A little help needed – Pauline

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One of my favourite models, Pauline, needs a little push to get her into a master degree in Theatre & Performance. Please consider helping her to get the necessary funding for the Minerval.

Click this link to know more about it:

http://www.eduklab.com/master-en-theatre-a-londres-/1110/

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thank you,

ludwig

Pauline at SONS – Analog (NSFW)

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I haven’t published a lot from this shoot, because some non-published images will be shown at my upcoming exhibit, and I want to keep a small surprise for my visitors there. you have seen ‘Cirrus’ here before.

At the very end of the shoot, I shot a roll of film on my Rolleiflex. 12 shots, I like this one the best.

shot on Rolleiflex 3.5, Kodak T-Max 400 film.

Shot at the site of ‘Shoes or No Shoes’, with permission.

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thank you for watching. Any comments welcome.

ludwig

Fien at the Mansion – déjà vu –

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I always get a déjà vu feeling when I receive a newly developed roll of film.

I had a bit forgotten about this one, so it has been a while since I posted the digital images on my blog here.

Images taken with Rolleiflex 3.5 on Kodak T-max 400 film.

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I’m getting better at scanning 🙂

come again soon,

ludwig

A very good morning – Jenn at house Adelaïde – NSFW

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As the title says, a very good morning indeed.

We had a solar eclipse last friday here in Belgium, and we left our make up assistant when the eclipse was at its maximum. Only a small smiley poked trough the otherwise gray and fully covered sky. Off to Ronse, for another ‘at house Adelaide’ series.

A first series, in color, from this splendid session with Jenn. Not used to posing, but she did very well. Natural, spontaneous, beautifully …

Not very much else to be said, except that I enjoy my focusing screen ‘engraving’ as seen in last post. – don’t try at home 😉

All images on Canon 5D mark II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG Art. Does it need to be said, I love this lens 😉

Happy viewing.

come back again soon, to see the B/W images from this series.

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hope to see you soon 🙂

Ludwig

Approaching Valentine’s day.

erotic, Nude, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

Handcuffs and blindfolds, they have nothing to do with submission or repression, but all with the fine art of lovemaking.

And you

text by Greg Phillips

image © ludwig desmet

Model: Sarah

1/25 sec – f2.2 – sigma 50mm f1.4 DG Art on Canon 5D mark II

thank you for watching.

Ludwig

Emilie at Hotel Remington – NSFW

beauty, erotic, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

It has been a while since I first started thinking about how to define ‘fine erotica’ and what can be described as being erotic, and I still am not really sure how to describe it. I think it must be a mix of State of mind, sexual attraction, visual appeal and a lot of fantasy about the promise of an intimate relationships. For me erotica is not directly linked to nude, and nude is not per definition erotic. I think there’s a lot of nudity available on the internet that has little or no erotic effect, rather the contrary. And there are some (harder to find) very erotic, non nude pictures out there as well.

As a photographer it is not easy to find and keep that very thin border between ‘just another picture of a beautiful woman’ – fine erotica – ‘just plain vulgar’. And that is just what I’m trying to achieve in some of my photo shoots.

I think I have the necessary technical knowledge now, but there’s a lot more needed.

One of those things needed is a willing model, understanding your ideas and showing enough confidence to let you execute them. Not easily done these days, where all things including nudity, erotica and sexual arousal are hidden far away behind closed bedroom doors.

It will be a long search, and I feel I only have just started out.

This shoot was done with help of Audrey from Hotel Remington in Ronse, thank you Audrey, for keeping a room for us that day. Clicking on the name-link will take you to the website of this nice, charming hotel.

Emilie was ready. She understood the things I wanted her to evoke, and she did it. Thank you so much Emilie, for your confidence, your trust and the beautiful results we made together.

Emilie is not really sure about revealing herself to the world as being a nude model, so we agreed to show only ‘non recognizable images on this blog’. I hope you understand, and I hope you can enjoy these pictures.

 

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How to create realistic HDR images with Lightroom and Photoshop

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Hi there,

another small tutorial on how to make a HDR image, without the (in my opinion) ugly HDR look.

I will be using Adobe lightroom and Adobe Photoshop in this tutorial, but you might do the same entirely within Photoshop, or with Lightroom and another application that will let you merge bracketed images into one single 32 bit (high dynamic range) file.

