thomasholmphoto

Blast from the Past with Toni Lander

This is a blast from the past featuring the fabulous, long-legged model Toni Lander.

Toni stopped modeling shortly after this shoot, which took place during a workshop about ten years ago, and sadly, we never had the opportunity to shoot again.

The scene is lit with daylight from two huge windows behind me on my...

CANCELED

Here are three images people have tried to get me canceled over:

The first with Oksi, Anneli and Mimi Desuka. The main problem (of course) was racial: How could I have two (black) women kneel in front of a white woman?

Apparently, it was deeply racist and played into slavery ...

Black on white

One more set with Anneli from a Livestream workshop I did during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first was lit with two strobes pointing up in the ceiling to get the great skin reflections. The other two were lit with daylight through some windows on the right side.

Soresina fresco

A couple of years ago, I taught a workshop in Soresina, Italy, with Nausicaa Yami as the model.

We got permission to shoot in the city hall, and I wanted to use some of the interiors there to set up some live shoots while demoing artificial light.

For this image, I used a large Octobox positioned behind and slight...

Black panther

I shot these back in ’18 on my first shoot with Anneli Caicedo, and I couldn’t help but get a Black Panther association - and I shot a little set like that.

Sunlight is probably an hour before sunset, up against some massive piles of earth.

Nude Tango BTS video

Here is a short clip of the part of the Livestream where we did the Tango shot.
If you want to see the full workshop you can access it here.

Nude Tango

I did a livestream workshop with two models, Wiana and The Endless Sinner, last month, and this is one of the images we shot at the end of the workshop.

It’s mainly a Fresnel spot...

Cassie on the magic carpet

This set was basically the model just showing off on our first shoot.
But hey, I don’t mind.

The light, btw. It is not natural light; it’s a flash setup to mimic it - but if you compare it with the post two days ago, you can see the difference.
Screenshot from a former BTS video below.2024-07-26 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

The dry run

Fatima in a gorgeous bathtub.

This is an excellent opportunity to show why editing is essential.

As you can see from the image, the light is soft, coming in through the windows and illuminating her in the tub.

Other than the skin shooting and lowering of overall contrast and increasing ligh...

The Magic Carpet

Gracie Sweet on what became, for a moment, a magic carpet.

This kind of light, backlight from a couple of windows above and behind the model, allows for creating dark and expressive images.

I’m using the Venetian blinds to guide the light, limiting it so that it mostly strikes the model and not too much behind h...

Ballerina pushups

Kory Dark/dance shows off in my sofa setup. No, seriously. By having constraints regarding possible places to photograph and props, I force myself to be inventive and find new ways of using the same environment, and I kind of like this; it’s unusual.

The Ledge

An older image with Carillon Doll and Aria Rainbow from Lake Como.
Do you have a preference between these two?
I’m partial to the second one, it feels like the models are better integrated.

All natural light in the middle of a cliff 100m/330 ft above the water.

The ledge BTS

Zsan misbehaving on a chair.

I love the almost painterly quality of this image.
As usual, the light is from the windows to the right, and I had to tone down the saturation in the editing.
This is another classic monochrome image, but I’m trying to allow myself to work a bit more in color…

Kaylee Killion in Casablanca

Or rather, it was in FD Photostudio in Downtown LA a few years ago.
It’s natural light from some fabulous studio windows.

As yesterday’s image, this was shot with my vintage 50mm ƒ0.95 Canon dreamlens, and frankly, I screwed up on the last image.

When shooting at ƒ0.95, you have to choose between e...

Kaylee Killion in Casablanca - BTS

BTS movie of shooting the set with Kaylee at the FD Photostudio in Downtown LA

Kaylee Killion in Casablanca

Just a teaser for the lowest tier..

Z in Rainbow Valley

The gorgeous Zulema is doing her thing in Valley of Fire.

Z is a contortionist and realist, and she is pretty flexible.
AND I persuaded her to get up early to shoot a set in VOF when I was there in May.
It's all-natural light, so blue skies project light on the pastel-colored rocks, giving some gorgeous purplish ...

Z in rainbow valley - BTS

13 min BTS of the amazing Zulema

Loulou’s Ottoman

I do love my vintage 50mm ƒ0.95 Canon dreamlens.
The way it makes everything out of focus fade has an almost painterly effect, which I genuinely appreciate.

If you are intrigued but not ready to splurge serious money on a lens like this, look up 2024-07-18 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Waterworks

I struggled a bit with these as my initial inclination was to make the monochrome. But I decided to leave them in color, even though it distances them less from reality.

What do you think would work best here?

Waterworks - BTS

BTS is showing the challenges of shooting on rocks.
Obviously, the main issue is not falling and dying, but sliding into the water and thus submerging the camera or crashing it, which is a real risk.
And sometimes, finding the perfect vantage point is not possible.

Summer Bonus on Thomasholmphoto's Patreon

Hello everyone!

I'm excited to share that I'm heading off to a quaint summer house for a much-needed two-week vacation.

Though it sounds idyllic, the forecast is predicting quite the opposite:
Rain, storms, and thunder are on the horizon. 🌧️⚡

If you face similar gloomy weather, I’ve got just ...

Light and Photography miniworkshop w. Thomas Holm & Regina Piil

Summer Bonus

A free Workshop (My first Livestream workshop ever) With Regina Piil.

This will only be available until the beginning of August.

Off the box

This is an experiment I don’t think ended successfully:
I wanted Daniella “sliding off the box,” and I couldn’t get the light to play along.

And I ended up with a dual light source setup:
A white reflecting umbrella on a boom above and one with a similar umbrella to the right of the model to illuminate h...

D Genevievre eyes wide shut

My carnival mask intrigued this model, so we set out to shoot a few images—all-natural light.

I might be partial, but I prefer the first one because of the softness of the lens bokeh (50mm 0.95) and the eye contact.

It seems very present.

The others are shot with a 24-70 ƒ2.8 Sigma Art lens.
2024-07-15 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Capella Modeling in the Booty Chair

There's not much to say about this except natural light from a window and a large flag on the shadow side.

When the models have tats, you might lean into it, and make them stand out; hiding them will severely limit your creativity.

Given a choice, I’d personally prefer no tattoos, as it leaves more options open....