Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

tangents photography blog
learn : discuss : share
  • Tangents
  • Tutorials
    • Flash Photography
    • Wedding Photography
    • Studio Photography
    • Posing People
    • Understanding Your Camera
    • Exposure metering
    • BFT
    • Best Photo Books
  • Reviews
    • Sony
    • Nikon
    • Canon
    • Fuji
    • Profoto
    • lighting gear
  • Workshops
    • Info: Workshops
    • In-person
      tutoring sessions
    • Online
      tutoring sessions
    • Workshops in
      New Jersey (NJ)
    • Workshops in
      New York (NYC)
    • Photo walks in NYC
    • Studio Workshop
    • Video tutorials
    • Workshop results
  • Books
    • On-Camera Flash (revised ed.)
    • Direction & Quality of Light
    • Off-Camera Flash Photography
    • Lighting & Design
    • On-Camera Flash (1st ed.)
  • Projects
    • Two Perspectives
    • B&W Infrared
    • Vintage lenses
    • Time-lapse photography
  • Info
    • About
    • Contact
    • My Photo Gear
    • Books by NvN
    • Join us on Facebook
    • Acclaim
    • Success Stories

Light modifiers for on-camera flash

February 25, 2009 Neil vN 21 Comments

Light modifiers for on-camera flash

Event photography, and specifically weddings, can be a rushed and fast-moving, with some of the worst lighting conditions. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have great light from just an on-camera speedlight. By bouncing your on-camera flash with specific intent, you can achieve just that - beautiful, soft directional light. Light modifiers for on-camera speedlights all generally do the same thing - they spread a lot of light around, and but also throw some light directly forward. In a way, this gives a bare-bulb effect to the light from the  Read more inside...

NYC photo session with Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR

February 12, 2009 Neil vN 25 Comments

NYC photo session with Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR

I recently allowed myself a vanity purchase ... the Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR lens (B&H). Last year some time, after seeing another photographer's results with the Canon 200mm f2 IS, I was curious enough to rent one, check it out, and then lust after one. I posted a write-up and some images at the time. What got to me was how insanely sharp the lens was at f2 .. and of course the incredible dream-like bokeh at f2 imparting an impressionistic appearance to the background. With me reverting to Nikon recently, I picked up a used copy  Read more inside...

embracing tungsten light

January 15, 2009 Neil vN 28 Comments

wedding photography - working with incandescent light sources

As a wedding photographer I obviously shoot all the time in ares lit by tungsten / incandescent light sources. With modern D-SLRs and fast lenses it is no problem to actually use tungsten light as my main light source. The photo above from a recent wedding, is a typical image where I used an existing incandescent / tungsten light source for a beautiful but simple portrait. Here I photographed the bride by the light of a lamp in the living room.  No flash was used - just the lamp and whatever other ambient light existed  Read more inside...

home studio – portrait lighting setup in limited space

December 22, 2008 Neil vN 24 Comments

home studio portrait lighting setup in limited space

The photos in this article were shot with a fairly simple lighting setup in my dining room area. The main light to my left (model’s right) is the Westcott Bruce Dorn Strip Bank (18"x42") (B&H). The flashgun was a Quantum T2, but a speedlight would've worked just as well. In this small a space, you don’t need huge amounts of light. I used another Quantum T2 to light up the grey seamless background. I had the Quantum 12×12 softbox on this one, and feathered it to give me uneven light on the backdrop. I also had a snooted Nikon  Read more inside...

tutorial: Maximum flash sync speed

December 13, 2008 Neil vN 86 Comments

tutorial: Maximum flash sync speed

In previous postings I have mentioned that the specific settings for a photo aren't often of direct value to us in figuring out the method of exposure. But the one setting that is of huge importance when using flash, is your camera's maximum flash sync speed. When the ambient light levels are low, then your shutter speed can vary appropriately, depending on what you want to achieve. But once you work in bright conditions, or have your subject against a bright background, then most often it just makes the best sense to work at maximum flash sync  Read more inside...

flash photography: dealing with reflective surfaces

November 4, 2008 Neil vN 13 Comments

dealing with reflective surfaces when using flash

Rooms with wooden paneling are notoriously difficult to shoot in when using flash.  This is because of the tendency for the light source (flash) to create large hot spots on the wooden surfaces.    I've had someone ask me specifically about these images from a recent wedding, and how I avoided those specular reflections in the wooden paneling. The best way to avoid them is to make sure you don't "see" your light-source / flash-tube in the wood paneling.  Imagine the flat surface to be a mirror - and then from your angle of view  Read more inside...

review: RadioPoppers P1

September 9, 2008 Neil vN 19 Comments

[ click on the photo to see a larger image] Apathy Angel against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. The settings for the image above was 1/2000 @ f1.6 @ 100 ISO, and the reason for the wide aperture was that I wanted to have the skyline appear as that dreamlike haze in the background.  The bright light though, forced a very fast shutter speed.  In this case 1/2000th would let the background over-expose a little and blow out somewhat, but give me some detail.   But to control the lighting on my model more specifically than just the available light, I used flash. For the lighting  Read more inside...

traveling light in Vegas

April 24, 2008 Neil vN 20 Comments

Even though most of the tutorial pages here deal with on-camera flash, I don't limit myself to just using on-camera flash. When I need off-camera lighting or when I need more juice from my flashguns than a speedlight can deliver, I use the Q-flashes made by Quantum. For this wedding in Las Vegas, I decided to travel light and as an additional flashgun, bring along a single Quantum Q-flash in addition to the two speedlights I normally take along with me when I photograph a destination wedding.  I also wanted the flexibility of wireless TTL control over the flash, and therefore I chose a  Read more inside...

off-camera flash photography: what are your camera settings?

March 27, 2008 Neil vN 30 Comments

off-camera flash photography: what are your camera settings?

What are your settings? -  a question that I am often asked about various images. Sometimes, the answer is surprising  -  it doesn't really matter. Sometimes the specific settings are of importance, but usually much less so than the method of getting to correct exposure of the ambient light and the flash. This is the photographic equivalent of teaching someone to fish, versus just slapping a fish down on a dinner plate.  Just telling my settings will reveal very little about the how.  And yet, the how is far  Read more inside...

using bounce flash outdoors

January 3, 2008 Neil vN 18 Comments

using bounce flash outdoors

While the bounce flash techniques described on these pages are heavily dependent on shooting indoors which provide those places to bounce flash off ... it wouldn't seem possible to use these techniques outdoors.  After all, you can't bounce flash off the clouds.  (Although we've all seen photographers attempt this outside.) So while there are obvious limitations in applying these bounce flash techniques outdoors, there are times when these techniques can still be quite effective. This example, also shown in the tutorial pages is of this image taken  Read more inside...

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • Next Page »

categories

Articles & Tutorials

  • • About myself & this site
    • Books by Neil vN
    • Best photography books
    • Black foamie thing
    • Photographers’ success stories
  • • Flash Photography Techniques
    • Natural looking flash
    • Flash + Ambient light
    • Dragging the shutter
    • Bouncing your flash
    • On-camera flash outdoors
    • Exposure metering
    • Flash exposure compensation
    • Bounce flash examples
    • Which is the best flashgun?
    • Flash brackets
    • Off-camera flash photography
    • Flash photography basics
    • Using video lights
    • Flash photography tips
  • • Photography workshops NJ / NYC
    • Models @ photography workshops
tutorials:
flash photography
Photography
Workshops

All rights reserved. Copyright © Neil van Niekerk 2025 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2025 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in