Here are 50 or so shots from my recent trip to Sweden. It rained the whole time I was there but that didn’t stop us creating some funky shots. I concentrated on refining my figure in the landscape and full length portraits throughout the three days. Enjoy

I’ve been working on some presets for Lightroom hence the changes in looks throughout this set. I’ll make my presets available on here just as soon as I’ve finalised them.

These shots are from the first workshop called ‘The Light‘ it is set in an old mill. It was just 8ºC inside so the girls did well to endure the cold. Many thanks to them.

Location: Vrångsholmen, Tanumshede
Models: Alice Kristiansen, Linn Olsson and Agnes Olsson
Hair: Therese Andersson
Make up: Amanda Andersson
Catering: Maria Allebring
Facilities Coordinator: Benny Ottosson

I used the Fujifilm X-T1 with the 14mm and 23mm lenses for the wide shots and the 35mm and 56mm prime lenses for the tighter stuff. It’s a lot of fun composing with lines and forcing the perspective in the wide shots. But you have to be brave. It’s just so easy to use a long tele zoom for everything but then so much of the ‘story’ becomes lost.

Lighting was by the Lupolux LED 650 with a Scattergel. My lenses had Tiffen Black Pro Mist diffusion 1/4 filters.

Day two was a boudoir workshop at a waterfront hotel in a quaint fishing village.

Location: Grebys Fisk & Skaldjursrestaurang, Grebbestad
Models: Sanja Lilli Gohlke, Therese Palm and Elin Johansson
Hair: Therese Andersson
Make up: Amanda Andersson
Facilities Coordinator: Benny Ottosson

I showed the delegates how to make Hollywood style portraits with a pair of Lupolux LED 650 spotlights.

Day three was a self indulgent creative shoot for Benny Ottosson and I. We went back in time to an authentic 1950s American Diner imported by it’s owner from Boston.

Location: Nellies Place
Models: Lisette Karlsson and Linn Lovisa with her classic car
Lisettes Hair: Therese Andersson
Lisettes Make up: Amanda Andersson

We then moved on with Lisette to an abandoned farm house and outbuildings I had spotted near the side of the road. Lisette’s dog ‘Little Elliot’ came for the ride and ended up co starring.

All in all despite the rain and cold a great time was had by everyone. I must thank Benny and his wife Pia for putting up with me for the three days that I’ll never forget.

In my next blog I’ll head to The Hague (Den Haag) in Holland for an amazing three days of sleek city hotel boudoir and street fashion portraits. In the meantime please feel free to comment on these pictures or ask questions in the area below

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I shot this set of 60 pictures  using my Fujifilm X-T1 as a Leica Monochrom but of course I was shooting faster because I had the Fuji’s excellent autofocus plus the tilting screen of the Fuji meant I got shots I could never have taken on a Leica.

I set the X-T1 to RAW + Jpeg and my film simulation to ‘B g’ which is the Fuji monochrome setting with a green filter. Enjoy

This was probably the most refined shoot I’ve had so far in 2014. This was a boudoir workshop set up by Blaise and Laura in The Hague in Holland. I’ve never been to ‘Den Haag’ so this was a perfect opportunity to go. We shot in my hotel room, number 1915. It is a top floor split level suite in the fabulous NH Den Haag hotel. Rosalinde is a quintessential professional model to shoot with and has the patience of an angel. It is worth noting that in some of these pictures Rosalinde is wearing no make up and I haven’t retouched her skin in any of these shots. I like real, not fake. These shots have not been near Photoshop, they’ve just been whizzed through Lightroom in my usual manner. See this video for more information about how I use Lightroom 5.

Model: Rosalinde Kikstra
Make up: Rosalinde Kikstra
Lighting: Lupolux LED 1000 Spotlight with Scattergels, Lupolux Quadlight with grid
Camera: Fujifilm X-T1 with 14mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm lenses
Filters: Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/4 on all lenses

I teach how to create low key, high key and sculptured light portraits plus how to make patterned light on my boudoir workshops. Putting all these styles together can result in a far greater variety of shots from the shoot .

One way of decoding my posing for boudoir is to look for triangles and curves that I create in the body shape. I always aim to enclose limbs to form triangles. The fall of light on the body is key to my work too. I take control of all light in the scene.

The scene setting establishing shots incorporating the full body are the challenging ones to take. This is where ones skills as a photographer are most exposed. Composition, perspective and narrative are all contributors.

Please feel free to comment on or ask questions about these pictures. If you would like me to visit your city and you can help set up connections and facilities please drop Blaise or Laura an email. Thanks for looking, Damien.

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Here is a mix of the shots I took during a couple of recent 1:1 training sessions. My clients flew in for the sessions. One couple came from Slovakia and they stayed at a cottage we found in the Mendip hills and the other couple stayed in the Clifton apartment we had arranged for them. Blaise and Laura are dab hands at putting together shoot training packages for individuals and small groups of photographers. Email Blaise for more information or see this page for prices.

01. My Russian made Zorky 5 film camera serves as a great prop. Claire was lit here with reflected window light.

Camera: I used my trusty Fujifilm X-T1 with 23mm, 35mm and 56mm lenses
Lighting: Lupolux LED 1000 and an LED 650 with Scattrergels and a Lupolux Quadlight with grid
Model: Claire R from Gingersnap model agency
Make up and hair on the vintage set: Vicki Waghorn

Here are 50 shot or so from my training sessions. NSFW after the jump…

02. We started the session by taking control of the window light and shifting exposures in manual mode. [The Fuji X-T1 in manual mode with the exposure preview option switched on is a joy to use. You see what you are going to get on the screen before you press the button. This feature alone has greatly speeded up my shooting since the old days of SLR photography.]

