Boudoir photography – an intimate photo session
Style in boudoir photography - intimate photo sessions
I did a recent photo shoot with a model, Carly Erin, to expand my boudoir portfolio. Sometimes you get to work in large spacious rooms or studios. Sometimes you work in smaller more intimate locations. When you work in a tighter, more intimate setting, the choice to include the surroundings or not will greatly affect how you shoot. I made the decision that I didn't want the location to be identifiable and this affected how I shot, so I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for most of the photo session to compress the perspective, and Read more inside...Catchlights in the eyes with bounce flash
Catchlights in the eyes with bounce flash
I'm often asked about how I get those catch-lights in the eyes of my subjects. My answer is - if you bounce your flash properly, the catchlights have to be there! When working indoors with surfaces that I can easily bounce my flash off, the question that I always ask myself is: If this had been a studio shoot, where would I place my softbox? In a studio-type setup, you'd rarely place a softbox directly over someone's head as a single light-source. There are two places to commonly place a softbox in the studio .. to left (and slightly Read more inside...Flagging bounce flash for directional light – vs – simple bounce flash
Flagging the speedlite for directional light
Bouncing your flash of various surfaces will give you a larger light source, and hence, softer light. But in bouncing it at a sideways angle compared to where your subject is, will give you directional light from my on-camera flash. Even better, if you have a scenario as in the photo at the top, where there is a row of people, you can get nearly an equal amount of light on them. Since you can bounce your flash off a surface equidistant to them, they will all be lit about the same amount. This means less dodging and burning in Read more inside...combining flash and ambient light
combining flash and ambient light
Going by the emails that I receive, one of the areas that many photographers struggle with is that of combining ambient exposure and flash exposure. This question is also expressed in other ways. It can be a frustrated, "where do we even start?" I also often see it expressed as an involved step-by-step deconstruction of technique, making the entire process more complex than it is. In reply to that, and many other emails I've received in the past few months, I'd like to offer an analysis of a few images from a recent shoot. One of my Read more inside...Bounce flash technique – mimicking soft window light
Bounce flash photography technique - mimicking window light
The classic shot - a beautiful bride lit by soft window light. That's a yes on the beautiful bride - but it's a solid no on the window light. What you see there is on-camera flash. (Which most likely won't be a surprise to regular readers of the Tangents blog.) This image is from a wedding this past weekend, and it makes a great example of how light, choice of lens, composition, angle and technique come together to make an image work. With a bit of post-processing added finally for that vintage Read more inside...Shooting candid portrait at events, with bounce flash
Shooting candid portrait at events, with bounce flash
My favorite image from a Bar Mitzvah party that I photographed. It is one from a series of candid (or semi-candid) portraits of various guests and their kids at the party. Aside from the obvious photographs that need to be taken during these kinds of events, I also try and grab more candid images, and for these a telephoto zoom (70-200mm f2.8) works really well. By going wide open on this lens, you can really isolate your subject .. and also draw in more of the available light. In this case the background is a mixture of Read more inside...Bridal portraits with on-camera bounce flash
Bridal portraits with on-camera bounce flash
With the formal portraits of the bride & groom, and their families, I usually set up off-camera lighting. But I also try to bring in some variety to the portraits - and I shoot on-location portraits of the bride beforehand, just after prep. It's a good idea to get as much done as you can, earlier on in the day - just in case the time-line gets compressed and things don't quite follow the original plan. You'll be much happier then for having some solid portraits in your pocket. In this example, I wanted a few portraits of Michelle Read more inside...using on-camera bounce flash outside
an example of using on-camera bounce flash outside
This photograph of our model, Precious, taken during a flash photography workshop, is an example from the practical session where we used areas outside to bounce our flash off. By adding that bit of light from our on-camera speedlights, we can sweeten the existing light. Working in the early evening in lower light levels, it becomes easier to get effective light from our speedlight even when bounced off the side of a building. camera settings: 1/60 @ f3.2 @ 800 ISO - on-camera TTL flash, bounced. Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G Read more inside...bounce flash photography – short lighting
bounce flash example - short lighting
Having just finished the second of the two workshops here in Cork, Ireland, I feel unusually energized after the two busy days. Partly because the two workshops ran very smoothly, (courtesy of Liam Ramsell who coordinated these workshops), but also because I had two groups of genuinely nice people. On top of that, I am just enamored of the country and its people. I love it here! But back to the photography: The image above is of our one model, Noreen, and was taken during the practical session at a photography workshop in Cork, Ireland, Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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