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.

I’ve shot some Fusion clips before, and this promotional video was similar, since it wouldn’t involve long video sequences. The shorter sequences made it easier to do retakes and shoot the same idea from different angles.

What really helped here was the storyboard that Cate had developed from the ideas that Natalie and Cate had brainstormed. Having a clear directive from which to assemble the footage, meant we could concentrate on capturing specific ideas – even if it meant we had to interpret or adapt the ideas.

Erik Colonese assisted me on the day of the shoot, and he was also primarily responsible for the subsequent editing of the video.

I’m proud of the video clip, and even more proud that Natalie and Cate loved it:

Working with Neil was a true collaboration, and it’s hard to now imagine working with anyone else on this. We sent Neil our storyboard, the blueprint of our cinematic dreams. Neil and Erik technical-directed the entire shoot with patience, fluidity and ease. Frame by frame, they brought our brand to life in motion picture. We edited this footage with collaboration and enthusiasm. We are proud to be the first among the many amazing commercial projects in Neil & Erik’s future and we are so thrilled to be able to partner with them going forward on our various commercial client projects. Timing truly is everything.

photo gear used during the video shoot

It really helps creating a dynamic video, by having some sequences with the camera in motion. For this, I used the Glidecam HD2000 stabilizer (B&H), and the Cinevate Atlas 35″ slider (B&H).

The opening sequence with the camera moving through the entrance, and then towards the front door, was shot with the Nikon D4 balanced on the Glidecam HD2000 stabilizer(B&H). Since it is an involved process balancing the camera and a lens on the Glidecam, it makes most sense to dedicate only one lens to the Glidecam.Most photographers use a prime lens, but I used the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H). What counted in its favor, is that this lens has internal focusing. In other words, the lens barrel doesn’t extend when you focus. Neither does the lens change length when you zoom. Therefore the lens remains balanced, regardless of how you focus or zoom.

There are several sequences where I used a Cinevate Atlas 35″ Slider (B&H), to get some movement with the camera. Most notably, the short sequence with Michelle, (our model), where she was sitting on the stairs. The camera’s movement is past the railing of the staircase.The slider’s movement is fairly short, so it is most effectively used if there is something in the foreground which glides past as you view your subject.

(The image used here is a stock image from B&H, so it shows a different camera mounted.)

I attached the camera to the slider with a Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Video Mini Head (B&H). There is one sequence where the camera moves past Natalie and Cate, where I used the Fluid Head to move the camera subtly from left to right to keep them centered in the frame while the camera moved on the slider.

equipment used during the shoot:
two Nikon D4 cameras (B&H);
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H);
Nikon 70-200mm f2/2.8 VR II (B&H);  Nikon 105mm f2.8G VR  (B&H)

Glidecam HD2000 (B&H)
Cinevate 35″ Atlas slider (B&H)
Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Video Mini Head (B&H)
Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head monopod (B&H)
Manfrotto 458B tripod with NeoTec Pro Photo tripod legs (B&H)

time-lapse sequence:
Manfrotto tripods & quick releases  (B&H)
Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dolly 

continuous lighting for indoor sequences:
Spiderlite TD5 Light Kit (B&H)

Further details about shooting the video:

• We needed to keep the camera at 1/50th of a second shutter speed through-out. There are many articles online which will describe why 24fps gives a film-like appearance. And for specific reasons, it means we need to shoot at 1/50th shutter speed to maintain the 180 degree shutter rule, if we are shooting video at 24fps. So we kept the shutter speed to 1/50th shooting the video footage.

• To help keep to 1/50th of a second shutter speed, we had to use a 3-stop neutral density filter to keep the aperture within a possible range. We also had to change my ISO to suit, even though some sequences were shot at settings up to 3200 ISO. Of course, turning the footage into B&W, and even adding grain in post-production, masked any noise that may have appeared.

• We also used a Polarizer Filter with the time-lapse sequence, to help darken the skies a bit.

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!

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Natalie and Cate are hosting a workshop on June 5 + 6, at their new office in The Castle.

