Nikon D3s « Jurgen Doom

Architectural photography, the strobist way.

18 November 2010 om 11:34 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie advertising,Architecture,Flashlight,Gear,Photography

As a photographer, you want to explore every possible solution to a problem. While I was doing architectural photography – photographing the interior of a dormitory – I was confronted with rather drab lighting inside. Also, the sun was shining outside (it was a hot summer day) but was at the “wrong” side of the building, so it didn’t shine into the room that I had to photograph.

A room with a view - using the strobist technique of off-camera flashes to light the inside of a room.

The solution that came to my mind was to light the room with small strobes (Nikon SB900 flash light) in order to create a type of lighting that was more appealing than the available light (or the light that comes from the artificial light in the room, eg light bulbs, fluorescent light, etc ….).

Firstly, I used pocket wizards to trigger my flashes, as the Nikon Creative Lightings System (CLS) wouldn’t have worked well in this particular case. You need a direct line of sight in order the flashes to trigger.

Secondly, I had my camera set at an exposure whereby I had a rather dark image (ISO 200, F/9 at 1/250 gives a grossly underexposed image) at the inside of the building, but it did match the ambiant light outside pretty well.

Thirdly, I positioned a flash (Nikon SB900) outside with a full cut CTO gell over it, in order to simulate the warm rays of a rising sun. You can still see a bit of the flash at the far corner of the window, which adds to the feeling of a rising sun. That flash casts the long shadow of the chair and table and is the key light to the image.

Lastly, I had to bring in extra light in order to lift the general feel to the image. So I positioned an extra flash to get some light in the ceiling and some general fill to the entire frame.

The result is a double spread in the Sporta magazine , showing the viewers a room the invites to be staying over at their accomodation.

A room with a view - using the strobist technique of off-camera flashes to light the inside of a room.

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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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Nikon D3x

25 March 2010 om 15:38 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Camera,Commercial,Portrait

This post is to celebrate the arrival of my newest digital camera, the Nikon D3x.

After having photographed the last 2 years with a Nikon D3 camera – much to my satisfaction – I purchased its successor – the Nikon D3s – in December 2009. The Nikon D3s has the same amount of pixels – 12 Mpix – as the D3, but performs even better in low-light situations than the Nikon D3. Since I’m a versatile photographer, encountering many lighting conditions and having to shoot under extreme circumstances, the upgrade from D3 to D3s makes perfect sence. In addition to these features, the Nikon D3s also has a sensor cleaning mechanism, which keeps your sensor fairly dust-free and it also boosts an HD video mode.

As a professional freelance photographer, based in Belgium (near Brussels), 12Mpix sometimes isn’t enough for the clients’ needs. Although fantastically big prints have been made with files created by my Nikon D3 and Nikon D3s sometimes you just want some extra “air to breathe” ….

With the arrival of the Nikon D3x, I have complemented my lineup with a fantastic camera that is specifically designed for the demanding and versatile photographer who wants some extra “umpf” out of his digital files. The Nikon D3x offers 24.5 Mpix, creating 27Mbyte RAW files (uncompressed, 14 bit) with an amazing range and tonality of colours and with a sharpness that is unheard of for DSLR’s.

In order to take the Nikon D3x for a test-drive, I dedicated my first shoot with my newly acquiered camera to my kids, Myrte and Johannes. I took them outside for a quick portret shoot. They were lit by 3 Nikon SB900 speedlights, one of which was softened through an eazy light softbox. The two other flashes were aimed straight at them without any diffusion. The images were post-processed in Lightroom2. The shots were photographed in daylight, ISO100, 1/250, f/12 with a 85mm perspective control lens (Tilt/Shift lens).

Johannes during the Nikon D3x portrait session

Myrte during the D3x portret session

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Architectural photography

23 March 2010 om 10:18 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Architecture,Commercial

It shouldn’t be a big surprise that a construction engineer-turned-photographer is still in love with building and architecture. Indeed, one of my main interests in photography lies in architectural photography. I can always enjoy good architectural photography and I strive to, when I’m photographing buildings and architecture, seek interesting angles, compostions and colors.

One of my clients designs brochures for Philips Lighting and upon completion of a project, I’m comissioned to photograph the building with the integrated lighting.

When the new building for Mercedes in Brussels was finished, I had to photograph the interior of the building, which needed to show its lighting. It finally ended up in print as follows.

Architectural photography - Mercedes building in Brussels

Architectural photography - Mercedes Belgium/Brussels

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Photography and pregnancy, a match made in heaven!

22 March 2010 om 12:00 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Flashlight,Portrait,Studio

As a photographer, one of the most beautiful things to photograph is a pregnant womam. Woman in itself are already beautiful (man too, but that’s a different story alltogether), but a pregnant woman is a pleasure to photograph and to look at. Most of the times, when pregnancy goes well, these woman are so proud of their little bundle of joy inside their body, that they come accross on photographs in a self-confident way.

It wasn’t any different with this lady, who I photographed in her own house. Photographing a belly on location, that is in the comfort and cosyness of someone’s own house, holds many advantages. The pregnant lady doesn’t have to move herself towards a photo studio, but she can stay in a well-known environment, which ultimately helps to gain even more confidence to pose for photographs. In order to explore the through possibilities of pregnancy photography, often people want photographs of the naked body (which, indeed, shows the changing outlines of the body very well). But as you will see in the photographs below, it doesn’t always have to be naked.

