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Portraits with shallow DoF & high-speed sync flash

December 7, 2016 Neil vN 7 Comments

Portraits with shallow DoF & high-speed sync flash

High-speed flash sync (HSS) has two primary uses - being able to get to a fast enough shutter speed to stop action, and for shallow depth-of-field. Other than that, I rarely stray higher than max flash sync speed. So for me, it is a conscious decision to go to HSS. Or not. For these playful portraits of my friends, Irene and Michael, I wanted to use the shallow depth-of-field with specific intent. Irene and Michael are at the core of a performance group called the Modern Gypsies. Their official website: Modern Gypsies  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – golden birds

August 1, 2013 Neil vN 9 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - golden birds

Another series from the recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies, with two of the girls in costume, as golden birds. With costumes this detailed and complex, I wanted a simpler background. One that didn't intrude, and somehow complemented the subjects. Classic architecture! Here are the behind-the-scenes images to how we came to some killer photographs for them ...  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles

June 9, 2013 Neil vN 15 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - floating bubbles

Another from the most recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies, with two of the girls in French period costume ... inside plastic bubbles. Seemingly an easy setup, it took a few quick adjustments to the off-camera lighting while they were enclosed in the plastic bubbles. Time is very limited! Let's start off with the test shots, and see the progression from there ...  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – stilt-walking showgirl

May 10, 2013 Neil vN 4 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - stilt-walking showgirl

On the same day that we did the Silver Birds photo session with the Modern Gypsies, we did a few other setups, including this one where Irene was on stilts ... as a showgirl. Since the photos are meant for their promotional material, we needed to make the images vibrant. We scouted around a warehouse district of Brooklyn, looking for interesting backgrounds. I felt that this huge mural would make a colorful background compared to the bright white costume. Still working with the usual Profoto Acute B2 600 Ws powerpack  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – Silver Birds

May 7, 2013 Neil vN 8 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - Silver Birds

Regular followers of Tangents, and everyone who has a copy of my book, off-camera flash, should be familiar with the Modern Gypsies. They are a performance group in Brooklyn and I count myself fortunate that I sometimes get to collaborate with them on promotional photos for them. It's always exciting to work with inspiringly creative people. At the start of the month, we got together for another series of photo shoots, of which this is the first of the four. I'll post the other sections in follow-up articles. The theme here - Silver  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – mermaid

December 10, 2012 Neil vN 10 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - mermaid

When the Modern Gypsies asked me to photograph their one performance piece in a night-club in Manhattan, I wasn't sure what equipment to bring along. I tend to over-prepare and bring too much. You know, just in case. So I have a tendency to overload myself with gear at times. It's a discipline thing then to strip it down to just the essentials ... but still be flexible enough to accomodate a challenging situation. The previous time I photographed them, I knew there would be a large prep room, so I could bring in extra gear such as  Read more inside...

photo shoot – Modern Gypsies – off-camera flash & controlling the background

October 29, 2012 Neil vN 11 Comments

photo shoot & off-camera flash - making the background count

I got a call from Michael Saab of the Modern Gypsies to let me know that they were performing in a night-club in Manhattan, and would I be interested in doing some promotional photos for them? Of course! Other photo sessions with the Modern Gypsies were all energizing experiences. (The Modern Gypsies also featured in my book, off-camera flash.) Working with creative people always fuels the creative spark. At the night-club, I looked around for interesting areas I could shoot some portraits. I felt this curving  Read more inside...

photo session – Modern Gypsies – something about a violin

September 12, 2010 Neil vN 13 Comments

For the last in the series of photo sessions with the Modern Gypsies on this day, we ended up here ... launching two girls in costume, onto the East River inside a giant ball. It really did make sense. And you may ask yourself, how did we get here?  Letting the days go by ... No, really, how did we get here?  Read more inside...

photo session – Modern Gypsies – PinkMan

September 10, 2010 Neil vN 6 Comments

Pinkman!  More from the recent extended photo session with the Modern Gypsies.  After the photo session with Martin on stilts, we moved to one of the many colorful areas in Brooklyn where we started with Dread Eye. Working in the same spot, Michael Saab fitted his character, PinkMan! out with jumping stilts. Absolute lunacy! Working in such bright light, I thought the best approach would be to cross-light the sunlight with off-camera flash ...  Read more inside...

photo session – Modern Gypsies – Martin

September 1, 2010 Neil vN 10 Comments

After our first, and very successful collaborative photo session with the Modern Gypsies, I was quite eager to meet up with them again. And today we had another series of photo sessions with them .. and it was one of those invigorating experiences you have working with truly talented and creative people. During the course of the day we photographed several set-ups and costumes and performers.  I will post more of these over the next few days, showing the results ... but also the progression of ideas; the setting up, and some of what went on behind the scenes ... The first performer we  Read more inside...

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