a single image post.
beautiful Kate in the botanic greenhouse.
“Cyperus Papyrus”, named after the plant flower
Model and Make up: Kate_Ri
Styling and photography by me.
Plant stem kindly provided by the gardener who was pruning down several plants at the time of the shoot.
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A – 1/200s f1.4 ISO400
Thank you for looking.
ludwig
• Sweet Sonata •
Model: Eva • Make up: Danitsja • Hair and assistance: Nathalie
All images: Canon 5Ds with sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A – 1/50s f1.8 ISO 100
thank you for watching,
ludwig
I cannot prevent this happy feeling coming back when I start thinking about this session.
We were all in a great mood, the weather was excellent (remember, way too hot today) and Erika was more than happy playing the roles I gave her. I asked her to be the lazy tourist in our Brussels most upscale shopping lane, the Avenue Louise.
Nathalie managed to fix a taxi driver willing to cooperate for some nice shots too.
All images shot on Rolleiflex 3.5, Kodak T-Max100
Thanks to Erika Albonetti for being my model, her manager for carrying all the stuff she had, my wife Nathalie for being a splendid assistant and hairdresser …
Remember, all my images are available as a fine art print, so if you are still looking for a lasting present for Christmas or New Year, don’t look any further, scroll trough my blog, take a look at my portfolio pages and take your pick!
Hey Taxi ! …
thank you for watching,
see you again soon,
ludwig
“Confront your enemies, it will bring you inner peace and strength”
model: Kamaliza
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A
1/60s f1.6 ISO320
thank you for watching,
ludwig
I shot this entire day with my 60 year old Rolleiflex camera. Kind of stressy and awkward feeling to get home with nothing but some rolls of film. … I only found out in the evening that I didn’t even have a memory card in my digital camera. … I must have had some kind of enlightenment when I decided in the morning to go ‘all analog’ that day.
hi there,
this below image had quite some succes on Facebook and different groups I published it onto. Actually people were asking about the way I did the high key development.
It was a rather straightforward and easy process, a little explanation below.
The lighting conditions where not good, NOT. 🙂
I needed an ISO setting of 2000 to be sure to have sharp images, that’s at least way over my usual limits. (I rather keep ISO settings below 800) You’ll see that the image has some noise in the shadow areas (like the throat area).
the original image looked like this: quite even light conditions, although the light was a little directional (from the left), there were no hard lights, no deep shadows.
I work in lightroom, my settings:
exposure: +2.10 / contrast: +40 / highlights: +67 / shadows: +36 / blacks: -42 / Clarity: -11 … that was about all I did. The image looks like this now:
next I added some light using a local brush with + exposure, to get rid of the remaining bed sheet shading. No big secrets, just add plenty of exposure to make things white.
At last I added some noise reduction to get rid of too much grainy noise in the shadow areas. …
I hope you like the image, I certainly do.
The image was taken at a private tuition day with Sacha Leyendecker.(http://www.sacha-leyendecker.com) The model is Steffi Rubia Stringsi, from Brussels. The image was taken in an available light studio in Köln, Germany.
see you soon.
ludwig
to tell you that a lot happened lately
I officially announced my www.renderhouse.eu customers that I will stop providing rendering services for them from januari 31, 2017. I am still looking for someone willing to continue this service, so my customer base is for sale. (3D rendered marketing illustrations and animations)
Hopefully this decision will free some space, energy and time for more photography in the nearby future. I have no idea where this will lead me to, but It is my absolute will to spend more time developing photography projects, continue giving my classes, and maybe start doing some workshops on a more regular basis.
It has not been an easy choice, since Renderhouse still provides a good income, but as you know I have been inspired a lot by the Holstee manifesto (see this post) , and I still think it is a good way to prevent boredom, burn-out, depression and other mental blockades.
…
next to that, I had the opportunity to work together with some afro-models, both great personalities to work with, one more experienced than the other, but they both did great and had a great story to tell.
