View allAll Photos Tagged bertstephani
Drongen, BELGIUM
As part of my workshop 'the Decisive Photographer', I did a one hour live shoot. I wanted to play it fair and didn't check the location or anything in advance. We just took a walk and stopped when we saw some good light, backgrounds, ... for portraits. Thanks to some of the people in the class for modelling.
This was actually just a shot to check exposure.
Check out my blog:
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
I arrived at night and had dinner with some friends, Greg and Mike (one of the models). After dinner we went to the pier to watch a slideshow of Greg's work. Peter Geller aka Mr. Sunbounce wanted a portrait of Greg in front of the sunset and projection screen. I quickly ran to my car to get a camera and a flash to get the shot before the great background light would be gone.
I exposed for the background and we added a 580EXII with an umbrella to balance out Greg. The flash was put on a monopod and held by an assistant to camera left. I left it up to the flash and my new Pocketwizard Flex TT5 to figure out the exposure. I adjusted the flash compensation on the camera a bit. I love the new PW's for these fast shots. It took less than 5 minutes to set up this shot.
We also used a California Sunbounce SunMover to have a tiny bit of fill light on Greg.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
Model Mike posing for a lighting demo with an HMI light
Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the 20mm pancake. I really love that little camera.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
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
BELGIUM - Zaventem
Lotte got a photoshoot as a present for her birthday. The friends and Lotte's bf, came along. I had a lot of fun shooting them. It was a dull gray fall day, but we managed to get a more sunny feeling in most of the pics.
LIGHTING INFO:
There is no natural light in this picture. I used an Vivitar 285HV as the main light (camera left).
Another 285HV was held by Lotte's boyfriend behind the girls to create some separation light. Main light was at 1/1 to overpower the ambient, backlight was at 1/4. Triggered with PW's.
More info, pics and video's can be found on my blog
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BELGIUM - Zaventem
Yesterday we bought one of those giant trampolines for the kids. They really love it and showed off the whole day. When I stuck my head into the safety net, I noticed the round shapes, she unusual angle and the nice clouds. It immediately struck me that this would be a perfect situation to photograph with my new 8mm Peleng Fisheye lens. PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LIGHTING INFO:
After a few shots with just available light, I wanted to add a strobe to make the background/sky more dramatic while the subjects remained well lit. A visiting friend acted as a human lightstand (camera left) for a single bare Nikon SB-24 (triggered with PW's).
The strobe was at 24mm and full power. Camera was set to 1/250 at f/16.
BELGIUM - Zaventem
My son Kobe just turned five and we needed to come up with some nice pictures to make a party invitation for his friends.
LIGHTING INFO:
I wanted to have catchlights in the form of a '5'. I took a cardboard box, cut out a '5' in the bottom and put three layers of tracing paper in the box. Basically that's a '5'-shaped softbox. I positioned the box at about 45 degrees to camera right. I put a Vivitar 285HV flash behind the box at 1/16 power. Triggered with PW's.
Also check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Zaventem
Yesterday we bought one of those giant trampolines for the kids. They really love it and showed off the whole day. When I stuck my head into the safety net, I noticed the round shapes, she unusual angle and the nice clouds. It immediately struck me that this would be a perfect situation to photograph with my new 8mm Peleng Fisheye lens.
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LIGHTING INFO:
After a few shots with just available light, I wanted to add a strobe to make the background/sky more dramatic while the subjects remained well lit. A visiting friend acted as a human lightstand (camera left) for a single bare Nikon SB-24 (triggered with PW's).
The strobe was at 24mm and full power. Camera was set to 1/250 at f/16.
Leuven, BELGIUM
Due to very busy schedules on both sides I couldn't do this engagement session until 3 days prior to the actual wedding. The couple were dealing with some organisational stuff so the session was cut short to less than an hour of actual shooting while the daylight was fading very quickly.
We still managed to pull some shots off and more importantly: we had fun and got to know each other a bit better.
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.
For those who couldn't be there or didn't understand my very special interpretation of the French language, I decided to try to replicate my workshop on my blog. 3 new posts are coming up.
LIGHTING INFO
Broncolor flash head with huge beauty dish to camera left. We used only the pilot light (not the actual flash) to simulate daylight.
Check out my blog:
Hofstade, BELGIUM
We had a shooting day / workshop for www.squeezethelime.com
LIGHTING INFO: natural light with a bit of hair light with a flash.
