NYC photo session – Linda & Gary « Neil vN

NYC photo session – Linda & Gary

June 16, 2009

NYC photo shoot – Linda & Gary 06-14 from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.
[ if the video is choppy, let the clip buffer completely first, or turn off HD ]

As a glimpse of how I work with couples during a photo shoot, here is a video clip of a recent session. Linda and Gary’s wedding is coming up later this year. I met up with them this weekend in Manhattan and we roamed the Meat-packing District and Times Square for some vibrant portraits.

41 Comments »

Nice work. Is it just the video, because I don’t see your strobe firing more than just once… was it on for the whole shoot? I’m especially interested in the backlit sunset shot.
Thanks as usual!
-Dave

Comment by David — June 16, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
David .. you’re right, I didn’t use much on-camera flash. It just wasn’t necessary most of the time, since the light was soft and coming in at a low angle .. and even then I mostly had my couple back-lit by the main available light.

The final image of the couple in Times Square, was taken with a Q-flash in a softbox.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 16, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Hi Neil,

Have been reading your blog for a good few months now and am still working on learning all the various points and techniques you cover. This was a really interesting look into what actually goes into the shoot. Love the technique writeups but hope to see a few of these videos here and there in the future as well.

Comment by djd — June 16, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Awesome. Please make more! Can I ask what lens (or lenses) you were using here?

Comment by Bailey — June 16, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Bailey, the two lenses I used were:
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S, and the
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED AF-S.

Using these two lenses on full-frame bodies, make them a great combination.

I mostly used the 70-200mm f2.8
which is an essential lens for portraits since it really helps in compressing the perspective and isolating the subject.

The Canon equivalent is the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS .

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 16, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
Thank you for making this video Neil. It’s very instructive to see how you work. Question about fill flash here. When you did use it were you going with ttl or manual flash?

Comment by Tom K. — June 17, 2009 @ 1:09 am
Tom, I mostly didn’t use flash, as explained above.

Where I did use flash, it was TTL, even for that final image in Times Square where I used a softbox with the Quantum flash.

When I use flash as a kiss of light for fill, then I quite often just use the flash on-camera and direct. Not ideal, but it is a workable shortcut, as explained in this post.

But to get enough light out to balance them against the sky and city lights in Times Square, fill-flash wouldn’t be enough. And then direct on-camera flash would look poor. Therefore I used a softbox and had the flash off-camera, to give a better quality light than direct on-camera flah would.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 17, 2009 @ 3:25 am
Great work, Neil. Was your aperture maxed to f/2.8 for the images isolating Linda and Gary?

Thanks for sharing this.

Comment by Dennis — June 17, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Neil, this was great!
nice to see you at work!
Those images were brilliant, good work there! =)

Comment by Joseph Yarrow, Bristol Wedding Photographer — June 17, 2009 @ 8:36 am
Thank you Neil! Your willingness to help just blows me away! Thanks again!

Comment by Bailey — June 17, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Thank you very much for this video. It’s always good to see how the pictures were taken at the end. You get a bit this ” I can do this too” feeling. :-)

Comment by Andreas — June 17, 2009 @ 10:40 am
Hi, Neil

I have been following your blog for over year, these video has been amazing, its like your there on site with you.. real great images, also nice couple to work with… like to see more of video if possible…Thank you

Comment by Neil Patel — June 17, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
Very great that you did such a video… I would really like to see such videos more often! :D

Comment by thowi — June 17, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Is seems to me that you placed the couple in nice open shade and just used available light mostly… very nice shots.. awesome

Comment by Daniel — June 17, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
It would be great if U can include some tips on available light portrait during the workshop. Cheers

Comment by Lanz — June 17, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Great video Neil….3 weddings since the 5/14 seminar in St Louis and definitely my couples have benefitted from your wealth of knowledge. I found a new product (that black rubber thingy)…an old dark mousepad works the same….Now, market that…Mouse Pad for your computer work and light diffuser for directing the light!! G Fong might beat u too it though…hope not! LOL

Comment by Barry Davis — June 17, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
Hi Neil,

I’ve been checking up on your posts for quite some time now and I must say that I have learned a lot by reading. Looking at moving images does however add a whole new dimention of interaction!

Maybe you’ll one day decide to do a workshop in the Netherlands; if you do, count me in (depending on the funds at that moment of course :p).

Anyway, thanks a bunch for the great work you are doing and the many, many free tips you offer us here!

Best regards,

Tom van Kan

Comment by Tom (NL) — June 17, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
Great piece of video Neil! I’m looking forward to your visit to Ireland later this year and benefiting from your wealth of knowledge, but I can imagine many of your followers will be dissapointed that you’re not coming to their location any time soon and indeed it’s impossible to go everywhere even if you wanted to. So how about producing a tutorial or workshop format DVD sometime?

Sure, it won’t be the same as a full blown hands on workshop, but if a 2m36s video gets the reaction like it did here, then I imagine a full blown DVD would be very welcome. I for one would certainly be interested in something like that.

The market is awash with all sorts of tutorial DVD’s at the moment but there are very few that I’ve come across that are actually worth having. If you were to produce a DVD along the lines of the short clip you posted here and given the quality and depth of information on your blog here, then I have no doubt it would be a quality product.

Comment by Thorsten — June 17, 2009 @ 8:17 pm
Thorsten .. I am actually planning on doing a version of the workshop either on DVD or as downloadable (paid) clips .. but that’s still a while off in the future.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 17, 2009 @ 10:58 pm
Neil, you are amazing! Thanks for an incredibly fun session!

