HS Photography

Beauty Shoot

2010-03-26T21:38:00.003Z

Hi All,

Here an image from my last shoot. Topic was 'Beauty High Key' shoot. The idea of the shoot was to create some stock photography for the likes of istock & dreamstime and represent my first attempt to actually sell some of my photography (even though the sales prices are some cents per download).

Also, it resembles an ad- on for my portfolio creating a very different look.

Have a great weekend!

Henrik

Quick post

2010-02-22T22:30:00.004Z

Hi all,

Here's one image of the shoot I did with Monica Belluci...just kidding. Although the look is similar - it is a my friend's sister who came to visit us.

And because I'm always mad into shooting people I did take a few shoots and this one...even though re-composed later has all the details it needs to create an interesting dramatic look.

Hope you enjoy the image!

Take care

Henrik

Low Key

2010-01-16T16:40:00.002Z

Hello Everybody!

I wish you all a Happy New Year! I've treated myself over Christmas with a new set of lights for my home studio. I'm starting to get some form of kit together and am delighted to be able to shoot without borrowing some equipment!

Today's image is that of my housemate and friend. The poor girl had to be my model for playing with my lights. The image shows her (without a background in my kitchen) lit with only one light.

It still amazes me how much you can do with just one light!

Take care everybody!

Henrik

High Key

2009-11-29T16:37:00.005Z

Hi all,

Today's image is a shoot, done through the course I took. The effect shown in the image however, is primarily done through post editing.

The hardest thing really was to extract or overexpose the background which came through in a more creamy colour during the shoot. Extending the frame of the image gives the photo a more 'full-frame' effect without using expensive (though very nice) cameras.

Have a great start into the week everybody!

Take care,

Henrik

Kata

2009-11-06T21:31:00.003Z

Hi all,

Here a few more photos from the shoot I did during the course. We used a snoot with some magnifying lens on it. This very directional light was a hell to be under - but gave amazing results to the images.

The next step was to get the right pose - so I asked my friend Kata to use very different expressions during the shot which resulted in some very good photos!

I hope you enjoy them!

Take care,

Henrik

Studio lights

2009-10-17T11:55:00.005+01:00

Hi all,

I've spoiled myself yet again and started a photography course with focus on Studio lighting for portraits. It's a great course as it allows you to set up a studio for a shot that you want to do. All participants bring their own camera but can use some lights, backgrounds and meters in order to get their own 'dream shoot' done.

Today's images are from the female shot - and fair play to her - she sat down for over an hour and let allowed 5 photographers to shoot her.

Hope you enjoy the images!

Take care

Henrik

Dublin Bikes

2009-10-14T13:59:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

The City of Dublin has recently launched its new bike initiative called 'Dublin Bikes'. The system comprises a number of bike stations all over town and allows the public to rent a bike for a couple of hours. The first 30 min. are even for free.

I've attached a few images as to showcase some of the bikes at a station.

Have a great day!

Henrik

A Hug!

2009-09-17T15:06:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

today's photo is a hug! Very simple -yet emotionally. Two friends of mine (yes a couple) spend the last day together during their holidays. The shot was a bit more spontaneous - but the after effects, a bit more deliberate.

I used some of the Topaz effect to get to the movie-like look in the image. I desaturated the image only to fill some of it with a warming filter. The end-result is a very interesting (unfortunately slightly noisy) image.

Have a great day!

Take care,

Henrik

The Liffey

2009-08-28T20:01:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

This has been a while since I last posted an image. Today I'm delighted to show an image I took from the 'Half Penny Bridge' right in the center of Dublin. The image was taken on sunset and gave the city a nice glow. The interesting effect this image has is done by a plug in called Topaz-lab 'Adjust'.

I'm currently testing the pre-sets it has and it is a nice little program to play with and it comes fairly cheap as well. What I do like is the spicy effect you can get with just a few clicks rather than working for ages through the normal photoshop tools.

Hope you enjoy the image!

Take care!

Henrik

Green Tree

2009-08-10T17:00:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

This weeks image is a close-up of some moss-green that I saw on a tree. When you're walking through the forrest there are loads things worth shooting - this particular image I liked for the structure of the moss on the tree.

I hope you enjoy the shot.

Take care!

Henrik

Tea at the Chinese's

2009-07-23T16:36:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

Today's image is a snapshot I took in a Chinese restaurant. The can was actually tiny and this is a major close-up of the can. But I like its texture along with the Chinese symbols on it.

In order to avoid noise I chose a shutter speed of 4 seconds in order to get the right exposure and give it a dreamy appearance (and blurring out the background).