03. With the curtains closed I showed how to light Claire and the kitchen scene with a single Lupolux LED 650 and a Scattergel. I placed the toast rack and fresh flowers to create beautiful shadows. With continuous light you can see what you are doing in real time without the need for test exposures and all that faff.

04. When I’m compiling albums for clients I always shoot plenty of details. They add to the mix and allow for interesting page layouts.

05. These bed shots we taken using natural light in the cottage. I often have to change the shape of windows in a room to create my look. I do it by clipping fabric pieces to the curtain tracks.

06. I then added a single Lupolux LED 1000 with a Scattergel to give the bedroom a sunlit look. This is a trademark Lovegrove look and one I always get asked for by my clients. Being able to shoot sunlit interiors when it’s raining outside is a must for location portrait and commercial photographers.

07. Just one Lupolux LED 650 with a Scattergel was perfect for this movie inspired set up at the bottom of the stairs.

08. For a Hollywood glamour look I always use a crisp hard key light and a hard back light too. These shots had a Lupolux LED 1000 as the key light and a Lupolux LED 650 as the back light. The Fuji X-T1 with it’s tilting screen is perfect for high and low angle shots without resorting to standing on chairs or kneeling down.

09. This dress was supplied by Molly Mishy May and is fabulously slinky. The post production has been given a curves tweak in Lightroom to create the look. I’ll be releasing my curves presets for Lightroom very soon.

10. These shots were lit with a single Lupolux Quadlight and grid. Controlling contrast is the key to working with one light and making photographs that will print well.

11. Window light from behind can be fabulous to use once you know how to get punchy shots that reveal shape and maintain delicate tonal separation.

12. The Fuji X-T1 delivers delightful colour straight from the camera. I have set up my default camera profile to be the STD Provia setting in Adobe Lightroom. These shots were lit with the Lupolux Quadlight.

13. The underbust corset on the left was made by Lisa Keating. I used the window light here to reveal curves and lines.

14. I lit this set with the Lupolux Quadlight. We just used a bit of plain wall as a background.

15. I love to direct and work with whoever I’m shooting. I pay special attention to arms and hands before directing the mood or emotion. A big part of a training session with me is learning how to direct a model or a client. The confidence gained through understanding how to direct someone is definitely a career changer.

16. Low key photography set ups with the Lupolux Quadlight are so useful for boudoir and pregnancy photography. Getting the pose angles is absolutely straightforward as what you see is what you get. Focussing with continuous lights is so much faster and more accurate than trying to use modelling lights on flash heads.

17. There is always time for a bit of art on a Lovegrove 1:1 session.

18. Claire is such a star. All Lovegrove models, like Claire are patient and kind. We are well served by the Gingersnap model agency in Bristol and we also have our own directory of models to choose from.

My bespoke photography training sessions for up to 4 photographers are available throughout the year. You get to choose from a wide variety of locations from boutique hotels, cottages, waterfront apartments, the Lovegrove studio or perhaps a venue near you. You can choose the genre, even mix the genres on the day. Then select your choice of model and lighting kit. Blaise and Laura make the whole process easy. Call them today on 01275 853204 or email Blaise.

Please feel free to comment on these pictures or ask questions below. I always reply to questions and comments left on my blog. Sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks until I have a break in my shooting schedule but I’ll reply. If you want a faster response in 140 characters or less contact me on Twitter.

The post A mix of boudoir, beauty and vintage portraits appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

Two years ago I was commissioned to shoot a ‘Day In The Life’ project at BBC Bristol centre where I worked for 14 years from 1984 until 1998. I shot the complete project on my Fuji X-Pro1 with the 18mm, 35mm and 60mm lenses. Last month I was back but this time I had the Fuji X-T1 with 14mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm lenses. I was asked to  shoot formal and informal behind the scenes shots capturing the goings on in the newsroom, out on location and of course back in the studio. The project took several days in total but here are a few shots from my studio series.

The X-T1 delivered so much more for me this time around because of the tilting screen. This feature alone made capturing shots like the ones above a doodle where before it would have been more guess work with a bit of trial and error.

The brief was loose but the needs of the end users were very specific. I was working for the PR and the social media departments. The PR department need shots for presenter cards, BBC iPlayer graphics, framed portraits in the reception and corridor areas of the buildings and for event posters.  The social media team look after the Facebook and Twitter content feed and they needed shots that can be sliced into header graphics etc.

I shot each of the presenters in turn capturing both portrait and landscape aspect photographs from a variety of angles.

I worked between transmissions so I asked my assistant Suzi to stand in as an ‘extra’ operating a camera to make it look like we might be on air.

The graphic panels in the set are created with back projection and as theses projectors use DLP technology there was colour shifting when I shot above 1/60th second. The colour shifting will get sorted at the print stage. What I have here are selected jpegs for illustration purposes prior to final polishing are and are not ‘official release’.

The light level in the BBC Bristol studio when I started in 1984 was 1200 lux for the Link 110 tube cameras. The lighting rig then was a selection of 5kw and 2.5kw fixtures for the key lights and 1kw pups for the back lights. The light level in the studio today is about 400 lux and this is more than enough for the latest generation of HD broadcast cameras. This level can easily be achieved with modern LED Fresnel spotlights from companies like Lupolux and Arri. My camera settings for this set of shots were in the region of ISO 1600, f/2 at 1/60th second.

At least we had an authentic weather map to work with :) My thanks go to the whole team for making me feel welcomed home.

Please feel free to post comments or questions on the shoot, lighting or camera kit below.

