photography composition – finding the other angles

At the same photo shoot-out that the stunning Film Noir Fight Scene came out of, I again worked with a model, Jill. Her hairstyle and dress were strongly reminiscent of the flapper era. It therefore just suited a more dramatic and sexy pose and styling. And of course, dramatic lighting.

For off-the-cuff / on-the-fly dramatic lighting, a video light is hard to beat.

The photo at the top is the angle that my friend Peter Salo found, while I was standing on a short ledge, shooting from above. The irony here is that the first time Peter and I met, was at another photo shoot-out, and I was insistent he find a different angle than just shooting from eye-height. I even pushed him down on the ground to convince him. And here we are, a few years later, with him finding the alternate angle that I didn’t immediately see.  Using the 85mm f1.4 lens wide open, gave that shallow depth-of-field.

The second image (the wide angle shot from above) is the photograph that was easy to envision. The pattern of the tiles in the lobby immediately drew my attention as a possible idea. In the final image, the way the tile pattern recedes helps draw your eye to our model, helped by the spot-light effect of the video light.

image details for 1st image:
1/500 @ f1.4 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 85mm f/1.4G (B&H)

image details for 2nd image:
1/80 @ f5 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

Both images here were lit with the Lowel ID-Light (B&H), held aloft by someone else. The position of the light should be discernible by how the light falls on her, and how the shadow pattern falls under her nose.

Knowing the theme of this photo shoot was Film Noir, I didn’t use flash at all, but decided on only using the video light. Since I knew I might want something stronger than my usual LED video light, I decided on the more flexible and powerful Lowel ID-light.

more articles on:
 - using video light for photography

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wedding photography: bride & groom portraits with video light

For that dramatic Hollywood look, a video light is probably the easiest light to use, especially when there is the need to work fast like on a wedding day. With Alli & Scott’s engagement photo session, I knew I’d be working with a couple that would easily go along with any ideas that we’d come up with. We worked indoors at the Temple Israel in Long Island, New York, and there were all kinds of interesting nooks to explore.

The majority of their romantic portrait photos were taken using only a single video light – the Lowel ID-Light (B&H).  I chose to work with the Lowel ID-light this time instead of the LitePanels MicroPro LED video light (B&H), because I wanted a video light that was stronger, and that I could diffuse and focus, depending on what I needed. It was just the more flexible choice. (Check this comparative review of the Lowel ID-light vs LED video light.)

My 2nd shooter here was Stephanie Zettl, a top wedding photographer in St Louis, who flew out to help me this weekend. She held the video light for me for these portraits.  Two of the photos shown here were also taken by her.

Processing for all these images were done in two steps:
1. A variation of my usual digital retouching for portraits, where I have Shine Off on a layer, and Imagenomic Portraiture on a reduced opacity layer.
2. Then I ran a recipe I created in RadLab action set, which I call ‘Vintage‘, and then reduced the opacity to taste.

details for image at the top:
1/50 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

In one passageway, there were opposing mirrors, giving an infinity effect. The video light was ideal here in containing the light spill, and making these images possible. (It would’ve been a headache doing this quickly with flash.)

details for the two images above:
1/30 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

details for this image:
1/160 @ f1.6 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon 700  (B&H);  Nikon 85mm f/1.4G (B&H)

details for this image:
1/100 @ f1.6 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon 700  (B&H);  Nikon 85mm f/1.4G (B&H)

With both the next two images, we had to turn down the brightness of the video light, so that the detail in the background would be held. With a brighter light on the couple, Alli and Scott, I’d have to use a faster shutter speed / smaller aperture / lower ISO, and the background would go dark, or even black.

details for both images:
1/60 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

Finally, a fun image where I wanted to see if the spots on the doors leading to the kitchen would give a surreal quality.

details for this image:
1/60 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

A video light is an essential part of my lighting arsenal as a wedding photographer. With this set of images, I wanted to show the variety of images and settings that is possible. It is even possible to do the majority of images with just a single video light, if circumstance allows it. Then, there are those times when it is just the easiest lighting tool to use.

You can order the RadLab or the Totally Rad action sets, via this affiliate link:
the discount code 1086NEILVN will save you 15%

more articles on:
- wedding photography
 - flash photography
 - using video light for photography

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these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies.   Thank you!

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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

wedding photography – when technique, style & choice of equipment converge

With Manhattan as a back-drop, I wanted a cinematic look for the photograph of Nima and Peter. A magnificent view behind them as they snuggle in. While I approach wedding photography with my eye on telling the story of the day, for me, where a photographer really reveals a specific style, is in the portraits of the bride and groom.

I wanted a romantic look to this sequence of images, so there were specific choices to be made in terms of equipment, camera settings and the lighting. So let’s run through the thought-process.

Since the out-of-focus city scene would be crucial to the mood of the photograph, my camera settings and lens choice had to be specific for this.

