Michel Engelen

Friday, August 31, 2012

Kenneth for Equipe Haircare

A few shots from our male model Kenneth for hairdresser Equipe Haircare.

Mu by Tanja Dassy, Styling by Carine Luyck for DITO fashion&style WELLEN

Some results from my first and second shoot with Bo, partly outside at Lillo and some out of our "in studio boudoir" workshop.

I've been evolving more and more into a gold look on my pictures, I'm sure to proceed with this on my future shoots

Portfolio shoot Jackie Lee Models

Shoot Jackie Lee

Just some random shots out of our last portfolio shoot for Jackie Lee Models in Antwerp, made with the help and assistance of Peter Nackaerts en Marc Thys

MUA: Yinka Gboyega and Mua Djenien

In studio Boudoir

New in studio Boudoir setup for the upcoming lingerie sessions this winter (renting Hotel rooms is nice but often too expensive for my clients, so this is the cheaper alternative for my clients)

Skindeep (NSFW)

I really love skin, female curves, sensuality, .. this translate nicely into a form of photography often called "bodyscapes", imitating landscape photography by using the curves of the female body.

For this video, i wanted to take this idea to a new level and i hope you enjoy the results (NSFW warning!)

You can watch it on Vimeo --> https://vimeo.com/46944490

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Afro-Latino 2012

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Photographing musicians while performing on stage is great but in my humble opinion some things are 'a must' to deliver qualitative results, a good camera with a usable range around 800 tot 1600 ISO, good low light auto-focus (no manual focus for me please) and some good glass to put between the artist and your camera.

My chosen setup for the Afro-Latino festival of 2012, including some rented material because a lot of this stuff does not come for free, is The Nikon D800e, the Nikkor AF-s 70-200 f:2.8 Vrii and the AF-s 300mm f:2.8 Vrii.

I'm impressed, really impressed by the quality delivered by the optics regarding the demanding 36Mpix sensor in the 800e, the details are mind blowing, sometimes there's even to much detail ;-)

I'm impressed by the Dynamic range of the D800e, even at ISO 1600 it is super, the conditions on stage are ever changing, dynamic, light changes direction every 2 seconds, etc

I tested the 3D AF-C modus on the D700 last year with mixed results, so i went back to the AF-s and a single AF-point. The 800e being a new generation camera i tried the 3D following mode again and it's "wow", it's so good i used in 90% of the photos. Really great for tracking artists with too much energy.

My camera setup is almost always the same, White-balance is set to sunlight, ISO 1600 (or 3200 if necessary) Shutter speed at 1/125 and Aperture set to full open f:2,8.
I tried automatic modes in the past but they are easily fooled by the constantly changing conditions, the full manual control gives me the best ratio of acceptable results, to give you an idea on the 3 days I made about 1600 pictures and i uploaded 505 out of them which i found to be good pictures, about 30% is not bad. the trick is to not get carried away with some acts and keep photographing after you are sure you already nailed "the shots", also make sure you make the safe pictures of the main artist as soon as possible because it can happen that you are only allowed to photograph the first 3 songs or even less....

This picture was made from about 20meter distance with the 300mm, hand-held, i was standing on a chair to shoot 'over' the public, Mr. alpha Blondy decided to give us just 3 songs of front stage access so we had to move a little further.

Alpha Blondy

I want to place a big thank you to all the people involved who made this possible and friends to make it a good weekend to remember!

Some results after the jump : (make sure you also check the pictures of the Fire breather )

Belgian Sahara with Natalie and Evelien

Many years ago this place was only a large plane of sand around a small lake but nature is slowly fighting his way back and new plants are starting to grow everywhere, but people in this region keep speaking about "The Sahara"

In fact it's just a tiny beach around a tiny lake with a lot of pine trees around it, not the usual backdrop you would find in Belgium and that's why i love to shoot here.
There's also at least one reason i don't like to shoot here ... you have to drag all your material through the loose sand and it's a 20min walk, even my UberFantastiK Beach Rolley equipped with super extra big sand tires is a pain to pull here.

I'm not even sure why i brought all this material, oh yes, wait.. i remember now, i had a very specific shot in mind but there was so much wind and i forgot the book at least 8 assistant to hold everything in place so i went for plan B = keep it simple without flying away :-p

Evelien Van Tiggel did not only do the very nice make-up and the hair but also all the sunbouncing with the Zebra / White Pro screen as this is was the only light modifier used for this series.

So everything shot with my finger and the Nikon D800e + 85mm Af 1,4G

All pictures (c) michelengelen.com !!