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Here is 18 minutes of video shot during Damien Lovegrove’s recent Concept To Print tour. In this section he is discussing the  ideas and images in his book titled Chloe-Jasmine Whichello.

The Chloe-Jasmine Whichello book is loved the world over by photographers and artists for it’s simple beauty and design.

“Chloe and I set out on each shoot to create a series of photographs with a depth of emotion and a rapport that lingers.” Says Damien. “We worked through the tears and laughter to capture these pictures full of personality and beauty. I sculpted the light and together we created the moments that have been captured here forever. When you look into Chloe’s eyes in these pictures you can see into her soul.”

Here are sample spreads showing the layout strategy and use of both negative space and full bleed design.

“This really is a photographers style and posing guide. It’s rich in variation and covers all bases. It’s not one with f/ numbers and focal lengths, it’s on another level entirely. It’s about communication between Chloe-Jasmine and I, It’s also about art, design and composition. Many well established theories of good practice are challenged in this book. It’s a body of work that is eloquent and self supporting. Despite the vast array of photographic techniques employed to create these pictures, the book has a rhythm. There is a core continuity and a narrative that is bourn out in Chloe’s poetry. Some would say it’s a naive work with substance. All I know is it’s a work of passion.” Damien Lovegrove.

This special offer rate is available here until the end of June 2014. The postal rate has been reduced too for all UK mainland orders.

The book is available from here as a signed lavish 1st edition perfect bound hardback with 158 pages. It is 34cm (12″) square with a French fold blind embossed dust jacket. The pages are the finest 180gsm paper stock with a spot UV varnish on each photograph.

ISBN: 9780956782007

“Please feel free to comment on the book if you already own a copy. Feel free to ask me questions about the photographs. Just mention the page number that the photograph appears on together with your question and I’ll discuss the attributes and how I shot it for you.” Damien Lovegrove.

The post Deconstructing the Chloe-Jasmine Whichello book appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

How to take stunning window light portraits by taking control of your surroundings.

This is one of five videos that I was commissioned to make for Fujifilm UK this summer using the Fuji XT-1 and 56mm lens. All 5 Fujifilm chapters form part of this grand 18 chapter production called ILLUMINATION. This all new lavish, feature length production comprises nearly two hours of video training in 18 chapters and covers the use of Speedlights, big flash packs and natural light when making fabulous portraits on location.

Model: Victoria Coutts
Dress: Molly Mishi May
Makeup: Vicki Waghorn

The post Window light portraits with the Fuji X-T1 and 56mm lens appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

This video shows how I make portraits that have life and vitality using the Fuji X-T1 and 56mm lens shooting under trees in the garden.

This is the second of five videos commissioned by Fujifilm showing how I make beautifully simple portraits. All the 5 Fujifilm chapters are just part of my latest 18 chapter production called ILLUMINATION. This all new lavish, feature length production comprises nearly two hours of video training in 18 chapters and covers the use of Speedlights, big flash packs and natural light when making fabulous portraits on location.

Model: Victoria Coutts
Makeup: Vicki Waghorn

The post Backlit garden portraits with the Fuji X-T1 and 56mm lens appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

Here are 55 of the photographs I took using the Fujifilm X-T1 during the making of Illumination. As you can see we went to many varied locations from dusty cellars to palaces and from ploughed fields to beaches at sunset. Enjoy…

We shot at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire, Backwell House in Somerset plus a woodland, field and beach near Clevedon in Somerset.

Dresses were supplied by Molly Mishi May of Bristol.

Make up was by Vicki Waghorn.

Models are: Jamie Roche, Victoria Coutts and Claire Rammelkamp.

The full list of kit used is here. (2nd tab in half way down the page)

There are 18 chapters in the full production and it runs for just under two hours. The project took just over four months to plan, shoot and edit and we were very grateful for the support of the team at Fujifilm UK. Fujifilm commissioned 5 of the chapters to help the project reach fulfilment.

The Illumination video is on a launch special offer of just £45 right now (normal price £60). You can buy it at the reduced price and see a sample chapter for free here.

Please feel free to ask questions below

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A short trailer for Illumination. The ultimate training video experience for lighting portraits on location. Presented by Damien Lovegrove.
The full production is just under 2 hours long and is split into 18 chapters of full HD video covering the use of speedlights, big flash and natural light.

More information including the kit used by Damien Lovegrove can be found here.

The launch offer price of £45 inc VAT must end on Friday 11th July so hurry download your copy today.

Please feel free to ask questions below.

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I’m not usually one to blog weddings or customer work but as this one is for friends and models with whom I regularly work I thought I’d share a few of my photographs with you.

There was a time at the turn of the century when a mixture of black and white and colour images were often shot at a wedding. The process continued into the first few years of digital photography partly because getting pleasing skin tones in some mixed poor lighting conditions was a difficult task. It was far easier to ‘bang em into mono’ especially as the jpeg files we all shot with were so unforgiving.

These days we supply all our wedding images in colour and we don’t have to rescue any more. Better Speedlights, cameras with excellent sensors and RAW file processing have given us the ability to breeze through any wedding scenario.

With a mirrorless camera like the Fujifilm X-T1 you can preview the exposure and white balance then adjust it to taste before you press the button. This means there are no ‘test’ images on your card. Just expertly exposed images with lovely colour to boot. In the days of SLRs we used to shoot and hope. Then we pressed playback and adjusted exposure or exposure compensation and had another test shot. After a second review we were usually ‘nearly there’ with exposure, flash power and white balance. Without the review steps it was ever so easy to end up with under flashed orange looking pictures that were near impossible to repair without resorting to black and white.

