high-speed flash sync (HSS) with the Profoto B1 portable flash

January 23, 2015

high-speed flash sync (HSS) with the Profoto B1 portable flash

The already impressive Profoto B1 500 W/s AirTTL flash (vendor) became even more awesome in Dec 2014 when high-speed flash sync (HSS) capability was added through a firmware update.

The photo above was taken at 1/2000 @ f/1.4 @ 100 ISO. I wanted that super-shallow depth-of-field, and I wanted the light to be more flattering than you’d get from a bare speedlight. In this case, I used a Profoto RFi 1’×3′ softbox with the Profoto B1. (I kept both baffles on the softbox.)

The summary: it works! But there are a few minor limitations or quirks though that you have to be aware of. (More about this in the summary at the end of this article.)

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: off-camera flash, off-camera flash on location, off-camera flash photography, on-location lighting with Profoto, Profoto B1 flash review, review Profoto B1 500ws TTL flash

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modern / contemporary business headshots in the studio

January 21, 2015

business headshots in the studio, with a contemporary / modern look

When Matt Sweetwood, the owner of the largest Camera Store in New Jersey, discussed doing new new business headshots for him, we agreed that a more contemporary look suited him. There’s a large dynamic personality at work here … and using an 85mm f/1.4 lens wide open would place attention on his eyes and his expression. Nothing else is really in focus aside from his eyes, and this really makes for a compelling portrait that grabs your attention.

We shot various sequences, with the background brighter and darker. In the end we settled on a sequence of images with the lighting shown in the top photograph – it has an airy brightness to it, and looks modern. With the colors muted like that, it draws attention to his expression even more. No bright colors to distract.

We also had fun with various expressions just to mix it up a bit.

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: corporate headshots, headshot photography, NJ headshot photographer

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photography workshops

January 20, 2015

photography workshops for 2015

The group photography workshops are full-day events – and are a mixture of seminar presentation and practical shooting. The workshops will be held at my studio space in NJ. There is free parking, and it is easily reached from the main highways in the area. There is also regular bus transport from NYC. (We can fetch you from the bus terminal.)

The fee for the full-day workshop is $600 and the workshop is from 9am to 8pm. Lunch and refreshments are included!

The workshops are now limited to 6 people – and working within my own studio with more equipment readily at hand, gave the workshop a relaxed tempo. The material is always streamlined a little bit more, from workshop to workshop.

More info about the photography workshops.

The three workshops for 2015 will take place on:

  • May 17, 2015  (Sunday)
  • July 19, 2015  (Sunday)
  • Sept 20, 2015  (Sunday)

Book a spot at one of the workshops.  Each class will be limited to 6 people.

If you would like an individual workshop, or a personal tutoring session, those are available as well throughout the year, depending on both of our schedules. The studio is only 17 miles from Manhattan. Just a short hop from New York and quite accessible by bus. Oh, and there’s parking at the studio. Free parking.

If you are limited in how far you can travel, there are Skype sessions and also video tutorials to help you get a much better understanding of photography and lighting techniques.

Tagged as: flash photography workshops, photography workshops

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photo gear for sale

January 17, 2015

I have a few pieces of photo gear (and other items) available that I am selling.

I’m only selling in the continental USA, and the price includes UPS ground shipping.

Check the B&H and Amazon links for full details and spec on each item.

Learn more inside…

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flash photography: how far can you bounce your flash?

January 3, 2015

flash photography: how far can you bounce your flash?

The question regularly comes up: how far can you bounce your flash? The answer is quite straight-forward: It depends on the power of your flash, the bounce distance (and surfaces), ISO and aperture.

Power, distance, aperture and ISO – the four things that control flash exposure. Yup, we can’t really escape this.

So how far can you bounce your flash? It depends on how far (and reflective) the surfaces are that you are bouncing your flash off; as well as how high you’re willing to take your ISO and how wide you can take your aperture. And obviously, it depends on how powerful your flash is – which is why I would always recommend that you get the most powerful flash you can afford. There are advantages to this.

As an example, let’s analyze this image from a wedding, and see what went into creating it.

