Let me capture what you ♥ in life
Fotofolio photography is a Belgian based photographer specializing in child and teen photography for commercial, editorial or portfolio needs.
Let me capture what you ♥ in life. Have fun discovering my photographic world and don't hesitate to drop me a line!
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If made this image during a CreateThatLight workshop to show my attendees the versatile functions of a California Sunbounce Sun-Swatter. If you use the Sun-Swatter without direct fill-in of a reflector or flash you can create some great looking soft light. In this set-up I’ve attached the Sun-Swatter to a lighting stand just above the model.
The Sun-Swatter creates a nice soft light. Exif: 1/2000sec at f2.0 - iso200 - shot with Nikon D700 & 85mm 1.8 AF-D
Motivational Light is an instructional video by my professional photographer Bert Stephani in which he explains his techniques and vision on photographic lighting. Its about how to find, shape and create light so it becomes the most powerful story telling tool.
Together with fellow photographer Pieter Van Impe, Bert developed an instructional concept to teach fellow photographers how to choose the right light in function of the picture. Armed with this vision, it becomes surprisingly easy to make technical choices. In the main video, Bert lets you look over his shoulder during a number of location and studio shoots and learns you how to become a master of light by finding, analyzing, shaping and making light. He also shows you how to create different moods by just changing the light. In the final part, Bert explains his vision on how to become a better photographer and illustrates this through a technical training session, an improvisation shoot and a fast paced real life wedding shoot.
As a bonus Bert shows how he post processed some of the pictures in Adobe Lightroom. Motivational Light is targeted to everyone who wants to improve his lighting skills and understanding of light. The vision and techniques explained will help a wide range of photographers from the beginner with limited gear to the well equipped seasoned professional. Lighting is the main focus of this video but it’s also packed with lots of other small tips and tricks.
The main video runs over 150 minutes and is complimented with 60 minutes of bonus material. The language is Belgian English.
Visit the Motivational Light website for more info!
A week or 2 ago I posted a Tweet about playing around with a 600Ws Profoto AcuteB batterypack with a AcuteB head, since then I received a lot of mails for people asking about the recycle speed of this “nasty black box”. I’m still busy working on a full blogpost with my hands-on experience but until then I can share a small video to show the ultra fast recycling at half power, e.g. 300ws or the power of 6 speedlights firing at full power but 1 one portable pack.
More in depth blogpost will follow …
20/03/2010 - 15:57 - Yep, snel genoeg voor woefkes. Profoto is erg sterk in recycling, maar je hebt een 8b nodig wil je boven de flitsduur van een Elinchrom Ranger gaan.
I would like to share a time-lapse I’ve made during a commercial assignment, this time-lapse covers a whole day (7hrs.) shooting compiled into a 2mins30sec video.
The final results are published in these 2 catalogs:
Based in Belgium as a photographer means that I’m shooting a lot of sessions in bad – overcast – weather situations. Overcast weather isn’t always providing me enough soft diffused light to shoot portraits “that pop” in natural light. I’m used to grab some speedlights to lit these kind of portraits but because we were shooting in the pouring rain I’ve decided to work with a non-electronic light modifier, the California Sunbounce Sunmover. I always carry a Sunmover in my camera bag, in it’s folded size it fits perfectly in my laptop compartment and it’s perfect for portraiture and half-body shots.
Photographers often mail me asking about this Sunmover if it would gain their photography in our typical overcast weather conditions, my answer is a big YES! I’ve tried the silver and zebra reflectors and they both passed the “overcast”-test with great success, here is a little hands-on demonstration:
Belgian “off season” weather conditions:
As you can see in the images below we where shooting a portfolio session in dull, rainy weather. A good thing about shooting with these reflectors is that I can work fast so the teen model doesn’t have to wait while I’m setting the scene.
↑ The weather conditions - a typical Belgian rainy overcast day ↑
Test shot without the Sunmover:
Shooting natural light portraits without a reflector in these weather conditions isn’t giving me a satisfying “look”, an image with contrasting shadows underneath the models eyes & nose won’t be an update for her portfolio book. This image was shot at ISO800 on a full-frame Nikon D700 – spot metering. I could have dialed in a lower shutter speed (e.g. 1/250) to brighten up the whole scene but at 1/320 some of the white was already clipping in the histogram. I also miss a sparkle of light in her eyes, a little fill-in would really make this dull image a lot more attractive … this is where the Sunmover comes in as my portrait savior.
↑ Portrait shot without the Sunmover - ISO800 , 85mm , f2.8 , 1/320sec ↑
Test shot with the Sunmover:
I did not adjust camera settings, these remained the same as the image above, shot at ISO800 on a full-frame Nikon D700 – spot metering. The only thing we’ve brought into the scene was a zebra Sunmover, camera left – reflecting the natural light onto the model. As you can see immediately … this saved my portrait and brightens up the most important zones of my models face.
