Image credit: Stefan Grosjean (www.stefangrosjean.com)
SAR readers Stefan Grosjean (www.stefangrosjean.com – attention nude pics on that website) is a 36 years old photographer from Switzerland, Europe, and specialized in nude and glamour photography. His photos are quite popular, reaching 30 million views on deviantART.com alone.
Nude photography as an art are concerned with aesthetic qualities and creativity; thus any erotic interest, although often present, is secondary (More about the history on Wikipedia). I am pleased to see that Stefan uses Sony cameras for his work. This is the text he sent me to introduce his work:
Image credit: Stefan Grosjean (www.stefangrosjean.com)
Stefan Grosjean:
10 years from now your classic DSLR will maybe only be a niche product targeted at older photographers who want to keep working with the system they used their whole life. But if a rookie comes into the camera store they will probably recommend a DSLM camera for him.
“What is DSLM?”, asks the customer.
“It’s short for digital single lens mirrorless”, replies the seller.
“Why would my camera have a mirror?”, asks the customer, “and why is it called ‘single lens’? I want a camera with interchangeable lenses!.”
Yes, DSLM is a bid of a weird name, that only makes sense if you know the history behind it. It’s called ‘single lens’ because before there were cameras with a mirror, a camera needed a second lens for the viewfinder. But today every camera on a smart phone is a “single lens camera” and the term is not really that meaningful anymore. And the same goes for the “mirrorless” part. And smart phone camera doesn’t have mirror. So why do you name a camera after what it doesn’t have and why do you call it single lens when one of its best features is that you can use more than a single lens?
I started as an ambitious amateur in 2008 with the first DSLM on the market, which was [shoplink 19992 ebay]Panasonic’s Lumix G1[/shoplink]. Since I was shooting beautiful women I had a large growing audience, but sometimes people’s comments on my photos were “good model, bad image quality”. After two years of this I switched to a full frame camera, which was the Canon 5D Mark II with the Canon 24-70mm f2.8 lens. Since I always missed the electronic viewfinder, I immediately switched to [shoplink 14165]Sony’s Alpha99[/shoplink] when it came out late in 2012.
Image credit: Stefan Grosjean (www.stefangrosjean.com)
Looking back from today I have to say the two years I worked with the classical DSLR camera were an absolute low point in my creative career. Don’t get me wrong! I see a lot of photographers who take better pictures than I do and they make it with a classical Canon or Nikon DSLR. I’m a big admirer of those photographers not only for their beautiful pictures but also because they can do it with a DSLR, which is in my experience much harder.
In the last few years the electronic viewfinder was sometimes criticized for not giving you the real picture. But it’s actually the other way around, isn’t it? When I shoot with the Sony a99 I see exactly what the result looks like in the viewfinder. I often work with quite complicated lighting setups involving five or more flashes. In a setting like this chances are high that not all flashes fire every time. Working with the Canon equipment was very stressful for me because of this. Let’s say I’m in the middle of the shooting and all of a sudden the magic happens, by which I mean the model strikes a perfect pose – a pose she will probably not be able to redo in this perfection later. So now are those few seconds where I can get that particular shot we did all this preparation for. But with a DSLR I constantly have to make very difficult and incredibly stressful decision: Should I go with the flow and keep on pressing the shutter to make sure we get a few variations of the perfect pose or should I stop the flow and take the camera down and wait for the picture to appear on the little screen to make sure all the flashes are firing the way they’re supposed to, but ultimately risking that the perfect pose is gone forever.
With an electronic viewfinder I don’t have to worry about this. Not only is the shooting much more enjoyable for me like this, I’m also getting much more and better pictures because I can see right in the viewfinder if there’s a problem.
If you’re following Sony Alpha Rumors you probably know that the a99 still has a mirror. As you know it’s a special mirror that doesn’t move and it’s also semitransparent. But sometimes not everybody seems to understand why it’s there in the first place. It has one purpose and one purpose only: to direct light to the phase detection autofocus. This was maybe the best solution for a camera that hit the markets last year but it never was an ideal solution, simply because it takes away approximately one sixth of the light that reaches the sensor and it can also produce a small amount of scattered light.
Sony of course knew this and that’s why they built the RX1 which is a full frame camera without phase detection autofocus and therefore without any kind of mirror. So yes, it’s true, the RX one has a little bit better image quality than Sony’s flagship a99, but the a99 has a phase detection autofocus which is supposed to be faster especially in low light conditions.
But for my kind of work it has another huge disadvantage: the autofocus fields are all in the center. But because I take a lot of full-bodied pictures the face of my models usually ends up more towards the corners, which means I have to pan the camera after autofocusing. And with this I lose what I’m supposed to win with the PDAF: very fast and very accurate focus.
