Author Archives: Michael Willems

About Michael Willems

Michael is a professional photographer and photography teacher and private coach. Based in Ontario, he teaches and shoots worldwide. See more at www.michaelwillems.ca and www.speedlighter.ca

Not too shallow

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Michael Willems

I hear people say sometimes that “you cannot shoot portraits at wide open apertures”. So then how this available light portrait, shot on a full frame camera with a 50mm lens at f/1.2 (yes, f/1.2!)? Well yes, it is shallow, … Continue reading →

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Fear not – use high ISO when needed

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Michael Willems

Here’s a snap of my friend and student Ray, taken Saturday night: As you can see, he is backlit – and I used whatever light was available. This means that to avoid the usual “silhouette”, I needed to expose very … Continue reading →

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High key fun

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Michael Willems

When I shoot glamour portraits, I like to use black and white, and I like to make them high-key, as in this example below from a few days ago. Why high key b/w? First, because I very much like the … Continue reading →

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Cool colour

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Michael Willems

I shot some demo product shots with my student Merav today, and I thought I would share them here to underline the importance of colour. Here’s one, a simple one. Lit by a softbox on the leeft, an umbrella on the right, … Continue reading →

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Posted on February 3, 2012 by Michael Willems

Look at this image I shot just the other day – yes, it is another post in my recent model portrait series, this time to show you a simple creative technique you can use in camera: Namely.. the blur at … Continue reading →

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Off centre

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Michael Willems

Remember, everyone: use off-centre composition often. Like in these portraits, where I am using the rule of thirds, roughly:     In all of these, I am using the Rule of Thirds to create a visually pleasing composition. (And do … Continue reading →

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More edgy

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Michael Willems

In addition to this blog, I occasionally post more edgy, artistic work, much of it containing nudes, on my Tumblr blog: if you are interested, have a look at the work, at http://mvwphoto.tumblr.com/ And let me know what you think!  

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Ripping off people for all they have!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Michael Willems

Everyone by now has seen this two-week old Craigslist ad from Seattle? The text reads, in part: WHY is finding an amazing wedding photographer so difficult? :/ I am a Bride who is getting married this summer and have yet … Continue reading →

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Poses

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Michael Willems

I often, as you know, write about what I have been photographing recently, and that has been a number of sessions with a regular and excellent model, Kim – so I shall do one more post on this today. When … Continue reading →

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Posted on January 30, 2012 by Michael Willems

I did a family shoot this weekend: what a wonderful family of engineers. Great people: How do you do this? Emptied the room. Lit by three speedlights: one bounced, one umbrella’d, and one gelled and flagged, using Honl Photo modifiers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Composition | 2 Comments