Black – NSFW

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

a single image post.

I find it rather intimate and peaceful, expressing proud and stability.

 

 

‘BLACK’

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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

Miss-Development / Developing sample LR settings

beauty, Lightroom, Personal Pictures

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.

stages of miss development

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

Ludwig_desmet_SV-edit

The Castle shoot – digital

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

Nice environment, nice weather, nice model, …

first time in this place, and as I tend to not prepare so much for a shoot it is always a search for an approach. This place has tons of possibilities, …

Eline was worried about her figure, as a lot of women do. I’m happy that I have been able to surprise her with some eye-dropping images. What do you think?

All images Canon 5D II with sigma 50 mm f1.4 or Canon 135mm f2.0.

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thank you for watching,

ludwig desmet

Jenn – Black Coat

beauty, Personal Pictures

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?

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And a last image with Rolleiflex 3,5 Tessar 75 mm on Kodak T-max 400 film.

Ludwigdesmet_Jenn-004

thanks for watching, come back again soon.

ludwig

Nathalie M. at the Mansion

beauty, Personal Pictures

Still working hard at the mansion, doing natural beauty shoots whenever I find the time.

I never prepare these shoots I must tell, I prefer working into the magic of the moment, and taking instantaneous decisions based on the conditions of that day, based on the mood I am in, and the model I am working with. The results are varying of course, but always a true result of a spontaneous collaboration. The mansion is still being renovated, and some places are unusable, while others are near finished. I can’t but express my feelings of joy for being able to expose my work in the mansion soon. I will try to show the images in the same place they were taken, to make a direct link with the building and the atmosphere that reigns in every room.

enough talking, here are the images. Thank you Nathalie, for being my model that early morning, thank you to the owners of the place, for letting me in.

All images with Canon 5D mark II and Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 85mm f1.8 and Canon 135mm f2 L. Processing in Lightroom 5.

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charlemagne-art_NathalieM-1161

Thank you for watching, come again soon!

ludwig

Salomé on a sunday morning

people, Personal Pictures, photo gear, Uncategorized

>Hi,

some weeks ago I did an impromptu shoot with Salomé.

Salomé is one of my nieces, and she needed some pictures for thank you cards.

She dropped in on a sunday morning and we had about half an hour for making some pictures.

Fortunately the weather was great, and since we have had so much rain these last 6 months, the green was GREEN!

I took my two main portrait lenses, 85mm and 135mm, but all these shots are with the Canon 135mm f2 L.

For me this is the best lens I have, in terms of image quality. It has plenty of contrast, even in strong backlit images, it is very sharp, from the maximum aperture on, and it has creamy soft bokeh.

Main advice in bright sun conditions: shoot with the sun in the back of your model. It will prevent your subject from peeping the eyes, and you get a beautiful hairlight (a bit strong I admit) for free.

Images have only slightly been enhanced in Lightroom. I have an import standard of +20 contrast +15 clarity, and I did nothing else.

The best of the pack (in my opinion 😉 )

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See you soon for the Harley Davidson images (see my facebook page – Ludwig Desmet)

Take care, and come again soon,

Ludwig