Still, I ordered the new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H), and received it on Friday.
It’s beautiful!

Doing a few test shots around the house, and was immediately impressed. It is sharp! I like sharp.  Every thing about this lens is good news.  Focusing is faster, and flare is very well controlled. There has been considerable debate about the shortening of focal length with this lens as you focus closer and closer.  Yet, I would never have noticed it if I hadn’t been told about it. For my work, a total non-issue.

One of the features of this new lens, is that it has even more aggressive vibration reduction / stabilization.  So even though I do take my shutter speeds low at times, my advice is always that if you want sharp images, the first thing you need to do is make your shutter speed much faster.  Now, I’ve never been one to really be able to hold my camera steady without careful control or with steadying myself against a wall. So for me, vibration reduction is an essential feature on long lenses .. especially since I don’t work with a tripod for the style of photography I do.

At a wedding on Saturday, where I was the second shooter for a friend, I was able to see how the VR worked during an actual photo shoot.   During the ceremony I took photos of the guests sitting in the dark temple.  How dark? 1/6 th @ f2.8 @ 2000 ISO kinda dark …

Well, there I was picking off shots, with another camera slung over my right shoulder  - usually a dead certainty for me to start swaying or my right arm starting to shake.

And here’s the 100% crop

Yup, that is 1/6th of a second, without carefully tucking in my elbows and checking my breathing or my stance, or even steadying myself.
I just stood there, camera to my eye, and let rip.

I have honestly never been able to get images THIS sharp, THIS easily before in low light with a telephoto zoom.  I’m truly impressed.

Obviously, at such slow shutter speeds we’re really pushing the limits .. and therefore not all images will be this sharp.  But my success rate was more than 50% and mostly the images that suffered from blur were because people moved during those slow shutter speeds.

I’ll post a more in-depth review later this month, comparing it to the older lens and the 200mm f2.0

This lens, in my opinion, isn’t just a minor upgrade on the previous version, but an important one.

This striking photograph was taken by Stephanie Zettl, who as our guest blogger this time, tells us more about how this image came to be …

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Can you identify what inspires you and your work?

by Stephanie Zettl

Inspiration should not be confined to one thing. The more we study and experience art, music, and films the more material we have to enhance the style and impact of our photography.

My most recent magazine cover was based on my love for music. The different musical genres influenced the style of the dress, hair and makeup of the shoot.

The cover photo is my homage to Herman Leonard – a photographer famous for his photos of jazz musicians – and all those wonderful jazz movies of the 1940s and 50s. I wanted my model to take the role of a Jazz Diva singing in a lounge. In order to emulate this look, I knew that I would be shooting in black and white, my lighting would have the look of strong directional stage light, and a little grain or “noise” would not be a bad thing.

That being said, this was still a fashion shoot and I wanted the main light on my model to still have a beauty light aspect to it and show off the dress and styling in a flattering way.

The stage that we were working on was equipped with four spot lights that could be slightly directed to illuminate the stage and the musicians. Because the dark lounge also had some wall sconces that I wanted to make sure showed in the photo, I had to make sure my metering took them into account. I think they add to the mood of the photo and give a sense of space.

I brought my Profoto lighting kit, but found that because of the light levels for the existing lights, I could just use the modeling lights to balance with the other lights. They effectively became “hot lights” or constant source lights instead of strobes. Though there are some disadvantages, I actually like working with hot lights when possible because what you see is what you get when directing and shaping your lighting. (Video lights, like the Lowel ID light, are also considered constant light sources and you can find several of Neil’s articles on their use here.)

I had one light in a soft box to camera right on the model to provide soft frontal beauty light. There was a second light without a diffuser placed behind the trumpet player to provide separation from the background and rim light on my subjects. It also helped to further enhance that feeling of being on stage.

To give the intimate feel of a lounge setting I shot through the piano player to frame my model. The final shot was made at 1/60 sec, f2.8 at 1000 ISO.

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Stephanie Zettl and Chuck Arlund will be teaching a workshop entitled, “Inspiration, Application and Advice” February 10, 2010 in Nashville, TN. The workshop will include a morning seminar, an afternoon of shooting great models and an evening review of the photographs created during the workshop. The morning seminar will focus on finding inspiration and developing your style in a saturated market. During the day there will also be great advice about interacting with your clients for the best results and of course lots of great lighting demonstrations.

