View allAll Photos Tagged bertstephani
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
LIGHTING INFO:
natural light only
YouTube video - part II (including this pic)
also check:
Check out my blog:
Dubai, UAE
Love this testshot during the final part of the 2-day Motivational Light workshop I was teaching at Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend. (check www.gulfphotoplus.com)
Got some video taken behind the scenes, so I'll keep the technical description short: Two bare speedlights behind the models (als you can see in this test shot). Another bare speedlight to camera light to lift up the main light on the subjects a bit.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and my lighting DVD: www.motivationallight.com
Steenokkerzeel (studio), BELGIUM
I spent a whole week testing out new concepts and creative ideas for a new project. The creative energy I got from devoting an entire week to playing around was spectacular.
After a barbecue with 2 photography friends we got back into the studio and started playing around with chocolate sauce, colored sprinkles and flower (oh man, that sounds wrong I guess) to create some epic portraits.
After the shoot I spent half an hour in my underwear under the garden hose, but it was worth it because this is the coolest pic of me.
TECHNICAL
Shot on 5D mkII with an 85mm 1.8. One Hensel Expert Pro Monobloc with a gridded beautydish high above my head (slightly to camera left).
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Zaventem, BELGIUM
Just some assorted family pics from the last two weeks (easter holiday for the kids).
Maya playing in the bath tub
Also check out my blog:
Brussels, BELGIUM
Last week we did a personal photoshoot in the forest with my favorite model Erika, my favorite assistant Ake and my favorite journalist-to-be-who-follows-a-photographer-for-an-article Frederik.
This picture is the result of the creative process that I described on my blog. This is just a preview, there will be more pictures and a YouTube video but that will have to wait until I have some spare time.
Check out my blog:
Anderlecht, BELGIUM
The guys from Canon asked me if I could do some workshops at the Canon Eos Discovery Days. It was a bit weird for me to do this in front of such a huge and diverse audience in a really short time but it was big fun and I met tons of great people.
After most of the people where gone, I couldn't help but trying to do a quick portrait with an 800mm f/5.6 L lens. It's the perfect lens for portrait photographers who are afraid of people. I lost at least 5 pounds by adjusting my flash a few times.
LIGHTING INFO
Just a 580EX (triggered with an ST-E2) and an umbrella to camera left. I dropped the shutter speed to get some light in the background.
Check out my blog:
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
LIGHTING INFO:
We underexposed the background by a stop or two for a dramatic effect. Erika is lit with a Canon 580EXII flash (I think at 1/4) to camera left with a shoot through umbrella. We placed a Vivitar 285HV (probably on 1/8) with a grid on the opposite side for some rim light. You can actually see the flash in the picture. I could have cloned it out, but I actually think it adds to the image.
YouTube video - part II (including this pic)
also check:
Check out my blog:
Erpe-Mere, BELGIUM
After six months of work, MOTIVATIONAL LIGHT, my instructional video about lighting is finally available.
For more info, trailers, bonus footage and purchasing, visit:
This image was shot for a sequence to show the dramatic look of an underexposed sky in combination with a small flash to light the model.
Also check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
LIGHTING INFO:
natural light only
YouTube video - part II (including this pic)
also check:
Check out my blog:
Aalst, BELGIUM
Yesterday I did a shoot for a new project I'm working on. I can't tell you much about it yet but I thought I'd share this sneak preview with you.
TECHNICAL INFO
Just one Vivitar to camera left with a shoot through umbrella. This is not the final image, it's what came out of Lightroom (so no Photoshop).
Check out my blog:
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
We started out with some shots in an open area of the forest to play around with that harsh sunlight. Most people don't look good in this kind of light, but you can just throw any kind of light at Erika and get a good pic.
Check out my blog:
Strombeek-Bever, BELGIUM
UPLACE, a fine corportate client, is going to sponsor triathlete Bruno 'Bruce' Clerbout so he can completely focus on his sports carreer as a professional athlete. They asked me to do some promo shots.