I love this image, so does she.
• kamaliza •
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm A DG 1.4
1/60 – f1.6 – ISO 320
thank you for watching
ludwig
a first one from a series of analog images I did with Ava
too hot outside, we fled for the cool interior of the chateau. The atmosphere was great, the castle was quiet, Ava was feeling comfortable. Some of the main ingredients for a great shoot. The models, although more accustomed to getting undressed than any other person, still prefer a quiet, unbothered atmosphere. There’s nothing more disturbing than people hopping in at unforeseen moments. A kind of understanding builds between model and photographer (and eventually assistants, make up artists etc …) and this makes intimate pictures possible. Thank you Ava for your confidence, and for being my model during this shoot.
• La dame du château •
model and make up: Ava Lacour
Hair and assistance: Nathalie
Shot on location in Tournai, Belgium
Rolleiflex 3,5 TLR on Kodak T-Max400 film.
all images © ludwig desmet
thank you for watching.
• Laura •
All images shot with Canon 5Ds and Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A
(except last one, Canon 135mm f2 L)
thank you for watching,
ludwig
the first of July I had two models coming over. A new experience to me, having to concentrate on several things at a time, and not much time to come up with ideas during wardrobe changes or pauses, there’s always another model waiting. We worked in a former furniture store. There have been final sales for a couple of months, so most places are rather empty. There are however a lot of different rooms and spaces, and a lot of different lighting situations, that’s what I like about a location like this. I had my lovely assistant doing hair and wardrobe assistance with the models, and she also keeps an eye on little details during the shoot.
I shot both Pauline and Laura apart as well as together. more to come. Pauline is a long time favourite, and she brought a lot of her friends to me in these last couple of years. Laura is one of them, you’ll meet her in my next post.
• Pauline •
shot with Rolleiflex 3.5 TLR on Kodak T-Max 400 film.
this film is a little grainier than the Kodak T-Max 100, but for interior work you have to get a faster film than the 100 I mostly use. All images available light only.
Thank you Pauline, for being my model
Hair: Nathalie
Make up: Hanna E.B.
A second series with Ava at the Castle.
The weather is fine, not much to do but being beautiful
and spend the afternoon on the quiet back-terrace of the castle.
All except the last images on Canon 5Ds and Canon 100mm f2.5 Macro L IS.
Last image Sigma 50mm f1.4 A DG.
thank you for watching – I’m on instagram too now, but there you won’t find any nude images: instagram.com/ludwigdesmet
cheers,
Ludwig
we love Paris,
this means, Nathalie and I often go to Paris, and the more we go, the less we prepare our visit. We started using the ‘Vélo’lib’ bycicle’s (the city’s own public bycicle’s), an ideal means of transportation if you are not too scared to move along the traffic. (which can be ‘busy’ at moments)
this allows us to travel criss-cross, without limitations of public transports, and with the advantage of staying above surface (unless metro, which also has good service in Paris, but tucks you away underground).
I decided not to take a digital camera with me, and only look for opportunities with the twin lens Rolleiflex I have. It makes you less visible as a photographer, because you have a completely different body attitude (bent over looking from top into your camera) so people don’t notice you as much as they would when photographing with a reflex camera.
a first series of images I thought worth looking at:
– (try to) follow the bride –
– Georgio Moroder is coming to town, but the letter spacing needs some fine tuning –
– Fondation Louis Vuitton –
– a book worth reading –
Rolleiflex 3.5 TLR with Ilford Delta 100 Pro film.
thank you for watching, see you soon for some more images
ludwig
It’s hot outside, very hot, so let’s remain in the freshness of the castle library. No-one bothering us, some time to spend with … solitaire.
Ava playing solitaire
Model: Ava
Hair: Nathalie
shot on location in Tournai (B) thanks to the owners of the house and a big thank you to Ava for her confidence and charm.
