MO-ST Photography

Exhibition and another shoot

2012-02-24T10:17:00.002-08:00

Hey,

so it has been a while since the last post... so what happened since?
Had a number of shoots, however there are 2 shoots that I will talk about today.
First I did a fashion shoot with the theme 'sport' together with stylist Sam, models Diana and Dagmara and makeup artist Sienna and clothes by designer Sarmite Ostanevica. The shoot took place on a Monday and I needed 5 images of that shoot for an exhibition the week after, so the pressure was on. The location we shot at was the same warehouse where the exhibition was a week later. Constructions were still going on so at times even shouting wasn't loud enough to communicate plus it was quite cold inside but everyone did a great job. I had 3 days to look through the images and choose the 5 images that I wanted to use and retouch.
Exhibition was great with a good turn out and had some good feedback so big thanks again to all involved, you all did great and I couldn't have done without you.

The next shoot was once again with stylist Sam and model Emelie and makeup by Erica. We were lucky enough to have one of the first days this month of sunshine which was great at we were shooting outdoors. However the wind was still cold so it wasn't the same as a shoot in the summer. We had 2 locations for the shoot, a plain brick wall and then a garden. Besides the cold Emelie did a great job. I used mainly one softbox and then on some shots a 2nd light as fill light. The images below were only edited in Lightroom however will further retouch some of them.

Next week then I am going to do a shoot with 2 Beachvolleyball players in the city and then a few more shoots coming soon.

Till then, leave a comment below

Moritz

Exhibition:

Fashion Shoot:

Shoot with the Bruce Sistaz

2012-02-03T04:43:00.000-08:00

Hey

as promised last time, here a bit about the shoot I did with the Bruce Sistaz, two martial artists who appeared in various shows, films and commercials. Unlike the last shoot I did with them about 2 years ago, this time we were shooting in a studio, so much warmer which was a relief.
We started of with some casual shots and then moved into more action shots where the Chloe and Grace were showing what they can do. Main problem with action shots usually is to capture the right moment, which with some of the stuff we did was still the case such as jumps, however when it came to kicks they were holding it with ease long enough to take a few shots. We had a few hours to play around, try different positions, light set ups and backdrops. All in all a fun shoot and I was happy with the results.

Here the pics, so have a look and let me know what you think.

Moritz

Fashion shoot

2012-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

First of all, a late happy New Year to all of you and sorry for not having posted anything in nearly a month.

Had a very busy week with various shoots, however for now I just post images of one shoot.
Started with a fashion shoot on Monday (more later below) then Wednesday with a shoot for Night of the Proms to followed by shooting a Gallery opening. Thursday I then did a shoot with 2 martial artists, the Bruce Sistaz - which I will show in the next few days. Tomorrow then a shoot with a Bloomefield Ave to follow by a shoot on Monday for a new model agency.

So, now back to Monday... shoot was with Anna and Julia from Oxygen Models and had stylists Sam and makeup artist Natalie Guest.
I wanted to have a mix of close up shots and full body shots, shot against a grey industrial wall to get a bit of an edgy feel to it and Sam got some more classical outfits for us to contrast the background.
In the beginning only had one light to use, so had to get along with it. The heater was next to the model as it wasn't really warm inside but I still ended up lying down on the floor ever so often to get a different angle, especially of the shots where Julia was kneeing down.

The images below I just edited in Lightroom however will be retouching a number of them so come and check out my webpage over next few weeks to see some new shots up there, maybe evenen let me know your fav shot from the images below.

Like I said, will try and get shots from Thursday with the Bruce Sistaz up early next week as well as shots from the other shoots that are coming soon.

Have a great week

Moritz

Merry Xmas

2011-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

This is just a short slideshow showing a number of shots I have taken throughout this year.
I wish you all a Merry X-Mas and all the best for 2012.
Looking forward to many more shoots so come and keep looking here for my latest work.

Should you have any questions or enquiries, please feel free to email me here.

Moritz

Location fashion shoot and recent publications

2011-12-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hey,
first of all, appologies for the long break. I know it has been some time since my last blog.

So now a catch up.
First, I have a new publication, 3 pages in Photography Monthly, Jan. Issue, however as I have only PDF of it at the moment I cannot show it on here but check my facebook page where I will upload screenshots in the next few days.

Then Channel 4 aired the shoot I did with Girls Roc in October, see my blog from that shoot here.
Have a look at the short clip that I recoreded on my phone

Then I did a shoot with Hannah A. from Oxygen Models last week. After a bit of a chaotic start as MUA cancelled the night before I ended up doing the shoot with model Hannah and Desi who is one of the bookers at Oxygen. Desi brought along her collection she did at Uni so we had some great garnments to shoot.
It was a freezing and very windy day but in the end I was happy with the shots we got. Though we got some shots with hair flying all over but thought rather than trying to fight it, use it for the look.
I worked with only one off-camera flash on the shoot and edited the shots as usual in Lightroom, changing curves, exposure, contrast, saturation and few other adjustments.

Let me know your thoughts.

