the full package

assignments, beauty, erotic, Nude

The full package …

I’m not really good at commercializing my art nude photo sessions and I’m not really sure I would want that either. I’m afraid I would quickly evolve into ‘what works well for every body’ (literally every body) poses and tricks and loose a bit of my creative freedom and explorations. Hence, I don’t do a lot of assigned sessions.

But once in a while people find my website and call me for a private session, as in this case, I’ll call them Mr and Mrs S. for privacy reasons.

For a couple of days, maybe weeks, we had an ongoing conversation via WhatsApp about the style and content this young couple was looking for and we agreed on a session date somewhere last summer. We looked together for some location options, and they chose a nice-looking place that included an exterior swimming pool and garden area.

They rented two consecutive nights in this beautiful B&B for the occasion, so in-between we had a full day available for the session. This left some room for additional session time if needed.

They also wanted professional make-up service and I looked for someone that was available and not too far from the shooting location.

Already some days before the shoot the weather announced ‘unstable’, with shattered showers and some sun. Prepare for the worst I thought, and I rented some extra light sources (led panels, color variable)

We met at 09:00 am, Mrs S’s make up was already ongoing and whilst I could move all my stuff into the house. I had a nice conversation with Mr S. He was about to leave to do some sports and have lunch with a friend, he wanted me to feel completely free and did not want to interfere in the session.

Mrs S. and I worked together all day, first started with some clothed shots to get warmed up and for her to understand my way of communicating for poses, then shifted to lingerie and nude shots, making full use of the entire place. The fact that we had an entire day available meant that we could develop a lot of different sets without running out of time. We had a bread lunch and coffee together and worked on afterwards within some new scenarios. At about 03:00pm Mr S. came back and then we worked on some duo shots, The session ended at about 05:00 pm. The weather had cleaned out and the swimming pool became very inviting, I left the couple to enjoy the rest of the evening in private.

After the session I came home with close to a thousand digital images, from which I selected about 150 really good images for them to choose from. Normally for a session of about 6 hours I provide 30 retouched images, with the option to choose more at an extra cost. They picked out 100(!) images. The session included a free ‘pillow book’ but on top of that they ordered a beautiful luxury ‘coffee table’ album containing the entire selection of 100 images.

I love this kind of assignments, the ability to tailor-make the entire session to the customers’ demands and delivering great products afterwards.

For privacy reasons I cannot show recognizable images, but these images already give you an idea of the results achieved. If you feel like having yourself photographed, please do contact me. I know it may seem daunting, but it’s a first for about everybody, and I don’t bite. I don’t even bark 😉

The skippers wife – Lazy morning

location, Nude

This is a selection of images I made in the master bedroom of a skippers barge. It was cramped, I had literally no place around the bed, it was dark, it was everything you fear for as a photographer, but it was nicely decorated with authentic elements, it was cosy and heated and I had a very willing model. (Sahri Nimi) As you might have noticed before, I love working with light, and I prefer too little light over too much light, how strange it may sound.Enjoy this wake-up moment, the skipper is having a beer and the lady of the house … errr … boat is enjoying a lazy morning.

enjoyed it, pls subscribe to my mailing list by clicking the triangle on the bottom of each page and fill in your email address. As an apprentice photographer you might be curious about my settings: I use a full frame Canon R5 camera, Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8 and ISO 1000. Shutter speeds between 1/50th of a second and 1/250th. If that is of interest to you, you might also want to take a look at my Patreon page where you’ll find a full behind the scenes video of this session there.

When I look back I suddenly realize that all these images (and a lot more, I admit) have been taken within one hour of time. … Efficiency 😉

