Neil van Niekerk - Lighting & Design for Portrait Photography: Direction & Quality of Light

About the Author

Neil van Niekerk, based in New Jersey, specializes in portrait, wedding, and boudoir photography. He also maintains Tangents (www.neilvn.com/tangents), an active web site for photographers. He teaches workshops and seminars on photography, and has written three other popular books on lighting for photography, which have been translated into Polish, Portuguese, and Chinese. Originally from South Africa, Neil worked as a television broadcast engineer there until 2000, when he emigrated with his family to the United States. He has pursued photography as a full-time career ever since.

To see more of Neil van Niekerks work, visit:

www.neilvn.com/tangents

www.oneperfectmoment.com

www.facebook.com/neilvn.photography

Copyright 2015 by Neil van Niekerk.

All rights reserved.

All photographs by the author.

Published by:

Amherst Media, Inc.

P.O. Box 586

Buffalo, N.Y. 14226

Fax: 716-874-4508

www.AmherstMedia.com

Publisher: Craig Alesse

Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins

Editors: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt, Harvey Goldstein, Beth Alesse

Associate Publisher: Kate Neaverth

Editorial Assistance from: Carey A. Miller, Sally Jarzab, John S. Loder

Business Manager: Adam Richards

Warehouse and Fulfillment Manager: Roger Singo

ISBN-13: 978-1-60895-817-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014944595

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.

Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the authors experience and opinions. The authors and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dont Be Intimidated

When I first immersed myself in photography, it took me a while to realize that the incredible photos I saw in books and magazines werent necessarily the first imageor the whole story. Most often, I was seeing the one photograph that stood out in a series, or where the elements were perfectly controlled by the photographer.

With that realization, I felt less intimidated by great photos; they became more accessibleand more attainable to me as a new photographer. Photographs with impact or appeal could happen because of serendipity or foresight and careful planning by the photographer. Quite often, they result from recognizing the potential of a scene and working with it to finesse the composition, lighting, or pose.

About My Work and This Book

A photographer once told me my photography seemed to be all over the placethat it was unfocused and that it wasnt clear precisely what I offer clients. I should concentrate on just one thing and make that specific thing my own.

Well, that does make sense. While most of my work is related to people, there is a certain eclectic approach. Perhaps that is best explained by where I come from in my photography. At the heart of it all, I still have my amateur interest in all of photographyall of it. I still get excited at new discoveries, techniques, and gear. I am still that guy with my nose pressed against the camera store window, dreaming of doing things you only really read about in magazines. I still crave it all.

That also explains the motif of this book, which contains examples of all kinds of ideas and techniques as well as the thought processes behind them.

Over time, my portrait style has gravitated toward a look in which everything is quite simplifiedthe lighting, the background, and the framing. Whether I use the available light, video light, off-camera flash, or even on-camera bounce flash, theres an uncomplicated look. Id like to think of it as elegant, unfussy simplicity.

The challenge is to mix it up and improvise to reach for better images every time.

In this book, I will analyze my eclectic style and show that theres usually a specific underlying method and familiar rhythm that gives me a cant fail baselinea point where, at a minimum, the images look really good. From there, the challenge is to mix it up and improvise to reach for better images every time.

O ne consistent theme you will notice in this book is how to pull amazing portraits out of nowhere scenarios. The final photograph will look stunningbut when the wider pull-back shot is seen, it is a mess. With selective composition, we can decide not only what we want to include in the frame but, just as importantly, what we need to