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April 9, 2013
timelapse photography – a complete introduction
When I got my Nikon D4 and found that it made the compilation of time-lapse clips so much easier, I was hooked. It’s a fascinating niche in photography. Here are some of the time-lapse clips I created.
However, as with everything in photography – or as with everything in life really – there is a learning curve. Then you have two options. You can reinvent the wheel, and figure it all out from scratch by yourself … or you can do some homework and study what people before you have done. There are several websites that are loaded with information – and then there is this book by Ryan Chilinski. Everything you want to know about Time-Lapse Photography, neatly encompassed.
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April 7, 2012
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Baby portraiture is an unexpectedly difficult branch of portrait photography. You have to work around the baby’s schedule, and then there is the added challenge of making a baby which doesn’t move much, an interesting subject. It’s not like this little kiddo is going to hop, skip & jump around. With that, everyone can use some advice and guidance to get an edge on the baby, and take some pressure off as the photographer.
First of all, I have to mention that I have a slight bias here – the author, Mimika Cooney is also originally from South Africa. So there is some pride in someone “local” doing great and becoming successful … and write an (excellent) book.
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January 28, 2012
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Boudoir photography seems to have a surge in popularity in the past years. More and more interest by photographers – and it’s no wonder. As much as boudoir is a fascinating genre, it is also quite challenging.
The pressure is on *you* as the photographer to get the best images you can of someone who is most likely feeling quite vulnerable. So not only are your lighting skills and posing skills and your general skill as a photographer tested … your people skills really need to kick into gear too. Boudoir photography is personal photography on so many levels.
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December 19, 2011
Someone recently asked me which are the photographers I have learnt the most from. I immediately took that to be the photographers whose work I studied in books and magazines over the years. Books have always had a special place in my heart – even more so the beautifully printed Art Photography books.
This beautiful volume, featuring photographs of Monica Bellucci (Amazon), arrived on my doorstep the other day. This book has images by a diverse number of photographers who had the opportunity to photograph this stunning Italian actress / model. Interesting to note how varied their approach was. Just paging through it after taking it out of the Amazon box, was an experience. The printing in this large book is gorgeous, and it is already one of my most favorite photography books.
Coupled with my latest purchase, the book of Vivian Maiers’ photography (Amazon), this triggered me to share the list of some of the best photography books on my shelf.
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December 18, 2011
Vivian Maier exhibition in New York
One of the most interesting stories unfolding in photography in recent years, was the accidental discovery of an incredible body of work by an unknown photographer, Vivian Maier. Incredible in terms of quality and the sheer volume of photographs. If you’re not familiar with the backstory - in 2007, John Maloof, a real estate agent in Chicago, who was working on a project documenting the one neighborhood in Chicago, discovered and bought a vast collection of negatives and prints of a completely unknown photographer, Vivian Maier.
What makes this story so interesting, is that Vivian Maier had an eye for street photography on par with the great names in photography. Then there is the fortunate twist to the story, in that the images and negatives landed up in the hands of someone like John Maloof who realized what a treasure he had stumbled upon and took care of this legacy with the attention it needed.
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November 3, 2011
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book review: Classic Modern Pinups, by Robert Alvarado
When I first heard news that Robert Alvarado was (finally!) publishing a book of his best pinup photographs, I was excited. I’ve been a huge fan of his work ever since I first came across his portfolio on Model Mayhem and several other photography forums. I even attended a workshop where he explained his lighting and posing of the models, as well as his Photoshop techniques.
Drawing inspiration from the classic pin-up artist like Gil Elvgren and Vargas, Robert Alvarado had steadily fine-tuned his skills as a photographer in this style. Alvarado photographs beautiful women in this stylized way, and then finessing the images with Photoshop to give a glossy air-brushed look … lending the images a look that is definitely and recognizably his.
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February 12, 2011
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Syl Arena has steadily made a name for himself amongst photographers with his blog, Pixsylated. Followers of his blog would’ve noticed that Syl was on hiatus for several months in 2010, while busy writing a book on Canon speedlites. Having spent the most part of a year on writing, you’d expect something great. And it is. In short, I think Syl might just have written the definitive work on flash photography with speedlites.
If you’re a Canon shooter, this book is essential. If you’re a Nikon or Sony or Pentax shooter, you’d still do very well with this book. Within its 376 pages, 812 photos and 26 chapters, all the essential stuff is covered, and more.
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