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

review: Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

May 15, 2010 Neil vN 22 Comments

review: Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

The Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II  (B&H / Amazon), is touted to have improved optical quality, faster auto-focusing, and much better stabilization than the much-loved previous version of this lens. Using the lens on different shoots and walkabouts and tests, I got a fair idea of how the lens performs.  In short, the lens is all that .. faster, sharper and with better image stabilization.  Noticeably so. The bokeh of this lens is pleasant.  Easily seen in this portrait of my little model, where she is busy collecting  Read more inside...

photographers, what is your back-up plan?

May 10, 2010 Neil vN 11 Comments

You can't really see it in this photo taken from the lounge at this small airfield in Wisconsin, but the snow was coming down hard there.  Hard enough to cause flight delays and cancellations.  However, en route to the airport, the snow was only falling lightly, so I wasn't concerned at the time.  After all, this is just a few weeks away from the start of Summer. I had presented a week-long workshop in Wisconsin as part of the Wisconsin Professional Photographers School at Treehaven, and was due to fly back home to New Jersey on Friday afternoon.  I absolutely had to get home sometime that  Read more inside...

Tips & advice for second-shooting weddings

May 4, 2010 Neil vN 71 Comments

Tips & advice for the 2nd photographer at weddings

This eye-catching image was shot by a friend of mine, Josh Lynn, who worked with me on this wedding. As such it is perhaps the perfect image to lead this article with advice and tips for 2nd-shooting a wedding. It shows initiative at getting an interesting angle. Exposure is perfect. Framing and composition is great. Excellent timing .. with a little bit of luck thrown into the mix. This image is also a good point for the topic of the second photographer's business ethics. For me, a second photographer isn't merely someone who  Read more inside...

background exposure and flash

April 28, 2010 Neil vN 7 Comments

flash photography - background exposure and flash

When I saw this dramatic sky with the approaching storm during our recent shoot at Coney Island, I knew I wanted to photograph our model against it.  By the time I actually started taking photos, the raindrops were already spattering around us. So there was little time to work. I knew I wanted a brooding sky.  Now, depending on how I chose my exposure, I could've had a much the sky appear much brighter, or just a little bit brighter than shown here.  There's a whole range of possibilities in how I could've exposed for my  Read more inside...

it was one of those days ..

April 22, 2010 Neil vN 19 Comments

You know how some days you have the feeling that the day is just filled with all kinds of possibilities? Today was one of those days. I got to meet and hang out with someone's whose work I admire - Frank Doorhof. Frank is a fashion photographer from The Netherlands who is highly regarded for his lighting skills. He is currently visiting New York to present workshops on photography lighting. (In fact, there are still a few spots open for the Monday workshop.) A mutual friend, Richard Verlaque, arranged for us to meet, with the intention of us also doing a photo shoot, and possibly exploring  Read more inside...

Bokeh vs shallow depth-of-field (DoF)

April 19, 2010 Neil vN 15 Comments

Bokeh vs shallow depth-of-field (DoF)

The first thing you might notice in this image is our super-cute model, Johannie. Next you will probably notice either: - the strange background pattern, due to the bokeh of this lens - or the shallow depth-of-field of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4D used wide open - or the lighting on her, (a reflector), These are all inter-related in some way for this photo ...  Read more inside...

Canon E-TTL flash settings – Average vs Evaluative flash metering

April 18, 2010 Neil vN 23 Comments

Canon E-TTL flash settings - Average vs Evaluative flash metering

With TTL flash, (or E-TTL, as Canon call their specific flavor), the camera and speedlight working together according to various algorithms to control the flash exposure. The E-TTL flash exposure will therefore depend on various factors - the tonality of the subject and scene; the brightness of the scene; and how the camera interprets the sections of the metering pattern.  Other factors quite possibly also includes data from the lens.   How these factors inter-relate, we can only make educated guesses; and many  Read more inside...

wedding photography – anticipation and timing

April 17, 2010 Neil vN 16 Comments

style in wedding photography - anticipation and timing

I'm sure every photographer has this experience, where your shutter trips, and you just know you have the shot.  Something that you see - whether anticipated or just lucky timing - and you capture it.  This is how I felt when I captured this moment between Marie and Andrew at their wedding this weekend.  I got it! A bit of background to this image: During a Catholic wedding service, there is a short time after the exchange of vows and rings, where the couple are seated again for the Mass.  With everyone's attention now on the  Read more inside...

flash & ambient light – reverse engineering an image

April 13, 2010 Neil vN 18 Comments

combining off-camera flash and ambient light

For a semi-guest-post this week, I thought I'd use a photo taken by my friend Josh Lynn, and reverse-engineer the lighting.  By scrutinizing the photo, we'll try and decipher how he set this up.  I did of course have the help of double-checking with Josh himself, and by checking the EXIF data. Josh is a New Jersey wedding photographer - but this photo of our model, Danielle, was taken at a recent photo shootout in Manhattan.  Josh led a group of photographers showing some lighting techniques. So let's see what we can figure out here  Read more inside...

tutorial: Balancing flash with ambient exposure

April 8, 2010 Neil vN 56 Comments

tutorial: Balancing flash with available light / ambient exposure

Many of the questions I get on the Tangents blog relate to balancing flash with available light, and I want to pull it all together into a single article. The questions often revolve around metering for the ambient light, and how to balance flash with the ambient light. Tied in with this, is how to make the decision about which camera settings are the best. It's a juggling act, balancing all the factors quickly enough ... and still being able to deliver solid photos. The answer to the questions about how to  Read more inside...

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • …
  • 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