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Tangents

- wedding photography

New Jersey / New York wedding photographer

I work as a full-time wedding photographer, based in northern New Jersey.
I also photograph weddings in Manhattan, New York; Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
I even work further afield, including destination weddings.

My approach to wedding photography is a flexible one – borrowing from the best elements of classic wedding photography, liberally mixed with modern photo-journalistic story-telling. I love working with my bridal couples in getting the best possible images of their wedding day. It really becomes a collaboration in that way, as we have fun on the wedding day and get wonderful images that will evoke memories for a life-time.

My work can be seen in this wedding photography gallery,
as well as my photography portfolio on Facebook.

If you are interested in using me as your wedding photographer, please contact me.

Neil vN

wedding photography – a resource page for photographers

Here is a listing of articles on the Tangents blog which relate directly to wedding photography. There is a further page which lists further articles relating to flash photography and lighting, which will all be relevant here as well.

wedding photography – developing a personal style

Developing a personal style is a never-ending journey as a photographer – honing your style along with your approach, technique, understanding and skill.

tips & advice for second shooting weddings / wedding photography, second shooter

For me, a second shooter is a fully fledged photographer working independently, but closely with, the principal / main photographer. A second photographer is there to augment the main photographer’s coverage of the wedding. As such, there are certain things that could be (and should be) expected from a 2nd shooter at a wedding.

best lenses for wedding photography

Choosing which lens to use while photographing a wedding, is obviously an extension of your own style. It affects how you want to portray your subject, or the scene, through choice of depth-of-field, perspective and angle of view … or even through some special effect, such as a fish-eye lens or tilt-shift lens …

shooting wedding portraits in bright sunlight

Hard sunlight overhead is some of the most difficult light that you can find yourself shooting in. When you’re able to move your bride and groom (and even bridal party), and don’t have the opportunity for off-camera lighting, then you still have a few simple but effective options …

exposure metering for the bride & the bride’s dress

From a technical point of view, photographing a bride in her dress can be a challenge … depending on the lighting. The simplest way for me then to get accurate exposure, is to use the histogram. I place my brightest relevant tone at the edge of the histogram. All the other tones will fall into place. In this way, you simply expose correctly for your subject – the bride in her white dress.

top 5 tips on shooting engagement photo sessions

I love doing engagement photo sessions because this allows me the opportunity to connect with my clients before their big day. There are many other advantages to doing the engagement photo session. Here are my top 5 tips for a successful photo session with your clients …

what else is in your camera bag?

Some extra non-photography related goodies I keep in my camera bag to make my life easier as a wedding photographer …

as the wedding day unfolds

… and how to use flash photography for great results

bridal portrait – mimicking soft window light with on-camera bounce flash

The classic shot of a beautiful bride lit by window-light bounce flash

bounce flash for bridal portraits

Using on-camera bounce flash effectively for great portrait lighting.

photographing the wedding processional

The processional is technically probably the most difficult part of a wedding to shoot and get right. Light levels are low in cavernous churches while people are walking towards you. Getting enough light on them, and having that light look good, as well as getting the image sharp .. that’s a tall order.

flash photography during the wedding ceremony in church

Whether or not to use flash during a wedding ceremony in a church, is a tricky decision to make. You have to weigh the solemnity of the occasion, with the contractual and artistic requirements to create awesomely awesome images.

wedding photography – light & lighting; posing & direction

Posing, directing and lighting a bridal party group outside – there’s a way to break it all down to simple elements which will help the photo session come together naturally, without being overwhelmed by the decisions which have to be juggled simultaneously.

bounce flash examples – wedding receptions

A few years back, I would regularly use additional lighting to add extra light to the reception room, in order to avoid the dreaded black background which everything faded into. But I rarely do so these days, relying on higher ISO settings and wide apertures … and bounce flash.

wedding photography: TTL flash with off-camera manual flash

A common technique used in photographing wedding receptions, is to use additional lighting to lift the general light levels in large reception rooms. The additional lights can be wirelessly controlled TTL flash .. but more often would be manual flashes. Then an on-camera flash can be used, either in manual, or in TTL

a simple lighting setup for photographing the wedding formals

When photographing the family portraits, you can really help yourself by nailing your lighting. Get it down.  Then you can concentrate on getting the groups together, and concentrate on posing the groups. But your lighting works! Much less stress.

- wedding photography: positioning your flash for the formals

romantic portraits of the bride and groom

Trying different lighting ideas, whether in posing or with lighting, to give the bride and groom a variety of images.

wedding photography technique & style

working with tungsten / incandescent light

Since much of wedding photography is done indoors, we constantly have to deal with Incandescent / Tungsten light. The best advice … embrace it!

packing the right gear for destination wedding photography

The choice of equipment to fly out to photograph a destination wedding, as well as the way to transport them becomes a real concern. You have to have a flexible selection of gear with you, with a certain amount of redundancy in case something goes wrong with a piece of equipment. Yet it all has to fit into a portable camera bag or case …
- based around the Nikon system (2009)
- based around the Canon system (2008)

wedding album design

Vimeo clips – stills and video Fusion

yearly overviews and best-of slideshows

further links:
-For more articles also check out the blog category on wedding photography
- Recommended books on wedding photography

 

photography books written by Neil vN

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

 

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!

 

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