I met up with 3 models in New York recently for a photo session with each. The intention was to try out different lighting techniques, different equipment .. and just to have fun and see what we can come up with.
First we roamed the Meat-packing District and Greenwich with Aleona and Laura Lee, and then later on met up with Sasha in Brooklyn. This video clip will be a glimpse of working with three gorgeous models in an ever-fascinating city. Enjoy! I think what might be interesting with this video, is to see the wider view in relation to the resulting image.
Some of the images have already been posted here, and you will see more of them over time. And some will eventually appear in a book on the topic of off-camera lighting to be published next year.
The lighting ranged from just available light, to using off-camera Q-flash with a softbox, and later on with Sasha, some video lights. A flexible approach that allows for divergent results, helping to keep the final mix of images fresh.
The equipment: (B&H)
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S; Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S
.
photography books by Neil vN
newsletter / forum / workshops & seminars
Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
If you need more direct help or instruction on flash photography,
I do present workshops & seminars and also offer individual tutoring sessions.
If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by
using these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies. Thank you!
Killer video Neil. Seeing you shoot makes learning techniques that much easier to understand. Keep em coming!
Comment by Tom K. — June 30, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
Wow, Neil! That was breathtaking. Thanks for posting the vid of you at work.
Comment by John W. MacDonald — June 30, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
LOL I had no idea you had an accent :)
Excellent video, learned a little bit in that actually.
Comment by Rene Skrodzki — June 30, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
Hi Neil,
A big thank you again for sharing a fantastic video which allows a better understanding of how you set you shots up.
I notice the video stream defaults to HD content under Firefox browser (haven’t tested it with IE yet)
With the video being played in a small window what is your thoughts on changing the default video stream to SD and allowing the HD switch if a user requires it?
This would help reduce the data bandwidth on the server hosting your site.
Either that or quickly ping the user, who is requesting the video content, to gain their computers connection speed, a script can then decide which stream to use, either HD or SD.
Hope this is a helpful idea,
kind regards.
David
Comment by David — June 30, 2009 @ 9:56 pm
Throrougly enjoyed it! Have been following your posts for a while now, and first time I’ve seen you allow us to linger more into your shoots, and expose us to more of the equipment you use.
Make us (me) feel a lot closer to you and your creativeness, that being photography. Applause and thank you. I look forward to seeing more posts that allow us to connect more.
Comment by Tim C. — June 30, 2009 @ 11:55 pm
Awesome video, and awesome results as usual. It’s good to see how the photos came to be, even if it’s just a glimpse.
That 200mm f2 is monstrous, by the way. But the results are mindblowing. It’ll also blow up some wallets.
Comment by Danny — July 1, 2009 @ 12:38 am
Neil
Very Cool video. I cant wait for your book, any idea when it will come out?
John
Comment by John — July 1, 2009 @ 11:48 am
Neil,
Now thats what I am talking about !
cant wait to see more of your video’s, if you could include your thoughts about why you chose the direction of your flash, if its fill or overpowering main etc, this would be very helpful !
Love it – got my first shoot while being filmed next week on a live TTD – eeek
dp
Comment by David Purslow — July 1, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
neil,
you are awesome! thank you so much for giving us insight as to how a shoot is done. your blog has greatly improved my photography and dared me to use flash (that is when my pictures started to pop!) when will your book be coming out? i’m definitely buying it.
Comment by Laura — July 1, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
Comment by Neil — July 1, 2009 @ 3:11 pm
What is on the lens hood of the 70-200? It looks like it has flames painted on the side at 0:54. That would be very cool.
Comment by Justin — July 1, 2009 @ 9:05 pm
Comment by Neil — July 1, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
Keep feeding us the videos.
However, would like to know the following
f-stop, shutter speed, and were you on manual or aperture preferred mode.
Do you ever use program mode?
Last but of great interest -
you were wirelessly setting off the light box, but what was that sync cord I saw briefly in the video? Was your transmitter not positioned in the hot shoe of your camera??
PS – thanks for the fast reply re my SB-900 question.
I’m going crazy how I am missing an SB-8000. Dammit, 2 in 2 years.
Happy 4th of July
Comment by RON LEMISH — July 2, 2009 @ 7:52 am
Comment by Neil — July 2, 2009 @ 2:09 pm
Neil
This is great – thank you. I pre ordered your book months am looking forward to getting my hands on it.
In the last session with Sasha where you have the sun setting in the background – did you use any flash or is that just available light.
Is that the Medium Photoflex softbox in the first shoot that you mentioned in a recent post.
Cheers
Comment by Jason Smith — July 8, 2009 @ 3:57 am
Comment by Neil — July 12, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
Neil
As TomK says up top, using the videos is a great tool to reinforce your blog posts.
Where you using just one light in these shoots?
Oh and does that softbox also have an internal diffuser? I’ve recently bought the Lastolite Ezybox which comes with two and really knocks the flash output down.
Comment by hoddo — July 15, 2009 @ 11:48 am
Comment by Neil — July 19, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
All your pics got their subject in the centre of the frame, why did u do that?
Comment by Paul — September 29, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Comment by Neil — October 1, 2009 @ 4:58 pm