Miss België fotograaf in de fout (dutch language)

Op 17 augustus 2023 maakte de vrt bekend dat een fotograaf binnen de organisatie ongepast gedrag vertoonde. Algemeen komt het erop neer dat een administratieve medewerker (die ook fotograaf is) ex kandidaten van Miss België contacteerde voor naaktshoots en enigsinds in een kleine vorm #metoo gedrag vertoonde. (#metoo is ook seksueel gedrag maar er waren geen seksuele handelingen!)

Bron: vrt (zie artikel)

“In een van de berichten vertelt de man dat hij enkel een gratis fotoshoot ziet zitten als de vrouwen zonder bh poseren. Soms laat hij ook weten dat hij enkele foto’s van hen wil nemen waarbij ze hun borsten niet bedekken. Ook wanneer de kandidates blijven weigeren, contacteert de man hen opnieuw. Zo kon onze redactie een online gesprek inlezen waarin de man tot zes keer toe terugkomt op zijn vraag, over een periode van drie jaar.“

Bijgevoegd de link naar het artikel.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/08/17/miss-belgie-fotograaf/

Op dat moment zat ik erg verveeld met de situatie. Iemand van de pers stond na het bericht direct ‘s morgens aan mijn deur voor een interview met het idee dat ik deze persoon zou zijn.

De reden is niet ver te zoeken. Op de Instagram pagina van Miss België staat mijn naam regelmatig vermeld waardoor een ‘link’ snel gemaakt is. “Joeri Peeters Photography”, het zal die wel zijn en mijn adres is terug te vinden op deze website.

Voor alle duidelijkheid ben ik een freelancefotograaf die de afgelopen jaren in opdracht werkte voor het MB comité en dus NIET de persoon ben waarover het artikel gaat.

In het artikel staat vermeld:

“De vaste fotograaf en mede-organisator van Miss België contacteerde herhaaldelijk verschillende ex-kandidates voor naaktshoots….”

Het personeel dat werkt bij Miss België vindt u terug op de officiëlle site van Miss Belgium.

Ik ben tegen elke vorm van #metoo en het is mijn taak om tijdens de shoots met de kandidaten hen te verwittigen van de gevaren van shoots te doen met fOUtografen.

Toch zijn er telkens jonge dames die zich laten vangen. Ik leg echter NOOIT de schuld bij hun. Soms is het naïviteit, het spannend vinden of willen opscheppen tegenover vrienden. De dame in kwestie is NOOIT in fout.

Wanneer echter het ‘jonge’ model zich ongemakkelijk voelt en meermaals twijfelachtig gedrag vertoont op de vraag van de fotograaf om naakt te gaan maar uiteindelijk toegeeft dan vind ik dit spijtig.

Zo contacteerde een jonge vrouw mij een tijdje gelden die inging op de vraag om enkele ‘naakt’ beelden te sturen naar de fotograaf. Op dat moment was ze minderjarig.

Ik ben absoluut niet tegen naaktshoots of boudoir zolang beide partijen hier elkaar in kunnen vinden.

In mijn portfolio vindt u dan ook professionele stijlvolle naaktfoto’s terug omdat ik deze shoots ook aanbied. (Denk bijvoorbeeld aan een vrouw die nooit de stap durfde zetten en een boudoirshoot als cadeau krijgt van haar man —> zie cadeaubons). https://www.joeripeeters.com/boudoircb

Wanneer een vrouw na 20 jaar nog eens fier naar een afgedrukte kwalitatieve naaktfoto kijkt toen ze zwanger was, zijn dit voor haar mooie en dierbare herinneringen. En dat is onze taak als portret fotograaf. We leggen een ‘moment’ vast in iemands leven dat zich nooit meer kan herhalen.

Wat echter niet kan voor mij is ‘stalking’ gedrag vertonen en misbruik maken van je postitie binnen een bedrijf. ‘Nee is nee’ en daarmee uit.

Ik wil hier niet al te negatief zijn want ik ben ervan overtuigd dat het merendeel van fotografen correcte mensen zijn. Toch zijn er fOutografen die nog een stapje verder gaan (tot ongewenste seksuele handelingen) en hiermee wegkomen. De dames in kwestie zijn steeds bang dat de fotograaf naaktfoto’s van de shoot op het internet zou gaan publiceren.

