I’ve broken down and created a tumblr account. I plan on using it as an virtual notepad where i’ll post ideas, pictures and all kinds of stuff that inspire me for shoots, editorials and stuff alike.

Check it out and follow it at http://morganmoller.tumblr.com

Cheers!

Annie Leibovitz said it best.

Music on a shoot isn’t just background music. It raises the mood, sets a tone. The right music at the the right time elevates a shoot. Music can make or break a shoot.

I wholeheartedly agree with her. It’s an essential part of my workflow, and therefor i wish to share it with you! This is music it usually put on an iPhone playlist and play on the background whilst shooting. There’s a bit of everything, which makes it interesting I think!

The complete playlist after the jump!

The complete April 2010 Playlist as seen in iTunes

Around The Bend – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Don’t Bother Me – The Blakes
Flashback – Calvin Harris
Beautiful World – Carolina Liar
Wanna Get To Know You – G-Unit
Work – Gang Starr
Beautiful Dirty Rich – Lady Gaga
Lisztomania – Phoenix
Just Say Yes – Snow Patrol
Streets of Paris – The Teenagers
Great Dj – The Ting Tings
Undercover Martyn – Two Door Cinema Club
Burn it all down – VHS or Beta
Miami – Will Smith
Burning – The Whitest Boy Alive

Been a busy weekend last week. Trying to juggle the whole work/social life thingy, and the 50/50 balance is very thin. But I like it!

On the 27th of March, Leningrad, which is a fantastic group where a lot of my close friends play in had a concert at the Duvel Brewery. If you aren’t familiar with Duvel, hop out the door and enter any ‘big’ bar, and they’ll probably have it. It’s one of Belgium’s most famous beers, and you find it quite often.

Laurent, Lead Guitarist, Nikon dSlr, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8, ISO-800, 1/25th

Their sponsor is Duvel (how great for a band right?) and this was a private concert, between intimitate friends to enjoy their music. Free drinks all night long made it even sweeter.

More on the south side of the equater…

Preppin' the Room, Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 @ f/4 , ISO-800, 1,25

I was asked to shoot their concert and some promo shots for upcoming events and such. Sadly, I found myself out of time to go check out the scene beforehand, to have an idea of what you can shoot where and stuff, and to be able to prepare for the shoot. However, on this shoot I had to improvise.

Alec, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 2.8, ISO-800, 1/15

These guys truly make good music, food for the soul some might say. I find them friggin’ fantastic. You can check ‘em out @myspace.com/heyleningrad or www.this-is-leningrad.be

I’m always amazed at how sharp Nikon lenses are. I shot the whole evening with an old version of the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 telezoom lens and most of my pîctures were much sharper then other, non-nikon lenses. I’m not saying Sigma, or Tokina or whatever lenses are bad, but i’m always amazed by the glass quality of Nikon.

Mélanie, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 3.2 , ISO-800, 1/100

Mosquah, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ f/8 , ISO-200, 2"

The band also asked me to do some promoshots of them. As I said before, I didn’t have time to scout the location beforehand and so I had to improvise on the spot. If you’ve read my article that was published on Digital Photography School you know that I take lights with me almost always. This time, once again it paid off.

We came across these old Duvel delivery trucks inside a shed, and the moment I saw these old, vintage trucks I knew it was going to be there. The problem was, it was in a shed, which, as most sheds, was really, really dark. I popped up a gelled speedlight behind the truck, and put two more in front of it. One with a blue gel, and one it a CTO through an umbrella.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100th

Had to get the whole band in there, and the two last members arrived a tad later, so recomposed the shot and made it happen. Same lighting setup.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100

I think I can safely say that once again, these speedlights really saved my ass as I wouldn’t have been able to get these shots if I hadn’t brought them. Just reinforces my belief that you can’t afford not to pack them always in your bag.

So, that’s about it for this week, I’ll be back with more blogging stories, and video’s!