With the help of a black background, which I brought along, and a few of-camera reportage flashes (type Nikon SB900) I created different images. In order to respect the privacy of everyone involved, I can only show a few images, but they serve to prove my point. Woman are beautiful, pregnant woman are stunning!

Beautiful shape of a lady's torso.

Outline of the beautifully shaped belly

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Guerilla event photography for Play Station’s Heavy Rain

10 March 2010 om 17:53 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial

Recently I was commisioned to photograph a guerilla event in Brussel. The aim was to capture the mood of a “film noir” of people walking through pooring rain. The rain was created by a rain machine. People leaving Brussels north railway station were given an umbrella in order to keep dry through the heavy rain, created by the rain machine. They had to walk towards me whilst looking into the camera.
The lights we used were cinematographic floodlights (2 times 2000W and 2 times 1000W) and were positioned in such a way that the rain was visible in the photograph.

The event took only about an hour during which time had quite a number of people walking through the heavy rain.

Using a Nikon D3s, wich is a camera designed to use in the field in the most difficult circumstances, I was able to capture the images using a 70-200mm lens at ISO3200.

heavy rain - play station - guerilla event

heavy rain - guerilla event

The photograph used for the press release was choosen by the advertising agency and was used to promote the release of the new game.

press release heavy rain

Lastly, I was caught in the action by my assistent Jasmijn who took this photograph.

Jurgen in action.

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High ISO photography – Nikon D3s

17 February 2010 om 17:03 door Jürgen geplaatst in de categorie Commercial,Portrait

It was somewhere deep in december of 2009 when a courrier service brought a small parcel, rather unexpectedly. I had ordered my new camera, a Nikon D3s a couple of weeks before, but they shop couldn’t tell me when they would be able to deliver. In fact, Nikon couldn’t even tell.

Nevertheless, my camera stayed unboxed for a week due to my full scedule, but I had some time on my hands just before Christmas to read the manual. Shortly thereafter I started using my Nikon D3s on assignments.

We’ve now been together for 2 months and I must say that it’s again a pleasure to work the Nikon D3s. Not that it’s much different from the Nikon D3, which I’ve been using for the past 2 years. It has the same amount of pixels, it’s housed in the same rigid body and has the same “look and feel” as the Nikon D3. But, it can shoot HD video (says the manual) and can work at high ISO settings such as 6400, 12800, 25600, 51200 and even 102400!

Sure enough, this assignment came along whereby I had to photograph two toddlers at school for the cover of a magazine. There were two restrictions, 1. don’t force the children into doing something they don’t like and 2. don’t use flash.

I started out at ISO 6400 but realised quickly that is was still to low (you want the histogram to be on the right side, not the left) so I changed to ISO 12800. Even at these settings I had to use f/3.5 and 1/40th as a setting on the camera.

These are the shots that came out of it. OK, they are not as sharp as ISO200, but they were more than acceptable for usage in print.

Image photographed with Nikon D3s at ISO 12800

Cover of Visie, with an image shot on Nikon D3S at ISO 12800

Ergens midden december vorig jaar moet het geweest zijn. ‘k Had hem al een tijdje besteld, maar wist helemaal niet wanneer hij zou komen. Bij Nikon zwijgen ze zoals steeds in alle talen, waardoor mijn leverancier evenmin kon zeggen wanneer het zou komen. Tot er op een mooie dag aangebeld werd met een pakje van een courierdienst. Bleek de levering van mijn Nikon D3s te zijn, het paradepaardje van Nikon wat betreft sport en reportagefotografie.

Omdat december zo onwezenlijk druk was, heeft het toestel hier zeker een week gestaan zonder één klik, maar in de kerstvakantie deed ik er al mijn eerste opdracht mee.

Nu, na ongeveer 2 maanden, zijn we beste maatjes en beginnen we elkaar steeds beter te leren kennen. Eigenlijk is er niet zo heel veel verschil tussen de D3s en zijn voorganger, de D3. Evenveel pixels, zelfde bouw, zelfde gevoel. Maar het kan wel in HD films opnemen (zegt de handleiding) en heeft heel wat meer ISO’s dan de D3. Nog meer dan de D3.

Zo kan de D3s gemakkelijk ISO 6400 aan, en 12 800 is ook mogelijk. Nog te weinig licht? Ga dan naar 25600, 51200 of (bij zonsverduistering, nieuwe maan, of in de donkere dagen voor kerstmis) zet hem gewoon op 102400.

En jawel, vorige week moest ik een foto maken van twee kleuters in een schooltje. Maar er waren 2 beperkingen. Ten eerste, ik mocht de kleuters niet storen en ten tweede, ik mocht geen flits gebruiken.

De lichtomstandigheden in de klas waren niet ideaal. Ik begon eerst op ISO 6400, maar omdat je beter een beetje “naar rechts” belicht, zette ik de ISO al snel op 12800, wetende dat het beeld voor een cover moest dienen.

Ik moet toegeven dat het beeld niet zo “scherp” is als op ISO 200, maar zonder flits was het in deze omstandigheden niet eens mogelijk geweest een bruikbaar beeld te maken, wetende dat ik onderstaand beeld op f/3.5 bij 1/40ste gefotografeerd heb. Zet dat maar eens om naar ISO 200 (komt ongeveer overeen met 2 seconden belichten op ISO 200)!

Niettemin, hierboven het resultaat. ‘t Zal u wellicht niet verbazen dat we goede maatjes geworden zijn met de D3s ….

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