Ik heb dan ook lang nagedacht hoe ik hiermee zou omgaan. Stoppen met het MB verhaal of niet. U kan begrijpen dat ik elke vorm van negatieve reclame als de pest kan missen en ik het helemaal niet leuk vind dat er mensen zijn die maar enigszins zouden kunnen vermoeden dat ik de fotograaf in kwestie zou zijn. Ik wil nogmaals benadrukken dat ik met heel deze gebeuren niets te maken heb.

Ik heb de afgelopen jaren met plezier mijn taak als fotograaf voor het Miss België comité uitgeoefend en mevr. Darline Devos en partner Guy zijn intussen vrienden geworden. Het zou onfair zijn om hen te laten vallen en het is net om die reden dat ik dan ook verder met het MB comité zal samenwerken.

Enkel de medewerker is uit de bocht is gegaan. Mijn vrouw en ik hadden met hem steeds een goede verstandhouding en waren zodanig geschrokken dat hij ondanks een verwittiging van 1 1/2 jaar geleden zijn gang bleef gaan. We hopen dat hij zich herpakt en inziet dat zulk gedrag echt niet kan maar iedereen verdient een tweede kans.

Magmod Professional Strobe Kit XL (English)

Photo shoot with the Magmod Professional Strobe Kit XL as light shaper

“Finally available, a Magmod with Bowens mount!”

Magmod's light shapers are part of (many) photographers' daily setup. These universal add-ons are suitable for universal flash units for both rectangular and round flash heads (Magmod 2).

The success of these light shapers are mainly due to the ability to quickly install / remove accessories such as a grid, a diffuse, sphere or snoot by means of magnets. Many wedding photographers always have them with them.

A product engineer at the Magmod company must have thought of making an XL version with Bowen's mount. It is now available. Other mounts such as for Profoto can be ordered separately.

The Dutch importer Disnet sent me a copy of the Magmod Professional strobe kit XL a few weeks ago and asked me to test the product. As a portrait and fashion photographer, I use various light modifiers in my daily work. So I was very curious in which circumstances I could best use the Magmod Professional strobe kit XL.

Contents of the XL Kit

In a beautiful printed cardboard box you will find a sturdy cylindrical carrying case with the following parts.

A collapsible XL reflector
A magsphere (a soft white sphere in soft white transparant rubber)
Two rubber grids. (angle of 40° and 20°)
3 CTO gels (1/1, 1/2 and 1/4). (no CTB gels)

Each part feels very sturdy and professional. It is therefore not surprising that this product is aimed at both professional and amateur photographers.

The carrying case has a clickable strap at the back so you can attach it for example to a tripod. However, there is no handle, but you could attach a carrying strap (not included).

The collapsible reflector has a silver coating.

A 20° and 40° rubber grid are part of the package.

The 3 CTO gels fit together. You will find a 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4 gel in the box.

Dimensions:

All parts together (with the collapsed reflector) measure approximately 21 cm high and fit perfectly in the supplied cylindrical bag.

With the reflector unfolded, we measure approximately 28 cm

The three supplied CTO gels in hard plastic fit perfectly in the folded reflector.

The CTO gel placed (here a 1/1) in the reflector

The grids (made of rubber) are easy to apply magnetically

You can magnetically attach the Magsphere on top of the grid.

Light output:

The basic part, the XL reflector, is made of plastic and has a silver coating on the inside. At first glance, this seems to reflect a little less compared to a standard metal reflector. I was therefore curious about the light output of this light shaper. Mounted on a Godox AD600 Pro, I measured the light output of the standard supplied reflector of the Godox AD600 Pro as well as that of the Magmod XL with a Sekonic L-858D. I also compared the light output with a Godox RFT-19 with ribbed silver interior.

Here are the values I measured:

Standard AD600 Pro head: f/22
MagMod: f/22 (same)
Godox RFT19: f/32.2 (1 & 2/10 of a stop more light)
MagMod with full CTO: f/11.2 (Almost 2 full stops less light)
MagMod with 1/2 CTO: f/11.8 (1 stop and 2/10 less in light)
MagMod with 1/4 CTO: f/16.1 (Nearly 1 stop less of light)
MagMod with Magsphere: f/16 (1 stop less of light)
MagMod with 40° grid: f/11.8 (1 stop less of light)
MagMod with 20° grid: f/16.1 (1 stop + 1/3 less in light)

Certainly not bad values. It is completely normal that the light output decreases with every addition of an accessory.

