Portrait « Jurgen Doom

Model photography – model shoot with Sylviane Alliet part 2.1

24 January 2011 om 11:01 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Camera,Commercial,Flashlight,fotografie,Gear,Photography,Portrait,Software

In the previous blog post about the shoot with Sylviane Alliet, I talked about the images we made in the doctor / dentist / assistant / medical sphere.

Because we don’t take pictures with a model and the right attributes every day to (especially in the medical field), we decided to quickly do a few shots of Sylviane against a different background. That way we could get some extra mileage out of the attributes. We did this by simply moving the flashlights to another location (right around the corner from our previous shots), with as a result a set of pictures which breathed a totally different atmosphere.

The pictures were taken with 2 Nikon SB900 flashes in slave mode, triggered by a Nikon SB900 on camera – the Nikon CLS system. One flash was standing outside, behind the door, the other stood between between the photographer and Sylviane, but aimed at a corner in the room. In other words, the light was “bounced” or reflected by the white walls and ceiling, so to get an even lighting over Sylviane.

All photos were taken with a Nikon 85mm prime on f2 (because I simply liked to workon f2. Nah).

The result looks like this (images post-processed in Lightroom 3.3).

Shoot with Sylviane - medical theme

From here on I added some warmth to the image by placing a full cut CTO gel over the outside flash. Hence the impression of sunlight coming through the door and the warm atmosphere.

Shoot with Sylviane - medical theme

Next blog post will be much more “zen” … promised!

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Model photography – shoot with Sylviane – part 2

19 January 2011 om 21:19 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Camera,Commercial,Flashlight,Gear,Photography,Portrait

In my previous blog post I talked about the shoot with Sylviane. The purpose of the shoot was to further the portfolio of both Sylviane and me with work that usually doesn’t fit in commercial work.

For the second set of photos, we moved to a dental and medical practice. Well, in our imagination anyway, because in reality it was in Sylviane’s kitchen. We made a series of photos taken in an environment of a dentist, nurse and surgery and the atmosphere had to refer to a doctor / physician.

The photos are all taken with a Nikon D3s, a 50mm and 85mm (both f1.4) and 3Nikon SB900 flash, controlled via the Nikon CLS system (flash on the camera that controls the other flashes). Behind Sylviane you see a white box / cabinet with glassdoors, which could perfectly serve in a medical practice, especially when you photograph them with large aperture. The colors in the photographs are from color filters that are placed over the flash heads.

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

: model fotografie

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Model photography – shoot with Sylviane Alliet part 1

17 January 2011 om 22:58 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Flashlight,Gear,Photography,Portrait

As a photographer you are occasionally contacted by models, aspiring models or make-up artists for TFCD shoots. This means that the photographer takes pictures in exchange for the time of the makeup artist or the model. The images are then exchanged by all parties and can be used at will, but usually only for their portfolios.

TFCD shoots can be interesting if all parties benefit from it and one can do things that are impossible within the framework of a commercial contract. You get a lot more freedom and there is room for some experimentation …

But if you’re not careful you can build an exciting career as a photographer doing TFCD, without ever being able to do paid assignments. Therefore I often kindly refuse.

Enter Sylviane Alliet. Sylviane is a model (also does voice-overs and acting) that already “tried and tested” in the art of modeling (dont take this expression literally).

Sylviane contacted me through facebook a while back asking for a TFCD shoot. She had quite a bit ideas that she wanted to develop and which she wanted to shoot to add to her portfolio.

Because it just would not be smart to ignore such an offer and because the subjects of these shoots me really interested, I of course wholeheartedly said yes. We then had to find a common date.

Recently, we gave it good horns (ed, not be taken literally) and we went to shoot one day at Sylviane’s home. In the next posts I will show some shots that we made.

The images are all made with “backpack material,” ie

Camera: Nikon D3s

Lenses: Nikon 50mm 1.4 and Nikon 80mm 1.4

2 or 3 Nikon Speedlight SB900

Attributes and a few accessories such as gels, umbrellas, tripods …..

All photos have been through post production in Lightroom3

The first series of pictures we made were to refer to a professional and ambitious young lady. A corridor with “outside light through roof windows (Velux type)a rear strobe and umbrella for the front head light with a kicker light for extra dimension. At the end of the series, we played with the color and atmosphere of the images.

Sylviane, model - young professional

Sylviane, model - young professional

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A cover photograph, aka the Christmas cover

7 December 2010 om 13:02 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Flashlight,Photography,Portrait

As a photographer, freelancing for magazines and art-directors, you have to be both very adaptable and flexible. Take this cover photograph for OKRA as an example. The art-director wanted a photograph for the december issue, which had to have a connection with Christmas, but the image shouldn’t be an obvious christmas photograph either (tree, lights & presents). Fine with me.

In addition to that, they suggested a photograph of a mother with baby (you see the Christmas link here) in a Christmas atmosphere. So, they said, the photograph should have some connection with the time of the year, yet don’t go all the way ….

