Studio photography: Low-key lighting variations
Studio photography: Low-key lighting variations
The mood and simplicity of low-key lighting make it especially effective. So when Ulorin Vex appeared out of the dressing room with this black dress, I knew it would work very well with a low-key set-up in the studio. We had set up the darker background for previous outfits, but for this black dress, the simplified lighting - just a Profoto beauty dish (affiliate) - worked especially well. There were two lights behind her to show off the curves against the dark background. The gridded softboxes are exactly the same as shown Read more inside...photography: how good do your lenses need to be?
photography: how good / sharp do your lenses need to be?
Olena, who I photographed during a recent personal photography workshop in New York. camera settings: 1/320 @ f/3.5 @ 800 ISO (available light) I was trying out the new Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 VC (B&H) for the images I shot during this workshop. (It comes in a Canon version too.) It appears to be a fantastic lens. Build quality is good. The feel of it is good. The zoom ring has a nice throw. And it features stabilization! Nice touch. However, shooting other images at wide open aperture, I wasn't sure I was happy Read more inside...review: Westcott 7′ Parabolic Umbrella
review: Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella
Continuing the photo session with Ulorin Vex in the studio, I decided to swap out the big Profoto 4x3 softbox, for an even larger (but very affordable) light modifier - the Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella - white (B&H / Amazon). Two things that immediately struck me about the Westcot Parabolic Umbrella ... it's sheer size when folder open. It is 7 feet if measured across the span of the umbrella's arc. And when it is folded up, it is surprisingly compact and light-weight. It collapses to a 43.6" size, and fits snugly Read more inside...High-key studio lighting (part 2)
High-key studio lighting for portraits (part 2)
Continuing the photo session with Ulorin Vex, doing high-key studio portraits in the studio, she changed into a different costume. I wanted a more interesting edge definition than just the light spilling back from the background, so I added two gridded softboxes to each side ... Read more inside...Maximum flash sync speed, and the Nikon SB-900 / SB-910 speedlight
Maximum flash sync speed, and the Nikon SB-900 / SB-910 speedlight
Because of the way the focal plane shutter works in DSLRs, shutter speed doesn't affect our flash exposure ... while we don't go over maximum flash sync speed. When we go into high-speed flash sync, our flash output drops. (The linked article there explains it thoroughly.) However, when we work with ambient light (and intend to add flash to our subject), then a change in shutter speed has an indirect effect on our flash exposure. A change in shutter speed will mean a change in aperture, and this is what affects our Read more inside...High-key studio lighting for portraits
High-key studio lighting for portraits
One of the models that replied to my casting call for a model at my workshops in San Francisco in 2011, happened to be Ulorin Vex. I immediately recognized her, since I've seen photos of her in various portfolios. I was both surprised and very happy, since I regarded her as a bit of a superstar. I scheduled a photo session with her for the day after the two workshops in SF, and the images from those sessions appeared a few times on Tangents, and I'd consider them among the best work I had ever done. It helps to have an inspiring model! Ulorin Read more inside...First impressions: Nikon D800
First impressions of the Nikon D800
I've been using the Nikon D4 for a while now, and love it. For me, the Nikon D4 offers more than enough resolution for wedding photography. Of course, wedding photography is a niche. There are other genres and types of photography where large files are a benefit. Landscape photographers and commercial photographers have a need for large digital files for maximum detail. And with that Nikon must have seen a gap, and made the surprising jump from the 12 megapixel D700, to the incredibly high (for now at least) 36 megapixels of the Nikon Read more inside...Photography with video light and daylight
Photography with video light and daylight
With the recent lighting workshop in New York, we again played with the use of video light ... and then took it out to the street. The blue-ish tones of the shady side of the building here, contrasted beautifully with the warm glow of the video light. As with the article, gelling your flash to get a blue background, this is something that can work very well when we use light sources with different color balance, thereby attaining those complementary colors. The rapid fall-off in light also helped give the photograph a dramatic Read more inside...Off-camera flash: Short lighting vs. Broad lighting
Off-camera flash photography: Short lighting vs. Broad lighting
"Short Lighting" is when the side of the face turned away from the camera, is better lit than the side of the face closest to the camera. (top image) "Broad Lighting" is when the side of the face closest to the camera, is better lit. (second image) This has as much to do with the position of the light, as with how your subject is posed into the light. This is true for studio photography and off-camera flash on location, and for when you photograph a subject with just the available light. As shown in a previous Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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