Moritz

Male sport fashion shoot

2011-11-26T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hey,

on Monday I did another shoot with stylist Sam, Mua Liv and models Tom and Emeric. Theme of the shoot was sports though outfits were more fashion than sport.
When I got to the studio I saw the brick wall and I loved the texture of it so wanted to shoot there. First was light set up where I wanted a bit of an edgy and moody feel to it, so use of 1 softbox, 1 barndoors (some shots with blue filter) and one snoot, though I used it not as a hairlight but to throw extra light onto the face.
The shoot then went well, music was playing loud, the guys moved around and so did I to change the mood of the pictures a bit rather than changing the lights the entire time. Was fun and interesting to see to different models and how they use the props, one fitness model and one fashion model, giving the outfits two different feels to it.
I really like the Billiard outfit and was playing around a lot with lights, at one point having a red and a blue filter giving the picture a reall Pool Bar feel, however as the stylist wanted to keep the look quite similar throughout the shoot I changed it again after a while.
In post I then played around a bit with Lightroom, changing colours, contrast, curves and few other things to get different looks.

The rest of the week for me was a lot of editing from last weeks shoot as well as catching up with some other shoots. Next in line is an outdoor fashion shoot on Tuesday (if weather allows).

Moritz

Follow @MOSTphotography

And here finally, the pics from the shoot

Magazine shoot and others

2011-11-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

hey,

first of all, I am now happy to share some shots with you I took a few weeks ago with model Diana. As we wanted to get them into an online magazine, one of the conditions was that the images haven't been published before... now that they are out in Issue 3 of Flawless Magazine I am happy to share some of the shots with you.
The shots we took on one of the last reasonable warm days in October on a rooftop, sun was out and gave a great light. I really wanted a cold feel to the images so overexposed slightly and used the sun as well as an additional flash to give a bit of extra light. The wind was quite cold but the flying hair in the face was great and I think ended up being one of my favourite images. All in all, real happy with the result. As always, it was a great pleasure to work with Diana who came once again with a huge wardrobe, glad we didnt had to go far to get to the location. The images that I will show at the end are screenshots of the tearsheets from the magazine, so unlike most shots in my blog, they have been retouched.

The next shoot I will write about today was a fashion shoot I did together with stylist Sam, mua's Liv and Chloe and hairstylist Lily as well as model Noelle from Oxygen and Kristin from BookingsModels. The idea was a futuristic shoot so Sam got the outfits and then we started with the backdrop. We wanted a simple backdrop with some wires across the backdrop. Then while the girls were in makeup I set up the lights. As we wanted the futuristic look I went for one blue flash from one side to give some extra colour while a beauty dish on my left created a nice light yet a little shadow on the face. Then one stripbox on the left to get some light from the side and one light on the background. We started at 2 at the studio and around 4 we stared shooting and finished just before 9pm. It was a long but good day with everyone being happy with the results. For me its now time to start retouching the images and I will get a few onto my webpage once they are done. Till then, here are some shots that are edited only, some colour correction, contrast and exposure.

Have a great day and hope to hear some feedback. Also dont forget to press 'like'

and to follow my facebook page if you haven't done so already.

As always, a big thank you to everyone who made those shoots happen, its great to work with people like you.

And finally, for those of you who actually are reading all that here, the pics to look at...

Another shoot

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hey,

time for an update on my blog and get some new pics up again. Some of you might have seen already the shots in my short video on my facebook page.
So this time some shot of the shoot with Sol and Ana. Met the 2 girls who were in London just for a few days on holiday in the city and then we walked around. My idea was to shoot in the carpark where I was once before.. thought it would be reasonable quiet... I was wrong, well kinda... it was absolute empty with not a single car on top, perfect for a shoot.
So we took a number of shots up there and even though a cold day the girls did well getting some attention from the office buildings next door but throughout the shoot not a single car.
Was traveling light, so used only one flash off camera and shooting some with 24-70 and some shots with the 70-200.
Post production on the shots has been done as usual with Lightroom, changing colours, exposure, curves...
Anyway, have a look and enjoy

Moritz

BINTM live

2011-11-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hey,

thought I sent a small post about the BINTM (Britains and Irelands Next Top Model) live event from last weekend.
The show was at the EXCEL and was a great chance to see a great catwalk show.
I took a number of shots on the open catwalk of Joey Bevans show as well as a few behind the scene shots of the models getting ready to get on the catwalk (images below).
Then I took a few of the models and walked around a bit to take some shots on various spots, it worked great with the location and the outfits and even though I was limited to one on-camera flash I am quite happy with the results, bouncing flash against white wall helped for nice even lighting. However, at this point I wont show those pics yet on here.
The other highlight was the main catwalk show with the girls from the last season of BINTM which was great. I was sitting in the front and had a great view of the girls walking past.