TECHNICAL INFO
The biggest difficulty for this shoot was that it was near freezing and extremely windy. To get some interesting light on this grey day, we had to light every shot with flashes. We also had to work extremely fast to avoid Bruno getting ill.
Bruno is lit by 2 Vivitar 285HV's on 1/2 power on each side, slightly behind him. Another Vivitar was set to camera right in a small softbox to act as fill. It was so windy that every flash had to be held by an assistant.
This is my favorite picture of the series. Probably because it looks exactly as I had in in my mind. Originally I wanted to create the motion blur of the background by shooting out of the trunk of a car (and freeze the subject with flash). But the cold gave us so little time to shoot that we had to shoot it statically and add the blur later in post.
Also check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Vilvoorde
I wanted to create an image for a photo contest about the environment. The idea was to make a picture of a jogger in 2020.
LIGHTING INFO:
There's a Vivitar 285HV pointed at the wall in the background. We also placed two Vivitar's behind the model to create a strong separation light. A fourth flash was placed about 30° to camera left to fill in the front of the model. Triggered with Pocket Wizards.
More info, pics and making of video can be found on my blog
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2007 may 18, Zaventem (Belgium), photoshoot with model Irene Proshina (model release).
This is personal work. No goals,themes or expectations, just a fun shoot to try out some new ideas.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI
If you wish to use this picture, please contact me.
Lighting Info:
I just used only some minor photoshop corrections for this picture.
The model is lit with an SB-24 and a cardboard snoot (camera left). Triggered with pocketwizzards.
I noticed this small tunnel with it's greenish fluorecent lights. Usually we use coloured gels to balance the color of different light sources. But I often like to have a different light colour between foreground and background. You could use a green gel on the flash to balance the colour on the model and make the lights in the background appear neutral. Being someone who allways do the oposite of what a sain person would do, I decided to exagerate the green color of the fluorecents.
The opposite colour of green is red, so I taped a red gel on the flash that illuminates the model. The white balance was altered to make the skin of the model appear (almost) neutral. This creates a colour shift on the background lights and thus makes them more green and saturated.
For the people in the movieshot pool: I think this picture has a Matrix green feel to it :-)
London, UNITED KINGDOM
This picture of model Nick was taken on the second day of my September 2009 2-day London workshop. Usually I leave most of the shooting to the participants on the second day but upon general request I did a short shoot with Nick to show how I communicate with models. Nick said he could use some moody 'dark' shots for his book, so that's what we went for.
LIGHTING INFO:
Nick is standing in a small tunnel, there was soft light coming from both ends of the tunnel. By trying out some different spots in the tunnel and blocking some light with a Sunbounce reflector we got the light to be pretty even on both sides of the face. The light on tunnel wall gave us a nice background with a natural vignette but it didn't provide enough separation behind Nick's head, so we used a narrow gridded speedlite to add just a touch of light on the wall behind Nick.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Oostende, BELGIUM
I recently did a guerilla shoot together with my friend and fellow photographer Jean. The goal was to test the California Sunbounce Micro Mini reflector with flash attachement. We decided to go on a completely unplanned mission: no location, no make-up, no models, not much gear and no concept. Just shoot what we came up with at the moment.
LIGHTING INFO
I underexposed the ambient light by a stop or so. The Sunbounce with a Vivitar 285HV flash attached (camera left), lights the subject. I think the flash was at 1/4 power.
Here's the YouTube video of this shoot.
Check out my blog:
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Accidently removed these pictures from my Flickr stream, so here they are again.
Shooting just for the fun of shooting is something that I need to do every now and then. No clients, no equipment test, no instructional videos - just fun. And when you can do that together with a very talented and equally charming photographer, it's even better.
One bare speedlight to camera right.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Frankfurt - GERMANY
I was asked to head the first Frankfurt Strobist meetup and help out with lighting. I'd like to thank everyone for hiring me and giving me such a pleasant stay.
