Christian Sperling Photography

02/05/2025

Last week, after a long break from people photography, I had a photo shoot with Nic, a super nice guy from Australia, I met in a climbing gym in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We walked around the Old Town for over 3 hours on an increasingly hot morning and shot at more than half a dozen locations. Nic had no previous model experience and acted quite shy in front of the camera. He did an amazing job and I did my best to get him out of his shell for poses that felt unnatural or awkward for him. I am extremely happy with the results - here is just a fraction of them. All images were shot with natural light only.

20/09/2022

Esports Shoot with Hugh ( 29.08.2022)

Hugh is not only an old product photography client of mine, he is also a semi-professional gamer with a sponsor who asked him to provide images in typical gamer poses for social media and use in tournaments. Since their graphic design team would cut out the backdrop anyway, we shot most images on a white background but for some pics I added virtual backdrops myself to see how well that would work. On top of that we also shot some casual lifestyle images in his casual clothing. At the end I gave him my headphones as a prop. I told him to pretend listening to music and start vibing. Those are hands down my favourite ones of the session.

With no prior modeling experience and actually being a bit camera shy, Hugh did an amazing job following my instructions and being patient while I was constantly fixing and tweaking camera settings, light stand positions and flash power.

Taking portraits instead of products in my tiny home studio was a welcome challenge.

I really enjoyed especially the creative and experimental part of the shoot which was very productive, too, with more than 80 images handed over to the client.

21/09/2021

16/12/2019

Rooftop + apartment shoot with Aleksandra

If you have the opportunity to shoot on a rooftop with great view on Brisbane's city skyline - you just have to go for it.

Aleksandra who had helped me earlier with some lifestyle photos for a product shoot was in need of new portfolio images. We discussed locations and when I looked on Google maps I noticed that her apartment complex had a roof terrace which she confirmed to have access to.

We crammed a lot of poses and outfits into an outdoor session that lasted a bit more than two hours. The sun was brutal and the floor tiles were so hot that she couldn't stand bare foot on them. She is pursuing modeling just as a hobby but acted like a pro. Many of the images were shot with a 135mm telephoto lens meaning I often had to photograph from a distance as far as fifteen metres away. However directing her under such circumstances was a breeze due to her experience.

At the end we added a quick fifteen minute indoor shoot at her apartment even though we were already exhausted and sunburnt but the struggle was worth it because she loves the final images and so do I.

If you would like to follow Aleksandra on social media, her Instagram is:

04/06/2019

In the last weeks I did some exciting product photo shoots with babies, toddlers and kids.

Working with models at such a young age was a welcome challenge. It required a lot of patience, entertainment skills and thinking on my feet since they didn't stay in one spot and striking and pose. Instead, they had their own agenda consisting of speeding around, being distracted easily and not following boring instructions. ;-) On the positive side the smiles and laughs captured were genuine and a great reward for all the time and effort spent. It was an awesome learning experience for me.

A big thank you goes out to all the mums, family members and friends of the models who helped me a lot: keeping them happy by playing their favourite songs, assisting with holding camera gear, rearranging the product and props and so much more! Without their support I could never have taken those images.

21/03/2019

These shots were taken during Glen's surprise birthday party mainly while he was jamming in his shed studio with the new guitar he had just been gifted by his father. Since that mini-gig had not been planned, I had to improvise and set up my 2 flashes in the window-less studio with black walls and ceiling quickly to not miss the action. All shots were live and 100% unposed which goes to show how photogenic this talented dude is.

11/03/2019

24th March 2019

I love surprise birthday parties!

Especially when they are organised by deeply caring family members who go above and beyond with self-made gifts and a home-made fully vegan buffet. With some clever distraction Glen was lured out of the house while the decoration was set up and the guests arrived. The surprise was a full success and everyone enjoyed the ensuing relaxed, cheerful atmosphere on the veranda. Being a family of thoroughbred musicians, highlight of the day was Glen receiving a new guitar from his father which was immediately put through its paces in his little shed studio (more photos coming soon).

It was a true privilege for me to participate not only as a photographer capturing all those moments of joy but also as a regular guest. What an awesome event!

Thank you for hiring me, Allanah!

Hunt Hunt

25/01/2019

"Snapshots" with a vintage lens!

Sharday was getting ready for a product photo lifestyle shoot while I was playing around with an over 30 year old Revuenon 55mm F1.4 film camera lens which my dad had sent from Germany to Australia. The photos it produces are pretty soft, but for a certain type of portraits it works beautifully and I simply love how the lens renders the out of focus areas.

While Sharday moved back and forth between rooms, I stopped her briefly in the hall and in front of a built-in wardrobe to fire off a few test shots. They surprisingly looked so nice that I decided to edit them and have some fun with artsy filters. 🙃

30/12/2018

This was without doubt my favourite kids shoot in 2018. Tom and Karla (names changed) showed off their bubbly personalities and acted so natural that I had no problems at all to achieve the positive vibe I had in mind. - Without their mum though I would have had no chance to get anything done! She helped to direct her hyperactive kids, tricked them into the right poses and simply kept them entertained. She even ironed the creased towels right before the shoot. The client loved the results and Tom was happy to buy new LEGO with the money he had earned as model.

If you would like to pick up those hooded towels - they are available in different designs and colours on Amazon in the US, sold by HudzKidz.

24/10/2018

Haven't posted in ages and some of you might wonder: Is Chris still active as a photographer? The answer is: ABSOLUTELY!

You can still book me for portraits and events! I love shooting those.

The reason for not posting in a while is that I have ventured into product photography, in particular for sellers on Amazon. I have decided to keep portrait photography and product photography separate and to publish my product photos on an different FB page and on Instagram. Product photography is a totally different field with new challenges - I am happy though that it still includes a bit of portrait photography when clients require lifestyle photos with a model.

If you enjoy to be seen by thousands of people on the world's biggest online market platform and to make money with modeling- get in touch with me no matter your gender or age. I am constantly looking for new talents.

Here is a little cross section of my recent work including people. If you like to see my actual product shots check out www.instagram.com/cs_product_photography.

27/04/2018

"Looks like you are shooting a lot of cosplay events recently, Chris?" - Right! That is because it is a lot of fun and I get a valuable lesson out of those sessions helping me to improve my versatility as a photographer.

The main attraction of our meet up location was the rather newly installed illuminated sphere, Since there were always people hanging out on the lounges within that visually striking sculpture, the challenge was to get images without a bunch of less photogenic strangers in the frame.

I had brought quite a lot of equipment with me, however, out of convenience I only utilized my little Yongnuo LED panel on a stand to get some extra light on the models' faces and costumes.

As great as that sphere looked - its constantly changing patterns were so unpredictable that it took much patience to wait over and over again for the right moment until the sphere showed a vibrant, bright display.

THANK YOU to all cosplayers I had the honour to shoot with that night and a big shout out to Michael a.k.a Ulti Photography and Costumes for organizing the event.

23/04/2018

Cosplay at Botanical Gardens Mt. Coo-tha Part III
11th Feb 2018

My third and last session on that inconveniently sunny hot day was with Miranda cosplaying Josie Rizal, a character from the computer game classic Tekken.

In this shoot everything came together: My experience earlier that day how to deal with the harsh sunlight and how to use my reflector effectively, the trial and error which camera settings worked best in the given situation and foremost Miranda's pro-like model qualities. I didn't have to give her many instructions. She confidently varied the poses and facial expressions by herself knowing very well how to appear photogenic on camera. Working with her was a breeze. My keeper rate of the shoot was great and I had a tough time at my computer to narrow down the number of images I wanted to edit.

Thanks a lot, Miranda - I hope you like the final results!