Hope you enjoy the shot.

Have a great day!

Henrik

Portrait Shot

2009-07-11T16:57:00.006+01:00

Hi All!

Today I treated myself to a nice reflector in town. A lovely golden/silver reflector which I had to try out on a friend of mine. I sat her up in the house and put the reflector with the golden side right under her face. This gave her face a nice warm light and threw a little glow into her eyes.

I like the way the reflector allows you to have basically a second light source without using a light and providing options to a warmth for the creation of a picture.

Take care!

Henrik

National War Memorial Garden

2009-07-02T22:42:00.004+01:00

Hi all,

Today some friends and me went out to the Irish War Memorial Garden. A great place for people who love roses. Hundreds of roses arranged in a circle around a little pond. After some heavy rain last night it was a great day to take pictures of some moist roses.

The pictures show some close-ups of the roses and the raindrops on them. All done handheld and no tripod - so please excuse if they're not 100% sharp :)

Take care everybody.

Henrik

Crann An Or - The Golden Tree

2009-06-15T21:26:00.004+01:00

This picture I took in front of the Central Bank Plaza (yes it's called plaza - although I think that is a bit OTT).

The black&white image allows to bring out the contrast in that shoot and the graininess of the stones. I like this picture as it symbolises that money actually grows on trees. In the current climate I believe we have quite an autumn. Anyways, I do like the make of the tree and its texture.

Have a great week folks!

Henrik

The Beetle

2009-06-03T09:57:00.004+01:00

Hi all,

I went on the 'Spinc Walk' last weekend. For the first time ever it was sunny there and I had the chance to take some really nice pictures. One challenge was to capture a beetle with my macro lens without a tripod. I had to get really close, hold the camera still and focus on the little thing manually. Truth be told, I never thought this would be a great shot - but surprisingly enough it turned out somewhat sharp.

However, I must say - the overall view during that hike was absolutely stunning. I do recommend you (should you be into hiking) to visit the Wicklows, pack some sandwiches and get out into nature!

Take care everybody!

Henrik

Portrait shoot

2009-05-24T17:04:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to share one of my portrait shots. I shot the image from the highest setting on my tri-pod down onto the sitting subject. I used mainly daylight - but filled it up with the remotely triggered speed-flash to create some more interest.

After I ran a full retouch & colour correction in order to get the most out of the image.
This image would be my winner of the shoot as it has the right exposure, composition and a good , natural smile.

Take care!

Henrik

Sunny Morning

2009-05-21T19:09:00.004+01:00

Hi all,

Today I was out on the job and doing some energy ratings for houses down in the Stillorgan area of Dublin. Because I use my camera to capture details of the houses that I rate, I used it today in order to get a nice sunny summer image of a house on sale.

The strong but early-ish sun really made the picture look great. Hope you enjoy this image and wish you all a great week!

Take care!

Henrik

Farmhouse Timbered Style

2009-05-16T17:52:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

I'm happy to announce that I've fully moved places now and that the guy from NTL has wired us up to the Internet today. That means I can start to post my blogs again - GREAT.

Today's image is a picture i took when at home over Christmas in Germany. The house is actually my dad's home and is build in an old Timbered Farmhouse style. I changed the look of the picture by changing it into a tri-tone image. This gives the picture a little more depth in contrast to a typical b/w image.

As usual - any comments are most welcome!

Take care everybody!

Henrik

Dublin City

2009-04-29T22:09:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

This is a shot I haven't processed in ages. I actually was close to delete it as it is very blurred and in some areas over exposed. However, over time (of leaving it on the card) I came to like the image as it portraits the vibrant and city of Dublin (Thomas Street to be precise) during the weekend.

I hope you guys enjoy it and for those of you from Dublin - I hope you agree that this is the typical Saturday/Sunday afternoon shoppign spree.

Take care all of you!

Henrik

Sunset in a half tone pattern

2009-04-23T10:19:00.002+01:00

Hi all, I've been a bit busy these days and have not posted anything for a little while. So here's the latest from the Easter weekend. Between one of the 7 meals on the day (yes some crazy 7 meals!) went to my place to have a neat little BBQ. On the way back the sunset was in full swing giving a beautiful light. So I forced some of my friends to pose for me so that the light catches them from the side.

The image here shows my friend Dagmara in a half tone pattern frame. I like this shot as it is very vibrant composition given the red tone of the sun and the green contrast in her scarf. As usual, a big thanks to everyone for posing for me!