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:
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 second setup we wanted to make a shot of both skaters. The background was underexposed for a dramatic effect. I really wanted to spotlight each skater separately but that's not easy to do with moving subjects. So I decided to give them both a Lumopro flash to light themselves. A third flash behind and slightly over the camera was held by a participant and aimed at the skateboards for some fill.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
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.
Lien posing in open shade
Check out my blog:
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
I've been telling people for years that there's a market for compact camera's with a fast prime lens and a big sensor. So I've been following the evolutions of the micro 4/3 system. Eventually I decided to buy the Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. So far these first test shots exceed my (already high) expectations. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this camera.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Strombeek, BELGIUM
A few weeks ago one of my best corporate clients threw a party for their employees, clients, and business relations. I was hired to shoot the event. Now these guys know how to throw a party. In the afternoon two famous Belgian singers performed and at night time there was a show by a Belgian singer who's big all over Europe. The shows were great, especially the last one and the best thing is that I had acces to more or less everywhere I wanted to as long as I didn't sing myself. I'm not allowed to show recognisable pictures of the artists, so you'll have to do with this one.
LIGHTING INFO:
I checked the stage an hour or so before the show and decided to superclamp one single Vivitar 285HV onto the support of the stage lights. I knew I wanted to shoot from the side and the back of the stage so this light would give me a pretty edgy look. The Vivitar was set to 1/4 of the power and that allowed me to shoot at a shutterspeed of at least 1/100 at iso 800. I tried the same without flash and had to shoot at 1/40 at iso 1600. Thanks to the flash every shot was pin sharp and I even had to add noise to the picture.
Check out my blog:
Zaventem, BELGIUM
Suzanne is an Egyptian beauty who lives in Antwerp. She needed a small portfolio to audition for a part in a videoclip from her favorite Egyptian artist.
Suzanne's great looks, fantastic smile, natural posing skills and fun character made it easy for me. It's hard to believe that she never posed before and was very nervous the first 15 minutes.
Check out my blog:
Kampenhout, BELGIUM
Christina and I went out for a magic walk/talk/shoot on the longest day of the year.
All shot with wonderful available light and the Panasonic GF1 + 20mm pancake lens.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and 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.
Behind-the-scenes shot
Here's the YouTube video of this shoot.
Check out my blog:
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
Greg walking us through his exposition.
Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the 20mm pancake. I really love that little camera.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Zaventem, BELGIUM
Suzanne is an Egyptian beauty who lives in Antwerp. She needed a small portfolio to audition for a part in a videoclip from her favorite Egyptian artist.
Suzanne's great looks, fantastic smile, natural posing skills and fun character made it easy for me. It's hard to believe that she never posed before and was very nervous the first 15 minutes.
Check out my blog:
"the Barn", Steenokkerzeel, 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 in which we demonstrate how to create different moods within the same setting by just changing the light.
Also check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Sint-Katelijne Waver, BELGIUM
My mom is an avid ceramist. She's graduating this month and needed to have a portrait to put in her paper.
To make the connection with ceramics, I asked her to put a layer of porcelain clay on her face. We waited until it dried and we got the cracks in the clay mask.
This was shot with two Vivitar 285's to the side and behind my mom. I put my expensive striplights on the flashes for a more even light.
Check out my blog:
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Some pics of my eldest daughter's (Maya) family birthday party. Congrats big girl.
Mega Maya
Check out my blog:
Anwerp, BELGIUM
Met up with some friends at a workshop. We didn't follow the workshop (we already had before) but just had some fun outside. We borrowed some gear and models from Calumet and Sunbounce who organized the workshop.
What does a Chase Jarvis fan do with an H4D in his hands and when his friends turns out to be a Ninja? White man can jump.
Studio light with beautydish to camera left and another studio light with standard reflector acts as the sun/backlight (in the frame).
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Antwerp, 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.
LIGHTING INFO:
One Elinchrom Ranger (carefully barndoored) to light the cranes and one speedlight bounced of the side of the RV to light the group. Camera on self timer, so I could be in the picture too.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
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.
Behind-the-scenes shot
Here's the YouTube video of this shoot.
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.
LIGHTING INFO:
I used one bare SB-24 on full power as a main light to overpower the ambient light. I zoomed it in to 50 or 70mm to create the vignetting effect.
More info, pics and video's can be found on my blog
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BELGIUM
As a personal project, I decided to shoot everything and anything for 50 days with just a 50mm lens (on a full frame body).
Check out my blog for more on the project: www.bertstephani.com/blog
BELGIUM - Zaventem
I've always been the kind of person who likes to do the opposite of what a sain person would do. So what do I do on a very windy, rainy, cold day with low and uninteresting light, yup, I go outside. Model Kaatje was a trooper in that bad weather.
