I’ve been a bad blogger lately. Mainly because I’ve been busy working, but also because I’ve had some time off. This is actually the last weekend I have off in I don’t know how long and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible. At the same time I’m very much looking forward to all the weddings I have ahead of me this year. I’ve shot four already, but it feels like the real season starts now.
And I’m ready.
Next weekend I’m shooting a wedding on Bethell’s Beach in New Zealand and I can’t tell you how excited I am. The bride, Zilla, and her partner, Jon, couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful place. I admit I just wrote the last sentence to be able to write bride Zilla, but still. Bethell’s Beach is where they shot the movie The Piano and even though I’ve never been there I have seen photos. It will be very different.
Paul Von Rieter-Bride-Zilla, Very funny. I am sure you will rock it. Can’t wait to see.
February 21, 2010 - 10:31 pm
Solveig-Låter jättespännande! Jag kan se “Piano-miljön” framför mig..hoppas brudgummen liknar Harvey Keitel (fast med mer kläder..) Det skall bli kul att se dom bilderna! Lycka till!
February 21, 2010 - 11:09 pm
Dennis Pike-right on, looking forward to what you’re going to create this coming year. For this post I just keep picturing the training montages from “Rocky”. Jonas, running up a bunch of steps with a 70-200 in each hand for weights.
February 24, 2010 - 6:20 am
Oliver Collinge-You seriously have a bride named Zilla – that’s hilarious.
February 24, 2010 - 4:40 pm
Marco Correa-Ha ha ha ha, really funny, expecting to meet Zilla!
February 26, 2010 - 11:13 am
brett maxwell-there are many people hoping you survive this hectic year. it will be awesome to watch how you change and grow. just don’t go crazy.
I get quite a few questions regarding my photography; what gear I use, settings, if I prefer to shoot RAW or jpeg etc, etc. I’m more than happy to help out. For that reason I started answering questions here a while back. I have now answered some 500 questions, so if you’re interested in what I do and how I do it, chances are you’ll find it answered there. If not, please ask me your question and I will try and answer it.
layton -and that’s what makes you more than just an amazing photographer.
February 16, 2010 - 2:19 pm
LeeLoo -That’s very generous of you Jonas in an industry where cards are often held close to the chest.
Thank you!
February 16, 2010 - 6:36 pm
heather nan-loved, loved, loved all the sharing. just one thing… sons of anarchy? really?
perhaps I should submit that question.
February 16, 2010 - 9:19 pm
sui-a friend was just telling me today how cutthroat photographers– or anyone in any business, really– are and how ruthless they can be. definitely thank you for being so generous as to actually answer most people’s questions.
February 17, 2010 - 7:18 am
Ragna-Hur gör man om man tycker sig veta precis hur den där perfekta bilden ska se ut i fotoögonblicket, men är kass på att manövrera kameran så att resultatet blir bra. Kameran blir liksom ett hinder bara för att man är så värdelös på det tekniska. Har läst några fotoböcker men tycker att de förklarar uruselt. Hur blir jag bättre på att förstå hur min kamera fungerar!? Vad läser jag, vart ska jag titta, vart börjar jag? Tack och bock på förhand. ps. har bilder på min blogg ds.
February 18, 2010 - 6:01 am
AnnaCarin-Fantastiskt fina bilder, snubblade in här av en slump. Du gör bröllopsbilder på en annan nivå. Vackert.
Jag har en vän i UK som också gör intressanta bröllopsbilder, fast på ett annant vis. Kika om du har lust :)
Paul Von Rieter-I just wanted to add a bit of fuel to the fire here. I have personally asked Jonas a bunch of questions and I couldn’t be more thankful. His advise and suggestions have pushed my creativity and have made me work harder to be a better photographer.
You are a pretty amazing dude Jonas, and I am sure I speak for everyone in our community when I say thanks for taking the time to do what you do. FTW
February 23, 2010 - 3:19 pm
Amanda Basteen-You should make a FAQ and post it so you don’t have to keep answering :)
Robert-Hi, I’m a photographer from Barcelona, Spain. This is my second year photographing weddings, and your work is really excellent. subtlety, simplicity, naturalness … really incredible. My most sincere congratulations. I follow your work with true admiration.
Christan-I’m totally diggin your processing and composition.
February 20, 2010 - 5:21 pm
Gemma Schipani-This photo sums up ‘the bride’ image. When you think of a bride you think pure, innocent, beautiful, fresh & you get an emotional breathtaking response when you see them. This also adds a hint of mystery, leaves you wanting more!