Linda

Comment by Linda — June 17, 2009 @ 11:28 pm
Inspirational Content! thank you Neil.

Comment by nema — June 18, 2009 @ 6:22 am
Thanks again Neil great to se you in action i just wanted to reflect the comments about how well this format is recieved I am an avid follower and have learned so much already from you. i was coming to the cork workshop until the dates were changed although i am still going there on the orginal date and spending the week on a shooting safari may concentrate on the coastal villages, maybe i will have better luck next year continued best wishes and a great big thanks

Comment by Jamie — June 19, 2009 @ 7:25 am
Jamie .. aah, sorry! Next year perhaps. : )

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 19, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
Thanks, Neil.. I am interested in camera handling with a lens like
the 70-200mm ..getting steady, sharp and infocus shots.
with a Nikon D3 this lens can certainly add some weight to the camera
I cannot remember anyone suggesting a proper way of handling
with lenses in this catagory.. a great insight to the way you work thanks for sharing

Comment by Michael — June 20, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
Michael … in using a lens like that, it is no more complicated than tucking in your elbows; tripping the shutter gently; tripping the shutter at the end of exhaling slowly .. and just steadying your body. Oh, and relying on the VR / IS function of the long zoom. It really is an essential feature.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 20, 2009 @ 10:02 pm
Hye Neil..
I’ve been following your blog as well as the flickr group for some time now. I would like to thank you for all the knowledge you’ve been sharing to all of us here. Few pro’s would reveal as much knowledge as you do..

As for this video.. It really give’s great insight on how you work in the field.

I was wondering, what is the ISO setting generally used for this particular shoot as I noticed less usage of flash.

Comment by Hazmy — June 21, 2009 @ 8:03 am
Hazmy .. the newer generation cameras do make it easier to shoot at high ISOs without fear.

Most of this session was shot at 800 ISO, with a shutter speed usually at 1/250th and apertures varying between f4.5 and f2.8

The available light shots in Times Square were shot at 1250 ISO and 1600 ISO, but the portraits using the softbox, was shot at 400 ISO.

The decision to not use flash though, was based on the quality of light, rather than there not being enough light. As mentioned in an earlier article, using a high ISO is not substitute for good light.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 22, 2009 @ 5:14 am
Hi Neil,

After watching the video (very interesting, thank you for sharing!) I have a question.

How do you decide when photographing people whether to have the background vertical in the shot, or purposely add a slight tilt for a different more interesting shot, is it based on the type of photo shoot and quality of background or are there many other factors?

Thank you for such a fantastic helpful website.

Comment by David — June 22, 2009 @ 7:38 pm
David, there’s no specific rationale for it -just an instinctive decision to do it or not. The closest I got to analysing it was this piece on tilted compositions.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 22, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Neil
Sorry for sending this here, But I cant get the video to run at all any tricks??Not at work nether. great site and info
John

Comment by John — June 23, 2009 @ 5:58 pm
John, what browser are you using? And which version of that browser .. and what O/S are you on?

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — June 23, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
Neil
thanks I got it !!!!! aol must block it .
That was a geat video I like the back lit sun shot I hope you can fill a little in on that part as well.
Thanks again
John

Comment by John — June 24, 2009 @ 5:35 am
Great stuff! I’ve enjoyed your site immensely since the day I discovered it, and I’ll be looking forward to more video posts! Thank you for all of your efforts, as you’ve helped make photography one of the greatest journeys of my life. Keep up the good work!

Comment by Joe — June 24, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
simplesmente perfeito…
muito lindo.
parabéns!!!

Comment by Ricardo Carvalho — July 2, 2009 @ 11:06 am
Hi Neil…. again, your lessons are an incredible source of information I have been longing for. Your real-world information blows away every textbook out there.

Question… at an aperture of 2.8, at what distance away are you “safe enough” to get both subjects in focus. The 2.8 (or even 1.4) is such a short DOF that often I would unwantingly have one subject getting blurred and the other in focus.

Is there a rule of thumb you follow?

Comment by Amanda Tang — July 3, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
Amanda … I don’t really have a rule of thumb for portraits. With wedding photography, I usually try and stay at f4 or so for portraits of the bride and groom. But then I make sure their faces are in the same plane of focus .. or I make sure that only one of them is the specific subject, such as in the photograph above

The distance doesn’t really come into play for me in how I work. I don’t think about Depth-of-field like that when I am actually busing with the photo session. It would bring a level of technicality to it which would slow down the shoot.

Depth-of-field is one of those things where it often is best not to over-think it … but just have enough.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — July 3, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
How much, do you feel, the an IS lens aids in quality? Thinking about the canon 70-200mm f2.8 for its superior shallow DOF and for $500 more, I’m not sure about the IS… thoughts?

thanks!
amanda

Comment by Amanda Tang — July 3, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Stabilised lenses are essential in my opinion, especially when it comes to the 70-200 range. Well worth the extra $$

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — July 4, 2009 @ 12:20 am
Your work is amazing! I learn so much watching your clips:)
Keep posting!

Comment by Gisela Weber — July 6, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
Neil

Again, thank you for the video clip.

I would love to have the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S and the
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED AF-S.

But on a DX frame, what lens would you recommend as this would mean starting at 24*1.5 and 70*1.5 respectively.

Thanks

Martian

Comment by Martian — July 7, 2009 @ 8:56 am
Martian, a used Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 would be your best buy at this point. I wouldn’t invest in new DX glass at this point since the chances are very good that at some time in the future you’re going to end up with a full-frame camera.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil — July 8, 2009 @ 1:20 am