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initial impression: Fuji X100 – not quite the review yet

May 11, 2011 Neil vN 21 Comments

initial impression: Fuji X100 - not quite the review yet

The Fuji X100 (affiliate) must be one of the most eagerly awaited cameras in recent times. The camera just looks beautiful. Retro-cool. With initial reports being mostly very favorable, I was quite keen to get my hands on one of these. The photograph above of Alyssa, (one of our models), was lit by LED video light. Now, when using video lights for photography, you're dealing with wide apertures and high ISOs. An immediate challenge for a camera. And the Fuji X100 excelled. The image above was from the in-camera JPG,  Read more inside...

Mixing the white balance of different light sources

May 9, 2011 Neil vN 13 Comments

Mixing the white balance of different light sources

While we would do well to gel our flash when working in a very warm or incandescent spectrum, (such as when shooting at a venue bathed in Tungsten light), the last few articles showed how we can use it to our advantage when using different light sources with different color balance. The effect can be quite dramatic. The examples shown have been varied: In the first example (with Bethany as our model), we looked at using random found available light as portrait lighting. With the next example, the effect was purposely sought  Read more inside...

mixing different light sources in the photography studio

May 5, 2011 Neil vN 8 Comments

photography: mixing different light sources in the studio

While playing around in the studio late this evening with a group of attendees at the Treehaven workshop, someone challenged us each to come up with an idea, using any of the lighting equipment there ...  Read more inside...

using a gelled LED video light for dramatic colors

May 4, 2011 Neil vN 6 Comments

using a gelled LED video light for a change in color balance (model: Rebekah)

Continuing with the theme of combining dramatically different color balances in a single image, there is this striking portrait of Rebekah. She is one of our models at the workshop at Treehaven, WI, this week. Working in the fading evening light, I had Rebekah pose somewhere in the middle of a large clump of trees. I knelt down so that I could shoot up and catch the last remnants of the evening sky as the background. The blue light filtering through the trees was then exaggerated by using an LED video  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...

manual off-camera fill-flash, controlling contrast

April 24, 2011 Neil vN 17 Comments

manual off-camera fill-flash, controlling the contrast

In using a softbox outdoors on location, we easily get beautiful soft light. When we work indoors however, where the flash dominates, then the results can look very contrasty. The reason for this is that outdoors, the available light acts like a fill light.  This is especially true when we consider our available light in our overall result and balance our flash with the available light. With the softbox being the only light source, the light, while still soft, can be too contrasty for our liking. Still, that single softbox is a  Read more inside...

model – Ulorin Vex

April 21, 2011 Neil vN 9 Comments

model - Ulorin Vex

A favorite image from today's workshop in San Francisco - an on-location portrait of our one model, Ulorin Vex. The light from the off-camera speedlight in a softbox, delivering a mere touch of fill-flash. Most of the light is from the available light coming down between the buildings on this street. I framed her against the background of those shafts of light on the side of the building, to give a slightly enigmatic backdrop.  Read more inside...

using two LED video lights for effect

April 20, 2011 Neil vN 9 Comments

using two LED video lights for effect

A favorite image from today's workshop (Dana Point, CA), was lit by two LED video lights. Our one model, Virginia, was posed against the back of a waterfall display in the hotel lobby. When I first saw this display in the lobby, and saw how it looked when backlit by the available light in the front, I knew it would make for an interesting backdrop.  Flash would even out the light too much though - especially bounce flash - so I knew this would be an ideal place for a dramatic portrait with video light. So in the late afternoon, the workshop  Read more inside...

a rainy-day wedding

April 17, 2011 Neil vN 23 Comments

a rainy-day wedding

A lighting strike in the background as a groomsman makes a mad dash across the rain-soaked path ... this about sums up the weather we had on Saturday's wedding. What you can't see in this image is his umbrella being pulled away from him by the gusting wind. Here is the shot I was aiming for when I got that lighting strike in the frame ...  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...

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