All these pictures were taken by me using the Fuji X-T1 and whizzed through Lightroom. They look pretty much as they did in camera. I shot using the 14mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm lenses. I had the 60mm macro for the first few frames of the day then I left it in the car with my back up kit (Fuji X-E2 with 18-55mm zoom). I own a Fuji X-Pro1 too but it is not really suitable for shooting a wedding because there is a slight delay with the EVF and LCD plus the AF is too slow for the faster moving moments.

I shot the wedding alongside Gemma Williams. A professional wedding photographer from the West Midlands. Julie, my wife and I had the pleasure of training Gemma a few years back and I must say her photographs sparkle. Gemma wasn’t second shooting, she was principal shooter for a lot of the day covering all the bridal preparations and details right through to the wedding breakfast. I sneaked the couple of bridal prep shots you see here when I popped in to see how Gemma was getting on and I’ve included them to show how good the Fuji is in mixed light. Gemma shoots her weddings on a pair of Canon 5D mk3 cameras and the image quality she achieves in camera is fabulous. If you are getting married in the UK or know someone else who is then I can whole heartedly recommend Gemma. Cool, calm, professional and a super photographer.

Are you shooting weddings on the Fuji X-T1? Has moving from an SLR made your life easier too?

The post An English summer wedding with the Fuji X-T1 appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

01. The magical Bayon temple in Angkor Thom is a highlight not to be missed on any tour of Cambodia.

Touring Cambodia at the start of the rainy season was definitely the right thing to do. There are far less tourists to the point that just off the tourist trail there were none at all. Tours were often led by official guides following arrows that took in the main parts of the temples but from one side only. I chose to ignore the arrows and found myself in an identical symmetrical half of the temple but without any tourists. Perfect!

02. The best time of the day to visit was late afternoon from 4pm onwards when all the coach tours had gone and the sun was going down. The colours in the stone are wonderful. Verdigris and rust were the dominant tones.

03. The random state of the fallen stones add to the charm of the sites. The smoke from incense burners perfumes the air and is a welcome delight.

04. Empty vistas and outbuildings to explore. The lack of roped off areas was a pleasant surprise. On several occasions I climbed the steep precarious steps to reach the buildings. The quiet side of the temples were great places to soak up the atmosphere and drama of the ancient history.

05. A few visitors remain by the pond that is famously used to capture the classic sunrise reflection shot of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately the front of the temple is in netted scaffolding at this time so that shot is not an option.

06. The carving is sublime. Very deep reliefs in the older temples and finer shallow work in Bayon and Angkor Wat. I particularly like the battle friezes depicting the elephants and prisoners bound in ropes. It reminds me very much of the carvings at Karnak in Egypt. Feet are always carved sideways for instance while faces are in all directions.

07. The temples can be enjoyed whatever the weather. The carvings are visually rich and intense in the warm rain. Tunnels lead off everywhere so it’s a great place for a spot of hide and seek :)

08. Top Right: An lovely example of moss covered deep carving I found in one of the more overgrown temple ruins. Bottom: Columns often had Greek and Roman influence with pedestals and capitals plus the classical expanding waist contour to the columns themselves. These temples were built a 1000 years after the peak of the Roman empire, 4000 years after the pyramids of Egypt and at about the same time as our 13 Norman Cathedrals in England. I often think more highly of temples abroad but the ones we have closer to home in Europe can match any others I’ve seen for stonemasonry, carving and art.

09. Ta Prohm or Angelina’s temple as it is affectionately now known is perhaps the most dramatic. Made famous by the Tomb Raider film and game. The charm that this temple possesses comes from the jungle that was allowed to take hold in the ruins. It is largely cleared now leaving just a few of the big trees among the structures and piles of rubble. I was reading in the local paper that the plan is to remove the trees starting some time next year and reconstruct the temple. Apparently the trees are a health and safety risk. After this restoration the magic for me will be largely gone.

Camera: Fuji X-T1, 10-24mm, 18-55mm and 55-200mm zoom lenses

My next post from Cambodia is the first of several featuring the portrait shoot sessions that I ran in some of the most fabulous urbex environments I’ve ever seen.  If you would like to join me on an extended 12 day tour and experience Cambodia in 2015 email Blaise or Linda at Essential Explorations to be put on the information list and we will keep you up to date with the details of what will be my last tour of this fabulous country. Also in the planning stages for 2015 are tours of Cuba and Burma. Email Blaise or Linda about those too.

The post Cambodia part 2 ~ Temples appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

01. Charlotte from Paris with her fabulous command of English was our model for the Lovegrove Nudes session in Phnom Penh.

Our locations for these sessions were the Mansion House and the old Police Station building, both now in a dilapidated condition but rich in texture. The Mansion house is full of bullet holes and the police station is home to a colony of fruit bats plus a few rats. Linda Bell and her team from Essential Explorations secured both locations for us to shoot in with negotiations that lasted days. It was worth it. Here are 33 of my pictures of Charlotte. NSFW after the jump or below the fold.

02. We started on the first floor of the Mansion House with some flowing movement and natural lighting from the open balcony.

03. Creating and capturing a sequence of pictures with rapport was one of the exercises I set the delegates. A dynamic element is often lacking in my portraits so I used the Cambodia sessions to readdress that.

