Father and son portrait – Deconstructing a photograph
Father and son portrait - Deconstructing a photograph
My friend, Chuck Arlund, visited New York with his son Lachlan, for a few days. At the end of the trip, I had a short opportunity to photograph them. Since this is Chuck, whom I greatly admire, and his son (who is so used to a camera by now), I wanted to come up with something outside of the usual guaranteed way of working with a longer lens, and a simpler background. I wanted something a little out of the ordinary. What I envisioned was some place in New York that was very busy, and then go to a slow shutter speed, and let Read more inside...Photo session – Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles
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...Camera & flash settings: What do you want to achieve?
Camera & flash settings: What do you want to achieve?
In one of the multitude of photography groups on Facebook, I saw a newcomer to off-camera flash say that she bought an Alien-Bee set, but she has no idea what to set it to. My reply was that she needed a light-meter. My thinking is that then she'd know what the specific output of the flash or strobe would be, and then be able to set her camera to it. But then, thinking about it some more, I realized if there is hesitation there or confusion, it is about what specific camera settings (mostly aperture) should be in the first Read more inside...Using a neutral density (ND) filter to control DoF with flash
Using a neutral density (ND) filter to control DoF with flash
When working in bright sunlight with flash units that can't go into high-speed flash sync, we have a ceiling in terms of our shutter speed / aperture combination. The shutter speed limitation then would be our maximum flash sync speed. The bright daylight would then imply a small aperture - most likely around f/11 Why f/11 ? The Sunny 16 Rule dictates that in bright sunlight, we're most likely working at 1/100 @ f/16 @ 100 ISO. This translates into a handy short-cut of: 1/200 @ f/11 @ 100 ISO, where 1/200 is the maximum Read more inside...Photo session – Modern Gypsies – stilt-walking showgirl
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
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...Using off-camera flash on a photo shoot
Using off-camera flash on a photo shoot
Someone emailed me to ask a few technical details about this family photo session. How did you expose for the family photos? Was a soft-box used? Or did you expose for the shadows and use fill flash? For those who regularly follow the Tangents blog, the thought-process here should be familiar. Let's take a walk through the process. As described in the article, controlling bright daylight w/ direct off-camera flash, when trying to over-power the sun with flash, the best algorithm is usually: - maximum flash sync speed, - lowest ISO, - Read more inside...Models with advice for photographers
Advice for photographers from models - how to work with models
An article by UK model, Jen Brook, caught my eye. She wrote a long piece where she gives advice on how models would like to be treated during a photo shoot - Dear Photographer - kindest regards, Model. xxx You'd think that this advice is just common sense, but from my own experience, I have realized that some photographers just lack people skills ... or disregard models and don't realize that a photo shoot really is a collaborative process. This also reminds me of something that Ulorin Vex said about how a Read more inside...Composition, posing, light & lighting
Composition, posing, light & lighting - when it all comes together
I just love this photograph of Anastasia Z, and want to share some of the through-process in how it came together. To test the Canon 6D camera (affiliate) and the Canon 24-70mm f/4.0L IS lens (affiliate), I met up with Anastasia Z in New York. I scouted this area, while we were waiting for Anastasia who was running a touch late. Just as well I did the scouting earlier on, because it was freezing outside. I saw the way this building over the Highline in Manhattan was creating this jagged Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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