Even though these aren't my usual shots here as they aren't from a shoot, I thought I share some.
Have a great week everyone.
In case you haven't done yet, follow me on twitter (@mostphotography) and like my facebook page

Moritz

Canon EOS1d X - Short review

2011-10-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hey,

something different for a change (for all the tech heads) this time with a small review of the new Canon flagship the EOS1d X that will be available from March 2012.
First impression, in terms of looks its pretty much the same as the 1d IV however with a number of new buttons. So now they have a direct button for live view as well as a button to check if camera is level (same as in the 7d and the 60d). Also the zoom function changed a bit, now requires to press the review button, then the zoom and then you can zoom in/out by turning the wheel, this is a bit of a change from the previous models incl. the 5dii and below and creates a bit of confusing at the beginning. Also a new addition, the joystick if used in the portrait mode, making it easier to use.

Now to the actual changes...
The EOS1d X is now a full frame camera compared to the 1d IV, so you loose the extra zoom if needed but gain the extra wide angle on the other side. However with 18megapixels you are able to crop in if needed. The speed of 12frames/sec in RAW is amazing and can be increased to 14 frames/sec if shot in JPG, so perfect for anyone who needs speed such as in wildlife and sports.
Furthermore, the increase in ISO is amazing and lets you shoot with very high ISO with very limited noise, I tried shooting at 51,200 ISO and the noise was very much acceptable and similar to what the 1d IV has in 12,400.
Another great feature are the 61 focus points spread evenly across which enables you to focus on various points, compared to the 5d II which has 9 focus points.
So for anyone who shoots in dark environment and/ or needs a fast shutter speed its an amazing camera. Even though the weight is a bit less than the IV it is still a heavy camera if you are running around a lot with it.

All in all from the little testing I was able to do, a great camera for any professional who focuses on either wildlife or sport and who needs a fast camera, high quality and the ability to shoot in a dark environment or fast shutter speed with a low aperture.

Moritz

A weekend in Stockholm

2011-10-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hey,

after a busy week I went with a group of 9 others to Stockholm where Cafe Opera hosted Amika London and I went to take photos which will be published on Amika London Facebook
After a great night at Cafe Opera and a great set of DJ Remy Kersten we had half a day to walk around Stockholm and do a bit of sightseeing... I thought it would be a great opportunity to take some shots of the city. Even if the shots might not show the typical sights in Stockholm I really liked them.
The first 2 shots I took while we were walking down the streets and I really liked the shadows and the contrasts.
The shot of the kid looking through the fence at the construction was a real quick snapshot and I was happy that the setting was good as I had only a split second to shoot... I liked the exitement of the kid looking at the truck.
The shot of the roof tops I really liked as it was a dark sky (darkened even more in Lightroom) and it made the houses shine in the sunlight. Another snapshot was the arriving tram with the sun behind it, the old tram and the feel of the picture only worked in black and white in my opinion.

Let me know your thoughts.
Have a great week everyone

Moritz

Running shoot

2011-10-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Yesterday was another sunny day in London and I was lucky enough to have a location shoot. This time it was with sport and fitness model Dave. We wanted some edgy running shots as well some shots on the start blocks. I wanted to use my 3 point light set up for the shots to create the rim lights to create the look I wanted for the shots. To get the images as dark as possible to show the sky (where visible) I shot most the time on f14-18 and a shutter of 200-250 which was needed for the moving shots to avoid motion blur.
Light set up changed between the shoots, however often lights next to him as well as in front of him.

When working on the shots in Lightroom I really liked the black and white with strong contrast as they have a bit of a surreal look. Also liked the rim light on him that nearly was in line with the track lines. Besides colour and contrast editing I changed curves, exposure and a few other setting to get the feel I wanted for those shots.

Have a great week and hope to see some comments.

Moritz

Beach shoot in Brighton

2011-10-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Just before the winter in the UK hit us, I managed to do one last swimwear shoot in Brighton on the beach. We got out of London quite late so we pretty much had only one hour to shoot and sunset was getting closer and closer however the colours of the sunset worked well even though didn't create the warm sunny day look I had originally in mind for this.
Diana, the model on this shoot came with a number of outfits so we had to work fast to get the most of the last available light. As the sky turned real colourful, I really wanted to use that as the backdrop so I exposed on the sky and used a single flash to light up Diana and make her stand out against the backdrop.

The shots below were all shot between f9-f11 to have a nice depth of field and 1/200sec shutter to avoid any motion blur as well as to get the sky dark enough as I was shooting against the sun.

As usual, the shots have only been edited in Lightroom, mainly changes in exposure, curves, saturation and contrast.

Looking forward to hear your thoughts

Moritz

Ballet shoot in the sun

2011-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a shoot with ballet dancer Sarah.
The idea was to combine the movement and flexibilty of ballet with the still standing metal statues around her. Weather was really on our side with nearly 29 degrees which was better than most of the summer here in London.
First we shot her just doing her moves and then we took a long red silk fabric to play with. The red was a strong contrast to the blue sky and worked well.
I used only one single flash to soften the shaddows a bit as the sun was quite bright, however I loved the shaddows on here as well as on the floor.
After we done a number of shots with the statues we moved to some stairs. Here I wanted a very plain backdrop that made her stand out. Again the blue sky and red silk worked well.

For postproduction I used Lightroom, so the images are edited but not retouched. Main thing was colour editing as well as exposure, curves and contrast. On the black and white shots I wanted to have a real dark sky giving nearly an infra red effect which I love.

