Images always have a little extra when there’s a little storytelling involved I think.
I had this magnificent garden at my disposal and then I -per accident- found a set of pétanque balls, you know, the game that originates in the French ‘Provence’ where you have to aim heavy metal balls at a little ‘piggy’ ball. …
And that was that, I had my story • how about a game of pétanque •
thank you Sofie for being my perfect model that warm and sunny day.
thanks for watching!
Ludwig
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
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
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
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.
thank you for watching,
ludwig desmet
If i remember well, I think Adam and Eve met at the garden of eden.
I think they must have had a similar feeling as the one I had when I first saw this garden.
It is absolutely fabulous, and I love taking my models here. I can’t thank you enough, Sabine, for lending me the result of your hard labour and work.
Next chapter in the shoot with Pauline.
A great model, lots of character and willing to integrate my ideas in this shoot.
Thanks again Pauline, I enjoyed working with you.
Come again soon for my next post, another before and after image, with Lightroom development tricks explained.
happy photography,
ludwig
I received confirmation that seven of my thirteen entries in the Tzipac Eros award 2014 have been accepted for stage two judgement.
I have entered images from different shoots in 2 categories: Erotic/provocative and Fine Art.
Garden of Eden, not yet published here, is one of the selected images.
Final results of this contest to be expected end of august, I will certainly keep you informed about it.
More info on the contest organisation here:
http://www.tzipac.com
Hello there,
A post about my teaching job at Kisp this time.
KISP is a evening classes institute giving adults the possibility to change careers, enrich themselves with language courses, learn how to cook vegetarian meals, meals with Belgian Beer or learn how to execute bike repairs, amongst a ton of other things. Photography classes are immensely popular at our institute, so we count over 1000 students currently following one or more semesters of the photography program, a program that exists in 10 different classes, normally running over a 5 year period.
I have been teaching photography classes for 3 years now, and I am currently teaching 4 classes, two Lightroom development classes, two architectural photography classes.
Teaching is a good way of fine tuning and deepening your own knowledge on the subject, and I admit I have learnt a lot in preparing my courses over the last 4 months.
It has been a joy to see my students discover the multiple facets of architectural photography, something that a lot of them at first would classify as a boring and dull subject in photography. Architectural photography is one of the ‘advanced’ segments, so these students have done at least 4 preparatory classes.
We are not blessed with a lot of rich and blooming architecture here in Belgium, so it is quite a challenge to find interesting building projects that are accessible to a group of students. Especially since we arrive only at a time that most office desks close down for the day. We usually start at 6:30 pm and work trough the night, till 22:00 hrs. Often we have to deal with security people to get access to a building, mostly we are very welcome.
Unfortunately I cannot post work of others, but i would like to show you some of the pictures I took in between tutoring and solving technical questions from my students.
They are often not perfect because I carry very little equipment myself on these hands-on evening classes. I often don’t take a tripod with me and only a single lens, or maybe two.
Subjects tackled so far: building in it’s environment, perspectives, composition and equilibrating elements in your image, light and lighting. This is only a very small selection, there is some more on my facebook account here: Album architectural photography classes
thank you for reading, see you soon,
Ludwig
Hello there,
I had worked with Justine before, you’ve been able to see these images from my shoot with Justine at the Mansion here.
Justine is from Ronse, so we settled a second shooting moment some weeks later. We wanted to take profit from the beautiful autumn colors that day.
Unfortunately it rained all evening. Days are short already, we met at 16:00 h and a cloudy cover made for even darker shooting conditions. High ISO time it means. All shots between ISO 800 and ISO 1600.
Some images are developed in an even darker style, just to emphasize on the vulnerability of my model of the day.
Justine is really easy to work with. She’s not afraid of rain or cold, and is happy to be able to be part of it.
Thank you Justine.
Hope you like them, see you back soon.
Ludwig
Hi,
It took a while since my last post, sorry for that. The exhibit is running fine but it is taking a lot of my time in-between classes and jobs. I get good reactions, I sold about 10 limited edition books for now, and we have two more weeks coming. The exhibit ends on nov. 17th. Hurry if you still want to get a look inside this wonderful early 20th century house. Contact if you need more details, but you should be able to find them in my earlier posts.