Why I prefer women surprising their partner than vice versa

beauty, Nude, studio
Men often have the wildest fantasies about photo sessions.
They see their partner as the next playboy centerfold model … (if that still exists?) which of course is good and proof of how attracted they are to their partner …
With the best intentions they order a gift voucher from me for a nude photo shoot to surprise their partner, already excited by the idea (fantasy goes wild)  …
pwoaa, pwoaa, pwoaa … anticlimax (you know that sound from any TV quiz when a wrong answer is given)
Perhaps the lady is not at all ready for such a photo shoot, and certainly not if she has not chosen to do it herself, or if she has not been able to choose the photographer with whom she wants to collaborate. She feels forced, insecure, worried, even a little angry maybe …
Then as a photographer you get the difficult task of meeting the expectations of the man on one hand (he paid for the session and expects the best of results) and on the other hand guiding the lady in a photo session that she is not really ready for … no fun.
I personally prefer to get the lady on the phone: “I would like to surprise my partner with a spicy photo shoot of myself, is that possible with you?”
“Yes, ma’am, of course it is, shall I go over the options with you?” and off we go, with a guarantee of success, a happy, excited lady and most certainly a surprised, happy and exited partner.
So go on ladies, be brave, get that phone and call me now, you’ll be surprised how good you look on photo’s, your partner will be going wild you came up with the idea and you decided to do this for him (or her).
For the privacy of my client I made the images below ‘private’ 😉

 

The male nude, long awaited by female fans but an absolute premiere for me

Nude, studio

I admit, I am attracted to women more than men, that’s nature I suppose.

On the other hand, I rarely had the request for doing male nudes, until now. For me this was a premiere and an interesting experiment. Although I felt a little lost in what to photograph, and in the poses to work on, still I think we did a good session together. My model wanted to stay anonymous in the images, so that was a limitation to take into account.

I worked mainly with a low-key approach, but it was a continuous search for angles and light settings. We also experimented with some body lotion, and although I found it too greasy it did give different results.

Happy viewing, pls leave me your thoughts and comments below.

Ludwig

Another lazy Sunday morning – self induced posing

beauty, location, Nude, people, Uncategorized

As you might have seen I hosted two private ‘available light art-nude’ workshops in July. I had rented a flat in the historical centre of Ghent for a couple of days and I had two different models coming in. My second day participant wanted to find out how he could enhance his story telling abilities trough images. I had Violaine as a model (currently also on the front page of my website) and one of the sets we did was the ‘lazy Sunday morning’ set, in which I had Violaine improvise and pose without instructions, I had done this before with models I worked with multiple times, and I knew these images prove to be very genuine and ‘real’ looking. The idea behind it is that when you simply observe your model during her daily routines, you’ll get your story without having to invent one. I was not sure how Violaine would (re)act, but she wonderfully expressed her ‘lazy morning feeling’ over the course of about half an hour, without me or the participants’ need for intervention in the form of posing instructions or imposing our ideas. I had my participant move freely about the bed, and took the opportunity to grab a series of images from different angles at the same time. I think it was a very good experience for both participant and model, and I think the images are great.

The images below are of course a selection of the shots made during this set, and selected to convey the idea we were after, but they all came naturally thanks to Violaine’s non posing qualities.

Please scroll down to the end for this weeks ‘specialty’ 😉

 
















 

 

Attention please!

Now for the specialty of this week, from next month on, I’ll offer one free photo session every month* to you, my audience.
• The nature of the session (portrait, fashion, glamour, nude …) will be your choice entirely.
• These sessions will be either studio or outdoor sessions, digital or film, to my choice.
• The first session will be scheduled on Wednesday afternoon September 1st, and then every month after that on the first Wednesday of the month. Count for two hours, always in the afternoon as I eventually want to be able to shoot with available light.
• If you want to participate in a free session, send me an email at ludwig-at-ludwigdesmet-dot-com right away. First come first serve. Your subject line should read ‘free photo session’.
• Don’t be shy, you don’t have to be a model, you can bring a buddy if you’d like, and I’ll make sure you get some wonderful souvenirs, for free!
• Open for women and men, but only for adults.

*The session will result in a uncertain number of images, digitally delivered in a watermarked version, available for purchase if you’d like that.

Strolling trough Paris with the Rolleiflex – Kodak Portra 160

Analog, street, Uncategorized

For the first time I had color film with me for the Rolleiflex. One of the first times I shot Kodak Portra 160 too. I had limited myself to black and white because this is easily self-developed at home but not this time. (although I took a bunch of BW film with me too 😉 You have seen those images here)

Disclaimer, these images have been shot in 2019, you’ll notice why.

I think color has an added value in a lot of these images, and as a photographer it is also fun looking for images that benefit from color. I think I look differently when having the mind set to ‘color film’ than to ‘black and white film’. In this aspect I found this an interesting exercise.