Contact Natalie via email for more info.

Alli & Scott – their wedding day – fusion clip

The latest Fusion clip where we blend video and stills to give a short form overview of the wedding day, is of Alli and Scott’s wedding. They were also the couple in the recent article on photographing the bride & groom’s portraits with video light.

The Fusion clip was edited in iMovie, with the soundtrack from Triple Scoop Music.

More interesting is the thought-process that went into choosing the camera settings for the Canon 5D mk II that the video clips were shot with …

the camera settings for shooting the video footage with a DLSR:

With the video clip of  Lea – moving portrait, where I played with the  Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H), I explained some of the rationale in deciding on certain camera settings when shooting video with a D-SLR. But in this instance, where we were shooting video clips of the wedding, the approach was slightly different:

• With Canon DSLRs, multiples of 160 ISO give the best noise performance. So for the entire video day, we tried to stay at multiples of 160 ISO, especially since we’d be cranking the ISO quite high during the wedding reception. The low light of the wedding reception necessitates a higher ISO. Adding a video light to it turns the background darker. Raising the ISO allows more of the actual ambient light to register.

• Most of the wedding day was shot with the relatively slow aperture zoom, the Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H). It’s a sharp lens and has a nice range, but that slow aperture can be a limitation. Since we worked indoors, there wasn’t much opportunity to change the aperture much from the wide-open f/4 to keep to the appropriate multiple-of-160-ISO settings.

• We needed to keep the camera at 1/50th off a second shutter speed through-out.There are many articles online which will describe why 24fps gives a film-like appearance. And for specific reasons, it means we need to shoot at 1/50th shutter speed to maintain the 180 degree shutter rule, if we are shooting video at 24fps. So we kept the shutter speed to 1/50th shooting the video footage.

• Therefore, since we wanted to keep to a 1/50th shutter speed, and had to shoot at f/4 or there-abouts, we had to change my ISO to suit, even though my specific ISO setting might not match the ideal.

equipment used during this shoot:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H)
Canon EF 35mm f1.4L (B&H)

Manfrotto 458B tripod with NeoTec Pro Photo tripod legs (B&H)
Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head monopod (B&H)

LitePanels MicroPro (B&H)

other articles featuring video clips shot with the Canon 5D mk II:
- Lea – moving portrait (short video clip)
- Sydney & Paul – their wedding day – fusion clip
- Cherryl & Jim – their wedding day – stills and video fusion clip

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

Lea – moving portrait – Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II

Canon just released the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H), an update to an already highly-regarded lens, and I was able to get a review copy courtesy of B&H. I tried this lens out during a photo session with a model, Lea. Instead of just photographs, I decided to shoot video and create a “moving portrait” of her.

The video footage was shot in Times Square a few evenings ago, just using the flood of light from the billboards.

The initial portion of the clip is just a series of glimpses of Lea through the crowd in Times Square. It was a bit of a battle to get a decent sequence, since people would often stop in their tracks right in front of the camera. Which is okay; I’m just one more person there. An amusing moment was when someone came up to Lea while I was photographing her at a distance, to ask her where she bought her clothes. “Hey lady, we’re working here!” I did actually say that, but just under my breath.

This video clip was edited with iMovie ’11. I slowed the video footage down to 50% speed to make it more dream-like.

The music track is a royalty-free track provided via Triple Scoop Music.
The artists is Sarah J Hyland, and the track is called Mmmhot.

This first section of the video clip is just with the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
With the second section (where you can see the cars), I added the Canon 1.4x III extender (B&H) to turn this into an impressive 420mm f4 lens. This placed Lea so far from me that she couldn’t quite see my hand gestures as I was directing her … so she had to wear her glasses. (You can’t politely shout over that distance.)

Even though this short video clip has even less of a story than your average music video, it will show you the compression that this focal length creates for portraits, and how dreamily out-of-focus the background is at f2.8 All sections were shot with the lens wide open. And yes, it’s a “holy macaroni!” impressive kind of a lens. The video footage was shot with a tripod, but I also took some photos hand-held … and the aggressive Image Stabilisation is just as impressive. The images were sharp, even hand-held at 1/100 shutter speed.