For a photographer like me the current rumors about the new Sony system, be at “Alpha” or “Nex” is very exciting. We are looking forward to see the first full frame camera that has no mirror whatsoever, interchangeable lenses and a fast and reliable autofocus right on the sensor – it’s going to be a milestone. Sony is about to write history.
Stefan Grosjean.
(www.stefangrosjean.com)
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50 Responses
This is going to be that awkward moment where the wife walks in and I have to explain it’s art & photography techniques I’m researching
Hahhaha… I had the same stressful moment for 10 minutes while checking Stefan’s work 🙂
me too… kkk
Some excitement at SAR!
good photos for a fanboy 🙂 unfortunately a real photographer never speak about these trivial news… fansonuyboy
I don’t know if you are entirely correct. While I enjoy photography as a hobby, I have several friends who make a living at it. The one thing theses guys and girls talk about whether they shoot Canon, Sony or Nikon is mirrorless cameras. Several professionals that they read and talk too feel the future is going to be mirrorless camera. So this trivial subject is on people’s minds and they are talking about it.
So it is forbidden for a real photographer to love their cameras and talk about it. Smart.
It’d be interesting to hear about the flashes he uses.
Yep… flashes, triggers and lenses… Andrea, is it possible for you to get some information about the gear Stefan uses?
I’d like to know, too. He gets consistently good skin tones in his photos, which is something not all strobists have a knack for.
I promise you he’s not a “strobist” (using standard camera strobes off camera (which I’m not putting down)), he’s using studio strobes and softboxes. Regardless, the secret is of course correct white balance of all light sources (at least those on the skin) to avoid color cast.
Ah Little Caprice! Well done mate!
So, I’m not the only one who recognized “some” of his models?
:o)
Which picture is little caprice on? is it on this sar page or in his gallery. Link it please?
At least one picture of Little Caprice is the 4th one, on the very first row.
First is Kami (the red headed one), then an Calvin & Hobbes strip, then a girl I couldn’t identify, and then Caprice.
Now that I’ve seen more pictures, there are quite a lot of Caprice’s pics.
Dude where? Is she on this main sar page or his gallery.
I know who she is but she’s tiny and no-one on his gallery resembles her.
Where :@
If you leave your mouse over the picture, it’ll open the bigger version beside the thumbnails.
Wow….best looking a99 pix I have ever seen! 🙂
(Must be the phase detect AF)
Noticed his work some time ago on 500px. Was quite suprising when I checked its A99. He makes pretty good photos..
That thing about AF is true. If Im correct some lens work with that hybrid AF, but only some. But as A99 does have focus peaking, dunno..not that big issue I would say? 🙂
Hes most likely right about future..
Wonder how many people remember why its “single lens reflex”. 🙂
I never understand why people are “surprised” when they see good, professional work and notice the photographer uses a Sony product. Sincerely, I don’t get it. As if a Canon or a Nikon are the only possible answers. Or that only Canon and Nikon photographers can be professional. Or that, somehow, Sony professionals are less experienced or less talented than their Canon and Nikon peers.
Yea it intrigues me too and I agree with you. Some people are just so used to old habits and refuse change. As if Canon/Nikon photographers are any better then Sony photographers. To me the Sony Alphas are better cameras then Nikon/Canon DSLR
Sorry, but this is as far from art as it possibly gets.
Anyone seeing an artistic interest in this kind “photography” should have doubts about his own judgment. Art is about making something new and unmotivated by popular taste or commercial success where as this is the exact opposite of all of that.
“Art is about making something new and unmotivated by popular taste or commercial success”.
Interesting definition. Art can not be made to please, shock, repulse or generate other feelings since that would be a motivation based on popular taste. It can only be made as a hobby since if you earn money from it, you will at least to some degree think about the economical value of it and if you try to not let that have an impact on your “art” it is likely to have an impact just in another direction. It is also very difficult to make something completely new, as your brain is so immersed in your culture that it will use bits and pieces of something it knows to make something new. It then comes down to degree of new, and everything is new to some degree. I would guess no art is ever made which fully live up to your definition.
Oxford dictionaries: Definition of art in English
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power:
I really like his milk bath images. They’re very well done, and more creative than a lot of the nude photography I’ve seen.
It’s also nice to see the message on the second page of his gallery asking people to respect his models. I’ve sometimes encountered a nasty attitude among certain glamour/nude photographers, as if they look down on the women who pose for them.
It’s a tough field to be in, it brings out a lot of negative emotions that don’t really serve any purpose. Beneath our clothes, every last one of us in nude.
I’m not sure what the Sony engineers were thinking when they decided to only put the auto focus points in the center third of the frame. Additionally, I’ve found that the “side” points (that are within the center third) are slower and sometimes don’t catch focus at all compared to the few points at the center.
