Camera Labs

Went to Amsterdam to have a look around the city (hadn't ever done that, even though it's my country's captital) and me and my family visited Madame Tussauds. Didn't expect it to be so much fun, I really had a great time shooting celebrities, both national and international. Doutzen has to be my favourite of the day, she was gorgeous, even in wax! If only Heidi Klum were there...

Shooting these wax models completely changes portrait photography. You can take your time, a good pose is pretty much guaranteed, and getting up close doesn't make your 'model' feel uncomfortable.

I'll post a couple of pictures in this thread. These are all wax, no real person among them. Feel free to add your Tussauds-shots if you like!

You can click the photos to go to the Flickr pages for a description and EXIF information.


Doutzen Kroes


Doutzen Kroes


Doutzen Kroes


Rapper Ali B

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Nice set, although the 2nd has rather high noise. Then I saw, you used 1/5000s at ISO3200!

Then again, I'm also guilty of often forgetting to check the shutter speed when working in fixed ISO aperture priority.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Thanks!

Yeah, the second one is rather noisy indeed, but to me it suits the mood, classic beauty, classic outfit, classic shot. That's what I aimed for in PP anyways... I couldn't remove all the noise, that would've made the image look worse (with my noise removal experience at least).

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

have you tried a monotone version of the noisier one? i think that would accent the theme much better.

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I did with the third shot, but that didn't turn out so great. I'll give it a go.

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Thanks for the suggestion John! This is how it turned out after some quick B/W work:



- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

hmm..it really helped the distracting background.

i think you should play around with it a bit more though,

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WHO I AM BLOG, WHAT I DO BLOG
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*most of my photos nowadays come with a blog post. Please take some time and stop by

Had enough playin' around for today, so I'll do that later.

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

I hope you had a good visit in Amsterdam, Bjorn..
Im finding it already stressful to go there even though i lived there for 6 years. I must be getting really old.

Great shots as always!

Thanks! I had a great time in Amsterdam, loved the canal tour and Madame Tussauds!

- Bjorn -

_________________
Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Posted with Bjorn's permission:



My attempt at a black and white version of the noiser image.

Steps used in Photoshop CS4:

1. Turn image mode to Lab
2. Goto Channels Layer, and copy the "Lightness" layer
3. Turn image back to RGB mode
4. Still in channels window, paste into the Red Channel, Blue Channel, and Green Channel.
5. Click RGB channel to make sure you dont edit just the one channel from now on.
6. Noise removal - Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise.
7. Set Values to Strength: 10, Preserve Details: 14%, Reduce Color Noise: 100%, Sharpen: 20%
8. Boost contrast with levels adjustment.

Fin.

Bit long winded - but found this works for the majority of images, so once youve done it a few times it becomes second nature!

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Phil Diggle - Freelance Graphics Designer, Full Time University Student and Novice Photographer!

Camera Kit - Sony A200K 18-70 DT | Minolta 70-210 AF 'Beercan' | Sony 50mm f/1.8 | Jessops Flash Gun

http://www.phildiggle.co.uk | Flickr Photo Portfolio - Working Progress

Again, thanks for editing my photo. A great result! I like it.

- Bjorn -

_________________
Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux