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March 27, 2008
What are your settings? - a question that I am often asked about various images.
And quite often, the answer is surprising – it doesn’t really matter.
Sometimes the specific settings are of importance, but usually much less so than the method of getting to correct exposure of the ambient light and the flash.
This is the photographic equivalent of teaching someone to fish, versus just slapping a fish down on a dinner plate. Just telling my settings will reveal very little about the how. And yet, the how is far more important than just a listing of seemingly random figures.
Let’s look at this recent image from one of my workshops on flash photography – especially since it is exactly the kind of thing which I teach during the course of the day.
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March 23, 2008
Many photographers who have entered the industry in the last several years aren’t readily aware that a number of the digital techniques and special effects available today in Photoshop, are actually based on processes that were available to film shooters of past years.
One effect that seems to be a particular favorite of photographers recently is cross-processing – an effect where colors are made more vivid, and the tonality and contrast are skewed to create a high-fashion or slightly surreal effect.
Fuji Sensia 200 exposed at 125 ISO – processed as C41 print film.
Nikon F90 camera; Nikon 24-120 mm f3.5 – f4.5
Johannesburg, ca 1998
Currently I shoot exclusively in the digital format, but before digital, I used slide film for most of my personal photography. With no darkroom available to me or the inclination to use one, I had very limited options to manipulate the images I got on slide film. Cross-processing however, is a fairly easy and really amazing technique that is accessible to anyone who uses a one-hour lab.
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March 20, 2008
Atlanta was the last stop in my series of workshops for this Spring.
For this photograph of Calisto, (one of our models for the day), we used a speedlight mounted in a softbox to get this dramatic and directional light. As you may notice, the lighting looks fairly similar to the image I show for the blog entry on the workshop in Charlotte. This image of Calisto, however, was photographed earlier in the day, so we needed a lot more power to match the brighter daytime light. We therefore couldn’t just bounce flash into a reflector like we do during the evening sessions where ambient light levels are low. Different techniques for different situations, but with similar results.
Thank you to everyone who made this Spring series a success. The workshops will return in the Fall with a series on the East Coast, and in a new format.
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March 17, 2008
After a short week back home, I visited Charlotte today to present another in my series of lighting workshops. Tomorrow I’ll be in Atlanta for the final workshop in the Spring series. The workshops will return in September with a new format.
This photo is of Leslie, one of our models, and was taken during our evening practical session in downtown Charlotte. Using TTL flash bounced into a reflector, we balanced the flash with the evening sky and the lights of the city behind her.
Thank you to our two models, and to everyone who attended the workshop.
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March 16, 2008
One of the original pages on this website a few years back, was on the subject of my choice of Nikon’s custom curves.
Since I changed over to a raw-only workflow about 5 years ago, I haven’t had any need for custom curves. The reason for this is that there are an infinite number of scenarios under which we take photographs, and hence there won’t be any single custom curve which would suit all situations. Lighting scenarios change. The contrast will change, and brightness and other settings will also change. A raw workflow is the most flexible way to adapt to this.
The quest for the perfect custom curve is a dead-end street, and the best advice I can give to anyone who is curious about custom curves – for whatever reason that may be - is to forget about custom curves, and go to a raw workflow. You’ll avoid many headaches this way.
However, I still get emails asking for info and my opinion on custom curves. So for those who are curious about the original page on custom curves, I am re-posting the article here as it originally appeared.
(For anyone else, this page will be trivial and of marginal interest.)
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March 15, 2008
gear for destination wedding photography (Canon)
I enjoy shooting destination weddings- and I’ve been fortunate to photograph weddings in Aruba, Bahamas, Miami and Las Vegas.
These are weddings are often in exotic locales. (Well, nearly everything will seem exotic outside of New Jersey, but I digress.) Even even though it sounds exciting to photograph in faraway places, there is a challenge that comes along with that - packing enough of my gear and getting it safely to my destination. It is even more of a challenge with restrictions placed on air travel.
Since I frequently get asked via emails to show what I have in my camera bag, I thought I’d post some of what my camera bag looks like when I travel.
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March 12, 2008
Indeed, neil kitteh sez do not fear the flash. That’s right .. embrace light in all its forms, and don’t be afraid to use flash to enhance the existing light. Listen to the kitteh!
My friend Angelica Glass created a similar image for me on icanhascheezburger. If you haven’t visited icanhascheezburger yet, do so … for a slightly surreal and very funny diversion. Photographs of cute kittens, (or rather, kittehs), with funny slogans to while away an hour or two. Or to catch up on every day to check for new entries.
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Filed under: humour — Neil vN @ 1:50 pm
March 8, 2008
The final workshop in my series of workshops on the West Coast, was in Port Orchard, WA.
The image above was taken during the evening session at the Boat Harbor, where I showed the workshop attendees how to bring out dramatic skies with specific application of lighting techniques. Here, our models Deborah and Josh were lit by two off-camera speedlights in softboxes.
The workshop was hosted by Heather Bowden of Etched In Time who had contacted me about bringing my workshop to her brand new studio in historic Port Orchard, (right across Puget Sound and a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle). My workshop had the honor of being the inaugural event at Heather’s brand-new studio! Breakfast and lunch was provided by Morningside Baker. (Heather insists they have the best bearclaws in Washington).
A big thank you to Heather for hosting the workshop, as as well as our models and everyone who attended. Keep in touch!
(More info about future workshop locations.)
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March 5, 2008
San Francisco was the second stop in the series of my workshops on lighting techniques. For one of the practical sessions in the late afternoon, we went to Baker Beach. After the sun had gone down, we practiced bouncing flash off a golden reflector to recreate that warm sunset glow. Thank you to Sarah and Jasper, our models who remained energetic even in the cold of the evening.
The practical sessions earlier on in the afternoon were held on the grounds of the Presidio. During one section, each group took an off-camera speedlight in a softbox to work with a model. Here is my favorite image of Jasper from that session.
A big thank you to our group today.
(More info about future workshop locations.)
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March 3, 2008
A benefit of presenting workshops on location, is the ability to help local photographers deal with lighting situations that are typical of their specific area. One of the aspects that was covered in today’s workshop that I held in Phoenix, was how to cope with the harsh sunlight. Here our lovely model Chelsea was lit by off-camera flash, balancing the exposure to retain detail in the sunlit desert landscape.
Technical info:
Speedlight diffused through a Photoflex Q39 softbox, triggered by a Pocketwizard.
The flash was set to manual exposure. The camera too was in manual exposure mode, and metered for the background.The speedlight and softbox were mounted on a monopod, and held by one of the workshop participants.
The same technique was used here in photographing Craig, our other model.
Thank you to our two models, and to everyone who attended the workshop.
Do keep in touch. (More info about future workshop locations.)
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Comments (7)
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