Also 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
PHOTO BY BERT STEPHANI - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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. The background is lit with an Nikon SB24. I placed some decorative thingy with branches in front of the SB24 to create a background pattern. 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.
Cullera, Valencia, SPAIN
I was asked to do a presentation at the AFPV congress in Spain about photography 2.0
I was told in advance that this congress is always a lot of fun but I wasn't prepared for so much fun, inspiration and friendship.
I didn't plan to talk about technique or lighting but lots of people expressed their interest in my lighting style on location. So I decided to do an improvised off-camera flash demo in and around the hotel on the last day. Carol is a talented Spanish photographer and also proved to be an excellent model. Not easy when you have 50+ people looking at you.
I didn't have any speedlights or triggers with me, so I borrowed a battery powered studio light. We shot everything with just the one light and a standard reflector.
The main light is natural light and we used the studio light to get some light on the floor behind Carol. We used a chair as a gobo to create the streaks of light you see on the floor.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
or our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Zaventem, BELGIUM
Some images of a short fall shoot with Yander. I love working with expressive kids.
Check out my blog:
BELGIUM - Zaventem
I've always been the kind of person who likes to do the opposite of what a sain person would do. So what do I do on a very windy, rainy, cold day with low and uninteresting light, yup, I go outside. Model Kaatje was a trooper in that bad weather.
Also check out my blog:
Kortenberg, 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 in which we used the natural light as a background light and 2 small flashes to complete the fall fashion look we were after.
Also check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
2007 april, Zaventem (Belgium), Summer in Spring
This year we had an unusual hot april without any rain in Belgium. We should all worry about global warming but at least the kids enjoyed this early summer.
Limburg, BELGIUM
The incredibly fun wedding of Sara en Kristof
I used to shoot quite a lot of weddings but these days I limit myself to 10 weddings a year. I would be better off shooting a corporate or commercial assignment on those days but I just love shooting fun weddings too much to stop doing it.
Check out my blog:
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM - Professional photographer Bert Stephani (www.bertstephani.com) photographs Herlinde on her first shoot ever.
For a making-of video and more info, please visit www.squeezethelime.com
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 in which we explored the power of window light.
Also check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Some pics of my eldest daughter's (Maya) family birthday party. Congrats big girl.
Mega Mindy costume
Check out my blog:
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the 20mm pancake. I really love that little camera.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
Outside lighting demo with Sunswatter and reflectors
Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the 20mm pancake. I really love that little camera.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
De Haan, BELGIUM
In my never ending quest for original angles and creative compositions, I started playing with an Olympus E-PL1 and an underwater housing.
Last weekend I took the kids for a short trip to the Belgian coast and took the camera and my wetsuit with me just in case I felt crazy enough to get into the freezing water for some first test shots. And yep ... I was crazy enough :-)
I only spent 10 minutes or so in the surf but I'm pretty happy with the results.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Berlengas, PORTUGAL
Divers
Olympus E-PL1 + 14-42 kitlens in an onderwater housing and an Inon S2000 flash during a dive in Portugal
my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
Steenokkerzeel, BELGIUM
Went geocaching in the neighbourhood with the two eldest kids on sunday. I'm so happy I moved to this place, eautiful and calm fields to go for a walk or a bike ride.
Didn't try hard to make good shots, just some quick snaps with the point-and-shoot while enjoying the kids having fun.
Check out my blog:
Zingst, GERMANY
Last weekend I drove 11h to the North of Germany to meet my friends from California Sunbounce and attend a workshop by one of my all time favorite photographers, Greg Gorman.
This is a silhouette picture of model Mike on the amazing workshop location. I took this with my small Panasonic GF1 and the 20mm pancake lens in natural light.
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and our photography project: www.squeezethelime.com
Steenokkerzeel (studio), BELGIUM
Testing some lighting setups with friend/model Ine
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/blog
and my lighting DVD: www.motivationallight.com
Oostende, BELGIUM
During a test shoot together with another photographer, I grabbed this little in-between portrait of our model with the GF1.
All shot with the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the 20mm with available light
Check out my blog: www.bertstephani.com/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.
For those who couldn't be there or didn't understand my very special interpretation of the French language, I decided to try to replicate my workshop on my blog. 3 new posts are coming up.
LIGHTING INFO
Broncolor flash head with huge beauty dish to camera left. We used only the pilot light (not the actual flash) to simulate daylight.
Check out my blog: