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

photography: combining video light and daylight

May 24, 2010 Neil vN 6 Comments

photography: combining video light and daylight for photography

An image from the most recent workshop, held in Jersey City - our model, Catherine, lit by a combination of daylight coming in through the window, and a video light held aloft. The careful use of the different color balance of daylight vs video light, gives this image its arresting palette. I did make sure that her face was mostly lit by video light, for a uniform color there. The camera was set to Tungsten WB - the preset appropriate for a video light. The background is the Manhattan Skyline.  It is blown out because  Read more inside...

background exposure and flash

April 28, 2010 Neil vN 7 Comments

flash photography - background exposure and flash

When I saw this dramatic sky with the approaching storm during our recent shoot at Coney Island, I knew I wanted to photograph our model against it.  By the time I actually started taking photos, the raindrops were already spattering around us. So there was little time to work. I knew I wanted a brooding sky.  Now, depending on how I chose my exposure, I could've had a much the sky appear much brighter, or just a little bit brighter than shown here.  There's a whole range of possibilities in how I could've exposed for my  Read more inside...

it was one of those days ..

April 22, 2010 Neil vN 19 Comments

You know how some days you have the feeling that the day is just filled with all kinds of possibilities? Today was one of those days. I got to meet and hang out with someone's whose work I admire - Frank Doorhof. Frank is a fashion photographer from The Netherlands who is highly regarded for his lighting skills. He is currently visiting New York to present workshops on photography lighting. (In fact, there are still a few spots open for the Monday workshop.) A mutual friend, Richard Verlaque, arranged for us to meet, with the intention of us also doing a photo shoot, and possibly exploring  Read more inside...

Bokeh vs shallow depth-of-field (DoF)

April 19, 2010 Neil vN 15 Comments

Bokeh vs shallow depth-of-field (DoF)

The first thing you might notice in this image is our super-cute model, Johannie. Next you will probably notice either: - the strange background pattern, due to the bokeh of this lens - or the shallow depth-of-field of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4D used wide open - or the lighting on her, (a reflector), These are all inter-related in some way for this photo ...  Read more inside...

flash & ambient light – reverse engineering an image

April 13, 2010 Neil vN 18 Comments

combining off-camera flash and ambient light

For a semi-guest-post this week, I thought I'd use a photo taken by my friend Josh Lynn, and reverse-engineer the lighting.  By scrutinizing the photo, we'll try and decipher how he set this up.  I did of course have the help of double-checking with Josh himself, and by checking the EXIF data. Josh is a New Jersey wedding photographer - but this photo of our model, Danielle, was taken at a recent photo shootout in Manhattan.  Josh led a group of photographers showing some lighting techniques. So let's see what we can figure out here  Read more inside...

Boudoir photography – an intimate photo session

March 27, 2010 Neil vN 24 Comments

Style in boudoir photography - intimate photo sessions

I did a recent photo shoot with a model, Carly Erin, to expand my boudoir portfolio. Sometimes you get to work in large spacious rooms or studios.  Sometimes you work in smaller more intimate locations. When you work in a tighter, more intimate setting, the choice to include the surroundings or not will greatly affect how you shoot. I made the decision that I didn't want the location to be identifiable and this affected how I shot, so I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for most of the photo session to compress the perspective, and  Read more inside...

Effective on-location portraits

March 21, 2010 Neil vN 54 Comments

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...

what you see …

March 17, 2010 Neil vN 8 Comments

... is not necessarily quite what was there in the original scene.  Read more inside...

Bounce flash & direction of light

March 12, 2010 Neil vN 41 Comments

Bounce flash & direction of light

An aspect to flash photography that I frequently underline in the articles on this site, is that we need to carefully consider the direction of light from our flash when we bounce our flash.  Sometimes we just need to bounce the flash behind us into the room to get soft light.  But when we have multiple walls / surfaces we can bounce the flash off, then our choices become more interesting ... especially when we do portraits. This is Carly Erin, a delightful model that I photographed for my own portfolio: an intimate photo session. What I  Read more inside...

photo session: Jeannie Dee

February 20, 2010 Neil vN 6 Comments

photo session: Jeannie Dee

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of photographing Jeannie D, a well-known South African TV personality.  Actually, "well-known" is an understatement - she's a bit of a star. The shoot was for the cover of Top Billing magazine.  The cover image had specific requirements for the setup of the scene - a Manhattan apartment, with a view of the city in the background. I'll post more of the actual cover shoot later on, but in the meantime wanted to show some of the portraits of Jeannie D that I got in between the TV crew setting up, and the setting being  Read more inside...

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 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