book review: Picture Perfect Lighting, by Roberto Valenzuela
I strongly believe that there's a pivotal moment that happens (or will happen) for most photographers as they progress and become better at this thing we do with a camera - a moment of clarity when we realize that much of photography really hinges on the understanding of light and how it behaves. This was the theme of my one book, Direction & Quality of Light where I explained in the introduction that once we understand those principles, then we can pretty much use any light source, whether on-camera flash or off-camera Read more inside...
Humans of New York (HONY), is inarguably *the* best thing on Facebook. A bold statement, but the millions of fans of Brandon Stanton's labor of love, will agree. Brandon roams countless miles, photographing people on the streets of New York, and recording their stories. In the past two years, he has also visited various countries in the Middle East and in Central Africa.
Photos and personal stories that connect us all. Photos and stories and anecdotes that are engrossing and moving and endearing. These touch us all. For example - no Read more inside...
book review: Creative Flash Photography, by Tilo Gockel
Tilo Gockel (website: FotoPraxis), is a German photographer who some might remember from guest articles that has appeared on Tangents. His article on innovative product photography on a budget – Diver’s Chronograph, was particularly impressive when you compare the results with the home setup. You might also know Tilo from various impressive posts in the Strobist group on Facebook. Prolific and innovative.
The subtitle of this book is the best description of what you'd find inside: Great Lighting with Small Flashes: 40 Flash Read more inside...
book review: Roberto Valenzuela - Picture Perfect Posing
I've noticed that articles on Tangents which deal with the topic of how to pose people, gets a lot of attention. Posing is a challenging topic for most photographers except the very best who seem to have an innate gift for it.
Books on posing tend to approach the topic as a list of suggestions - the kind of "1,000 poses" type books. Another alternative offered is flow posing where you maneuver a couple through a number of poses mechanically. Both of these approaches means you have to memorize poses by rote, instead of Read more inside...
Gregory Heisler is an undisputed genius when it comes to photographic lighting. If ever you get the opportunity to attend a seminar by him, do yourself a favor. The story behind each portrait, and the motivation and the struggles to create those images, don't just make for entertaining anecdotes - and Gregory Heisler is an entertaining speaker - but the stories are insightful. Educational. But not just educational in a do-this-do-that explanation of technique. It's much more than that.
In this book he has collected 50 of his his best Read more inside...
One of the most interesting stories unfolding in photography in recent years, was the accidental discovery of an incredible body of work by an unknown photographer, Vivian Maier. Incredible in terms of quality and the sheer volume of photographs. If you're not familiar with the backstory - in 2007, John Maloof, a real estate agent in Chicago, who was working on a project documenting the one neighborhood in Chicago, discovered and bought a vast collection of negatives and prints of a completely unknown photographer, Vivian Maier.
What makes Read more inside...
book review: Classic Modern Pinups, by Robert Alvarado
When I first heard news that Robert Alvarado was (finally!) publishing a book of his best pinup photographs, I was excited. I've been a huge fan of his work ever since I first came across his portfolio on Model Mayhem and several other photography forums. I even attended a workshop where he explained his lighting and posing of the models, as well as his Photoshop techniques.
Drawing inspiration from the classic pin-up artist like Gil Elvgren and Vargas, Robert Alvarado had steadily fine-tuned his skills as a photographer in Read more inside...
