A second series with Ava at the Castle.
The weather is fine, not much to do but being beautiful
and spend the afternoon on the quiet back-terrace of the castle.
All except the last images on Canon 5Ds and Canon 100mm f2.5 Macro L IS.
Last image Sigma 50mm f1.4 A DG.
thank you for watching – I’m on instagram too now, but there you won’t find any nude images: instagram.com/ludwigdesmet
cheers,
Ludwig
La Volupté
(sensuousness)
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG Art – 1/1250 f2.5 ISO200
Model and make up: Ava
Hair: Nathalie
Photography: ludwig
thank you for watching,
ludwig
… and a very nice photographer.
Jane again, she got to grips with my old Yashica 635.
Canon 5Ds with Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG A – 1/20s f4.0 ISO 320
thank you for watching, …
just a small reminder that a small selection of my work is to be seen till the end of August in ‘Het Godshuis’, Leemweg 11, 9980 Sint-Laureins, Belgium.
ludwig
for fine art prints or shoot bookings: ludwig@ludwigdesmet.com
Often I try to find out what drives the women to come over to my studio and do a shoot with me. This helps me to decide what kind of shoot they want, what kind of images they would like to go home with.
C. told me “I like beautiful photography, it might be a little vanity, or that ‘little twist’ of mine, the will to pass the boundaries of conformity, … I expect to see myself different than what the mirror, or my mindset want to make me believe.”
after she received the images, the message I got back:
Waauw, what a nice surprise. Thank you for these wonderful images. Sure you may publish them on your blog, they are fantastic.
thank you for watching,
ludwig
After the ‘movement on stage’, we concluded the session with some more intimate moments. I have photographed digitally as well as analog, on medium format Yashica 635 with Kodak TMax 100 film.
Thank you Pauline, for being my model.
make up: Hanna
Hair & assistance: Nathalie
thank you for watching,
ludwig
talking about archetypes 😉
I developed these images a bit ‘off style’ or at least off my style, like or not?
All images with Canon 5D II and Sigma 50 mm f1.4 A DG.
1/25s f2.2 ISO 500 (close up images)
1/8s f2.2 ISO 250 (full body images) on tripod.
thank you for watching,
Ludwig
a small series of images, a little voyeur style.
Model: Elisa.
All images Canon 5D II – with Canon 100mm and Sigma 50 mm. Thank you for watching,
Ludwig
I’m getting more and more visitors on my site, year after year for which I am thankful. It means my images appeal to at least a certain public. But I get less and less likes or comments on my images. Not that that really bothers me, but it made me think that we might not have made much process in accepting nudity in society, since R. Doisneau made this little secret setup capturing the public reactions to a painting depicting a nude woman in some art gallery’s vitrine.
“La femme indignée by R. Doisneau 1948”. There’s more images to be found on the internet. look for ‘le regard oblique’.
Dare to express the love for female beauty my friends. Nothing wrong with that 😉
while you are here reading, you might as well take a look at my galleries, some new images are added from time to time.
ludwig
it is not really the season for cherry trees blossoming, but this is from earlier this year.
A giant cherry tree in early blossoming, of course mirrored to a beautiful woman.
A single image post, from the same shoot as Sirrus and some other images with Pauline. Thank you Pauline for your efforts and good mood.
for those who might be interested in the technical aspects:
1/160s f9.0 ISO 100 – Canon 5D II with EF 17-40mm f4 L at 20 mm.
best,
Ludwig
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.
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
I brought a mosquito net into my studio space. I installed it on the attic.
We fooled a bit around with the bright light that drops into this space when the sun is coming in. The shadow creates a second person in the space. I kinda liked how the shadow and the original interacted with each other.
Sir,
Could you please do a shoot with me?
Sure Ma’m. The honour is mine.
– Elisa –
Canon 5D II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG A. 1/30s f2.8 ISO400
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
I’m happy to say that after having to quit ‘the mansion’ I finally have found a new ‘homebase’ for shooting. Totally different in character, but as much variation possible as the mansion. Not sure what to call it yet. This will be my main location for at least a couple of months. I already posted some images taken there, but there’s more to come.
A ‘standard’ available location is a good thing for the ease of mind, for the ease of organisation and the fine-tuning of techniques and setups.
It is however important to keep on working in different locations, to expand your portfolio, get some variation and push yourself to be creative. For that I would like to call on followers that if you have a location near my hometown (Ronse – B) that I can use, to please give me a sign. I probably will come over only in a while, but it is handy for me to have a basic list of possible locations for shoots. I can always pick another one if the moment doesn’t suit you.
This said, please enjoy this image from this summer: Hot summer days – the sequel
natural light in an extremely dark depot.
1/60s f2.8 ISO250 – Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS
thank you for watching
Ludwig
From a recent shoot. I have made similar images in my – Nude Incognito – series, in a black studio and with the use of flash lights. This is in a naturally lit environment. I especially like how the body shape and pose fills the square format. Also the dense structure of the floor in contrast with the soft shiny structures of the skin are appealing to me. The model had just put on a body lotion, giving some extra shine to the skin.
I hope you like it. I did, as well as my model and her partner.
Canon 5D mark II with Sigma 50 mm f1.4 DG A.
1/40s. f3.2 ISO 200
come again soon.
Ludwig
A single image post.
What it says – hot summer days. Sweaty, but I added some extra drops here and there to cool my subject down. 😉
1/15 s. – f2.8 – ISO 250
Canon 5D II with Canon EF 100 mm f2.8 L Macro IS.
thank you for watching.
ludwig
When I have some more time on a photoshoot, I shoot some images on film too.
One of the rolls of film I’ve shot with Ivana never got published here. It’s a shame, since I think the images are worthwhile. I had been working hard to see the ‘real’ Ivana, not the model, read these posts to know all about it:
in this third part, I also shot some film images. A roll of TMax 400 film on Rolleiflex 75 mm f3.5 6×6 format.
happy viewing.
See you again soon
Ludwig
A single image post today, Enjoy. The Engine Room used to be the most prestigious part of the textile factory. It was the place where visitors, customers could see the wealth of the company. Complete with glass in lead windows, tiled arches and so on. …
It was the place where pressurised vapour was created with a steam engine, providing both heat and mechanical power. due to the fact that this room is unaccessible from the ground floor, it has remained unused since the removal of the engine.
Canon 5D II with Canon EF 24mm f1.4 II L. This image reminds me that some time ago in a digital publication (EOSzine) I have urged the wish to combine model photography with my earlier subjects of urban and landscape photography. I’m getting nearer. 😉 Taken on tripod, multiple exposure blend (1/125 s. of a second at f4.5 for the model and the interior, 1/1000 s.at f4.5 for the windows).
Thank you for watching, and thank you Eline, for being my model.
ludwig
Rolleiflex Tessar 75mm f3,5 – Kodak T-Max 400 film. Scanned on Epson Perfection 3170 Photo, retouched and developed in Photoshop and Lightroom CC.
Have you ever seen Sam Haskins book ‘Five Girls’ ?
Thank you to the model, the location owner, the weather and my friend P. Z. for the camera.
Thank YOU for visiting my blog.
Ludwig
A small series from the same shoot I did with Marion.
The ZEN pool. Magnificent environment and great weather on this early morning.
This is the kind of things you cannot plan before. I hadn’t been at this place in about 10 years. There was no house at that time, and certainly not a pool, so this came kind of as a bonus with the planned old chalk oven on the same location.
Marion felt completely Zen after half an hour of sunbathing and being next to Buddha. 🙂
thank you for watching, …
ludwig