Take care!
Henrik

Apartments

2009-04-10T23:40:00.002+01:00

Hi All,

Today I went to do some more shopping for the Easter weekend. I brought all the good stuff (that btw is impossible to eat for the number of people invited) to my friends house and, while waiting, I took an image of the apartments across the road. The architecture of the building is modern and it was a nice contrast to the sky.

Hope you have a great Easter!

Take care,

Henrik

Bruno

2009-04-10T00:45:00.010+01:00

Hi All,

here a little work I did on a shot in my friends Garden. Again, he had to suffer and play my model. Poor him - but at least it gets him some pictures and me some experience! In this shot I used the shed in the back garden as a backdrop as it was white and textured. I ran a couple of filters over the shot and turned into a monochrome image.

I also changed the cropping on this image as I went into a square format. Again, I wanted to try something different in terms of look and feel.

Take care,

Henrik

Old Church

2009-04-06T21:39:00.003+01:00

Hi All,

There we have a church I keep passing every time I'm visiting a friend of mine. Last time I took my camera and tried to take a shot of the church and post-processed it. I tried to apply some of the grunge styles that are very common these days and ended up with the result as you can see.

The texture along with the colour play makes it an interesting image. Also, the trees help to frame the church and the green hedge and moss is creating a great contrast.

Anyways - hope you managed to get the Monday out of the way alright!

Take care,

Henrik

Photowalk

2009-04-05T12:45:00.004+01:00

Hi All,

Here are a few images from my photo walk on Saturday. Due to the absolute fantastic weather (which I completely abused for some more BBQ - regardless to the 10C) I had to get out and take some snapshots. The first image you see is from the back garden of my friend Bruno. In this shot I followed flower photography by the book. Get down, close and shoot from a different angle. The outcome is a rich colour hyacnith close-up.

The second image is that of a bike. I saw this guy in front of the Lidl store with his red bike. So I went over to him and asked if I could take a snap of his bike. The result here shows a close-up of the tank and the engine. I also worked the Lucis plug-in in that image to bring out more/abstract contrast in the image.

Let me know how your view / experience on that type of images are.

Take care,

Henrik

French Alps

2009-03-30T20:47:00.004+01:00

Hi All,

I'm back from an extremely good time in the french alps. Even though the main focus of that holiday was to ski, I still saved a little bit of time to secure some impressions from le 3 vallees (3 valleys).

The first image shows the interesting church tower construction in LeMenuire. To get the shot right I took about 6 attempts in some fairly cold weather. The other shot displays the bridge that was located close to our apartment we stayed in. Its interesting architecture lets the viewer guess what the image actually is.

That's it from me so far!

Take care,

Henrik

Dun Laoghaire

2009-03-17T10:31:00.007Z

Hi All,

today I'm displaying a close-up shot of a barrel, found at Dun Laoghaire Harbour (that's pronounced 'don leary' - for all non Irish reader). I found them sitting there with a lamp mast cemented in it. At closer glance the barrel looked actually very cool - so I took out my camera and took a shot - here the result.

But since my friend and her friend came over for a visit this weekend I took some pictures with them on it. And the sky along with some incredible light allowed for some really nice shots.

I hope you like them!

Take care,

Henrik

'Sin City' Image

2009-03-07T22:51:00.002Z

Hi Everybody,

Saturday, beautiful weather, over 10 degrees...I had to get outside and use the old camera again. This is a little shot I took today in the city. I played a little bit with the saturation and the reds in the picture that gives it the type of effect you can see here. I believe it gives the image a mix of drama and class.

Take care,

Henrik

Vintage Guinness Gate

2009-03-06T17:35:00.004Z

Hi All,

I've passed by the good old factory today and couldn't help but take a snapshot of the gate. I kept it in an old style - monochrome style in order to give the heritage of the Guinness.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Take care,

Henrik

Dublin City

2009-03-01T22:21:00.009Z

Hi Everybody,

Today I'd like to share with you a few nice shots I during a sunny Sunday afternoon! I know, the real 'good' sun would have been about 7 hours earlier or later. But my excuse of the day is that I'm mildly sick and needed the rest.

The sun was great and made the city a fairly busy place again. I managed to get a good few images of people in the street and enjoyed the fact that I have a zoom lens to get all these shots.

Hope you enjoy them!

Take care,

Henrik

Sunset

2009-02-25T19:05:00.004Z

I just left the office today when I noticed this absolute stunning sunset. So I stopped and took little snapshots here and there, capturing the colours. And since I'm still not that good - of all the pictures taken only one is halfway decent to show you guys.

It was just on a side road in Clondalkin (Dublin) where I could see the sun dropping down behind a house. Unfortunately, the image doesn't quite reflect the view I got from there.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!

Take care!

Henrik

Portrait Shots

2009-02-22T17:14:00.012Z

Hi all,

here the second part to my photo shoot in Howth. We were already ready to leave the place when Bruno asked to check out the Hotel/Golf course in Howth as the view was meant to be stunning. Even though the view was great - the weather was somewhat grey, preventing any good shots.

So in stead we turned around and on the way down we stopped at this old Mansion with some kind of tower in front of it. A deadly location! So I pulled over and set up my camera. The results are not too bad. I really like the colour/mood of the shots (even though we didn't change much in terms of how we stood). I converted some of the shots into B/W as I found they worked very well. Thanks to Bruno we found a smashing location which is already half the battle.

Take care!

Henrik

Howth Cliff Walk

2009-02-21T19:16:00.008Z

Hi!

After weeks of promising to do it - I finally managed! I got up early, picked up my friend Bruno and went out to Howth (that's the small peninsula in the north of Dublin). At around 9 am in the morning it was a nearly completely deserted place and gave a stunning view.

After a good long walk and far too many breaks taking pictures we headed back to the old fishing harbour to get some serious fresh fish.

All in all I'm happy with the types of colours I could see, and even thoguh some images are a little off , it was a great exercise to work the cameras settings for landscape photography.

After our walk (and visiting the fish market) we headed out to a golf club, just to check how the view would be there - but unfortunately it was a little bit too misty. So instead we stopped by this old part of a castle(ruin) and started to shoot portraits (felt a bit more comfortable with that).

The result of that I'll get over to you with my next post.

Take care!

Henrik

Cottage

2009-02-16T17:50:00.003Z

Hello!

I may loose myself in a world of effects - however, I find the colour composition within this picture 'OK'. As for a certain friend of mine - I didn't use the tobacco filter when taking the image. I just re-implemented the effects the filter would have on a picture afterwords.

This along with a bit of HDR kind of resulted in the picture at hand.

Hope you've had a good start of the week!

Take care

Henrik

Sunday Afternoon

2009-02-15T20:09:00.004Z

Hi Everybody,

here a little Sunday afternoon shot of the Canal in Kilmainham/Drimnagh. Thing is, the image was completely boring. So I went through the big wonder/surprise - box Photoshop to see what I could do to change that.

Well, even though some critics (my friends) told me it's a 'little bit' unrealistic - I decided to ignore them and publish this picture nevertheless. A little bit of dramatic surely can't do no harm. Especially when the original just didn't have enough 'umpf' (again this funny word from Scott Kelby).

Anyways, have a great week!

Henrik

Home Brewing

2009-02-15T00:17:00.002Z

One of the few things that are totally not worth doing from a money point of view, that take an immense amount of your free time and a little bit adventurous is the home brewing.

I must admit - I enjoy the shopping of ingredients and mashing it all together so that after a little while (i.e. 2 months minimum!) I can enjoy a totally 'organic' beer that is unique! However, if you want to do that - it takes about 6-8 hours (from start to finish). So I tend to pick a weekend to do so and encourage my co-brewer to help me out.

Today was one of these days and at the end I decided to take a picture of the proud brew-men who spend a ridiculous amount of time to create something that is going to be beer. I set the camera very low to create an 'heroic' snap of the two and softened it down during the re-touch. The outcome is what you see above. An image that captures does capture the moment and tells a story (....well, with the little help of the text).

Take care everybody!

Henrik

Free Standing Night Shot

2009-02-08T22:29:00.005Z

I must say - this is more luck than anything else. I took a picture of the fountain right at the end of Dame Street. The light was just great there and the reflection of the wet roads helped the image immensely. The good (or lucky) thing about this shot is, that I didn't use a tri-pot! The image was taken at f/4.5 and a shutter speed of 2 seconds!!
Truth be told - the other 4 or 5 images I took in between didn't quite pass the blog criteria - and I didn't really think that either of them would work. Anyways - just a little photographer's excitement I wanted to share.

Take care and have a good start into the week!

Henrik

SaturdayN8 Fever

2009-02-08T15:01:00.004Z

Hi Folks,

Today's shot is a snapshot from Saturday night. I did a mixture of various effects along with a nice dreamy glowing line. Even though this images hasn't much left that can be called 'art of photography' (more likely art of photoshop) - it still is a nice image with a fairly/party type of mood.

Let me know what your thoughts are!