You can stack accessories. For example, you can first place a grid. On top of that you attach the Magsphere (although you probably won't use it much in practice).

The supplied three CTO gels are made of a hard plastic and slide into each other. The very first time you have to pull them apart with a little force. After that it goes a lot smoother.

Weight & Build Quality:

The collapsible reflector weighs 420 grams. That is about twice as much as a standard metal reflector.

Comparison:

MagMod XL: 420 grams
AD600 Pro standard reflector: 202 grams
Godox RFT19: 161 grams

The whole set together weighs 1690 grams.

Because the majority of the kit consists of plastic and rubber, they can take a beating. It is no problem, for example, to play Frisbee with the supplied grid.

The Magmod in practice:

I tested the MagMod XL during a shoot in the heart of Prague. My model was the beautiful and lovely Kedist Deltour (Miss Belgium 2021).

For these kind of photo shoots I like to work with a lightweight and compact setup. No arsenal of primes, but three zooms: Sony G 24-105 f/4, Sony GM2 70-200 f/2.8 and a Tamron 17-28 f/2.8. All photos were taken with a Sony A1 in RAW format. White balance was set to manual and focus was set to continuous focus with eye detection.

In the end it turned out that I took all the photos with the Sony G 24-105 f/4 . The background for this shoot had to be quite recognizable so I took all photos with an aperture of f/4.

I brought a lightweight carbon camera tripod that served as a tripod for the AD600 Pro that I equipped with an extension head. The AD600 Pro was in a Godox carrying bag and served as a counterweight. (see photo below)

The Magmod reflector is easy and quick to apply. I was pleasantly surprised with the result of the first photos. The light was softer than I expected. A reflector remains a small light source and that means in general hard light.

The photos underwent minimal post-processing with Capture One Pro that consisted primarily of dodging and burning, adjusting contrast, and sharpening the photo.

The advantage of working with a smaller light shaper such as this Magmod reflector is in general the light is a bit harder and therefore richer in contrast. This allows you to place your tripod a little further and there may be quite a bit of wind, your tripod will not fall over quickly.

A reflector behaves like a reflector. It provides focused light, but at the same time the light beam is sufficiently wide. I usually place the light source between 2 and 3 meters from the model.

I generally place the flash towards the sun. You can see this by the double shadows in the next photo. The direction of the flash light comes from the left (+ 3 meters) while the sunlight came from the right side. I opted for a black and white edit. The AD600 Pro flashed at full flash power. Camera settings: 24mm, f/4, 1/200, ISO50

The flash light gives extra "punch" to your photos.

Also for the next photo I was pleasantly surprised by the light quality. You just have to try to find the balance between ambient and strobe light. When you place the light source at the right distance, height and direction, very little can go wrong.

CTO gels:

Time to try out the CTO gels (Color Temperature Orange) although I only used the 1/1 (Full) CTO gel in this test. Just place the gel in the reflector, and that is an easy task. To remove it, lightly press the CTO gel together. Despite the fact that it is a hard material, removal is easy because of the recesses.

CTO gels are mainly used as color correction when you combine flash light with the available sunlight. Especially in the golden hour they are very useful because the ambient light is very warm. The color temperature of a flash is approximately 5500 Kelvin and that is white light. Depending on the time of day, you place a ¼, ½ or 1/1 gel.

But first we went looking for a more suitable spot to continue our shooting. A beautiful monument made out of metal as a backdrop turned out to be an excellent choice.

To make everything more blue and to give it an artistic touch I set my camera to 4000 Kelvin. That is a difference of 1500 K. This choice is purely a matter of taste. Usually, using a Full CTO gel, a white balance of 3200 K is chosen when shooting in daylight.

Here I placed the flash at a distance of about 2 to 3 meters aimed frontally at Kedist (see shadow on the ground). The flash was fired at almost full flash power with the following camera settings: 1/400, ISO50 and f/4 (1/400 on the Sony A1 is the maximum flash sync speed, so HSS was not used)

You can like it or not but as you can see the result is much different compared to using only natural light.

In post processing I replaced the background using AI in Photoshop. The wall in the background is digitally created. You can see the real environment in the photo below.

Gels and black and white editing:

When working using contrasting colors, it is also easier to make adjustments afterwards when you convert the photo to black and white. For example, you can lighten or darken the skin by adjusting the value of red and/or yellow. If we want to adjust the rest of the photo (everything that is blue) it is just as simple. Another advantage of working with gels.

