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Bouncing flash forward without that direct flash look

September 7, 2011 Neil vN 26 Comments

Bouncing flash forward without getting that direct flash look

When bouncing my on-camera flash, I rarely point the flash straight-up. Most often the flash is pointed behind me or to the side to a certain extent. This way I get directional light. I want that off-camera soft-box effect. However there are those times when it just isn't that practical. With this recent wedding, the indoor ceremony was held in this large room. As you can see here in this test shot, the ceiling isn't white, but is a light brown, with wooden beams. The thick cross-beams have the effect of blocking flash  Read more inside...

lens review: Nikon 50mm f/1.4G vs Nikon 50mm f/1.8G

September 1, 2011 Neil vN 63 Comments

lens review: Nikon 50mm f/1.4G vs Nikon 50mm f/1.8G

The 50mm lens in general is an interesting optic. Not necessarily for what it does, but how it seems to have fallen out and back in favor over the years. For example, in the 1970's pretty much all 35mm film cameras shipped with a 50mm lens. Zooms weren't something that just came with the camera as a kit lens. It was the 50mm lens that was the "kit lens".  So the first thing the serious amateur would do, is dump the 50mm lens and get a zoom lens to get some variety in their photographs. Then over the years, more compact and slower  Read more inside...

Photoshop actions to help with Post Processing after RAW conversion

August 31, 2011 Neil vN 37 Comments

Adrian, a regular follower of the Tangents blog, (better known as the ever-helpful Trev in the Tangents forum), has the guest spot this week. Adrian has expanded on his explanation of the actions that he mentioned in the comments section of the recent article on Selective Sharpening in Photoshop. Even better, he has made it available as two downloadable actions as well.

Photoshop actions to help with Post Processing (free download)

guest post by Adrian, at Five Star Studios wedding photographer, Mackay, Queensland in Australia The following downloadable  Read more inside...

Exposure metering & observing the available light

August 28, 2011 Neil vN 23 Comments

Exposure metering & observing the available light

As a photographer you'll often hear instruction to just "look at the available light". Great. But this advice is also often given without clear examples of what we're actually supposed to be looking at. So let's explore that a little bit using a sequence of images of our model, Aleona, photographed during a recent individual photography workshop. This is also keeping with the loose theme over the past few weeks, that for a photographer "using the available light" is not a random thing or just a meaningless catch-phrase.  Read more inside...

photo session – vintage pinup style (on location)

August 23, 2011 Neil vN 30 Comments

photo session - vintage pinup style (on location)

When the hot-rod show which didn't offer as much in terms of photography as I had hoped, Jill and I moved over to the pier in Brooklyn. Having a model in a retro sailor-suit type outfit ... well, it just seemed to good an opportunity to waste. I thought of perhaps using the Ice Cream Factory there as a backdrop to a straight-forward pinup photo, but ultimately decided the Hudson River waterfront would work better as a setting for the photo. Then we just had to add some simple but dynamic lighting, and give the final image a vintage  Read more inside...

Using high-speed flash sync / Auto FP

August 22, 2011 Neil vN 29 Comments

Using high-speed flash sync / Auto FP

Going to High-Speed Flash sync, ie, over maximum flash sync speed, comes with a penalty - loss of flash power. This might be a crucial thing when we are shooting in really bright light, and need to match that with flash. So here's a solid recipe for when it makes most sense to go to high-speed flash sync / Auto FP. High Speed Flash Sync makes most sense when you need either - shallow depth-of-field, or - fast shutter speeds, and - you have the flash power to spare. As mentioned in the tutorial on high-speed flash sync (HSS), there is  Read more inside...

post-processing a photo – that summery feeling

August 21, 2011 Neil vN 7 Comments

post-processing an image - that summery feeling

A hot rod show & hot girls dressed in 50's retro outfits .. it all just has to look good! Well, not necessarily. Sometimes the way you feel something should look, just isn't quite there in the actual setting. At a hot rod show today in Brooklyn, though there were the usual awesome cars (and girls), but the show was held under an expressway. Just not quite the right setting to easily get images with sparkle. But parked around the area were some vintage cars, so along with Jill (one of the models), I used some of these cars for a few  Read more inside...

Wedding photography – Developing a personal style

August 18, 2011 Neil vN 38 Comments

Wedding photography - Developing a personal style

I've been mulling a while now over a question someone asked me about how long I think it took to develop a personal style in photography. "What does it take, and how many years do you think it generally takes a photographer to develop their own personal style, meaning, you can look at a photograph and know who took it. Not everyone would know, but some people could tell it's your style. I think very few photographers actually have their own style and I'm curious what you think it took to get there." How long do I think it takes?  Read more inside...

Romantic wedding portraits – more than just the kiss

August 12, 2011 Neil vN 11 Comments

Romantic wedding portraits - more than just the kiss

More frequently than not, when looking at the work of other photographers, I see that the romantic portraits of the couple are just of them kissing. Having worked with a number of photographers over the years, I've also seen how the instruction "and now, kiss", becomes reflexive. Pose the couple; have them look at each other ... *snap* ... and now kiss ... *snap*. And then the photographer takes no other photos of the couple at that specific place. Yet, there are more (and perhaps even better) ways to show intimacy in the romantic  Read more inside...

photo session (available light) – Ekaterina

August 10, 2011 Neil vN 26 Comments

photo session (available light) - Ekaterina

Ekaterina, (or Kate, if your tongue trips over her name), was the model at the top of my recent review of the Canon 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens. Since the fisheye makes everything bendy, and it must be the least flattering of lenses for portraits, I wanted to show a handful of images from the rest of the photo session with her. These should portray her graceful beauty much better.  Read more inside...

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