For more information visit: www.arlundworkshops.com or  www.zettlphoto.com/blog

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My entry this week for the Alive for 365 project is this enigmatic landscape.

While on a hike in Magoebaskloof in South Africa (Dec ‘89), I wanted to portray some of the eeriness of walking through the misty forest that morning.  I remember it being very quiet. I kept looking for *something* to photograph .. something that I could focus my attention on.  But there wasn’t anything specific.  Just the trees and the sloping mountainside fading away into nothing as your gaze wandered further.  Then I realized that that is exactly what I wanted to encapsulate in a photograph.

So instead of trying to find a specific “thing” or a specific part of the landscape, or geometry or pattern or composition … this was just how it was … stark trees in the mist.  Nothing else.

This is why this particular image appeals to me.  I felt that this simple lateral movement in my mindset, got me closer to photographing the essential aspect of this particular landscape.

In finishing the image for the Alive for 365 site, I simplified the original image slightly …

Here is the original image:

I felt that those sticks in the foreground blocked the movement of my eyes as I looked around the image.  I wanted the landscape even more uncomplicated.  I therefore cloned out the sticks that I felt intruded on the view.

As for other Photoshop finessing, I only added a Soft Light layer at 20% opacity to punch up the colours and contrast slightly.  Anything more that I tried with the image in Photoshop, just revealed more of the texture and added too much clarity to the image.  And that worked against the feel that I felt the landscape portrayed.  So I kept it simple.

The translations so far have mostly been published on other sites.  However, I would like a more coherent structure to all the various translations.  What I intend is to run parallel blogs, all with the same layout and structure.  Due to the nature of any blog, the order of the blog posts will be very different between all the others.

Here is the German translation of the Tangents blog posts and articles.  Thank you to Michael Krause who did the work here!

I still need to improve the actual look of the blog.  At the moment it is just the barebones structure.  But the material is there.   I’ll finesse the look of the blogs in the next few weeks.  In fact, if a reader of this blog is well versed with the Thesis wordpress theme, let me know.  I could use the help.

I have the frameworks ready for the Russian blog, and a Spanish blog, as well as one for the intended Dutch translation.  I’ll make them active once the material has been collated properly and posted.

All translations of the Tangents blog will in future be directly available from the front page.

The current translations spread across various sites will be gradually copied to the new blogs, and I would like all future translations to be posted there to keep it all coherent and organized.

With this new system, the brunt of the work won’t necessarily fall on the shoulders of just one person.  There can be a number of people working on any particular blog, translating different posts and articles.  To enable this, I can create  Editor accounts for those who are doing the translations, so that they can edit the material directly on the different translation blogs.  Contact me if you’re interested in helping.

I look forward to working with everyone in expanding this.  Thank you!

Until recently, I’ve been a PC user.  I didn’t have much interest in using a Mac, although I dearly loooove my iPhone and iPod.  I also have a high appreciation for Apple’s minimalist design and aesthetics.  Macs do look very cool.

Yet I didn’t feel the need or desire for a Mac.  PCs run fast.  It’s a stable platform with a wide choice of programs.  On top of that, there were some things which put me off the Mac.  The thing I found most annoying was the fanboyism of the Mac enthusiasts.  Any problem you’d encounter on a PC, you’d get a gloating chorus of,  ”just use a Mac.”   Equally aggravating was the assertion that Macs are sooo intuitive.  You know what?  If Macs were so intuitive you wouldn’t have to explain their operation to me, would you?

I was a happy PC user, until the middle of last year.  Then without prior intention, I decided to get a fully kitted 17″ MacBook Pro Notebook Computer, with 8 Gb RAM.

Initially I was a little under-whelmed with the Mac experience, but then a few things fell into place for me in terms of software and hardware options … and then I switched my main computer that I work on (ie the laptop), over to the MacBook Pro.  Suddenly it all made sense!

All of this will be old news to Mac lovers. When I was gushing about my new setup to a friend of mine last week, she just laughed, “Where have you been all this time?”.

