fbpx
Photography Culture

Werner Philipps: Inspiration in Natural Light Portraiture

Chris Gampat
No Comments
09/17/2016
2 Mins read
img_5035-als-smartobjekt-1

All images by Werner Philipps. Used with permission.

You wouldn’t think that despite the way that photographer Werner Philipps got his start in photography, he’d be shooting and creating incredible portraits. “A few years back I was planing an online shop as a secondary income.” says Werner. He purchased Canon EOS 20D; and the idea of the shop failed. Seeing that this happened, he didn’t want the purchase to go to waste. Afterall, it was an investment. “So one day I went on a day trip to Groningen (Netherlands) with a couple of friends and I took the camera and started taking pictures. Thats how it all started.”

Like many other photographers getting their start, Werner began by shooting everything out there. “From the flowers of the balcony to random street photography. At first I was really intimidated taking pictures of people but at the same time it was an opportunity to develop myself through photography.” With time though, Werner gathered himself and faced his fears. Soon, he began shooting portraits and getting out of his comfort zone.

worm7227-1

For Werner, it became a type of therapy and evolved into a full passion. As his work progressed, he started learning and mastering the complexity of natural light. “…I just love it.” he tells us. “Natural light has a very special and dense atmosphere.”

Phoblographer: What gear do you use?

Werner: I use a Canon 5D MK III. For lifestyle photography the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 is my go to lense. Sometimes I use it for portraiture too.

My other lenses are the Canon 50mm f1.8, the nifty fifty is my special sense for those lenseflare shots, the Canon 85mm f/1.8, classic portrait lense. The Canon 135mm f2.0 is my bokeh king. I mostly use it for paid shoots. The clients love the dreamy look.

Phoblographer: What do you feel makes your work unique from every other photographer?

Werner: I love to try out new things. While a lot of photographers find their style and stick to it, I get fed up pretty quick and need to push myself. For example: I designed and build a special lamp set up to be in the scene just to have something unique. I need the diversity, this week I’ll stick to sensual bourdoir photography with natural light, next week I’ll shoot flash with colored gels.

worm4182-1

worm2752-1

worm0710-1

steffi_uitgeest_terrasse02_2015-11-07-37

steffi_beach02_2015-11-08-10

oli16140

michelle_berlin_20150725_series04-3

meta_bremen_20150808-5

martje_wilhelmshaven_2015-09-06-3

marina_wilhelmshaven_20160312-16

lyn_jever_2015-08-07-4

chiara_berlin-series02_2015-11-28-3

alessia_berlin_20150724_series02-4

natural light Photography portraiture Werner Philipps
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
You might also like
Screen Shot 2017-08-28 at 12.07.13 PM
Features

Opinion: Please Stop Wearing a Photo Vest if You Don’t Need to Be Wearing a Photo Vest

4 Mins read
07/09/2018

When I got into this industry years ago, one thing really confused me almost as much as how much certain older photographers tend to treat the younger generation of us: photo vests. I’m completely positive that you’ve all seen them: a photographer of a certain distinguishment (or trying to show off without having said distinguishment) wearing their vests that look a lot like safari vests. You know, almost as if they’re going to go out on an African safari at all times without being anywhere near something like a safari. Walking down the streets doing street photography? You’ll see a photo vest. In the studio? Photo vest! Hiking? Yup, A Photo vest!

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon EOS R5 product images 1.21-2000s160
News

No, the Canon EOS R5 Isn’t Overheating When Shooting It in Stills Mode

3 Mins read
08/09/2020

We’re clearing up some misinformation we’re seeing in Facebook groups, comments, on Instagram, etc. about the Canon EOS R5. We’ve been seeing a lot of really stupid and wrong comments about the Canon EOS R5 across various platforms. All of it is in regard to overheating. Lots of YouTubers have been discovering the heating issues …