Tangents

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what you see …

March 17, 2010 Neil vN 8 Comments

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

simple on-location lighting techniques – reflector & flash

February 23, 2010 Neil vN 46 Comments

Chuck Arlund is a Fashion photographer based in Nashville whose work constantly impresses me.  As a friend, I occasionally have the privilege of getting to interrogate him on his technique.  What surprises me every time then, is the simplicity of his lighting.  His setups are rarely complex, but always effective.  I feel quite fortunate that he agreed to a guest spot this week to explain more about his approach to on-location lighting. (Chuck also offers workshops and mentoring sessions.)

simple and effective on-location lighting techniques

a guest post  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...

photography tip: using a zoom lens

October 27, 2009 Neil vN 33 Comments

photography tip: using a zoom lens

It was a busy weekend again, with a wedding and a portrait session on Sunday.  From the photo session on Sunday, here's my favorite image of the day.  I just love the way the background appears in this photograph.  The bokeh of this lens is just wonderful. camera settings:  1/250th @ f4 @ 400 ISO The camera used was the Nikon D3, (B&H), and the lens was the 70-200mm f2.8 VR , (B&H). A telephoto zoom like this, or the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS, (B&H), is essential for this kind of portrait work. That image is typical of the  Read more inside...

here’s why I love off-camera lighting ..

October 18, 2009 Neil vN 43 Comments

why I love off-camera flash

There are a few reasons why I love off-camera lighting, and I want to show some images from a recent photo session with one of my couples, Jill & Mike, as an example. The main reason for me, is that you can have perfect lighting on your subject's face with much more freedom than if you just relied on the available light. I am usually quite particular about the backgrounds to my photos, where it is in my control. The backgrounds need to be complementary, or add something to the image. I have a preference for an out-of-focus background. The defocused  Read more inside...

using direct off-camera flash

October 13, 2009 Neil vN 31 Comments

using direct, bare (un-modified) off-camera flash

I had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow South African photographer, Jaco Fourie, who was visiting New York for a few days.  I knew Jaco's work from some of the forums that he posts on, and his work with flash was invariably quite impressive .. so I looked on this as a great opportunity to see another photographer work and learn from him. I arranged for two models, and we met up in Manhattan for these photo sessions.  Jaco specifically wanted scenic views of Manhattan, and incorporate the model as part of the urban  Read more inside...

video clip – photo session with Jen & David

September 11, 2009 Neil vN 13 Comments

photo session with Jen & David

Jennifer and David met up with me on their first anniversary of  their wedding for a photo session in the same place where we had their engagement photo session - Skylands Manor in Ringwood, NJ.  What I really like about the estate grounds is that it offers such a variety of beautiful settings for portrait sessions.  Here is a video clip of the photo session as another glimpse in how I work with my clients and look for opportunities and angles to give my client a variety of images. Here are a few of the images from the session that were used in  Read more inside...

NYC photo sessions – Sarah & Mark

July 7, 2009 Neil vN 41 Comments

New York photo session - Sarah & Mark

I have already posted several images from the extended photo session with Sarah and Mark - but here is the epic video.   The intention with these photo sessions was to expand Sarah's portfolio as much as we could. We started off at Coney Island, doing a session with Sarah and Mark at the edge of the beach with Sarah in swimwear .. and from there it went into more of a lifestyle shoot with the two of them on the boardwalk.  Later on we had Sarah run towards the camera in sportswear.  But we rained out with a massive thunderstorm rolling in  Read more inside...

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