Feel free to comment on the pictures or if you have any other question feel free to ask

Moritz

Shoot with Girls Roc

2011-09-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hey,

first of all, sorry for a late posting of this.
Just over a week ago I did a shoot with 3 of the girls from Girls Roc at Amika London. The shoot was for portfolio and PR for the girls and Channel 4 was filming behind the scenes for a documentary showing how the Pop Culture today influences what teens wear.
After a few simple posing shots we went into the action shots with fire and grinder. It took a while to find the settings that worked well to show the girls as well as the fire. On the one hand you need a slow exposure to show the sparks, yet you still dont want the motion blur on the faces. On the other hand you had this huge light source - the fire ball - that again changed the exposure settings.
In the end I went for a 3 way lighting setup, 2 lights slighly behind the girls and one light behind myself.

The shots below have been edited and slightly retouched, mainly darkening a few areas. Main work was done in lightroom, changing contrast, saturation and curves.

Once I know when the documentary will be aired on Channel 4 I will post it on my facebook as well as on my Twitter @mostphotography, so make sure if you are on Twitter to follow me.
Have a great week

Moritz

Shoot with Elli U

2011-09-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hey,

On Thursday I did a shoot with latvian musician Elli U who is currently in London performing at some venues.
We wanted some simple more casual shots and the sun gave them a nice summer feel.
One spot that I used before on a shoot was a perfect start for the shoot, different backdrops and a very non-London feel to it even though it was right in the middle of London. From there we then walked towards Hyde Park where we ended up taking a few more shots, this time more with a winter look.
I was mainly after black and white pictures as well as the real low saturation look rather than the full colour shots so I shot on f2.8 to have a blured backdrop and the focus on Elli U. I used one flash to fill in slightly and to be able to have a slightly darker backdrop.
Images are edited only in Lightroom with colour adjusments, contrast, exposure, curves and few other small adjustments.
Big thank you again to Elli U.

Moritz

Sexy rock shoot

2011-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sorry for a week and a bit of silence. After shooting another 2 music videos for NU-JAM the last weekend of August I had a week off with catch up on editing. Day one of the music video was mainly on location and for the 1st of 2 videos and then the 2nd day was all green screen. Saw the edited result of the first video I did a month ago and I am real happy with the result. As I love the edgy lighting look in my pictures, I used the same kind of lighting in the video so expect some strong back lights. However, as the band wants to start kick off next year, the videos most likely wont be seen till then. If anything changes, I will post the link here as well as on my Twitter account MOSTphotography.Follow @MOSTphotography

Last Saturday I then had another shoot, a last min. shoot with model Laura. The idea was to get a bit of a punk/ rock look but more sexy. We did the shoot at an industrial area in Tottenham which worked well for the look we wanted.
I tried shooting in colour first, however I thought black and white gave the pictures a more classy look.
Most the time I shot with 2 flashes and on apperature 8, however the shot in the open warehouse as well as the closeup where shot on f2.8 with the 70-200. In the warehouse I had the lights slightly behind her to create a bit more of a rim light as well as some extra light on her hair.
The day was quite windy which worked out well as it gave a more messy hair look than we would have had without.
Looking forward to hear your thoughts and comments.
Thanks again to Laura for a great shoot.

Moritz

Sport and fitness shoot

2011-08-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

On Monday I did a sport and fitness shoot with model and dancer Diana.
In the beginning we were worried as forcast predicted rain for Monday but we had great weather all day long. We met at 10am and headed over to location equiped with a huge suitcase full of sport equipment and ended up shooting till 6pm.
We started of with some simple standing and running shots, then did some golf, volleyball, boxing, football, yoga, dance and fitness.
Most the time I used my 3 flash set up to get the look I wanted for the shoot.
The colours of the outfits Diana took worked well with the blue sky and with a bit of lightroom the colours pop out well.

The shots below were edited in Lightroom, incl. curves, contrast, saturation, colour mixer, exposure and some other changes.

Looking forward to hear some of your feedback.
Big thank you again to Diana for a great shoot.

Moritz

'Vans Downtown Showdown' Skate Competition

2011-08-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 20/08/11 I went to another sporting event in London, this time it was the Vans Downtown Showdown skate competition. The competitors faced 3 different challenges and after a rainy start into the day the big ramp outside dried up and allowed the skaters to go. As I came a bit later I missed the first part and for the 2nd part I didn't have the best spot, however with the last one I had a good view on at least one part of the ramp to capture some high jumps incl. Rob Smith 180 nose blunt from the top that gave him 3rd prize for the day.
Wee Man was as well at the event, however he didn't take part but he was still running around with his board.

The shots were all taken with my 40D as my main focus on this was speed and with 6 frames a sec. it enabled me to capture the movement. To get close I used the 70-200 and I was shooting with a fast shutter so there was as little motion blur as possible.