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: bounce flash photography, outdoor bounce flash photography, posing the bride and groom, wedding photography

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personal photography projects & goals for 2015

December 30, 2014

personal photography projects & goals for 2015

With photography technology and trends changing more and more rapidly, something like a 5-yr business plan would be tough to draw up. Be successful and be awesome! That’s about as far as you can aim ahead of you as a photographer. Still, as we enter a new year, it’s as good a time as any to consider a forward-going path for personal photography and projects.

Still, looking back at a similar post I made two years ago, amusingly perhaps, most of the intended projects didn’t quite happen. Not yet anyway. This isn’t so much plans going awry, but rather things changing. I had planned to create video tutorials – but then Craftsy approached me to create video tutorials. The artistic video clip of Anelisa is still on a back-burner. The intended promotional video for a boudoir photographer was postponed, and then had to be paused until some future time.

All of these in favor of other developments that I hadn’t anticipated in Dec 2013 – such as finally getting my own studio space! This opened up many other avenues for me. It didn’t so much help me change direction, but really broaden what I can do as a photographer. So yes, plans change. As they should when other opportunities come up.

Still, I strongly believe that personal projects help keep creativity alive. There’s that forward aim with your personal photography, instead of just drifting along, directionless. I still have this intention to figure out a plan – a schedule where I work on several projects during the course of the year.

 

what plans do you have for your photography in 2015?

I’d like to hear from you what you are contemplating with your personal photography projects for 2015? What has caught your interest and what has intrigued you enough that you’d like to get into? What themes or ideas or techniques do you want to explore?

So let’s make it fun, and inspire each other.

Post your ideas and plans in the comments section. To make it interesting, there is this book to be won as a prize. I will pick one winning entry at random on Sunday, Jan 4th.   [edited to add: Shanelle, with entry #11 wins the book prize. The entry was chosen via a random number generator.]

Photographing the Child

Photographing the Child – Natural Light Techniques for Beautiful, Profitable Portraits.

The author, Jennifer George, wrote this book with the intention of teaching photographers how to deliver images that sound out and will dominate their markets and create life-long clients.

No matter what your skill level, her techniques and advice will elevate the quality of your images, and set you apart from your competition, and enhance your reputation as a photographer.

Learn more inside…

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2014 – my favorite wedding images

December 26, 2014

slideshow: my favorite wedding photos of 2014

2014 was an incredible year with so much happening. I traveled around the north-eastern parts of the USA to photograph weddings – Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I even had the wonderful opportunity to travel abroad, where I photographed a wedding in Australia! Of course my photography involved the usual mix of portraits, families and headshots, as well as commercial work and corporate photography. For me though, weddings always stand out because they are such emotional experiences.

As a thank you to all my clients and their families and friends – and also to show off a bit – here is a slideshow of some of my favourite images of the year. Thank you to everyone who made me part of a most special day in their lives.

Also watch the other year-end slideshows of my favorite wedding photographs.
(Click on the Vimeo logo to watch a larger version.)

As usual, some of the images from 2014 weddings have been used in articles on Tangents. You might remember some (or perhaps all?) of them:

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: NJ wedding photographer, NYC wedding

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best & worst photography purchases of 2014

December 17, 2014

your best & worst photography purchases of 2014

Looking back every year, I’m sure you too are happy with some of your purchases you made in photography, whether gear or software or website related. Purchases that you love and made a difference to you as a photographer. But similarly there are also those purchases you regret. What was I thinking? I should’ve done my homework?

In the past I’ve bought some spur-of-the-moment bad decisions. It is especially easy to get swept away at photography trade shows. But I’ve gotten better at it, especially unnecessary software purchases. So I am actually happy with most of my purchases this year. Here’s my list of best & worst purchases, with even a few “meh” purchases listed.

Better yet, add yours to the list of Best / Worst Photo related purchases, by posting in the comments section. To make it interesting, there was this book to be won as a prize. Entries closed on Sunday 21st Dec.  [edited to add: Roy Barnes with entry #34 wins the book prize. The entry was chosen via a random number generator.]

