April 2025
About shoot events, and on editing all images after!
Oh hey there!
Another month, another newsletter! Thank you for sticking with me and reading these. I loved the in-person comments I got last months. Amazing to hear!
March and April were busy! I did more shoots, had a nice walk in the woods with Alannaria, and participated at a shoot event! For this newsletter I am going to deep dive into that, because shoots events are an odd thing for me. Here goes!
On the topic of shoot events
Once in a while I join a random shoot event to stir up what I already did so far. Last month it was a studio shoot day organized by Dreamscape. The concept for these are often the same: throw a bunch of fellow creatives in the same place, ensure there's a good vibe, and go!
Why do I join these events? Not to make any photos actually. I join them to connect to people I don't know yet!
Reality is - I am very bad at reaching out to people online. I forget to search, and when I do, I assume they don't want to work with me anyway. With shoot events, there's a good method to a) say hi, b) get a bit of a mutual feel if there are projects you both like to work on. Amazing!
At an event itself I am usually complete chaos incarnate! I jump from place to place. Helping out here with some smoke, or setting up some lights there. I love random discussions on technique, or brainstorming future concepts!
And obviously I also take a few photos myself. That's optional though. As said, my goal is to connect, not to shoot. And helping out others with their shoots makes me equally happy.
And then - postprocessing happens!
Also known as "Whelp! Now I have 600+ new photos on my computer of dozens of individual shoots! Where to begin?"
Zero worries, got a process for that! Roughly, these photos all move via this funnel:
Before I start: backups. For me that means copy to edit workstation, then duplicate to NAS, then duplicate to cloud. All automated. Takes 30 mins. Next: to the first stage of post processing!
For me this is where the fun begins! Finding the amazing shots, trying various styles, vary compositions and do some dodging and burning to get the maximum out of images. For me this is the part where images really come to life, and.. I love it! For this I rely heavily on Capture One and its ability to quickly copy/paste styles, edits and settings across whole sets of images. This process takes about an hour for a set if I want to rush, but can also take days if I just want to enjoy the tweaking process.
Next stage: selecting the best ones from that set together! For this I need a tool that makes this easy, and my current go-to tool for this is Picflow. It neatly integrates into my Capture One workflow, and allows me to create beautiful, personalized client galleries that allow for quick back-and-forth discussions on photos, exporting selections back into my editing workflow, and -- most importantly -- it's mostly one-click-creation of new a gallery, drag in some photos, and grab the link to export. If you need something similar here's a referral link for 25% discount.
Last stage: editing the details! Starting with the 3 to 5 photos we selected, I go and edit the details one by one with Photoshop. My edit style is relatively light as most of the work has been done already in the selection stage, so by default I only remove background noise (tripods, studio junk), remove any stray hairs and fix blemishes in skin. That's it. Final results then go back into Capture One, where I have presets to export to various media sizes, and then back to Picflow to share results with models. Done!
And those final results? Well, those are the ones you see on my photoshoots page!
Hope you liked reading about this!
As always, check my newsletter archives if you want to check earlier newsletters, and please do feel free to leave some feedback here!
Ork
Looking for models
Oh! Almost forgot! As you might have read in the hint above - I am terrible at reaching out online! So, turning that around - do always feel free to reach out to me! Even though my time is often quite limited, I love discovering new people and figuring out if we can craft something together. Style wise - I am currently looking towards doing more dystopian and/or cyberpunk themed shoots. If you're interested, do ping!
And now onto the new stuff!
![ORKF1897]()
I met up with Satiella again to capture some cool cosplays! We've shot often, and our shoot style has by now evolved into chaotic yet controlled madness. We're continuously talking and running around and still easily capture 3 or 4 outfits in one go, all with different lights or backdrops. Energy boost! So, here's Zelda!
Model: Satiella![ORKF2058]()
Second shoot of the day! We both have a bit of a weakness when it comes to shiny armor and chainmail, so when Satiella got these amazing pieces we absolutely had to do something odd with them!
Model: Satiella![ORKF2563]()
I absolutely love forest shoots! Good discussions while walking through woods. Finding the perfect spots for a few captures. Trying things out and moving on. This all fits with my style of photography. Here are the results of a recent walk!
Model: Alannaria![ORKF2957]()
And then the results from the photoshoot day. Pianos. Moss. Leaves. Crumply bits of paper. Smoke. More smoke (I was there after all). Chaotic madness!
Most of the shots in this set are unique, so do open and see for yourself!
Model: Laura, during the studio shoot organized by Dreamscape.![ORKF3280]()
Setup: an all-white backdrop studio with a tiny bit of moss on the ground. It got me curious: how much can I make that look like not-a-studio? I placed lights such that they would cast shadows, added fog, and shot a base image. Then background replacement. AI to the assist! And this is the result!
Model: Schildpadcosplay
Make up done by Dominique Haveman.![Bts dreamscape]()
Behind the scenes captured by Asteriafae - showing what the scene actually looked like.