My camera kit in Cambodia for portraits comprised a Fuji X-T1 with 14mm, 23mm, 35mm, and 56mm prime lenses. My wife Julie used the Fuji X-E2 with the 10-24mm, 18-55mm and 55-200mm zooms most of the time but we shared the long and wide zooms when shooting landscapes. The X-Pro1 was used by my daughter Francesca and me from time to time as we tended to swap cameras occasionally. The 60mm lens is still my favourite prime so it got plenty of use too. On the left are my ND and polarising filters in stacking caps. The Speedlight is a Cactus RF60 and the trigger is a Cactus V6. The bag is a Think Tank Retrospective 7. We also had a Think Tank Retrospective 30 camera bag with us in Cambodia. [The Fuji X-Pro1 has had a custom wrap fitted as part of a product testing programme for Fujifilm UK. They now offer a pimping service for customers cameras]

04. The sun came and went so I chose Charlotte’s position carefully in these former corridors of power. It was a warm 37 degrees so we had plenty of bottles of water and cans of drinks on ice to hand.

05. I was shooting at 90 degrees or greater to the light for a lot of my images without eye contact. It’s part of my lighting strategy. ISO 800, 23mm lens at f/2 for 1/125th second

06. The floors needed a bit of a clean before Charlotte could sit on them.

I edited these pictures on our tour bus between Phnom Penh and Kep. It was not an ideal workspace and the green curtains didn’t help either. I used my ageing Macbook Pro and just popped the raw files through Lightroom. They have not been into Photoshop. There is quite a bit of tonal variation in this set, a few images are overworked and a few images are a bit flat. That will need sorting before I re-export and make prints of any of the photographs.

07. I decided to keep the bullet hole in the shot to the right of Charlotte. It would be easy to remove in Lightroom 5 now that the clone and healing tools work so well. The shot on the left was exposed at 1/2000th second with the 56mm lens at f/2 using ISO 200.

08. Sheen and highlights. I usually leave my light sources out of the shot but I like the tatty window so I fired off a frame with that in too. The shot on the right has delightful cheek and chin highlights that bring Charlotte’s face to life. 56mm lens, ISO 400, 1/250th second at f/2.8

09. I love these textures. You might recognise the tutu skirt. It came from Ebay and has travelled with me around the world. One long term project of mine is a book called tutu, you never know it might get printed one day.

10. Hair can be used as a soft barrier to create either a mysterious or alluring look. On the right the hair across Charlotte’s face adds to her playfulness.

11. ISO 1600, 1/125th at f/2.8 using the 14mm lens top and 23mm lens bottom.

12. I directed an asymmetrical pose for Charlotte to put a strong diagonal in her shoulders and that super curve in her waist. Tip toes completes the look. It had just started raining when I took this shot. 20 minutes later the rain had stopped and the streets below us were steaming.

13. With the light – 90 degrees to the light – and into the light.

14. There’s usually scope for some fun with a tutu skirt. ISO 3200, 23mm lens at f/1.4 and 1/125th second.

I’ll be back in Cambodia for one more tour in 2015. If you have a spirit of adventure and want to shoot a mix of travel, landscape, street and portrait photography then email Blaise my PA or Linda at Essential Explorations. There’s talk of photography adventures in Bali and Cuba too.

The post Charlotte ~ The Phnom Penh sessions appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

01. High on a mountain with the clouds rolling into this abandoned palace Yulia and I make magic. I aligned the light sources, styled the look, directed the action and used the flip out screen on the Fuji X-T1 to save me from lying in the water. I would have done it, believe me, the shot had me fizzing with excitement.

I think that this is probably some of my best work to date. Certainly Yulia and I sparkled, we are like peas from a pod, she could easily be my younger sister (much younger) Darren her husband is a fab guy too and together they made my trip to Cambodia ever so special. Here are 60 of our creations. NSFW after the jump or fold.

02. We started shooting in the abandoned villas in Kep. There were mortar holes in the walls and grenade holes in reinforced concrete floors. The villas were overgrown with creepers in places and the textures were amazing.

03. This has to be one of my favourite shots of all time. I suggested to Yulia that she could stand on the tree roots and the dynamic pose she struck it just right for the space. ISO 800, 10-24mm zoom at f/4 with image stabilisation, 1/15th second with the lens set to 20mm.

04. Several other shots were created in the same scene with the 60mm lens (left) and the 14mm (right).

05. Raw beauty, power and intensity.

06. Softness and sensitivity.

07.

08.

09. The jungle is encroaching on the abandoned structures. We have to be careful not to stray off the beaten track because of the possibility of land mines.

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11.

12. We headed up to the mountains to a fantastic location that had been sourced and secured by Linda from Essential Explorations. Linda is excellent at advanced planning and has great negotiation skills. The rest was up to me.

13. The location has a super tonal balance to play with but the lighting direction is critical to maximise the opportunity. The shot on the left reminds me of the classic Athena poster of the 1970s with the tennis girl scratching her bum. It’s not explicit but plays on the mind in a mildly erotic way. The shot on the right it a timeless classic.

14. I used classic two point lighting to highlight Yulia’s cheekbone and jawbone.

15. The clouds were wafting into the building and they gave the shot on the left that black level lift.

16. My lighting strategy for the majority of shots in this building was to work at 90 degrees to the source or sources.

17. Soft and hard. I’d love those walls in my studio.

18.

19. Back on the ground and out and about in Kep. Kep is a coastal town with a modest beach just 3 hours drive from Phnom Penh.

20. The last shots that day were taken on the jetty at the sailing club as the thunder clouds rolled in. ISO 400, 56mm lens at f/1.2 for 1/180th second.

21. Style and elegance.

22. Cheeky fun.

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27. These nudes were shot at an abandoned church in the mountains by Kep. Cambodia is rich in shoot locations and we have barely touched the surface.

My thanks go to Darren, Yulia’s husband for help with logistics and security at our shoot locations. I’ll be back to see Darren and Yulia in 2015 when I run my last Cambodia tour. The shots from this set are featured in next months edition of Ladies Cambodia’s No1 women’s lifestyle magazine.

