Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

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Screen protectors for your camera’s LCD

June 16, 2014 Neil vN 7 Comments

Screen protectors for your camera's LCD

I try not to bang my equipment around, but there's also a limit to how ultra-careful you can be with your gear. A number of years ago - actually, decades - I knew a keen photographer who had top-end everything. He had swapped out his mint Nikon F4 for a mint Canon EOS-1n. He kept his cameras and lenses mint by not using them much, and keeping them wrapped in chamois. But that's the sad part to this story - he rarely used his gear. Especially now with digital photography where your camera is essentially a computer with a lens - it really  Read more inside...

review: High-ISO performance – Nikon D4S / D4 / D3s / D610 / D700

June 10, 2014 Neil vN 15 Comments

review: High-ISO performance Nikon D4S / D4 / D3s / D610 / D700

Judging image quality between different cameras, is most often quite subjective when we have equal glass with each camera. The reason for this is that the pixel count has an effect. For example, how do you compare the high-ISO noise performance of the 36 megapixel D800 vs the 12 megapixel D3? You can't just simply zoom in to 100% and go by that. You would have to print to a specific size, or at least down-size the D800 image to 12 megapixels to fairly evaluate the images. So there's a bit of a murky area here in fairly  Read more inside...

Becoming more confident in posing people

June 9, 2014 Neil vN 8 Comments

Becoming more confident in posing people

How to confidently pose people for portraits, is likely as big a challenge for new photographers, as how to use light. Even a model as professional and inventive as Ulorin Vex has told me that one of her biggest frustrations with photographers is when the photographer expects her to drive the shoot, and pose herself and come up with ideas. So yes, even when working with professional models, you need to guide them. For me, the first step in becoming more confident in posing people was to practice. And practice by posing  Read more inside...

Gear updated: Flash photography workshops

June 5, 2014 Neil vN 8 Comments

update: New gear for flash photography workshops

The material covered, and the gear used in the flash photography workshops, are constantly being fine-tuned and adapted with each workshop. With the first workshops (around 2006) centered around bounce flash photography. Over time the workshops expanded from that fairly simple premise, into what is a more comprehensive on-location lighting course. The past two years there has been a surge in the various brands and types of flash. For example, Canon used to be just the 580 speedlights and wireless system. There's now the 600EX  Read more inside...

review: Fuji X-T1 camera

June 3, 2014 Neil vN 28 Comments

review: Fuji X-T1 camera

Pentax used to have a slogan that said simply, 'Just hold a Pentax'. Such was their confidence that they could win you over with a Pentax SLR. Just hold it, feel it and you will already like it. A lot! For me, that mantle could be placed on Fuji these days. With the X-series cameras, they've built up a range of cameras that are very appealing. They look good. They feel good ... and they give stunning results. Yes, I am somewhat of a Fuji fanboy. But then, I love quality products. I'm a fan of that. My walkabout camera is the sexy Fuji X100s that I carry  Read more inside...

Photography: Image projection effects in the studio

June 2, 2014 Neil vN 5 Comments

photography: image projection effects in the studio

Image projection effects in the studio with the Light Blaster

Shooting in a studio can feel like a challenge at times - you're in a big box of a room, and somehow you have to work past that restriction with light and ideas, create something. I've been curious about using projection effects in the studio, but always seem to come up short against equipment that is either too expensive, or too limited .. until Udi Tirosh of DIY Photography, turned me onto the idea of the Light Blaster. The Light Blaster attaches to your speedlight on one end, and a lens on the other end. In the  Read more inside...

Backblaze – An affordable online back-up system

June 1, 2014 Neil vN 10 Comments

Backblaze - Online backup system for your data

Backblaze is part of my back-up system which I use to ensure that data loss won't happen. It is important to have your files backed-up to the cloud, and on extra hard drives at home or the office.  Ideally a RAID array of some kind so you don't rely on a single hard drive. I want my data backed-up on a RAID array with redundant hard drives. For this, I use Drobos with dual redundancy. It is crucial to have off-site back-ups of your files that are continually updated as you work. Backblaze is so easy to use, and so affordable, that there  Read more inside...

Online video class: Off-camera flash photography

May 31, 2014 Neil vN 5 Comments

Online video class: Off-camera flash photography

The second video tutorial series in conjunction with Craftsy, is on the topic of: Off-Camera Flash Photography.  Craftsy is a company that produces professional looking online video tutorials, and with their help, we created what is a kind of online workshop. The first class is Portraits with On-Camera Speedlight, and has received great feedback from those who enrolled. This follow-up class is about using Off-Camera Flash and is now available. The online classroom has a platform where anyone who is subscribed can ask questions. So  Read more inside...

Camera settings: Photo session with a couple in bright sunlight

May 30, 2014 Neil vN 27 Comments

Camera & flash settings: Photo session in bright sunlight

Analyzing other photographer's work to figure out how they got the result, and figure out how to re-create it if you want, is a solid exercise. I do it often. It's part of expanding your understanding of photography and lighting, and a way of expanding your technique and your repertoire. The challenge to figure out the camera settings and additional lighting for a sequence of photos from an engagement photo session - reverse engineering an image - had some interesting guess-work, and some good sleuthing. Let's have a  Read more inside...

On-location portraits – When simplicity counts

May 25, 2014 Neil vN 9 Comments

On-location portraits - When simplicity counts

This is one of those images - a portrait which is simplicity itself - and yet there is something about it, with Anelisa's riveting gaze and her pose, the muted complimentary colors - and the photograph just falls together somehow in a way that makes it one of my favorite photos that I've shot in a while. Even the lighting is simplicity itself - an off-camera flash in a softbox. But this didn't need anything more complex than that. Perhaps it is the juxtaposition of the rough texture of the wall, and the soft look of her skin  Read more inside...

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