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Profoto: How to use gridded strip boxes as the main light

February 10, 2017 Neil vN 18 Comments

Profoto: How to use gridded strip boxes as the main light

My favorite light modifiers when working with studio-type flashes like the Profoto B1 and D1, are gridded stripboxes. In the studio where I have space, I tend to prefer the larger Profoto 1’x6’ strip-box (affiliate). When I have to travel with gear, or work with kids, then the Profoto 1’x4’ strip-box (affiliate), is my preference. Both of them with a grid on them. That egg-crate grid on the front helps control how the light spills. This video explains how I use them as the main light, and what makes gridded stripboxes such  Read more inside...

video: Intimate male portraiture – two perspectives

January 30, 2017 Neil vN 8 Comments

Intimate male portraiture - two perspectives

This video clip and photo shoot are the results of a discussion with a friend, Cate Scaglione, one of New Jersey's best boudoir photographers. At a photography convention, the topic came up whether male and female photographers approach their subjects differently (whether male or female). My take on this is that there is such a diverse range in styles and skill levels, that it would be impossible to make any clear grouping on styles depending on the photographer’s gender. Cate believes this does have an influence. And from that, the idea  Read more inside...

video: Stingray City, Grand Cayman

January 21, 2017 Neil vN 1 Comment

Stingray City, Grand Cayman

We took one of the organized trips out to the sandbar in Grand Cayman, where large groups of stingrays converge at what is known as Stingray City. Walking on the sandbar, you are surrounded by stingrays. (They come for the bits of squid that the tour groups bring.)  I've been told this should be on everyone's bucket list, and I agree.  It was an incredible experience for me since I've had a deep lifelong fascination for nature and animals. This is how I got into photography in the first place as a youngster - wanting to record the wild birds that I  Read more inside...

Lighting for a small commercial video shoot

May 25, 2016 Neil vN 4 Comments

Lighting for a small commercial video shoot

Those of you who have followed the Tangents blog for a while, will have noticed that over time I've expanded the range of photography that I do - in addition to weddings and portraits, I have taken on commercial photography and corporate photography as well. This has included small commercial video shoots as well. One of these was a promotional video clip for a company - Buddy Bagz - to introduce their innovative variation on sleeping bags for kids. The photo and video shoot was produced by Cheryl Galante, and the video edited by Wendy  Read more inside...

review: DJI Osmo camera & gimbal

February 10, 2016 Neil vN 1 Comment

review: DJI Osmo camera & gimbal

For the birthday celebration of two of the members working for Modern Gypsies productions, a bunch of their friends were invited to  help assemble a Chinese Dragon ... and then the group of us wove our way down the sidewalks of Brooklyn where we ended up at a night-club. This was also a perfect time to test my new DJI Osmo camera and gimbal  (B&H / Amazon). The camera offers up to 4K resolution, and has a 3-axis gimbal for stabilization. The video clip above is a 3 minute long compilation of video footage that I shot with  Read more inside...

On-location photo session in New York – BTS video

October 2, 2015 Neil vN 23 Comments

On-location photo session in New York - BTS video

I met Marco when he attended one of my photography workshops - he is charismatic and with that photogenic ruggedness, I thought he'd be a great subject to photograph on location. He was visiting New York from Germany for a few days, and I asked if he would be up for a photo session. And here we are. With this photo session, I also wanted to try out something I saw Dani Diamond does - where he has an on-camera stabilized gimbal for his Go-Pro, to give a wider point of view from the photographer's perspective. A kind of  Read more inside...

First steps in shooting video with a stabilized gimbal

August 20, 2015 Neil vN 7 Comments

First steps in shooting video with a stabilized gimbal

[Testing out the Defy G2x gimbal, with a test run one evening in Times Square. Here is some of the (random) footage as I played with it to get a hang of its response and handling.] That smooth, fluid movement when shooting video with the camera moving, used to be the domain of cinema or higher-end productions because of the cost of the gear. Recently however, stabilized gimbals have appeared on the market around the $5,000 mark ... and then the more accessible, smaller units at around the $2,000 point. Suddenly, these items  Read more inside...

review: Best light modifiers for on-camera flash

April 30, 2015 Neil vN 57 Comments

review: comparing various light modifiers for on-camera flash

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review: Best light modifiers for on-camera flash

Many of the tutorials and articles on the Tangents blog deals with getting the best from your on-camera flash. My approach has always been one of - what technique would give me the best light? Of course, there are so many different scenarios we could find ourselves in - so we have to adapt to where we are, and what we want to achieve. With on-camera flash, I've always pushed back against the idea of there being a single do-everything device that will make your flash photography look better. Specifically with light and lighting,  Read more inside...

Behind-the-scenes video clip – Photo shoot w/ Ulorin Vex

March 30, 2014 Neil vN 8 Comments

Video clip: behind-the-scenes during photo session w/ Ulorin Vex

I've posted some of the images from the recent photo session in my studio, with Ulorin Vex - and here is the behind-the-scenes video clip. The instructional stuff will be in the related articles - this is more of a glimpse of the rhythm of the shoot in the studio.  Read more inside...

Video clip: Studio Photo session

March 27, 2013 Neil vN 14 Comments

Video clip: Studio photo session w/ Anelisa

To promote my studio as a rental photography studio here in New Jersey, I created this video clip. It's not quite a behind-the-scenes clip since my intention was to show some of the diversity that is possible in the studio. Using different lighting, and different backgrounds and setups, the final photographs look quite different. Gallery of images of photo session with Anelisa, and other models subsequently. Photography studio rental NJ For more videos, follow me on Vimeo / YouTube The specific sequences will appear as  Read more inside...

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