February 21, 2010 - 4:22 am
daniel lateulade-Love it — absolutely amazing. You have a way of working with noise and making it look like film grain that I love.
Emily Porter-One of my favorite things about your aesthetic is how so many of your photos seem like something out of a dream. A good dream. A good dream with lots of yummy natural light. :)
February 23, 2010 - 2:13 am
Daniel Dunlap-Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! You do such great work with natural light!
February 23, 2010 - 2:42 pm
Teresa K-Wow Jonas, you really are an artist, aren’t you? This image is stunning.
February 25, 2010 - 1:05 pm
Justin-Wow, awesome tonality and processing on this image! Thanks for also sharing the before & after – love your work as always JP ;-)
March 1, 2010 - 11:08 am
reg-Great shot and interesting composition. I always love the stuff I’d never imagine to do.
Rae-ahh such a gorgeous moment!!
I LOVE that her foot is mid air with her hands behind her as though she is leaaaaping towards him with so much excitment!
February 13, 2010 - 4:36 pm
kitty-that little girl is going to cherish this image for the rest of her life. i know i would…
February 13, 2010 - 5:19 pm
Ayesha-You and your perfect whites :) and your one-image blog posts – just one image is so rich with story…
Therese-Oh my god, this is a brilliant photo in SO meny ways! You are great! (as always)
February 14, 2010 - 3:59 am
Poser-Right at the top of my fave images from you man.
Everything is perfect about this shot.
Makes me so happy.
:P
February 14, 2010 - 5:37 am
Dennis Pike-seriously?! do you check client’s homes before you shoot and say “ok, this a perfect staircase in front of a perfect white wall, that will work great for amazing, clean compositions, we can work together.” good lord man, this is just gorgeous. Cheers
Paul Von Rieter-Pretty awesome brother! This has got to rank up with some of my fav truly photojournalistic shots ever. This image is going to stick in my mind for at least a week.
February 14, 2010 - 1:56 pm
Tracey-Breathtaking. Precious. I love all your images…but this one…wow.
Rebecca-Great composition. Love the lines and all the white!
February 18, 2010 - 1:26 am
cara @ lillian and leonard-“Seriously?! do you check client’s homes before you shoot and say “ok, this a perfect staircase in front of a perfect white wall, that will work great for amazing, clean compositions, we can work together.””
That was my first thought too.
February 20, 2010 - 5:26 pm
Gemma Schipani-The title bought tears to my eyes & the photo really tipped me
over the edge. My Nonno passed away when I was just five, so I never really knew him. I just hope I had sweet moments like this with him. I also hope that little girl treasures that photo because one day it will mean the world to her.
February 21, 2010 - 6:44 pm
Josie Richardson -Jonas, you are the master of the stairs.
February 23, 2010 - 2:23 am
Matilda Holmqvist1-Otroligt vacker!!
Har börjat med något som kallas ‘Veckans Inspiration’ och jag valde att ha dig som “förste ut”. Lånade en bild och länkade till din blogg! Hoppas det var okej!
When I was approached by a friend of Jacqui’s, asking me if I could shoot some promotional photos for a local dance/club artist, my immediate reaction was no. No, no, no. I told him I don’t have the experience or the lighting equipment to pull something like that off. But he persisted. And then I started thinking about it. I went through the gear I have and figured, yeah, maybe I can do it. If I keep it simple. I’ve never done any composites or hardly even used my flash off camera, but hey, how hard can it be?
I’d read tutorials online on how to do it and I knew roughly how to pull it off.
I also knew I wanted some sort of film poster look to it. A bit gritty, but still a simple setup. I didn’t need the hassle of working some kind of idea into a shot I’d never even tried shooting before. The post processing in photoshop took less than 30 minutes and I think the end result looks pretty good for a club act. If you know PS, all I’ve done is use layer masks and then some cloning to clean up around the place. The cross processing is Nik Color Efex Pro. It’s not what I’d normally shoot, or even how I’d edit it, but there’s nothing like stepping out of your comfort zone to keep you on your toes.
I’ve put together a small making of, just to show you it’s not that hard to do.
As an experiment it was quite fun.
This is the gear I used.
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24mm 1.4L
2 Pocket Wizards
Canon 580 EX II (bare flash)
The flash was on a monopod which Jacqui held at different angles, the camera was on a tripod. The final shot is a composite of three shots where the artist and back-ups were lit by a single bare flash in each one. If you have any questions, shoot away. I’m no Zack Arias, but it was fun to see I could actually do it. I hardly edit my wedding images at all, so this was something completely new. It was nice to get out and shoot using ideas and equipment I know little about. I don’t think I’ll use much of this for my wedding work, but now I know off camera flash is nothing to be too scared of.