Regarding my camera settings for shooting the video footage:

I stayed around 1600 ISO for the most part, but for some sections (not shown here), I dropped it by a 1/3rd and even 2/3rds of a stop. For the section at the end of this clip where Lea is standing at the cars, my ISO was at 2000. But there is more to this …

• With Canon DSLRs, multiples of 160 ISO give the best noise performance. However, I didn’t keep to that guide because:

• I needed to shoot at f2.8 and didn’t want to vary my aperture to get the appropriate multiple-of-160-ISO setting. I wanted to show the look the lens gives wide open. So I kept to f2.8 through-out.

• I wanted to keep the camera at 1/50th off a second shutter speed through-out.There are many articles online which will describe why 24fps gives a film-like appearance. And for specific reasons, it means we need to shoot at 1/50th shutter speed to maintain the 180 degree shutter rule, if we are shooting video at 24fps. So I kept my shutter to 1/50th shooting the video footage.

• Therefore, since I wanted to keep to a 1/50th shutter speed, and wanted to shoot at f2.8 it meant that I had to change my ISO to suit, even though my specific ISO setting might not match the ideal.

equipment used during this shoot:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
Canon 1.4x III extender (B&H)

Manfrotto 458B tripod with NeoTec Pro Photo tripod legs (B&H)
Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head (B&H)

More about this tripod:
It features a unique quick-release and lock system for the legs which makes it incredibly easy to set up and collapse again. You simply pull on the legs to extend them, and they automatically lock in position. It is heavier than a carbon-fiber tripod, but the ease of setup made it an easy choice for me as my video tripod.

other articles featuring Lea:
- using direct, bare (un-modified) off-camera flash
- off-camera flash – adding dimension with back-lighting
- NYC photo-shootout redux

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

Sydney & Paul – their wedding day – photo & video fusion clip

This idea of blending photographs and video snippets from a wedding, into a fusion clip, still fascinates me. In a 5 to 6 minute clip you’re able to give a nicely condensed view of the wedding day. Combining the photos and video in a sensible way that visually makes sense, takes time however.  And Jessica and I are still on the learning curve. (Is it even possible to really get to to the top of things these days with the rapidly accelerated pace of digital photography?) Anyway, I love the results so far!

So here it is – the latest fusion clip of a wedding I photographed,
with Jessica shooting & editing the video.
The music track is a royalty-free track provided via Triple Scoop Music.

Sydney & Paul met at a wedding of mutual friends of theirs, whose wedding I had also photographed. (More about this on the blog entry with images from their wedding.) From their description of what they envisioned for their wedding day, I knew it would be off-beat and uniquely them. The wedding took place in the quaint town of Hackets Harbor, in upstate New York.

The recent post on wedding photography – light & lighting; posing & direction, was from this wedding. But before we get to the details of the photography and lighting, a bit more about the video footage.

The video footage was again shot by Jessica, (my infamous assistant with an attitude), using a Canon 5D mk II (B&H). We used three lenses with the 5D mk2. The outdoor footage was shot with the versatile Canon 24-105mm f4L IS lens (B&H). For the video footage shot in low light, like the release of the Chinese lanterns, or when the evening made the wedding reception tent too dark for the f4 optic, we used the Canon EF 35mm f1.4L (B&H), and sometimes the Canon 85mm f1.8 USM (B&H). Actually, it doesn’t look like any of the 85mm f1.8 footage made it to the final clip.

All the footage was shot with the camera on the Manfrotto fluid video monopod (B&H). The one thing we still need to properly incorporate into these clips, is camera movement. Static video footage is boring. There either has to be some movement in the frame, or movement has to be introduced by using a glidecam or a slider. The one hiccup here is that the Glidecam HD-2000 (B&H) that I have, is just too heavy for Jessica’s wrists, to handle for even a short while. The movement that can be seen in places, is where I lifted the camera and let it balance in my grip with the Manfrotto monopod as a counter-weight. It seemed to work well for short intervals. But this is one important aspect of doing these video clips that we still need to streamline and properly incorporate. As I said, a never-ending learning curve!

