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Wedding photography: Using high ISO and flash at the reception

August 15, 2012 Neil vN 36 Comments

Wedding photography: Using high ISO and flash at the reception

Chatting with other photographers at the recent WPS convention in Chapel Hill, NC, I was again struck by how there are so many different ways of approaching lighting. In this case, lighting at the wedding reception. The one photographer I was chatting to, set up multiple speedlights around the reception room, and then controls which are fired, from his on-camera Master speedlight.  Very impressive. In recent years, the wedding reception venues where I've shot on the East Coast of the USA, have moved away from being the  Read more inside...

Bounce flash portrait – a consistent technique

February 22, 2012 Neil vN 54 Comments

Bounce flash portrait - a consistent technique

WPPI 2012 took place during the past week - as always, a crazy-hectic and exciting event. I once again presented a Master Class at WPPI. But I also took time to present a private mini-workshop to the first 3 people that signed up. We went over a condensed version of my full-day workshop, covering most of the material in the 4-hr long mini-workshop. Like last year, I called on my favorite model in Las Vegas, Shawna. Actually, she has since moved to L.A. but she was quite happy to make the trip back to Las Vegas to be our model. The  Read more inside...

Materials for the Black Foamie Thing

February 8, 2012 Neil vN 16 Comments

Materials for the Black Foamie Thing / Black Foamy Thing

More links to articles relating to the black foamie thing.  Read more inside...

Bounce flash photography & The Inverse Square Law

February 1, 2012 Neil vN 48 Comments

Bounce flash photography & The Inverse Square Law

After you're done noticing the decorated candles that the bride is holding while dancing with the groom (a tradition in Palestinian weddings), you may well notice how evenly lit this photograph is - from foreground to background. The people visible in the background seen there between the bride and the groom, are nearly as well lit as the bride and groom. Because this was on-camera bounce flash, the background will be brighter than may have been anticipated. If I had used direct flash, or flash with a diffuser cup or bounce  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Using bounce flash outside

January 10, 2012 Neil vN 31 Comments

Wedding photography - Using bounce flash outside

When working with a couple during the romantic portrait session, there's the need to bring variety to the images - not just in posing and composition, but also in terms of light & lighting. For this reason I use a variety - available light; video light; off-camera flash and on-camera bounce flash. I really like using on-camera bounce flash since it is such an easy light source to use, always at hand. There was a recent article on using bounce flash outdoors, but I'd like to add another example where I used bounce flash outside a  Read more inside...

Off-camera bounce flash

November 29, 2011 Neil vN 7 Comments

Off-camera bounce flash

This portrait of an unusual model, Ulorin Vex, was truly simple in its execution - most of the work was done by Ulorin Vex with her outfit and her striking looks. Then, the composition and choice of background was the hotel room with this stripy wall paper. I thought the bold yellow and green stripes would complement her bright red outfit, without competing. Then the lighting - off-camera bounce flash - was simplicity itself. I had a speedlight that I bounced off a white surface to create a large light source for flattering, soft light. But it took me a few  Read more inside...

Bounce flash photography & white balance settings

September 19, 2011 Neil vN 26 Comments

Bounce flash photography & white balance settings

A question that often comes up, is whether the white balance will change when bouncing flash. The answer is an obvious one - yes, the light will pick up any color cast from a non-white surface. But that is why we need to shoot in RAW. Then the decision about exact White Balance becomes less crucial. The photograph above, is of Roz, and was taken during the recent flash photography workshops in Dublin, Ireland. Roz was Ireland's contestant in the 2010 Miss Universe contest, so it was quite a privilege to have her as one of our  Read more inside...

Bouncing flash forward without that direct flash look

September 7, 2011 Neil vN 26 Comments

Bouncing flash forward without getting that direct flash look

When bouncing my on-camera flash, I rarely point the flash straight-up. Most often the flash is pointed behind me or to the side to a certain extent. This way I get directional light. I want that off-camera soft-box effect. However there are those times when it just isn't that practical. With this recent wedding, the indoor ceremony was held in this large room. As you can see here in this test shot, the ceiling isn't white, but is a light brown, with wooden beams. The thick cross-beams have the effect of blocking flash  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Tips for detail shots of the wedding rings

July 31, 2011 Neil vN 27 Comments

Wedding photography - Tips for detail shots of the wedding rings

In photographing the detail images of the wedding rings, there are a few things to aim for: - context within which to place the rings, - a few images with different angles, - great lighting which is easily achievable. Then we also have to take care of the depth-of-field and the tricky focusing ...  Read more inside...

Bounce flash for bridal portraits

July 14, 2011 Neil vN 25 Comments

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  Read more inside...

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