Se here you go. Any comments/ feedback welcomed

Moritz

Portrait session

2011-08-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Hey

On Monday I did a Pop Art themed shoot for possible publication (thus currently unable to post any of the shots just yet) however Tricia the mua did a great job and so did model Hannah, so a huge thank you to both. During the shoot we heard of the riots and even though all of us were worried we kept on and had some great shots at the end.
On Tuesday I then did a portrait session with 3 models, Alex, Jess and Margit in cooperation with David who will use a number of shots for some of his artwork.
For the first shots we used a plain wall and a 1 light set up and later used a second light to fill in. The last few shots we then took on the roof top, mainly used only natural light however on some shots had one flash on highspeed sync so that I was able to shoot on f2.8 and a shutter speed of up to 2000.

The images as usually on here were only edited in Lightroom, mainly changinging curves, exposure, saturation and contrast as well as few other changes to get the look I wanted.

As always, any feedback is welcome.

800m runner

2011-08-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

Another shoot in sunny London.
On Monday I met up with 800m runner Robyn to do an edgy sports shoot at her local track. The weather was perfect and the sun helped the get the extra light in the background while she was lit by 3 flashguns to get the feel I wanted. The pictures then have been edited in Lightroom changing saturation, curves, colours, exposure and contrast.
Now I am thinking what I can do to even get more out of those shots... what do you think could be done

Have a great week

Moritz

London Triathlon

2011-08-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

Small update with some shots grom the weekend I took at the London Triathlon that took part in SE London. It was a last minute thing of me going there, got up early looked out the window and seeing the sun I thought lets go and take some shots.
Most the time I used the 70-200 lens to get closer to the action. I was expecting one big group to start at the same time rather than smaller groups ever 20-30 minutes but think due to logistics and safety they went for the smaller groups.

Anyway, here my favourite shots from the day, all edited in lightroom, changed contrast, exposure and saturation as well as playing with the curves.

Moritz

Group shots

2011-07-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

hey,

sorry, its been again a while but had some busy days and just didnt get into updating my blog.
last big shoot i did was with 3 guys, david, oliver and james at a great warehouse location that i used before.
the shots have been edited in lightroom (contrast, exposure and curves) and then david did a bit more editing on his side incl the page design of the shots.
some of the shots have been with a 3 light set up, 2 slightly behind them and one in front and some of the shots were taken with the help of some natural sun light playing with the shaddows.

now i have a few more busy days ahead of me... today shooting a small wedding to follow by a night at amika, tomorrow editing. monday depending on weather (and model) a sport/ running shoot, tue a location fashion shoot with a frensh model that is in london for 2 days only. then on thu there is a balloon flashmob in the city at 12:30 where i will take pictures (message me if you want more information about that) and then fri sat amika plus a wedding on saturday on top....
so hopefully i will be able to show you at least a few of the upcoming shots

have a nice weekend

moritz

Sandbanks Beach Polo

2011-07-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

A long and busy week is now over... after I had a number of shoots last week I left on Thursday for Sandbanks to cover the polo event on Friday and Saturday. The party shots will be on the Amika facebook page soon, so here just a few shots of the actual sporting event as well as a number of shots from the British beach volleyball that is currently competing to get to be the first British beach volleyball team at the Olympic games.
Friday was still a more relaxing day, then Saturday started at 9am and I finished at 1am, then got up early to shoot an engagement party in North London all day Sunday and then on Monday morning I got picked up early for a shoot in Portsmouth where I spent the entire day and got back on Tuesday afternoon. So now its editing time... on the polo and volleyball shots I changed contrast, exposure and saturation. All shots were taken during the games besides the volleyball shots with the dark background wich were shot with one off camera flash.

Hope to hear some feedback

Moritz

Black and white series

2011-07-04T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hey,

so its been a while again, so today update with 2 new shoots...
Did 2 shoots with David at his warehouse loft last week, first was a solo shoot only using natural light coming through the windows on a very grey and rainy day and the 2nd shoot was together with Jemma, same location but with the use of one flash shot into umbrella to create some strong shaddows.
With both shoots I decided to shoot in black and white and David then did some design on the pages.

Besides those 2 shoots I had as well another shoot with Danny who I had in the last blog and then started yesterday with a sport glamour shoot which I will continue throughout the week with the images possibly published in various magazines (thus currently unable to show any of the shots just yet)
So the rest of the week will be more of the sexy sport themed shoots and then Thursday evening heading over to Sandbanks where I will cover the Polo event on Friday and Saturday for Amika London and OK! magazine and then on Sunday will be shooting an engagement party.

So next update will show some of the sport shots and from the polo.
Till then, have a nice week

Moritz

Band photoshoot, actor shot and Salon Prive

2011-06-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

Ok,

it has been a while since the last post so now I have some catching up to do... so today some images of various shoots from the last few days.
First of, on Friday I did a shoot with actor and model Danny Parsons, idea was to get some more moody black and white shots. We had around 2 hours so we played around with various lighting, however one of my favourite set ups must have been the 2 light set up with light from behind and then some as well with a beauty dish above Danny. The image below is one of my favourite ones from the shoot and I think it works well in black and white.

