Andreas Romijn's captivating dog portraits are well-known. Curious as to how he manages to take his amazing photos? Take a look at his 7 unique tips below:
Captivating portraits | Backgrounds | Dynamics | Composition | 'Dog & Model' | Black on black | Teamwork
In 2010, Andreas bought a camera to take shots of Onyx, his new dog at the time. Concepts such as shutter speed, aperture and ISO value were alien to him, so he did everything on the automatic setting! Countless snaps were taken of Onyx: by a tree, in the water, and so on.
After a few years, Andreas bought a set of flashes and a roll of background paper and got to work with them. In 2015, he started with studio photography, taking photographs of families, weddings, products, and of course, dogs! After much practice over the course of a year in his home studio, it was time for the next step – choosing a specialisation.
In 2016, as a co-tenant, Andreas started at the HIA 3D studio in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. He ran workshops, both at home and abroad. The last three years have seen many developments, on the photographic and business sides. By working hard, collaborating, being daring and critically assessing the market, Andreas was able to set up a successful photography company. Andreas enjoys working with other photographers, such as Sonja de Vlaming.
It's clear to see that Andreas enjoys using Profoto gear. He recently became a Profoto ambassador. People get the opportunity to become acquainted with a few popularly-used light shapers at his studio workshops. Would you like to gain some experience using studio gear? You can now do so on paid for studio days. The dates of these will soon be posted on Andreas' Facebook and Instagram profiles.
Andreas uses gear across the price spectrum. He uses and combines different brands, but his favourites are Profoto and Elinchrom. For example, a good combination is the Profoto D2 flitskop with the Rotalux Deep Octa 100cm. This is a great working combo, but you do require the Elinchrom Rotalux Speedring MK2.
For the dog and model portraits, he uses the Profoto Softlight Reflector Silver with or without diffuser. The how and why can be read in this article. In addition, the so-called 'Deep Umbrellas', strip lights, and reflectors with grids are frequently used in his studio work!
Andreas uses a Sony camera, as he was after a lighter, newer camera. Choice of gear is always personal, yet the quality of the images speak for themselves. Mirrorless is the way forward; he currently works with a Sony A7R Mark III camera and the Zeiss Batis 85mm F/1.8.