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Focusing your camera – Focus modes / AF modes

February 14, 2015 Neil vN 23 Comments

Focusing your camera - Focus modes / AF modes

The focusing modes and options can be confusing for new camera owners. The instruction manual's dry distillation of facts might also be overwhelming. Where to start? Let's break it down to the basics and make this all much easier. The photo at the top illustrates the most essential consideration when deciding on a focusing mode - deliberate choice. I deliberately focused on her eye closest to me. Not her hand in the front or the back. Definitely not the background. I chose what I wanted most sharp in the photo. It wasn't the camera's  Read more inside...

Wedding photography: posing and lighting – a consistent style

February 9, 2015 Neil vN 10 Comments

wedding photography: posing and lighting – aiming for a consistent style

Wedding photography: posing and lighting - aiming for a consistent style

The two images were taken about half an hour apart, with entire different lighting setups - yet there is a consistent look. The photo on the left was shot using video light with an Incandescent white balance. A video light is a small light source, so the lighting is usually quite contrasty - so you need to take care with the posing to have your main subject posing into the light. With a bridal couple, I will nearly always favor the bride for the more flattering light. Hence, I will invariably pose the bride  Read more inside...

Lingerie photo session in the studio – Lighting, light & textures

February 5, 2015 Neil vN 7 Comments

lingerie photo session in the studio – light, lighting & textures

Lingerie photo session in the studio - lighting, light & textures

This photograph of Melanie, one of my favorite models, is one of a sequence where we played with different lights and lighting styles in the studio. I wanted lighting that was both soft and dramatic. Both feminine and bold. The lighting is the same idea - using a big gridded strip-box / soft-box - as I used in a previous photo session with another model, Anita DeBauch. The final image above, is the result of adding texture layers in Photoshop. I wanted to retain her shadow and other detail in the wall, while  Read more inside...

Photography book – Direction & Quality of Light

February 4, 2015 Neil vN 30 Comments

photography book: Direction & Quality of Light

Photography book: Direction & Quality of Light

When Direction and Quality of Light was released in March 2013, it felt like an even bigger achievement than my previous two books. Here I share many of the "aha!" moments which took me years to completely grasp - that at the heart of it, every aspect of photographic lighting is dependent on understanding the direction and quality of light. I do believe this book can make a difference to your photography. I'm that confident about it. All the more amazing to see that 2 years later, this book is still bouncing up and  Read more inside...

Fun with the Kodak PIXPRO SP360 action video camera

February 3, 2015 Neil vN 4 Comments

Fun with the Kodak PIXPRO SP360 action video camera

The kind people at Kodak sent me a Kodak SP360 action camera to try and see what I could create with it. Essentially this is a compact 1080p HD video camera which you can attach to things to take wide-angle action video clips. Perfect if you want to take breath-taking videos while scuba diving or free-falling from planes or being involved in all kinds of daring action. It would also be perfect as a dash-cam if you want to capture the next time a meteor comes soaring through Earth's atmosphere. I don't scuba dive. (I live in New  Read more inside...

An informal portrait with the 85mm lens

January 28, 2015 Neil vN 25 Comments

An informal portrait with the 85mm lens - Sarah S.

Like pretty much every photo geek that I know of, I carry a camera with me wherever I go, for my personal photography. Now when the photography isn't for an actual planned shoot or professional shoot, but just for fun walk-about - then the choice of gear somehow becomes more involved. What lens should I take - wide, normal or tele. Fixed or zoom. The bulk and weight become considerations - you don't want to schlep around too much gear. Creativity and motivation quickly dissipate when your back and feet start to hurt from a camera  Read more inside...

review: Bolt VB-22 bare-bulb flash

January 27, 2015 Neil vN 92 Comments

review: Bolt VB-22 bare-bulb flash

review: Bolt VB-22 barebulb flash

These are good times for photographers who love using off-camera flash. There are more and more options coming out for us to choose from and use. B&H has rebranded their own version of a popular series of flashguns. The Bolt VB-22 bare-bulb flash (B&H) looks like the Cheetah Light CL-360, and the Godox Witstro AD360, and the Neewer AD-360. They all seem to have similar spec. So if you've been browsing for any of those options, B&H has the Bolt VB-22 flash at a competitive price. For the photo at the top, I had my camera set  Read more inside...

book review: Creative Flash Photography, by Tilo Gockel

January 26, 2015 Neil vN 4 Comments

book review: Creative Flash Photography

book review: Creative Flash Photography, by Tilo Gockel

Tilo Gockel (website: FotoPraxis), is a German photographer who some might remember from guest articles that has appeared on Tangents. His article on innovative product photography on a budget – Diver’s Chronograph, was particularly impressive when you compare the results with the home setup. You might also know Tilo from various impressive posts in the Strobist group on Facebook. Prolific and innovative. The subtitle of this book is the best description of what you'd find inside: Great Lighting with Small Flashes: 40 Flash  Read more inside...

High-speed flash sync (HSS) with the Profoto B1 flash

January 25, 2015 Neil vN 35 Comments

High-speed flash sync (HSS) with the Profoto B1 flash

The already impressive Profoto B1 flash (B&H / Amazon) became even more awesome in Dec 2014 when high-speed flash sync (HSS) capability was added through a firmware update. The photo above was taken at 1/2000 @ f/1.4 @ 100 ISO. I wanted that super-shallow depth-of-field, and I wanted the light to be more flattering than you'd get from a bare speedlight. In this case, I used a Profoto RFi 1'×3' softbox (affiliate), with the Profoto B1. (I kept both baffles on the softbox.) The summary: it  Read more inside...

Business headshots in the studio with a contemporary, modern look

January 21, 2015 Neil vN 23 Comments

modern / contemporary business headshots in the studio

Business headshots in the studio with a contemporary, modern look

When Matt Sweetwood, the owner of the largest Camera Store in New Jersey, discussed doing new new business headshots for him, we agreed that a more contemporary look suited him. There's a large dynamic personality at work here ... and using an 85mm f/1.4 lens wide open would place attention on his eyes and his expression. Nothing else is really in focus aside from his eyes, and this really makes for a compelling portrait that grabs your attention. We shot various sequences, with the background brighter and darker.  Read more inside...

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