Miss-Development / Developing sample LR settings

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

Summer has been too short

Nude, Personal Pictures

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

My life is for running

beauty, Personal Pictures

Natacha is into running, no, she loves running … up to 50 kms is ok she told me. I think I’d die.

Her body shows the training and exercise efforts.

I have tried to combine that with some sensuality, and strong personality.

All natural light, Canon 5D II and 50mm/100mm/17-40mm lenses.

thank you for watching, leave a comment if you like.

Ludwig

Pauline on film – NSFW

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures, photo gear

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

Clair-Obscur, or playing with light

beauty, people, Tips and Tricks

When I met Pauline at a hotel room in Ghent, the sun was shining brightly. This led to a difficult light situation, with very high contrasts in the room. (Contrast ratio 10/1 sunlit: 1/500s f2.0 ISO100 – shadow: 1/50s f2.0 ISO100) You either have to stay out of direct sunlight, or be very careful working into it. The key here is to make sure that your exposures are good for the sunlit areas, and certainly not overexposed. This can be done by spot metering the lit area’s and fixing your exposure to that metering. This gives you dramatic contrasts, and a perfect light situation for the ‘hide and reveal’ kind of images. The situation became even more tricky later on, as thick clouds began to block the light more often than not. All images with Canon 5D II and Sigma 50 mm f1.4 Art.

I loved working with Pauline, she’s full of character, she has confidence in me as a photographer, and she’s willing to play with the camera. Of course her drama lessons add a lot to that.

see you soon for some analog images from this same shoot. I shot two rolls of T-Max 400 film that same afternoon.

Ludwig

Digital publication – NIF magazine

beauty, Nude

Another set of images made it to the digital ‘Nude Is Fashion’ platform:

Lisa at the Mansion. From a shoot last summer, one of the last shoots I did at the Mansion. Now as an exclusive image series on NIFmagazine.

Link here

Digital publication – NIF Magazine

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

a couple of weeks ago my work got published as an exclusive feature on NIF Magazine.

NIF (Nude Is Fashion) Magazine is an online platform for promotion of the nude as a fashion statement. They do so by promoting art-nude and fashion nude photographers on their website.

I thought that ‘Tatjana at Sabine’s house’ was a series that fitted well this description.

look for yourself:

link here

Approaching Valentine’s day.

erotic, Nude, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

Handcuffs and blindfolds, they have nothing to do with submission or repression, but all with the fine art of lovemaking.

text by Greg Phillips

image © ludwig desmet

Model: Sarah

1/25 sec – f2.2 – sigma 50mm f1.4 DG Art on Canon 5D mark II

thank you for watching.

Ludwig

Sarah at Sabines house – Part I – The artists’ studio. (Nudity involved)

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

———- 2015 ————

Well I think I should start by giving you all my best wishes for 2015. Good health, a warm shelter and caring people around you, some personal challenges, and the time you need to help develop yourself to a richer being. (not financially speaking, … I think)

I have decided for myself to sell my 3D rendering business, in favor of my photography work. Let’s see what happens next. 😉

This blog had 49.931 views from 9.994 visitors during 2014. You are not alone out there, thank you for following my work! The fact that you are reading these words means you are still there. I would like to repeat that if you have a particular question or request, just ask.

————————-

I asked Sabine if she felt ok about me photographing a model in her studio, and without hesitation she said ‘sure, no problem’. I think Sabine is not really aware yet what exceptional work she makes. She has an amazingly strong and expressive pencil, and she mainly works with the human body as a subject. She is preparing an exhibit for late spring, so her studio is packed with finished works, works in progress, and full of idea’s that are waiting to get realized.

I had Sarah as a model. A thin, almost breakable figure, that contrasted extremely well with the robust paintings all around her. She agreed to pose topless/naked based on a discussed mood board. She did really well, but she got cold really quickly (‘as she always does’ she told me).

I had an awful mix of light sources, which forced me to work only black and white here (cool light coming from a rainy day, Tungsten spots in the ceiling, a phosphorescent lamp over the work bench, and a neutral daylight source Sabine uses to finish off her paintings. This means there is no way to get a proper white balance for all these sources, and you can not correct the different light colors afterwards properly.

Anyway, here are the images. For the technical details: Canon 5D II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG Art and Canon 24 mm f1.4 L II. ISO from 320 to 500, shutter speeds from 1/10th to 1/30th of a second (train yourself to get a stable hand 😉 ) and apertures f2.0 – f2.2.

Thank you Sarah, for your confidence and cooperation, thank you not caring about the cold, thank you for coming to Ronse this rainy day.

