Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

tangents photography blog
learn : discuss : share
  • Tangents
  • Tutorials
    • Flash Photography
    • Wedding Photography
    • Studio Photography
    • Posing People
    • Understanding Your Camera
    • Exposure metering
    • BFT
    • Best Photo Books
  • Reviews
    • Sony
    • Nikon
    • Canon
    • Fuji
    • Profoto
    • lighting gear
  • Workshops
    • Info: Workshops
    • In-person
      tutoring sessions
    • Online
      tutoring sessions
    • Workshops in
      New Jersey (NJ)
    • Workshops in
      New York (NYC)
    • Photo walks in NYC
    • Studio Workshop
    • Workshop results
  • Books
    • On-Camera Flash (revised ed.)
    • Direction & Quality of Light
    • Off-Camera Flash Photography
    • Lighting & Design
    • On-Camera Flash (1st ed.)
  • Projects
    • Two Perspectives
    • B&W Infrared
    • Vintage lenses
    • Time-lapse photography
  • Info
    • About
    • Contact
    • My Photo Gear
    • Books by NvN
    • Join us on Facebook
    • Acclaim
    • Success Stories

Flash photography: How far can you bounce your flash?

January 3, 2015 Neil vN 36 Comments

flash photography: how far can you bounce your flash?

Flash photography: How far can you bounce your flash?

The question regularly comes up: how far can you bounce your flash? The answer is quite straight-forward: It depends on the power of your flash, the bounce distance (and surfaces), ISO and aperture. Power, distance, aperture and ISO - the four things that control flash exposure. Yup, we can't really escape this. So how far can you bounce your flash? It depends on how far (and reflective) the surfaces are that you are bouncing your flash off; as well as how high you're willing to take your ISO and how wide you can take your  Read more inside...

Personal photography projects & goals for 2015

December 30, 2014 Neil vN 49 Comments

personal photography projects & goals for 2015

Personal photography projects & goals for 2015

With photography technology and trends changing more and more rapidly, something like a 5-yr business plan would be tough to draw up. Be successful and be awesome! That's about as far as you can aim ahead of you as a photographer. Still, as we enter a new year, it's as good a time as any to consider a forward-going path for personal photography and projects. Still, looking back at a similar post I made two years ago, amusingly perhaps, most of the intended projects didn't quite happen. Not yet anyway. This isn't so much plans  Read more inside...

Slideshow: Favorite wedding photos of 2014

December 26, 2014 Neil vN 8 Comments

favorite wedding photos 2014 slideshow

Slideshow: Favorite wedding photos of 2014

2014 was an incredible year with so much happening. I traveled around the north-eastern parts of the USA to photograph weddings - Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I even had the wonderful opportunity to travel abroad, where I photographed a wedding in Australia! Of course my photography involved the usual mix of portraits, families and headshots, as well as commercial work and corporate photography. For me though, weddings always stand out because they are such emotional experiences. As a thank you to  Read more inside...

Best photography purchases of 2014

December 17, 2014 Neil vN 93 Comments

best & worst photography purchases of 2014

Best photography purchases of 2014

Looking back every year, I'm sure you too are happy with some of your purchases you made in photography, whether gear or software or website related. Purchases that you love and made a difference to you as a photographer. But similarly there are also those purchases you regret. What was I thinking? I should've done my homework? In the past I've bought some spur-of-the-moment bad decisions. It is especially easy to get swept away at photography trade shows. But I've gotten better at it, especially unnecessary software purchases. So I am actually  Read more inside...