OK, fine, I’m up for a challenge. Photography in itself is a challenge, so why not make it more challenging. Anyway, I set out with my gear, but I had additionally taken some christmas lights as well, hoping to incorporate it somehow in the photograph to have a visual link with Christmas.

The location where we set up the photograph was a simple home living. I asked to close a dark brown curtain (wouldn’t you want more light, sir? No, thanks), which I would use as my background. With the help of a few clams I attached the christmas lights to the curtain and switched them on.

Then I had to position the mother and baby in such a way that they were nicely framed by the curtain and Christmas lights, in order to have a balanced photograph.

Next thing I did was to set up 2 Nikon SB900 speedlights, main light coming from camera left and softened by an umbrella, and one coming from behind mother and baby, directly aimed at them (for separation).

The most difficult part of this whole exercise however was to balance the flash light with the Christmas lights. Too much flaslight would kill all ambiant light, including the Christmas lights at the back. Too little light would have meant that the ambiant light would overpower the strobes, whereby the dark background would have become light.

So after this execirse, I could freely photography my subject, with this as a result. The image looks like it was lit through a big window (which it was not).

Thanks to the people at OKRA for such a wonderful response to this image!

OKRA Christmas cover photograph.

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Cover for Sporta

28 October 2010 om 13:28 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Photography,Portrait

In a previous post I wrote about the cover for Sporta, which was still undecided.

Due to a massive amount of work – September and October have never ever been so busy for me as it was this year – I just neglected this blog for a while. Shame!

Nevertheless, here’s the “winner” …. The Sporta cover:

Cover for sporta assignement

Although I personally prefered the other cover (image of a basketball player), I can understand very well why this one was chosen. It shows more of what one can with sporta ….

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Cover photograph for Sporta Brochure: which one would you choose? Cover A or cover B?

15 September 2010 om 10:46 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Photography,Portrait

As a photographer, trying to satisfy the needs of your clients, it is sometimes a difficult exercise to meet your clients view with your own. However, as a professional photographer, creating images that have a high impact, you want to deliver photographs that your clients can use and not only what you think your client should use.

During the assignment for Sporta – a centre that provides training facilities for all sorts of athletes in varying disciplines – I photographed many setups and situations, one of which we thought would be useful for the cover of the brochure. But when it eventually came down to choosing the cover photograph, it proved to be more difficult than expected.

My opinion was fairly clear from the start on how I saw the cover photograph (but my opinion doesn’t count), but even the art-director’s opinion wasn’t 100% on par with the opinion of the board of directors.

Eventually, the art director came up with 2 versions of the cover, which are listed below.

Which one would you choose and why? Cover A or Cover B?

Please leave your comments in the comment section …

Photo A

Suggestion A for the cover of the Sporta Centrum Brochure.

Cover B

Suggestion B for the cover of the Sporta Centrum Brochure.

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Workshop flash photography

2 September 2010 om 10:56 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Flashlight,Gear,Photography,Portrait,workshop

I’ve always wanted to pass on knowledge.

When I was a kid, I wanted to become a teacher. Things turned out differently, as I studied engineering. I ended up “consulting” in the building industry, which was mainly a “teaching” job. After I switched to photography – something I’m so grateful for – I still had the urge to share my knowledge about photography with other people.

That’s how I started to do workshops in photography, with a special emphasis on flash photography (together with my partner in crime Piet Van den Eynde, who’s the benchmark when it comes down to teaching about Lightroom).

And that’s exactly why the “Nationale Vereniging van Beroepsfotografen” (National federation of professional photographers) contacted me to conduct a workshop for their members.

So I organised an afternoon of going through my recent portfolio, thereby explaining how I photographed the images and how the lighting was done. An interesting exercice, both for me (because I sometimes had to reverse engineer my own images) as well as for the participants, providing enough questions to fill a book on flash photography.

After that we went outside for a demonstration of flash photography in the field (that’s what one does during workshops on flash photography, not?). We went to a nearby underpass (I have loads of them in the neighbourhood) were the light was rather dim, but where we had a bit of grafity.

We picked Carl as our ad-hoc model. Carl is a fantastic photographer with loads of experience and a master in lighting. I just count my blessings Carl lives about 2 hours drive out of where I live (and the fact that Carl mainly works in a studio environment also helps).

So, both myself and Carl were challenged. Myself, because I had a master in photography in front of my camera and Carl, because he’s much more comfortable BEHIND the lens in stead of in front of it!

Nevertheless, I tried to explain to the participants the different stages in the lighting setup that one can go through. So we started with a simple setup, which is an Nikon SB900 flash to camera left, on a stand and shot through a shoot-through umbrella providing the key on Carl’s face. On camera right, behind Carl, is a bare flash (also Nikon SB900) with a full-cut CTO as a kicker light, enhancing the separation between Carl and the background.

Carl, during a workshop on flash photography, lit by 2 SB900 speedlights

By adding a third SB900 with a red filter, aimed at the background, we created a more dramatic portrait.

Carl, lit by 3 Nikon SB 900 flashes

To demonstrate how to add another color into the mix, we aimed a fourth SB900, with a light green gel, on the the wall as well, opposite from the red spot.

