Pictures I took myself.
a single image post.
I find it rather intimate and peaceful, expressing proud and stability.
‘BLACK’
tomorrow I will show you the counterpart, same setting, same pose, same model, just I as a photographer have moved.
Technical details: Canon 135mm f2.0L at f2.2, 1/200s, ISO 320
thank you for watching, don’t forget to come back tomorrow for ‘WHITE’
ludwig
Hi there,
I have been developing some negatives from last summer lately.
First a series of images I took in a dark attic, on a dusk day. Ideal conditions for film-work with an antique camera. (Not!)
Hard to focus, hard to get shutter speeds high enough for hand held shooting. I worked with a 400ISO film and had to push it two stops (underexpose when exposing, then get a ‘pushed development’ in developing the film) to get a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second. I’m not really very fond of the exposures, because I think they lack grey tones. The images are very contrasty and full of grain.
All images Rolleiflex 3.5 75mm on Kodak TMax400 film.
Come again soon.
ludwig
it is not really the season for cherry trees blossoming, but this is from earlier this year.
A giant cherry tree in early blossoming, of course mirrored to a beautiful woman.
A single image post, from the same shoot as Sirrus and some other images with Pauline. Thank you Pauline for your efforts and good mood.
for those who might be interested in the technical aspects:
1/160s f9.0 ISO 100 – Canon 5D II with EF 17-40mm f4 L at 20 mm.
best,
Ludwig
I normally don’t do weddings, this shoot has been a kind of a ‘after wedding’ gift from the bride to the bride. 🙂
Never a bad thing if you can give yourself a gift. Elisa chose to have herself portrayed as a souvenir for later.
We played around with a lot of different themes, here’s the wedding dress theme. We started nice, we ended a bit naughty.
Extremely difficult shooting situation, with almost no light (1/25s at f2.8 and ISO640) a tripod is of good help in such situations. All images Canon 5D II and Canon EF 100 mm f2.8 Macro L IS. A tripod and live view allow for accurate focusing (using live view zoom modes and the tripod takes care of long shutter speeds. Be careful to tell your model not to move during exposures.
I hope you like them.
thank you for watching,
ludwig
for you to choose …
thank you for watching
ludwig
There’s a lot going on on the internet about how to get your model in the right pose. Workshops, do’s and don’ts, streaming video’s, the basic rules for a good pose, etc. …
Now what if we forgot all about it, and just have the person in front of the lens completely be herself? That is what I tried a couple of weeks ago with two ‘recurring’ models. They both had been with me for a shoot before, so they more or less know how I work and what to expect. I explained them that I wanted a part of the shoot to be completely void of instructions from my side. After all, I am a man, and when I put my models in a pose, this is man-mind driven, and can never be completely natural. I asked them to ‘not seek’ me with their eyes, pretend as if I was not there, and just slowly wake up from the comfortable spot I gave them.
Confidence is a key-word I guess, in this kind of work, since they do not know what I want, they do not know what I see, and they do not know when I’m going to take a picture. They must be self-aware, at ease with the surrounding environment, with me and with the idea that they can just simply enjoy this moment of quietness and peace.
Self induced posing, it is 100% the woman in the pictures. All natural. I hope you like them. Thank you Justine.
The sun was slightly warming the place, it was quiet and nice, honestly I think she would have stayed in bed, but that wouldn’t have given us these nice pictures wouldn’t it.
thank you for watching, I have more images with Justine waiting to be published.
ludwig
I brought a mosquito net into my studio space. I installed it on the attic.
We fooled a bit around with the bright light that drops into this space when the sun is coming in. The shadow creates a second person in the space. I kinda liked how the shadow and the original interacted with each other.
Sir,
Could you please do a shoot with me?
Sure Ma’m. The honour is mine.
– Elisa –
Canon 5D II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG A. 1/30s f2.8 ISO400
a first part of a shoot I did recently with Justine. We worked together earlier, this was our third meet. Things went smooth and the weather was fine. Some splendid images in this shoot, more to come.
Thank you Justine, for this fine morning.
Images with Canon EF 135mm f2 L (standing against the wall) and Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A.
thank you for watching,
ludwig
Hello there,
some nice days in september allowed for some extra outdoor work.
the atmosphere in the garden was nice, the model was feeling good and relaxed. We spent some time here enjoying the sun an warm weather. The most difficult thing to tackle are the bright highlights. It is almost impossible not to wash out the highlights if you want some decent light in the shadow area’s. thats why it is actually much easier to shoot in a softly clouded sky situation than with bright light. Exposing for the bright highlights will give you near black shadows, exposing for the shadows will give you over-exposed hightlights.
I do not have an assistant with a sun-washer filter, so I often will shoot in a back-lit situation, with some highlight clipping in the bright area’s, and a lot of fill light in post processing. An alternative is seeking for the cover of a leaf tree, as we did in some images.
Elisabeth did great. Thank you. I hope you like the images.
Except last two (50mm Sigma) all images with Canon 135 mm f2.0 at f2.5
Hi,
Another example of a Lightroom development process.
Two stages of LR development, and in this image I added a bit of photoshop sparks.
Oh my, bad exposure in the first place. Working against bright light has an imminent danger: blowing out the highlights. That’s why I will be very careful not to over-expose. I had my model standing in the tree shade, but depending on her position, the sun would shine on her blonde hair from time to time. Be careful not to cram it! Original image: 1/500s f2.2 ISO 100 with the Canon 135mm f2 L lens.