Long before David Hobby challenged meetup groups to do a groupshot I was planning to do a groupshot. We had to do this one in a few minutes so it isn't as perfect as I would have liked, but I think it still is ok.
TECHNICAL INFO:
We made a camera boomstand out of a tripod, a ladder, 6 bottles of water and half a roll of gaffer tape. That way we could hang a 1Ds mkII with a 15mm fisheye above our heads.
For lighting we used 20 flashes, yep that's right TWENTY flashes. All flashes were set to 1/16 and triggered by 20 of the new wireless BIOwizards aka everyone triggered his flash manually. We could get away with the manual flash thing by setting a shutterspeed of 1 second.
more pictures, setups, ... in the Frankfurt Strobist Group
Also check out my blog:
2007 may 5, Zaventem (Belgium), School party
Every year this school (Zavo) organises a big party/show starring all the kids and teachers and staff. This year the theme was 'the wrong party', meaning that they used music, costumes etc. that you should like if you want to be in fashion.
Apeldoorn, THE NETHERLANDS
I got to do a fun workshop / demo at a "strobist" festival organized by a Dutch camerastore (www.cameratools.nl). They provided me with some cool skaters and a small ramp.
LIGHTING INFO:
For the first setup we wanted to make a cool action shot of one of the skaters. The background was underexposed for a dramatic effect. To enforce the effect, we used a wide and low angle. The skater was lit with one Lumopro flash to camera right and below the skater to ensure some light on the face.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Oostende, BELGIUM
I recently did a guerilla shoot together with my friend and fellow photographer Jean. More pictures, lighting info and a video are coming soon.
Check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Zaventem
I don't really like wide angle lenses. Long lenses suit my style probably better. But when I see some people's wide angle pictures I get really jealous. I'll probably never be a real wide angle guy, but I'm forcing myself to use my 17-40 around the house to improve my wide shot.
This is a shot of my lovely daughter Noa.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Peniche, PORTUGAL
surfing lesson
Olympus E-PL1 + 14-42 kitlens in an onderwater housing
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
In this picture we used the sun as a backlight and placed a Canon 580 EX with shoot through umbrella to camera left.
Check out my blog:
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Tomorrow is my youngest daughter Noa's last day at daycare. On Monday she goes to school. For 7 years we always had at least one kid with the fantastic people at "Martijntje".
I made this picture and added some words to thank the girls who took care of Noa (and the other two) so well.
Noa didn't feel much like posing today, she gave me basically 2 minutes to setup and 90 seconds to shoot ;-)
So I just set my aperture and shutter speed to get a dramatic sky. I grabbed the Hensel Porty Lithium 12 battery powered flash generator from the booth of the car and fitted the head with a gridded beautydish. The Hensel radio trigger that allows you to adjust power from the transmitter let me quickly set the power right. I keep being amazed by how fast you can work with such a powerful light.
Noa didn't want to stand in the spot I had in mind, so I left her were she stood, moved the light stand and shot her there.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Diepenbeek, BELGIUM
Some photographers loose their freshness, spontanity and creativity after a few years in this very competitive business. To avoid that happening to me, I take some time to play every now and then.
This time my friend and fellow photographer Karla, showed me some tricks for working in a small studio and I took her outside for some strobist style shooting.
TECH INFO
Vivitar 285HV on 1/2 or 1/1 power about 30 degrees to camera left as the main light. Another Vivitar with a grid was placed opposite the main light to provide just a liitle separation light.
Also check out my blog:
a small private pool, BELGIUM
I've been asked to shoot a jewelry collection ... under water. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the final pictures and a behind-the-scenes video but here's already an in-between-the-scenes shot of Filip who was so kind to shoot the topside video.