I’d love to have higher resolution, built-in wi-fi, better video quality – but the AF system is truly abysmal and in the most need of fixing. Compared to the AF system in Canon’s 5d3, it’s severely lacking. More points would be nice, but I’d be happy even if they retained the same number of points but were spread out…and faster.
Don’t worry. Mirrorless A-mount is coming. AF will be f***** up even more. 😉
This is about 1000x better than watching another video review from that idiot Kai Wong
Definitely, though to be fair watching paint dry is 100x better than watching Kai Wong.
The A99 AF is not “supposed to be faster”. It is faster.
Is this paid advertising? Why is SA suddenly posting articles to sites with nudity? And, next time, please add a NSFW stamp – SonyRumors has been, as long as I’ve known, a camera rumor and tech site, so those of us expecting camera rumors and tech are going to be very surprised at work when we’re suddenly faced with pictures of scantily clad women
You only see the nude pictures if you click on the link to his website. If you click it means you want to see them. If you don’t want …don’t click.
I was referring to the scantily clad women, not the nudes ones, and either isn’t SFW.
Don’t go to the beach either then, it isn’t safe.
@Vlad – What does your comment have to do with what I wrote? I’m talking about the risks of viewing this site at work, that has nothing to do with your comment about the beach. Moreover, this is a rumors site, and now suddenly it’s advertising for some dude’s nude photography page. I get that you think you’re being smart, and that you like all the naked ladies, but stay on topic, some of us are actually serious about using this page as a Sony technology trends resource.
Why are the above pictures not safe for work? That is preposterous. “Scantily clad” means nothing, they aren’t naked, end of story.
As to you being “serious about using this page as a Sony technology trends resource”, how is the work of someone using Sony gear not relevant?
You are not supposed to browse rumor websites at work anyway.
Ohhhhhhhh, snap!
I’ll plug my own artistic nude portfolio, made with everything from Minolta 7D, Sony A100, A300, A700 and A900. It’s not the one linked in my profile (and I can’t figure out how to put it in now!) It’s: http://LightBrushedImages.com Notice: NSFW
A99 images coming soon, as I’ll be shooting a 4-day nudes-in-nature workshop with it in Maryland the last weekend in August. (Contact me directly if you’d like info on attending.) I’ve only had it a month and I’m already “shooting differently.”
Where are the 100X enlargements of the navels so we can see if that 24MP sensor is as sharp as a Nikon or Canon. Isn’t that how we should be judging the quality of these photographs?
These pictures remind me of the cards they and out in Vegas. Photoshop a phone number across the top and blurry out the nipples and you got it.
🙂 i’m also using Sony RX1 for doing artistic nudes.
I agree with his points regarding the value of EVF overall, but fail to see how it helps when doing flash photography? When I shoot in the studio or elsewhere with triggered strobes, I have to turn the “Live Preview Effect” off, as it just looks black when I have the camera set to the proper settings for the strobes if I leave it on. Unless he’s using hot lights?
I think he ment that he get the image he took in the viewfinder for a short while after the image is taken, so he doesn’t have to remove the camera from his eye to look at the large screen.
Ah, gotcha – guess I misunderstood. Yeah, I agree with that point; I find that functionality VERY useful.
The girl on the first page 7 down and 6 over is smoking hot.
Why doesn’t he turn on face detection autofocus? It’s an awesome feature which locks focus on the eyeball. Doesnt he know the A99 has this feature?
When shooting portraits or full scale photos from head to toe, I don’t use face detection either. For wide open apertures, I noticed that A99 tends to find an average focusing on the face. For eyeball focus, I use a single AF point instead.
When I use face-detection autofocus the camera manages to detect the face, but it can only focus on it if one of the AFPD-fields is within the face-detection-frame. The a99 does not have a contrast based AF that would allow to focus on a face in the corner (Canon 5D can, but very slowly). The a99 detects a face in the corner but it still focuses in the center! So, even when I use face-detection I still have to pan. Or do you know something I don’t? If you can show me how I can focus on a face in the corner without paning the camera you’re my biggest hero! 🙂
Great article. Love to read this kind of.
First of all, sorry my english.
Im working with Sony cameras in Argentina which is a complete a novelty for 99% of my colleagues: first many of them dont know that Sony does professional cameras, and the rest of those think that those cameras could be good or had excellent performance .
I make photographs for Weddings and Quinceañeras (Sweet Fifhteen, may look something in http://www.facebook.com/fotosocialcordoba) and all my work is done entirely with Sony cameras. Currently I use an a99, and a77 also possess.
Unfortunately Sony in Argentina has a lousy customer support. I have sent emails and never receive a answer of they. We are the face of the brand and not even consider us. We have no products, no lenses, no support and everything we buy in other countries through importers.
It’s a shame. But I’m betting on the brand, and very anxious about what’s come next.