© ludwig desmet – 2016
… is watching you
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f 1.4 DG Art – 1/400 f2.8 ISO160
Model: Jenn
Hair: Nathalie
Mua: Heidi
at Baudries Castle, Dikkelvenne (B)
thank you for watching, ludwig
La Volupté
(sensuousness)
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG Art – 1/1250 f2.5 ISO200
Model and make up: Ava
Hair: Nathalie
Photography: ludwig
thank you for watching,
ludwig
Town hall – village of Doel
Rolleiflex 3.5 Planar with Kodak TMax 100 film
Ludwig
One of the often overlooked features of Lightroom is the camera calibration tab.
Camera calibration optimises the way Lightroom will interpret the RAW files of your specific camera. It reorganises the colour values in relation to a pre-defined target, and the way your camera reproduces this target.
In very short, RAW files do not have a colour profile embedded, nor do they contain a predefined color reproduction definition. It is up to your raw-editor to interpret the raw files and do some kind of a pre-development when importing and previewing on screen.
Current Lightroom versions use the ‘Adobe Standard’, or one of the options also available in your camera image settings modes (with Canon, this is for instance: Camera faithful, landscape, portrait, standard, … )
This is no guarantee for a correct reproduction of colours or brightness values.
In comes the camera calibration tool. I have the colorchecker passport photo from X-rite. This is a combination of a small piece of hardware (a plastic booklet with 2 screen printed colour target sides and a white face) and a piece of software to be installed on your system.
The simplest way of doing a camera calibration is a single light situation calibration, in which you take a picture in the light situation you will use for your images, including the colorchecker target. Take care the target is lit by the same light as your images that follow.
After that, shoot your images.
In Lightroom, you will need the first image with the target included to make build your camera profile. This is very simple by selecting the image -> export -> Colorchecker passport. This will automatically compare your camera’s ‘target reproduction’ with the target’s known values in the software, and build a ‘custom camera profile’ for you to start with. The new profile won’t show up until restart of Lightroom. (there are certainly more detailed step by step explanations on Youtube 😉 )
Below you can see the target without and with the newly activated camera calibration.
not a big deal you’ll probably say, and this camera is indeed rather color-correct compared to some others I’ve seen. To make things more obvious, I placed both images onto each other, and made a layer mask to cover up half of the targets:
left half with ‘Adobe Standard’, right with my custom color profile on the Canon 5Ds.
Colours are more saturated, some a tad lighter, others a little darker, some colours shift slightly, (note the purple and the yellow-green on the right) but especially the blacks are less deep. This is especially helpful if you need to uplight the dark tones (shadows) in LR.
These are two versions of the same RAW file, but they get different RGB values. This means that the initial state of your raw file is very much dependent of your Camera calibration settings. If you are very fond of let’s say the ‘camera portrait’ picture style settings on your camera, then you might as well use this profile in your RAW-editor. (as photographing in RAW will not edit the data in your images, but the preview on the camera’s back is based on a jpg file modified by the settings in your camera. your preview will still get the ‘camera portrait’ picture style view, but your RAW will not reflect it.
That is why an image might look good when importing in LR, and then switch to something dull a second later. The initial look is from the embedded preview file, generated by your camera, the second look is from the preview generated by LR, based on the camera calibration settings currently active (standard setting = Adobe Standard)
If you want to experiment with camera calibration without buying the tools needed, try using the ‘picture style calibration settings’ available in the drop down menu. They should reflect the ones you have available on your camera. The differences should be obvious.
Below two examples of different ‘picture style camera calibration’ settings. Note the changing skin tones in the first image, the changing sky colour in the second.
The process version is the way LR interprets RAW files since earlier versions, you should currently use the 2012 version. (July 2016)
To give a real world example, first image with ‘Adobe Standard’ profile, second with Custom made profile:
I think that the shaded area’s are very obviously lighter in the second picture, with the correct camera calibration profile. These are unedited images. For me this lighting situation is very common, high contrast, backlit situations, where you want to make sure that the highlights are not blown out (clipped). As you know I seldom use extra light on a shoot (except for a reflector from time to time. In this way I absolutely need to be able to enhance my shadow area’s to a descent light level. This less dark starting situation is of a lot of help.