Allergy advice: These shots are free from Photoshop. They were processed in Lightroom on a computer that contains Photoshop but can guarantee Photoshop free.

If you have a spirit of adventure and want to shoot a mix of travel, landscape, street and portrait photography then email Blaise my PA or Linda at Essential Explorations There’s talk of photography adventures in Bali and Cuba too.

The post Yulia ~ The Kep sessions appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

01. The children of the town came out to watch us shoot in the dying rays of sunlight at the end of the day. Cambodia is a colourful vibrant country with a joyous people.

Kate, one of our models, joined us in Seem Reap for a couple of days on my first tour of Cambodia. Here are a few of my frames taken in a fishing village, temples, woodland and our boutique hotel. NSFW after the jump or fold

02. The temples in the Angkor complex make fabulous portrait locations. In late July and early August there were very few tourists so it was possible to have complete areas of the temples to ourselves.

03. Bayon and Ta Prohm were the most exciting temples to shoot in. Wander off the tourist path and get lost is my advice. We immersed ourselves in the wonderful light and textures of the less spectacular areas.

04. The edge of a wooded area of eucalyptus trees on the road back to Siem Reep is a simple yet striking location to shoot. I shot the picture on the right by pool at our hotel.

Kate was scheduled to be our nude model in Phnom Penh for tour 2 but plans eventually changed so Kate and I did a mini shoot early one morning at the hotel instead.

05.

06. The white walls in the covered areas of my balcony was a perfect area for a simple natural light shoot.

If you have a spirit of adventure and want to shoot a mix of travel, landscape, street and portrait photography then email Blaise my PA or Linda at Essential Explorations There’s talk of another photography adventure in Cambodia in 2015 plus Bali and Cuba too.

The post Kate ~ The Siem Reep session appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

01. The palace on the mountain top is the most magical location I have ever shot in. The planning, negotiation and traveling were certainly worth the effort.

Gorgeous couple Bethany, a model from Phnom Penh and Shadrack, a professional footballer joined us in Kep for tour 2. When Linda at Essential Explorations and I set out the schedule for our Cambodia adventures we wanted to recruit fabulous models with a good command of English. We knew we were going to photograph the local Khmer people throughout the rest of the trip so we set out to make the four dedicated portrait sessions an exciting contrast. Here are 40 of my shots from these sessions. Enjoy

02. Shadrack is such a good model to shoot. I controlled the natural light to highlight his body contours. People often ask me “Do you use a different lighting strategy for men?” My answer is always no.

I shot all of these frames with my Fuji X-T1 with 14mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm prime lenses.

03. A stamp of the foot set the ripples in motion. The Fuji X-T1 captures all the tones so effortlessly making it easy to print the darkest shadows and the lightest highlights.

04. The clouds rolled in through the open window reveals reducing the temperature from a hot 38 degrees at sea level to a cool 18 degrees here in the clouds on the mountain.

05. I could have shot in this building all day. Next year, on our Cambodia tour 3, we will arrive here an hour earlier and leave later. This venue is so magical.

06. Kep is littered with abandoned villas. Some with bullet holes, others with mortar holes. This outside staircase was the perfect location for a group shot. Yulia takes the upper ground in these photographs.

07. An encroaching rain forrest will soon take over these abandoned houses.

08. Shadrack has a wonderful physique to light. Once the X-T1 files are downloaded Lightroom makes such easy work of the images. I use the ‘Fuji Pro Neg S’ profile to deliver a full range of tones. I get the colours spot on first, make a virtual copy, then click the Black & White button.

09. When I’m lucky enough to photograph dark skin I always compose and light for the highlight sheen. With pale skin I compose and light for the shadows. It seems obvious really but it was my BBC training that taught me exactly how to do it.

10. I wanted to shoot a few frames of Bethany and Shadrack together. Couples photography has to be one of my favourite genres.

11. I constantly change my viewpoint and opt for a less is more approach.

12. Like a bird, floaty and calm. This was the moment Bethany and I connected. It usually takes just a few moments of intense concentration and a mutual trust to break through the superficial barriers we both put up and to fully connect with a portrait sitter.

13. I love using 2x 3/4 back lights. The lighting here was all natural. The subject and camera placement was critical to make it work. My delegates often learn a great deal about using light when we use the light around us in situations like these. This can be more valuable a learning experience than when we start rigging flash systems.

14. Bethany has the most wonderful eyes and legs. I love to shoot the detail. Two point, key and kick lighting on the left and contré Jour lighting on the right.

15. I set my 23mm lens to f/5.6 for the shot on the left. The 56mm lens was set wide open to f/1.2 for the shot on the right and I used classic three point lighting with some flare.

16. Clarity and purity of tone is what I like to achieve in my monochrome work. These pictures have not been near Photoshop. A few tweaks of Lightroom delivers the look I capture in camera.

17. Back on the beach at Kep. I shot this just before sundown and a few cocktails at the sailing club.

18. A fabulous end to the day’s shooting. The air was cooling off and the lights were coming on all around the bay.

If you have a spirit of adventure and want to shoot a mix of travel, landscape, street and portrait photography then email Blaise my PA or Linda at Essential Explorations We will run one more photography adventure in Cambodia in 2015 plus a trip to Bali and Cuba too.

The post Bethany & Shadrack ~ The Kep sessions appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

This shot was taken on my trusty old Fuji X-Pro1 with the 23mm f/1.4 lens at f/2.5 using ISO 6400 and 1/500th second.

