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
    • Video tutorials
    • 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

Lighting a vintage styled boudoir photo session

September 4, 2013 Neil vN 14 Comments

Lighting a vintage styled boudoir photo session, using LED fresnel lights

Working with the ever-delightful Olena in my studio, we went for a mix of outfits and looks. We started off the photo session with straight-forward headshots, but then when Olena showed me this outfit, it just begged for something with a more vintage feel in lighting. So, drawing on the classic Hollywood glamor lighting for inspiration, I used the Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights  (B&H / Amazon), to create that dramatic light on her, and on the background. I've used the same lights before  Read more inside...

Details and sequences – Increase your sales in boudoir photography

August 23, 2013 Neil vN 12 Comments

Petra Herrmann, of Bella Boudoir, runs a successful boudoir photography business based in Kansas City. In my opinion, she’s one of the best boudoir photographers around. Her work is sexy in its simplicity, which I find quite appealing. Her use of interesting angles and composition first drew me in when I saw her work awhile back. The theme of Petra’s workshop is Shoot smart, shoot sexy, shoot to sell.  I’m happy to feature Petra as a guest writer with advice on how to increase your sales in boudoir photography.

Shoot details and sequences - Increase  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Adapting the use of light & flash photography

August 19, 2013 Neil vN 29 Comments

Wedding photography - Adapting the use of light & flash photography

When I posted the photographs of a recent wedding in an album on FB, there were a lot of questions regarding my lighting. The answer is an easy one - I change it up as needed, throughout the day. Whatever is needed to give me the best results the fastest. It's rarely just one thing. So with Alesha and Patrick's wedding, I used on-camera flash, off-camera flash (with a soft box), Profoto on-location lighting kit, and of course, if it worked, then I just used the available light. The one only lighting option that I  Read more inside...

Gelling your flash for warm light at sunset

August 16, 2013 Neil vN 23 Comments

Gelling your flash for warm light at sunset

Since the light from a speedlight is relatively quite cold, (ie, blue-ish), it can create an unpleasant color cast when you use flash with existing warm ambient light. A typical problem situation would be the Incandescent environment that we often find ourselves in at night. But there are other times when the WB from our speedlights (typically around 5400K) is just too cold (blue) compared to the light we have at sunset. (The Daylight WB preset relates to color of daylight during the middle of the day.) Then we need to do something with our  Read more inside...

a favorite image – before & after (model: Anelisa)

August 6, 2013 Neil vN 10 Comments

a favorite image - before & after (and the how to)

There's something about this photograph that I really like ... aside from Anelisa being one of my favorite models. It is slightly surreal with Anelisa's apparent levitation. The dress and hat is reminiscent of a 1950's Fashion, and Anelisa's mid-air pose is also reminiscent of Philippe Halsman's iconic jumping images. All that, combined with the sun flaring across her face and the washed-out background, all adds to this wonderfully nostalgic mood.  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Detail shots, bounce flash & macro lenses

August 5, 2013 Neil vN 16 Comments

Wedding photography - Detail shots, bounce flash & macro lenses

Macro photography for wedding detail shots is one of those areas where you need a smaller aperture. I know it's been suggested by some high-profile photographer(s) that you shoot macro at f/2.8 but this is tough advice to follow. If you even breathe, your plane of focus changes for that close distance you're working at. That smaller aperture (and I regularly work at f/11 or there-abouts), implies you will need a lot of light. A lot of daylight or lots of flash. When you're shooting indoors, this means flash,  Read more inside...

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – golden birds

August 1, 2013 Neil vN 9 Comments

Photo session - Modern Gypsies - golden birds

Another series from the recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies, with two of the girls in costume, as golden birds. With costumes this detailed and complex, I wanted a simpler background. One that didn't intrude, and somehow complemented the subjects. Classic architecture! Here are the behind-the-scenes images to how we came to some killer photographs for them ...  Read more inside...

Photographing couples – Posing and composition

July 23, 2013 Neil vN 14 Comments

Photographing couples - Posing and composition

Re-editing and re-vamping photographs for my blog post of a destination wedding in Aruba, I found it enlightening to realize how much my style has progressed over years in post-processing too. As part of destination wedding photography coverage, I offer extended photo sessions around the exotic locale after (or before) the wedding date. While we're there, we may as well use the opportunity. The photograph at the top was taken on the day after the wedding when we took a rented car and drove around the arid areas of the island - away  Read more inside...

review: Westcott Rapid Box – 26″ Octa Softbox

July 19, 2013 Neil vN 61 Comments

review: Westcott Rapid Box - 26" Octa Softbox

The Westcott Rapidbox - 26" Octa Softbox (B&H / Amazon) caught my attention, even among the huge variety of light modifiers available for off-camera speedlights. I bought one of these softboxes to try out at the most recent on-location photography lighting workshop in New York. And I like it a lot! It is relatively fast to set up, and collapses to a compact size and comes in a handy carry bag. Here is another photograph, with the comparative shot at the same camera settings, that shows exactly what impact the light had  Read more inside...

photo archives: Nelson Mandela

July 18, 2013 Neil vN 15 Comments

Nelson Mandela / Madiba

To celebrate Nelson Mandela's birthday - July 18th - here are two images from my archives. I had the pleasure of photographing Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa, at a function in March '98. I was one of several photographers covering the event where he addressed people attending a function. The challenge with this photo-shoot was that no camera flash was allowed. Which is especially tough inside a dimly lit marquee tent in early evening. This no-flash rule was an attempt not to aggravate eye problems the president experienced. So all  Read more inside...

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • …
  • 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 2025 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2025 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in