Tangents

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on a photo shoot with fashion photographer, Angie Lazaro

April 7, 2011 Neil vN 10 Comments

It's a great pleasure to present this guest spot by Angie Lazaro - a good friend from way back in South Africa. Angie is a fashion photographer in Cape Town. Angie and I became friends at a time when I was still finding my way as a photographer, doing all kinds of freelance photo shoots ... and she was still a photography student at a university in South Africa. We've both come a long way from those lunch-time conversations at the Full Stop café in Melville, Johannesburg .. and I doubt either of us could've imagined where we'd end up over time. So I really am thrilled to present Angie now  Read more inside...

portrait session – Steinway pianist

April 5, 2011 Neil vN 28 Comments

portrait session - Steinway pianist

I had the opportunity recently of photographing Robert Wyatt, a pianist affiliated with Steinway, at the Steinway offices in New York. This photo was taken as we were set to leave after the photo session was already done. I was immediately drawn to the symmetry of the architecture and the lavish foyer below. The pose and framing was deliberately centered. For this lighting setup, I quickly pulled out the Lastolite softbox again, and used it as a single light source. It was all that was needed for a simple portrait here. But earlier on, for the  Read more inside...

photo session with various 85mm lenses

March 30, 2011 Neil vN 23 Comments

photo session using various 85mm lenses  (model: Jess B.)

A fast 85mm lens is an essential addition to any camera bag, whether an f1.8 or f1.4  or even an f1.2 aperture. With their shallow depth of field, and the pleasant perspective for portraits (when not used with a super-tight composition), these lenses will have your subject just pop from the background. Jessica and I are busy with a new project - testing various 85mm lenses - specifically for how their bokeh appears in comparison. It is proving a tad more difficult than I had hoped for to show when poor bokeh is truly  Read more inside...

a maternity photo session – creating that connection

March 21, 2011 Neil vN 19 Comments

high-key lighting with maternity photo session

Part of what makes wedding photography so rewarding, is keeping contact with clients over the years as life continues past the wedding date. Maternity photo sessions .. babies .. kiddos .. it's all part of how couples' lives unfold. If we're fortunate as photographers, we remain part of it. So it was with great pleasure that I had a maternity photo session with Renee and David. As usual with a photo session, I like to mix things up in terms of the lighting ... all with the intent of getting more diversity in the selection of images:  Read more inside...

photo sessions – Shawna

March 7, 2011 Neil vN 4 Comments

photo sessions  - Shawna - using a variety of photographic lighting options

Shawna is the delightful model I used while I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. She helped us out during the mini-workshops I offered, as well as some photos of my own.  I've posted a few photos from these already, but thought it might be interesting to show a further selection of images and discuss them ...  Read more inside...

Flash photography: Recreating Hollywood Glamor style portraits

March 2, 2011 Neil vN 21 Comments

Flash photography: Recreating Hollywood Glamor style portraits

With this portrait of my friends Natalie and Chris, I wanted to portray something dramatic, reminiscent of the old Hollywood Style Glamor portraits. While the classic Hollywood portraits, as done by the masters were lit with Fresnel spotlights (which are continuous lights), I wanted to create some of that mood with a few speedlights ...  Read more inside...

photo session – Shawna – with the PocketWizard AC3 ZoneController

February 28, 2011 Neil vN 47 Comments

photo session - Shawna - using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller

While in Las Vegas for WPPI 2011, the team at PocketWizard asked me if I would be interested in them shooting a short video clip of me using the new PocketWizards for Nikon. I didn't hesitate in saying yes!  Here is the description of the setup of the one photo sessions I did. There was another one, which I will post in a day or so. I will post a link to the PocketWizard video clip as soon as it is up. For this demonstration of the PocketWizard FlexTT5 and AC3 ZoneController, I relied on Shawna, a favorite model,  Read more inside...

Keegan – photo session w/ PocketWizard MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 & AC3

February 11, 2011 Neil vN 40 Comments

photo session w/ PocketWizard MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 & AC3 ZoneController

My friend Carol Beuchat, who works as a professional dog photographer, is back in New York for this year's Westminster Dog Show. Some of you may remember the portrait we did last year of Chanel, a champion whippet. Carol asked me to help her again with portraits of Keegan, an Irish Water Spaniel, who will be competing at the Westminster Dog Show. Keegan's owners wanted some photographs with New York as a backdrop. I immediately thought of doing this on the Jersey side, with a grand view of Manhattan  Read more inside...

Kate – a New York photo session

January 7, 2011 Neil vN 13 Comments

Kate - a photo shoot in New York

Kate is from Ukraine and has a deep fascination for New York. As a present, Kate's sister flew both of them out for a vacation here ... and had me photograph Kate around New York yesterday. The idea was to get a mixture of portraits of Kate and some photos of Kate in obvious New York locales. We started off in the Meat-Packing district because I wanted a photogenic spot that wasn't too crowded during a weekday (in winter), so we could have an easy start to the photo session. Since Kate might not have been experienced with photo shoots, I thought  Read more inside...

Fashion photo shoot, using multiple lights

December 13, 2010 Neil vN 9 Comments

My friend Chuck Arlund is a Fashion Photographer whose elegant photography is something I always admire. Chuck’s previous guest spots here have been well received. His article on  simple on-location lighting techniques using a reflector & flash, was especially popular. Therefore I’m really glad that Chuck is graciously sharing with us how he came to shoot this stunning photograph for Parasuco.

Fashion photo shoot, using multiple lights

a guest post by Chuck Arlund Hey there everyone!  I have been working with a celebrity stylist and we have shot a  Read more inside...

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