I was given three pieces of advice for sport photography when I was shooting alongside some top pros when I was at the BBC TV and here it is
• When shooting stills, get it still. 1/500th is a great place to start.
• Be in the right place to see the action against a relevant but non distracting background. • Get your timing spot on.
Great advice indeed! For the kick boxing shot above I pre focussed using momentary AF in manual focus mode and then panned with the action like it was a movie. I watched the action, not the LCD and chose when to shoot because the LCD on the X-Pro1 has quite a delay. The X-T1 is an altogether better camera for the job but it’s the shot that counts, not the camera.

The post Kick boxing in Cambodia ~ Fuji X-Pro1 appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

Click on the picture to see the full size spread and read the wonderful article written by Cassandra. It gives a clear directive and vision for my photography of women plus… Yulia explains what it’s like being on the other side of my camera?

01. Lighthearted fun with Cassandra, the editor of Lady magazine in Cambodia, shot on a compact hotel room balcony. Fuji X-T1, 56mm lens using a shutter speed long enough to feel great and short enough to care. 1/125th second [right]

02. Beautifully simple and simply beautiful.

03. The temple at Angkor Wat provides a fabulous backdrop. A 6pm we catch the last rays of sunlight as the tourists have all but gone back to Siem Reap in their coaches and tuk tuks.

04. The ancient carvings come alive in the glancing sunlight. I’m quite moved by the spectacle. It’s just Cassandra, Francesca my daughter and I left to appreciate the 1000 years of history laid before us. These temples in Cambodia were constructed at about the same time as the great Norman cathedrals in England.

05. Getting away from the bustle of the main tourist sites is a must if you want to experience the splendour and magnificence of the stone masons craft. The jungles are littered with ruins of such fabulous detail that I felt like a true adventurer at times.

06. Pockets of natural light are formed from the skylight streaming through holes in the roofs of ancient buildings [left] and where such wonderful light evaded us we made our own with a Cactus RF60 Speedlight  [right].

07. Cassandra loves to climb. In seemingly no time she was 15ft above us in this ancient tree [left]. The edge of a Eucalyptus wood was a wonderful place for a figure in the landscape shot [right].

08. The next morning we went out of town on a boat trip to the Tonle Sap lake.

09. I love this wild and tousled look. So raw and beautiful.

10. Colour and design.

11. The waters are on the rise. The monsoon season is getting underway and the water level here is expected to rise by 3m. The houses of these fishing families are above us on the stilts as we shoot.

12. The tones and textures are sublime straight from camera. I used the Pro Neg Standard colour space in Lightroom to make these pictures.

14. The children of Cambodia are amazing. Some have so little but have so much love and happiness. The future is bright.

Cambodia is such a fabulous country I’m heading back there in 2015 to run one more photographic tour. Put 20th to the 31st July 2015 in your diary and email Blaise or Linda for more details. Hurry though as places are selling fast.

Please feel free to comment on these pictures, the magazine article or our tour of Cambodia.

The post Cassandra ~ The Siem Reap sessions appeared first on ProPhotoNut.

1. This is the start of the rig showing Victoria on the stairs. I lit the back wall with the Lupolux LED 1000 and a ‘Crunch’ scattergel shown on the right at the top of the stairs. I picked up the statue on the half landing with this light too. The light at the top of the sketch plan shows Victoria’s backlight. Another Lupolux LED 1000 in full spot mode rigged two floors up pointing down over the balustrade. The third light in the set is Victoria’s key light. It is a Lupolux LED 650 with an ‘Alto’ scattergel. This light picks up on the lion and the stairs too. (The drawings in this article are by Luke Knight, our in house illustrator).

2. Shot 1 using the lighting rig shown in the sketch above. This was not on the client’s list but I shot it for me while we were waiting for Donatella’s hair and makeup to be completed. I’m in love with classic film lighting from a bygone era and use every chance I get to recreate it.

Here are the shots from the shoot together with the back story, the lighting plots and the strategies I use for lighting sets…

Camera: Fuji X-T1 with 23mm and 14mm lenses
Models: Donatella Hazel Lilian Peglar and Victoria Lindsey Coutts
Designer: Molly Mishy May
Makeup and hair: Vicki Waghorn

A recent phone call from a client for a rush photoshoot led to a great opportunity to use
the lighting skills I learned many years ago at the BBC. All I knew was we had the Bristol Museum available for 2 hours and we needed a couple of wow shots for an event campaign.

I suggested a few models and together with designer Molly Mishy May, we worked out the plan. Vicki was to do Victoria’s hair at my studio ahead of the shoot to save time on set and while I rigged lights she was to work with Donatella. It was a great plan and it worked perfectly.

You have to start with the end in mind. As soon as I was on set with my clients I established the fact they wanted one shot with portrait orientation for a poster and leaflet campaign with space at the top and on the left for text and one landscape orientated shot for body copy. Both shots needed to show the museum as a classic building suitable to hold functions. The models were to be in dramatic poses as if playing roles in a performance rather than just looking pretty.

3. This is our first shot for the client and included both girls. See the lighting plot below.

4. The lighting rig for shot 3 above. I added the second key light for Donatella. I used a Lupolux 650 tightly doored in to keep the spill off Victoria. You can see Donatella’s shadow from the light on the back pillar in picture 3 above.

I needed the house lights in the museum turned off so my first job was to rig a Lupolux spotlight for Vicki Waghorn to work on Donatella’s hair and makeup. I then established the camera position and rigged my tripod. Working from a tripod enables me to see at a glance what is in shot and what is not. That enabled me to start setting lights in the right places from the start.