Photo of “behind the scenes” is a snapshot from a smartphone video recording.

VID20230727131534.mp4_snapshot_00.01.054_FullHD.jpg

Hopefully Magmod will bring other color gels on the market. Personally I would opt for magnetic gels.

I cut different gels myself with a cutting plotter and with 4 small magnets I can quickly apply and remove these self made gels. A magnetic outer ring adhered to the gel would even be a better solution.

This blue color gel with magnets is not part of the kit!

The Magsphere:

I placed the 1/1 CTO gel together with the magsphere to see if the light would become softer, but as soon as you place the light source too far from the model, using any diffuser makes little sense. The light becomes omni-directional and is therefore much more wide (unless you really want this).

With the magsphere, the light became a bit softer, but also wider. just place the flash close enough to the model. Don't expect miracles. It remains a small light source.

For this photo I removed the CTO gel and I added the Magsphere back on. That's the power of this setup. The swap is very fast and that makes this product so interesting.

Using a Magmodsphere is certainly also useful indoors. You place the flash head with the sphere towards the ceiling and the light will spread nicely in the room.

However, if you want bundled light, then use grids. They are fantastic. You can literally use them as a frisnbee because they are made of rubber. The intention was to do a short shoot in the hotel, but that did not happen (due to lack of time). I prefer to use grids indoors rather than outdoors.

Conclusion:

The Magmod Professional Strobekit XL is a very interesting kit and costs just under 300 Euro. That is a significant amount but it is worth every euro. There is certainly no lack of quality (and light quality). It seems like it was made to never break.

You get in a cylindrical case, a reflector, the magsphere, two grids and CTO gels. This way you can quickly change the quality of the flash light. Of course, the magsphere cannot replace a large light shaper with double diffuse, but that is not the intention. You can easily use the set on location and in the open air, but also in your own studio.

Without the supplied cylindrical case, the kit fits easily in a travel case. If Magmod were to market an extension that turns this magmod reflector into a sports reflector (long reflector), I can finally take a long reflector in a travel case for my photo shoots (A metal sports reflector does not fit in a travel case). No manufacturer currently offers this.

I'm curious which accessories Magmod will bring to the market. A larger white transparant rubber sphere with a silver coating for even softer light is certainly one of the options. I would gladly communicate with Magmod about what I think would be very useful. 😊

If you want more light output with the same flash power, there are other light shapers available on the market, but then you miss the flexibility of the XL. You can place a grid in no time and if you want softer light with the magsphere, you can do this at 1,2,3.

Can I recommend this kit? Absolutely. I am using it already.

Photos copyright: Joeri Peeters

What is in my bag (my mini setup)

Every photographer wants to be mobile and does not like to carry lots of heavy gear. Sometimes it is mandatory to bring lots of gear to get an assignment done. When you need to take 1500 pictures a day and shoot rapidly I can really recommend a Godox flash like an AD1200 Pro but it’s heavy.

When I shoot TFP on a location outdoors I used to bring an AD600 Pro or an AD1200 Pro with me but in general this is overkill. The reason is you do not need so much power when you are shooting less photos and you have time to give the flash to breathe again.

Here is my goto list (this is not my general more extensive setup):

Think Tank Photocross 13 carbond Grey
This is a very small sling bag but I really love it. It looks small but it can store a lot.

2. Sony A1

This is my main camera. I don’t bring a second body for a TFP shoot. If my camera fails (and it probably will not) it is not a huge deal.

3. Sony G 24-105 F/4

This is in my opinion the best overall lens for the Sony. It is F/4 but in most cases this is fine. It supports 30 fps and is also very sharp even at 50 MP. If I want bokeh I use another lens. I just love the 35 mm extra compared to a 24-70.

4. Sony GM2 70-200 F/2.8

For a F/2.8 it is not a heavy and big lens. This lens delivers. It is absolutely a fantastic and very sharp lens. I do love my 135mm F/1.8 but the 70-200 is just more versatile. I am think of buying the 2.0 extender in case I would need it.

5. Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

It is certainly not the best lens out there but I don’t use it very often so at this moment there is no need to upgrade. I take it with me because it is lightweight.

6. Gobe 77mm ND4 & ND8 Filter

These filters are cheap and IMO very good. I use them when using flash so I don’t need to shoot in HSS. The 24-105 and 70-200 both have a 77mm thread.

