It's dynamic when I picks up the camera. The portrait photographer has practically never attached his work equipment to a tripod, but moves freely in his studio in Oberhausen, where he photographs models for workshops or magazine covers.
His trademark are expressive pictures with strong shadows, bright colors or in high-contrast black and white. We had the opportunity to talk to him about his work.
Risezoom, at the beginning tell us which camera you used to take the pictures shown here and which lenses you used?
Risezoom: The recordings were made with the Sony Alpha 6300. In the meantime I've switched to the 6400 - simply because the autofocus system is even better.
And the lenses?
Two fixed focal lengths from Sigma's contemporary lens series were used, the 30mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary and the 56mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary.
What were your impressions?
The overall package harmonizes wonderfully and is simply perfect for my work. You have to imagine that with my style of studio photography I move quickly and never stand still. I always have a certain distance from the model, usually 1.5 to two meters. I set the autofocus to eye detection. The camera then immediately recognizes if my distance changes or if I position myself differently. That means, I actually only look for a section of the picture and let the camera do the rest. A big advantage of the new mirrorless systems. With the focal lengths of 30mm and 56mm, I can move within a radius that suits my type of photography.
The lenses are designed for the Sony E-Mount and MFT. So you have to plan for a crop factor.
I agree. The 30mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary has a focal length of around 45mm converted to full format. Ideal for upper body portraits and roughly the angle from which most of my pictures are taken. It is small, compact and feels very valuable. In addition, Sigma has made improvements with the latest firmware update and increased the focus speed. It now focuses incredibly quickly and is therefore also superior to full-frame lenses in my opinion. With the 56mm lens you get exactly 85mm with the Sony crop factor, converted to full format, and you get the lens of choice that many people use in portraiture as a photographer.
How is the manual focus behavior?
As with the other two DC DN lenses, manual focusing is not done mechanically, but electronically. Here the rotation of the focus ring is passed on as a digital signal via the camera to the focus motor. That feels really good and the focus ring runs pleasantly smooth. It is not uninteresting, especially considering the price of the lenses, that they have a brass bayonet. I think that rounds off the overall impression. The lens hoods are also included. I have half a year exclusively with my Sony Alpha 6300 and the 30mm F1.4 DC DN | Photographed contemporary and never missed my full-format Canon - I was so excited.
Let us now turn to your work. You can find both black and white images and bold color images in your portfolio. When do you decide the image look?
I like to take pictures in black and white, also because I can address other areas and process the images differently. The photos are converted to black and white directly in the RAW development and not only in post-processing. That will of course also come, but the decision for or against black and white is made earlier. In RAW development, I have many more options to intervene in the individual main layers. Incidentally, I do that with the CaptureOne Pro software and there with the black and white conversion module. For example, I can work out freckles that weren't even visible before and the style of the picture that I like emerges. I have often reduced the skin tones to a darker shade and work out the subtleties of the skin in such a way that structure is always visible.
How does the interaction between the creative work and the equipment work?
A few years ago I started working with LED permanent light. This is a great advantage if you want to move freely in the studio. Light, camera, lenses and the creative work must form a unit, then good pictures are created. It is important to me that my photos work as individual works that don't necessarily have to go together during a shoot. A picture has to act as a work of art. What matters is that the person being photographed is well presented.
The standard lens
Fantastic bokeh, a light intensity of f / 1.4, compact dimensions, low weight and a retail price of currently 299 euros - with the Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN | You don't have to think twice about contemporary . Designed for the Sony E-Mount and Mirco-Four-Third cameras, the standard lens with a normal focal length of around 50mm (calculated on full format) is suitable for pretty much all photo situations, from portraits to street photos to travel photos. Nine lenses in seven groups ensure first-class imaging performance. Internal focusing ensures faster and quieter focusing. Front cover, rear cover and lens hood are included in the scope of delivery.
Ideal portrait optics
With a focal length of around 85mm calculated for the full format, the 56mm F1.4 DC DN | is suitable Contemporary very good for use as a portrait lens. But nature, sports & action photographers or anyone who takes pictures of landscapes will also enjoy the high-speed prime lens. With dimensions of 66.5 mm x 59.5 mm for a medium telephoto lens, the lens is extremely compact and very light at approx. 280 grams. The optical structure consists of ten elements in six groups and ensures a remarkable image quality. The closest focusing distance is 50 cm. This lens completes the high-speed contemporary lens series from Sigma.
Wide angle lens
The Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary completes the bright Contemporary series for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors. It is perfect for landscape or architecture photography. Due to its focal length and its high light intensity, the wide angle is a novelty, especially for Sony cameras (E connection), because a small image equivalent focal length of 24mm with a light intensity of f / 1.4 is currently not available at Sony.
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