in my last shoot, works very well. Can’t compare to the real thing however because I don’t have one, but I saw my model peeping eyes when I came too close with it.

Isabelle & Laurent

Personal Pictures, wedding

I have been able to join Hung Tran as a second shooter on his latest wedding shoot. He encourages young (me, ahum ) and dynamic (me again 🙂 ahum ) photographers to try to join an established wedding photographer whenever possible, to learn the inside tricks hands-on. I contacted him and have had the opportunity to shoot with him last saturday. As a second shooter you don’t get paid, except in experience. It has been a very fruitful day to me, with lots of things happening, fantastic weather, a great looking couple and a playful atmosphere.

What I’ve learnt especially is that the difference between a good wedding photographer, and a great wedding photographer lies not in his technical skills, but rather in his social abilities. The way Hung handles his audience was a big eye-opener to me. I’ve got a lot to learn.

Thank you Hung, thank you Isabelle and Laurent!

Enjoy this selection of a very inspiring day! – click images to see a bigger version –

 






























Free lensing

Internet tips and tricks, Tips and Tricks

Hi,
I found out about free lensing yesterday. Checked some references on the web.
This is what I found. Free lensing is the technique where you take pictures with the lens off the camera !
So, you get your camera, screw your lens of, and hold it before the cam to take pictures. Crazy huh!
What are the consequences:
No communication between camera and lens, so no aperture settings, which means you’ll work with full aperture opening of your lens. (unless you use an older lens with aperture ring)
No AF (you could have guessed that yourself, couldn’t you?)
No IS (image stabilization) of any kind. You’d be happy if you manage to keep lens and body more or less stable.
risk of dropping your lens while manipulating your camera.
…

so what on earth would make you want to do this?
by taking of the lens, you can play with the image DOF plane, like with a technical camera, a tilt-shift lens, or whatever system that allows to move the lens independently from the film plane (sensor plane)
this means your sharpness plane no longer runs parallel to your film plane.

a bit difficult to understand maybe, but look at the images.
You’ll see that I get sharp and unsharp in the same depth plane. Text on monitor is supposed to be flat, although only some lines are sharp, the others are not.
The lamp cover has some pearls sharp in front, some in the back, none in-between.

I’m not sure this is the best technique for tack-sharp images, but it can produce very artsy images at least. I took these some moments after I read this post, so I’m an absolute beginner. I will possibly never do something serious with this, but I thought it was funny enough to share.

If you want to give this a try, please note:
I won’t take responsibility for damage to your camera or lens.
Keep i mind that the sensor is at some moments disposed to the outside environment, never attempt this in a dusty area.
Lenses developed for a full frame camera will give better results, due to their bigger image circle.
try using some old analog lenses, they are cheap, and always developed for full frame negatives.




home studio shoot

people, Personal Pictures

I did a shoot today, in our attic studio room.
All images exept last one are taken with my new 85mm f1.8.
I bought this lens two days ago, secondhand.
Studio setup:

first image: flash above model (approx 2.5 m – 6 ft) I made a snoot with radiator insulator foil.

Other images: single flash, at the right side, trough 105 cm transp white umbrella, a small styrofoam board at the left side, to lighten up the shadows a bit. (this could have been a bit more, I had a hard time getting enough light there)

It is quite difficult to focus in a dark studio, but I had to cover the windows entirely because there was some sun entering at intervals. Luckily you can work with a small aperture.
Background black has been enhanced a little, because I had some structure coming trough.

I hope you like the images! A big thank you to my willing model and wife Nathalie!

 

MAS

architecture

 

I did a two day visit to Antwerp last weekend, and of course, the obligatory MAS was on the schedule.

 

some images of this quite extraordinary building. The weather was not best, but this enhances the light for this kind of photography.

 

 

Low Key selfportrait

Internet tips and tricks, people

Hi,

I had to make a selfportrait today for an article in the Dutch online magazine EOSZINE.

after some web-surfing, I stumbled on this youtube video: about low key portraits anywhere.

Basic principles are: fast as possible shutter, and small aperture will get the environment black. The flash will light up the subject (me). Since I have not really finished my Studio, I thought I’d give it a try.

This picture was taken with my ‘old’ EOS 450D and the 50mm f1.8

Setup: flash just left of me, trough umbrella 105cm, 580EX II flash at 1/8th power, manual mode. Triggered with Cactus V5 transmitter.

Camera: 1/250th f9.0 ISO200

(actually the camera doesn’t sync at 1/250, it has a max sync speed of 1/200 but the black band is hidden in the black backround on the left side)