Hanging out with my friend Brooke, (NYC boudoir photographer), at a recent workshop, I noticed some of the images on her iPad that she was showing to explain her lighting techniques. The photographs had an interesting mix of gold and blue tones, and I thought the way she achieved it would be of interest to everyone. It might be familiar to regular followers of the Tangents blog.
Gelling your flash for effect – Blue background
Gelling your flash for effect - Blue background
The idea of gelling your flash for effect has been a topic here a few times. I most often use gels on my flash to correct my flash when working with tungsten / incandescent light. There are times though when I gel my flash just for effect, creating a shift between my foreground (lit by gelled flash) and my background. In the examples shown in the several articles here, there wasn't the type of background where the effect can clearly be seen on easily recognizable "neutral" background. In the article turning day into night, we turned Read more inside...photo shoot: Film Noir Fight Scene, inspired by Frank Miller
photography inspiration: Film Noir Fight Scene
The Hudson Valley Click is a group of photographers in New York who arrange photo shoots for photographers who are interested in learning more or who would like to build their portfolios. I've mentioned them a few times in the past - photo shoot / haunted fashion / pin-up photography. With these photo sessions, they arrange for models and hair stylists and make-up artists, and for a small entry fee, you get to play. They are also pretty cool bunch of people to hang out with. At the most recent shoot-out, the one organizer, Nuby Read more inside...Flash photography technique – Turning day into night
Flash photography technique - Turning day into night
During the photo session with a couple, Laura & Todd, I wanted to add some variety to the images from the urban setting we were in. The sky had been overcast, but started to clear later on, leaving wispy clouds. Just perfect for a dramatic sky as the background. Of course, it is impossible to get your subject AND a bright sky equally well exposed without resorting to graduated filters or additional lighting, ie, flash. The technique with off-camera flash is quite straight-forward ... Read more inside...Simple lighting setup for home studio photography
A simple lighting setup for home studio photography
This photo of Anelisa and Aleona, two of my favorite models, were taken towards the end of the evening of the most recent flash photography and lighting workshop in New York. The studio that the workshop was held in, had a white cyclorama that was just inviting to be used. As a recap of manual flash photography, I wanted to show how simple and easy a basic studio lighting setup was ... and that it was quite within the reach of every photographer. Well, not the studio itself, but the lighting setup and equipment, as well as the Read more inside...Wedding photography: Night-time city lights & off-camera flash
Wedding photography: Night-time city lights & off-camera flash
For the romantic portraits, I often take a couple around the venue - the light is just different than during the day. This is where video light comes into its own. Here though, I wanted some of the city lights and light from the traffic outside the venue to appear in the background. The way I envisioned it, was as a stream of cars behind them, but in the first few test images, the cars were too distinct, even at f2.8 and 200mm focal length. Looking at how the approaching cars lined up at the traffic intersection, I Read more inside...example: direct off-camera flash vs softbox
example: direct off-camera flash vs softbox (model: Ulorin Vex)
Ulorin Vex posing for us during part of the on-location session of the flash photography workshops which I presented in San Francisco earlier this year. Ulorin Vex is of course absolutely stunning, as always. While I often direct models how they should pose, this one is all her doing . Not even I can improve on that. The image here at the top was shot with an off-camera softbox - my usual preferred Lastolite Ezybox softbox. The direction of the light here should immediately reveal the approximate position where the Read more inside...Bounce flash photography & white balance settings
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...photo session: urban ballerina – Oktavia
photo session: urban ballerina - Oktavia
Oktavia is the stunning model on the cover of my book about off-camera flash. We've intended to do another photo shoot ever since then, but busy schedules kept us from that until recently. A theme that Oktavia wanted to explore, was that of the Urban Ballerina. The idea with the urban ballerina is the contextual dissonance of having a graceful dancer in the middle of some urban setting. There's no real meaning to it other than contrasting art & beauty against the harsher urban setting. Read more inside...photo session – vintage pinup style (on location)
photo session - vintage pinup style (on location)
When the hot-rod show which didn't offer as much in terms of photography as I had hoped, Jill and I moved over to the pier in Brooklyn. Having a model in a retro sailor-suit type outfit ... well, it just seemed to good an opportunity to waste. I thought of perhaps using the Ice Cream Factory there as a backdrop to a straight-forward pinup photo, but ultimately decided the Hudson River waterfront would work better as a setting for the photo. Then we just had to add some simple but dynamic lighting, and give the final image a vintage Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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