Then the next then shoot was at Amika London with new Girl Band Monroe with the 3 girls Kelly, Katie and Katy and main makeup artist Nina. We had some great latex clothing and we wanted to have a more dominatrix feel to it. We shot at various spots in the club incl. in a cage. As some of the images will be used for a new online fashion magazine I can only show a teaser shot to show what kind of images you can expect at least from one location. On the specific setting below I had a softbox slightly behind the models as well as another light behind them to create more of a hot spot. An umbrella to my left gave the fill light on their faces.

Today then was a day out at Salon Prive, an exclusive car show at Syon Park sponsored by Amika. After a rainy start the sun finally came out and we had a chance to walk around and look at the cars. I found myself looking more at the details of the cars and doing close up shots rather than shots of the entire car. The 2 pictures below are of a blue Bugatti and the other one is an old Aston Martin. I actually think the rain added a nice look but I would like to hear your opinion as well.

Moritz

mi phone travels

2011-06-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hi

sorry for the long silence since my last blog... please accept my apologies.
So I am back in London after a week in Germany where I took photos of a wedding (and yes, I will post some of the pics soon for you to see) as well as some photos of a wine depot for their webpage... for all the beer drinkers under you, sorry, they only had wine, no beer

On my way back at the airport I saw some people reading the paper and thought that it would make a nice picture, so took my iphone and used the timer and tried to capture the view... once back in London and on the underground I was directly confronted with the same view again... people reading... so for the first 3 pictures here, a small series of people reading. Images were taken with the iphone and edited with one of my fav. apps, the mobile photoshop...
As for the last 2 images, I took them tonight, again on my way, this time traveling from Canary Wharf, here I loved the emptiness in the station that during peak times is absolute crowded.

Would like to hear your thoughts of the pictures and maybe if you got some travel snapshots post them on here or send them to my email info@mostphotography.com together with your name and if I get a number of different shots I will post them on here... So get out your mobile phone and take some pictures, if on the road, bus, underground... Looking forward to see some great shots from you all....

Moritz

Series 1 - The Readers

Series 2 - Underground Silence

Fashion on the streets

2011-06-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a fashion shoot with model Janine and new designer Anastasia for her winter collection. Setting was the back streets of Canary Wharf and with the evening sun going down we had some great natural light to work with.
To get the more vintage feel the designer was after, I shot most of the pictures with f2.8 to get the blured out backdrop. Towards the end of the shoot with all direct sunlight gone, we used one flashgun on a low power positioned of camera to still get a natural sunlight feel.
It was great to be able to use most the time natural light on a day were in the beginning it looked like we might have to call shoot of because of rain.
The images below are just a few of my favourite shots, again just edited slightly on Lightroom, changing contrast, saturation and exposure.

Big thank you to all involved.

Moritz

Day out with the phone

2011-05-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hi
this week was mainly editing for me... however today was a bit out and about and thought I make again some use of my iPhone camera, capturing some spots in the city... edited them just a bit on the mobile photoshop app, so contrast, exposure and saturation.
Glad the weather hold up, so even if it was cloudy it wasn't raining.
Shows again, get your mobile phone out once in a while and snap away, you can get some nice shots all over the place, just keep your eyes open.

Have a lovely weekend

Fashion Shoot

2011-05-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hey,

After 2 busy nights at Amika, I had a fashion shoot at Dizzyfinch Studios with stylist Federica Salto, MUA Alison Taylor, hair stylist Lewis Pallett and models Ariana and Erica.
As the shoot was part of an open day Dizzyfinch had, I had just under 1.5hrs to shoot...
The first shoot started with Ariana with 2 bigger outfit changes and 2 small adjustments and then finished the shoot with Erica. Lewis did some great work on the hair and so did Alison with the makeup.
Loved the designs Federica brought along and they were exactly what I was looking for in the beginning.
As I have been busy editing last nights work after the shoot, I only had time to upload the images from the shoot and have a quick look through in Lightroom and did some small colour adjustments but at this point haven't done any further editing but I thought I share some of the work with you. Some of the final images most likely will go onto my fashion page.
For the techies, I had a big octabox as main light, a softbox on the backdrop, hairlight and a big reflector on the opposite of the octabox to soften the shadows. I was shooting with the 70-200 as I love the sharpness on the lens and the zoom range allowing to quickly go from close up shots to medium length. Settings on f7.1-8.0, shutter speed of 1/125 and ISO 100-125.
Looking forward to hear your thoughts...

Moritz

Parkour/ freerun shoot

2011-05-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Another day another shoot...
yesterday I did another sports shoot, this time with freerunner Gary 'Surreal'. We were shooting around Greenwich at various spots including at the University where some of the shots below were taken.
Some of the jumps I was not only amazed on the distance he jumped but also at the accuracy.
Unlike a lot of other sports, freerunning is quite hard to capture on photo as a lot of the moves are quick spins so we ended up taking some video as well as photos with the main focus on high and long jumps rather than flips and spins.
To get the images as sharp as possible with thos quick moves I had to focus on a set point and hope that I get the shot in time. Furthermore I had up to 3 flash around all set to high speed sync. so that I could shoot with a shutter speed between 1/200 and 1/320 and f5.6-f14 depending on my flash settings. On the high jump I had a lower flash so that I was able to get 2-3 shots/sec as that was one of the jumps he didn't want to repeat as often. However on the other shots I often used full flash power to make him stand out more.
Big thank you again to Gary for whom the shoot was just another day training...for me it was a new inside view of another sport...
The images are only edited in Lightroom.