Regarding the choice of Canon in this regard – as mentioned in a previous article accompanying a fusion clip - the Canon 5D mk II dominates the HD video field. I therefore upgraded to a 5D mk II body some time last year. Superb image quality and 1080p video. Of course, I also need the Canon equipment to remain au fait with Canon, for my workshop presentations and for articles on this blog as well.

This video clip was edited with iMovie ’11. Although I installed Final Cut Pro X, we haven’t delved into it yet. That’s next!

a variety of lighting techniques were used to photograph this wedding:

All of it quite familiar to regular readers of the Tangents blog:

• on-camera bounce flash using the black foamie thing
• a touch of direct on-camera fill-flash to lift the contrast
• off-camera flash (using the Lastolite Ezybox and PocketWizard TT5 wireless transmitters)
• and also just being aware of the available light. For much of the day, I didn’t even use fill-flash when the light was perfect, or when flash wouldn’t have helped.

With the photographs at the short of Lake Ontario, I had to deal with some pretty harsh sunlight. Fortunately, it wasn’t over-head but coming in at an angle at that time of day. Still, I had to take care not to get strange shadows or important areas blown out. This has everything to do with how I posed them.

settings: 1/320 @ f5.6 @ 400 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H) … at 28mm

settings: 1/640 @ f7.1 @ 400 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H) … at 50mm

Shooting into the sun causes flare of course. And this can be used for impact. I do remove the filter from the front of my lens for this so that the flare is more controlled and not just a mush of blown out areas.

settings: 1/320 @ f4 @ 640 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H) … at 200mm

The sequence of images with the release of the Chinese lanterns, were all shot at 3200 ISO and f2.8 so that all the available light could register, at the highest possible shutter speed for the settings available to me.

settings: 1/60 @ f2.8 @ 3200 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H) … at 24mm

Interestingly enough perhaps, a handheld video light was the one lighting tool that I often use, which I didn’t use at all on this day.

So it was a mixed bag of lighting techniques used. No specific set way of doing it – it becomes whatever is necessary to get great light on my subjects, or work within the constraints of what I am presented with. The philosophy is always to be flexible and be able to adapt.

Equipment used for the HD video:

Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Manfrotto fluid video monopod (B&H)
Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H)
Canon EF 35mm f1.4L (B&H)
Canon 85mm f1.8 USM (B&H)

Equipment used for the stills photography:

two Nikon D3 bodies;
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
Nikon 105mm f2.8G VR (B&H)
(2x) Nikon SB-900 (B&H); (2x) Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H);

Lastolite Hot Shoe EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24?x24?) (B&H)
PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)

latest work – wedding photography & photo sessions

Video & photo fusion is something I’ve started working with recently. The idea with fusion is to create a vibrant blend of selected photographs with short video sections, to give a 5 or 6 minute overview of the wedding day.

As with the previous fusion clips I created with Jessica, my assistant with an attitude, I shot with the Nikon D3 bodies and she shot the HD video sections with the Canon 5D mk II (B&H). It’s a lot of work putting this together, for I think that adding stills and video is more involved than just doing either. But I like the result, and hopefully clients and prospective clients will also be taken with it.

While we’re on the topic of photographing weddings and showing new work to clients – this would be a good time to mention (or even announce! with fanfare!) that the Latest Work blog has been revamped and active again. With 900px wide images, it will hopefully show a selection of my latest work off to best advantage.

The majority of my work as a photographer consists of wedding photography, photo sessions, corporate work and such. But there is the Tangents / planetneil related stuff which, for me is the fun stuff. The part of photography that, for me, is deeply rooted in the photo enthusiast aspect of photography – the thrill of taking photos and the thrill of playing with the toys. So my website serves a dual purpose – I have to attract new clients, but I also like to help other photographers through the Tangents site and forum, as well as my books and the occasional workshops and seminars.