We were on the other side of the Hudson, so I needed a long focal length to compress the perspective. I used a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens with image stabilization / vibration reduction. (The Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II  (B&H), to be specific.)  The reason why Image Stabilization (IS) or Vibration Reduction (VR) is essential, is that I don’t like using a tripod. It’s too static. It allows me one composition. With a stabilized lens, I can move my position and change my perspective and background, without clumsily shifting a tripod around, and move the camera up and down.

It was cold outside, so I needed to do my homework before I took the couple outside. I had to have everything ready beforehand. A few test shots gave me my exposure that was necessary – 1/25 @ f3.2 @ 2000 ISO

These settings had very little wriggle room there. We’re at a very slow shutter speed. We’re (nearly) wide-open on the zoom lens. 2000 ISO is getting to be “up there” on the ISO scale.

My choice of WB was also of importance.

I knew I wanted to use video light as lighting for the photographs. Because they are very portable and easy to use, I always have two Litepanels MicroPro LED video lights  (B&H) in my camera roller case. The beauty of this LED video light is that it has a Tungsten / Incandescent gel over the LED light, so that you can shift the WB to that of incandescent lighting. Or … you can flip the gel off, and have (approximately) Daylight WB.

Here are two of the test shots to see what the city scene would look like at the two WB settings:
On the left-hand side, Cloudy WB, and on the right-hand side, my initial WB choice, Incandescent.

The Incandescent WB setting on my camera, turned the city scene too cool. Too blue. I like warm. Especially with the romantic portraits of the couple, the warm tones would look great.

Therefore I knew I’d use the two LED video lights without the gel, and set my camera’s WB to Cloudy. Of course, I have to shoot in RAW to allow the most flexibility in adjusting my WB afterwards. This way I could have good skin tones and the warmer tones for the city lights. But I could equally well have settled for the colder tones of the cityscape behind them.

Next – the choice of camera settings: 1/25 @ f3.2 @ 2000 ISO

I could only get away with these extreme settings, because:
1. I use high-quality professional optics. Using the  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II  (B&H), or the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H) at f2.8 or f3.2 is no concern. The images are crisp!

2. Both those lenses have aggressive IS / VR, which means the lens can be successfully hand-held at impressively low shutter speeds. To sway success in my favor, I also use machine-gunning as a technique, to make sure there are enough images to choose from that I am assured of a few crisply sharp images. Since the LED video light is continuous light, and not flash, there is no chance of burning out the light like you could with a flash.  Also, there isn’t the annoying barrage of flashes going off.  So definitely fire the camera’s shutter in short bursts.

3. The camera I used is arguably the best available today – the Nikon D3S  (B&H). An ISO as high as 2000 is no problem at all. Here are is a 100% screengrab of part of the image above … with NO noise-reduction at all. Just the RAW file adjusted for color and white balance. The Noise Reduction was set to zero.  It looks quite incredible. The only noise I could really discern was in that specific shade of yell0w-green of the out-of-focus highlights.

The images from the Nikon D3S  (B&H) at high ISOs hold detail, and in the image at the top, there is no noise visible in the skin tones.

This brings me back to another topic which bothers me – the age-old debate over equipment vs artistic ability. Inevitably there’s a camp who sneers at the idea that top-quality equipment is important or even affects the quality and style of work. For any out there that truly believes it is the photographer and not the equipment that is important … make no mistake, the equipment *is* important.

related topics:
- equipment as inspiration
quintessentially inappropriate

All of these decisions where made before taking the couple outside into the cold night air. I had my exposure figured out. I had the angle figured out. The background. Everything ready.

I also wanted to use two LED video lights to help give a more broad spread of light. I had the kind help of the fiancé of the maid-of-honor who held the video lights up for me. (Thanks, Brendan!)  I did have to turn the dimmer on both video lights to bring the brightness down to match the light in the background. This had to be a visual assessment right there, and again when I shot a few frames.

With a little bit of preparation, and a specific idea in mind, and with great equipment … and a couple that is very photogenic, it all came together. That exhilirating point where technique, style & choice of camera gear converge to give images that make your clients and their friends gasp.

more articles on:
- wedding photography
 - using video light for photography

equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II  (B&H)
Litepanels MicroPro LED video light  (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!

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After Dark photography education – Charlotte, NC – Sept 26-28, 2011

This striking portrait is of Britney, one of the number of models that are at this, the current After Dark convention. Regular followers of the Tangents blog will easily recognize the lighting as being a video light. In this case, I reverted to the Lowel ID-light because it creates a stronger beam of light which can be spread wider than an LED video light. Typical of After Dark, this photo session / mini-presentation was an impromptu one that started after the evenings classes and presentations had already ended at midnight.