Cheerios, and don’t forget to follow me on twitter @morganmoller

Morgan

No no, I’m not dead. Just burried. Burried under work that is. It’s been quite hectic these past few weeks, but i’ve summoned up the courage, and the time to write a new blogpost. I’ve done a ton of postprocessing lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s like riding a bike. The more you do it, the better you get at it, but if you don’t do it for a while, you’ll still know how to do it later on.

I’m a big fan of training your skills. Eversince the digital awakening, in which dSLR’s became cheaper and cheaper, more and more pictures started to appear. People are getting better and better at making pictures, and that’s where you have to stand out. I’ll never forget this quote from Charles Darwin, that I read in one of my textbooks once :

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Charles Darwin

This is very true as well for photographers. We have to learn new skills. Some people loath the existence of photoshop,and moarn the death of analog photography but just like evolution, it’s a rite of passage, and one that is inevitable. For photographers,today, it’s just as important to know how to fix your exposure in photoshop as know how to develop film in a darkroom, 50 years ago.

Anyway, that’s it for phylosophical part of the day, onto shooting!

My latest shoot was a film-noir theme inspired shoot, with 2 models. I really wanted to catch that grungy, 60′s film noir feeling in the shoot. It turned out to be a mixture of Alice in Wonderland, if she had been a femme fatale. I’m a fan of these images, and the mood they portray.

The colors weren’t adjusted in photoshop. I placed Blue & Red colour gels on my studio strobes.

The light, coming from the lamp, is a Nikon SB-800 speedlight placed inside!

I’ve created a lighting diagram for you to study with the help Kevin Kertz’s amazing freeware.

Next, we moved onto some more fashion work.

Here we really put the focus on the model’s bracelet, which was the key thing I was going for during this shoot.

And we finished it off with a fun shot. The key idea was, ‘Hmm, my train just left but I don’t really care.’

Everything was shot with Nikon dSlr’s, Nikon & Sigma lenses, Lastolite Professional strobes, and Nikon Speedlights.

I hope you all enjoyed this, and be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and to keep checking for updates!

Cheers,

Morgan

I’m back from my ski trip in the French Alps with my friends, and had a blast!

I always find it fascinating how ‘massive’ mountains are. I know it sounds completely ridiculous, but I really feel that way.

Had the intention to shoot some jumps and stuff, but mother nature thought elsewise, and fed us up with some bad weather for a few days. Still managed to get some shots out though…

Shooting in the snow can be challenging, because snow messes with the camera’s white balance measure system. On my Nikon dSlr I used roughly these settings.

ISO : 200 (You’ll normally have PLENTY of light when shooting in the snow)

Aperture : f/9 most of the time, this gave me sharpness all over the place, really neat for catching flying snow

Shutterspeed: 1/1000 (since there’s a lot of light, you can get away with 1/1000 & f/9)

Metering : Matrix (This managed fine for my camera)

WB : Auto, EV +0,7

I shot everything on manual, to have complete control since it’s a tricky scene.

You have got to love those clear blue skies. I’m confident you can’t get the sky to look this nice in the city.

3 amigo’s of mine, climbing back up the jumping slopes. I forced them to do it, don’t worry

I mostly shot 2 lenses. The Sigma 10-20 mm f/4-5.6 which offers incredible vantage points and the golden oldie Nikkor 35-105mm f/4.5-5.6.

I tried out my best friends’ new Nikon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S VR but although the quality of the glass is excellent, it’s too damn slow to work with.

I missed at least 20 shots that I hadn’t with the 55-200 due to painfully slow auto-focus issues.

I even did a small multiple exposure shot on the way back, but it’s definitely not finished yet. It’s really bad, but in my defense, it was made on a laptop trackpad (I know) in the back of a car

Happy to be back, and ready to blog heavily again!

Cheers,

M

I’m just posting this quick message to tell you all that I’ll be taking a short break for a ski trip in the French Alps this week, and won’t be blogging meanwhile!

In the meantime here are some things to keep you busy!

http://www.nydailynews.com/tech_guide/2010/01/27/2010-01-27_top_10_things_you_need_to_know_about_apples_new_ipad.html

http://rising.blackstar.com/will-the-ipad-save-photography.html

http://gizmodo.com/5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad

Cheerioz!

