Gå videre til hovedindholdet

Opslag

Shooting knights with D800

I was hired to photograph two men dressed like knights representing the fight between "good" and "bad". A photo of each knight will be combined to one where they are standing opposite each other in a confronting manner. The final photo will be used on big posters, a website and in various marketing and PR material. It was a great occasion to test my new Elinchrom Portalite soft box and Elinchrom reflector with grid (more directional light). We shot against a black wall and although there were some light spill - it wasn't critical. Here are my post processed versions. I'm not assigned to do the post and have delivered all files as none processed RAW-files to the customer. So I'm exited to see the final outcome. And here is a very short video with just a glims of how we arranged the light and worked with the model.

My first baby photo assignment

How difficult can it be was my initial thought when I asked to photograph (I don't want to use the word "shoot") a baby. The mother Malene is a former colleague and I also know her husband Rasmus. It's a lovely family and they live on the country side in a small town just aside a corn field. Lot's of good natural light and a fairly spacious home. The day we had chosen for the event turned out to be one of the hottest days in Denmark ever recorded. And there was no wind. The sun was burning hot and bright from a clear sky, so I had to photograph indoors using my Elinchrom D-Lite lamps and a California Sunbounce. My assistent (my daughter) was a great help. As you can imaging we were all sweating a lot and the little newborn - Emma - was also not comfortable. In addition the D-Lite lamps produced additional heat. My equipment was a Nikon D800 with an AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. In close quarters like this I couldn't use the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8. I used bot

Würzburg

When we drove back to Denmark from our summer home in Piemont, Italy, we decided to break the trip in two and stay over in Würzburg . We found a lovely little hotel a couple of hundred meters from the Old Main Bridge to the old city centre. As you can see on the first photo its a gorgeous old bridge and many locals was having a glas of wine various places in the bridge. In photo two you can see the Fortress Marienberg. Next year we will play our stay over so we get enough time to take a closer look at this lovely city. The following text is from Wikipedia: On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city full of civilians was destroyed in 17 minutes by 225 British Lancaster bombers during a  World War II  air raid. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city center, which dated from medieval times, was totally destroyed in a  firestorm  in which 5,000 people perished. Over the next 20 years, the buildings of historical

Radiant Tree

Even a boring scene can be turned into something interesting in post processing. The special radiant effect was achieved in PS by blending a color layer and b/w layer. Both photos got prepared in LR4 and exported to CS6 as layers. Exposure:  1/125 sex at f/5.6, 0EV, ISO 100, A program, 56mm Equipment:  Nikon D800 with AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8

Press photographer has to face a lot of moral issues

Every year we hear about press photographers being killed while trying to capture a decisive photo and document the truth. They also have to face a bunch of moral issues while being close to death and people in need of help. In my opinion it is vital to capture a photo that can influence decisions on a large scale. But when faced with the choice of either keep taking pictures or trying to change the course of a situation by personal interaction (and maybe risk your own life), I can only imaging the moral issues a press photographer must deal with in a few decisive seconds.

The hunt for scenes

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....

Portrait of Camilla with SB-910 - Day 167

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.

Old Toll House - Day 166

Copenhagen has some amazing architecture - old as new in a visual harmony. Personally I like the old restored buildings as their patina is real and architectural design functional. For this photo I've chosen a dramatic color toning, vignetting and contrast to emphasize the heavy functional construction.

Self Portrait - Day 165

I'm writing a little book about how to use flash in photography. This also involves a lot of experimenting with different set-up - mostly simple set-up that all photographer on a budget can afford. My standard set-up is a Nikon D300 with a 50mm f/1.4 mounted on a tripod. On another tripod a SB-900 Speedlight  (the updated model is named SB-910) is mounted with the standard SB-900 diffuser on and an additional white umbrella. You can also use a SB-700 Speedlight . I can wireless tricker the SB-900 unit with Nikon's CLS (Creative Lighting System) and using the built in flash og the D300 as commander. But I have chosen to add a Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 to the SB-900 (Receiver) and a Pocket Wizard MiniTT1 (Transmitter) to the D300. On top of the PW MiniTT1 a PW AC3 is mounted (Light Power). In addition I have added a Nikon SD-9 battery pack enabling the SB-900 unit to recharge faster and extending the time the SB-900 unit can operate before battery depletion. This is a more exp

Container graffiti - Dag 164

Jeg har ikke været god til at opdatere min blog med billederne fra "Projekt 365" . Jeg får fotograferet hver dag - som oftes med mit Nikon kamera, men også med min iPhone, hvor billederne så havner på diverse sociale sider såsom FB, Instagram, Foursquare etc. Derfor fortsætte jeg nu med den aktuelle dag (164), og vil så løbende smide ældre "Projekt 365W fotos op på bloggen. I dag jagtede jeg atter graffitikunst på containere. Disse fotos er en del af et projekt, hvor jeg vil sammensætte en serie på 20 fotos, der forhåbentlig kan blive fremvist i et galleri en dag :-)

Untitled - Day 139-140-141-142

Untitled - Day 136-137-138

I'm trying to catch up with my "Project 365". Photo 1: Our neighbour Dan & Jette invited us to taste a fresh baked rhubarb cake. Delicious. Photo II: A big rock close to my home exposed to various treatment in Photoshop. Not necessary elegant and art, but learning a photo editing tool like CS5 requires a lot of experimention. Photo III: My wife Vivi in our livingroom. 

Kiss From A Rose - Day 135

Some days are better than others. Today was a good day as my networking activities yielded several interesting opportunities. I wont go into details, but when I started the day I had no expectations and now I can look back on a day where networking showed its value. Part of my networking activities today included a presentation for a group of executives talking about two very interesting topics: 1) Must Win Battles - a management tool I have extensive experience with 2) The Rolling Budget - a new management tool that I'm exploring

Cross Road - Day 134

I'm approaching a cross road in my professional life. At the age of 51 I have to make some serious decisions about how to spend the coming 10-15 years. I see three paths: Continue as "corporate soldier"  - waiting for the call from one of the major executive search companies Start as part owner and entrepreneur together with a super interesting team and company that I already know very well and trust Build a career as a professional board member After my summer vacation in July I'll have made up my mind!

Tired Legs - Day 133

Preparing for our grand cycling event - La Marmotte - on July 7th, requires many hours of training on the road per week. I'm stretching my legs after a 65 km bike ride where the wind seam to be head wind no mater in which directed we rode.

Wall - Day 132

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

Blue Cloth Ornament - Day 131

While visiting some our good friends Christina & Morten I had the opportunity to demonstrate some photo apps on my iPhone to nice person who still was unaware of all the bliss appearance on social media can bring you. The subject is the table cloth captured and post processed with the iPhone app "Camera+".

How do you challenge your creativity? - Day 130

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

Fire in the rain - Day 129

Rain is not going to stop me from lighting a fire outside. Sitting in front of a fire with a good glas of wine is part of what I relate to summer time ( ok - not summer is not quite here yet ).

A Tulip in Green Mist - Day 128

A very colorful tulip in my garden. But I wanted the viewer to focus on the perfect shape and not the colors. After converting to b/w I added a scratched green metal surface as a layer and blended the two layers. I think this further enhanced the fragility of the tulip.