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Tangents

guest post – flash photography tips

January 29, 2013

I met German photographer, Tilo Gockel / fotopraxis, during his visit to New York, where he and I did an individual workshop. Seeing this photo on his blog recently, immediately reminded me of my recent first attempt at playing with colored gels and flash .. except that he did it better!

So I asked Tilo if he’d translate his article for us into English. It’s always good to get another angle on doing something. There are a couple of good tips and ideas in there. Thanks Tilo!

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multiple speedlite portrait setup using Rogue Flashbenders

October 31, 2012

multiple speedlite portrait setup using Rogue Flashbenders

The PDN Photo Plus Expo in New York took place last week. As always, it’s it’s always a bit of a head-rush walking around, overwhelmed by all the photography goodies and people. Of course, you’ll inevitably bump into old friends and catch up a bit. One of them, is Michael Corsentino who I met during the After Dark photo conventions. (Sadly, the After Dark events have been put on indefinite hold.)

Not only is Michael Corsentino a pre-eminent wedding photographer in San Francisco, but has also written a book – the Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide (Amazon). If you like his style, follow him on Twitter @corsentino

When I randomly saw this photograph later on on his FB feed, my reaction was … damn!

He had photographed Anelisa at the Rogue Flashbenders stand for a demo. So I was curious about the exact lighting setup, and asked him if I could repost it here, along with an explanation and the lighting diagram …

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photography lighting patterns

March 15, 2012

I’m always very happy to feature Chuck Arlund as a guest on Tangents. Anyone who knows Chuck in person will tell you about the crazy energy he has, (a good kinda crazy), and how inspiring and innovative he is in his lighting.

Check his work on his website, and on his Facebook page for senior photography.

Chuck is presenting an intensive 2-day workshop in New York – Don’t Be Afraid Of The Light. (There’s even mention of a bonus 3rd day!) The fee for the workshop is $750 … but for photographers following the Tangents blog, there is an incredible $250 discount code: NEILVN which brings the fee for the workshop down to $500. Incredible value for anyone wanting to learn more about lighting.

lighting patterns in photography

by Chuck Arlund, Kansas City photographer

Back to basics. When shooting a portrait or any person for that matter it is good to understand some light patterns to help determine what kind of mood you would like to create.

Basically there are 6 light patterns.

  • Butterfly / Paramount
  • Loop
  • Rembrandt
  • Split
  • Monster
  • Profile

So why do I need to know these? It’s not necessarily knowing them but being able to recognize them will help educate yourself on how a photograph was lit if you are trying to learn lighting. It also can help to know exactly what you are looking to create in your own photograph.

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3 tips to improve your boudoir photography

February 14, 2012

Jennifer Rozenbaum of Jenerations Boudoir, is a New York boudoir photographer who is fast rising in prominence. She was featured in a recent interview on Good Morning America with their insert on boudoir photography for Valentine’s Day. For a Tangents guest post, Jennifer kindly sent in a few tips on how we can improve our boudoir photography.

3 tips to improve your boudoir photography

by Jennifer Rozenbaum, New York boudoir photographer

“WOW! I can’t believe that is me…I AM hot!” This is always the reaction that I aim for when a client first sees their boudoir images, and thankfully it is usually the reaction I get.

Getting a reaction like this one isn’t easy. It takes planning and a lot of thought. What do I do to insure this reaction? There are three main areas of consideration that I always address before pressing the shutter.

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inspired boudoir lighting

January 12, 2012

Hanging out with my friend Brooke, (NYC boudoir photographer), at a recent 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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Film Noir Fight Scene, inspired by Frank Miller

December 1, 2011

The Hudson Valley Click is a group of photographers in New York who arrange photo shoots for photographers who are interested in learning more or who would like to build their portfolios. I’ve mentioned them a few times in the past - photo shoot / haunted fashion / pin-up photography. With these photo sessions, they arrange for models and hair stylists and make-up artists, and for a small entry fee, you get to play. They are also pretty cool bunch of people to hang out with.