The things that fell into place for me had a big impact on my post-production workflow and efficiency, and I’d like to share some of my observations and new experience …

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Where the cracks started to show …

During the course of 2009, I decided that I would like to create video clips for this site.  I enquired on some photography forums about my options, and ended up buying Adobe Premiere Elements 7 as the software to edit the video footage.  Then problems hit me.  Adobe Premiere Elements 7 proved unusable.  The footage shot with the Canon HFS10 videocam that I had bought, was stuttery and slow.  It probably needed a specific codec.   In the meantime, my assistant with a little MacBook  had no problem editing the video clips in iMovie.  His MacBook had less RAM and slower processing, yet worked fluently with the software which comes standard with the Mac – iMovie.  Ouch!

Life is too short to waste time on looking for codecs and trying to solve these miniscule hurdles that block you … so I bought a big-ass, ie. fully kitted, 17″ MacBook Pro .. and that was the slide into using Mac now as my primary computer.  As my main laptop, it is actually my primary computer since I travel a lot.

Initially I kept the MacBook Pro as the machine to edit video clips with and do initial edits with of the weddings I photographed.  I still worked primarily off two PC computers – one a desktop and one a laptop.  Then even more calamities hit me at the end of 2009 – multiple hard drive failures, and my desktop PC died on me, and a few weeks later the screen of my PC laptop went black.  I had to work off an additional monitor just to keep running.

I now had to juggle the decisions as to whether I should repair my PC laptop, or make the jump and go with my under-used fully kitted MacBook Pro.  In the end common sense prevailed and I made the jump to Mac.

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First, a few things had to fall into place …

The hardware:

Somehow, no one had ever explained to me at the start how a MacBook Pro can fit into a ’system’.  When I finally put together the (logical) pieces of the hardware puzzle, it all just seemed so … well, logical.

(The links in the following article are all B&H affiliate  links to the various items.)

24″ Mac Cinema Display

The first piece of hardware that I added to my Mac laptop that made all the difference, was the 24″ LCD Cinema display.  The breakthrough for me was when I realized I could keep the MacBook Pro closed while powered on, and then use this large dedicated display to work with the computer. With this, my laptop essentially became a desktop computer.

With a PC there are always issues running a secondary display – the resolution and aspect ratio don’t match what your computer has. With the Mac, the display is … well, just perfect. Except for it being a glossy screen.

A bonus with the Cinema display is that it feeds power to the laptop.  So it reduces the number of power cables running along the back of the desk.  Even better, the Cinema display has three USB ports.  I can now connect a portable hard drive or any other USB device directly to the screen itself … which means I can now keep my MacBook Pro out of the way.

Using this desktop stand as a cradle, I can keep my laptop upright under my desk.  Less clutter on my desk.  This in itself makes a difference to my efficiency – I have more room on my desk to work with.

Of course, with the laptop closed, I need the wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse.

Very sweet and elegant.
I had problems with the Mac mouse though.  Both the wired and wireless mouse had this itsy-bitsy scroll wheel that I couldn’t adapt to.  My solution?  A Microsoft mouse.  It works well, and is large enough not to cramp my hand.

While seeing how the clutter on my desk gave me an elated sense of freedom, I was seduced into getting this adjustable shelf that hangs from the Cinema Display’s stand.

A nice little shelf to place a portable hard drive or anything else that needs to be out of the way.

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I have to mention again how neat this setup is.  ’Neat’ as in looking great, but more importantly, ‘neat’ as in clean and uncluttered.  There’s just a monitor / cinema display on my desk, along with a small wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse.

You would have no idea it is a laptop I am working on, instead of a desktop … but the moment I need to go somewhere, I just unhook it, and I have everything ready to go.  In my  honest opinion, THIS  is the way for photographers who do any kind of traveling to meet clients, or traveling for their photography work.  I have all my data with me at all times, whether working at my desk, or on the road.

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Now we get to another piece of hardware that completely changed my workflow.
(And again, it will be old news for most photographers who carefully follow developments in computer hardware. )

During a lunchtime meeting with another friend, Michael Gatlin, I described my post-processing workflow.  While describing how I manually kept a mirror of whatever I was working, he stopped me and told me emphatically what I should be investigating.  Instead of manually copying files over to duplicate hard-drives, he suggested I look into getting a Drobo.  He described how this RAID-array would simplify my workflow.  With the error-checking and redundancy built into the system, there would be less need for me to meticulously copy everything I work on … or fear losing something along the way with a hard drive crash.

