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February 1, 2012
bounce flash photography & the inverse square law
After you’re done noticing the decorated candles that the bride is holding while dancing with the groom (a tradition in Palestinian weddings), you may well notice how evenly lit this photograph is – from foreground to background.
The people visible in the background seen there between the bride and the groom, are nearly as well lit as the bride and groom. Because this was on-camera bounce flash, the background will be brighter than may have been anticipated. If I had used direct flash, or flash with a diffuser cup or bounce card, my background would’ve been much darker. This is because when we bounce flash behind us, the Inverse Square Law works for us.
This gets interesting, but hopefully we can make it less complicated than the topic often appears. So hang in there …
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January 28, 2012
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Boudoir photography seems to have a surge in popularity in the past years. More and more interest by photographers – and it’s no wonder. As much as boudoir is a fascinating genre, it is also quite challenging.
The pressure is on *you* as the photographer to get the best images you can of someone who is most likely feeling quite vulnerable. So not only are your lighting skills and posing skills and your general skill as a photographer tested … your people skills really need to kick into gear too. Boudoir photography is personal photography on so many levels.
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January 27, 2012
what is holding you back as a photographer?
Over a lunchtime conversation with a photographer friend, the discussion went back to something I’ve prodded her a few times about .. her self-doubt as a photographer. In my estimation she’s a better photographer than she thinks she is, but it is as if she holds back on some decisions to advance her business. Then I asked her, “what are you afraid of?”
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January 23, 2012
a simple lighting setup for photographing the wedding formals
Photographing a wedding can be pretty hectic at times, especially as it so often becomes the photographer’s de facto responsibility to keep everything on track. The formal photo session specifically is a part of the day that many photographers find challenging. (The other is photographing the wedding processional.)
When photographing the family portraits, you can really help yourself by nailing your lighting. Get it down. Then you can concentrate on getting the groups together, and concentrate on posing the groups. But your lighting works! Much less stress.
I mostly work with the Quantum flashes since they are workhorses and don’t melt when used hard. They also have a bit more power than a speedlight. But quite often, I like working with a speedlight setup …
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January 18, 2012
photography workshops and seminars in 2012
I will be presenting three flash photography workshops in New York this year.
The first date is Tue, May 22 (follow the link for more details, and to book a spot.)
The other workshops will take place in July and October, with the specific dates to be announced.
Las Vegas mini-workshops: on-location flash photography
These mini-workshops are 4 hours long (1-5pm on each day), and the fee is $350 per person
Mon, Feb 20 :: Tue, Feb 21
The mini-workshops will be limited to only 3 people at a time. Definitely un-crowded! Therefore these mini-workshops will be closer to being individual tutoring sessions, with a model to photograph. Contact me via email to book, or for more details.
This discount code: NVNP will save you $72 when you register
signing up and more details on the After Dark Education site.
I’ll be teaching Flash photography techniques; and Amanda Andrews will be teaching how to photograph children & newborns over the course of this 3 day convention.
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January 17, 2012
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Again it is quite a thrill to hear that I won the Bride’s Choice Awards 2012 from WeddingWire! This is the 3nd year in a row that I received the Wedding Wire award being in the Top 5 percent of wedding photographers in New Jersey.
It’s wonderful receiving this recognition, even with the work as a wedding photographer being rewarding in its own right.
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Filed under: news — Neil vN @ 10:57 pm
January 16, 2012
exposure metering – let your background blow out!
Too often there’s the desire for us to bring the detail in our backgrounds back in by adding flash. But there are times when the image will be stronger if we just allow the background to completely blow out. It especially works in our favor if the background is cluttered, because then by letting the background completely over-expose, we can simplify our composition.
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January 15, 2012
Instagram
My friend Chuck Arlund mentioned Instagram to me earlier on last year. Instagram is an iPhone app which allows instant sharing of images, but with a unique way of doing so. I briefly had a look at it then, and uploaded a photo of Chuck … and then promptly forgot about it again. That’s just how it goes with dozens of photo apps on the iPhone, nevermind the zillion things clamoring for our attention every day.
Then over the weekend another friend nudged me again to check Instagram out again, and this time I more carefully looked into it. I then realized it wasn’t just a stand-alone photo app, but rather a photo-sharing social media cosmos based on the iPhone. Interesting. Of course, you can share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.
You may well say that I’m late to this game, but here I am if you’d like to follow random images that I will post on Instagram in future. I should be easy to find – neilvn
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January 12, 2012
Hanging out with my friend Brooke, (NYC boudoir photographer), at yesterday’s workshop, I noticed some of the images on her iPad that she was showing to explain her lighting techniques. The photographs had an interesting mix of gold and blue tones, and I thought the way she achieved it would be of interest to everyone. It might be familiar to regular followers of the Tangents blog. (Oh, Brooke is co-presenting a workshop on boudoir photography, and there’s a discount for Tangents readers.)
inspired boudoir lighting
by Brooke Ismach, New York boudoir photographer
Since launching Inspired Boudoir, a joint photography venture with fellow photographer Laura Eaton, I have been lucky enough to speak quite a bit about boudoir photography. Which means I’m showing boudoir images to photography groups. Consistently, I am asked one question more than any other: How did I achieve the “blue” background lighting in the attached photo. Most photographers guess using gels, but the answer is actually simpler than that …
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January 10, 2012
wedding photography – using bounce flash outside
When working with a couple during the romantic portrait session, there’s the need to bring variety to the images – not just in posing and composition, but also in terms of light & lighting. For this reason I use a variety – available light; video light; off-camera flash and on-camera bounce flash. I really like using on-camera bounce flash since it is such an easy light source to use, always at hand. There was a recent article on using bounce flash outdoors, but I’d like to add another example where I used bounce flash outside a wedding venue. Let’s look at the sequence of images …
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