Moritz

Last couple days... fashion, art nude and music video planing

2011-05-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last couple days have been busy again and will stay busy over next few days as well.
Friday night started of with another night at the club taking photos, then on Saturday I did a fashion shoot with KC, was a struggle to find studio as it was a last min. shoot but ended up getting a small studio that did the job. First images from the shoot are at the bottom of this post.
Saturday night was then again another night at the club to follow by a Sunday full of editing.
Monday was then back to Kingston to meet up with NU-JAM to speak again about the upcoming music video... after the second meeting we now have a pretty good idea what we want and it looks like it will be a fun shoot... of course once its ready you will get the link here to see it.
After the meeting I then met with Johanne for an art nude shoot, originally we wanted to shoot in a studio on Friday however as she lives in Kingston we thought lets try and shoot inside... so used black bedsheet and 2 of my flashguns combined with black reflector to block some light.. So shows you can achieve some nice effects even with just some simple lights.

Next up, Girl band photoshoot for promotional material for upcoming Tour in Germany to follow by sport shoot and then Thursday edgy fashion shoot....

Now, here the pictures from the last 2 shoots...
Enjoy

those two shots have been edited, filters used: High Pass, Median, Curves, Saturation

The following shots were only darkend and added contrast and changed saturation (in Lightroom)

iPhone 3Gs vs Canon 5dii

2011-05-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hi,

last week I spoke about the importance of camera/ equipment vs the artist with the result that its the artist and not the camera that matters most....
While in the kitchen I had a look at some of the basil and parsley we got and thought I take a pic with my iPhone and after a nice shot I though 'Hey, lets try the same with my Canon...' to make it fair, I edited both pics with the mobile photoshop application, so images from both devices are more or less same file size. The only clue I give, the shot of the parsley was on my iPhone... and as I don't have a marco lens for the 5d I had to crop the shot to get closer.... I think, if its just a small picture you want, you can easil;y get away with the iPhone....

Looking for your comments to see what you think which image is from which camera.

This week, upcoming music video and behind the scenes

2011-05-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hi,

sorry for a week of silence, lot happened since, Royal Wedding to capturing the most wanted but I wasnt involved in either of them I am afraid.
Weekend was 2 busy nights at Amika and then some editing the days after. Tuesday I did a behind the scenes shoot at Amika for a fashion shoot, always good to see how other people work as well as making new contacts.
Today, Thursday I had a meeting with Jamal from NU-JAM a band that I did a shoot with early 2010. They are getting to the next stage and now looking at doing a music video that I will film. For this we will need some models/ dancers as well as maybe a stuntmen and free runners... so if you are interested in that feel free to send me an email to info@mostphotography.com Subject: EXTRAS
This video is something very exciting to me as this will be my first bigger video where I am not just taking part but involved from start.

The next couple days will be again busy, first 2 nights at the club with a big night on Saturday with special guest Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, then a location based fashion shoot on Tuesday, a sports shoot on Wednesday and an edgy male fashion shoot on Thursday and possibly another shoot on Friday.

Wish you all a great weekend

Moritz

What makes a good picture?

2011-04-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

So what makes a good picture? I am saying picture and not photo as this is in general for photos as well as paintings.
So what does it take? Is it the equipment you use, the location and or the model you working with? Well, in my opinion the answer to those two points is NO... Knowing that Picasso used a certain paper and colour wouldn't make you do the same kind of work, and a £10,000 camera even though great quality won't take a good picture by itself... so it is the artist and his/ her vision of any given object/ person.
Saying that, of course equipment still plays a roll, but mainly it mainly helps you to achieve a certain image quality as well as helping with the creativity such as motion blur or freezing a moment, depth of field or certain colours.

Having said all that, I thought I start again with some iPhone pictures after last years success of my picture of the day. This shows that you can use a simple camera and get some interesting shots, often even at places that most of us pass every day. Today I am taking you down into Londons Underground... The images have been taken on the iPhone with a 3mega pixel camera and then I edited them with PS Express which allows you to change contrast, saturation and exposure...

More iPhone shots to come again soon on here, it wont be pic of the day but i will show on a regular base some shots taken with the camera thats always with me so in a way the best camera...

Rowing shoot

2011-04-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Another sunny day in London and another edgy sports shoot, today with Francesca a winner of 3 World Championship medals at Junior and U23 in rowing. And fingers crossed, Francesca will be competing in 2012.

The shoot was done at low tide in Putney with a 3 light set up, 1 flash with full power on each side and a 3rd flash next to me again at full power and on top a bright London sun. Aperature of 15-20 and fast shutter got a dark backdrop while Francesca stands out.
Images will be edited soon with 1-2 images to be uploaded to my webpage.
Till then, just a little teaser to get an idea of the shots that you can expect to see.

