magazine « Jurgen Doom

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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Advertising photography – location shoot for Sporta

10 November 2010 om 12:45 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Commercial,Flashlight,Photography,Sports

In a previous post (see here) I wrote about the assignment for Sporta, for which I had to photograph the new brochure showing the different types of sport- and accommodation facilitie.

Now that the brochure has been released, it is time to show some images in their context. I’d like to show the image that I used in a previous blogpost as it has been used in the brochure.

More to come!

Image as used in the brochure.

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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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Brico Cover – Pirate meets Princess meets Photographer

2 August 2010 om 14:49 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Camera,Commercial,Photography,Uncategorized

Photography is an expensive occupation. Children are expensive too. A combination of being a “photographer with children” is hugely expensive ….

But sometimes the two come together and work well for each other. Like that one time when I had to photograph the cover of Brico magazine, a 3-monthly that DIY-hardware store Brico publishes.

The ad-agency asked me if I could help finding children between 5 and 8 for an article about a grandfather who had build a “hut” up in a tree for his grand childrren. Ideally they would be dressed like a pirate, a princess, a “what-have-you” “you-name-it” ….

Myrte, my daughter of 7, just loves getting dressed as a princess and for Johannes, my 5 year old boy, being a pirate comes second nature to him.

And so it happened that they finally figured on the cover of a magazine. Mind you, for Johannes it was already his second appearance on the cover of a magazine. The first time was when he was about 3 months old. But the money I made with that cover has long been blown on nappies, etc …. So it was time to top up on some “money credits” ….

Cover of Brico magazine, featuring my two kids.

This image was photographed on a Nikon D3x and a 24-70mm 2.8, ISO200, F5.6 at 1/100. We used one SB900 speedlight (which we litteraly had to hang in a tree in order to get the right angle), gelled with a full cut CTO gel and complemented the lighting with a golden reflector. The flash was triggered through Nikon’s CLS system.

This image is half of a double spread that ran in the inner pages of the magazine.

So finally I’ve been able to use them to make me some money, instead of costing me money. But hey, that money has already been spent …. on a new princess and pirate outfit!

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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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Portrait photography

8 April 2010 om 15:19 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Flashlight,Portrait

As a portrait photographer it’s an honour to photograph the portrait of the editor in chief of a magazine. I had already spoken several times with Lieve over the phone when she comissioned me to photograph for her magazine, OKRA. But this time it was different, when Lieve asked me to take her portrait for the “edito” of the magazine.

We met at the offices of OKRA, where we choose a location for the imatges to be taken. I set up 3 flashlights (type Nikon SB900, triggered with a an SB800 via the Nikon CLS system). One is lighting Lieve through an umbrella, one is a backlight, separating Lieve from the background, which is lit by a third strobe. This is the resulting photograph:

Portrait photography with the help of 3 portable strobes.

By changing the angle from which we photographed Lieve by 90°, I was able to quickly change the look and feel of the image. The next image is only lit by 2 strobes.

Portrait photography for magazine.

Eventually the image ended up in the magazine in the editorial section, where it will probably find its home for the next few years to come …

Editorial of OKRA magazine with the portrait of Lieve.

Als fotograaf met een speciale affiniteit met portretfotografie is het altijd een hele eer om een portretfoto te mogen maken voor het editoriaal van een tijdschrift. Dergelijke foto wordt niet één, niet twee, maar meerdere keren gebruikt op de eerste binnenbladzijde van een tijdschrift. Daarom vind ik het altijd wel een eer om dit te mogen fotograferen.

Zo ook met Lieve die aan het hoofd staat van de redactie van OKRA. We hadden elkaar al regelmatig gesproken aan de telefoon, waarbij ze me altijd “op pad” stuurde om foto’s te maken, maar deze keer was het om van Lieve zelf een portretfoto te maken.

Het eerste beeld werd gemaakt in de kantoren van OKRA (ergens in een ruimte waar je even kan “ontspannen”). Een driepuntsbelichting zorgde ervoor dat Lieve enerzijds zacht licht langs voren kreeg (door een paraplu), een “haarlichtje” die haar rechterschouder (links voor ons) doet oplichten en haar zo wat van de achtergrond doet loskomen, dat op zijn beurt het licht van een derde flits over zich krijgt.

Om wat variatie te krijgen in de opnamen draaiden we Lieve 90° en gebruikten we een tweepuntsbelichting, wat resulteerde in de tweede foto. Het uiteindelijke resultaat, het edito met Lieve’s portret, vind je als laatste foto.

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Cover shoot for Brico Magazine

12 August 2009 om 19:20 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Portrait

As a freelance photographer you need to be able to do all kind of assignments. This time I had to shoot a cover for a magazine for a Leuven based advertising agency (Head Office).

They wanted a shot that showed a wendy house in the back, a lovely woman in the front and ample space around it for the header as well as for the text on the cover page.

Although it was a very bright day I used a Nikon SB900 with a 1/2 CTO gel, shot through an umbrella and triggered by pocket wizards. By doing so I was able to put a

bit of extra warmth into the subject as well as give a catchlight in her glasses, which adds a bit of a spark to the image. We shot her in different setups using mainly a long lens (70 – 210). This particular shot I used a 125mm focal length at 1/125 at f/8.

covershot of a magazine, photography

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