Here’s the procedure:

Make sure to have a series of images, that will span the entire dynamic range of the scene. This means from detail in the brightest of highlights (the darkest image) to detail in the darkest shadows (the brightest image). Of course you will need a tripod to have exactly the same composition in each and every image. In this case, I have images taken over 5 stops exposure difference, going from 2,5 sec at f22 (brightest), up to 1/6th sec at f22 (darkest) making full stop intervals 2,5 – 1,3 – 0,6 – 0,3 – 1/6. Remember: never ever use aperture to make a bracketing series, since that will have a severe impact on the depth of field in your image. Shutter speed only changes the exposure, nothing else. (unless there’s moving objects in the scene, but that’s a different thing)

Original exposures: Click for bigger image.

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Import the images in Lightroom (or any other RAW editor) and change nothing but: Lens corrections (deformations and color aberrations) and eventually your image crop (make sure to synchronize your edits on all images).

In Lightroom, with all your images selected, right click -> Edit in -> Merge to HDR Pro in Photoshop

(That is accessible from within photoshop under: File -> Automate -> Merge to HDR Pro … in case you do not start from Lightroom)

At that moment, Photoshop will mangle the image data from all images together, into one file with 32 bit information. All exposure data from the original 12 or 14 bit images is contained in this single

file. You will see that happen in a separate plug-in window in Photoshop.

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When Photoshop is done with this, you’ll have different options available on the right hand side. We’ll choose to work in 32 bit mode. (when you have moving elements in your scene, you might try to tick the ‘remove ghosts’ box.)

The position of the slider below the histogram has no impact on further development in Lightroom. (Complete toning in ACR is to be used when you do not have Lightroom, and you want to further edit this image in Adobe Camera Raw.)

Below on the left hand side, you can see the original exposures, and their respective exposure values.

Click ok, Photoshop will now quit this HDR Pro window, and show you the image in the standard editor.

Do nothing but save the image in its current state. It should save a tiff file in the same spot as where the original raw images were on your hard drive. When you get back to lightroom, you should have a new image available, this might show up at the end of your filmstrip.

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You can now further develop this image in Lightroom the way you are used to, but there’s one important difference: in stead of having an exposure slider of -5 to +5 stops, you’ll now have a slider that has a range from -10 to +10 stops. You’ll probably not use it that far, but that indicates that you are working on a 32 bit image now.

You’ll probably reduce the highlights a lot, to get back your detail in the highlight area, and consecutively you will probably up the shadows quite a bit, to get detail in your darker areas. Beware that to keep your results realistic, you should take care to keep some contrast in your image. In that understanding, it might be a good idea to locally paint in highlight and shadow detail, and not use the standard tab to its full extend. Look at how the circus tent get’s a lot more attention in the final image. This is done with the local adjustment brush, and delicately brushing more or less exposure/contrast/clarity in certain areas.

Final image: Click for bigger version.

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About the image. This picture was taken during a school trip with my architectural photography students at Kisp. The image shows one of the main halls of the Tour and Taxis site in Brussels. In this hall, the Brussels school for circus artists is giving training sessions. The Tour and Taxis site was a former customs and warehouse building, for imported goods for the Brussels area.

Sanne at house Adelaïde

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As a sequel to the black and white images from this shoot, here’s some color images of that same morning version.

There were some electricians doing some finishing of the domotica installations of the house, but we didn’t care, and I’m sure they found it kind of funny. :p

All natural light, a beautiful model, a nice location and some clothing from Sanne and a little lingerie from Tutti-Passi passionshops.

 

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Architectural photography classes

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Not another beauty this week, something different today.

Well, after a long holiday, the architectural photography classes I teach have started again. I have a limited group of students this time, and it feels very good working closely with all of them to get them interested in the subject of architectural photography, and to teach them different ways of looking at architecture, as well as teach them the different competences needed. The classes exist in theory classes, handling subjects like perspective, depth of field, metering light, framing and composition, presenting the work of existing architectural photographers, etc, … and practice classes, where we head to an outdoor location for an entire night of architectural photography practice. We have been doing two locations so far, both in Ghent (Belgium). We photographed the historical court building and the new court building, very contrasting architecture, but we also photographed them with a different focus in mind. Old court building was to be presented in its surroundings, at the new court building the students had to focus on light and lighting. (plus reflection and transparency)

Some pictures of the old one, new one will follow later this week.

 

Historical court building of Ghent, constructed 1836-1846 in neoclassic style, architect: Louis Roelandt

 

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best regards,

Ludwig

Ivana at the Mansion – part II – NSFW

beauty, erotic, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

Another advantage of working with professional models is that they often have little or no reservations towards nudity, as long as it is tasteful and not in disrespect to their person.

