Shooting for my portfolio in the studio with a model, Kimberly Jay, I wanted to create sets of feminine portraits that looked dramatic, and straddled the boudoir photography genre and had a Film Noir look to them. The classic look of Hollywood portrait lighting has long drawn me, and with a set of Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights (B&H / Amazon), it is a look that I am still trying to finesse.
Other photo sessions where I have drawn on the Hollywood look:
Lighting a vintage styled boudoir photo session (model: Read more inside...
The most adaptable and versatile continuous lighting setup currently might well be the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon). They come as a set of four LED sections (11.8" x 1.57") that can be connected in different ways - as panels or strips or geometric shapes. You decide. The Spekular website shows some of the options. The specifications of the Spekular LED kit only gives a dry idea of what these are capable of. Therefore, with this video review of the Spekular, I wanted to show some of that adaptability, and how these lights might be Read more inside...
I use a range of continuous lighting in the studio - it is essential for video of course, but even for stills, it is sometimes easier to work with continuous lighting than flash. When the Spekular LED lights (B&H / Amazon) hit the market, they caught my eye. What makes them unusual is that the kit comes as 4 LED bars which can be hooked up as a panel, or in any number of shapes up to 8 bars. The Spekular website shows some of the options. This kind of flexibility makes it a versatile continuous lighting kit.
I have other Read more inside...
Stella Pro 5000 & 2000 video light review - continuous lighting kit
My friend Kevin, or as his friends call him, Kevin, brought along his new Light & Motion Stella Pro 225 3-Light Kit (B&H / Amazon) to the studio for us to play with. The Stella Pro 5000 video light is powerful enough that you can use a softbox with it when shooting indoors. Where continuous lights really shine, is in how they allow you to adjust your lights in a WYSIWYG way. What you see is what you get - that's just how continuous lights work. That aspect makes video lights ideal when Read more inside...
Studio photography - Capturing movement with continuous lighting
The effect here, which makes me think of black flames, was the result of a slow shutter speed (1/20th) in the studio, using continuous lighting. The short duration of a flash pulse would've frozen the movement, so I needed continuous light for this effect. I used two Litepanels Astra EP 1×1 LED Panels (B&H / Amazon) that I bounced into a V-flat to soften the light. I also used another V-flat to partially block the light towards her feet for more light fall-off to the bottom. The photo below is a pull-back Read more inside...
Those of you who have followed the Tangents blog for a while, will have noticed that over time I've expanded the range of photography that I do - in addition to weddings and portraits, I have taken on commercial photography and corporate photography as well. This has included small commercial video shoots as well. One of these was a promotional video clip for a company - Buddy Bagz - to introduce their innovative variation on sleeping bags for kids.
The photo and video shoot was produced by Cheryl Galante, and the video edited by Wendy Read more inside...
Posing and lighting technique - posing in relation to the lighting
When taking a portrait, the pose needs to suit the lighting. And vice versa, the lighting needs to be done in relation to the intended pose. Especially so when the lighting is dramatic. This is such a key idea - lighting and posing are tightly correlated. Started again: you pose the participants in relation to the light. You light the people you photograph, in relation to how you position the light.
When lighting a couple, I tend to favor the woman in terms of flattering light. So in setting up a pose, the lighting Read more inside...
Dramatic lighting effects for portrait photography (model: Jessica Joy)
For this dramatic Hollywoord Glamor inspired portrait sequence of Jessica, I used two Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights (B&H / Amazon). But there's more that happening here with the lighting than just the main light and the rim light. There is the splash of color in the background, augmenting the blue rim-light coming from behind.
Jessica's reaction to the first test shot was amusing - a surprised,"where did that come from?", when she saw the image on the back of my camera. The blue tones and Read more inside...
Portrait photography: Dramatic lighting with LED Fresnel lights
For the portrait session of Jennifer Rozenbaum, I wanted to show her in her "office" - the studio where she shoots boudoir images of her clients. But instead of photographing Jennifer in a boudoir style, I wanted this to be portraits of her, the boudoir photographer, where she works. Her office as such. Still, it needed to be sexy, a little feral, yet sweet, and very much her. Read more inside...
Photography has a never-ending learning curve. I think this is even more true as the technology expands and accelerates. Sometimes I feel that we're running at full speed just to remain at a stand-still. That's just the technology that we have to acquire what we need to know about to do our work and art the best. But even with the techniques and methods we have as photographers - we should always be investigating and analyzing the work of others, learn, and then rework and adapt it in our own style. Even Read more inside...