This all has kept me very busy – to the point where I have neglected updating the Latest Work blog for a long, long time. Partly because I was forever stuck halfway in having the blog updated for larger images, but also because I started posting new work regularly on my photography page on Facebook.

But when I recently got this message on Twitter from another photographer …
“still doing weddings? I referred someone to you. But their feedback to me is that you haven’t shown a wedding in a long time”
… I realized I had better concentrate as well on pulling my entire site together. Time for some house-keeping and gardening and neatening things up a bit. So it’s not that I haven’t gone away, I’ve just been busy. And it’s not that I am back all of a sudden … I’m still here, working my arse off and loving it!

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!

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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

video clip – using LED video light for photography

Regular visitors to the this website will know that I favor video lights for dramatic portraits. The what-you-see-is-what-you-get nature of it, makes it really easy to get interesting light on your subjects. But it does need some finessing in how you position it for portraits.

Meeting up with Anelisa, one of my favorite models, Jessica and I created this video clip to show exactly how I use the video light for portraits. It also explains my starting point in choosing the direction of light, and also shows how I direct Anelisa during the shoot.

using LED video light for photography by Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.

As a side-note: during the first part of the shoot, my assistant-with-an-attitude, Jessica, was holding up the video light. For the latter part of the shoot, I used a light-stand, as can be seen in the clip.

About the video light itself – there is a huge variety of LED video lights available on the market. The unit that I used in this clip, is the LitePanels MicroPro (B&H). There are less expensive options available as well – check out the B&H and Amazon links – but I like the Litepanels unit because I feel it gives me a more neutral color that is easily edited for great skin tones.The gel kit that comes with it, allows you to also have it balanced for Incandescent / Tungsten, or warmer than Daylight.

related articles:
- video light vs bounce flash
- video light for photography – positioning the light
– lighting ideas for the romantic wedding portraits
- Comparison: Lowel ID-light & Litepanels MicroPro & Dedo Ledzilla

more articles on using video light for photography.

technical details about the video clip itself:

sound recorded via Sennheiser G2 wireless microphone system
video clip edited in iMovie ’11
music for the video clip provided by Triple Scoop Music

Equipment used for the HD video:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H)

Equipment used for the stills photography:
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
LitePanels MicroPro LED video light

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 for Nikon by PocketWizard on Vimeo.

using the PocketWizard MiniTT1, FlexTT5 and AC3 during photo sessions

While in Vegas earlier this year during WPPI 2011, PocketWizard recorded a video clip of me while photographing two photo sessions.

The first part of the clip shows the sequence while I work with my friends, Natalie and Chris. The final image was a dramatic B&W portrait of the couple, in the vein of old Hollywood Glamor style portraits. My description of this photo shoot appeared in that article on Tangents.

Afterwards I photographed model, Shawna, still with the idea of getting a dramatic and glamorous portrait of her, using the new PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 units.

In watching this clip now, I realize I was speaking too fast. A combination of nervousness and my usual manner of speech. So be ready for a rush of words.

old Hollywood Glamor style portrait with Natalie & Chris

dramatic and glamorous portraits of Shawna

The PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 radio slave system for Nikon:
(B&H affiliate links)

MiniTT1 transmitter

FlexTT5 transceiver

AC3 ZoneController

The PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 radio slave system for Canon:
(B&H affiliate links)

MiniTT1 transmitter

FlexTT5 transceiver

AC3 ZoneController

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

wedding photography, The Grove, New Jersey

overview: Cherryl & Jim’s wedding at The Grove, NJ

A little bit of info about the video and stills photography …

Cherryl & Jim – their wedding day from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.

The video footage was shot by Jessica, using a Canon 5D mk II (B&H) and mostly using the Canon 24-105mm f4L IS lens (B&H). All the footage was shot with the camera on the Manfrotto fluid video monopod (B&H). I didn’t want to bring in a steadicam or slider, since I was there to photograph the wedding, and there was already a videographer. So Jessica had to be discreet and in the background as far as possible. With the monopod, the camera is steady, and the photographer can remain quietly in one spot, capturing video.

