Foto | Indsigt | Synspunkt

Yet again I was hired to do some people portraits for the company detailkarriere.dk in Denmark. It's a basic lighting setup, with two SB-910 through a white umbrella on the left and a white reflector on the right. Exposure settings for both photos are: 1/60 sec, at f/8.0, ISO 100, 0EV, A Equipment: Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G, Nikon SB-910,  PocketWizard Flex TT5, PocketWizard Mini TT1  and PocketWizard AC3. Highlights are well controlled with the help of the PocketWizards. In post I have added a bit more light to the male model, as I thought this suited him well.  The client and I have agreed that tonality doesn't have to be 100% identical for the six portrait photos I've made for this company. It is more important that the shooting angle, b/w settings and framing to enhance the models personality.

A series of b/w photos of old tools from the Nizza Antique Market in Nizza Monferrato.

Hmmmm - it's summertime and I'm on vacation in Italy. Plenty of time to experiment with Photoshop. I read an article on LENSCRATCH about the Japanese photographer Michiko Makino and her stunning composite or double exposure photos. This photo is an experiment of mine trying to create something special with a base photo (see previous blog article) and nine identical photos of a another flower subject blended in two different ways. If we don't experiment - we don't learn and evolve as a photographer and artist.

I've been photographing for over 30 years - and for the past 8 years it has been primarily digital. And with the constant improvement in the AF-system of DSLRs that fit nearly every situation and equipment combination I have not given manual focus a lot of thoughts. Yesterday during the golden hours - while walking in the beautiful surroundings of my home in Italy looking for suitable subjects for nature close-ups (not macro) - I found it difficult to rely on the AF-system of my Nikon D800 for various reasons (light, physical positioning, wind etc.)  I set the AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 lens to manual focus. And from that point on I just kept shooting focusing on getting the right exposure and the best framing rather than making the AF-system lock-in so I could take a photo.  I'm now ready to try manual focus while doing portrait photography.

1/4 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100, -1/3 EV First are foremost you are alone. For me photographing is a reflective process where I focus on the image and think abstract thoughts - letting my mind flow. While in this state there is nothing more disturbing that other human beings. So when the sky is all grey and its raining softly, then its time to grab your photo gear and head for the forrest, beach or open landscape to escape the every day life. An all grey sky (the lords big soft box) and a bit of rain is perfect conditions for shooting black and white photos. With me today I had the following equipment: Nikon D800 Nikon Coolpix A AF-S Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G Nikon MC-36 remote cord release Velbon GEO N830 tripod and QHD-72Q Ballhead Crumpler backpack Holebrook WP sweater Stetson Herringbone Hatteras The AF-S 28mm f/1.8G lens is a nice and not so heavy lens that fits perfectly on a D800. It is sharp and delivers a soft bokeh wide open. A bit of vignetting, radial distortion and ...

I really don't like to superpose a copyright logo or any other text across my photos. And I generally don't like all the different types of frames various software tools let you add to a photo. But I recognize the need to visually protect your work besides adding copyright information into the EXIF data, and at the same time promote your name and portfolio. So I've designed a compromise - adding a standard black frame and my name in RED and url in WHITE separated by a GREY square. I have not added a (C) in front of my name. Adding my name and URL implies that this photo is protected by a copyright (still part of the EXIF-data). What do you think? Does it ruin the photo?

You don't have to travel far to find amazing photographic opportunities. Close to where I live (Lyngby near Copenhagen) we have small streams with slow clean water. Time is in a capsule here. I just love to find beauty in the nature that surrounds me. As we don't have mountains and valleys I have to zoom in on the grandness of the ordinary.

The first image in a series of black & white photos where mother nature plays the main role. Capture details: Nikon D800 with AF-S 14-24 f/2.8G Exposure of 1/125 sec at f/4.0, 0EV, ISO 100 Post processed in Lightroom, CS6 and Silver Efex Pro 2

D800 with AF-S 24-70mm, 1/80 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100, 0EV, 56mm Even on a cloudy day it's possible to find strong black & white photographic subjects - especially because the sky serves a a great softbox. When you go for a walk and bring you camera, try to look down! An amazing array of interesting subjects and pattern emerges right in front of you. Here I found an array of stone fragments and leafs that created a interesting pattern - very suitable for a black & white representation. I hope you agree. The photo was prepared in Lightroom and then converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2.0.

One of my photographic passions are the edgy portrait. I'm still experimenting and far from ready to display my work in large scale (I also need more models). But from time to time I meet a person that is comfortable in from of a camera and then it is possible to capture something useful.  For this photo we were sitting a big a large meeting room where an abundance of natural light was radiating through the windows. But instead of using the natural light as the main light source I used it as a heavy back light source. I had no flash with me so to prevent Jan's face to become completely dark I increased the ISO to 12.500 and shot at 1/250 sec at f/8.0. Even with ISO 12.500 the digital noise was low (D800 rocks) and I used a vintage preset from NIC Silver Efe Pro 2 to twist the portrait in the edgy direction. My current photographic projet is capturing graffiti art on metal surfaces and combining then to a 3 x Triptych (Nine photos in total). Here is two candidates ...

