Tangents

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tangents photography blog
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review: Westcott 7′ Parabolic Umbrella

August 16, 2012 Neil vN 15 Comments

review: Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella

Continuing the photo session with Ulorin Vex in the studio, I decided to swap out the big Profoto 4x3 softbox, for an even larger (but very affordable) light modifier - the Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella - white  (B&H / Amazon). Two things that immediately struck me about the Westcot Parabolic Umbrella ... it's sheer size when folder open. It is 7 feet if measured across the span of the umbrella's arc. And when it is folded up, it is surprisingly compact and light-weight. It collapses to a 43.6" size, and fits snugly  Read more inside...

High-key studio lighting (part 2)

August 6, 2012 Neil vN 12 Comments

High-key studio lighting for portraits (part 2)

Continuing the photo session with Ulorin Vex, doing high-key studio portraits in the studio, she changed into a different costume. I wanted a more interesting edge definition than just the light spilling back from the background, so I added two gridded softboxes to each side ...  Read more inside...

High-key studio lighting for portraits

July 31, 2012 Neil vN 21 Comments

High-key studio lighting for portraits

One of the models that replied to my casting call for a model at my workshops in San Francisco in 2011, happened to be Ulorin Vex. I immediately recognized her, since I've seen photos of her in various portfolios. I was both surprised and very happy, since I regarded her as a bit of a superstar. I scheduled a photo session with her for the day after the two workshops in SF, and the images from those sessions appeared a few times on Tangents, and I'd consider them among the best work I had ever done. It helps to have an inspiring model! Ulorin  Read more inside...

Mimicking window light with off-camera bounce flash

April 27, 2011 Neil vN 23 Comments

Mimicking window light with off-camera bounce flash

Continuing the photo session with Ulorin, we worked inside the hotel room for the next part. The photo above is a candid shot of Ulorin fixing her hair between changes in clothing. Ulorin's next outfit shown in this article, was more revealing than the previous outfits during the photo session. (Just a heads-up for the Tangents readers who are surfing from their workplace.) Photographing inside the room, I initially tried to work with just the window-light, but hit a small snag. The indirect light through the window kept changing  Read more inside...

pin-up photography

September 23, 2010 Neil vN 21 Comments

pin-up photography - white on white

I had the great pleasure last night of attending a meeting by the Hudson Valley Click - a lighting and photography group in the Hudson Valley area of NY. The motive behind their meetings and photo shoots is to bring photographers, models, makeup artists, hairstylists and fashion designers together on monthly themed events. All designed for learning and portfolio building. My friend Peter Salo invited me to the 50's style pin-up photography session that was held last night in Sandy O'Shea's studio.  (Sandy, thanks for allowing us to create  Read more inside...

pin-up style photo session – Jessica – a hot day

September 22, 2010 Neil vN 16 Comments

pin-up style photo session - a hot day

Continuing on with the pin-up series with Jessica, we decided on the concept for this session as 'A Hot Day'. Skimpy summer holiday clothing; ice cream; a fan (with the blades made whirly in Photoshop) .. and incongruously, one of my cats walking through the set, looking for attention ...  Read more inside...

pin-up style photo session – Jessica

September 3, 2010 Neil vN 24 Comments

The first time I became aware of the pin-up artwork of Alberto Vargas was with the release of the album, Candy-O, by the Cars in '79. It was often mentioned how Vargas was brought out of semi-retirement to create this image. With that, my interest in pin-up artwork by the legends, Vargas and by Gil Elvgren, was fired up. This will also explain why I've been a fan of the photography of Robert Alvarado ever since I first saw his work. He clearly pays homage to those two artists.  Read more inside...

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