Category Archives: Picture of the day

Warm backgrounds

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Michael Willems

I took this shot of jazz great Peter Appleyard, the wizard of the vibraphone, back in 2009: So how did I do this – what was behind my decisions? Here’s my thinking and execution: This called for a “situational” portrait; an … Continue reading →

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Direction is everything

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Michael Willems

In yesterday’s class at The Granite Club, I emphasized that you can do professional artistic pictures with very simple means. Any DSLR camera; a normal lens, slightly wide to slightly long, and one on-camera flash in a small room. That … Continue reading →

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Self portrait

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Michael Willems

The other day I decided to do a quick self portrait. And instead of the normal “traditional” portrait, I did the following: Moody, dark – I don’t smile much in pictures and life is serious! And as you see, lighting … 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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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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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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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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Look in my eyes

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Michael Willems

..or, do not! What I mean is this: for a character portrait, you do not necessarily need eye contact. In fact, often, there is more of a story – more intrigue, more for viewers to work out for themselves, i.e. … Continue reading →

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Quick fixes are sometimes good

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Michael Willems

As I mentioned the other day, converting a portrait to black and white can be good if it is not optional in the first place. It is an “easy fix”. Not that my friend, model Kim, pictured below in a … Continue reading →

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