7. SMALLRIG Folding Tool Set AAK2495

Just a multitool but sometimes it is very handy!

8. Giottos AA1900 airbomb

You should always have this in your bag.

9. Sekonic L-858D with Godox module

In most of my photography I use a light meter. It saves time, measures incident light and the first shot is always spot on.

10. A Godox transmitter

Because I use a lightmeter I can use any Godox transmitter. The X1, X2, Xpro or Xpro II. For the 3 first you need to set in on APP mode and in the latest XPro II it is as L-858 in the menu selectable. I have used the XPro the most (because of the TCM function in case I need it) but the Mark II version now also has this wireless scanning function and tells you exactly what channels are free.

11. A Godox AD200 Pro

I have 1 Godox AD200 Pro and 6 AD200’s (the pro was not availabale at the time I bought them). I love this little flash as it is lightweight, powerful and the battery are small and powerfull. Most of the time I don’t take the standard fresnel head with me.

12. Godox AD-S2 - Mini reflector

You would be amazed what this little thing can do. In the studio I use it as vignet light but outdoors it is also used as my main light. This reflector bundles the light and strangely enough it creates rather soft light.

13. Godox AD-S7 Multifunctional Softbox 480mm

This 48mm softbox is foldable like an umbrella and gives you beautiful light. When used close to the model I put the outer diffuser on it. It also comes with a grid I don’t use outdoors and a metal plate you can fix in the middle. I don’t use this plate at all because I have noticed it creates a shadow in the middle. Godox should have used a white transparant plate. Maybe I will make one myself.

14.Manfrotto MS0490A Nanopole Lightstand

Trust me, these are the best. I also bought similar one from K&F and Fosoto. The K&F was broken after a few times use and to expand the Fostoto it takes more force because it is just not smooth at all. It also is not that high fully expanded.

15. Batteries for the A1 and Godox AD200

16. Microfiber (several)

This is my goto kit. It s very portable and I can carry this all day long. When I want to make a portrait I use the AD-S7 and the minireflector for shots where the flash is a few meters away from the model.

Sometimes I also take the an extension cable and pouch for the AD200 with me.

I rarely take extra SD cards with me because I use 128GB or 256GB cards. This means I can shoot +/- 2500 photos in compressed RAW on a 128Gb card. Cards are always mirrored in the camera. This means photos are written to both the card in slot 1 as slot 2 at the same time.

ISO stands for quality.

The ideal ISO value is the native ISO (base) value of your camera. In most cases the base ISO is 100 but some cameras start at ISO200.

Light goes through the lens and reaches your digital image sensor. If there is enough light your camera will always choose the lowest ISO possible. That is when ISO is set on automatic.

But what when we shoot indoors in a badly lid environment? Your camera will automatically raise the ISO value. This is done by amplifying (analog) the captured light. This results in more noise and more noise means less image quality.

By the way, noise is not grain.

In post processing photographers sometimes add grain after sharpening the picture to make the image less “perfect”. When you have a noisy picture your image will be less sharp and when you post process the image like lifting the shadows more color noise will be visible. That is why you always need to photograph at the lowest possible value but this is not always possible.

Sometimes you cannot use a value of ISO 100. For example when I am shooting a concert ISO values can raise up to ISO6400. Most of the time ISO is set to automatic as the amount of light on a concert can be unpredictable.

When you photograph indoors it can happen you need to use a faster shutterspeed to make sure you do not have blurry pictures (motion blur) even when using a fast lens shooting at f/1.4.

In this case you really need to raise the ISO value on your camera.

For this picture I had to raise my ISO to 2500 because their was only one small light source. To make sure I didn’t have motion blur I shot at 1/60 at 24mm. Kedist was not moving so 1/60 is perfectly fine. The lens I was using was a 24-105 f/4 at f/4. The RAW picture was post processed afterwards because even with these settings the photo was still underexposed.

Look at the color noise in the RAW image. Noise canceling software and image sensors have improved a lot over the years. There was a time when the image quality at ISO 800 was much worse compared to the excellent Sony A1 with a whopping 50MP sensor.

DXO optics has excellent denoise software (even at ISO6400 on modern cameras) but the quality will NEVER be as good when shooting at ISO100. Some photographers swear by Topaz Labs Denoise but personally I find the result not as good as the DXO software.