This is all lit with flash: An Elinchrom Quadra (a little below full power) with standard reflector on the side of the pool, provides the light on Filip and doubles as a hair light for Liesbeth. An Inon underwater strobe with a CTO gel lights the model and gives the orange flare on the right side. The strobes were triggered with a rather complicated DIY setup that included 10 meters of fiber optic audio cable, a watertight box, an optical slave and pocketwizards.
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Aalst, BELGIUM
This is an image from the first shoot I did for www.squeezethelime.com, our new educational project.
My favorite model Erika was so kind to pose for me.
LIGHTING INFO
2 Vivitar 285HV's on each side behind Erika. Natural light for fill. I've made a making-of movie of this shoot, check it out at www.squeezethelime.com
Check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Zaventem
Michael (www.mjm.hk) asked me to do a little one-on-one workshop with him about working Strobist-style (lighting with small flashes). Michael wanted to learn some tricks about lighting and just being creative with the environment.
I asked my friend, muse and fantastic model Erika to be the subject of our experiments.
Just to make it clear, I didn't shoot these images, Michael did.
LIGHTING INFO:
We placed a bare Vivitar 285HV (at half power I think) on my driveway and aimed it towards a dark gray wall in my office through the blinds of the window. Because it was raining, I put a plastic freezer bag over the flash.
For this shot we lit Erika separately to avoid the blinds pattern on her face. I held a reflector between the backgroundlight and Erika to avoid any spill light on her. We used another Vivitar with a gridspot from camera left to light Erika.
We wanted to make the background light to be blueish/moonlit. Instead of venturing in to the rain and putting a blue gel on the background flash, we just put a CTO (orange) gel on the main light and changed the white balance to get correct skintones with the orange gel. That makes the neutral white background light shift to blue.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLIGAN- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
LIGHTING INFO:
We underexposed the background by a stop or two for a dramatic effect. Erika is lit with a Canon 580EXII flash (I think at 1/4) to camera left with a shoot through umbrella. We placed a Vivitar 285HV (probably on 1/8) with a grid on the opposite side for some rim light. I'm not the biggest photoshopper but I had to clone out the flash on this one.
YouTube video - part II (including this pic)
also check:
Check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Kraainem
A while ago I did a model shoot with the fantastic Kim Van Noten. We didn't have a real plan except for having fun while creating pictures. Ake was my kind assistant for this shoot and she also shot some video.
The video can be found here: Confessions of a Photographer - episode 2
And there's also Confessions of a Photographer - episode 1
More info, pics and video's can be found on my blog
LIGHTING INFO:
A bare SB-24 to camera left is the main light. I think it was at 1/4 or 1/2 power. The available light was rather dim under the dense tree cover, so it was not a problem to overpower the ambient light.
Kim is standing is a tunnel of trees, and I found the end of the tunnel a nice abstract background. By lighting the model with a flash, you can adjust the exposure of the subject and the background indipendently.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Erpe-Mere, BELGIUM
After six months of work, MOTIVATIONAL LIGHT, my instructional video about lighting is finally available.
For more info, trailers, bonus footage and purchasing, visit:
This image was shot for a sequence to illustrate how to use the "shelter technique" aka the "afdakskes technique".
Also check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
I'm teaming up with the famous wedding photographer Mike Larson (www.mikelarson.com) for 3 workshops organized by Calumet Photo and California Sunbounce in Belgium and Antwerp. To be honest Mike is doing most of the work and I just demo how I use Sunbounce reflectors in combination with off-camera flash to create a natural look. Long days but lots of fun.
In Amsterdam the weather was reasonable (cold and windy but no rain). We had a pretty nice sky so I choose to take our amazing bride Julia to the parking lot for a little shoot.
I bounced just one Vivitar 285HV on a Sunbounce Pro reflector for some soft yet directional light and still keep detail in the sky. We used the zebra to warm up the main light for a nice contrast with the blue sky.
Putting Julia on a couple of pallets and shooting up allowed me to get rid of the pretty ugly buildings in the background.
