![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/olive\/DSC_0246-edit.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For me,\u00a0Design<\/strong> in photography\u00a0relates to the way an image is constructed at the time of shooting. Composition and content. Lighting. Every element which forms part of a successful and eye-catching photograph. Some of the elements in the photograph are\u00a0pre-visualized, some of it a kind of serendipity that is then expanded on at the time. Some of it might only be understood afterwards in looking at the photograph.\u00a0My\u00a0latest book, Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography<\/a>,\u00a0looks at exactly that thought-process throughout\u00a0the 60 chapters in the book.<\/p>\n Several of the articles on Tangents look at that thought-process during a photo-shoot, working towards a successful image. For example: With that idea in mind – the design of a photograph<\/strong> – let’s step through the image\u00a0at the top.<\/p>\n This photograph of our model\u00a0Olive<\/a><\/strong>, isn’t a composite.\u00a0It\u00a0is pretty much SOOC (straight out of camera), aside from removing a car and a few people in the background. Oh, and bumping up the Contrast and nudging the Saturation. And retouching skin. I guess it isn’t really that SOOC at this point. But it isn’t a composite. It was shot like this. The cobble-stones looked like that – aglow.<\/p>\n That lack of shadow adds a sense of mystery. It all looks a bit surreal. The reason why Olive looks like she is floating in the air, is that she was jumping. We did several takes to try and get her at her most relaxed in mid-air. With her feet off the ground, there is no immediate tell-tale shadow behind her. The bright sun on the cobble stones also eliminate her shadow completely. There is also no shadow in front of her, since it is\u00a0outside of the frame. \u00a0So she really looks like she is incongruously suspended\u00a0in the air.<\/p>\n Now, the lack of shadow wasn’t planned before-hand, but it was most definitely noticed when we started shooting a few test frames. So we continued with the idea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lighting & Design<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a\u00a0follow-up of sorts to Direction & Quality of Light<\/a>.\u00a0It\u2019s a slightly eclectic mix, discussing the thought-process with various scenarios shooting portraits. The examples use available light, bounce flash, off-camera flash as well as studio lighting.<\/p>\n The idea is that in every one of the 60 sections, there is something to be learnt and applied, regardless of your level as a photographer or where you shoot\u00a0– all\u00a0shaped to form a cohesive narrative arc throughout the book.<\/p>\n You can either purchase a copy via\u00a0Amazon USA<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0or Amazon UK<\/a><\/strong>. The book\u00a0will\u00a0also available on the Apple iBook Store, and Amazon Kindle.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Working\u00a0with the Profoto B1 flash<\/a> (affiliate<\/em>), I was limited to maximum flash sync speed. The camera I used was the\u00a0Nikon D750<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>), which\u00a0is limited to 1\/200 so to make sure that I don’t get movement blur, I timed several images at the peak of her jump. You can see how her necklace is floating now. That’s an essential nugget here – timing the shot at the peak of the action which in this case means the least movement and the least blur. In fact, this and several other images are crisply sharp even at that relatively slow shutter speed for action.<\/p>\n Ideally, I would’ve loved to have her right arm and hand visible, but this is difficult to control especially when the main instruction is to look relaxed … and she is intent on not breaking an ankle while jumping in high heels on cobble stones.<\/p>\n I was low on the ground, so I could be sure to have the sun behind her when she was at peak jump. This gave rim-light and that glow in the sky behind her. The same motive for the glow of the cobble-stones – I wanted her centered against that.<\/p>\n Regarding composition – I\u00a0pay attention to the background and foreground, and balance within the frame. This is the motif behind photography composition for me – frame, don’t just aim<\/a>. But for all that,\u00a0the composition here is quite centered. I am very fine with central compositions. If that is what works, that is what works.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another photograph taken in the same spot. I specifically wanted to highlight Olive with the off-camera lighting. The narrow\u00a0Profoto 1’\u00d73′ softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) helps with that, containing the light so it doesn’t spread too wide.<\/p>\n If you take note of the camera settings, you’ll notice that a perhaps surprisingly wide aperture was used in such bright light. The f\/11 bright light was pulled down by three stops, using\u00a0the\u00a0B+W 3-stop ND Filter<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>). This gave me f\/4 which helps with the separation between my subject and the background. With the image at the top, shot at 24mm, the f\/4 aperture doesn’t give as noticeably shallow depth-of-field. But with this second image where Olive is leaning against the car, the lens was zoomed to 35mm and the DoF is now shallow enough to give some separation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here I wanted to show some of the thought-process, and some of the elements – purposeful and inadvertent – that played a role in creating these images.<\/p>\n And yes, this is the same location, where I shot the lead image for the\u00a0review: Sigma 50mm f\/1.4 ART lens<\/a>. And the same car.<\/p>\n If you’d like to order my new book,\u00a0Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography<\/a>, you can do so via that Amazon link. Or you can order it from Barnes & Noble or any favorite local book store.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lighting and Design in photography: (de)-constructing an image For me,\u00a0Design in photography\u00a0relates to the way an image is constructed at the time of shooting. Composition and content. Lighting. Every element which forms part of a successful and eye-catching photograph. Some of the elements in the photograph are\u00a0pre-visualized, some of it a kind of serendipity that Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8212,9,110,756,511],"tags":[526,753,693,692],"yst_prominent_words":[6977,6477,1746,6970,6976,6846,6844,6973,6971,6972,6969,1580,6974,6432,6431,1575,1086,8237,6975,6433],"class_list":{"0":"post-25082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-book-lighting-design","8":"category-composition","9":"category-off-camera-flash","10":"category-olive","11":"category-profoto","12":"tag-off-camera-flash-on-location","13":"tag-profoto-b1-flash-review","14":"tag-using-a-neutral-density-filter","15":"tag-using-nd-filters","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25082"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46523,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25082\/revisions\/46523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25082"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n–\u00a0progression of an idea in a photo session<\/a>\u00a0(cosplayer: Ger Tysk)
\n–\u00a0photo-shoot with a model: the progression of an idea<\/a>\u00a0 (model: Nicole)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/olive\/DSC_0227.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCamera settings & photo gear (or equivalents)\u00a0used<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t![\"Direction](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/books\/NvN\/4-lighting-design-375.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tLighting & Design for Portrait Photography<\/h2>\n
<\/div><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/olive\/DSC_0257-edit.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
Summary<\/h2>\n
Related articles<\/h2>\n
\n