Thank you Sabine, for saving my day (two other locations became unavailable very last minute) and for letting me into your home. Thank you for sharing your ideas and work.

Fien at The Mansion – about light.

beauty, Personal Pictures, personal tips & tricks

After our outdoor forest shoot, we had some time left for a quick session ‘at The Mansion’.

The Mansion is still my favorite location for indoor shooting, since it has so many possibilities. Whatever moment of the day, there’s always a room that has nice light, the building is free-standing, which means that there are windows all around, and some rooms have windows on three sides. So besides choosing my main light source, all I have to check is my own position, the position of my model, in respect to the multiple windows I have around me. I can shoot with a window in my back, and still shoot against the light with the window just in front of me.

On the attic, I have rooms with only a small light, on cloud covered days that becomes very similar to what a softbox would do. On sunny days, I have a light spot on the floor, which reacts as an indirect light, and I still get the ‘softbox’ windowlight. On sunny days I rather not shoot in straight sunlight, because of the huge contrast ratios between sun-lit area’s and shadow areas.

Some images to illustrate my explanations:

1. One of the attic rooms, a single window at the right of my model, cloudy day, no direct sunlight, a door opening just left of the image, you actually see the door at the left side. Gives me enough light to create that small rim light on the hair and body, and it adds just that little extra light on the floor, to make the rest of the body shape stand out.

2. The office: A row of windows left as well as right from the model. Moderate light amount. There is an additional window light just behind the model, above the door. I added the extra bit of artificial light, available in the room. (some small bulbs) The artificial light creates a warm color cast, that can be annoying because the natural light is color neutral or blueish, depending on the weather conditions.

Same location, but I changed position.

Now I’m shooting against the light, but also with the light coming from behind me. The windows are big enough to provide a soft overall light, slightly coming from above, the windows in the back produce a very beautiful contour light all over my model. Note that I position myself in a way that my model is in front of a darker background, otherwise the rim light would get lost. (this was the first picture actually, Fien still has the hairdo from the exterior shoot.)

Ludwig Desmet-FienVH-3148

3. The angels room. Named after a beautiful decoration above the wooden side panels, with angels and flower, …

I have my main window light just behind me, aimed west, this picture was one of the last, so not long before sunset. There’s two more windows on the right, one just behind the model, one a little further away. The window just behind the model was covered with curtains, so only the far right window remains. Again this window helps creating a nice hairlight and ‘sheds a little light’ to the back end of the sofa.

4. The main entrance. Here my model actually stands outside, under the porch covering the entrance to the front door. This is perfect soft light for nice portraits. It is evenly distributed from above and from below, and it prevents hard shadows under the eyebrows. I have no backlight, but the glass in the front door provides a little definition of the hair contours.

5. The stairway. The main light source here is artificial light, coming from above (slightly warm tinted) The rim light is coming from a window behind the model, higher up the wall, spanning from left to right. This gives the nice light on the hair, the side of the head, the cleavage and breast, as well as the wooden pillars. Again mixed light white balance, but to me it is ok.

6. Also taken in the angels room, this time the model is standing where I took picture 3, back to the window, The window is big and high, providing enough light for an overall well lit image. Now we opened the curtains of the opposing window, giving a beautiful fill in light from the left.

To all aspiring model photographers out there, I hope you learnt something from these short explanations.

To all the others, I hope you enjoyed the images.

A big thank you to Fien for her confidence and cooperation. She never posed before, I think she did really well. Above that she’s a charm to work with. A big thank you also to the owners of The Mansion, for giving me continued access to this magnificent building.

see you again soon,

ludwig

Fien, fall in the flemish ardennes

beauty

Hi there,

Another model post. For a change I went outdoors with my model. Fall had turned the so called ‘Muziekbos’ (Music Forest) into this wonderful palette of fall colors the last few weeks, and I found it a pity not to use this amazing environment for my next shoot.

I met Fien at Bioplanet Ghent (that’s what shopping organic stuff is good for 😉 ) and after checking my blog she agreed for a model shoot. We met at my place, and Nathalie couldn’t resist of making a quick hairdo. I think it suited well for this romantic backdrop.

Off for shooting, rather cold outside temperatures, but Fien didn’t complain at all. Still we didn’t make this a long session, about 40 minutes. The gray covered sky provided very soft natural light, good for outside portraits.

I mixed black and white and color images in this set. I get to like BW images more and more, but couldn’t have converted them all and loose those great fall colors.

I hope you like the images, taken with my trusty Canon 5D II and 24-50-100 mm lenses.

