Blog

I tested the Rockmelt web browser as a photographer and from the photography perspective for almost a year before I finally decided to completely move my browsing experience to Rockmelt a couple of weeks ago. But wait, you might wonder what a web browser might have to do with photography, right? Well, it does if you are a photographer who is active in social networks like Facebook and Twitter. All the professional photographers I know use social media and they (including myself) want to be able to use them in as effective and efficient way possible. But first things first: what is Rockmelt? (* by the way, I was neither asked by Rockmelt, affiliated with it nor paid by them to write this post… just to make things clear ).

Continue reading “Rockmelt Is Great for Photographers” »

I published a review of the Orbis Ring Flash a while ago and I thought to share with you some of the pictures I took using it. When I started taking pictures with the Orbis Ring Flash, I noticed it was indeed producing a relatively* good light quality and that it can also be used as a light source positioned to the side from a model and the camera. The latter changes the purpose of the ring flash a bit, which is usually to produce shadowless photography.

Continue reading “Shooting with the Orbis Ring Flash” »

I like to work with only one light during certain photo shoots, especially on-location and outdoor. Having only one light in such situations (in my case it’s usually the SB-900 speedlight from Nikon) gives me lots of freedom in terms of movement from one location to the other and in terms of space. When I shoot with only one speedlight I also use an umbrella (almost 100%) and of course a light-stand. I used exactly that setup for this quick Forest Nymph shoot.

Continue reading “Shooting with One Light Only – Forest Nymph” »

There is a lot of discussion among professional photographers about both how bad Flickr has become and what great opportunities 500px gives to photographers. I have to admit that I share most of the views on these 2 services. I thought at first when 500px entered the market that would be more complementary to Flickr, however I quickly realized that 500px is actually filling the gap and opportunities that Flickr has missed long time ago.

Continue reading “My thoughts on 500px vs. Flickr” »

Have you ever wanted to have a speedlight snoot at almost no cost that is very easy to make yourself? You can make one within 2 minutes at almost no cost from an empty box of Pringles. It’s very inexpensive, easy to make and it will take just a couple of minutes of your time to make one.

Believe it or not but all you need is an empty box of Pringles and scissors. Take the box and cut out the bottom. Next, all you need to do is to slide it over your speedlight. You’ll probably notice that the round shape of the Pringle’s box is not exactly the shape of the speedlight’s head so it might be necessary for you to adjust the box a bit when you do it the first time. And here it it: almost at no cost, ready in 2 minutes, a home-made speedlight snoot.

It gets dark and gloomy outside now in autumn so it’s a perfect opportunity to do a review of a product that will lighten things up a bit – a ring flash. I got my hands on the Orbis Ring Flash (and the Orbis arm) already some time ago but I didn’t have time until now to sit down and write a proper product review. But before going into details with the Orbis Ring Flash review, let me just highlight few things about ring flashes and what they are for those of you who hear about them for the first time. A ring flash is basically a circular flash which provides even illumination and therefore almost shadowless results. Ring flashes are popular in macro photography but also in portrait and fashion photography. The unique features of a ring flash make shadows much softer and create circular catch-eye /  highlights in the subject’s eyes, not to mention an interesting light halo effect.

Continue reading “Orbis Ring Flash Review” »

Taking good (portrait) pictures doesn’t require expensive equipment. Sometimes, all you need is the knowledge about natural light and how it behaves and it can take just a minute to take a nice portrait picture. That’s all what it took me to take this picture – simple yet beautiful (at least to my personal opinion). I took the photograph with the subject standing very close to a window which was also covered with white-neutral cloth. This way I got a double-diffused natural light. It was all that simple!

If you would like to learn more about light, how to use it to your benefit to get amazing shots, I highly recommend Bert Stephani’s Motivational Light DVD.

I had a great privilege to work recently on an artistic photography portfolio for a French actor. While most portfolio photo shoots for actors are quite standard (front face shots and profile shots), we have decided to do something more artistic and unique. So we came up with so many great ideas during the brainstorm session that we had to narrow down the project to 3 thematic shoots. One of them was the Joker photo shoot and as it turned out, the Joker is still alive and he wants to put a smile on your face.

Continue reading “Joker is Alive and He Wants to Put Smile on Your Face” »

When you shoot HDR (high dynamic range) photography you have to keep in mind to keep the camera steady for all the shots (under-exposed, over-exposed and with proper exposure). The best solution of course is to put a camera on a tripod but what to do when you would like to shoot HDR but you don’t have a tripod with you? Is it possible to shoot HDR without a tripod and still end up with good HDR photograph? The short answer is: Yes, but you need to remember about few things to eliminate any camera movement between the shots.

Continue reading “How to shoot HDR Without A Tripod?” »

After several weeks of silence from my side, I want to share with you my very first time-lapse video I made out of the pictures when shooting the Joker campaign. The pictures and a blog article about the shoot will come soon (I hope ).

I particularly like soft and nicely diffused natural light during most of the photo shoots (unless I decide that hard light is what I need for a particular shoot) and I use windows as light diffusers more and more often.

Continue reading “Using a window as a light diffuser” »

Fresh breeze, smell of the sea and getting away from the busy city streets even for 3 days are for me a good inspiration and a already nice holidays. That’s what I did at the end of March 2011 by going to the Belgian coast to De Haan city. Although I was raised and spent most of my youth in a city very close to the seaside, I haven’t had much chance to see the sea often lately as I spent much time in Brussels (probably too much ).

Continue reading “Short Get Away to the Belgian Coast & De Haan” »