Thierry Dehove makes fantastic photos with Skylum software and shares his tips.
Photographer Thierry Dehove is a rising star in the world of architectural photography. His appreciation of shape, line, texture, and color; his compositional fortitude; and his amazing technical style have brought some amazing scenes to life with intensity and crisp details.
His clear artistic vision comes from a solid background in graphic design. Dehove studied design at the Paris Atelier Met de Peninghen Superior school, which is one of the best graphic design schools in all of France. At the time, he was focusing on shape and line and designing fonts. When he was done with school, he went on to be an art designer for some large agencies in Paris where he had a chance to work on some advertising campaigns with some of the best photographers in the industry. It was an art form he was drawn to and he started making his own images and working to get them published. “I moved to photography full time in 2009 after I did the cover of Conde Nast,” Dehove explains. “Suddenly, I was part of this bubble and was recognized.”
Living in the Caribbean at this time, Dehove was given the opportunity to work on some large projects, and his love of space, shape, design, light, and ambiance brought his images a balance of beauty, technical acuity, and visual interest. After a few big projects based out of his home in the Caribbean, he started to branch out, now working on large campaigns in the US, Asia, and Canada.
Dehove credits his visual style to his early education. “I would say I am creating images influenced by my French education. I love the impressionists and the compositions of Monet, Manet, Delacroix, and Cezanne,” says Dehove. “The poetry of Baudelaire also touched me when I was a kid.”
For his technical workflow, Dehove doesn’t stray from his tried and true process, keeping his images consistent. For Dehove, the process starts at the first client meeting. “I meet the client, designer, owner, or builder to hear what they have to say and what they want. Then I visit the place to soak up the atmosphere. I’m also checking the best time to get strong shadows and highlights. I love contrast, and without it, I don’t shoot,” he explains. Once he scopes out the space, he returns at the correct time of day to get the exact image he wants. With his careful use of composition and exposure, he crafts his image in camera, and gets the best possible raw material for his final product.
Once the images are photographed, he brings them into Skylum for his post processing. “I use Intensify Pro and Tonality Pro on my images, and I will sometimes use Noiseless as well, if it’s needed. I just got Aurora HDR from Skylum, so I am still practicing with it. It’s a cool tool to use to build quick, edgy images. In architecture, I always have the same workflow when I am capturing, I start the editing the same, and I will change the process with the subject. Especially if it’s a villa or a yacht.”