My weekend

2011-04-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Busy shooting the last days. After my boat shoot on Wednesday I had a day off. Then Friday morning I got picked up by my man Andy D from Method Works Production to do a behind the scene shoot for a documentary about 2 new film makers. After finishing at 5pm headed home and got ready to shoot at Amika, bad bad bunny ball, pictures soon to be seen as usual on Amika Facebook.
After a very short night sleep got picked up once again at 7:30 for day two of behind the scenes which just finished and to follow by another night at Amika.
Tomorrow, Sunday is a day to relax and edit the weekend shots so they are ready to be uploaded on Monday.
Monday then continues with sport shoot and Tuesday another behind the scene shots for a music video.

On top of that, I agreed on taking photos from now on for Street Fashion Blog (link will be posted once the first shots are up), it's an already existing blog that so far covers Paris and New York and soon London.

Come back next week to read about the sport shoots and see the first images as well as any other shoots I'm doing.

With that, have a lovely weekend everyone.

Swimwear shoot

2011-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Today's shoot with model Devina brought me over to Brighton where we met up with hair stylist Alex Martinez and Mua Zena McCarthy.
After getting ready we headed down to the beach to do the swimwear shoot, however this amazing weather somehow made a few 100 people do exactly the same so beach was absolut packed... Next option 1 hour on a sailing boat in the marina. After 10min shooting the news, captain was actually free much longer so we went out on the boat and got some great swimwear shots.

So shows sometimes you got to be flexible with locations.

Here some of the shots from the day after just some lightroom edit, so no airbrushing done yet. Final images will be soon on MO-ST Photography

Again a huge thank you to all involved, Devina, Cisco Karma, Alex, Alex, Zena and George. Thanks to all we got some great shots

London Marathon

2011-04-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

First of all congratulations to the winner Emmanuel Mutai for an amazing time of 2:04:39 as well as everyone who participated in todays event.
I was on the side line and taking photos, playing around with movement as well as fast shutter speeds.
The movemnet shots really take some practice but if you manage to move the camera with the runners the results are great. Shutterspeeds were around 1/8th of sec with low ISO and apperature of 20 to compensate for the slow shutter.
Post production was just done in Lightroom, playing around a bit with saturation, exposure and contrast.

E.Mutai second on the right.

Female leading group, with 1st place 2nd on the right

Time to look after our environment

2011-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

I just saw this video of photographer Chris Jordan and I think its a real eye opener. Its a quite shocking video so if you are faint hearted maybe better dont watch this video. With the first picture I thought this guy is quite a bit starnge but then hearing the story behind the birds filled with plastic is quite shocking and I think should make us think twice about throwing rubbish into the ocean. Have a look.

Horse shoot - 12-04-11

2011-04-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

another day of sunshine...
today i did a shoot with cat and 3 horses. idea was to create a black and white implied art nude shoot on a horseback... ok, it wasnt total nude but nude underwear so i will have to do some editing to cover up the underwear but for now i show you the unedited result of today.
i was told that i would only have a few seconds before the horses will start to walk away but unexpected they were real good and often even tried to get a bit more into the shot by turning the head towards the camera.

biggest problem faced really were the clouds that covered up the sun every few minutes makeing the lighting not easy and constant changing of shutter speed...
so unlike my last few shoots, today was only natural light, using apperature of 2.8-5.6 and shutter speed of up to 2,500, really shows you how bright it was at times.

so a big thank you to cat and her partner chris who was kind enough to provide the 3 horses... well done to all

Sun in London and another shoot

2011-04-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

a warm welcome to the london spring. it has been a number of great days, nice, sunny and warm... perfect for some outdoor location shoots.
so on wednesday i met with a previous model of mine to discuss some ideas for shoots and made some use of the great weather for some nice simple shots, just the 2 of us and my camera... no flash or any setup.... love this black and white shot of porscha i got on the day...

one of the ideas we had for the next shoot (which ended up being the day after) was to play with some more edgy shots at one of my fav. locations (even though now security told us of to be on the top due to health and safety... but hey, we got some shots before)

so now that the summer is finally coming i see again a number of location shoots coming up, looking forward to some more days in the sun.

31-03-11

2011-04-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Shoot with David White

did a shoot with friend and model david in old warehouse. idea was to get some edgy shots out of it. we started with some skateboard shots and towards the end we went to some angry shots hitting the table.
i was inspired by a shoot from www.chasejarvis.com

lighting setup for the shoot was natural light behind david, 1 flash on 1/2 power on each side and a third flash slightly above him.

see the behind the scene video with final result

final image, photography by Moritz Stragholz, model David White, postproduction Moritz Stragholz

Welcome to my blog

2011-04-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

hi
after having a look at other people and seeing their blogs and my previous success on facebook with my picture of the day i now decided to start a blog myself...

i will show you here on a regular base behind the scene shots from my shoots as well as video footage giving you an idea of how i work. also i will show you some of the final images .

so for all of you who want to see what i am up to, come and have a look on a regular basis