At the most recent shoot-out, the one organizer, Nuby DeLeon, showed me an image that he had set up, and my jaw dropped. With great pre-visualization of the intended shot, Nuby had set this dramatic scene up. Even the color image on the back of his camera looked perfect! Nuby was gracious enough to allow me to share this with everyone, including the lighting diagram …

Film Noir Fight Scene
by Nuby DeLeon
portrait, wedding & commercial photographer – New York

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to explore dramatic lighting when Hudson Valley Click did their monthly themed shoot at Mountain View Manor in Glen Spey, NY. The theme for the month was Film Noir so having a beautiful Victorian mansion to shoot in was a treat. There were a number of models, all dressed in period costume.

My inspiration for the shot is Frank Miller. I wanted to match the dramatic lighting with some dramatic, almost over the top action.

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off-camera bounce flash – my guest spot on Frank Doorhof’s blog

November 29, 2011

off-camera bounce flash – my guest spot on Frank Doorhof’s blog

I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of a phenomenal Fashion photographer last year when Frank Doorhof visited New York. He was gracious enough to be featured on the Tangents blog with a guest spot - on learning the essentials of photography.  And it is my turn to reciprocate. The topic of my post is off-camera bounce flash.

Showing a sequence of images that I shot of Ulorin Vex earlier this year, I explain the thought-process in the lighting that I used. The lighting technique itself was quite simple, but there were some steps in finessing the final result.

And it’s all there on Frank’s blog - off-camera bounce flash.

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Photoshop actions to help with Post Processing after RAW conversion

August 31, 2011

Adrian, a regular follower of the Tangents blog, (better known as the ever-helpful Trev in the Tangents forum), has the guest spot this week. Adrian has expanded on his explanation of the actions that he mentioned in the comments section of the recent article on Selective Sharpening in Photoshop. Even better, he has made it available as two downloadable actions as well.

Photoshop actions to help with Post Processing after RAW conversion (free download)

Intro:

The following downloadable actions with the instructions on their use can save some time and grief on getting a good result after RAW conversion. Even using your RAW converter may not get a fully desirable end result and these very easy to use actions will help in that regard. They are not complicated and you don’t need any plug-ins to achieve a simple lift to your final image.

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4 tips on selling wedding albums

August 11, 2011

4 tips on selling wedding albums

by Andrew “Fundy” Funderburg

We all want our clients to get nice wedding albums. On their 50th wedding anniversary, this will be the one thing that they will cherish from their wedding. But, being a big investment, clients often need to be convinced of the value.

Selling really isn’t that hard, and selling albums isn’t that hard if you have a few tips that will get you launched. Here are some simple strategies for selling albums in a straightforward way, by making your clients want the albums.


photography & design by Frank Salas, Orange County Wedding Photographer

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high-end wedding album designs

May 17, 2011

high-end wedding album designs
in three simple steps

by Andrew “Fundy” Funderburg

Album design can be one of the most time consuming parts of running a wedding photography. “How to design a wedding album,” is often one of the first questions that a beginning a wedding photographer asks. And “how can I design albums better and faster,” is a question that seasoned wedding photographers often ask themselves over and over.

Don’t get me wrong, designing an album will always take a fair amount of time. It is one of the most expensive items in a wedding studio and also is the one that will last the longest. Albums are the single most durable photo product around. Prints in albums last many times longer than prints or canvases hanging on the wall. Every time I see a wedding album I imagine it being found in a trunk 100 years from now by a great great grandchild and the look on their faces as they see their long lost relative. They’ll see how young they look, how vibrant and alive they were and it will spark that moment of seeing themselves as something bigger than just their own life.

© Frank Salas – Orange County Wedding Photographer

It’s evident how important wedding albums are. But, it’s also clear that we can’t, as a business, spend all day designing a wedding album. It just isn’t profitable. We can’t spend hours upon hours designing every album. If we did, we wouldn’t be able to take care of our own families. Let me share with you three easy steps that will help you not only design better albums, but design them faster and design them to stand the test of time.

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