Tangents

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Best photography tips

April 24, 2012 Neil vN 196 Comments

Best photography tips

There are numerous tips and ideas in photography that helped me improve as a photographer over the years. This came via magazines and books and other photographers. Many sources. One of the best tips that helped me develop a style over time - when using a zoom lens, zoom to the longest focal length, and then frame your shot by walking forward or back, to where you have the composition that you want. Doing so will result in the most compression in the image, helping to isolate my subject against an out-of-focus background. (Of course, using a long lens with  Read more inside...

Using Nikon’s built-in Time-lapse photography feature

April 22, 2012 Neil vN 23 Comments

Using Nikon's built-in Time-lapse photography feature

Among the loads of features of Nikon and Canon's latest cameras, is an item which is of specialized interest - Time-Lapse Photography. At the upper end of the spectrum, time-lapse photography is best done by shooting sequences of RAW files. More on that topic here: Camera settings for Time-lapse photography. However, the built-in Time-Lapse feature makes it really accessible. You can immediately see the footage you shot, in-camera. Wonderful to make adjustments to settings or composition or timing while on location. With  Read more inside...

Photographing in bright sunlight – find the shade!

April 11, 2012 Neil vN 23 Comments

Photographing in bright sunlight - find the shade!

Hard sunlight must be one of the most difficult lighting scenarios to work under. But with a bit of thought, we can work around it and still easily get photos that look great. It's a topic that we've touched on a number of times on the Tangents blog, (see related articles at the end here). Where I can though, the simplest approach for me though, is where I can, is to just not deal with the hard sunlight. I find shade. This maternity portrait session of Amy was taken on a bright day, and I wanted to avoid her squinting in  Read more inside...

Photoshop tip – easy effect for more punch to your photos

April 9, 2012 Neil vN 7 Comments

Photoshop tip - easy effect for more punch to your photos

Here is a well-known Photoshop technique - one that I like and use on occasion. It desaturates the photograph, while also compressing the tonal range. It creates a modern look that also looks quite trendy. It is also quite easy to apply, by dragging the layers from a reference image once you've set it up. Starting with the original image, I add these two layers:  Read more inside...

Bridal portrait – Working with the available light

April 4, 2012 Neil vN 20 Comments

Bridal portrait - Working with the available light

This striking portrait is of Rachel, a bride whose wedding I photographed yesterday. Yes, a Tuesday wedding! The prep was at a hotel on the Jersey shore, and when Rachel was ready, I wanted to shoot a few straight-forward portraits there in the hotel. There was a lot of light in the hotel room itself, but the decor was white - which helps for high-key portraits. But I wanted some variety. So I scouted around, and decided to do some photographs in the passage outside her hotel room. Since it was a wedding on the Jersey shore, and  Read more inside...

Even with high ISO settings, you still need good light

April 2, 2012 Neil vN 11 Comments

Even with high ISO settings, you still need good light

Still having fun with the Canon 5D Mark III (B&H / Amazon), I met up with Elmira again in New York. Elmira is the model I used in my initial tests of the Canon 5D Mark III high-ISO performance. Being a delightful model to work with, I decided to use her again as a subject. New York was cold on this day, so shooting indoors just seemed a lot more attractive. We went to Grand Central Station - a grandiose building, but with light levels quite low. Low enough that I was glad that I brought the Canon EF 35mm  Read more inside...

news: Polish translation of my book: Off-Camera Flash

April 1, 2012 Neil vN 9 Comments

Fotografia z lampa blyskowa w praktyce

Google's translation says that means: "Photography with a flash in practice". Either way, I'm very proud to announce that my second book, Off-Camera Flash, has been translated and released in Poland. More details here on this Polish site. A big thank you to the followers of the Tangents blog there in Poland who made this possible!  Read more inside...

review: Canon EOS 5D Mark III – high-ISO noise performance

March 29, 2012 Neil vN 56 Comments

review: Canon EOS 5D Mark III - high-ISO noise performance

I have to confess something first - whenever an important camera is announced, I have just a cursory interest in the specification sheet. The difference between 40 AF sensors and 70 AF sensors ... you know, that's just a number on the paper. It never really tells you how the camera performs. And with the announcement of the details of the Canon 5D Mark III (B&H / Amazon), there were a number of websites eager to list the detailed specs. Yay! Well, not really. There might be some interest in the nomenclature,  Read more inside...

Top 5 tips on shooting engagement photo sessions

March 28, 2012 Neil vN 27 Comments

Top 5 tips on shooting engagement photo sessions

I love doing engagement photo sessions because this allows me the opportunity to connect with my clients before their big day. Even more so, in that there's much less pressure and haste during this photo session than there'd be during the wedding day. The engagement photo session is also a good opportunity to impress your clients with your photography. They did sign with you because they liked your style, but it's even better when they love the photos you took of them. Time to shine. Their friends and family will also be  Read more inside...

Photography lighting patterns

March 15, 2012 Neil vN 7 Comments

I'm always very happy to feature Chuck Arlund as a guest on Tangents. Anyone who knows Chuck in person will tell you about the crazy energy he has, and how inspiring and innovative he is in his lighting. Back to basics. When shooting a portrait or any person for that matter it is good to understand some light patterns to help determine what kind of mood you would like to create.  

Photography lighting patterns

a guest post by Chuck Arlund, Kansas City photographer    Read more inside...

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