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Creative studio portraits with continuous lighting – two perspectives

August 4, 2019 Neil vN 2 Comments

Creative studio portraits with continuous lighting - two perspectives

When my friend, Marco Leibetseder, a commercial photographer in Germany, came to visit, it was time to play in the studio again. Continuing within the theme of 'Two Perspectives' we decided on using only continuous lighting in the studio, and see how we could create portraits that had a bit of depth to them, rather than just being straight-forward renditions of the person in front of the camera. We decided the theme should be: Creative studio portraits with Continuous Lighting. The concept behind the Two  Read more inside...

Dramatic portraits: Hollywood Portrait Lighting

November 30, 2017 Neil vN 4 Comments

Dramatic portraits: Hollywood Portrait Lighting

Shooting for my portfolio in the studio with a model, Kimberly Jay, I wanted to create sets of feminine portraits that looked dramatic, and straddled the boudoir photography genre and had a Film Noir look to them. The classic look of Hollywood portrait lighting has long drawn me, and with a set of  Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights  (B&H / Amazon), it is a look that I am still trying to finesse. Other photo sessions where I have drawn on the Hollywood look: Lighting a vintage styled boudoir photo session  (model:  Read more inside...

review: Spekular LED lighting kit

November 6, 2017 Neil vN 7 Comments

review: Spekular LED lighting kit

The most adaptable and versatile continuous lighting setup currently might well be the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon). They come as a set of four LED sections (11.8" x 1.57") that can be connected in different ways - as panels or strips or geometric shapes. You decide. The Spekular website shows some of the options. The specifications of the Spekular LED kit only gives a dry idea of what these are capable of.  Therefore, with this video review of the Spekular, I wanted to show some of that adaptability, and how these lights might be  Read more inside...

Spekular – versatile continuous lighting kit

October 15, 2017 Neil vN 7 Comments

Spekular - versatile continuous lighting kit

I use a range of continuous lighting in the studio - it is essential for video of course, but even for stills, it is sometimes easier to work with continuous lighting than flash. When the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon) hit the market, they caught my eye. What makes them unusual is that the kit comes as 4 LED bars which can be hooked up as a panel, or in any number of shapes up to 8 bars. The Spekular website shows some of the options. This kind of flexibility makes it a versatile continuous lighting kit. I have other  Read more inside...

Shooting a boudoir photography promo video

April 14, 2017 Neil vN Leave a Comment

Shooting a boudoir photography promo video

The video above of Jewell, and the video of Bella - shown in the companion article, planning to shoot a promo video - were both shot within a week of one another. These promotional videos are for a friend, Cate Scaglione, a New Jersey based boudoir photographer. There are part of a theme that Cate wanted to develop in her marketing. The motif for this specific video was that of a working mom allowing herself to indulge in a bit of "me time". With this article I want to do a run-through of the gear we used.  More essential than the gear  Read more inside...

Stella Pro 5000 & 2000 video light review

February 20, 2017 Neil vN 5 Comments

Stella Pro 5000 & 2000 video light review - continuous lighting kit

My friend Kevin, or as his friends call him, Kevin, brought along his new Light & Motion Stella Pro 225  3-Light Kit  (B&H / Amazon) to the studio for us to play with. The Stella Pro 5000 video light is powerful enough that you can use a softbox with it when shooting indoors.  Where continuous lights really shine, is in how they allow you to adjust your lights in a WYSIWYG way.  What you see is what you get - that's just how continuous lights work. That aspect makes video lights ideal when  Read more inside...

Studio photography – Capturing movement with continuous lighting

November 23, 2016 Neil vN 1 Comment

Studio photography - Capturing movement with continuous lighting

The effect here, which makes me think of black flames, was the result of a slow shutter speed (1/20th) in the studio, using continuous lighting. The short duration of a flash pulse would've frozen the movement, so I needed continuous light for this effect. I used two Litepanels Astra EP 1×1 LED Panels (B&H / Amazon) that I bounced into a V-flat to soften the light. I also used another V-flat to partially block the light  towards her feet for more light fall-off to the bottom. The photo below is a pull-back  Read more inside...

Using the Profoto B1 modeling lamp as a video light

October 17, 2016 Neil vN 14 Comments

Using the Profoto B1 modeling lamp as a video light

Looking through the past articles on this blog, you'll notice that I love using a video light for low-light photography. A video light adds that sense of drama to portraits, and very often blends better with the existing ambient light, than flash would. Lately though, I haven't bothered to bring a video light to weddings for the romantic portraits - I already have the Profoto B1 there with a substantial enough modeling light! Less gear to carry with me! Since I rely heavily on my Profoto B1 flashes (B&H / Amazon), I  Read more inside...

Lighting for a small commercial video shoot

May 25, 2016 Neil vN 4 Comments

Lighting for a small commercial video shoot

Those of you who have followed the Tangents blog for a while, will have noticed that over time I've expanded the range of photography that I do - in addition to weddings and portraits, I have taken on commercial photography and corporate photography as well. This has included small commercial video shoots as well. One of these was a promotional video clip for a company - Buddy Bagz - to introduce their innovative variation on sleeping bags for kids. The photo and video shoot was produced by Cheryl Galante, and the video edited by Wendy  Read more inside...

Posing and lighting technique

August 24, 2015 Neil vN 3 Comments

Posing and lighting technique - posing in relation to the lighting

When taking a portrait, the pose needs to suit the lighting. And vice versa, the lighting needs to be done in relation to the intended pose. Especially so when the lighting is dramatic. This is such a key idea - lighting and posing are tightly correlated. Started again: you pose the participants in relation to the light. You light the people you photograph, in relation to how you position the light. When lighting a couple, I tend to favor the woman in terms of flattering light. So in setting up a pose, the lighting  Read more inside...

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