The edit looks like this (same editing on both images) Adobe Standard above, 5Ds profile below. In the first image, the colours are slightly red, but especially the corner shadows completely run black (due to my vignette, I know). Compare with the corners in the second image, where I can keep plenty of detail, with the same amount of vignetting.
When looking in detail, you’ll see that I keep a lot more detail in the hair, and I have less noise appearing in the second image. (upping the shadows a lot also emphasises image noise)
Image: Jenn at Baudries Castle
Hair: Nathalie
Make up: Heidi
I think Jenn has a large amount of ‘Nathalie-Portman-looks’ here 😉
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A – 1/640s f2.8 ISO 160
see you soon for part two of this explanation, and for a lot more images:
summer time, shooting time
ludwig
I have told you about a bunch of camera’s I could buy recently, this is the next chapter. I have shown you images from a Yashica TLR, A Rolleiflex TLR, the Voightlander Bessa I I owned many years now, here some images taken with an Agfa Isolette II.
The Camera is A nice folding viewfinder camera, which means it comes handy when folded, and will fit easily in any vest-pocket. (14 x 9,5 x 3,5cm) It takes standard 120 film rolls, easily available still in Belgium. It has a simple viewfinder with no indications in it of any kind, hardly a simple aid for compositing. It has an Agfa Apotar 1:4.5 f85 mm lens, and a Pronto shutter with speeds B – 1/25 up to 1/200s and a self-timer mechanism. It was made during the 50’s of the previous century. This camera can be found for a really low budget (50-75€ should get you a fine working camera), and as such, it is a perfect way to get into medium format film photography.
What I find most difficult with this kind of camera, is focusing correctly. The focusing ring has a distance scale, so you will need to either measure subject distance, guess it, or get yourself a distance measuring tool of some kind. With the large negative format (57x57mm approx) you get a shallow depth of field, even with a not so small aperture as f4.5, so focus is easily a bit off, especially in close up work.
A beautiful niece in the first three images, and a couple of walking-by family pictures.
Taken on Kodak Tmax400 film.
Image taken on a trip with my ‘landscape photography’ class, a couple of weeks ago.
In between tuition moments, I get to snap an image here and there.
Silent Sea
135mm at f11 – 30sec.
Image taken with Canon 5D II and Canon 135mm f2.0 L
Taken with a ND1000 (10stops) filter from B+W and converted to black and white in Lightroom. I only have a 10stops screw filter for 77mm lens diameters (for my Canon 17-40mm f4), the 135mm has a 72mm diameter filter thread. I simply positioned the filter in the back of the lens shade, worked fine, don’t tell anybody. 😉
The image depicts old mussel growing poles. they get floated at high tides, become apparent at low tides. taken a little east from Cap-Griz-Nez
thank you for watching.
Thank you, …
for your overwhelming presence,
for your fine company and chats,
for your enthusiasm,
for the fine reactions in my guest book,
for massively visiting my web-blog,
for coming to DAMME in the last couple of weeks.
It was a pleasure to present my ‘madammen’ in this small gallery, to talk about my work and your interests, to show you my book, to hand over so many representation cards and to meet you all, wonderful people.
The ladies are gone, …
but hey, no sadness needed, from June 4th you can see another selection of my work on two locations in GAVERE and DIKKELVENNE.
In Gavere (entrance road to kasteel Grenier) I will present a selection of 4 years of work, black and white, printed on large format in an outdoor exhibit (thank you Gafodi!) In Dikkelvenne (kasteel Baudries) I will present an unpublished series , result of ‘A day in Residence’ at the Château, with two different models.
The prints are made, the frames are ready, …
hope to see you there soon,
ludwig