Probably my favorite
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Steenokkerzeel (Studio), BELGIUM
Took the idea of the 70 EUR studio a bit further and replaced the two halogen worklights I used earlier by 2 Canon 580EXII's with Pocketwizards.
Both speedlights are behind a big translucent shower curtain to camera left, to create a hug soft lightsource.
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Zaventem (Belgium) lighting test with Erika
I wanted to check out some setups in my ministudio, so I asked my friend/muse/model Erika to pose for me.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI
LIGHTING INFO:
My studio light isn't fast enough to stop motion so I used a bare SB24 on a stand camera left as my main light. To create the atmosphere of a party, I placed another small strobe (Sigme DG500 super) behind the model to give a hairlight and some cool flare. Both strobes were triggered by PocketWizards
Aalst, BELGIUM
This is an image from the first shoot I did for www.squeezethelime.com, our new educational project.
My favorite model Erika was so kind to pose for me.
LIGHTING INFO
2 Vivitar 285H with a shoot through umbrella to camera left. I've made a making-of movie of this shoot, check it out at www.squeezethelime.com
Check out my blog:
Strombeek-Bever, BELGIUM
Today we had to shoot a pretty challenging assignment for a corporate client. It was really stormy and cold. So we set up everything with a stand-in. That way the client only had to step in for a few cold minutes for every setup. I captured this shot of assistant Ake when we set up one of the shots. The image struck me immediately so I processed it as an ode to the assistants. I couldn't have done this assignment without the help of Ake and Marisa.
LIGHTING INFO:
This shot is backlit with 2 Vivitar 285HV's on both sides behind Ake. They are aimed (almost) past Ake's back so only the edge of the beam feathers on Ake's hat, hair and jacket. I think the flashes were set at 1/2 or 1/4 power. A third Vivitar with a 60x60cm Lastolite softbox was next to the camera (right) to light the face. I think it was at 1/4 or 1/16th. We let just enough ambient light in to get some blurred texture from the brick wall behind Ake in. All triggered with PW's.
Also check out my blog:
Zaventem (Belgium) lighting test with Erika
I wanted to check out some setups in my ministudio, so I asked my friend/muse/model Erika to pose for me.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI
LIGHTING INFO:
This picture is lit with just a medium softbox on a studio strobe to camera left. Triggered with Pocketwizards.No complicated lighting setup at all but I'm still pretty new to studio photography and I'm trying to get the details right.
Canet-Plage, FRANCE
Just a snap from the family holiday in France. As a professional photographer it's tempting to lug around all that gear on holiday but I find it important to step away from photography from time to time and just focus on my family. I only took 400 images in two weeks and mostly just with my small digicam (and a waterproof housing).
Maya as aphrodite
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Vosselare, BELGIUM
I'm starting a new personal project about people who have a special connection with water. I still need to do a lot of testing before I start the actual project. That's why I went for a swim with my buddy Pieter who's training for his first triathlon
I realize that in this project I won't always be able to work with big strobes and assistants so I did a practice session with very limited gear: Olympus E-PL1 + 14-42 kitlens in an onderwater housing with an Inon S2000 underwaterflash on an arm attached to the housing. I shot this on manual with the flash on 1/2 power to get some fill light on Pieter. The flash is positioned almost on axis (slightly to camera left) about 40cm above the lens
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
De Haan, BELGIUM
I strongly (convince myself to) believe that professional photographers should take some time to play every now and then. We played around all the time when we where amateurs and that's what made us good enough to go pro anyway. So to become a better pro, I try to allow some time to play in my tight schedule.
A few months ago I got into a conversation between some like minded photographers and we decided to do some kind of fun shoot together. I actually didn't have the time but I went anyway. And I'm glad I did, because I came back with more energy and motivation.
