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Featured in Digital Photographer magazine

November 3, 2016 Neil vN 6 Comments

Featured in Digital Photographer magazine

It never gets old to see your work in print somewhere - this time in issue 177 of Digital Photographer magazine, a photography publication from the UK. For this article they asked ten photographers for their essential tips they'd like to share with the readers of the magazine.  Read more inside...

Headshot photography lighting setup

November 2, 2016 Neil vN 11 Comments

Headshot photography lighting setup

"OMG, this was so much better than the experience we had last time!" That's the comment by the contact person who had arranged for the headshots photo session for 8 people at their office. That's the kind of thing I like to hear from a new client! What made this headshots photo session interesting for me is that I had to match an existing headshot by the CEO of the company. I had to make the headshots of the eight people I had to photograph, look very similar to the example they had given me. So I had to do mild reverse engineering to match the  Read more inside...

Personal photography workshops – models

October 27, 2016 Neil vN 2 Comments

Personal photography workshops & photo walks in NYC - models

When we do a photography workshop on location, what I want to teach and help nurture, is the ability to control our environment when we take portraits outside. We look for interesting and complementary backgrounds, or background which are complementary to our subject. We look for, or create great light for our subject. It's all about the Direction & Quality of Light! We will use interesting 'found light', but what we really concentrate on, is creating flattering light with off-camera flash, or with video  Read more inside...

Using the Profoto B1 modeling lamp as a video light

October 17, 2016 Neil vN 14 Comments

Using the Profoto B1 modeling lamp as a video light

Looking through the past articles on this blog, you'll notice that I love using a video light for low-light photography. A video light adds that sense of drama to portraits, and very often blends better with the existing ambient light, than flash would. Lately though, I haven't bothered to bring a video light to weddings for the romantic portraits - I already have the Profoto B1 there with a substantial enough modeling light! Less gear to carry with me! Since I rely heavily on my Profoto B1 flashes (B&H / Amazon), I  Read more inside...

review: Canon 5D mark IV – high-ISO noise

October 12, 2016 Neil vN 19 Comments

review: Canon 5D mark IV - high-ISO performance

The Canon 5D mark IV (B&H) offers a bunch of new features which are exciting: higher resolution than the previous incarnation of the 5D series. It now offers 4K video. The autofocus has also been  improved - a weak point of the previous 5D bodies. There is also new features such as Dual Pixel RAW - a way for fine adjustments to be made after the image is taken, to make slight adjustments to the focus point to improve the fine details recorded. The 4K video capability also allows you to grab 8.8MP still frames during  Read more inside...

Tips on concert photography

October 11, 2016 Neil vN 3 Comments

Tips on concert photography

As a companion piece to the recent guest article by Mark Tepsic - Camera Settings for Concert Photography - here are my thoughts and advice on camera techniques photographing music concerts. It's not something I often photograph - I mostly just want to enjoy the experience of the concert without having to be concerned with taking photos - aside from a shot or two to post on Instagram. But this was an opportunity I could relish - photographing a favorite band who has influenced countless other musicians and bands over the course of the past four decades -  Read more inside...

Connect with your clients for better engagement photo sessions

October 3, 2016 Neil vN 16 Comments

Mauricio is a photographer in Costa Rica that has consistently posted photographs that got everyone's attention in the Tangents Facebook group. One of the sessions was this engagement shoot - his lighting and post-processing are impeccable. But there's more to photography than the gear and camera settings - there has to be a connection with your subjects, and in this case, clients. There has to be a spark that you, as the photographer, help elicit. I asked Mauricio to share some of his magic through advice on how he connects with his clients as part of creating wonderful images that his  Read more inside...

review: Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM Lens

September 29, 2016 Neil vN Leave a Comment

review: Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM Lens

As Sony steps more firmly onto the market by adding new lenses for their mirrorless camera bodies, they have rolled out some spectacular optics. The Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM Lens  (B&H / Amazon)  is one of them. Just holding the lens, you will already be impressed by the weight, and how smoothly all the controls glide. It clearly has been designed to compete with the best optics available on the market, regardless of brand. During one of the photography workshops that I present at my studio, I took a few shots of our two  Read more inside...

Camera Settings for Concert Photography

September 26, 2016 Neil vN 7 Comments

If you love music, then live concerts are particularly exhilirating. If ever you are fortunate enough to get to photograph a concert, you'd have to have your own act together. You get a limited time-frame to nail the shots - and the lighting and stage setup can be a challenge to get great photos. Mark Tepsic is a concert photographer based in Denver, CO. He has advice on the camera settings that make most sense when shooting a live concert. You follow him on Instagram for a gallery of images and contact information.  

Camera Settings for Concert  Read more inside...

Nikon D5 high ISO noise performance

September 18, 2016 Neil vN 18 Comments

Nikon D5 high ISO noise performance

With the increasing complexity of digital cameras these days, such as the Nikon D5 (B&H / Amazon), it has also become increasingly more difficult to give a comprehensive overview unless it is via a website dedicated to just camera reviews. So I will be rolling out mini-reviews along the way, as I use this and other cameras. The Nikon D5 ups many features and spec from the previous generations - Nikon D4 / D4s - by offering 4K video, higher resolution, improved AF and better high-ISO noise performance. I will do a more specific  Read more inside...

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