natural beauty

the bed’s too big without you – the series

beauty, location, Nude
Bed’s too big without you
Cold wind blows right through that open door
I can’t sleep with your memory
Dreaming dreams of what used to be
When she left I was cold inside
That look on my face was just pride
No regrets no love no tears
Living on my own was the least of my fears
Bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big
Without you
Since that day when you’d gone
Just had to carry on
I get through day but late at night
Made love to my pillow but it didn’t feel right
Every day just the same
Old rules for the same old game
All I gained was heartache
All I made was one mistake
Now the bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big
Without you
Bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big without you
The bed’s too big
Without you
Without you
Bed’s too big without you
Cold wind blows right through that open door
author: Gordon Sumner for The Police

 

 

with the lovely Yana Mood, shot in an attic room in Leuven,

All images f1.8 at ISO 125, shutter speeds vary (1/25-1/200s)

Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG A

 

thank you for watching, don’t hesitate to leave a comment,

Ludwig

 

wake up – self induced posing

beauty, Personal Pictures

There’s a lot going on on the internet about how to get your model in the right pose. Workshops, do’s and don’ts, streaming video’s, the basic rules for a good pose, etc. …

Now what if we forgot all about it, and just have the person in front of the lens completely be herself? That is what I tried a couple of weeks ago with two ‘recurring’ models. They both had been with me for a shoot before, so they more or less know how I work and what to expect. I explained them that I wanted a part of the shoot to be completely void of instructions from my side. After all, I am a man, and when I put my models in a pose, this is man-mind driven, and can never be completely natural. I asked them to ‘not seek’ me with their eyes, pretend as if I was not there, and just slowly wake up from the comfortable spot I gave them.

Confidence is a key-word I guess, in this kind of work, since they do not know what I want, they do not know what I see, and they do not know when I’m going to take a picture. They must be self-aware, at ease with the surrounding environment, with me and with the idea that they can just simply enjoy this moment of quietness and peace.

Self induced posing, it is 100% the woman in the pictures. All natural. I hope you like them. Thank you Justine.

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The sun was slightly warming the place, it was quiet and nice, honestly I think she would have stayed in bed, but that wouldn’t have given us these nice pictures wouldn’t it.

thank you for watching, I have more images with Justine waiting to be published.

ludwig

Black lingerie

beauty, Personal Pictures

a first part of a shoot I did recently with Justine. We worked together earlier, this was our third meet. Things went smooth and the weather was fine. Some splendid images in this shoot, more to come.

Thank you Justine, for this fine morning.

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Images with Canon EF 135mm f2 L (standing against the wall) and Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A.

thank you for watching,

ludwig

An angel in my garden – NSFW

beauty, location, Nude, Personal Pictures

Hello there,

some nice days in september allowed for some extra outdoor work.

the atmosphere in the garden was nice, the model was feeling good and relaxed. We spent some time here enjoying the sun an warm weather. The most difficult thing to tackle are the bright highlights. It is almost impossible not to wash out the highlights if you want some decent light in the shadow area’s. thats why it is actually much easier to shoot in a softly clouded sky situation than with bright light. Exposing for the bright highlights will give you near black shadows, exposing for the shadows will give you over-exposed hightlights.

I do not have an assistant with a sun-washer filter, so I often will shoot in a back-lit situation, with some highlight clipping in the bright area’s, and a lot of fill light in post processing. An alternative is seeking for the cover of a leaf tree, as we did in some images.

Elisabeth did great. Thank you. I hope you like the images.

Except last two (50mm Sigma) all images with Canon 135 mm f2.0 at f2.5

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ANGRY – Natural light portrait – setup

beauty, people, personal tips & tricks, portrait

luckily this was only roleplay, she was not really angry with me, I would have feared for my life, if not certainly my camera gear. 😉

Ludwig Desmet EC-5

1/20s f2.8 ISO 400 – Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro L

setup:

long hallway with big windows on the left side, first part of the hallway, no windows to the right.

Model just behind the last window.

Big styrofoam board to the right side of the model, filling in shadow parts. (120x240cm – about 50×100″)

That’s it, simple as anything, and a styrofoam board costs a couple of euro’s.

I had to darken the background a little at the right side, there was some light spill at the end wall of the hallway.

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after the angry part, we did some more friendly images too.

here I’m off to the left, so the right wall becomes visible and I don’t get completely black in the background.

Ludwig Desmet EC-2

below: 1/50 f1.6 ISO400 – Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG Art

Frontal again, showing very dimly lit ceiling windows, not giving any effect on the subject.

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thank you for watching.

Ludwig

The Castle shoot – digital

beauty, Nude, Personal Pictures

Nice environment, nice weather, nice model, …

first time in this place, and as I tend to not prepare so much for a shoot it is always a search for an approach. This place has tons of possibilities, …

Eline was worried about her figure, as a lot of women do. I’m happy that I have been able to surprise her with some eye-dropping images. What do you think?

All images Canon 5D II with sigma 50 mm f1.4 or Canon 135mm f2.0.

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thank you for watching,

ludwig desmet

Exhibit Opening – Gafodi Fotosalon 2015

exhibition

You must have heard of it. I have been invited to be the guest photographer at the ‘Gafodi fotosalon 2015’, a yearly event, exhibiting the club’s best work, the results of their national image contest and youth contest, and home for a different guest photographer every year. I have the honour to fill the main stage, … 😎 Last saturday we had the opening ceremony, 200+ audience, with speeches from the president of the club and some other honourable guests, awards ceremony and so on. As the guest photographer I  received a basket full of beers and other goodies. To be consumed AFTER shoots, not before 😉 I also had the pleasure to meet 3 of the models that are in at least one of the images on stage: Pauline, Jenn and Lisa. Thank you ladies, for coming to the opening, it was a pleasure to meet you again, and to be able to present my and your work ‘on a larger scale’. Pauline: Cirrus – actually I present 4 images of this shoot on this exhibit, you should come to see the others. Lisa: Lisa at the Mansion Jenn: Pearls and Sudden Gust of wind The exhibit is open this monday morning, next friday/saturday/sunday, and then again on monday morning. (market day in Gavere) I hope you will be able to make it. Next to my work there’s plenty more good pictures exhibited. ludwigdesmet_Gafodi BTS-2539 ludwigdesmet_Gafodi BTS-2551 ludwigdesmet_Gafodi BTS-2546 ludwigdesmet_Gafodi BTS-2558

Interim model – Eline at the storage room.

beauty, Personal Pictures

A good week ago I had a cancelled photo shoot appointment. So I had a free moment for photography and no model. A quick call on facebook soon resulted in an interested replacement model. In her introduction message on FB she said. ” … and I’m not shy” as a reply to my call that ended with the words “Don’t be shy”. That was the day before the shoot.

Eline never posed before, and although not shy, a bit nervous anyway. We have worked over several locations, of which the old storage room was the first. A very dark environment, with a lot of dust and dirt, but Eline didn’t matter and went for it all the way.

Thank you Eline, for being my interim model for a day, you did very well.

All images: Canon 5D mark II, with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG Art.

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To be continued …

ps. in a reaction, Eline wrote me:

I can’t express enough my appreciation for your work. I have absolutely no regrets in being your ‘interim model’. Your approach is unbelievably professional and you know how to cover up my physical flaws by guiding me into the right poses. …

Ludwig