As amateur photographers we start shoot everything and hence nothing. I have been doing this for so many years that I'm embarrassed to count them. But in 2012 I decided upon a photographic project involving grafitti on metal surfaces. I will made 3 triptych - in total nine square photos - and each photo has to fit visually nice to its neighbor. The first triptych is ready and is measuring 80 x 30 cm. Now I'm hunting for the next three square grafitti on metal scenes. I think I found one in Milan last week. What do you think? Now I have to find other scenes that visually matches this one. The hunt has begone....

I'm writing an article on Nikon Speedlight SB-910 and hence has to experiment with it. Once again I persuaded my daughter to act as a model. As light modifier both the standard SB-910 diffuser and a white umbrella has been used. Straight out of camera and converted to b/w in LR4. The umbrella is very close to her face giving a wrapping soft light.

Do we need all the mega pixels to create interesting photos? I believe not. But having fewer mega pixels at our disposal requires carefull planning while composing your shot, as you don't want to loose "pixel real estate" by cropping in post processing. I own a Nikon D300 with a 12 Mp sensor and it has served me well for 4 years. As I grew up shooting film I'm used to think all aspects through before capturing the actual photo and thereby keeping post processing to a minimum. But a Nikon D800 is on its way to me as the extra "pixel real estate" of a 36 Mp sensor offers a large freedom to crop interesting parts of photo. Take this photo as an example. I used my Nikon D300 with a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 and walked to a nearby creek. The I sad down on a small canoe gangway and looked at the scene around me for nearly 20 minuttes before a photo took form in my mind. The photo was composed so cropping would not necessary. The still water entering a large area of ...

How do you challenge your creativity? Being a photographer - full time or part time - is very competitive. We all have the same equipment, which we can buy with no margin to the dealers due to the commodity nature of photographic equipment, and we all face clients that more or less have the same requirements and want a low price for maximum quality. If you are an average photographer trying to survive in the main stream photographic business, then you will not make enough money to make a living. How do you find your own voice, promote it and get the jobs? I can't give you an answer but the small lesson I have learned it to constantly challenge your own photographic abilities. It's not about how you master your equipment, but how you SEE an envision a photo opportunity . Applying the tools afterwards is just the basics. I'm in no way a special gifted photographer. On the contrary -  I've been annoyed with my own mediocrity for long. Yes - I can make technic...

What is creativity? The above photo is not about creativity, but about good skills within photography and the ability to creata a "Ahhh", "Nice", Beautiful" comment from followers on social photo sites like Flickr. But all though I like this photo and I had fun while post processing it (and shooting it) its not displaying my creativity. While I'm becoming better at mastering photography from an equipment point of view I'm still completely blind when it comes to communicating a story through my photography. Its only beautiful photos. After reading about the young photographer Natalie Dybisz aka Miss Aniela on Lenscratch , I even more convinced that I need to define a new mission for becoming a true photographer with my own voice. Focus is needed. A couple of themes that is close to my heart and mind is needed. Creating a body of work, that can be presented as a visual statement to galleries and magazine editors, is the strategy I'm going to...

Macro photographing is exiting. Grab your camera - mount a macro lens and start looking for scenes in your own garden. I needed to focus on small details after attenting a full day M&A seminar :-) I found those withered petals and photographed them using my Nikon D300 with a AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8. The camera was on a tripod and I used MirrorUp and a Nikon MC-36 cable release to avoid any vibrations. It is still impressive what a 12MP camera can do in terms of sharpness, tonality and details. Both photos where post processed in LR4 and a bit of sharpness was applied also.

My daughter Camilla would like to work professional with photo and video. She is finishing highschool this year and need to prepare a portfolio of her photographic work to present as part of the application for the multimedia school she wants to attend. They will only accept 20 students each year and the number of applicants are several hundred. The work to build her portfolio started today and Camilla had persuaded her good friend Simone to act as a model. We set up our home studio and worked both with a white and black back drop and various light set-up with a set of Elinchrom D-Lite flash units and a range of diffusers. For once I acted as the assistent and Camilla made her own choices of lenses, light and set-up decisions. It was difficult for me to shut up, but I tried my best :-) This photo I took while Camilla and Simone was looking through all the photos Camilla had made on her Nikon D3100. I'm looking forward to see which photos she is going to select...

I'm not Flash Gordon - but only Flash Lars :-) Today I'm once again experimenting with my Speedlight's. On my right I have a SB-700 with a Lastolite 45x45 cm EzyBox (you can see the catch light i my eyes). The distance to my face is app. 50 cm and the light power is set to 1/3 of full light power. On my right I have a SB-900 with a Honl Speed Snoot to focus the light beam on my right eye. The SB-900 is set to lowest light power output and the distance is 1.5 meter. Both the SB-700 and SB-900 is controlled with a PocketWizard Flex TT5 and on my D300 I have both a PocketWizard MiniTT1 and a PocketWizard AC3 (to control the flash output without having to manually dial the flash power settings on each flash unit). My D300 is in manual mode - exposure 1/125 at f/8. I'm using my AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G lens (90mm on a DX) wich turns out to be a very capable portrait lens. Post processed in Lightroom 3.