I know this shot could have been shot better, but still.
Eve -Stupid question – are you taking several photos of the persons? If so, do they have to remain absolutely still or how do you manage to add the pictures together?
(It’s probably a stupid question, but I know neither PS nor photographing and was just curious)
Jarno-Very nice use of off-camera flash Jonas! And a wonderful blog thanks for sharing photos and thoughts. I’ve also quite recently started using more and more one off-camera flash and it’s nice to see what one can accomplish with just one strobe.
Your thoughts about first thinking that you could not do the job sound familiar. But you nicely stepped out of comfort zone as you said and really did a nice job. One small and easy step to make the light nicer (smoother which is better imho) is adding a simple white shoot-through umbrella. Give it a try if you plan on experimenting with off-camera flash more.
February 11, 2010 - 6:08 pm
Kayleen T.-Very cool Jonas! My favorite part is the girls shadow on the wall!
February 11, 2010 - 6:11 pm
Christin-Bra jobbat. Blev skitsnyggt :) som vanligt… inte förvånad här, inte.
It’s quite a statement and applies to most anything in the world. What seperates you and I from John & Jane Doe as photographers is experience. What seperates you and I from Valentino as motorcyclists would be the same and in all cases a little passion drives us further toward reaching those goals.
:)
February 11, 2010 - 9:58 pm
Debs Ivelja-Brilliant Jonas, and thank you for sharing how you achieved this. It looks awesome.
You are a real inspiration and any more tutorials you have to share would be fab!
February 11, 2010 - 10:53 pm
Dennis Pike-you should have attended Ryan’s workshop, he covered this exact thing. Although, you pretty much nailed it. Cheers
February 11, 2010 - 11:02 pm
Cliff-Definitely not your regular day stuff… but you killed it! Great work Jonas.
February 11, 2010 - 11:04 pm
Leo Druker-Thanks for the informative video! Great work – I love the end result.
Tasha Schalk-That’s awesome, and I think it turned out great. I’m going to have to try this soon!
February 12, 2010 - 3:22 am
Drew-It’s nice to see strobist work from you Jonas. And the editing is flawless. Very nicely done!
February 12, 2010 - 10:36 am
Jonas -Eve: Yes, it’s three shots. Since the background is static I can (kind of) cut and paste between the different layers.
Dorothy: I wish I could remember. It was all manual settings and I also zoomed the flash head. I’d say 1/8 power with the flash zoomed to about 50mm. Maybe.
February 12, 2010 - 4:25 pm
Jono-Hah! I was in Israel with Enoch’s cousin. I’ve met Enoch before, he used to be my brother in-laws personal trainer. Small world! Love the shoot too.
February 13, 2010 - 3:29 am
Paul-Jonas-great work. Those turned out really well.
February 13, 2010 - 7:04 am
debbie mayes-I love the finished product, thank you for sharing how you got there…super cool ;)
February 13, 2010 - 3:00 pm
Ben Godkin-Great Job Jonas! You can make anything happen if you put your mind to it. :)
February 14, 2010 - 5:38 pm
gabe aceves-very cool to do something so different and execute it well. thanks for posting this. it just inspires me to get out of my comfort zone more.
February 15, 2010 - 7:48 pm
Berit -Znyggt!! Jag är också extremt förtjust i skuggan på muren. Ögat letar sig tillbaka dit om och om igen.
February 16, 2010 - 2:46 am
Gloria -Hi Jonas, I was wondering how you attached the flash to the monopod? Which monopod do you use? Thanks!
February 16, 2010 - 6:06 am
Jonas Peterson-I attached a “cold shoe” to the end of the monopod. The monopod is a pretty crap one that I got from National Geographic after being published there.
February 18, 2010 - 3:42 am
Jenny Meng-Strawhorne-Thanks for sharing. The finished shot turned out great. It’s always nice to challenge yourself and succeed!
February 19, 2010 - 3:28 am
Janine-Great shoot, Zack would love it…especially the can do attitude :)
February 22, 2010 - 1:11 am
lisa-Yay for taking chances! I always find it nerve wracking to try new techniques with clients, but doesn’t it feel so great when you pull it off? Nice work.
February 25, 2010 - 1:09 pm
Justin-Awesome skills as always Jonas – Thanks for the workflow video! How long did you spend on the post production?
March 1, 2010 - 11:09 am
reg-thanks for this. love to see folks’ workflows.
by Jonas
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