thomasholmphoto

Kitchen Venus

In 2019 I did a couple of workshops in a massive studio apartment on the seafront of Copenhagen. The place had big windows and I wanted to demonstrate how to balance flash with daylight so we set up a little shoot in the middle of the apartment, lit with a large silver umbrella and adjusted the power of the flash to match that of the light coming shtough the massive windows in the frame, and complimenting the light from the windows behind the camera.
In addition I had placed a large silve...

Kitchen Venus - BTS

Theis should make it a little easier to see what I did with the light.
It's a 7' Westcott Silver umbrella.

Black Box

Opinions differ.
I shot quite a few images with Nat Damsgaard Model in the old control tower, and honestly, I don’t think much of this one.

To me, it’s a “meh” image - but it was one of Nat’s favorites, so I edited it for her.

If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably noticed that I often ask people to pick a favorite between four images and explain why their choice stands out. Sometimes, my prediction about the most popular one is spot on, sometimes...

Square curves

Here are a few more Shots from my last shoot with Rigmor, working with the Westcott focusable spot.

One downside of this modifier is its poor heat dissipation.

You can “only” use up to 800Ws of flash and a modest amount of modeling light before things get risky, and it's very hard to see what you are doing while working.

This is a BTS from the last shot:
Notice how dim the s...

Zsan at home

Every winter, I get stuck in a studio rut and need a change of environment to mix things up. I crave variety.

So I arranged a home shoot with Zsan of Sweden in her apartment, and this is the first set from that shoot.

It’s all natural light, shot around 3 PM, just half an hour before sunset (yep, Scandinavian winters suck when it comes to daylight hours, unfortunately).

Am I the only one that craves a new environment after shooting in the same studio for some months?

Roarie in Peek-a-boo

Yes, the name of this particular slot canyon near Escalante is indeed Peek-A-Boo.
If you’re there in the morning or early afternoon, you get these amazing colors:

Sunlight hits the red rock, bouncing onto other red rock, creating these intense orange-red hues. At the same time, the shaded, slightly shiny rock reflects the deep blue sky (the elevation is quite high there), giving you those indigo-blue tones.

This scene brings up an important question for photographers:

Sinners Cave

I think this headline is oddly appropriate somehow.

It was shot in a massive lava tube in Lanzarote, which provided incredible directional light coming from one side, and The Endless Sinner is just sinning away. She’s amazing at expressing emotion and projecting it to the camera.

To get that sheen on her skin, I had her apply a generous amount of oil (massage oil, not baby oil), which also helped create that silvery appearance.

What do you think of this set?

I’m in...

Two-Face (x12)

These are from my first big Danish nude group shoot a couple of years ago - another set of shots I never got around to editing, which is a pity.

Do you prefer the first or second image above?

For lighting, I used a huge 2.5m Profoto silver umbrella from the left, with a 2.3m white umbrella, (or maybe two I’m not sure) at a lower output nearly above the camera to soften the shadows and e...

Black Betty

OK, she’s not Betty, she’s Cassie (CB Modelling), and she’s on a black beach - but that sounds a bit less cool.

I shot this set last year around my two Lanzarote workshops on one of the island’s incredible black beaches, which are always striking to shoot on.

OBS: I've just announced two new workshops on Lanzarote in September/October.
 2025-03-11 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

The Thinker in nature

This is V Wild Art (aka Venusdesierra) embedded in nature in Zion National Park, Utah.

It’s all-natural light, with a lot of gorgeous nooks and crannies in the rock. Honestly, though, it’s not among my best work. It has some nice tones, a decent flow, and an okay emotional feel. But after finishing it, it just doesn’t have “it” - so it ends up being just “nice.”

As a photographer, I believe it’s important to develop an ability to detach yourself from the situation ...

Corner of light

Like yesterday, this set is another “memory lane” pick, since I had to dig into an old archive disk.

It’s maybe 10 years old, featuring Caroline in a fantastic daylight studio I had access to back then. The spot we used was a corner beautifully lit by natural light streaming through tall windows.

Interestingly, since shooting these, I’ve rarely photographed women in stockings and shoes because I felt art nudes worked better in a more timeless state.

But just the ot...

March on Patreon

Gentlemen and ladies:

March is going to be a blast on my Patreon!

It amounts to more than six hours of video including four multicam BTS vids, one retouch video, and 111 images (for Photographers and Vault tiers.
(No videos and about 50 images for the lower tier).

And there is some awesome stuff there.
As always, apologies for the weird crops, this is a public post, so I hav...

Shadow Boxer

Sometimes, I just don’t edit certain images and completely forget about them.
It also means that whenever I think I’m about to do a quick archive-to-disk operation, it’s never quick.
It often turns into a trip down memory lane, which leads to some surprise edits - like this shot of Lena in front of an F16 shelter.

Too good to pass up, though it looks way better in a bigger size.

Light is sunshine.

Shadow Boxer - BTS

Here is the full set I shot with Lena near the F16 shelter.

