Three Quick Portrait Setups

A quickfire portrait photo session in order to do three different looks in succession by just adding, changing or moving a few speedlights. Always fun to keep the old hand in by way of this type of practical exercise.

I used a Nikon D850, Nikon 85mm f1.8 lens, four Nikon Speedlights all triggered wirelessly via a Nikon Speedlight Commander SU-800, ISO was 64 and aperture at f1.8 to get that shallow depth of field.

First off a single light shot through a snoot:

Contrasty and dramatic

Snoot was high, right and slightly behind of camera

The second shot I retained the snoot and added two lights aimed at the background, the light to camera left had the standard included incandescent filter attached and the light to camera right had the standard included fluorescent filter attached, both to influence the background in different ways. The light in the snoot was filterless.

More textured interest on the background

The snoot was left in the same position as the previous shot

The final photograph I used four lights and changed out the snoot for a shoot-through umbrella, I also brought it much closer to the subject. This had the effect of giving softer light. I also turned the two lights I used for the background in the previous shot and highlighted the side of the subjects head from slightly behind while shooting a gobo strip of light at the background.

Much softer light with lots of sculpting, depth & interest

All lights visible in this shot

The final setup I had the lights in three groups, the main light (group A) was at standard exposure, the side lights (group B) at -3 & the background light (group C) at -2.5. This gave a pleasing balance of light, at least for my taste.

All the light modifiers are from Elinchrom attached to Godox adapters to be able to let me use my Speedlights, except for the gobo which is from Magmod. I find that the Elinchrom studio lights are great in a bigger room but in such a small space they are way too powerful forcing me to stop down a lot more leading to me not being able to use the narrow depth of field that I prefer.

Below are some pics of the Godox mounts with Speedlights inserted. This is a budget conscious way of being able to use one set of modifiers for both the larger studio lights as well as the much smaller Speedlights.

Snoot

Umbrella

Reflector

The Prettiest Theater in the Whole of Landskrona

I like this building, it's simply very photogenic and nice to photograph... and just for clarity, it's also the only theater in Landskrona.

 

 

Street Scenes in Landskrona

A town is nothing without its people and Landskrona is no different. I'm not much of a street photographer, but here are some of my humble attempts to capture some of this towns daily life.

Random Architectural Photos From Around Town

Nothing quite like just wondering about around town pointing the camera at random stuff and taking pictures. So without further ado, random architectural detail photos from around town.

Inside the Old Landskrona Town Hall

After 11 years of living in Landskrona I finally had the opportunity to get inside the old city hall with my camera. I was taking photos on behalf of an organization that works for collaboration between the various Scandinavian countries called "Föreningen Norden" and that meant I could get some great pics of this spectacular building from the inside. A win-win situation!

(Now I feel the need to get back inside with a tripod and a wider lens... oh well.)

First the Landskrona Rådhus from the outside:

...and now the central public areas on the inside:

More Nikon 16mm Fisheye Experimenting

The Nikon 16mm Fisheye lens is a quite remarkable piece of tech in that it can actually record a full 180°. This sucker can see sideways! But straight from the camera the best I could get was this:

Not as wide as hoped and of course a little dull and dark... put it through DxO PL6, adjusted a few settings and discovered that there was more photo that was not originally revealed:

I then decided to squeeze a bit more out, played with the manual distortion buttons a bit as well and got this very wide and less fisheye looking photo:

Along the way I found that this lens really has very limited use but if used creatively in the right setting it can deliver interesting results. Not every bodies cup of tea, but interesting none the less.

Tulips in the Studio

Decided to shoot some tulips in my tiny studio. 

Nikon D850, 24-120mm f4 lens @120mm, f11, two Speedlights fired and controlled wirelessly via Nikons CLS & shot through an octobox to camera right and a gobo from under the table onto the background. Handheld throughout. I have posted a pullback shot at the end so you can see the light setup and layout.

 

...and lastly the promised pullback shot:

Citadellkliniken

This clinic is right by the beachfront area of Landskrona and across from the Citadel area. I photographed it at night almost two hours after sunset, hand held. Nikon D850, Nikon 35mm f1.8 lens, iso 8000, f5.6, 1/60s, -1.0 EV, processed in DxO PL6.

Swans in the Sunset

Swimming From The Dock Banned

 ...but in Swedish.

Water Tower Landskrona

The most photographed water tower in Landskrona.

 

Citadellbadet Building - Night

The building at one of the the swimming pools in Landskrona, but at night... in winter. No water in the pool right now but the building still lights up at night. I think it's very pretty.
 

Are Sunset Photos Cliché?

I read an article online recently where they labeled sunset (and sunrise) photography cliché. Maybe it is and if it is, what a wonderful cliché it is! Our sun has captivated us humans for many millennia and for good reason, it is such a powerful part of our lives, both giving us life and power but conversely it also influences our climate and has the power to bring about slow entropic decay and destruction.

Well whatever, I say long live the sunset photos!! Here are a few more:

Swedish Hobbit House

In a part of the earthen wall defenses of the Landskrona Citadel there is this entrance to what can only be a Hobbit house. (I assume it's actually some kind of storage room) Very Middle Earth.

Harbour Scenes

The harbour area around the Landskrona City Hall area is certainly worth a visit with its blend of old and modern buildings. Very photographic indeed.