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May 20, 2012
lighting for on-location photo sessions – pick your battles
When doing a photo session with a couple on location, I mix up the lighting often. With some photo sessions I may:
- shoot available light only;
- or I may decide with a photo session to use direct on-camera flash,
with some sequences available light only; or
- with some photo sessions I use off-camera flash with a softbox,
with some sequences just the available light.
Even in varying the way I may use the available light and flash, I still aim to have a consistent look to it all. My specific style has to be apparent. Or perhaps, in the way that I work, my style becomes apparent. The one way that I help make things easier for myself, and remain consistent, is that in working with the available light; or working with the available light and flash (both on-camera and off-camera) … I pick my battles. I don’t try and make *everything* work. Rather, I specifically choose where I pose a couple, or what I have as the background. All of this in relation to the existing light and my flash.
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May 19, 2012
An interesting progression for Instagram users, and one that will make all Instagram junkies happy – you can now sell your Instagram photos, and browse and discover other artists photographers, via Instacanvas. And I’m happy to announce that my gallery is live now.
As mentioned on their site, photos are printed on museum-quality canvas with a 1.5 inch-thick frame, and come ready-to-hang. You can print your own photos too, or browse galleries of other Instagram users on Instacanvas. Coolness!
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May 18, 2012
Je Revele – promotional video using the Nikon D4
My friends, Natalie Licini and Cate Scaglione, approached me a few weeks ago, after seeing the timelapse clip of New York city that I shot with the Nikon D4. They were curious how they could possibly incorporate something like this into a promotional piece for their newly launched studio, Je Revele. Well, this turned into a full-fledged video clip, all shot with the Nikon D4, with only a short time-lapse sequence thrown in there.
Today is the launch date of their new site, Je Revele, and the video clip we shot is very much part of the promotion of their brand.
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May 10, 2012
TTL flash for the simplicity and speed
Okay, true strobists might recoil in horror, but I often prefer using TTL flash to sweeten an image when shooting on location. I just get to the final image faster than if I had gone the more methodical route of manual flash.
For some situations, manual flash is the only way to go. For example, when your subject is static in relation to your lights and you have to get consistent lighting, image after image, then manual flash makes the most sense. But for times where you want to shoot faster, and shoot on the run, I find that TTL flash is the easiest and most fun option for me.
This image of Aleona was from a recent individual photography workshop in New York. As a starting point in explaining how to balance flash and ambient light, we initially work with an easy scenario where the available light isn’t harsh, but also not all that exciting. Now we can easily finesse it with a bit of flash from a softbox …
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May 7, 2012
taking photos in harsh sunlight
Taking photographs of people in harsh sunlight will always be one of the more daunting lighting situations we can find ourselves in. Without additional lighting, or the use of scrims, we have a few basic ways of dealing with the harsh sun:
- pose our subject into the light,
- pose our subject with their back to the sun, or
- just suck it up and accept that our photos will look bad.
Well, that last option isn’t really the way to go if we have any pride in our work as photographers. Which leaves us with the two other options …
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May 6, 2012
Fashion photography lighting and styling
A shout-out for my good friend Chuck Arlund – one of the most innovative photographers that I know of when it comes to lighting. His styling with Fashion photography is also outstanding.
Chuck is presenting a 3-day long photo retreat planned for Aug 6-8 at the Lake of The Ozarks in Missouri. Details on Chuck Arlund’s blog. (The code: BEFEARLESS gets you $300 off.)
Now you may well wonder about the techie details for these images ….
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May 1, 2012
review: Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT
Summary: Right off the bat, let me say it – this speedlite, the Canon 600EX-RT (B&H), is going to change the industry. Nothing is going to be the same again.
A speedlite that has radio transmitters built in, has been anticipated for quite some time now. It just makes sense. So it was just a matter of time before one of the big camera manufacturers did this … and Canon is the first. And they didn’t drop the ball on the rest of the speedlite’s features, or with the functionality of this piece of gear. It’s easy to use, with an obvious menu – even for a complex flashgun like this.
Before the Canon 600EX-RT, we had various options how we could trigger our Canon Speedlites, but right now our option is clear – it’s the the Canon 600EX-RT (B&H)
About the photo at the top …
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April 26, 2012
exploring the spinlight – a new video
A new video on how to use the Spinlight, has been put online by the maker of the Spinlight. (You can view the higher-resolution clip here.) To order the SpinLight 360, here is the discount code for readers of the Tangents blog.
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April 24, 2012
best photography tips
There are numerous tips and ideas in photography that helped me improve as a photographer over the years. This came via magazines and books and other photographers. Many sources.
One of the best tips that helped me develop a style over time – when using a zoom lens, zoom to the longest focal length, and then frame your shot by walking forward or back, to where you have the composition that you want.
Doing so will result in the most compression in the image, helping to isolate my subject against an out-of-focus background. (Of course, using a long lens with a wide aperture makes the difference here.) I touched on this topic with a recent article: composition for full-length portraits – step back!
I would like to hear from other readers of the Tangents blog, what their best or favorite photography tips are.
And we’ll make it a contest for the best entry.
The contest has now closed, and a winner has been announced – check my comment #190
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April 22, 2012
Nikon D4 / Nikon D800 time-lapse photography – review
The highly anticipated Nikon D4 (B&H) and Nikon D800 (B&H) are loaded with features, and both cameras offer exceptional image quality. Hidden in the list of camera specs, is an item which is of specialized interest – Time-Lapse Photography. So if a photographer doesn’t have a specific interest in this, they are most likely just going to gloss over this – but this is quite a powerful feature.
With Time-Lapse photography, as with video, it just looks much more interesting if the camera moves as well. With movies too, the cinematography and how the camera moves, make all the difference. Last year some time, I stumbled on the Time-Lapse photography by MindRelic. The movement of the camera as the city scenes unfolded, blew my mind. This was done via a motorized dolly – specifically, the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dolly. So of course, with no prior interest in Time-Lapse photography, I immediately bought a Stage Zero dolly. It all just looked that cool.
But then the winter approached and it was just too cold to venture outside at night to try out Time-Lapse photography. So the dolly lay dormant, still boxed, in my office. Until my Nikon D4 cameras arrived a few days ago!
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