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Portrait photography & Studio lighting – Influences & inspiration

March 27, 2015 Neil vN 5 Comments

portrait photography & studio lighting

Portrait photography & Studio lighting - Inspire your own style

I keep a folder of Inspiration images to which I often add interesting photos shot by other photographers. This serves as an ideas folder. There are hundreds upon hundreds of images. I add to this Inspiration folder, and I also discard images over time as my own style and what I want to work towards, form better shape. I might browse through this and see what sticks in my mind. Sometimes it is the amalgamation of ideas that lead to something new. Even when I try to emulate the style and lighting of an image, there  Read more inside...

Lingerie photo session in the studio – Lighting, light & textures

February 5, 2015 Neil vN 7 Comments

lingerie photo session in the studio – light, lighting & textures

Lingerie photo session in the studio - lighting, light & textures

This photograph of Melanie, one of my favorite models, is one of a sequence where we played with different lights and lighting styles in the studio. I wanted lighting that was both soft and dramatic. Both feminine and bold. The lighting is the same idea - using a big gridded strip-box / soft-box - as I used in a previous photo session with another model, Anita DeBauch. The final image above, is the result of adding texture layers in Photoshop. I wanted to retain her shadow and other detail in the wall, while  Read more inside...

On-location headshots and promotional portraits

October 27, 2014 Neil vN 5 Comments

On-location headshots and promotional portraits

One of the things I like the most about photography, aside from the cool toys, is that you get to meet interesting people. Characters. People with spark. The challenge is then to capture that and show it in the photographs. A headshots photo session needs to be more than just a mere glimpse of your subject's personality. Jonathan Arons, also known as “the trombone dancer”, is a multi-talented actor, singer, dancer and musician, based in New York. Jonathan needed some professonial headshots and some portraits for promotional use. We  Read more inside...

Boudoir photography: Couples boudoir – gesture and connection

August 28, 2014 Neil vN 13 Comments

Boudoir photography: Couples boudoir - gesture and connection

With portraits of a couple, the way they connect with each other is often the main factor whether the image is compelling. It could be through gesture and touch. The gesture might even be subtle - if a couple snuggles in, they don't have to look at each other - it's entirely possible to give that sense of connectedness, even with a downward glance. As long a it looks like they are concentrating on each other or responding to each other, it works. With the image at the top, Olena and Austin are directly looking at each  Read more inside...

Headshot photography: Studio lighting – Westcott Eyelighter

August 11, 2014 Neil vN 15 Comments

Headshot photography: Studio lighting - Westcott Eyelighter

With portrait lighting for head shots, there are so many configurations - all the way from dramatic lighting, to very even light - but always keeping in mind that the lighting needs to look flattering. It is all in how we balance the various lights, and how we add fill-light. Westcott has released a curved reflector, the Eyelighter (B&H / Amazon), and it is quite versatile:  Read more inside...

Studio photography – Image projection effects for creative backgrounds

July 7, 2014 Neil vN 10 Comments

studio photography - image projection effects for creative backgrounds

Studio photography - Image projection effects for creative backgrounds

Working with an idea in mind in the studio - a moody B&W portrait with a stylized cityscape as background. Using the Light-Blaster again in the studio, this final image was a progression of that idea. I knew I wanted to use the cityscape background of one of the metal gobos that came with the Light-Blaster kit. Because I wanted the final photograph to be black and white, I set my camera to Monochrome so that I'd have a good idea during the shoot what the final image would look like. Since I shoot in RAW,  Read more inside...

Wedding photography lighting – Shooting in partial sunlight & shade

July 1, 2014 Neil vN 22 Comments

Wedding photography lighting - Shooting in partial sunlight & shade

I strongly believe that when you have the ability to control a photo session, that you pick your battles. You don't have to try and make everything work. Set up portrait shots in light that favors you. Of course, off-camera flash really helps you in being able to pick where you want that light that favors you. Solid advice that I adhere to, is to not have a person or a group of people half in the sun, half in shade. It's a recipe for disaster, or a tough battle to fight, lighting wise. But then, slightly  Read more inside...

Boudoir photography: Tips on posing & dealing with mixed lighting

May 12, 2014 Neil vN 6 Comments

Boudoir photography: Dealing with mixed light - daylight & incandescent

Boudoir photo sessions can be nerve-wracking - not just for your subject or client who undoutably feels vulnerable, but also for you as the photographer. You have to juggle speed in shooting, with meticulous posing and (hopefully) impeccable lighting .... and still keep the flow of the shoot going, and also keep your subject's confidence up. With this boudoir photo session in a NYC studio, I photographed my friend, Jessica Joy. I wanted to use this window of  course, and incorporate the boxes. It all just  Read more inside...

Studio photography – Using a big gridded strip-box / soft-box

March 27, 2014 Neil vN 7 Comments

Using a large gridded strip-box / soft-box for portraits

There seems to be a natural progression with photographers exploring off-camera flash and studio photography. After the initial umbrella and softbox, the next purchase is usually a beauty dish, and then other esoterica such as ring-flash. Personally, I'd suggest that one of the first light modifiers anyone should get, is a small or medium sized gridded strip-box. A strip-box is narrower than the usual soft boxes, and the grid really helps contain the light spread. So you now have the ability to get relatively soft light, but  Read more inside...

Harder light sources in the studio – Flash & Continuous light

March 14, 2014 Neil vN 2 Comments

Harder light sources in the studio - Flash & Continuous light

With the recent photo session with Ulorin Vex in the studio, I played with variations of using harder light and using shadow as part of the image's composition. The first setup was similar to a previous photo session in the studio with Anelisa:  smaller light = dramatic light. Ulorin Vex easily fell into poses well suited to this idea of using the shadow as part of the image's design. For this final image, I used a textured overlay to enhance the sun-drenched look. I also wanted to hide the texture of the wall a bit  Read more inside...

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