After reading up more about it, and guided by Michael’s advice,  I bought a Data Robotics 8TB Drobo Storage Array.

This RAID-array connects with a FireWire-800 cable to the MacBook Pro.  Access time is fast, and data is secure.  Of course, I am still paranoid about my digital workflow – a good thing in itself – so I still make DVD copies of my final edits.  I also don’t erase my CF cards until the edit is complete and backed-up onto DVD.

For backing up my actual MacBook Pro, I use Time Machine.
Quite an ingenious bit of built-in Mac software!

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In a follow-up post I’ll go over some of my software choices, as well as how I had to adapt to the (sometimes frustrating) Mac system.  Since there is so much that I don’t know and still have to discover, I look forward to the advice from Mac users here.

So there is my new computer system  - fast and elegant.  Devoid of clutter.  Ready to rock’n'roll!

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[ edited to add this note (Feb 02, 2010) :
I want to underline that my desktop computer is a PC and runs on Windows 7, and I am *very* happy with it.  It's a top-of-the-line off-the-shelf HP unit.  And I have a 23" HP screen with it.  It's a fast & stable machine.  In other words, this post is not a slight against Windows-based machines, or against PCs in general.  This post really is more about my new-found admiration for Mac. ]

I am sure the designer of this phonebox intended for it to have this distinctly cartoon-like face.   When I saw this, it instantly drew my attention.  It really looked to me like a constantly-surprised wide-eyed face.  Something out of Disney’s animated movie, Beauty & The Beast.  This then is my choice then for this week’s entry in the Alive for 365 project.

The photograph had some Photoshop work done to it to give it much more snap than the straight-out-of-the-camera version.  Oh, and the lighting was bounce flash with available light …

The technical stuff, like the settings, aren’t really that important.  1/125 @ f5.6 @ 500 ISO … Canon 24-70mm f2.8 @ 45mm doesn’t tell us much more that we can’t already discern from the image.

The light on this cute phonebox face was a mixture of flash and some available light.  But mostly flash.  I bounced flash off to my side.  The direction of my light can be figured out from the angle of the shadow.  Did I use a black foamie thing?  Nope .. this was taken in 2005, well before I became that sophisticated in my lighting to use a piece of black foam on my speedlight.  Here I just flagged my speedlight using my hand.

Here is the image straight from the RAW converter .. slightly bland looking.

I punched it up using mostly the Topaz filter – specifically the Spicify adjustment.

The first layer is a retouching layer where I use the Clone Tool and Healing Tool to remove any dust spots and marks on the wall that I didn’t like.  I duplicated that layer and raw Imagenomic’s Portraiture on it to create a softer image.  And on a copy of that layer, I ran Spicify at the default settings, and at 60% opacity.  I then copied the Portraiture layer and at 15% opacity, used it in Overlay Blending mode.

(If you do order Topaz Adjust (or any Topaz product) through that affiliate link, use the discount code ‘planetneil’ for a 15% discount off any item in your shopping cart.)

All of this adds up to give this simple image more impact:

An icy cold day in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan … and a brave model that insisted on going bare feet.  That’s just a glimpse of the latest NYC Photog Shootout gathering that took place on Saturday.  This shootout is part of the ongoing series of events arranged by Rob Nicholson.  There were many familiar faces in today’s group amongst the new.  Good opportunity to say hi to old friends, and make a few new ones.

As with the previous NYC shootout in June 2009 , I gave some instruction on some of the basics of manual off-camera flash to the groups. We worked with a Q-flash and a softbox (and sometimes without the softbox), and a bunch of Pocketwizards that I handed to anyone in the group who didn’t have.  Strange thing – I ended up with one more pocketwizard than I started out with.  Bonus!   (Actually, if you were there and you’re missing one, let me know.)

It was a bit of the Wild West out there with the huge groups of photographers firing away.

The second group had an interesting addition to the shoot …

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Hopefully everyone got some images they like, and even learned something about lighting.  Thank you to everyone who came up to me to introduce themselves … and re-introduce themselves. ; )

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And a little something for everyone else who wasn’t there – more info about the image at the top:

Since we already had soft available light there, we used flash with the softbox to control our lighting better.  While the available light might have been soft, it was top-heavy.  To effectively use only the ambient light, we would’ve been limited to posing our model in specific ways.  But with using flash in a softbox, we now had control over the quality of light.