Meeting up with Britney and her sister Nicole (who is also a model), and two other photographers, the group of photographers eventually spilled out to the lobby of the hotel and swelled to a group of about 30 photographers all taking part. And that’s the reason I wanted to use the Lowel ID-light … the person holding up the video light, could stand further back and we’d still get decent camera settings.  An LED video light would not have been powerful enough for this situation.

image details:
1/160 @ f2.8 @ 1000 ISO … with video light; no flash
Nikon D3;  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
The lens was used at 200mm to compress the background – an out-of-focus piece of artwork.

more articles about the use of video light for photography

Enough of the video light though. I’ve gushed about the After Dark experience before when I presented at the Cincinatti event, and when I had a quick look-in at the Las Vegas event …

Of all the multi-day photography seminar / workshop events, I would honestly say that After Dark is the best that I have experienced. So I was quite happy at being invited again as a mentor for this After Dark event in Charlotte.

And was quite a thrill to see this when I arrived on Sunday afternoon. Made me feel like a star! I have my own banner.

I’ve had a number of followers of this website come up and chat. That’s always great … so if you do see me around, come up and say hi.

Here is a list of the mentors for this current event.

More about the After Dark experience in general …

As I described in that one previous link, After Dark has a certain structure – 10 areas / pods set up for seminar presentations; and 10 studio bays set up where Mentors can teach in a direct hands-on manner. But all this doesn’t really describe the easy-going flow of activity and learning and sharing that goes on. In that earlier post I described After Dark as ‘controlled anarchy‘. And that is what makes it so unique. You can move around between presentations and shoots, and learn from anyone. You can even ask any of the Mentors or attendees to help you. It’s an incredibly supportive and nourishing environment for any photographer.

Just as cool is that there are studio bays that are open, which might not be busy at any point. You can then mark down that you want to spend some time there. You also get the opportunity to play with a huge variety of lighting gear. You can play around on your own, or have someone help you. You can make mistakes. You don’t have to impress anyone. You just have to learn and have fun with it all.

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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romantic wedding portraits with video light

By now it should be clear that I’m quite a fan of video lights for the romantic portrait session with a couple. The Incandescent WB of the video light usually matches the existing light fairly well. Because video light has a rapid fall-off in light intensity to the edges of the beam, it doesn’t “flatten” out the light like bounce flash would. In addition, the video light can seem quite natural in context of the existing light, and not even look like additional lighting. Somehow the light just appears to be great right there.

Here are two of my  favorite images from a recent wedding, where I had my assistant hold up an LED video light to help light the couple. (It’s the same wedding where I used the black foamie thing during the indoor ceremony.)

image details:
1/60 @ f2.8 @ 1600 ISO … with video light; no flash
Nikon D3;  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H) … used at 90mm
Litepanels MicroPro LED video light (B&H)

image details:
1/60 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO … with video light; no flash
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H) … used at 35mm
Litepanels MicroPro LED video light (B&H)

I have both the Lowel ID-light and two LED video lights. Even though the Lowel ID-light is a better tool, the LED video light is my first choice for a quick-grab, always-ready light. LED video lights are compact, and use AA batteries. Easy to slip into your camera bag.

Now, if I had wanted to ease the contrast a bit, and bring in more shadow detail, it would be a simple matter of bouncing my on-camera flash behind me. But it would have to be with the FEC turned way down to -3EV so that it just acts as a fill light. The flash would also have to be gelled with a CTS or CTO gel then to not bring in a blue tint to the fill-light.

With the romantic portrait session at a wedding, I like to mix it up – some available light (if there is enough), some bounce flash, and some video light … or a mix of any of these. We have options.

more articles on:
- wedding photography
 - flash photography
 - using video light for photography

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these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies.   Thank you!

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bounce flash for portraits of a bride

Deep into the busy part of the wedding season, the articles posted recently will be more wedding-centric than usual. But, as I’ve mentioned before, many of the techniques translate to other fields of photography.

This photograph of a bride, Christine, received some very favorable comments when I posted it on Facebook. So I thought it might make a good topic here, as well as being a good recap of some essential bounce flash techniques. The portrait is quite straightforward in execution – the lighting was quite simple, but effective. It was also super fast to set up.

Photographing Christine, the bride, in her parent’s home, she wanted a photo here at the bottom of the stairs. Instead of setting up off-camera flash, I knew I could shoot much faster and get similar results by bouncing my on-camera flash in a specific way. The trick to using on-camera bounce flash, is to bounce it toward the direction you want your light to come from. It’s not an efficient way to use flash since much of the light is lost. However, the light that returns looks very sweet indeed. And of course, I used the infamous black foamie thing to shield direct flash from hitting my subject. I bounced the flash toward my left shoulder into the room behind and to the side of me. I wasn’t bouncing off a specifically chosen surface … but rather, a specifically chosen direction.

Here is the straight-out-of-camera image for comparison.
Click on the image to see a larger version.