M

On Twitter, the most used keywords are Apple iPad – Haiti – SOTU (State of The Union). The twitter shortlist is a good one-word résumé of what’s hot in the world right now. I find it quite appalling that in the aftermath of one of this century’s most devastative earthquakes, leaving millions homeless, the hottest thing on the globe is Apple’s latest brainchild.

Every social medial is buzzed around that one thing. The iPad.
The word iPad is most often followed by ‘ incredible, groundbreaking, industry-changing, world innovating, blablabla ‘

Sure, it’s nice, shiny, overpriced and not as innovating as most people think, but will it cure your cancer?

The whole media machine that Apple has developed over the years is an incredible ‘micro-atmosphere’ one could say. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Windows fanboy, in fact i prefer editing on Apple then Windows, but I’m not blinded by their marketing techniques.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Apple brought out a device that allready existed. An e-reader. They’ve upgraded it with a nice shiny screen, and other features but it’s really nothing groundbreaking.

I’m quite fed up with people all over the world claiming this is a life changing device. Unless it cures cancer, it really isn’t.

Once again, don’t get me wrong, I think the iPad is a nice device, in it’s user-category and that the users will love it, but I don’t see it as that revolutionary.

One field I think can benefit from it is Photography obviously. With a long battery life, it’s brilliant dispal, wireless connectivity etc it can be a great tool. Imagine hooking up your camera to that screen whilst shooting in the wild instead of that tiny LCD on the back of your camera? Pretty sweet huh?

All in all, sure it’s a nice device, and it’ll probably have a lot of success, but don’t be blinded by it. Let reason overcome stupidity.

On another note, if you want to try something new to beef up your photography, try dipping your toe in the gel-world. More after the jump…

Color gels are a cheap, fast and easy way to produce visually interesting images.

Resco Gels have developed a special Strobist gel kit, including all the different colors one might need. They’re a bargain at just 10€ and are available here and there.

You just pop’em onto your flash, and they’ll cast a nice coloured shade onto the subject.

Here’s a little fun I had with a blue & red color gel on 2 speedlights.

That’s about it for now, I hope you understand my position on the iPad-thing, but evidently you’re completely entitled to have your own opinion about it!

Cheerios,

M

I spend quite some time on online forums, twitter and all kinds of social media because there’s an incredible amount of stuff you can learn like that,
and one thing I notice often is that people whine about not having enough ‘gear’. Chase Jarvis calls ‘em Gearheads if i’m not mistaken.

Mario Testino is one the 5 most regarded and rewarded fashion photographers today and probably has shot everyone that’s anyone.
In this video, he shoots actress Jessica Biel for the february cover of Vogue US.

What struck me with this video, is the simplicity of the shoot. Keep in mind, these are shoots that usually cost thousands and thousands of dollars,
it’s Vogue US for god’s sake. However, if you take a look at the B&W shot the simplicity is striking. It’s just him and her (and the turtles, goats, etc…)
but there aren’t 5 Profoto strobes, 5 softboxes, etc… It’s just beautiful natural light, and the results are stunning.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that a photographer shouldn’t always be worried about not having the right gear, or not enough, etcetera etcetera.

Just adapt to the situation, bend the natural light, and in last resort, tend towards those accesories that you’ve brought with you.

Big ups,

M

I think there’s a universal feeling of well-being once the week hits friday for most people on earth, as it means the weekend is ahead. To keep you busy this weekend, here are a couple of tips, links, video’s etc…

1. Photographers Unite for Haiti

In the aftermath of the earthquake Haiti is still in dire need of help and assistance, and this project combines them both AND photography. Pitch in if you can, you might save lives.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/01/photographers-unite-for-haiti-fundraising/

2. Steve Jobs’ speech at the 2005 Stanford University Graduation.

Those following me on twitter (@morganmoller) already noticed that I posted it online, but it’s so inspiring that I thought i’d repost it here. Everybody knows Steve Jobs and here he gives a speech at Stanford University’s 2005 Graduation. The speech lasts for about 15 minutes, but you’ll remember it for the next 15 years. I promise. It’s really profound and deep, which is a side I’m sure (I would be included in this group) not many people knew SJ had. I won’t summarize what it’s all about, but just check it out. It’s amazing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Interview with John Knoll.