The approach there in using flash in this scenario, was to figure out the available light exposure.  Once we had agreement on what our settings would be … we under-exposed by a stop.  Here’s the resulting under-exposed available light image:

settings:  1/250 @ f5.6 @ 200 ISO

Now we have to add manual flash (in a softbox), at f5.6 @ 200 ISO … by controlling the other two variables – distance and power.

And there you have it:

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Francesco showed me this image on Facebook, rightfully proud of this captivating portrait.  He mentioned that he used some of the techniques mentioned on this website.  Since those techniques are accessible to every photographer , and the results can be so striking, I asked Francesco to expand a bit on how he shot this.  He also explains a little about his post-processing in Photoshop.

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The spontaneity of the moment

by Francesco De Maio

Sometimes it is true that the best experiences are the result of an unplanned event. Whenever possible I always carry my camera bag with me.  In it is a quick portrait setup consisting mainly of my Nikon D700 with the Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens, and a SB900 speedlight … and of course a handmade half snoot made with a black piece of cardboard velcroed to the flashgun.

The opportunity for this picture came while at work when one of my friends and former colleague decided to visit us with his beautiful little son. I do not work full time in a photo studio.  Nothing was scheduled nor planned ahead, but I can say this made this picture even more rewarding …

I grabbed my camera and starting following the little energizer bunny all over my workplace. I was faced with a few different rooms with different sizes , color temperature and lighting conditions.  There were even some plain fluorescent light sin a large garage with no daylight; some fluorescent with strong daylight from nearby windows and some fluorescent with tungsten and daylight.  Moreover I needed to be as quick and as stealthy as possible, the little boy would not stay put for more than a second and I had no time nor space for reflectors and off-camera flash.

The picture you see was taken in a 20×30 room with white walls and standard commercial ceiling. Given the poor dark ambient and fluorescent mix available in the room for consistency and quality I wanted my flashgun to be my main light but at the same time I wanted it to look as natural as possible. The white walls around me provided me with a nice surface to bounce my flash off. I also wanted some sense of light direction here hence I decided to turn my half snooted flash towards the corner on my back right. It sounds like a lot of work but it is really easier doing it than trying to explain it.

The camera settings were as follows :

Shutter : 1/200  -  I needed to keep it sharp despite of very quick and sudden moments
Aperture : f 2.8  -  I wanted to keep a shallow dept of field as well as fast flash recycling time
ISO 800  -  more than enough for the above settings without compromising quality
Flash : TTL at 0EV  -  just quick trial and error it is what just worked best

Those settings just worked for me in this picture and are not meant to be inflexible.  My main point of all of this is that even without extensive set up, off camera lighting and planning I was able to get a pleasant result with nice soft directional light.

In Photoshop I worked with the image a bit:
-  I duplicated the original layer, and used the Shadows/Highlights tool (Image > Adjustments> Shadows/Highlights).
-  I then added about 40% Shadows and 10% highlights;
-  then with the “show more option” box selected I increased the mid-tone contrast by about 20 points.
The resulting layer should appear harder and more contrasted.
-  I then added a black and white adjustment layer blended in overlay more and reduced the opacity to about 10%.
-  Lastly I dodged the original background to the plain white you see.

Once again those steps just worked for me and this picture.

Happy shooting !

Francesco De Maio

My entry this week for the Alive for 365 project, is this image taken in Cork, Ireland during my trip there last year.  I visited Cork for a few days to present two workshops on flash photography, and immediately fell in love with the historic city.  It was a simultaneous pleasure just exploring the place, and taking a short break from a hectic schedule.

The reason why this image is my choice for the week?
It was by request. (Check the comments at the end of that page.)

I bring a variety of lighting equipment to these shoots – speedlights to be used on camera, and as a softbox setup.  I also favour  video lights.

But I keep the equipment portable and compact and easy to set up .. which means that I mostly use available light where I can.   By closely looking at the direction of the various light sources in a room, I can position my subject in relation to the light (eg, a window), or simply move the light source if it is a bedside table lamp.

With the light levels fairly low indoors, this necessitates fast optics and high-ISO capable cameras.  The style that I prefer is sensual and romantic.  Sexy without being overly sexual.  With boudoir photography, I feel that a ‘hint’ works better than being more direct.  But styles and tastes vary of course.

