When I do workshops I love to challange myself to do something nice with not ideal conditions. Of course the location here is faboulous, it's the new Opera in Oslo. I really liked the glass corner as you see. So i took the challange of hard dirct sun, sometimes we get forced to photograph with light like that, normally I will go up against the sun since I love backlight. Then add whatever ligthsource is best for the given situation. Anyhow here I am shooting in direct sunlight as you can see very well in image number 2, see how hard the shadows are on the ground. It's June 8th at 5:57 pm and that day the sun went down 10:34 pm, yes it is some very nice long days in Oslo this time of year:-) The diffussion panel we had was big but not large enough to diffuse her and the building, so no diffusion. I'm shooting laying on the ground under the reflector shooting @ 28mm full frame. To make my model look good I have her lean forward to get more in level with the camera plane. Have her keep her hips back. This way I avoid distorting her getting big hips, small head etc etc. I use a silver/gold reflector to add a touch of warmth and to lighten up the hard shadows somehow. I tilt her head up more than normal so the sun will hit the triangle on her face. It is really important that everything face the sun right to not get unplesent shadows on her and the dress. Some other things that makes this image work well: She is the most important part of the image, so her skin/hair etc is the minority, the blue creates depth. Blue and yellow are also complimentary colors as you know. So there are several elements that make your eyes go to her more than the surroundings. Hope to see you somewhere in the world soon :-) Thanks for following my blog. 

I'm just back from 2 weeks in Europe meeting some great Photographers and new friends, Great as in Great Britain :-) Today's blog is from my Workshop at the Fresh Academy in London, England June 2nd. I got what I wanted bright midday sun! When you can be in cities or anywhere with buildings it is my favorite time of day for people photography. Of course I loved the never ending sunsets I had in Norway, but I love a challenge. People always told me how midday sun is the worst, so long ago I took the challenge to be good at it. Especially because I often HAD TO photograph then, Weddings etc. NOON is not necessarily at 12 o'clock like most people seem to think. This day the sun was at it's highest at 12:59. I strongly recommend the iPhone application Darkness to keep track of sun positions etc. (Thanks Mike Jeide) This picture was taken at 12:12. It is a great time to shoot on one side of the street where you will find a little shade, on the other side the sun will be bouncing across to you. I like to keep the subject close to the sun where it is also a lot of good light coming right from inside the sun area. Try to watch a face as a person walk from shade towards sun and see how it change when they get close to the edge. Also added a little Photoflex Softgold reflector. The warm little touch + the cold blue background help adding depth and dimension. The Image is ran in Linge's PS Workflow Actions, ColorPerfect + auto contrast on face to give it an extra punch. Thanks to all you wonderful people attending this workshop, look forward to more English Breakfast soon?

Always when I post about these classes on my Facebook I have people from all over writing wishing I was having a PP class  where they live? This is what I want to write a little about. I would love to do them Worldwide. If you wish to have one where you live, help me get 15 people together, your award will be that the class is free for you. We will market them together. Please let me know if this is of interest ?

Respectfully, Kenneth 

PS. Here is a link to more info on my classes and InStudio.

Today I want to just give a little hint on a way to control the direction of the natural light on a subject. This image is 100% natural light bouncing off buildings etc. something I talk a lot about in my classes. Like most images you can read the light in the eyes and reflections on the skin. Example, if you look to the left on his face you can see the sun hitting a warm building next to him.

The image is from a Workshop I did in Cuba for a group of European Photographers. I was standing talking to this man and my Spanish is close to zero, but if I wanted him to turn his face to the left or right, all I had to to do was to take a step to the side and his eyes and face would follow. Also having so little depth of field let's me not have to worry too much about what was happening where in the background. Very often what we can do while photographing people is move ourselves instead of telling them to, happy shooting :-)

It's about time I recommend a great photographer again. I wrote Jens Haugen in Norway who I admire greatly, and got permission to post one of his images. He lives and mainly work in Norway, he is plenty good to work for anyone anywhere. With his young age and energy we have lots of great things to look forward to.

One of the great things besides awesome pictures in his blog is the behind the scenes videos, PS symbols with shows showing his steps in Photoshop etc. I know he can be of great inspiration to you as he is to me. Thank you Jens.

Here is the Link to his blog www.jenshaugen.blogspot.com and website  www.jenshaugen.no  PS. Yes, his blog and web is in English. ENJOY!!! :-)