Studio photography: Low-key lighting for a dramatic portrait
Studio photography: Low-key lighting for a dramatic portrait
Randy has a look reminiscent of Ava Gardner, so I asked her to be a subject for my book, Lighting & Design. I wanted to create a portrait of Randy in the Hollywood Glamor style of lighting, similar to the vintage styled boudoir photo session (with Olena). And it looked great! But while I had someone so photogenic and with such dramatic styling, I wanted to take further photos of Randy, and she happily indulged me. For one of the setups, I wanted to explore again using the Profoto beauty dish (affiliate) as a Read more inside...Photographing a vintage motorbike on location with Profoto lighting
Photographing a vintage motorbike on location with Profoto lighting gear
I'm getting to meet so many people while photographing interesting subjects for my book, Lighting & Design, that I was bound to meet some truly interesting characters. John collects vintage ... oh, everything. Most impressive in a way, is John's workshop where he maintains his two vintage era motorbikes and a Model A Ford. The tools in his workshop are all authentic to the era ... and they work. The way John describes it, it actually makes sense in the way he maintains everything with hand-tools and lathes Read more inside...Wedding photography – Adapting the use of light & flash photography
Wedding photography - Adapting the use of light & flash photography
When I posted the photographs of a recent wedding in an album on FB, there were a lot of questions regarding my lighting. The answer is an easy one - I change it up as needed, throughout the day. Whatever is needed to give me the best results the fastest. It's rarely just one thing. So with Alesha and Patrick's wedding, I used on-camera flash, off-camera flash (with a soft box), Profoto on-location lighting kit, and of course, if it worked, then I just used the available light. The one only lighting option that I Read more inside...Photo session – Modern Gypsies – golden birds
Photo session - Modern Gypsies - golden birds
Another series from the recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies, with two of the girls in costume, as golden birds. With costumes this detailed and complex, I wanted a simpler background. One that didn't intrude, and somehow complemented the subjects. Classic architecture! Here are the behind-the-scenes images to how we came to some killer photographs for them ... 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...Studio lighting: harder light = dramatic light
Studio lighting: harder light = dramatic light
When I first started exploring bounce flash, and then off-camera flash and then progressing towards studio photography, my tendency was also instinctively towards softer light. A large light source gives you softer light, which is also more forgiving in terms of how you position your subject and yourself in relation to the light. A large light source is easy to work with because it creates softer light that easily wraps around your subject. Soft light is flattering. But it soon became obvious that I was missing out on that dramatic Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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