Carl, lit by 4 Nikon SB 900 flashes

We wanted to emphasise the green even more, so we replaced the light green by a dark green gel, which resulted in the next image.

Carl, lit by 4 Nikon SB 900 flashes

In order to demonstrate the versatility of working with small flashes out in the field, I asked Carl to turn 90 degrees to his right. I also switched positions, slightly adapted the direction of the flashlights and photographed Carl against a backdrop of houses and sky.

Carl, lit by 2 Nikon SB 900 flashes

By readjusting the kicker light, coming from behind (camera left) you can create the illusion of a setting sun behind the subject. This is what we wanted to demonstrate with this image.

Carl, lit by 2 Nikon SB 900 flashes

Or, alternatively, changing the white balance of your camera in conjunction with the creative use of color gels creates this moody, late night atmosphere – a minute after the sunset image ….

Carl, lit by 2 Nikon SB 900 flashes

To wrap up the workshop, I demonstrated the difference between 1 flash and the use of 2 flashes, one of which was provided with a red gel. The clue is that the red only (or predominantly) shows in the shadow areas, created by the main light on camera right.

Carl, lit by 1 Nikon SB 900 flash

Carl, lit by 2 Nikon SB 900 flashes

I’ve always wanted to pass on and share my knowledge about photography, so if you’re interested in a workshop about photography or a workshop about flash photography, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m available for workshops and teaching world wide.

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Portret: cover foto

18 August 2010 om 08:54 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Gear,Photography,Portrait

Onderstaande foto werd gemaakt voor de cover van Visie ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van ACW-voorzitter Jan Renders.

Het beeld werd gemaakt op locatie – in de kantoren van het ACW – mbv 3 Nikon SB900 speedlights, met gebruik van het Nikon CLS (Creative Lighting System), waarbij 1 flits als “commander” op de camera gebruikt werd en die 2 andere flitsen aanstuurde. Beeld gemaakt op Nikon D3s, ISO 400, 120mm, F/4.5, 1/200 sec.

Bij het fotograferen moest rekening gehouden worden met de layout van het magazine, waar rechts de naam van het tijdschrift vermeld moet worden (zie beeld onderaan). Een verkeerde plaatsing van de geportretteerde en de foto zou onbruikbaar geweest zijn.

Jan Renders, voorzitter ACV, voor Visie.

Uiteindelijk werd voor een beeld gekozen waar Jan Renders zit.

Jan Renders, cover voor Visie

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What do photographers earn?

29 April 2010 om 14:46 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Flashlight,Portrait

What do you earn as a photographer?

Well, that depends upon the angle you look at it.

As a freelancer, earning a living out of making photographs, I would welcome Euros, Dollars, Pounds and even Yenn or Ruble would do, thank you.

As an amateur, you’re probably very happy with any kind of publication in virtually any type of magazine in return of credits (which is, believe me, nothing to impress your bank manager when it comes to paying your mortgage)

Or for the aspiring photographer, you may well be happy with any kind of encouragement, friendly words or pat-on-the-back type thing.

Well, let me tell you, I was recently comissioned to photograph the person in charge of a company that imports grape fruit. After it had taken me quite some effort to convince the person that I was there to photograph him – and not the stacks of grape fruit in the depot – he finally started to co-operate. I set up two stands with a Nikon SB900 speedlight, triggered with Nikon CLS system (on-camera speedlight on a D3s). I underexposed the atmosphere in the depot, because it had the horrible neon -fluorescent lights which turns everything – and everyone – green. Not something to brag about. I had one light – standing at the far end of the lane of crates – lighting the creates in the background, and one light through an umbrella on the person to photograph. Easy setup that works well – and fast!

But then it happened, when after the shoot was finished, he presented me with the very same piece of grape fruit he was holding during the photo shoot.

Portrait photography - what do photographers earn?

So, when you pose that question about houw much photographers do earn, remember that it can be anything from cold cash, through respect, credits and sometimes …. grapefruit.

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Portret fotograaf – Leuven

om 13:59 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Flashlight,Portrait

Portret foto - keuze van de fotograaf.

Als portretfotograaf heb ik zo mijn eigen gedachten ….

Een portret maken op een eerder druilerige regendag, ‘t is niet iets waar veel fotografen op zitten te wachten.

Ik anders wel. Niets zo eenvoudig als je belichting te regelen op een dag waar de zon je geen parten speelt.

Zo verging het me ook bij de portretsessie van een prof aan het “sportkot” van de KUL. Grijze lucht, geen zon, fris windje en enkel een atletiekpiste om iets mee te doen. Verder waren aanwezig: 2 Nikon Speedlights van het SB900 type, een paar CTO kleurenfilters, een koppel pocket wizards, een 85mm tilt-shift lens, een Nikon D3s en nog wat attributen als daar zijn staanders, fototas, hoodman loupe, etc …..

De rest is geschiedenis.

Hieronder mijn favoriete beeld in de reeks ….

In de layout van het tijdschrift paste deze beter (+ het is meer close-up).

Portret fotografie, beeld dat uiteindelijk in publicatie verschenen is.

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