Thomas Voland — photography blog
People photography, professional retouching, equipment and technology from years of hands-on experience.
It’s been over a decade since I moved to Thailand and while I’ve showcased photos of people from various nationalities on the blog, there haven’t been many Thais. I’ve written several times that Thai modeling agencies tend to have people from other countries, and if you do come across Thais, they don’t have the distinctive […]
I recently did tests with Sophie from England, so today, while briefly discussing NikCollection 6, you will see her photos. The agency that represents her in Thailand is quite specific because it specializes in models with partially Asian facial features, while other agencies in Bangkok also have plenty of typically white models. Unlike many “normal” […]
This will be a short post, as I am including a video at the end that shows the course of the photo session. So I’ll focus on what you can’t see. Last summer, I wrote on my blog: “two unique models from Belarus caught my eye (…) during my trip, their stay in Thailand was […]
In this post, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk a little about lighting stands, but first a brief introduction. In June, two unique models from Belarus caught my eye. They were on contracts with A1 Models in Bangkok. Unfortunately, due to my trip to Europe, I had too much things to do, to […]
I’ve been using my beloved, super cheap YongNuo YN-560IV lamps lately. It may not be anything unusual, as I use them all the time, but this time they weren’t a supplement to studio lamps, but the only source of light. I’ve been doing this for the past few months on other shoots as well, so […]
In July 2011, I didn’t do photo shoots very often, and certainly organized them less frequently than I do now. I didn’t do beauty photography at all, except for one exception done as a test (which wasn’t very successful, by the way…). At that time, I realized that to take such photos, I needed a […]
Once again, Lara Croft in my version. The first photos with Lara (you can find a description of the photo session here) caused quite a stir – thanks to them, I started paying attention that someday I would be able to take good pictures and finally found the courage to arrange photo shoots with aspiring […]
My country hosted a competition for make-up artists, organized by Dior and blogmakijaz.pl website. Its prizes included Dior cosmetics as well as training with Alex Chatti (Dior’s chief make-up artist) and Julie Bodrier (Sephora’s chief make-up creator). Karolina Zientek, a make-up artist cooperating with me on nearly every beauty shot in my portfolio, concluded that […]
I have always liked movies related to vampires. Some of them are better than others, but I guess I’ve seen most of them. I definitely consider “The Vampire Diaries” one of the best. As I know a girl that looks VERY similar to the main character of the series, I immediately thought about a photo […]
Mac or PC – which computer is better for photo editing and why? Edition 2024 Over the years, a huge number of computer configurations have gone through this article. I suggested Macs due to their easy color management in macOS and great screens in MacBooks. well-functioning scaling, even if it is different on multiple monitors […]
I have already written about the advantages of Apple computers on the main page of this guide, and here I focus on describing noteworthy models along with information on what is worth paying extra for, what’s not worth buying, etc. Home page: Mac vs. PC and general information […]
This blog post is about Retouch4me, an artificial intelligence used for retouching photos both in Photoshop and as standalone applications. This is an unusual A.I because it has absolutely no competition – it specializes in photo retouching and there is no other tool like this (not on this level – not even close). One mouse […]
If you have low-resolution, blurry, and/or noisy photos, it is very possible that Topaz Photo AI is a tool for you. We are talking about both amateur and professional photoshoots. The subject matter is also very broad – it works with photos of people, nature, macro, etc. Update: April 2023. I decided to check if […]
Finally, the time has come when it is easy to illuminate your computer workstation for retouching, graphic design, or video editing. In the past, there were many complications when people wanted to do it right. In the past almost everyone used fluorescent bulbs because other light sources had too many drawbacks for such use: incorrect […]
No matter what year it is, information about what DPI to set for photos published on the internet is still being repeated. “Just use 72” is probably the most common opinion. Of course, 72 is enough. Just like any other value, even 1. If it’s 10,000, it won’t change anything – the photo will be […]
I have a mouse, keyboard, speakers, and various devices such as monitors connected to my PC. However, I also wanted to have a Mac and switch between computers quickly so that most of the devices would also “jump” to the one I am currently using. For several months now, I have been using a KVM […]
Last week, Tara Bancroft came to me for a photoshoot – a mix of China and Switzerland, although she spent most of her life in the UK. Such models often do very well professionally because they look like Asians, but with lighter skin and taller height, which is highly sought in Asia. In the past, […]
Taking cool photos of people (and not only) often requires the use of tripod-mounted lamps. For my first lighting set (3 lamps, stands, RF controllers, etc.), I spent a total of around 250 USD and described it in an article many years ago. It was an incredibly low price for such possibilities (one good Nikon/Canon […]
Until now, distinguishing between photos and graphics made using A.I. was simple, or at least some still thought so. Because, of course, “A.I. can’t do hands”… … “and then the teeth look kind of weird”… … “and nudity can’t be generated”… Is it really that obvious that the above are graphics, not photos? For me, […]
Midjourney AI is one of the most popular and best artificial intelligences for generating graphics, which is also significantly more attractive in terms of price than DALL-E 2. It offers, among other things, an unlimited package of generated graphics and a free trial package. In version v4, complex commands and facial generation have been greatly […]
How does it feel to be one of the first people in the world to have access to tests of the most advanced artificial intelligence capable of creating art? Absolutely wonderful :). If you had asked me three years ago when we would be able to talk relatively freely with A.I; or when it would […]