Tangents

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tangents photography blog
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Studio portraits – different setups for different looks

January 8, 2021 Neil vN 2 Comments

Studio portraits - different setups for different looks

As a kind of “inaugural” photo session in my new studio space, I asked my photographer friend, @ClaytonReynolds, if he’d be willing come in to be photographed. I liked the way Clayton's confidence and natural charm comes through in these photos. We used 3 different setups for 3 different looks. From the simplest of setups -- just window-light, to a more complex setup using a spotlight with a gobo. There are two pull-back shots if you're curious about the lighting configuration. This photo above is a favorite way to quickly  Read more inside...

Best photography purchases of 2020

December 27, 2020 Neil vN 28 Comments

Best photography purchases of 2020

What a strange, strange year this has been. Hopefully things will turn around next year with the development of vaccines. Life will return to some semblance of normalcy soon. This year was most certainly different because all of us have had to cut corners and budget real tightly. With  "stay at home" orders, and events & weddings being shut down, most photographers were hit pretty hard. That of course is context to this regular year-end reflection as we discuss what photo gear bought in 2020 to augment our photography hobby or career. So that  Read more inside...

New photo studio!

December 16, 2020 Neil vN 14 Comments

New photo studio!

Nearly 8 years ago I found a studio space in an old warehouse here in New Jersey, and transformed it over time into a full-equipped photography studio with an extensive range of Profoto lighting gear. My initial post about this -- Finally, my own studio space! -- will show how I started out with not much at all. It was a transformational move for me, enabling me to shift my photography career towards commercial work and studio portraits and headshots and product photography. Much of this is challenging and awkward when you work from home. Having a studio space of my  Read more inside...

Off-camera flash with the Profoto A1, A1x, A10 flashes

November 23, 2020 Neil vN 3 Comments

Off-camera flash with the Profoto A1, A1x, A10 flashes

Profoto has a huge array of light modifiers which use their proprietary speed-ring and collar. The Profoto collar is especially easy to use in how the light modifiers fasten to the Profoto flashes. All fine .. except that until now, there was a big gap preventing you from using the Profoto A series flashes with those light modifiers. Profoto took the obvious next big step by adding the Profoto OCF adapter  (B&H / Amazon) into the mix. You can now use your Profoto A1 series flashes with any of those light  Read more inside...

More intuitive composition with eye-focus of mirrorless cameras

November 8, 2020 Neil vN 4 Comments

More intuitive composition with eye-focus of mirrorless cameras

Continuing on a topic we have discussed here before: a strong advantage that mirrorless cameras have over DSLRs – how Eye-focus makes Composition more intuitive. When I reviewed the sequence of images while photographing a wedding recently, where the bridesmaids were helping to lace up the bride's corset, the composition immediately stood out for me -- all the elements just came together. A bit of luck ... and being ready. The composition really hangs together, because the bridesmaid in the center is framed by all the  Read more inside...

Photography video tutorials by Craftsy

November 5, 2020 Neil vN 1 Comment

Photography video tutorials by Craftsy

The video tutorials that I created for the Craftsy platform was very popular and received really good feedback. Then sometime during the past year, Craftsy changed hands, then rebranded, and then folded ... and has now been resurrected again! The video classes are available again. Check them out if you're not familiar with them. Portraits with on-camera speedlight Off-camera flash photography Wedding photography – The romantic portrait session Wedding photography – Posing family groups  Read more inside...

Clam-shell lighting for headshots and portraits

October 29, 2020 Neil vN 1 Comment

Clam-shell lighting for headshots and portraits

Clamshell lighting is one of the simplest lighting setups for headshots and portraits. Two lights are set up to light your subject from above and from below. Both are at approximately a 45 degree angle. This gives an even light on your subject, that somehow has a glowing effect. Easy to set up, and gives consistently good results. Here I used studio lighting, but obviously it is just as easy with speedlights. You must have seen similar clamshell style lighting setups, but with a reflector below instead. This 2nd light source from  Read more inside...

Lens review: Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM

September 11, 2020 Neil vN 1 Comment

Lens review: Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM

Sony recently released the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM  (B&H) lens, as a wider aperture companion to the highly regarded Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G  (B&H) which has been available for a while now. While ultra-wide zooms in the 16-35mm range is common-place now, lens makers have been pushing the boundaries with even wider focal lengths. Ultra-wide lenses, and specifically ultra-wide zooms are of particular interest to landscape photographers and architectural photographers. The rectilinear look creates optical distortion to  Read more inside...

Not quite a self-portrait

September 4, 2020 Neil vN 6 Comments

Not quite a self-portrait

One of the few portraits of myself that I immediately liked — more than the background and the starkness of the B&W processing, what draws me to this image is the pose — it’s as if I am hovering in decision. There’s an implied narrative here, even if shrouded in mystery. Not quite a self-portrait but I was involved in the setting it up of this, and the other photos in the sequence. Photo by my friend, Clayton. He used an 85mm lens. Posing by me. I kept changing my  Read more inside...

Wedding portraits in less than perfect locations

September 1, 2020 Neil vN 2 Comments

Wedding portraits in less than perfect locations

With wedding photography you so often have to work with a time crunch. The timeline doesn't go strictly according to the original plans for the day -- and you as the photographer still have to make sure you get a variety of photos for your clients. You still have to deliver. With this in mind, you use interstitial fragments of opportunity to get photos. You try to use that "dead time" where you can. This portrait of the lovely bride is from an Indian wedding I helped photograph. At some point before the ceremony started, the bride  Read more inside...

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