The images were lab developed, scanned using my ‘DSLR setup’ (see movie link above) and imported into Adobe Lightroom using the Negative Lab Pro plugin. This software alone is worth an in depth study. I think the images get a sort of vintage feel due to the colors of this particular film. Enjoy!

 

Thank you!

beauty, Personal Pictures, studio

Thank you,

I hope that everybody is fine and in good health,
thank you to my public, thank you to my audience, loyal followers and fans of my personal work.

2020 was not an easy year, with Covid measures that have made it largely impossible to photograph people outside the bubble of one’s own family. In the meantime, when regulations were a little less strict, I was able to schedule a number of sessions, both personal work and private sessions, and that was good, I experienced a lot of pleasure doing them, because photographing people is and will remain my favourite activity.

The Covid Lockdown also has had a positive effect. During the first lockdown I rolled up my sleeves and built a separate room for a studio within an outbuilding in my garden. The studio is now ready for use, 4.5mx 8m and 3m high, one side black, the other side white, offering a ton of possibilities. A cozy wood-burning stove has also been installed so that the space can be used in both summer and winter.

My private clients, from fine art prints and private photo sessions, as well as my commercial clients, for product and architectural photography, make it possible to continue financially. Thank you again for that.

Of course I look forward to the opportunity to have more contacts again, I would love to put workshops back on my schedule and I also get a lot of demand for this, but I do not really see possibilities at the moment. Time will tell whether this will be possible again soon. For those who are interested in this, please be patient until then.

please don’t hesitate to comment and share your thoughts trough any channel, instagram, facebook, my blog or email …

Namaste,

Ludwig

The model and the mannequin

beauty, Nude, studio

I had bought this mannequin on a flea market in my hometown and it seemed an ideal partner to make some sort of a love story. E. was very happy to participate in this session. We had a lot of fun imagining what was to come next.

• The model and the mannequin •

 

Workshop Lingerie with available light – results

beauty, location, personal tips & tricks, Tips and Tricks, Workshop

Same as last week, you’re getting spoiled, aren’t you 🙂

Some results I managed to capture during my own workshop Model/lingerie photography with available light. Models during this workshop: Riona Neve and Sahri Nimi – behind the scenes video at the bottom of this post.

All images are available as a fine art print, inquiries please send me an email.

Hidden gems 2019, workshop Lingerie with available light

behind the scenes video on my Youtube Channel

thanks for watching, make sure to come by next week!

Ludwig

The ‘I am’ video finally released

Behind the scenes Video, location, Nude, Uncategorized

As a registered 18+ Youtube user you can see the video on my Youtube channel, but for your convenience I’ll put it here trough Vimeo:

It was a fun day, I didn’t really adapt my shooting to the cameraman, but still, there was some influence at least. I’m quite pleased with the results of this day, look for yourself, you’ll probably recognise some of the scenes from the video. The film shots are black framed.

Shot on film: (Rolleiflex Tlr 3.5 Planar on Ilford Film)

 

 

and then one more, as a tribute to the cameraman Franswa. You can see me make this shot at 4.52 in the film!!

 

thanks for looking, If you want to make sure to see everything I publish, you might consider subscribing to my blog. You can do this on the bottom of the welcome page, click the + sign.

 

 

Sale!

beauty, Personal Pictures, print

I have a huge problem, literally huge …

a have recuperated two prints from a previous exhibit that I can’t store, so they go for sale. Only one of each available.

100×150 cm (approx 50×75″) fine art archival print,

10 cm white edge (within the 100x150cm size)

the back has a mounting pad on top, a weight pad on the bottom, so the print can hang as is, though it has no protection.

 

to give you an idea of the size of the prints, you can see them here in the exhibit, first shot left and right, second shot left image: (requires Facebook account) https://www.facebook.com/zinkae/videos/402924687154651/?v=402924687154651

 

if you are interested, or if you want to know about pricing/framing options, please contact me: ludwig-at-ludwigdesmet.com

 

Studio Light setup

studio, studio light setup, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized

a long time ago I made some studio setup diagrams for this blog, … time to make a new one. First the image, it dates from a while ago, last fall I invited two friends to do some studio work. I rarely use my studio equipment for light, but in winter times it can be handy to have an alternative to available light sometimes.

the image:

I wanted Steven to get some sort of gangster look, cool looking, hood, sunglasses …

I wanted a soft light and deep shadows under the hood, so I went for some sort of symmetrical light setup, using two studio flashes with 60x60cm softboxes, and two large reflector panels to even enlarge the light source.

