using a variety of lighting techniques for wedding photography
This recent post on lighting ideas for the romantic wedding portraits, showed that I like to mix it up a bit, and not rely on one specific technique. Not every situation we're going to encounter can be solved with one specific approach only. Mixing it up in terms of lighting also helps to provide my clients with more variety in the look of the final selection of images. In addition, it also keeps it interesting and fresh for me. Constantly adapting to challenges is part of the process of growing to be a better Read more inside...
lighting the romantic portraits of the bride & groom
Scouting around the location during dinner time, I peered over the edge of this spiraling staircase and thought it would be a good idea to get some light on the couple, seated on the couch. I posed Melissa so that she lounged back with her head on Dennis' lap. There is no way to get light on them from my position with on-camera bounce flash, and definitely not if my intention is to get light only on them. It needed off-camera flash.
To add some variety, I also thought of a few other things to try with the lighting, using Read more inside...
I hope that no one thinks that the flash photography and lighting techniques that I describe on the Tangents blog are only applicable to wedding photography. In a recent post I described where I photographed a model in an alley way when I noticed a splash of sunlight (reflected from a window) falling onto the wall. In recognizing that interesting splash of light, and using it, I got an image which was different than I would've had if I had just used the even shaded light in the alley.
I used this very same idea at a recent wedding in Read more inside...
From a technical point of view, photographing a bride in her dress can be a challenge ... depending on the lighting. If everything is under your control as the photographer, and you're lighting the formal portraits with off-camera manual flash, then it is essentially a study of the zone system.
The simplest way for me then to get accurate exposure, is to use the histogram. I place my brightest relevant tone at the edge of the histogram. All the other tones will fall into place. (It is clearly explained in that linked article, Read more inside...
Wedding day portraits - Simplifying composition for effect
With this article I want to reinforce the idea from a few recent posts about being very specific about your composition. By simplifying the image, we have greater impact. We include only what we need to include in the frame to enhance it. Just as important, is what we exclude: Read more inside...
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...
best images of 2009 - Neil van Niekerk - New Jersey wedding photographer
2009 was another crazy-busy year for me. As regular readers of the Tangents blog will know, the majority of my work is as a New Jersey wedding photographer. This also includes the various photo sessions, as well as the wedding albums that had to be designed. Adding to my crazy schedule were the 17 photography workshops that I presented across the USA; and 4 sold-out workshops in the UK and Ireland! Regulars here will also know that another major event was my book on flash photography that was released in Read more inside...
Over the course of the past year or so, I've made a steady attempt to move this blog away from being wedding-heavy, and take the material more towards general photography, and photographing people.
However, since the most of my work is as done as a wedding photographer in New Jersey, I still get a large number of questions which relate to wedding photography - and specifically, photographing the reception. So I thought I would expand a little on the techniques I use in photographing wedding receptions.
A few years back, I would Read more inside...