I first had developed the whole series as the second image:
if you have lightroom:
exposure +0,70
contrast +19
highlights -67
shadows +55
and a vignette darkening the corners.
I also added an extra +0,28 exposure on the face and breast area. (radial gradient)
After that I decided that I wanted to get some more warmth and glow to the images, so I went a step further (still LR)
I changed the white balance from as shot 5400/-2 to a slightly warmer 5847/-3
I pushed up the exposure to +1,05 stops.
This gave me a warmer tone, and a radiating model.
In photoshop I did two further things:
I added a sort of soft-focus filter to the image (layer copy with gaussian blurr on top of the originallayer, blending mode set to screen, with reduced opacity. Prevent the soft focus layer from covering the focus areas of your image – head, breast, hands – )
Add a combined unsharp mask/high pass sharpening layer to the ‘focus areas’.
Sharon – Reina Petita Belgica – Reina Intercontinental – Costa Rica
Hi,
I enjoyed working in my new location the last couple of weeks. It is spacious, very quiet and private, it has a lot of windows, and a large amount of possibilities for different shooting environments. Unfortunately the summer is swiftly passing away, and with the colder days coming in, models probably are going to get goose-bumps again. Difficult to retouch, not pleasant for the model.
That is what I’m missing the most in our Belgian climate. Rather than being half summer half winter, we only have 2 months of summer, the rest of the year is half fall half winter.
I had two shoots last Friday, you should get images from them very soon. This one is from earlier this summer.
Enjoy 🙂
1/50s f2.0 ISO 320
Canon 5D II with Sigma 50 mm
come again soon,
ludwig
For those who missed my latest exhibit at Gafodi Gavere, I have published the entire exhibit on my page ‘limited edition prints’ on this site. Go and Check it out.
Believe me, they are better in real life, but this may give you a good idea. 😉
see you soon,
Ludwig
Long legs, high heels.
Sharon came to me for a shoot for her ‘Miss Universal’ – edit: ‘Reina Intercontinental’ – election in Costa Rica.
She’s not new to me. I worked with her before, here, here and here.
We did several clothing outfits, one even more ‘missy’ than another, not really my style as you probably know by now, but I found this image rather sexy at least.
You can express your support for Sharon here: FB page
thank you for watching,
Ludwig
I’m happy to say that after having to quit ‘the mansion’ I finally have found a new ‘homebase’ for shooting. Totally different in character, but as much variation possible as the mansion. Not sure what to call it yet. This will be my main location for at least a couple of months. I already posted some images taken there, but there’s more to come.
A ‘standard’ available location is a good thing for the ease of mind, for the ease of organisation and the fine-tuning of techniques and setups.
It is however important to keep on working in different locations, to expand your portfolio, get some variation and push yourself to be creative. For that I would like to call on followers that if you have a location near my hometown (Ronse – B) that I can use, to please give me a sign. I probably will come over only in a while, but it is handy for me to have a basic list of possible locations for shoots. I can always pick another one if the moment doesn’t suit you.
This said, please enjoy this image from this summer: Hot summer days – the sequel
natural light in an extremely dark depot.
1/60s f2.8 ISO250 – Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS
thank you for watching
Ludwig
Some images from a while ago. Analog takes a little longer to process than digital. 🙂
Very hard circumstances for making pictures without a built-in light meter, with the light changing every minute. Sunny with scattered clouds. Luckily the film I use has a lot of ‘range’, so I could correct in scanning, when needed.
I enjoyed working in this castle environment very much. If any one of my followers out there owns his or her private castle, and I could use it for shoots, please shout. I will grant you my eternal gratitude and a free beer.
I think these are the last images from the ‘interim model’, I hereby want to thank her again for stepping up for this life-changing experience.
thank you my dear audience for reading this post. 😉
ludwig
From a recent shoot. I have made similar images in my – Nude Incognito – series, in a black studio and with the use of flash lights. This is in a naturally lit environment. I especially like how the body shape and pose fills the square format. Also the dense structure of the floor in contrast with the soft shiny structures of the skin are appealing to me. The model had just put on a body lotion, giving some extra shine to the skin.
I hope you like it. I did, as well as my model and her partner.
Canon 5D mark II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG A.
1/40s. f3.2 ISO 200
come again soon.
Ludwig
I think you know Pauline by now. I love working with her. She’s nice, beautiful, she can be herself or she can put on a role, she’s punctual and joyful. I noticed I never published a color image from this shoot. It’s a shame, because they came out good in color too. Enjoy:
Images taken with Canon 5D mark II and Sigma 50 mm 1.4 (first image) and Canon 100 mm 2.8 Macro. – All available light.
thank you for visiting,
Ludwig
A single image post.
What it says – hot summer days. Sweaty, but I added some extra drops here and there to cool my subject down. 😉
1/15 s. – f2.8 – ISO 250
Canon 5D II with Canon EF 100 mm f2.8 L Macro IS.
thank you for watching.
ludwig
When I have some more time on a photoshoot, I shoot some images on film too.
One of the rolls of film I’ve shot with Ivana never got published here. It’s a shame, since I think the images are worthwhile. I had been working hard to see the ‘real’ Ivana, not the model, read these posts to know all about it:
in this third part, I also shot some film images. A roll of TMax 400 film on Rolleiflex 75 mm f3.5 6×6 format.
happy viewing.
See you again soon
Ludwig