Lighting and Design: (de)-constructing a photograph

December 8, 2014 Neil vN 9 Comments

lighting and design in photography: (de)-constructing an image

Lighting and Design in photography: (de)-constructing an image

For me, Design in photography relates to the way an image is constructed at the time of shooting. Composition and content. Lighting. Every element which forms part of a successful and eye-catching photograph. Some of the elements in the photograph are pre-visualized, some of it a kind of serendipity that is then expanded on at the time. Some of it might only be understood afterwards in looking at the photograph. My latest book, Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography, looks at exactly that thought-process  Read more inside...

review: Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 vs Canon and Nikon

December 2, 2014 Neil vN 34 Comments

review: Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 vs Canon and Nikon

review: Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4  vs  Canon and Nikon

Even when taking photography only slightly seriously, you'll have come up against the legendary name, Zeiss. Renowned for innovations in optical designs that helped shape the history of photography, the Zeiss brand name is also synonymous with precision engineered lenses and impeccable attention to build quality. With all that behind them, Zeiss has released a new range called Otus. The first lens is a Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 (affiliate) which Zeiss describes with phrases such as "the absolute measure of perfection" and  Read more inside...

Boudoir Photography tutorial: Top-selling images & quick posing tips

November 30, 2014 Neil vN 11 Comments

Boudoir Photography tutorial: top-selling images

Boudoir Photography tutorial: Top-selling images & quick posing tips

Posing women in boudoir portraits is both an art form and a learned skill. Women are by nature sensitive about perceived body flaws. Expert posing aimed at highlighting her favorite features (and downplaying others) can make or break her experience and love of her photos—and ultimately your sale. Petra Herrmann, an exceptional boudoir photographer, based in Kansas City, has the guest spot here with a few of her top-selling poses with some quick posing tips you can try out during your next boudoir  Read more inside...

Wedding reception lighting with one flash

November 22, 2014 Neil vN 33 Comments

Wedding reception lighting with one flash

The last wedding of the year just behind me, I want to use one of my favorite images to touch again on the recent topic of high-ISO bounce flash with on-camera speedlight. I want to show that the results aren't a fluke - but that with a consistent approach to bounce flash photography, you can get consistent results. However, since we shoot under various scenario changes, we have to adapt a bit. The venue was this hotel reception room with massively high ceilings ... but with the walls closer by. Easy enough to bounce on-camera flash off.  Read more inside...

review: High-ISO performance – Nikon D750 / D4S / D4 / D810 / D610

November 20, 2014 Neil vN 27 Comments

review: High-ISO performance – Nikon D750 / D4S / D4 / D810 / D610

With the initial quick test of the Nikon D750 high-ISO noise performance, I was quite impressed. But it really is only in comparison to other cameras that we can see how good it is. With that, I took 5 of the current full-frame Nikon DSLRs to compare them against each other to see their high-ISO noise. Nikon D750 Nikon D4s Nikon D4 Nikon D810 Nikon D610 The Nikon D4s (affiliate) is currently the high-ISO king, so it was specifically interesting to see how the 24 megapixel Nikon  Read more inside...

review: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens

November 12, 2014 Neil vN 27 Comments

review: Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens

The moment you hold the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens (affiliate) in your hand, you know it is a serious lens. It is hefty. It feels like quality. It just feels like they took craftsman-like care in designing and manufacturing this lens! Sigma has somehow turned their image around from being just a third-party lens-manufacturer, to a company that needs to be taken seriously for quality optics. It started with the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART lens, which proved to be a spectacular lens! (Here is my review: Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HMS art lens.) There's  Read more inside...

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • …
  • 103
  • Next Page »

categories

Articles & Tutorials

  • • About myself & this site
    • Books by Neil vN
    • Best photography books
    • Black foamie thing
    • Photographers’ success stories
  • • Flash Photography Techniques
    • Natural looking flash
    • Flash + Ambient light
    • Dragging the shutter
    • Bouncing your flash
    • On-camera flash outdoors
    • Exposure metering
    • Flash exposure compensation
    • Bounce flash examples
    • Which is the best flashgun?
    • Flash brackets
    • Off-camera flash photography
    • Flash photography basics
    • Using video lights
    • Flash photography tips
  • • Photography workshops NJ / NYC
    • Models @ photography workshops
tutorials:
flash photography
Photography
Workshops

All rights reserved. Copyright © Neil van Niekerk 2026 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2026 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in