↑ Portrait shot with the Sunmover - ISO800 , 85mm , f2.8 , 1/320sec ↑
100% crop comparison:
↑ 100% crop comparison in Lightroom ↑
It’s waterproof, use it as a toy:
The Sunmover is a high quality product, made in Germany, and is water proof! This may sound a bit weird but after testing a lot of 5in1 reflectors I can say that the Sunmover is the only reflector I know that doesn’t loose it’s tension after using it in rain / water. I’ve made a little (fun) movie to show how you can even use the Sunmover as a toy for your kids 
Pricing:
The Sunmover sells at €79,00 (silver) and €89,00 (zebra) at Calumet Photographic which is a bargain for this great product, most 5in1 sollutions sell at €50 – €70 …
Best off all, its FOCUSABLE! The Sunmover is a single folding reflector can be used for SPOT, NEUTRAL and WIDE ANGLE LIGHT. (More info).
Model information:
Amélie @ Network Models / Borderfield
07/03/2010 - 23:10 - Hehe u could make commercials, very good movie very well made and not to aggressive filming like alot of people try to do. And the photo's are amazing that 85mm f1.8 is really wonderfull, i like the left pic the most BUT the eyes could do a bit better when they are a bit more dark (like on the other photo).
08/03/2010 - 13:46 - Tom, what can I say! I think you are the only, non-wedding photographer with a blog that I follow! Keep going!
08/03/2010 - 21:18 - Tom, I'm considering to buy a Sun-Mover Zebra because I can use a small and portable reflector for some future projects. My Sunbounce Mini is too bulky to take with me on a trip.
09/03/2010 - 00:28 - Wat een verschil met/zonder! Ik ben ook aan het overwegen om me één aan te schaffen!
09/03/2010 - 13:45 - Nice article and the difference with the Sunbounce is really stunning.
10/03/2010 - 18:03 - Leuk artikel!
12/03/2010 - 16:19 - dank u voor deze klare uitleg en hartstikke leuk filmpje. ga morgen foto's maken, en het wordt heel waarschijnlijk een grijze dag...zeker mijn sunmover meenemen!!
31/03/2010 - 12:03 - WOW! Its so great for you to show us the comparisons...amazing difference. I'm a huge fan of your work =)
More information will follow, keep tuned!
07/03/2010 - 22:54 - Amazing XD GOGO Cowboy Tom!
07/03/2010 - 23:14 - like they say: onnozel manneke !!!! :))
10/03/2010 - 13:18 - That is hilarious.
14/03/2010 - 20:17 - benieuwd naar de rest ! :-)
Last year I had to shoot an 8page editorial for a Dutch kids fashion magazine, the location my client picked for this shooting was the backyard of a kids/children’s hairdressing salon. The backyard had some great graffiti painted walls with subtle green grass, great textures to use as a backdrop. After a few quick test-shots I knew the sun would be a major advantage & disadvantage at the same time. The advantage that I would have enough natural light to shoot without flash fill-in, the disadvantage of the sun being to hard and to direct to lit my subject in a proper manor – unless I would go for the “outdoor-highkey” portraiture.
I literally stole a “pennzoil” replica gasoline gas pump out of the salon (and later on even broke the glass top) to fit the clothing-brands car related style (Jeep), for a moment I thought that this gas pump would be a great object to block the hard sunlight. The idea of the pump functioning as a gobo to block the direct sunlight wasn’t satisfying, instead of blocking the sunlight it subtracted the great quality of the available light because the side of the pump was black. Never neglect the power of a black gobo, it will wrap around your subject and create a deep shadow!
Unwanted negative fill:
As shown in the image below, the contrast increases on the left side of the child (camera right). This kind of negative fill is not preferred at all for editorial photography because after the CMYK conversion for printing it will appear as a disturbing black contrast in the magazine.
↑ The test-shot - the negative fill on the child's left side isn't the lighting I was looking for. ↑
Move the subject away from negative fill:
I had to move my subject away from the black side of the gasoline gas pump to get rid of the negative fill, moving the child backwards would lead to hard sunlight hitting the left side of my subject. As shown in the overall set-up below I’ve solved this issue with a California Sunbounce SunSwatter to diffuse the hard sunlight and to create a new shade just behind the gas pump, the SunSwatter also provides a subtle “hair-light” to separate my subject from the background.
↑ SunSwatter setup - a Sunbounce Pro Zebra was used for fill-in (camera left). ↑
The published image:
06/03/2010 - 04:40 - hey Tom, congrats with your new blog.It looks fantastic !!!! Hope to see you soon on one of your workshops. Love your work
06/03/2010 - 10:30 - Congrats with your new blog, best ever seen ! Creative, quality and very informative. Thanks Tom for sharing. Guy
06/03/2010 - 12:02 - Very nice work Tom!Will be coming back on a regular base to see your posts! I've always been a huge fan of your work . You are a great source of inspiration for me! Thanks for sharing!
06/03/2010 - 13:30 - Hey Tom, great work here! Nice blogpost, nice new blog... See you soon on one of your workshops!
06/03/2010 - 15:56 - This blog will be one of my favourites! Great you put so much time and energy in sharing your knowledge.
06/03/2010 - 20:37 - Congratulations Tom! I will be coming back very often! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!Paula
07/03/2010 - 09:22 - Tom, great initiative! I look forward to sticking my hand into the cookiejar from time to time :-) Greetz!
07/03/2010 - 14:48 - wow this new blog is awesome looking forward to see some good blogs
10/03/2010 - 13:54 - Super, dit nieuwe blog! Het was lang wachten, maar dat geduld is beloond. Als trouw meelezende fan ben ik je dankbaar dat je jouw kennis en enthousiasme wilt delen!
by tom
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