A while ago I did another model shoot, this time for a male model. Not my usual thing, but when people ask me, then – why not? I permitted myself some developing styles I normally don’t use. A male model can have some more contrasty – edgy style developing than a female model (in my opinion of course) We worked in different locations, some of my usual ones, but also outside at the Ronse train station. Actually I can work about everywhere as a photographer, especially if my model is fully clothed, outside is fine, even in colder weather. The model is Bjorn, thank you Bjorn.
I hope you like the results. If you have any questions or remarks, pls drop a line.
In my ‘highlights’ series, I had Barcelona and twice Paris (I) and (II), this time I visited Amsterdam hit-and-run style (about 24 hours between arrival and departure)
In short:
Bikes, old and new architecture, canals, (missing) prostitutes, a lot of wind, (noisy) dutch people, good company … and a restaurant cat.
Oh I love strolling around in a big city, taking pictures, watching people, searching for good subjects and good light.
I don’t wanna spend a lot of words on this one. I enjoyed my walks, I hope you enjoy the pictures.
I have taken these pictures with the only lens I had with me, Canon 50 mm f 1.4. It is a challenge worth taking. Take only one lens, look for subjects, frame them.
take care, and come again soon. There’s quite some beauty shoots on the planning.
Ludwig
>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 😉 )
See you soon for the Harley Davidson images (see my facebook page – Ludwig Desmet)
Take care, and come again soon,
Ludwig
Leyla and I have been colleagues when I still worked in Brussels. She was the office secretary in the design bureau I was at that time. I left the design bureau some 8 years ago, and a lot happened since then. Leyla has studied to become a midwife, and she finished her studies last summer. Congratulations to her, for it is not simple to combine studies, a job and a family. Leyla has two kids in the same age as mine. We got in touch again trough Facebook, and Leyla loved the idea of a photoshoot.
She never posed before (seems to become a rule in my shoots) but with a little help she did really really well. We worked in the garden, the glasshouse, and in different rooms of the villa. I think she has very beautiful bambi eyes. Unfortunately she had to leave shortly after the shoot, so we didn’t get time to catch up on a lot of things. Thank you Leyla, for this wonderful morning shoot.
I hope you like the results. Click to see a bigger version.
I hope you come back soon.
Don’t forget, I’m finishing my exhibition today, it will be open on october 20 – 21 – 27 – 28 and then during Pinehouse opening hours till the end of november.
Ludwig
Hi,
last week I bought a new 50mm lens from Canon. I had the 50mm f1.8 II before, but sold it last week, and I bought the 50mm f1.4 USM. Did I make the right decision? Time to find out.
So after my excellent, quick’n dirty test for the 85mm lenses, time to have the 50mm’s compared.
The images are rather big for your convenience, sorry about the download time.
On the left the 50mm f1.8 II selling for 90 Euros, on the right the 50mm f1.4 USM, selling for 299 Euros. (prices Art&Craft – Ghent jan. 2012)
Just before I shipped my old 450D and the nifty fifty (or fantastic plastic) I took some comparison shots with both of them.
All images are taken on tripod, with a Canon 5D II, with Live view magnification for focusing (manual mode). White balance set to 5600 (flash). The images have not been processed, except for my standard processing settings at Lightroom import, so they all present in the same way. All images are saved jpg compressed, quality setting 11, from Photoshop, with sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile attached, I don’t know what happens to the profile when publishing to WP.
I have chosen my subjects in a way to provide some real-life hard time situations for the lenses. Any comments welcome, suggestions, or if someone, or some big company wants me to do some tests on other lenses, please give me a sign. All images are done in my backyard, no exotic things going on here.
Now for the results, I will post some personal ideas, but you don’t have to agree on them, just my opinion.
Vignetting test
Some heavy vignetting on both of them, in my opinion a bit better for the 1.4 at 1.8. Note the color difference between the two lenses.
