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A wedding in Central Park, New York

August 8, 2012 Neil vN 31 Comments

A wedding in Central Park, New York

A groom holding up the softbox for me ... as you may well guess, there's a story here. Alvin and Lucia are from the UK, but decided to get married in Central Park. Of course, there's a story here too.  Read more inside...

wedding photography: portraits of the bride & bridesmaids

July 15, 2012 Neil vN 17 Comments

wedding photography: portraits of the bride & bridesmaids

Continuing with the theme of photographing great portraits on a wedding day when there aren't beautiful surroundings: when I have the time at the bride's house, I will always try to get individual portraits of the bride with each bridesmaid. I like doing this early in the day already at the bride's house, because everyone's energy levels are still up. Everyone is still excited, and emotions are still high. No one is hungry; with shoes that hurt them. So, with that idea in mind, I like getting as many of these portraits  Read more inside...

Romantic wedding portraits – Working with an idea

February 24, 2012 Neil vN 19 Comments

Romantic wedding portraits - Working with an idea

I was down in Baltimore last weekend, photographing a wedding there. The groom, Chris, follows the Tangents blog, and he and Lindsay sought me out as their wedding photographer. While this is hugely flattering, there is now a little extra pressure to live up to and even exceed expectations! We snuck outside during dinner time, and walked around the Lord Baltimore hotel, to get a few urban portraits. During dinner there is a bit of a lull in the reception while the guests enjoy their meals. A good time to get additional romantic  Read more inside...

2011 overview – My favorite wedding photographs

January 3, 2012 Neil vN 12 Comments

Best wedding images of 2011 – NJ wedding photographer

2011 was another busy year for me as a wedding photographer. This slideshow features some of my favorite wedding and engagement session images of 2011. If you are interested in using me as your wedding photographer, please have a look at my wedding portfolio and contact me. soundtrack courtesy of TripleScoopMusic wedding photography tutorials New Jersey wedding photographer    Read more inside...

Alli & Scott – their wedding day – fusion clip

December 28, 2011 Neil vN 17 Comments

Alli & Scott - their wedding day - fusion clip

The latest Fusion clip where we blend video and stills to give a short form overview of the wedding day, is of Alli & Scott – their wedding day – Temple Israel of Lawrence, NY . They were also the couple in the recent article on photographing the bride & groom's portraits with video light. The Fusion clip was edited in iMovie, with the soundtrack from Triple Scoop Music. [ For more videos, follow me on Vimeo / YouTube ] More interesting is the thought-process that went into choosing the camera settings for the Canon  Read more inside...

Short Lighting with available light – and adding a little bit of flash

December 27, 2011 Neil vN 7 Comments

Short Lighting with available light - and adding a little bit of flash

When working with available light or flash or video light or any kind of additional light, the most important aspect of the light is the direction of the light. We need to take a moment and observe the light. Where do the light sources come from? What is the quality of the light? As a short-cut idea, I usually aim for Short Lighting, whether I am using flash or available light. More on the topic of Short Lighting: - Off-camera flash: Short lighting vs. Broad lighting - Bounce flash photography – Short  Read more inside...

The flow of a photo session

November 28, 2011 Neil vN 5 Comments

The flow of a photo session

In the recent article, turning day into night, I described the thought-process of a photo sequence. Starting with an idea, we worked up to a photo that looked impressive. So that entails a few test shots, including one to show the couple what we're trying to achieve. Then we finesse it. That's the usual process when coming up with ideas - it's a succession of photos, changing things up a bit until we have a few images that look really good and show the couple at their best. But sometimes, the idea doesn't work. It takes time for a photographer to  Read more inside...

wedding photography: bride & groom portraits with video light

November 25, 2011 Neil vN 11 Comments

wedding photography: bride & groom portraits with video light

For that dramatic Hollywood look, a video light is probably the easiest light to use, especially when there is the need to work fast like on a wedding day. With Alli & Scott's engagement photo session, I knew I'd be working with a couple that would easily go along with any ideas that we'd come up with. We worked indoors at the Temple Israel in Long Island, New York, and there were all kinds of interesting nooks to explore.  Read more inside...

Flash photography technique – Turning day into night

November 23, 2011 Neil vN 19 Comments

Flash photography technique - Turning day into night

During the photo session with a couple, Laura & Todd, I wanted to add some variety to the images from the urban setting we were in. The sky had been overcast, but started to clear later on, leaving wispy clouds. Just perfect for a dramatic sky as the background. Of course, it is impossible to get your subject AND a bright sky equally well exposed without resorting to graduated filters or additional lighting, ie, flash. The technique with off-camera flash is quite straight-forward ...  Read more inside...

Making your images pop through lens choice – Compressed perspective

November 16, 2011 Neil vN 33 Comments

Making your images pop through lens choice - Compressed perspective

The immediate reaction when considering how you could make your photographs *pop* might be to juice it up in Photoshop. But the process should start much earlier - in camera. With a few easy techniques, we can consistently create images that jump off the page or screen. With some of the engagement photo sessions that I've shown, I get comments about the 3D look to some of the photographs. The look is achieved through a simple technique - compressed perspective with a longer focal length.  Read more inside...

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