Ivana is very used to posing nude, and I am getting used to working with models in a natural, unstressed way. I consider it a gift that my wife will let me work with these women, in a way that most people consider at least ‘unconventional’. (Certainly here in Belgium) On the other hand, I must say that in this growing process, I never really felt sexual attraction during these shoots. I think it would be no good idea to not keep control over your male instincts at these moments. That will certainly ruin your photography, and it will most probably ruin your reputation as a photographer. A lot of men asked me if they could assist with light setups in my shoots, but unfortunately I work with natural light only, so I don’t need assistance. 😉

I am very much inspired by the work of Radoslaw Pujan, and maybe you can find some of his influences in my images from time to time. He’s both an exquisite photographer (working mainly on film) but also a good storyteller in his image series.

Enjoy!

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come back soon for another post!

Ivana – The model – at the Mansion – NSFW

beauty, erotic, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

Ivana is an international working beauty and fine art nude model. She was in Belgium last september, and I took the occasion to work with her for a morning session at the mansion.

Working with professional models has advantages and disadvantages. One of the biggest pro’s is that they very quickly understand what they need to convey in the image. If you want a certain expression or attitude in the image, most of them are quick in producing the look you’re after. Another advantage is that you can be sure they will be present at the fixed appointment date/time. Working with ‘facebook models’ sometimes lends to ‘no-show’ at the time of the shoot. (In excuse of Grandma’s dying and more of this stuff). Ivana also took care of her own make-up, hair was done by my wife Nathalie. Nathalie attended an entire shoot for the first time, and found it enriching and exciting. I was really ok for having her around, and so was Ivana. She’s used to having a whole team present at shoots, so she couldn’t be bothered less with only me and Nathalie around.

We worked in different themes, I’ll show you ‘the lady of the castle’ first.

for those wondering what NSFW stands for: Not safe for work – due to nudity involved.

All images available light only, Canon 100 mm Macro and Sigma 50 mm on my trustworthy Canon 5D II.

Click images for a bigger view.

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thank you for watching, next set coming soon,

Lisa at The Mansion – Part III – Lingerie

beauty, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

I have a good relationship with the people behind the Belgian ‘passion shops’ called Tutti Passi.

They provide me with lingerie and accessories, I grant them the use of some of my images. Make sure to visit their website to see what they have available. Have fun 😉

Just one word about natural light photography and why I prefer working this way.

The idea of using natural (also called ‘available light’) light is double for me.

1. It allows me to work quickly and without the fuzz of getting my gear just right for every room I work in, every different position I put my model in, … Getting this light just right, and then another light, and then a reflector, and then I need some more extension cable …

Working quickly allows me to direct my model in all kinds of poses, make her take different positions within a room, if I don’t like the light I can switch to another room, so she tends to forget it’s all about posing, and I get more natural, relaxed poses AND I get to make a lot more variations in a given amount of time. All the images with Lisa from this, the previous and the the post before that one are taken in about three hours of time. I would never be able to get such a rich variety of images if I were to setup lights every time.

It allows me to walk all around, and just analyze the available light in the room, and shoot from whatever angle I want to. I never have a light stand or a cable that is in the way. I don’t need to bother about light intensities or distances from my multiple light sources, … I have just the available light, and depending on where my model stands I will certainly need to adapt my exposure settings, but I only need to do that on my camera, and I’m good to go again.

2. I just don’t like it to drag all those flash lights and stands and cables etc. … I suppose I must have some kind of laziness inside me :p

Lisa in the beautiful lingerie gown I could lend from Tutti Passi, by Felice Art Couture

 

I’ll call the first image ‘Für Elise’, after all, I was named after a certain Ludwig Von Beethoven …

 

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thank you for watching

don’t forget to click for a bigger version of the last image, it’s worth it!

see you soon for next chapter 🙂

Ludwig

Lisa at The Mansion – Part II – Upstairs

beauty, Personal Pictures, Uncategorized

The mansion has 4 levels: a ground level that is fully restored, and fully equipped with furniture, curtains, beautiful light fixtures etc. A first level that looks like someone is currently moving in whilst doing a rebuild, with plaster on the walls, cables hanging from the ceilings, water pipes on the floor, just simple light bulbs protruding from above where the sink is supposed to be etc. … Another level that I call the attic, with dark rooms just below the roof. No plastering at all, you can directly see the roof structure and the shingles on the roof. There is also an underground level, which I haven’t used yet. Its cold, dark, dirty and damp. Nothing nice really, oh and it has doors with bars, maybe those might lead to something.

I love using the dirty textured walls as a background in contrast to my models. Sometimes my models get a little bit textured too, by standing against the walls, but mostly they don’t care. Lisa certainly didn’t care too much.

A jeans short and a loose tank top. Lisa needed nothing else.

All natural light, 24 mm (first one only), 50mm and 100 mm. Canon 5D II

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thank you for looking, share me your thoughts and come back again for part III really soon.

Ludwig