How to Photograph Weddings

Behind the scenes with 25 leading pros to learn lighting posing and more. Names such as Jerry Ghionis, Jim Garner, Dave & Quin Cheung, Brett Florens, Huy Nguyen, Ken Sklute, and myself included.

Inspired by Fashion. Stories, not Pictures. Connection is the Key. Two grooms. Big Groups. A Sense of Humor.

These are some of the themes which are explored in the 58 chapter entries, covering a diverse range of topics which go beyond the technical, to also cover style and approach.

Learn more inside…

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lighting and design: (de)-constructing a photograph

December 8, 2014

lighting and design in photography: (de)-constructing an image

For me, Design in photography relates to the way an image is constructed at the time of shooting. Composition and content. Lighting. Every element which forms part of a successful and eye-catching photograph. Some of the elements in the photograph are pre-visualized, some of it a kind of serendipity that is then expanded on at the time. Some of it might only be understood afterwards in looking at the photograph. My latest book, Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography, looks at exactly that thought-process throughout the 60 chapters in the book.

Several of the articles on Tangents look at that thought-process during a photo-shoot, working towards a successful image. For example:
– progression of an idea in a photo session (cosplayer: Ger Tysk)
– photo-shoot with a model: the progression of an idea  (model: Nicole)

With that idea in mind – the design of a photograph – let’s step through the image at the top.

This photograph of our model Olive, isn’t a composite. It is pretty much SOOC (straight out of camera), aside from removing a car and a few people in the background. Oh, and bumping up the Contrast and nudging the Saturation. And retouching skin. I guess it isn’t really that SOOC at this point. But it isn’t a composite. It was shot like this. The cobble-stones looked like that – aglow.

That lack of shadow adds a sense of mystery. It all looks a bit surreal. The reason why Olive looks like she is floating in the air, is that she was jumping. We did several takes to try and get her at her most relaxed in mid-air. With her feet off the ground, there is no immediate tell-tale shadow behind her. The bright sun on the cobble stones also eliminate her shadow completely. There is also no shadow in front of her, since it is outside of the frame.  So she really looks like she is incongruously suspended in the air.

Now, the lack of shadow wasn’t planned before-hand, but it was most definitely noticed when we started shooting a few test frames. So we continued with the idea.

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: off-camera flash on location, Profoto B1 flash review, using a neutral density filter, using ND filters

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review: Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 … vs Canon and Nikon

December 2, 2014

review: Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4  vs  Canon and Nikon

Even when taking photography only slightly seriously, you’ll have come up against the legendary name, Zeiss. Renowned for innovations in optical designs that helped shape the history of photography, the Zeiss brand name is also synonymous with precision engineered lenses and impeccable attention to build quality. With all that behind them, Zeiss has released a new range called Otus. The first lens is a Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 (vendor) which Zeiss describes with phrases such as “the absolute measure of perfection” and “unrivaled performance”. Knowing Zeiss, this won’t be hyperbole, but a straight-forward assessment.

With their 55m lens described as the best standard lens available, I was really curious about the new 85mm Otus lens released. Really, the description on Zeiss’ website of the Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 (vendor), will send a tingle down the spine of any gear-head / aficionado. For example: “The optical correction of the Otus 1.4/85 completely eliminates almost all possible forms of aberration.”

Now, those of you who regularly follow the Tangents blog, will know that I have a fondness for the 85mm optics – the best lens to change your portrait photography. So when I had the opportunity to try out a loaner copy of “the best short tele lens in the world”, I was very curious to see how this lens would perform.

 

– Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 (for Canon)  (vendor)
– Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 (for Nikon)  (vendor)

Taking this lens out of the box is an event in itself. It’s built like a tank. A luxury tank. It is heavy and feels and looks like a top-quality lens. There’s no doubting when you hold this in your hand.

To make it more interesting, I decided to compare it with two of its closest competitors, the Canon 85mm f/1.2L II (vendor), and the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G (vendor). I used the Zeiss Otus on a Canon 6D (vendor), along with the Canon 85mm lens. The Nikon lens was on the Nikon D750 (vendor). With the cameras having similar resolution, it would be a fairly equal comparison.

Learn more inside…

Tagged as: 85mm, using an 85mm lens, Zeiss Otus 85mm

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