Denoise software and the quality of image sensors have improved a lot over the years and a lot of photographers think using high ISO values are the way to go.

Though ISO is the last parameter in the exposure triangle you should modify.

A few weeks ago I saw a youtube video of a photographer with more than a million followers photographing a model outdoors. She used ISO 800 at 1/1600 of a second!

The reactions on her post were positive and most of her followers now think using ISO 800 outside is perfectly normal. It’s not. These are the kind of videos I really hate. I have nothing against youtubers bringing great content but when you shoot with these values outdoors you don’t even understand the basics of the exposure triangle!

The correct values should have been ISO100 and a shutterspeed of 1/200. The picture would have been also razorsharp and best quality. Just lower both values by 3 stops. 800->400->200->100 and 1/1600->1/800->1/400->1/200

In real life most people do not see the difference between a sharp and a less sharp picture so why bother?

As a photographer you want the best image quality and that was ISO is all about.

There is nothing wrong using higher ISO values but only when necessary.

AI!

AI or artificial intelligence has evolved enormously in recent years. I've seen photos that are computer generated and so realistic that they appear to be real people.

I also got to work and simply made this background by using some keywords such as: modern futuristic building, red, freeform &, windows with an 85mm lens and look:

The computer generated this building for me and personally I love it. Only downside was image size but I resized the 1 MP file to 60MP and it still looks great.

I pasted a photo I did in a studio inside this computer generated image. The result is definitely very useful.

We can be against AI or unarm it. Personally, I'd rather be very dexterous in programs like Blender to generate such things. What if computers generate whatever you think of for you?

I have no idea how this will evolve, but it is a bit scary for professions like photographers and videographers.

How far are we from the terminator movies?

Model Agency polaroid shoot

Too many times models think you need a lot of pictures in a portfolio to convince model agencies to get a contract.

Let me be clear. The most important photo is called a polaroid photo. Don’t get me wrong. It is not a real Polaroid photo but an unedited picture of a model without any make-up. Shoot in RAW and only adjust color, light and contrast.

Here is an example of such a shoot.

Jeans, a top and normally you should wear sneakers. However a woman looks more elegant when she wears high heels.

In real life starting models send a lot of garbage to an agency. If you send them 20 photos without any good ones you can be sure you will not get any contract. The first pictures should always be your polaroids.

How is your skin, figure, hair,… It’s all in that ONE polaroid photo. You also need close ups, pictures from the side and the back. It’s always a good idea to send them one photo with a collage of different expressions like smiling, laughing, surprised, angry, cute, sensual,…

Everything else is less important BUT if you have PRO photos in your portfolio and if you have a website (not instagram) with great photos you will look far more professional. Use a domain name like I do: “www.joeripeeters.com”. Not some free website where your site name is for example “lauren.weebly.com”….

I cannot emphasize it enough. Looking PRO is very important to be taken seriously.

In real life models send average or sometimes even bad pictures to agencies. When they scroll through the ‘bad’ pictures you will not be taken seriously and you only get one chance.

Work with the best photographers. (the best will ask for money as it is their income). Provide a varied portfolio. Polaroids, in swimwear, casual, high fashion, special make-up, editorial.

Lingerie is not needed unless you have a really beautiful body and want to become a “lingerie” model. The pictures need to be stylish! Not some casual pictures taken by an amateur who just wants to shoot women as naked as possible.

I can provide these pictures for you. Just get in touch with me and we will work something out.

I stopped using the word "PHOTOSHOP". Here is why.

In my career as a photographer I have learned that a large part of the population knows little about photography.

As soon as you say the word Photoshop, these people associate Photoshop with 'fake' and your pictures are not 'real' photos! How crazy is that?

If I then say that I'll edit the photo a bit without using the word 'Photoshop', then suddenly it's all OK. So from now on I say I edit them in Capture One Pro. People don't know this RAW editor anyway, so it must be okay. However, I see little difference whether you use Capture One, Lightroom, Photoshop, Camera RAW, ON1, DXO or another program.

The only difference is Photoshop has many more possibilities, but if you only use a part of these extras in of Photoshop, there is most likely no difference with, for example, Lightroom.

I once had a little friendly discussion with a press photographer who said they weren’t allowed to use Photoshop. I told him that it doesn't matter what program you use. Only the result counts. What is the difference if you make the picture brighter in Photoshop of Lightroom. Absolutely nothing.

