photography: direction of light & choice of background
posing your subject - direction of light & choice of background
Reinforcing the ideas from a few previous posts, we're going to look at that intersect where everything comes together: - direction of light, - choice of background, - posing your subject, - positioning yourself. When we work with our subject - whether a family member or a model or anyone we're photographing - then we have the opportunity to control at least a few aspects to make the final photograph more successful. Read more inside...best lenses for wedding photography
wedding photography - best lenses
With this recent review of the Nikon 24mm f1.4 the question came up about which lenses I use when photographing a wedding, and how I use them. How do you juggle the various lenses you have for weddings and decide which ones to bring to a wedding and when to use them? Do you carry them all and just use them when you feel, or do only take specific lenses knowing what the wedding/venue will be like and know in advance that you will certain lenses at various times during the day? Choosing which lens to use while photographing a wedding, is obviously an Read more inside...tutorial: High-speed flash sync (HSS)
High-speed flash sync / auto FP .. vs .. normal flash
There have been a number of questions about high-speed flash sync (HSS), and how it affects the output from your flash. Also check this Video tutorial – High Speed Flash Sync (HSS). It covers the same material as this article, and will help explain why your camera and flash behaves the way it does when you change from normal flash sync to high-speed flash sync. I decided to do a series of comparison photos, so we can actually see what happens before, at and beyond maximum flash sync speed. And we can also see what happens with Read more inside...looking for the light
photography technique - looking for great light
This afternoon I walked around the Princeton campus with a couple, Renee and David, looking for cool spots to photograph them. I noticed the spread of light on a wall coming through an entrance way ... Read more inside...flash & ambient light – reverse engineering an image (2)
off camera flash for portraits of the bridal couple
My friend, Josh Lynn, just posted this spectacular wedding photograph. It does look like he used flash there, so I thought this would make a another good example to see if we can 'reverse engineer' a photograph in terms of his settings and setup. I first had a guess at how he set this up; and then had a look at the EXIF data, and this revealed the true story. See if you can decipher this image yourself, without scrolling down at first ... Read more inside...available light portrait (model – Anelisa)
photographing people - available light portrait
While unloading lighting gear from the van to shoot a last few images for a certain section for my next book, I turned around and noticed the way the light fell on Anelisa. Beautiful portrait light. The (cropped) pull-back shot will show why .. Read more inside...Photography composition – Look at your background!
Photography composition - Look at your background!
The impact in this photo of our model, Jessica, relies equally on her looks and pose, the lighting, and the background. The background was very specifically chosen by how *I* positioned myself in relation to my subject. The background was out of focus neon lights in Times Square. I composed the photo very tightly with a 70-200mm lens, set to 200mm. By compressing the perspective with that tight focal length, I can select exactly what I want to include in the image. And that's the key here to the composition - deciding what to Read more inside...Tips & advice for second-shooting weddings
Tips & advice for the 2nd photographer at weddings
This eye-catching image was shot by a friend of mine, Josh Lynn, who worked with me on this wedding. As such it is perhaps the perfect image to lead this article with advice and tips for 2nd-shooting a wedding. It shows initiative at getting an interesting angle. Exposure is perfect. Framing and composition is great. Excellent timing .. with a little bit of luck thrown into the mix. This image is also a good point for the topic of the second photographer's business ethics. For me, a second photographer isn't merely someone who Read more inside...Effective on-location portraits
Effective on-location portraits, with off-camera flash
When I photograph someone on location, I rely on a simple, yet effective method that will ensure that at the very least, I will get portraits that work. Let's have a look at this method, step-by-step: Read more inside...- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Next Page »