Oh, and during the shoot, we stumbled upon Bart Heirweg, a very good landscape photographer from Belgium. He was shooting fall colors too, but with a slightly different approach. 😉 You should check out his website, he makes the most amazing landscape images, and offers his knowledge in different workshops. Website

See you again soon for part II of this shoot meeting: Fien at The Mansion. Those images will follow later this week.

best,

Ludwig

Dare you dare me …

Uncategorized

No words …

see you soon.

Ludwig

Roselien at House Adelaide

beauty, Personal Pictures

Roselien has long legs, no even longer, …

She contacted me recently because she had seen my work, and she loved the ‘full of character and emotion’ part of my photography. I think I need to write that down, for future speeches.

She volunteered to be a model if I needed one. I think Roselien proved to be a model able of expressing emotion and character herself. On top of that she has very intriguing eyes, very pale almost like those snow dogs (husky). Oh and those legs, endle(g)ss they seem. We had fun working together on a dull and gray afternoon end october.

All images shot on Canon 5D mark II and with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 Art and Canon 100 mm f2.8 L IS Macro.

Thank you for watching, see you soon!

Ludwig

Lisa at The Mansion – Part III – Lingerie

beauty, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

I have a good relationship with the people behind the Belgian ‘passion shops’ called Tutti Passi.

They provide me with lingerie and accessories, I grant them the use of some of my images. Make sure to visit their website to see what they have available. Have fun 😉

Just one word about natural light photography and why I prefer working this way.

The idea of using natural (also called ‘available light’) light is double for me.

1. It allows me to work quickly and without the fuzz of getting my gear just right for every room I work in, every different position I put my model in, … Getting this light just right, and then another light, and then a reflector, and then I need some more extension cable …

Working quickly allows me to direct my model in all kinds of poses, make her take different positions within a room, if I don’t like the light I can switch to another room, so she tends to forget it’s all about posing, and I get more natural, relaxed poses AND I get to make a lot more variations in a given amount of time. All the images with Lisa from this, the previous and the the post before that one are taken in about three hours of time. I would never be able to get such a rich variety of images if I were to setup lights every time.

It allows me to walk all around, and just analyze the available light in the room, and shoot from whatever angle I want to. I never have a light stand or a cable that is in the way. I don’t need to bother about light intensities or distances from my multiple light sources, … I have just the available light, and depending on where my model stands I will certainly need to adapt my exposure settings, but I only need to do that on my camera, and I’m good to go again.

2. I just don’t like it to drag all those flash lights and stands and cables etc. … I suppose I must have some kind of laziness inside me :p

Lisa in the beautiful lingerie gown I could lend from Tutti Passi, by Felice Art Couture

I’ll call the first image ‘Für Elise’, after all, I was named after a certain Ludwig Von Beethoven …

thank you for watching

don’t forget to click for a bigger version of the last image, it’s worth it!

see you soon for next chapter 🙂

Ludwig

Lisa at The Mansion – Part II – Upstairs

beauty, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

The mansion has 4 levels: a ground level that is fully restored, and fully equipped with furniture, curtains, beautiful light fixtures etc. A first level that looks like someone is currently moving in whilst doing a rebuild, with plaster on the walls, cables hanging from the ceilings, water pipes on the floor, just simple light bulbs protruding from above where the sink is supposed to be etc. … Another level that I call the attic, with dark rooms just below the roof. No plastering at all, you can directly see the roof structure and the shingles on the roof. There is also an underground level, which I haven’t used yet. Its cold, dark, dirty and damp. Nothing nice really, oh and it has doors with bars, maybe those might lead to something.

I love using the dirty textured walls as a background in contrast to my models. Sometimes my models get a little bit textured too, by standing against the walls, but mostly they don’t care. Lisa certainly didn’t care too much.

A jeans short and a loose tank top. Lisa needed nothing else.

All natural light, 24 mm (first one only), 50mm and 100 mm. Canon 5D II

thank you for looking, share me your thoughts and come back again for part III really soon.

Ludwig

Lisa at the Mansion – preview

beauty, Personal Pictures

A single image to get you all warmed up for the next few posts. Lisa at the Mansion. We met trough Facebook, we have tried to fix a date for a shoot on several occasions in the last two years, and then finally, at the end of august, Lisa came to Ronse for a beauty shoot. She did absolutely wonderful, I can’t wait to show you the results. The image below has received a 97.4 score by the 500px.com audience, and there’s a lot more images that have the same amount of tenderness, beauty and sensuality. Come back again really soon, and enjoy the rest of this wonderful afternoon photo session. Lisa told me when she saw the pictures: ‘amazing, that with so little equipment, you can produce this kind of result’. A great compliment for my available light photography, and another proof that you don’t need a ton of gear to produce beautiful images.

Image taken with the Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG Art 1/80 – f2.0 – ISO200