An example of where I used the soft light coming through the window as the main light source.  I didn’t add any light to this.  The window light was soft, and it was the dominant light source from this viewpoint.  Easy to use.  Now I could concentrate on directing the flow of her movement.

1/30 @ f2.8 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

The image above was shot ‘with’ the direction of light, giving even light on her.  It is also good to break it up a bit and shoot ‘against’ a light source, or at an angle to a main light source …

In this case I positioned her so that the bedside table lamp gave a beautiful rim lighting on her.  Her reflection is lit up directly, but from my point of view, I get a more dramatic light.

1/250 @ f2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 85mm f1.4 (B&H)

Before specifically directing her, I loosely positioned her so that I can figure out the direction and quality of light falling on her.  The background is of huge importance as well.  Only when I am sure there is something there to work with, do I guide my model or client, and then start shooting a few frames.

It helps immensely to show her on my camera’s preview what we’re getting.  This reinforcement is a huge boost to everyone’s confidence in the shoot.

Another image where I shot against the main source of light.  I specifically wanted those highlights in the background to blow out like that, and positioned her for that.

1/160 @ f1.6 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 85mm f1.4 (B&H)

Choice of lenses obviously also have an influence on the final look of the images.  The change in perspective forced by a different focal length, helps breaks things up again.  The change in depth-of-field between using a fast prime lens and using a zoom, also helps create variety in the images.

Two images from a recent boudoir photo session, where I changed to different lenses for parts of the session.  A 50mm f1.4 optic and a 105mm f2.8 macro lens.  Again, both where taken with just the available light from the window in the hotel room.

1/100 @ f3 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 105mm f2.8 AF-S macro (B&H)

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1/160 @ f1.6 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-S (B&H)

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Bounce flash

I do use on-camera bounce flash during these sessions, but I  concentrate on using the existing lighting in the room.  Part of the problem in using bounce flash, is that it can open up the scene too much.  You quite often lose the interesting lighting patterns and the interesting way that the available light falls onto your subject.

But it can work, if that’s the effect that you want …

1/100 @ f3.5 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H); Nikon SB-900 (B&H)

With that image above, my settings were such that the ambient light in the room registered.  I could’ve used a much lower ISO and smaller aperture, but that would’ve given a different effect than I wanted.

With this next image, I had her stand in a doorway.  This kept the rest of the room from ‘opening up’ with the bounce flash.  But I then had to carefully position her against the background to create some separation.  I also wanted some interesting defocused elements in the background.

1/250 @ f3.2 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H); Nikon SB-900 (B&H)

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Video lights

As mentioned in a previous post, one of my favourite piece of lighting equipment at a boudoir photo session is the video light.  I use the Lowell iD-light.

1/60 @ f3.5 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

The video light gives a concentrated light, which can be quite dramatic if used carefully.  The key is to look at the way the light falls on your subject’s face, and how the shadow of your subject’s nose falls.  It is best if you avoid the shadow of your subject’s nose falling over their mouth or across their cheek.  With this in mind, I always instruct my assistant to follow my subject’s movement with the video light .. and to carefully look at how the nose’s shadow appears.

To counter-balance that effect of the video light, I often add bounced flash to the equation.  But I dial down the flash exposure compensation so that the flash merely helps to lift the contrast of the scene.  And it is also essential that I gel my flash for Tungsten in a case like this.

1/250 @ f2.5 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-S (B&H); Nikon SB-900 (B&H)

But then, just to mix it up, here I used  video light and ambient light.  I diffused the video light with a coffee filter to give a softer light.

With the video light diffused like that, and mixed with the daylight filtering through the curtains, it gave a nice warm mix to the scene.  And it works.

1/250 @ f3.2 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H);  Nikon SB-900  (B&H)

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The idea remains then that it is crucial to really consider the existing light.  Look at the direction of the light.  See how many light sources you have.  Then figure out whether you need to add additional light, and what kind of light you want to throw into the mix.  In the end it always comes back to the quality of light you have … and how you use it and supplement it.

For more examples of my boudoir / intimate sessions photography, please check out my gallery.

Also check out Ed Verosky’s recent article on lighting for boudoir, as well as his Austin Boudoir Photography site.

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