One thing I should mention – and this will be old news to video shooters – when we first started doing video with the HD-DLSR, it soon became obvious that static video footage is boring. There either has to be some movement in the frame, or you have to introduce movement by using a steadicam or a slider. The slider is ideal for creating dynamic video footage of a static set-up. But, as I said, we didn’t use one here. Just the video monopod.

Regarding the choice of Canon in this regard – for I am sure there will be questions about this since I predominantly shoot with Nikon. Even though I went with Nikon again more than 2 years ago, I kept a small Canon system. Mostly this was for workshops, and to remain familiar with the Canon flash system. I’d guess that 60% of the Tangents audience shoots with Canon, so I have to be au fait with Canon in that regard as well.

I wanted to bring in video as well into the repertoire, since I strongly believe that stills and video are converging technologies. At the moment, the Canon 5D mk II dominates the HD video field. I therefore made the easy decision to upgrade my classic Canon 5D body to a 5D mk II body. Superb image quality and 1080p video. Great! Count me in.

This video clip was edited with iMovie ’11, but we’ll have to move up to something more powerful and flexible.

Music for the video clip provided by Triple Scoop Music

Regarding the stills photography – regular readers of the Tangents blog will see there’s nothing dramatically new here in terms of the equipment or lighting technique. Some of the lighting technique was already discussed in a previous post on using video light for the romantic portraits. During the bridal preparation, I used the Nikon 85mm f1.4G (B&H) a lot. So any stills frame that has shallow depth-of-field during the prep … that was the 85mm f1.4

The bridal party was lit with a single Lastolite Hot Shoe EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H). Even though I used a relatively small softbox for such a large group, the contrast in the images isn’t too strong. The reason for this is that there was already so much ambient light streaming in from behind through the curtains.

I triggered the speedlight in the softbox with the PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H). Have I mentioned yet how much I love these?

The static shots of the bridal party was shot with the off-camera speedlight set to manual via the FlexTT5. But where I had the groomsmen and bridesmaids walk towards the camera … ie, their distance to the light changed … then I simply switched the slave / remote flash over to TTL mode via the on-camera FlexTT5. Simple and easy.

The rest of the day, I used a single on-camera speedlight and the infamous black foamie thing to help with bouncing my flash.

During the church ceremony, I only used flash during the processional. And as mentioned, a single on-camera flash bounced behind me to clean up the light.

1/160 @ f3.5 @ 1600 … flash set to TTL

Even during the reception, I only used the on-camera bounce flash. But it did help that the reception venue was large. Low ceilings make it difficult to spread the light far.

1/100 @ f3.5 @ 1600 ISO … flash set to TTL
I think the dappled light on her is partially also from my flash hitting the chandelier, but it is difficult to say now in retrospect. Either way, I like the way it looks here.

More articles about wedding photography …

Equipment used for the HD video:

Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Manfrotto fluid video monopod (B&H)
Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H)
Canon 85mm f1.8 USM (B&H)

Equipment used for the stills photography:

Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
Nikon 85mm f1.4G (B&H)
Nikon 16mm f2.8D fishe-eye (B&H)

Nikon SB-900 (B&H); Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H);
Lastolite Hot Shoe EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

video clip – using the black foamie thing

the black foamie thing by Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.

Regarding the photographs shown in the video clip:

Camera settings: 1/250 @ f3.5 @ 400 ISO
I used maximum sync speed since I wanted to eliminate as much of the ambient light I could for this demonstration so that pretty much only the flash registers in the final image. (Clicking through to the linked image will show the same photo without flash – just to give you an idea of the total effect of the on-camera flash.)

This next image is the one where I peeled back the BFT and used it in that half-bounce position … still aiming for the same spot on the ceiling as before, but without the BFT blocking the direct light on Anelisa. You can clearly see that there is direct flash falling on her, even with the flash pointing upwards and slightly towards her.  You definitely need to flag your flash in this case to get that quality of light that we’re seeking.