The setup:

it was only a matter of finding the good ‘depth’ position of the model, to create just enough light on the face, and keep the light only on the front.

another one without the hood:

 

thanks for watching, come again soon,

Ludwig

I Quit …

beauty, erotic, location, Nude

or at least I often think about quitting …

… because when I think about all the costs I have been making – for photography gear, for exhibition prints, for locations, models, make-up artists – then I must realize that it does not generate any money, quite the contrary.

Then I sit down, try gathering all my courage for the next shoot, try to find a good location, a model, a make up artist, find a moment that fits for everybody involved, phone calls, emails, messenger … and then after the shoot I get home, more or less exhausted. But then when scrolling trough hundreds of images from that day, I see that again we could make some beautiful shots and I think, ‘come on, just hang on a little longer, things will turn out ok one day’ …

thanks to Sahri Nimi Modelpage for being my model once again, thanks Isabelle Eeckhout for making her look gorgeous again, thank you Vergucht Franswa for joining us for making a reportage about me during this shoot, and a big thank you to the family that opened their fabulous house for me as if it were my house. And last but not least, thank you to my wife, who has even more patience with me than I have myself, that even pushes me harder than I could do so myself, and that still believes 200% in what I do.

• Bath with a view •

Available in a very limited edition of 7,

sizes 50×50 cm, 75x75cm, 100x100cm.

Epson archival print on fine art cotton-based paper. Price on request.

 

• Slippery • in the studio – NSFW

beauty, erotic, Nude, studio

not safe for work, except of course if you work in an open-minded place, which I hope everyone does. A little edgy maybe, glossy and slippery, these nudes I did with Sara Scarlet.

I’m enjoying the studio in these cold winter days. Shooting outdoors is not really handy now, especially if you want to do glamour or nude work …  I put up the heating a little higher in the studio, and I can work at ease, without my model turning blue … so the blue you see here is purely a post-processing effect.

• Slippery •

freestyle shooting in the studio

erotic, Nude, studio light setup, Tips and Tricks

Two weeks ago I did a model call for a freestyle shooting session in the studio, just to try out some light setups and to not forget about working with studio strobes. Remember, 90% of my work is purely based on available light.

I had two models coming over, one male that I never worked with (lets call him Steven) , one female that I had regular cooperations with since about two years, lets call her Charisse 😉

Steven never modelled, he said the day before he came to me. Ok great, I told him, that’s cool, so we can find out if newbies can lead to great results. And he did, 200% he did. See for yourself:

 

the images above are all made with two studio strobes.

Then that same morning, after this first session I had Charisse arriving at the train station for pickup, and we started shooting early in the afternoon. A totally different setup, with both nude and non-nude work, of which I will show you only a small teaser for now. We did a lot of different things, with a lot of good results, so make sure you come back again soon.

 

 

thank you for stopping by, visitor of this blog. Consider subscribing if you like what you see. Come back again soon.

thank you Steven and Charisse, for being my interim models for the day, for your patience and your trust!!

Ludwig

 

ps. I: soon I will be on Patreon, where you can support my activities and get extra behind the scenes video’s, how to tips, and other benefits! Watch out!

ps. II: video: me cleaning the studio afterwards, here you can see more or less all I have in the studio. Limited stuff, a lot of creativity.

the treasurer

beauty, Personal Pictures

Sorry if you have been trying to reach this site and blog in the last 24 hours, it has been down due to a PhP update on the host’s side, and I am by far not a web-tech-geek, so it took me a moment to figure out what happened, and to fix things accordingly.

 

to compensate, a single image post.

I had this first collaboration with Emily two weeks ago, and we made some nice images. We worked in the studio first, to continue after that on the local city-square, where there was this fair going on. I shot two rolls of film on the Yashica 635. A first glimpse at the developed films shows that either there is something wrong with the film transport mechanism, either I have not paid attention and unintentionally double exposed some of the frames. To be continued.

• The treasurer •

thanks for watching, please come again soon.

Ludwig