I chose to use the 23mm lens on my Fujifilm X-T1 because that focal length gives a wonderfully natural perspective. The relative size of objects in the frame is completely natural. The Fuji 23mm f/1.4 prime lens exhibits the same 3D rendering qualities as it’s f/2 little brother on the X100, x100s and X100t. I’d have been happy to take this shot using the X100t (if it wasn’t still on back order) because the new larger LCD on the back is equally suitable to the X-T1 at showing clients the development of the image in real time/ live view as positions of models or objects in frame are adjusted.

Using the wifi feature for this kind of job is wonderful too. The backlight on Victoria (in the foreground) was rigged on the second floor balcony and I could see exactly where it was going without the trial and error of point and guess. I used a Lupolux LED1000 Qdot for this job and rigged it on full power and in full spot mode. It was lighting Victoria from about 30m away and that’s the beauty of using lights with lenses. They have a decent throw. There was no power close to hand where I rigged the light so I used one of my Li-ion powered inverters to power the light. Inverters are great when either there is no power or the power installation is dubious. I always power my lights from inverters when I’m shooting in hospitals or buildings with very sensitive equipment too.

5. I took this close up for reference and to show a jacket that Molly has made. Look at the wonderful shadows under Victoria’s cheekbones created by the fresnel Lupolux spotlights. The white balance was tweaked up to make the shot cooler too.

Lighting strategy

When lighting big spaces I either:

a) Light the space in the building and let people go where they want in that space. Good examples of this strategy are reality tv programmes like Big Brother, shows like Grand Designs and the TV coverage in the Houses of Parliament.

or b) Light the walls and fabric of the building separately from the people within it. This technique is more often used for big budget TV dramas like 24, NCIS and Downton Abbey plus virtually every feature film since the 1940s.

I went for strategy b. I set the light s on the walls of the building in the background and then lit Victoria and Donatella separately.

6. This is the lighting plot for the shot 7. below.

7. This, the most complicated setup required me to shift a key light into an alcove on the left just tucked out of shot. This became Victoria’s keylight in her new position high on the stairs. There was no power in the alcove so I used an inverter to power the Lupolux LED 650. I can get over 4 hours use on full power from my inverter between charges.

By switching the lights off in the museum I gained the contrast and bite I needed in the shots to give the impression of a film set. The Scattergels give the effect of multiple light sources. It’s kind of cheating but when time is tight all efficiencies are greatly welcomed. We arrived at the museum at 5pm and were wrapped by 7pm. I work fast and without assistants.

8. This is the second of the shots for the client. I used three spotlights on this frame and the dramatic perspective is a result of using my 14mm lens.

9. Another sneak shot for me featuring Victoria using the same lighting rig as the frame above except I calmed down the background by dimming the light to 60%.

If you are writing a book on lighting and would like wonderful illustrations drop Luke an email.

My next interior lighting workshop for portraiture is at the wonderful Manchester Hilton on Wednesday 6th May 2015. Places are going fast. All the details are here.

Please feel free to comment below :)

Here are two chapters from my latest video production available for download in full HD here (or here for USD $ customers) There is a sneaky discount code giving you 50% off at the bottom of this post :)

Sample chapter 1
In this chapter Damien uses natural light to shoot funky portraits on the streets of Bristol. (go full screen HD :)

Sample chapter 2
In this chapter Damien shows you how to use a single speedlight to shoot beauty portraits in the city. (go full screen HD :)

Here at Lovegrove HQ we’ve been busy for the past three months putting together the final production for the Illumination project. Illumination 2 “Urban Portraits” covers shooting portraits on city streets and in built up areas. This exciting new production features over 1½ hours of information rich content in 25 full HD video chapters. Each chapter reveals new opportunities, techniques and ideas to give your photography the edge. There are no expensive locations or studios involved. I just use minimal camera and lighting kit, the sort you can carry around without needing a rucksack. I chose a variety of locations that are similar to those found in many cities around the world to make this production universally useful. In this production I teach the fundamentals of portrait lighting describing how to control light to enhance beauty and make people look amazing. I teach all you need to know when mixing ambient light with flash from a Speedlight off camera. I cover shifting colour balance and other fun techniques you can use right away to give your urban portraits the edge.

As you may recall Illumination 1 was shot in the spring of 2014 and featured me using flash and natural light to create portraits in a mansion, a country house, woodland, fields and at the beach. I used Speedlights, Elinchrom Quadra and natural light to create fashion inspired portraits. Illumination 2 uses a simpler approach and embraces the free to use shoot locations found all around us in cities.

Until the 26th December you can use this code eclipse to get Illumination 2 Urban Portraits at 50% off. Just click here, add it to your basket and enter the discount code at the checkout.

Or if you want to pay in $ USD you can click here to visit our US store.

This is a slideshow showing a selection of the photographs that feature in this production (go full screen HD :)

Click here to visit the new gallery containing 90 of Damien Lovegrove’s images lit with Lupolux LED and HMI Fresnel spotlights. You can also access the new Facebook user group for Lupolux spotlights here.

I am in the process of consolidating and adding to my image galleries on the Lovegrove Photography website and I decided to post a collection lit with Lupolux fresnel spotlights. These lighting fixtures are more popular than ever and their user base is growing by the day. LED’s are the way forward in photographic lighting and Lupolux are leading the way. The latest LED units have a CRI of >95 for the photographers units and a CRI of >97 for the slightly more expensive Q dot series for broadcasters. Lovers of HMI technology are also catered for with the ever popular Lupolux 800. Here are the links you need:

Lupolux gallery on Lovegrove Photography
Facebook user group for Lupolux
Product pages for the Lupolux Qdot LED range for broadcasters
Product pages for the Lupolux LED 1000 and LED 650 spotlights for photographers
Product pages for the Lupolux HMI 800 Spotlight

Feel free to comment or ask questions below :)

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