LIGHTING INFO
Although it was pretty chilly, Fauve didn't mind to shoot for 10 minutes in the surf. The sun was still pretty high. I underexposed the scene by a stop or two to keep enough detail in the sky. This rendered our model to almost pitch black. Ake was kind enough to get in the water with us holding a California Sunbounce mini micro reflector (silver) and a flash (Vivitar 285HV) attached to it (camera left). The Vivitar was set to full power to balance with the still powerful backlight. Triggered with PW's.
Ake managed to not only keep the sunbounce steady in heavy winds without falling in the water, she also yelled every time a big wave came in (still got pretty wet though).
Check out my blog:
Brussels, BELGIUM
I've set up this shoot with my muse and favorite model Erika to explore a few new ideas. I do experiment when photographing clients but I can't go as far as I wish. That's why I need this kind of freewheeling improvisation shoots from time to time.
As usual it was great to have Ake around as an assistant. Frederik, a communications student, shot some making-of footage for us.
LIGHTING INFO:
We underexposed the background by a stop or two for a dramatic effect. Erika is lit with a Canon 580EXII flash (I think at 1/4) to camera left with a shoot through umbrella. We placed a Vivitar 285HV (probably on 1/8) with a grid on the opposite side for some rim light.
YouTube video - part II (including this pic)
also check:
Check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Kraainem
A while ago I did a model shoot with the fantastic Kim Van Noten. We didn't have a real plan except for having fun while creating pictures. Ake was my kind assistant for this shoot and she also shot some video.
The video can be found here: Confessions of a Photographer - episode 2
And there's also Confessions of a Photographer - episode 1
More info, pics and video's can be found on my blog
LIGHTING INFO:
A bare SB-24 to camera left is the main light. I think it was at 1/4 or 1/2 power. The available light was rather dim under the dense tree cover, so it was not a problem to overpower the ambient light.
Kim is standing is a tunnel of trees, and I found the end of the tunnel a nice abstract background. By lighting the model with a flash, you can adjust the exposure of the subject and the background indipendently.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Now the new studio is getting pretty close to being finished (at least the top floor), I wanted to test out a bit what kind of picture I can take in the space. So I asked the wonderful model Ine to pose for a couple of hours. Everything was lit with flash, no available light.
LIGHTING INFO:
Elinchrom Ranger head with large beautydish to camera right to light the model. Gridded Canon 580EX flash for the pattern on the wall.
Check out my blog:
Dinant, Belgium
A picture I took on our epic 24-hour mission with the Bounce Squad. 5 photographers went for 24 straight hours shooting all over Belgium. This was part of a video competition (with some amazing prices to win) we've launched at www.squeezethelime.com - Check out the info and the making-of movie of this adventure and start making your own video.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Steenokkerzeel / Zaventem, BELGIUM
Daphne and Katrien agreed to do something out of the ordinary for their engagement shoot. So we ventured outside on a cold night around the airport.
LIGHTING INFO
For this picture I've been lying in a ditch with my 15mm fisheye lens for over an hour. Daphne and Katrien were lit with a single speedlight to camera right. The hardest part was the timing to have the airplane at the right place in the frame.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Best viewed in LARGE (Contacts only, sorry).
.
Explore (115) : Highest position : #131
.
All my images are copyrighted.
If you intend to use any of my pictures, for any usage, you need to contact me first.
Thank you.
.
