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Electronic / silent shutter of the Sony A9 vs Sony A7iii + A7Riii

November 13, 2019 Neil vN 6 Comments

Electronic / silent shutter of the Sony A9 / A9ii vs Sony A7iii / A7Riii

Both the Sony A7iii and Sony A9 / A9ii offer a silent / electronic shutter. Just like the Nikon Z6 and Z7 and Canon EOS R. But there are specific differences which might affect your decision about which camera best suits your needs. What sets the Sony A9 (B&H / Amazon) apart from any of the other cameras mentioned, is that it is very resistant to banding in some artificial lighting. The sensor readout is (as far as I can figure out) 1/160th of a second, while it is 1/40th for the Sony  Read more inside...

Posing into the light for better portraits

October 31, 2019 Neil vN 6 Comments

Posing into the light for better portraits

This is a simple illustration again of the idea that posing and light(ing) go hand-in-hand. You can't really separate these two aspects when photographing people. When there is a video team at a wedding, I have to accommodate them in not using flash when they are shooting their sequences during the romantic portrait session with the bride and groom. Then I have to rely entirely on just the available light. In this example, they had the bride, Amanda, walk down the jetty twice - a good opportunity for me to shoot some extra images to pad  Read more inside...

Review: Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM lens

October 19, 2019 Neil vN 14 Comments

Review: Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM lens

The 135mm focal length is super for getting more reach than 85mm or 100mm would, but still keeping the lens to a smaller size. While the smaller size is nice, it was the fast aperture was what I really wanted. That the lens is super-sharp is an extra bonus. The Lens Rentals review has this as "This is the sharpest lens we’ve tested. Period." That says something! The first thing to notice about this lens is the fast f1/.8 aperture. Even though I mostly use a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for events and headshot photography, there are times where I need that  Read more inside...

Studio photography – Posing & Lighting

October 10, 2019 Neil vN 1 Comment

Studio photography - Posing & Lighting

A series of photos from the archives - a studio photo session with one of my favorite models, Claudia. I reposted these photos on my Instagram account, as a quiet celebration because Claudia has decided to re-enter as a model after a hiatus of a few years. When I use models during workshops, it is with the intent of teaching lighting techniques. There is also the strong underlying message that posing and lighting are interconnected. With that, there is a to-and-fro interaction between the model and myself (and the people attending a  Read more inside...

Event photography in low light

September 20, 2019 Neil vN 6 Comments

Event photography in low light

Event photography where you are photographing speakers at the event, can be challenging in its own way. The problem with taking photos of presenters, especially if they are animated, is that you have to take a LOT of photos to get a few where they look good. You don't want to give your client any photos with awkward expressions. This means you have to take so many photos just to get a few keepers. But shooting a ton of photos with flash becomes intrusive after a very short while. I therefore prefer to do the majority of photos of speakers at events,  Read more inside...

Tips for posing your subject during a photo session

September 7, 2019 Neil vN 5 Comments

Tips for posing your subject during a photo session

Too often, when I am being photographed, I notice one major flaw in how the other photographer interacts with me during the photo session -- they lose connection. They will take a shot, and then spend too long checking the image. Then after that, every other shot is interrupted by looking at the playback screen. Not only is it annoying to the person being photographed - the continuity is lost. Using this photo of Rozalinda as an example - while she looks magnificent, and is supremely easy to pose and interact with, it depends on  Read more inside...

Award-winning time-lapse photography

September 4, 2019 Neil vN 12 Comments

 Read more inside...

Photographing headshots in a small space

August 15, 2019 Neil vN 5 Comments

Photographing headshots in a small space

This headshots photo session for a large corporate client, started off as a bit of a challenge -- they wanted half-length seated portraits against a white background. Because the room they put me in was a bit too tight, I set everything up at an angle, so that I could shoot from outside the door to get a proper working distance. I would have had enough room here if I only had to do tight headshots, but the client wanted half-length seated shots, and the space was too small for that if I wanted an even background. I wanted to avoid the need  Read more inside...

Photography as meditation

August 12, 2019 Neil vN 2 Comments

Photography as meditation

Since photographers don’t really have weekends to chill, I try and take a midweek “weekend day” to chill. For me, there is a certain meditative quality to just walking around, finding scenes and things to photograph. Photography in this way becomes an almost Zen-like experience -- you are focused but without the stress of concentrating. It allows for detachment, while still creating. This is also where the value of personal projects comes in. I find it hard to relax when I am truly doing nothing - I have to be involved with something. I appreciate the  Read more inside...

Photographing the Hot Air Balloon Festival

August 8, 2019 Neil vN 2 Comments

Photographing the Hot Air Balloon Festival

It is an adventure to be experienced - going up in a hot-air balloon. The most recent time was at the NJ Festival of Ballooning this year, as part of a photo group, arranged by Unique Photo here in NJ. If you haven’t been, check Unique Photo’s schedule for the next one (next year), as well as all the other photo activities and outings they arrange. The first time I went for a hot-air balloon ride, was as a surprise arranged by my friends when I visited South Africa in 2014. For that trip, I only brought along a Fuji  Read more inside...

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Recent Comments

  • Noel Whitman: That 135 produces beautiful images!
  • Neil vN: Hi there Michael — the easiest might be to post it in the Tangents Facebook group. There’s an...
  • Michael Taylor: Hello Neil, I am a 71 year old retired ambulance paramedic and a keen photographer. I own a Canon EOS...
  • Matt: There’s a beautiful quality to the light in these portraits. Good advice from you here. I’ve often...
  • E: Ugh I did this too with Chase just today. Are you still waiting for it to hit your account? Or has anything else...

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