Aside from the Exposure and WB adjustment of the RAW file, I also edited out the wall and phone plugs and piece of carpet in the JPG that I generated from the RAW file. This kind of retouching of the JPG is something I only do for posting on the blog and on Facebook, and of course for album and print orders.

camera settings: 1/60 @ f4 @ 800 ISO … TTL bounce flash
Nikon D3,  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)  … at 32mm
Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

My camera settings were chosen such that enough of the ambient light registers to give a greater color palette to the image.

My WB setting somehow was set to Auto, which I rarely use. But since I shoot in the RAW format, it was of no consequence. I finessed it in post. Simple. Bouncing my flash off the colored surfaces in this lobby, would also have affected any WB preset I might have used. Ultimately, I had to shoot in RAW. In fact, I think I should create a new terminology for WB settings. What WB am I using? “Daylight RAW” … or, “Cloudy RAW” … meaning that my WB setting, while chosen, is a flexible setting exactly because I am shooting in RAW.

Something else to note – in bouncing the flash like this, above and to the side of me, there are no flash hot-spots in the wood. The light from the flash is now a large diffused light source. Soft and directional – just like we want the bounced flash to be.

In line with my recent observations that it is more interesting to use a diverse way of lighting our subjects, here is a portrait of Christine lit by hand-held video light.

camera settings: 1/80 @ f2.8 @ 800 ISO

As always, the video light gives dramatic lighting with how quickly the light falls off to the edges. I had the Incandescent gel over the video light, and this gave that distinctive blue hue to the background which is daylight filtering in through the curtains. I commandeered the bride’s dad to hold the video light for me. Nice guy!

more articles on wedding photography

more articles on flash photography

more articles on the use of video light for photography

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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.

using a gelled LED video light for a change in color balance

Continuing with the theme of combining dramatically different color balances in a single image, there is this striking portrait of Rebekah. She is one of our models at the workshop at Treehaven, WI, this week. Working in the fading evening light, I had Rebekah pose somewhere in the middle of a large clump of trees. I knelt down so that I could shoot up and catch the last remnants of the evening sky as the background.

The blue light filtering through the trees was then exaggerated by using an LED video light with the deep Amber gel on it. LED video lights are balanced for daylight, so the light from them is quite ‘cold’ compared to Incandescent light. By now using the specific gels that are supplied with it, you can change the color balance of the video light to match Incandescent / Tungsten light. It is normal to work with the Amber gel to shift the LED video light towards the warm spectrum of Incadescent light.

In photographing our model here, I wanted to use the warm light from the Amber-gelled LED video light to create a big jump between that and the color of our background light. (I specifically didn’t want to use the LED video light as daylight-balanced light source.) This now caused the blue-ish tones of the evening light to go to a much deeper shade of blue. The rapid fall-off in the light from the video light, gave that typical spot-light effect. This really accentuated her face.

The pull-back shots reveal just how big a jump it really was in the color between our surroundings and the video light …

I love the way her face is now that single spot of warm color in the pool of blue light and dark tones. It really draws your eyes in.

camera settings:
1/125 @ f2.8 @ 1250 ISO

equipment used:
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S II (B&H)
Litepanels MicroPro (B&H)

more articles about the use of video light for photography

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.

using two LED video lights for effect

A favorite image from today’s workshop (Dana Point, CA), was lit by two LED video lights. Our one model, Virginia, was posed against the back of a waterfall display in the hotel lobby.

When I first saw this display in the lobby, and saw how it looked when backlit by the available light in the front, I knew it would make for an interesting backdrop.  Flash would even out the light too much though – especially bounce flash – so I knew this would be an ideal place for a dramatic portrait with video light. So in the late afternoon, the workshop group photographed Virginia against this display.

We resorted to two LED video lights though, since we were able to minimize a specific problem we had in using just one light …

When we started off, we only used the one video light, but it immediately was obvious that the single light created hard shadows on her dress that was unflattering on her mid-riff. It was a problem with our lighting – definitely not with our model. We either had to change the pose, or change the light.

We then added a 2nd video light with the dimmer adjusted so that it only gave enough light to smooth out the shadows on her middle.

Here is the pull-back shot where you can see the positioning of the two video lights.

The 2nd light (with reduced intensity), also then helped in reducing the contrast and “opening up” the light on her. Far more flattering!

camera settings:
1/100 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO

equipment used:
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H) … zoomed to 24mm
Litepanels MicroPro (B&H)

more articles about the use of video light for photography

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.

just a lazy afternoon photo session, using an LED video light

all images:  1/400 @ f1.2 @ 1250 ISO
Canon 5D mk II (B&H);  Canon 85mm f1.2 II (B&H)
Litepanels MicroPro (B&H)

model: Jess B, sans attitude

portrait retouching sequence
more articles about the use of video light for photography …

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.