Using the skin softener in Lightroom makes the overall brushed part softer and blurrier and the result is much worse compared to artisanal work in Photoshop. Yes, I call the cloning of imperfections artisanal work.

It gets even worse when many women of all ages are using apps to make them look younger. Sometimes it goes so far that the person no longer resembles 'their' original at all.

It seems logical to me when a skin shines too hard you adjust this? It seems logical to me when someone has red ears or nose you equalize the skin colors? It seems logical to me if the white balance of your camera is too blue you modify this? It seems logical to me if the model is darker when you adjust the background? It seems logical to me if someone has a sore on the face you get rid of this? It seems logical to me when a dress is not flattering because of the wind and therefore the model shows thicker you start pushing the dress towards the model? It seems logical to me that you clone away a construction crane? I can give you at least 50 more reasons why there is nothing wrong making a photo better.

Is this photo over orocessed? I think not.

Long live Photoshop, but don't use the word.

When dynamic range comes in handy

In 2021 we went with the lovely and beautiful Miss Belgium 2021, Kedist Deltour to Addis Abeba to look for her biological father.

When Kedist was 10 years old she was adopted with her younger brother and sister by a Belgian Family as they were put in an orphanage a few months before. The father could not take care of them anymore after her mum died of cancer.

The photo below is one of the only moments in my life as an adult I cried. It was taken in the room where she grew up. It was a simplistic basic house (rather a cabin) and made out of mud (probably loam soil) and straw.

You have to imagine a few hours before she was just reunited with her father.

We entered the room and she sat on the bed and we didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I was a bit emotional because of what happend before and you could clearly see Kedist was bringing back memories. She smiled and looked at me and suddenly said: “I was so happy and I have really beautiful memories here“. At that very moment I cried. These words grabbed me by the throat. Growing up in a very minimalistic and basic world and still being happy. The photo was taken just a few seconds before.

I used the Sony A1 at ISO 2500, 1/60 and f/4 (24-105 f/4 lens).

Even in this very dark environment it locked the eye.

Back home I post processed the photos and made the overal image brighter. Personally I would rather choose to keep it that way as it was a correct representation of the moment. For the newspapers I had to brighten the image.

It is impressive the A1 image sensor is really capable of brightening the overal image as it was shot that way.

Thank you Kedist for sharing this moment with me and looking at life differently.

Give volume to a face. (contouring)

This is my general dodging and burning photo to give volume to a portrait. I created this image years ago. It might be useful.

Godox TCM: What does it do?

Only the Godox Xpro (S) trigger has a button called TCM. The other XT1 and XT2 do not have this functionality. Many photographers use the TTL function because you put your flash on ‘automatic’.

The disadvantage of using TTL is your light is not consistant and when using several flashes (strobes) you cannot use TTL anyway.

Let’s assume you have to photograph 3 different models (medium shot, half body) at the same place wearing different clothes. Model ‘one’ is wearing a white blouse, model ‘two’ a grey blouse and model ‘three’ a black blouse. As a result all blouses will be grey(ish). This is because how camera’s work: Cameras measure 18% reflective light. When you photograph all 3 together the light will be probably correctly balanced as all three combined is 50% grey (18% reflective light).

TTL will work just fine for most of the time and is great when you do not have the time to use manual settings.

How to make the make light consistent?

Put your camera on manual and adjust your exposure triangle until the light is how you want it. On some cameras you need to switch off the trigger
Set your trigger in TTL mode(and check your flash is in TTL mode)
Make the shot.
Press the TCM button for a second until it says M. Your flash is now put in manual mode and both the flash & trigger will show you the measured value.

There you have it.

I mainly use my light meter to measure the light as it more accurate. A light meter does not measure reflective light but incident light. However when I have very little time I use TTL to TCM.

UPDATE 02/2023:

The new Godox XPro II does not have a TCM button anymore. You just need to fire in TLL mode and when you switch to Manual the value is the measured value from the TTL metering. Nice.