Take Care,

Henrik

Old&New

2009-02-05T23:24:00.003Z

Hi Folks,

Today I have a nice mixture of a new/old image for you. The picture you see is actually a HDR (so 3 images) from our back garden. The image as such is already quite interesting and despite being my first attempt (thanks to photomatix) still my most favourite DIY-HDR.

So I took the image (done in this 'new' way) and aged it to give it a little extra edge. The result is what you can see here, a grungy type of vintage image, which I believe works fairly ok.

Take care,

Henrik

Off Camera Flash

2009-02-04T22:47:00.003Z

I just received my new flash unit and of course had to try it right away. Hence, My poor old flat mate had to suffer (he was the only one left in the same room with me and the flash). So after a me cursing, I eventually read some parts of the instructions and managed to link the unit up to my camera.
The result was immediate - my eyes were glowing at the new things I could shoot. The example however, is a little underexposed which lead to the noise in the image. However, I still believe it's a great snap as to the expression and mood.

Take care,

Henrik

Vintage!

2009-02-03T21:00:00.010Z

Hi Everybody,

The following image is a little macro experiment. Thanks to Kuba, I had the pleasure of taking a picture of a (and I quote) '1958 Zippo - Mint Condition'.

Some may say it should be framed and treated as a collectible, however, its user is more of a practical kind and we see this beautiful light now in full use. But honestly, who can resist a smashing vintage light?

Anyways - hope you enjoy the snaps!

Take Care,

Henrik

Snow in Dublin!

2009-02-03T09:48:00.002Z

I couldn't believe it when I looked through the window yesterday morning and saw snow! And that in Dublin. I had to take my camera and took a few snap shots on my way to work - just so I can say that it really happened.

The unfortunate thing about snow in Dublin however is that it brings the traffic to a standstill. My way from work (usually 20min) was mildly extended to nearly 2hours. Because it usually never snows (at least that much) in Dublin, the city doesn't have a plow service in place which lead to this chaos.

On the bright side however, it was ideal for kids. I only took a few steps after leaving the office until I was 'attacked' by some school kids with snow balls. The same 'warm' welcome happened when I got home. However, long story short -snow brings the little kids out of us. In that sense - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Take care,

Henrik

Dublin City Shot

2009-02-01T23:17:00.002Z

Hi Folks,

I thought I'd share this nice shot of a shop right in the centre of Dublin with you. It' right next to the central bank and is extremely retro. I like the mix of colours in the shop (or on the shop front) and thought I'd share that with you.

Photo wise - it's a straight forward shot. Did only a tiny colour adjustment to it to bring out the colours properly.

Take care,

Henrik

Blue Glow Portraits

2009-02-01T12:25:00.005Z

Hi Everybody,

I've been playing around with a few techniques creating a blue, glowing effect on portraits.

Again, I (ab)used some shots from my birthday and gave them a little (and I use the words of the great photographer Scott Kelby) 'umpf'!

In general it's a mixture of colour changes, diffuse glows and a high pass filter as to bring back some details at the end. I like the dreamy effect it gives the image and enables you to change a snapshot in to a portrait with few easy steps (for as long as you keep the party background blurred out!).

As usual - feel free to leave me some comments!

Take care,

Henrik

Birthday

2009-01-26T09:25:00.019Z

Hi Everybody,

Today I'd like to share some nice pictures that I (and others who got hold of my camera) took during my little birthday party. But despite the consumption (or maybe just because of it) of some amounts of drinks - some very nice images were done throughout the night.

I've selected a few for the blog that I found suitable (and not too embarrassing either).

As usual - please feel free to drop me a line or two.
Will keep you 'posted'!

Take care,
Henrik

Portraits

2009-01-21T10:31:00.010Z

Here are a couple of portrait images. Going along the basic rules of a third or the golden middle I was trying to capture (or if not captured - crop) it to match these rules and to create a bit of interest to them. They are already unique as to the portraited people on it - yet the correct spacing allows for the little edge to it.

In addition to the spacing I re-touched images and I have to say that the LAB mode is a great way to start. Flat or even washed out images can be changed in a way so that the colours literally pop out and
lending the image a great look.

If anybody is interested in the techniques I used on the images - please drop me a line or ad a comment.

Take care,

Henrik

Dublin Photography - HDR

2009-01-20T12:03:00.001Z

Hi everybody,

I would like to welcome you to my blog. I'm a hobby photographer and enjoy sharing good pictures, tipps and tricks on how to process them.

Starting off with this image, I've done some work on HDR using Photomatix Pro. It did a really good job - but I had to bring back original parts of the image as it did do too good a job on smoothing the parts of the picutre.

I'm looking forward to hear your responses will be posting more images over the near future.

Take Care,

Henrik