thomasholmphoto

Black holes and other galactic elements - BTS Multicam

The speech is in Danish in this video but I believe you'll have a good idea about what's going on even without knowledge of Danish.

And do check out the Discord for some bonus material.

Patreon felt the image post was in violation of their guidelines so I deleted it.

Tube bender with Miss Blondt

I shot this set with Miss Blondt in ’17 in Refshaleøen.

At the time, it was a staging area for tunnel building, so there would usually be a lot of pipes and various steel elements lying around—a veritable funhouse for a photographer.

We didn’t have any proper plan and just freestyled poses and feel based on...

Anonymous beauty

A couple of unpublished images with an anonymous beauty.

I adore the first with hard light and like the Playful third image.

Do you have a favorite?

Floor Exercise

A sweet 5 min BTS movie of an anonymous model

Tea party with Cassie - Tea party with CB

A few months ago, Cassie and I passed this deserted cafe and decided to beautify the otherwise nice cafe furniture.

It’s simply late evening sun.

And yes, I did try to give her a proper “flower bush” using some nearby plants.
I suppose I was thinking Instagram Safe.
It didn’t work, but I think...

Tea party with CB Modelling

Cassie at a make-believe tea-party.

Notice that I light the images (or rather place the model at an angle towards the sun) in line with my principles on lighting.

It doesn't matter whether it's studio or outdoor; the body is accentuated better when the light is slightly above head height and at an angle to the si...

I dare you

This demonstration is based on someone over lunch in a workshop I did saying, “You can’t shoot models midday in a desert and get a good result.”

I said, “Well, it’s harder but not impossible,” and tried to prove it.

The trick is careful positioning and leaning back of the body and face.

D Genvievre and the Golden Mirror

There is something interesting about the dual view you can get when shooting in a mirror.

But it also makes it harder to control, as you must sometimes get light to work from multiple sides.
And on the last image, for example, there is an “issue”:

Since the light is so high and her face is skewed, the lig...

Dovile in an intimate touch

I’ve been skirting editing images from this series with Dovile.
Frankly, they didn’t turn out as expected, and I’m having trouble deciding whether I found them usable.

Going over them several times, I have found a few that strike a cord, although they are subdued, and this is one of them.

I like th...

Ronia in Fernland - BTS

BTS just before the shoot.

Ronia in Fernland.

We did an afternoon excursion in a place with a ton of withered ferns and shot this set.

I don’t remember much of the specifics as this is an old set, except that the first two were shot with my Lomo Petzval 85mm on a Sony NEX7 ƒ2.8 (The APS C makes the focal length equivalent to 120mm or so.
The other two are on...

Feeding the wildlife II - BTS

Wiana feeding the wildlife

Feeding the wildlife I - BTS

Wiana feeding the wildlife and Endless Sinner chilling

This was during a workshop in Majorca and started as a gesture:

A couple of the wild goats were curious about us, and Wiana, an avid animal lover, wanted to feed them.

I thought the opportunity was too good to miss, so I snapped a few shots, but even the click of a shutter seemed to startle them, so I gave it ...

Death Valley - BTS

Death Valley & Trona

In 2019, after teaching a workshop at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, I had an opportunity to shoot with Nicole Vaunt for a couple of days.

I picked her up in Las Vegas and dropped her off in Los Angeles two days later.

Smack in the middle between these two places is Death Valley, and that’s where we shot these...

The art of touch

Here is another of my experiments with an anonymous model.

I am fascinated with photographing movements that have a dynamic feel but are sharp in one or two places of the frame, thus drawing the eye.

For most of my experiments, 1/15 seems to be a good compromise, and it involves a combination of camera move...

Belzen on the lake

Belzen, the model, and I were at Kullaberg, scampering around rocks, trying to find a place to shoot.

The challenge, however, was that it turned out to be one of the busiest days of the year, and there were climbing and rapelling schools on all my favorite hangouts.

So instead of grandeur, we resorted to finding ...

Wiana and Georgia on display - BTS

A short 4 min BTS vid from this little set

Wiana and Georgia on display

Just like I’m looking for light patterns or shadows, I’m also looking for objects that naturally lend themselves to placing a model.

Like this small ledge.

As you can see, this entire set took four minutes to shoot, but it still yielded great results.

Of course, it helps immensely when you are lucky enou...

Wiana is heating up the boiler room.

There isn’t much to say about this except a battery-powered Profoto B10 with a honeycomb that creates a soft falloff toward the sides of the frame.

My main challenge was to decide whether to leave the red boxes and tubes red or change the color to emphasize Wiana even more. I decided I liked the vibrant red col...

Rubia light fantastic

Three images of Rubia Stri and four different or slightly modified lights:

The first is lit with a large fresnel lamp, the dead giveaway of the rounding of the shadows and the way the light tapers off at the bottom of the image.

The second is the same Fresnel, but I placed a diffuser (a 5-in-1 large oval po...

Naomi backlit

I shot these two images 3 to 4 years apart in two countries.
They struck me as very similar, except for the background:

Both use semihard and hard light as backlight, striking the model at almost the same angle (slightly from above and accenting the front torso perfectly, with the face turned somewhat away)....

Mynte in the sun

When I shoot on location (indoor and outdoor), I’m always looking for interesting light patterns, and if I find any, I’ll almost certainly attempt to shoot something with it.

Like this set with Mynte.

The light here is definitely on the high side, which poses challenges for lighting the face nicely (EG...

Java vibe with Kaylee

When I travel and plan to shoot, I almost always book an Airbnb or similar place I can use as a location. I’m mainly looking for four things:

• A place I can have entirely to myself (apartment, bungalow, or house).

• Privacy from prying neighbors if at all possible.

• Interior de...

  2024-09-13 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Parallel opposites

Another set I had left to gather dust in the archives, with Lilith Etch and Poppyseed.
I shot these at Hovs Haller, a fantastic photo location in Skåne, Sweden.

It’s all-natural light on an overcast day, so the light can be somewhat flat.

The best way to mitigate that is to position the models against a gia...

Parallel Opposites - BTS

Behind the scenes shooting the polar opposites image with Lilith and Poppy.

Wiana and the Baby Grand BTS

Wiana doing her thing on a Baby grand piano.It's such a joy to see her work her magic in front of the lens.

Wiana and the baby-grand.

This set is from a shoot at the Kiln Studio, which I shot in March or April.
Mostly, Wiana made me shoot this, as I had already shot a set with Georgia Brown and the Piano (Available in August on Patreon).

Just before packing up and leaving, Wiana encouraged me to do a set with her on the piano.
Who am I to refus...

Unboxing Daniella

My trusty 57” Westcott Zeppelin lamp illuminates Daniella Carter on a box.
It's a super easy and super efficient light. Although costly, it’s probably one of the best investments I’ve ever made in a light modifier.

How it emits light makes this (and other deep parabolic silver umbrellas) unique.

You can ...