If you follow my blog, you've probably seen the pictures I posted a couple of weeks ago from this shoot. I've recently done few compositions (I'm not sure how to call these) with fruits from that photo shoot.
Travel photos: Barcelona!
"I had this perfect dream" - that's how Freddie Mercury and Queen started off with lyrics to one of their hits "Barcelona", and yes - it was perfect but it wasn't a dream!
I love photography but being a photographer is not always easy. But you sometimes get nice assignments and projects in places like… Barcelona for example! Long story short, I got a chance to spend the rest of the weekend in Barcelona walking around and discovering this beautiful city.
It wasn't my first time in Spain but it was in Barcelona. I slowly start discovering Spanish culture and I think I'm in love with it. But there is one particular thing (besides great food) that draws my attention - the Spanish mentality. Spanish people are so nice and friendly that it's even hard for me to explain. Whenever and wherever I went, I felt safe (complete opposite can be said about Brussels).
Well, for those of you who don't know, summer has somehow been avoiding Brussels and Belgium this year. It's 9am at the moment, around 11-12 Celsius degrees outside and it rains. No other better opportunity to share with you few shots I took in Barcelona at the end of May!
Photo Shoot for the Urban Ecology Center - Part 1: High-Key Photography
I have recently shot an assignment project for the Urban Ecology Center in Brussels. The Center will soon launch a weekly organic/bio food market and they needed a series of photographs to promote the market. It was a very interesting project from the beginning and also quite challenging. We had a very short deadline to shoot and come up with ideas for the photographs. The latter was a real challenge due to mainly time constrains.
We shot a series of different photographs and concepts. I also took few high-key photographs and if you follow my blog or my work on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you know that I don't often take high-key photographs.
Drop everything you're doing! Summer is here!
I see I'm starting to come up with crazy titles for my blog posts :) I'm quite busy these days preparing a couple of commercial shoots, few conceptual fashion shoots and also few personal projects. But before I dive myself into all these shoots, I thought I should publish few nature and landscape photos - after all it's summer (at least in Europe). We should celebrate summer, ok.. I should celebrate summer for at least two reasons:
- we don't get much sun in Belgium (weather in Belgium S.U.C.K.S.);
- I've been spending way too much time indoors lately.
Sylvia's Portrait
I figured out I'm way too lazy to regularly write (lengthy) blog articles, even though I have tons of pictures I would like to share on this blog. So, I've decided to turn the blog into an even more photo blog. I'll often publish here pictures but I'll spare you (and myself) text. Although, I might drop a line or two to give you some background information about the pictures.
Sylvia asked me to take few portrait pictures of her.
Let's have an abstract life
Ok, maybe not the whole life immediately but at least an abstract day or a moment... yes, an abstract moment captured on a photograph. I don't take many abstract photographs, in fact, I always get confused what abstract photography really is and what defines it. Before you send me an angry email saying that in fact there are definitions of what abstract photography is, think about it for a moment... it's 'abstract'. What is abstract for you can be and it's most likely not necessarily abstract for me. Abstract photography can be so abstract that it's abstractically impossible to define.
I really have no idea where my thoughts on that go and why I'm writing it - I guess it's just an abstract Sunday afternoon thought. Hold on, maybe my message after all is that abstract photography can be a very unique type of photography because it always will be defined differently by each photographer. Each one of us will see abstract in a different form - I think that's what defines abstract photography :)
Bluebells of Hallerbos
The Halle forest, or Hallerbos, in Belgium becomes a really magical place for few weeks each year thanks to bluebells. Each spring, the bluebells bloom creating a magnificent blue forest carpet.
During that time, which lasts only for few weeks each year, the forest is very busy. When I arrived there, I was really lucky to find a parking place. Not only families with kids come to walk in the forest but many photographers as well.
When I came there, I thought at first that it would be fairly easy to capture the magnificent atmosphere of this place. However, I quickly discovered that it was much harder than I thought. Although, the bluebells were everywhere and you could easily see them with your eyes, the camera saw completely something else and captured the pictures in a different way than I wanted them to appear.
Announcing Brussels Photo Walk #8
Just a quick announcement that this Saturday, 6 May 2012, Brussels Photo Walk #8 will take place. It's going to be the first Brussels Photo Walk in 2012. The drill is as usual: we walk, take pictures, have fun and we most likely we will end up having a drink somewhere. The photo walk will be in the Park de Woluwe. We will meet at 11:30am at the corner of Avenue de Tervuren and Montagne aux Ombres (GPS 50.834301,4.42174) - link to Google Maps. Visit our Facebook group and Flickr Group.
Having problems using a Wacom pen tablet with Lightroom 4?
If you've upgraded to the Lightroom's latest version of Lightroom 4 and you're experiencing problems with using a Wacom pen tablet with it, then this very simple fix might help you - at least it helped me. For some odd reason, my pre-defined key's and shortcuts on my Wacom pen tablet didn't work at all or did different things when I upgraded to Lightroom 4. I spent hours googling, searching forums, etc. until I came up myself with this easy fix that worked for me. Wait for it.... just go to Wacom's website and head to the Driver section to download the latest installation and driver files for your Wacom product (for Europe-based customers, you can go here). Just re-install and upgrade the drivers and software, restart your computer (unusual for Macs, I even had to restart my Macbook Pro) and enjoy your Wacom pen tablet as it was before you upgraded to Lightroom 4. Yes, it is so simple :)
I'm not sure why my Wacom pen tablet didn't behave in the same way with Lightroom 4 as it did with Lightroom 3. I think it could have been an outdated Wacom's driver or software.
Shooting with the Orbis Ring Flash
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.
Using it to the side from a model creates a desired shadow and also a round reflection in the eyes, which I really like. Because the reflection is round, it looks much like the sun, therefore it looks more natural than using other light modifiers (i.e. big softboxes, etc.) - hooray!
*Ok, let me explain why I wrote relatively here: I meant to use it for a double purpose. Firstly, the light quality from the Orbis Ring Flash won't be as good as the light coming out of professional and much more expensive ring flash. Secondly, when comparing the price and the light quality of the Orbish Ring Flash, it's indeed very good.