Everyone’s been through it. You boot up Photoshop and you see this list of names whilst waiting and I’m sure that like me you’ve wondered who those people really are. Well here’s your chance to discover it. Thomas Knoll is the co-developer of Photoshop. It’s safe to say that if that man hadn’t been born, we’d have a very different workflow.

Click here to view the embedded video.

4. Martin Luther King Day

Europeans don’t usually celebrate this day, bit it’s a wide-spread holiday in the USA. It’s also an occasion to look back and connect the dots, as Steve Jobs would say. Lots of people have never seen this video, but I think it’s real important that you do.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s about it for this weekend, enjoy it!

Cheers,

M.

6.Shoot with a different accessory.

I’m thinking of lenses. Use the non-traditional lenses for traditional landmarks. Use ultra-wide angles, lensbabies,
grad filters, custom settings,…again, this is a completely autonomous decision. I like to use ultra-wide angles for thin object. Models etc…

Lensbaby

7. Shoot the Details

If you’re coming up to something huge, like say Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia which isn’t photographable in it’s whole due to external circumstances (like remodelings,…) shoot the details. You’re not going to get a clean shot of the building as a whole anyway, so just shoot some detail of it. Sometimes, details of buildings like inscriptions, gargoyles, …are way more interesting then the building as a whole, where you have less detail (unless you are shooting an H3DII, which I suspect you won’t be on a holiday.Unless you are insured up to your ears/an heir to a hotel chain)

Market Lights, Istanbul Turkey, Nikon dSLR, Sandisk Digital Film

8. Shoot with a prime. (No, not Optimus)

Prime lenses offer great advantages. They’re generally seen as sharper, need less light and so on but for many people it isn’t a lens of choice for travelling due to the lack of zooming capabilities. I always have one in my bag though. The Nikon 50mm f/1.8. It’s cheap, weighs around nothing and is tack-sharp. What does it do besides that? Something an expensive lens like a 24-70 f/2.8 won’t make you do : move around. Annie Leibovitz said it best : ‘The best tripod are my two legs.’ She might not have had the math down, but the idea remains solvent. Without the zoom, you’ll be forced to move around, and thus find an exciting viewpoint to snap your shot. Also, look up! Tons of interesting things are going on above you, and I’m not talking about the mile-high club. Building ornaments are often the most impressive up high!

Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-S DX

9. Shoot for HDR.

You might not get the chance often, but if you’re wandering in a city and don’t know what to shoot because it’s been shot to death, try shooting for HDR. Set your camera to bracketing mode, adjust your settings and find a makeshift tripod if you haven’t brought one. I found that stairs, walls and tables make for a great makeshift tripod. I like to shoot my HDR’s in a 2 stop increment, and end up with 3 files. Some people shoot in 5 files, but I think the difference is just too minimal and isn’t worth the extra files.

Also, when shooting HDR, it’s always great to have a remote to reduce camera shake. If you haven’t got a remote, use the timer function. It’s a free remote!

There’s one thing to remember though with HDR : Subtlety is key! Don’t over-do the effects in post-pro, you want to have an image with a broader-then-normal dynamic range, not a recruitment poster for Harry Potter.

10.Get that artsy shot.

Even if people might not get it (they probably won’t), don’t care about it and just shoot it. It’ll go in your personals, but who cares? It’s your photo, and not anyone else’s.

Jackson Pollock, MOMA-NYC, Nikon dSLR, Macro lens.

11. Don’t shoot it. At your own risk.
Make your own personal statement by  NOT shooting it. Protective headgear recommended.

So, these were just a few tips regarding travel photography that I like to use when travelling.

If you’ve got some more, I’d love to hear ‘em and post them in the comments!

If you’ve liked this, and want more, check out my Facebook page at facebook.com/morgan.moller and twitter.com/morganmoller and off course, the blog @ mmphoto.be

Cheers,

M.