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wedding photography – light & lighting; posing & direction

July 5, 2011 Neil vN 44 Comments

wedding photography - light, lighting, posing & direction  - making the decisions

The title of this article is quite ambitious. To cover all of that, it would be a 50,000 word book. But in editing this wedding at the moment, I noticed this photograph, and I love the look of it. So in the context of that one single image, let's look how it all came together. While the photograph itself isn't complicated, a lot of quick decisions went into making this image work ... and easy to edit. A number of things had to be considered, but instead of being overwhelmed by juggling all the  Read more inside...

Photographing couples – Going beyond just posing

May 31, 2011 Neil vN 10 Comments

Photographing couples - Going beyond just posing

With the recent post on a few guidelines on posing people, I wanted to add the reminder that when photographing people, our final destination isn't just the posed photograph, but that we should try and capture something about our subject. Something about their personality, or showing some facet of who they are and their lives. When photographing couples in particular, my accent is on photographing their relationship as well. In addition to the portraits of the couple, I want to show how they interact with each other - playfulness  Read more inside...

How to pose people for portraits

May 29, 2011 Neil vN 33 Comments

How to pose people for portraits

When you work with models, or subjects who are used to presenting themselves to the camera or an audience, it is much easier for the photographer to pose them. The challenge though is how to pose people who aren't used to pose in front of the camera. Then it is up to the photographer to guide them, and give clear instruction how they should pose for the camera. The question just came up in the Tangents forum - how to pose everyday normal people. The photograph above is of me as I was showing a model at the After Dark photography workshops how I  Read more inside...

directing & posing an available light portrait

April 29, 2011 Neil vN 24 Comments

directing & posing - using randomly found available light as portrait lighting

During a trip to California, I was keen to meet up with another favorite model, Bethany. We were allowed to shoot in a night-club on a Sunday afternoon when it was all quiet with no one there. It's an interesting place to work with a beautiful model, and I had a multiple-flash setup ready to use. However, the first series of photos of Bethany was shot with just the available light there. But first I had to recognize the light as being interesting light for a portrait. I had to "see" it first. As it  Read more inside...

wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off

April 15, 2011 Neil vN 22 Comments

wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off

One of the frequent questions that come up, is what to do when there is nothing to bounce your flash off.  When working indoors and there are bounce-able surfaces around me, my first instinct is to use on-camera bounce flash. It is easy to use, and the results can look surprisingly good, especially if you consider the minimal effort that went into it. No extra gear to carry around and set up. But when there is nothing to bounce flash off, you have to adapt your technique ...  Read more inside...

tips on posing people / working with a model

November 10, 2010 Neil vN 23 Comments

tips for posing people / working with a model

So you have a great camera and lens; and someone who is willing to be photographed and willing to work with you; and you have a great idea for a setting or backdrop ... but now what? Posing your subject is something that can be quite intimidating to a newer photographer.  The pressure is now on YOU to create magic .. or at least an arresting image. Leaving everything up to the model or your subject to do, or for them to come up with ideas ... while you just click the shutter, makes you just an owner of a camera, and not a  Read more inside...

Using a video light for wedding portraits

October 11, 2010 Neil vN 8 Comments

Using a video light for wedding portraits

When possible during a lull in the wedding reception, I like to sneak the bride and groom away for a few minutes to do romantic portraits. Since time is usually tight, and the couple wants to enjoy as much of their reception as possible, I like to work efficiently. Jessica and Michael had their reception at a venue where I hadn't worked before, so during dinner time, I quickly went around the venue with my assistant, to scout a few places to photograph the couple. In the basement of this venue, I noticed the light shining through gates ...  Read more inside...

influences & inspiration

September 6, 2010 Neil vN 8 Comments

influences and inspiration

Triggered by the most recent post on the pin-up photo session, I thought that an on-going theme about influences and inspiration in photography would make a good topic.  Read more inside...

Sequence of photos in posing a model

August 8, 2010 Neil vN 13 Comments

Sequence of photos in posing a model

The photo above is one of my favorite images. It was also subsequently chosen as the cover image for my book about off-camera flash photography. Oktavia is a professional dancer and we both wanted some photos to extend our portfolios. Of the number of places we used as a backdrop, I really liked this place - an art gallery in Manhattan where we were kindly allowed to use as a setting.  What I'd like to show, is some of the images leading up to this final choice - how a combination of positioning Oktavia and changing the light, culminated in this  Read more inside...

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