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Off-camera flash – Change your position, change the direction of light

April 26, 2011 Neil vN 37 Comments

Off-camera flash - Change the light by changing your own position

Ulorin Vex was one of the two models that we used in the recent workshops in San Francisco. Having seen Ulorin Vex's personal site and portfolio on Model Mayhem, I jumped at the chance of working with her again with a photo session the day after the workshops. Working with a model as professional and striking-looking as Ulorin, was an experience. The photographs shown in this article was from a sequence we did in the passage outside my hotel room. The lighting was surprisingly simple, but I had to improvise with the  Read more inside...

manual off-camera fill-flash, controlling contrast

April 24, 2011 Neil vN 17 Comments

manual off-camera fill-flash, controlling the contrast

In using a softbox outdoors on location, we easily get beautiful soft light. When we work indoors however, where the flash dominates, then the results can look very contrasty. The reason for this is that outdoors, the available light acts like a fill light.  This is especially true when we consider our available light in our overall result and balance our flash with the available light. With the softbox being the only light source, the light, while still soft, can be too contrasty for our liking. Still, that single softbox is a  Read more inside...

model – Ulorin Vex

April 21, 2011 Neil vN 9 Comments

model - Ulorin Vex

A favorite image from today's workshop in San Francisco - an on-location portrait of our one model, Ulorin Vex. The light from the off-camera speedlight in a softbox, delivering a mere touch of fill-flash. Most of the light is from the available light coming down between the buildings on this street. I framed her against the background of those shafts of light on the side of the building, to give a slightly enigmatic backdrop.  Read more inside...

using two LED video lights for effect

April 20, 2011 Neil vN 9 Comments

using two LED video lights for effect

A favorite image from today's workshop (Dana Point, CA), was lit by two LED video lights. Our one model, Virginia, was posed against the back of a waterfall display in the hotel lobby. When I first saw this display in the lobby, and saw how it looked when backlit by the available light in the front, I knew it would make for an interesting backdrop.  Flash would even out the light too much though - especially bounce flash - so I knew this would be an ideal place for a dramatic portrait with video light. So in the late afternoon, the workshop  Read more inside...

a rainy-day wedding

April 17, 2011 Neil vN 23 Comments

a rainy-day wedding

A lighting strike in the background as a groomsman makes a mad dash across the rain-soaked path ... this about sums up the weather we had on Saturday's wedding. What you can't see in this image is his umbrella being pulled away from him by the gusting wind. Here is the shot I was aiming for when I got that lighting strike in the frame ...  Read more inside...

wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off

April 15, 2011 Neil vN 22 Comments

wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off

One of the frequent questions that come up, is what to do when there is nothing to bounce your flash off.  When working indoors and there are bounce-able surfaces around me, my first instinct is to use on-camera bounce flash. It is easy to use, and the results can look surprisingly good, especially if you consider the minimal effort that went into it. No extra gear to carry around and set up. But when there is nothing to bounce flash off, you have to adapt your technique ...  Read more inside...

Flash photography basics

April 12, 2011 Neil vN 27 Comments

Flash photography basics

In teaching workshops on flash photography, I frequently encounter newer photographers who are overwhelmed by flash photography. Overwhelmed to the extent that they fear their flash, and would rather not deal with flash photography at all. Instead, they adopt the idea that they will only specialize in available light photography. Now, that kind of thinking is an artistic dead-end. As a photographer that aspires to truly being creative, you need to understand light, regardless of how it is supplied to us. I do feel that flash photography is one of those  Read more inside...

recent personal work – Manhattan cityscapes

April 11, 2011 Neil vN 16 Comments

personal work - Manhattan cityscapes

It's been a long cold winter without much chance to roam around and explore with a camera. The past weekend it seemed like the weather was finally relenting and becoming warmer. Taking to the streets to shoot for myself a bit with no purpose in mind, I ended up with three images that I liked - all deserted New York city scenes. Or in the case of the image above, nearly deserted. It felt good to let my thoughts roam for a while, getting some exercise and listening to music ... looking for anything that visually appealed to me in the camera's  Read more inside...

photo session: a lazy afternoon

April 8, 2011 Neil vN 17 Comments

 Read more inside...

on a photo shoot with fashion photographer, Angie Lazaro

April 7, 2011 Neil vN 10 Comments

It's a great pleasure to present this guest spot by Angie Lazaro - a good friend from way back in South Africa. Angie is a fashion photographer in Cape Town. Angie and I became friends at a time when I was still finding my way as a photographer, doing all kinds of freelance photo shoots ... and she was still a photography student at a university in South Africa. We've both come a long way from those lunch-time conversations at the Full Stop café in Melville, Johannesburg .. and I doubt either of us could've imagined where we'd end up over time. So I really am thrilled to present Angie now  Read more inside...

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