About
A collegue of mine asked me how to contact Bert Stephani, since he knew this guy 'cause I
once showed him our wedding pictures on flickr, after we had been talking camera-geek stuff,
he is real Nikon adept and I the Canon man and he doesn't understand why a guy like me still
uses that ancient technology: that sort of bullshit, hahaha, don't mind shit like that, keeps
a place alive, we're an odd species right, we need shit to laugh, mmm I'm guessing I going
the wrong way here, just rephrase, here we go ( yeah Paul, I know, need to go to the loony bin,
his has been smoking, yes ! He lives in Holland, no Paul, I'm from Belgium ;-) No prob mate )
The Dutch conquered South-Africa, that's why you are there and I still here since we never
conquered anything ( except for Congo, later named Zaïre, until one smartass wrote that ~very successful~ song and then we named it Congo again..., but who knows that a Belgian dictator slaughtered the masses in Congo ? Who knows that ? Oh, you all do, except most Belgians, except a few like me )
... and I knew and end up shooting this picture with in the house you see (called "Bassin" which is french voor ool ( notice there is no P in it, so let's keep it that way )) Bert Stephani is shooting his wedding and I shoot this shot since I was also invited at that wedding and asked to bring my gear along -which is hard to resist- So I end up doing weddings in HDR ( or at least the surrounding scenery, is that a niche market or what? )
I also end up shooting Bert Stephani on a **insert bad habit here** break ouside in the sunset glow,
yes single shot, no HDR, but am I good enough to cover your complete wedding and how much do you indent to pay for that? Just wondering, I wonder too much, makes me not sleep too much, I wonder why, LOL ;)
You can see Bert Stephani down below, it's not that he never shows his face, there are more than 1 youtube videos to be found featuring him at work.
Free advertisement on it's best dear Bert !-)
So to cut a long stor short ( story lost a y there, whoops !-) ) :
The shot
Standard 3 exposures HDR [-2,0,+2EV] in RAW/ISO100 at f/13 using the Sigma 10-20mm lens on a real bad tripod, never buy this National Geographic Tundra, other National Geographic tripods might be great, but not this one, ok it's light and very fastly deployed and set up from very low 17cm to very high 164cm, the included ball head sucks ( but not in the right places, hahaha ) : it can't bear the weight of my Sigma10-20mm lens, hey that's 80% of my shooting time...
Photomatix
Tonemapped using the detail enhancer, you should know that buy now, but hey !
Photoshop
° Does anyone care ?
° Only the geeks ?
° Do you read any of this stuff anyway ?
You
All comments, criticism and tips for improvements are ( as always ) welcome.
Music
Do you ever take the time and listen, I mean really listen to something I recommend ?
You just don't like hard music ?
Oh you like Jazz ?
I give plenty of Jazz tips, yes the sexy kind, but hey !
I give almost any kind of music tips, I like diversity, keeps the mind sharp.
I wonder why I can't sleep at night ?-)
Zaventem (Belgium) lighting test with Erika
I wanted to check out some setups in my ministudio, so I asked my friend/muse/model Erika to pose for me.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI
LIGHTING INFO:
Being supercreative is great but you got to master the classics first. There's nothing extraordinary about this lighting setup: just a medium softbox on a studio strobe to camera right and a snooted SB-24 behind the model as a hairlight. Lights triggered with Pocketwizards.
Nothing fancy at all but I'm still pretty new to studio photography and I'm trying to get the details right.
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
My son wanted a cool shot of him playing soccer, so we came up with this during an improvised 5 minute shoot.
This is shot with my 5D2 and the 17-40 (17mm, ISO100, f/4, 1/4000). The secret to a shot like this is a trampoline and the magic of High Speed Sync. I used a Pocketwizard TT1 with AC3 on the camera to trigger two bare 580EXII's with Pocketwizard TT5's. Both flashes are to camera right just outside the frame and at full power.
Because we had rather limited time, we opted for shooting the ball and my son separately and composite them together in Photoshop.
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
2007 may 18, Zaventem (Belgium), photoshoot with model Irene Proshina (model release).
This is personal work. No goals,themes or expectations, just a fun shoot to try out some new ideas.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI
If you wish to use this picture, please contact me.
Lighting Info:
To make this shot a bit more dramatic I underexposed the background just a tiny bit. The model is then lit with a single SB-24 and a small silver umbrella from camera right, a little above eye level. Triggered with Pocketwizards.
Here's a setup shot from this picture: www.flickr.com/photos/98609590@N00/541376347/in/set-72157...