The shady Bench (Two of Two)

A bit more from one of the sets from shooting Art Nude On Location - Mastering Natural Light - with Wiana.

Do check out the Discord bonus (photographers and Vault tiers)

The Shady Bench (One of Two)

When I was in Lanzarote with Wiana Model a few years back, shooting the Art Nude on Location - Mastering Natural Light video course, we did several different sets.

Both Wiana and I enjoy pushing things a bit more toward the erotic side, but for the video, that wasn’t what we needed, as it might put some people off.

So, we�...

Scaling mount Venus

This is Wild Cosmic, who’s as wild and fleeting as the cosmos - pun totally intended. I’ve been trying to set up a shoot with her for a couple of years, but somehow it just hasn’t worked out yet.
Hope springs eternal, though!

I used one of those stretchy Lastolite backgrounds for the background here; honestly, I’m not crazy about it.
I have two different ones, and they’re both impossible to get wrinkle-free unless stapled down.
To me, the creases take away s...

Queen Celia

I did a longer private workshop last December based around studio light, and one of the models I had in was Celia.
For this shoot, the main idea was to restrict the light so it would pretty much only hit her, making her really pop from the background.

I used a large silver beauty dish with a grid/honeycomb and added a flag to narrow the light down even more.

2025-03-04 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Set in place

Here’s an older shot with Bitty Moon that I never got around to editing until she reminded me recently. Alongside editing this pic, it gave me an oportunity set up a new shoot with this gorgeous Vietnamese woman. 😜

Looking at this older work, I’m happy to say my shibari skills have come a long way since then!

Leather Tease

I’ve shot with Belzen a couple of times by now.

And while she’s definitely never been shy, she now has a different perspective on her body and how she wants to show it.
At an earlier shoot, we did some pretty explicit stuff, but she wasn’t too crazy about those images.

This time, though, her first pose after our initial test shots was the one in the first image above - and she loved all the photos from this session.

I really appreciate the journey models often go t...

Bridge Nymph

Whenever I’m out shooting on location, I always try to come up with something different from the original plan.

If I can, I’ll wander around to check out completely different spots, or sometimes I already have a few backup ideas in mind.

This time, I mainly planned to shoot with her in Nature at Kulleberg with CB.Modelling, but nearby is a small manor, which has an art exhibition and a museum, so it is quite busy during the daytime.

But behind the manor, there’s a publ...

Café et Petit Four

Mynte is supplying the morning coffee and a bit of teasing. What more could you possibly want?

The lighting here is super easy: The windows are in the background.

The opposite of the cupboards in the first image is a kitchen island with similar cupboards, which supply a bit of fill light and contribute to the softer look.

Easy does it.

At least when you have a fantastic model.

Bedtime for Alsleigh!

Ashleigh Rae is chilling on my old studio daybed.

Natural light from a window above and behind her.
It's what I call Slam-dunk lighting, it always work.

Thunderstruck - Video by Zsan

Zsan of Sweden edited this little video from out trip this summer. And in case you wonder what kind of music she likes, among other things Heavy Metal and Rammstein is the answer.

Zsan - Cast Ashore

Last summer, I took a four-day trip to the rugged shores of Sweden with Zsan, and we captured some stunning images.

Check out the BTS movie edited by Zsan to get an impression of the trip and how much fun we had.

Regina from a Workshop

One of my first streaming ventures in 2020 was a Livestream workshop with Regina Piil; these images are from that event.

The first series illustrates making lovely light with a (cheap) reflective umbrella.Earlier in the workshop (Available in the Vault), I show the effect of different types of umbrellas.

The last image is also an umbrella. My beloved 57” Zeppelin is used as an umbrella with ...

Lifeguard off duty

Roswell Ivory is at a small beach north of Copenhagen called Bellevue. It is part of a large complex that features houses, apartments, a theater, and the beach with various buildings, including the old lifeguard towers.

Composition-wise, the only way this image appeared right was to place the tower off-center.

However, the perspective is affected when you photograph something with a wide angle from below (first image).

This may look cool if it’s a building, but the three l...

The beginning of my nude trajectory

This is one of the very first nude images I was happy with, along with two I’ve never really liked (2+3).

I was in Krakow, Poland, where I had arranged for four models to work for 3 to 4 hours over four consecutive days.

I’d sent some studio equipment and a background to the hotel in advance and turned the room into a mini-studio. If you wonder why, it's because I was unable to find nude models in Denmark, but Poland had plenty.

Lena was a dancer, and the first image of ...

Stripes of beauty

Two gorgeous images of Michella Elley, who unfortunately doesn’t model anymore.

It’s a super easy setup:

Sunlight filtering through a string curtain hung in front of a window.
But obviously, there is a bit more to it than that:

In one, the strict design the pointed hair makes the picture, and in the other, it's the way the stripes accentuate her body and facial expression.

By the way, search for Michela on my Patreon (Vault tier).
There are some other grea...

Stripes of beauty - BTS #1

One of the two BTS movies for Michela Elley