Sharpness test Same setup as vignetting pictures, 100% crops, click on the image to view full size.
Center:
Edge:
To me the 1.4 seems sharper on the entire line. I know a lot of tests seem to give opposite results and quote the 1.8 higher than the 1.4. A lot gets lost in the corners due to vignetting, but the center crop looks crisper on the 1.4.
Sharpness test2
Entire scene:
100% crops, click on the image to view full size.
Center:
Edge:
Here too I think the 1.4 is a tad sharper. This can be due to better contrast too. Same in the edge as in the center, although it is hard to see some difference at bigger apertures.
Flare test I forgot to do a test at 1.8 for the 1.4. So both of them are wide open shots.
The 1.4 clearly has more flare here, but also keeps a little more contrast in the center of the image. The cheap 1.8 does very well. I will take a shot at 1.8 with the 1.4 as soon as we get some sun in the morning.
Bokeh test Two different scenes, each time I show background and foreground bokeh. Sorry about the leaf that moved. These crops are at 50%, because in a 100% crop I couldn’t present enough image. You can see the entire shot in the top-righ corner.
To me there’s really very little difference, except that on the 1.4 you have a little softer when wide open, seems normal to me. On the other hand, when you look at the second sample you start seeing one of the biggest problems with the 1.4, purple fringing on the highlight edges.
Chromatic aberration and purple fringing center and edge crops at 100%. Note that the second image for the 1.4 is at f2.2
Entire scene:
Center crops:
Edge crops:
Ouch, that really really hurts! Never seen it soooo bad! Here the cheap nifty fifty clearly wins hands down. I made a little mistake, taking my second shot at 2.2 in stead of 1.8 for the 1.4, and it still is worse than the 1.8.
Also remark that both lenses loose contrast when stopping down too far. The branches are softer at f14 than at f7.1. I didn’t really got the image perfectly sharp with the 1.8 but I think the message is clear enough here. With the 1.4, CA on the edges never completely disappears until f14, and then contrast is gone already.
Personal conclusion
Am I happy with my new purchase, I don’t know yet. Practical use will need to prove.
– – – –
It has some serious problems with the purple fringing and Chromatic aberration, as well as with flare, compared to the nifty fifty.
It’s more expensive than the 50mm 1.8 (which really is a cheap lens for the image quality offered)
+ + + +
The sharpness results please me though, although I had read not so good reviews before, for me it is sharper than my copy of 50mm 1.8, and a little more contrasty.
It has USM autofocus, which is way faster and more accurate than the micro motor in the 1.8
It is more solidly built than the 1.8, which even has a plastic bayonet.
It is 2/3’s of a stop faster.
It is still quite cheap for a fast prime, at less than 300 euros.
Thank you for reading!
Ludwig.
Bommels 2012, Ronse has its carnival on the 2nd monday of the year officially, but actually the saturday before is the main attraction, with the fireworks and all.
Last year we (me and my sons) almost got frozen, we waited for 1 1/2 hour in the cold and didn’t see fireworks, because the organization messed a bit up, and fireworks were delayed by about two hours.
This year they were well on schedule, and we saw a magnificent spectacle. I chose to view the fireworks from a distance, up in the hills surrounding Ronse. My best shots: – click for bigger view –
took them on a tripod, cable release and Bulb exposure mode. This allows for vibration-free shooting, and a controlled amount of firework burst in your shots. All images with 135mm f2 @ f9.0 and ISO 100.
In an attempt to get warm after the interior shoot (posing in lingerie in a non-heated building these days is not really cosy and comfortable) we got into the car with the heater on max. and drove to muziekbos, Ronse. There we did these exterior shoots. some different clothing sets, and after a while we got lucky and grabbed some sun-rays. Sharon got cold again at the end. 🙁
first set of three is done with my self made reflector, all the others are available light only. Oh, and the entire shoot was shot with Canon 85 mm 1.8. A very good lens for this purpose, and not really expensive.
Please enjoy this selection. Click to see full size.
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!