PS: The final push to create this video clip came when Jim from somewhere in Texas, wrote in to tell me about this Youtube clip he had put up, with an interesting alternative black foamie thing. Check it out!

Other articles on using the black foamie thing.

including:
- how to bounce flash
- the black foamie thing
- throw away the tupperware!
- bounce flash technique – mimicking soft window light
- bounce flash & short lighting: model from workshop in Cork, Ireland
- an example of bounce flash technique
- bounce flash & catchlights
- why I use a light modifier that is black
- bridal portrait with bounce flash
- directional light from your on-camera flash

… and there are always more articles on flash photography being added to the list.

With this being the 1st such video clip that we attempted, there were quite a few times I messed up or lost my place. Some are shown in this clip of out-takes …

technical details about the video clip itself:

sound recorded via Sennheiser G2 wireless microphone system
video clip edited in iMovie ’11
music for the video clip provided by Triple Scoop Music

Equipment used for the HD video:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Canon 24-105mm f4L IS (B&H)

Equipment used for the stills photography:
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
Nikon SB-900 (B&H); Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H);

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

Melissa & Dennis – their wedding day from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.

review of the Nikon D3100 video capability

Nikon recently released two very interesting D-SLRs – the Nikon D3100 (B&H) and the Nikon D7000 (B&H). Improving on several of the entry-level Nikon D-SLRs, they also offer HD video capability (1080p at 24 fps), and even does so with full-time auto-focus capability.

So when B&H sent me a Nikon D3100 for review, I thought what better test than to start in the deep end, and use it during a wedding to shoot HD video. The intention was to use the HD video from the D3100 along with the still photographs from my usual set of Nikon D3 bodies … and compile this as a stills & video Fusion clip, shown at the top here. I shot the stills, and Jessica, my assistant with an attitude, shot & edited the D3100 video clips. A first attempt at stills/video Fusion for us.

So how did the Nikon D3100 fare? Quite impressively actually …

The camera is very small, as you’d expect from a camera that came from a D40x, D60 and D3000 lineage. For my large hands, the camera is a bit too compact, especially since I’m used to the heft of a D3. But it is truly light-weight and compact.

The video quality is superb. Really impressive. Skin tones looked great, and digital noise wasn’t a problem at all. The sound we recorded with the on-board microphone was also clear. (However, we didn’t use any of the sound in the Vimeo clip shown here, aside from the brief section where the group of guests cheered.

Shooting video hand-held just doesn’t look good, so we used the light-weight Manfrotto 560B-1 video monopod (B&H), to steady the camera. We didn’t use the Nikon 18-55mm VR zoom lens that comes as a kit with the D3100. Instead, I chose to use the Nikon 85mm f1.4G AF-S (B&H) for the low-light wedding reception, and the superb Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H) for everything else we shot with the D3100.

The auto-focus ability during video recording might be useful if you used the camera for motion work with a Glide-Cam, but generally you are better off using manual focus. If you are shooting something and the video pops in and out of focus, the clip is not really usable. So the live AF during video recording is a great feature, but ultimately not essential for much of video recording.

The LiveView lever and Movie Record button are very well-placed and instantly accessible, without the chance of accidentally engaging it.

An improvement over previous recent entry-level Nikon D-SLRs is that the different drive modes are now accessible from a switch on the top deck instead of being buried inside the menu.

Final verdict:
The D3100 is a likable and very capable little camera offering superb video quality. Hopefully the Vimeo clip shown here will reveal some of that, even though the Vimeo clip was posted as 720p HD video.

As a final note – I hope to test the D7000 soon. As the bigger brother of the D3100, I’m expecting a spectacular camera.

[ note: the clip was edited with iMovie '11 ]

More articles about wedding photography …

Equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3100 (B&H)
Manfrotto 560B-1 video monopod (B&H)
Nikon 85mm f1.4G AF-S (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H)

Nikon D3; Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H);
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S (B&H)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)

Nikon SB-900 (B&H); Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H);

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!

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.