Tangents

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Camera & flash settings: What do you want to achieve?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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...