My favorites... & bad bargains

Favorite camera
- Sony A1
Favorite bracket
- Small rig L-Bracket
Favorite camera HDMI monitor
- Feelworld Lut6
Favorite tool
- Smallrig Hunter AAK2495
Favorite Zoom lens
- Sony G 24-105 f/4
- Sony GM2 70-200 f/2.8
Favorite Prime lens for studio work
- Sony G 90mm macro f/2.8
Favorite prime lens
- Sony GM 135mm f/1.8
- Sony GM 50mm f/1.2
Favorite Flash
- Godox AD1200 Pro
- Godox AD200 in dual bracket
Favorite Trigger
- Godox Xpro S
Favorite Light Meter
- Sekonic L-858D
Favorite light former
- Godox Parabolic 128
- SMDV 100 cm octabox
Favorite tripod
- Manfrotto Alu Kit 3W MK055Xpro3-3W
Favorite lightning stand
- Jinbei M-6
- Some cheap alu stand from Ali Express
Favorite Software
- Capture One Pro
- Photoshop
- DXO Film pack
Favorite tablet
- XP-Pen deco pro medium
Favorite computer tool
- Stream Deck XL
- Creative iRoar Go 51MF8225AA000 (USB & bluetooth loudspeaker)
Favorite storage
- Synology NAS
Favorite screen
- Dell 3216Q
Favorite backpack
- Mindshift Photocross 13
- Manfrotto Mover-50
Favorite background
- Charcoal Grey

Worst buy
- Lightblaster
- Yehua wireless HDMI transmitter
- WIMAXIT Monitor 15.6 (awful)
- Peak Design Lens Kit voor Sony E-Mount (plastic, no lock mechanism)

Shooting with off cameraflash

Let us be honest. The easiest way to photograph people is using existing (ambient) light. You place your model in the shadow, put your camera on manual (or aperture), ISO as low as possible and your shutter speed should be at least the focal length of your lens.

In other words you make use of the basics of photography and that is your exposure triangle. Placing your subject directly in the sun will create harsh and unflattering light. However you can use reflection screens and place the model with her back towards the sun to create different lighting but you need someone to hold the reflection screen.

Once you start outdoors flash you have 4 more parameters to take into account.

- The power of the flash

- The distance towards the object (model)

- The angle and direction of the flash

- The light former (softbox) used

Therefore a lot of photographers do not use flash outdoors. It is more complicated and when used wrongly it creates light that is not as beautiful as ambient soft light.

Outdoors I mainly use one flash. When the sun is shining one flash is more than enough. In the studio it gets more complicated when using several strobes. You cut all ambient light by making the studio as dark as possible. We shoot at f/9, ISO100 and 1/200 to make sure very little light reaches our sensor.

Most of the time we use one 'main' (flash)light. Other flashes are mainly fill light, spot light or other forms of light creating atmosphere.

It is necessary or even mandatory to know how light behaves. What is light falling off (inverse square of law) and what is the difference when we place the flash far away or very close. What if we use large softboxes and what happens when you make use of a grid?

For example using a big double diffused softbox it makes no sense to place it far away from the model. The inverse square of law tells us only 2% of the light reaches our model when she is 8 meters away. That is when using omnidirectional light. (diffused softboxes, a bulb, ...)

Once you start using an open parabolic at the focal point or a sport reflector the light will reach further.

The advantage of using flash is you can shoot with the sun on the back of your subject (model). This makes a huge difference in your final image. The sky will be blue and your subject will get the necessary light (s)he deserves. When photographers tell me "I can fix this afterwards in Lightroom" I try to convince them it is not the way you should photograph.

The light is not always flattering using off camera flash with small light formers. Sometimes it is the way it is.

When you want to photograph a full body shot using a 85mm lens you are placed at least 4,5 meters away from the subject. This means when you put the flash behind you the distance will be at least 5 meters!

Personally I have no problem when the face is a bit greasy and shiny. I use Photoshop to soften the light on her face (without making it plastic) but if you are not familiar with photoshop (don't use Lightroom for this) the light is not always what the client wants. Your model should look fantastic and not like she has just finished the 10 miles.

In my workshops I show how to create light and combine it with ambient light. Join me if you can in upcoming workshops.

In this example I used a 180cm umbrella to lighten our model while the sun was shining at the back of her. Just check the shadows on the floor.

New Blog, website & general info

Hello!

Since 2015 I have been using the Smugmug service. It’s a great platform to showcase your portfolio with unlimited photos. You can create galleries for your clients with password protection and the smartphone app is also very user friendly.

The last 7 years Smugmug did not innovate much and very little new functions were added so I decided to stop using their service. I also had to maintain 2 different websites. I organized my pictures into galleries but in the end I found my website overloaded with pictures.