Bøger af Neil van Niekerk

Photographers are always looking for perfect light. Unfortunately, the quality of available light, and the situations in which photos are created, are rarely perfect. This is especially true when photographing weddings or portraits on location. So while finding beautiful existing light is every photographer’s ideal, it isn’t always possible.This is the point at which photographers tend to reach for a portable, on-camera flash. Indeed, these intense light sources can prove invaluable, but only if you know how to use them effectively. In the hands of an inexperienced photographer, on-camera flash will produce images that look flat and lifeless—images with harsh shadows, washed-out skin tones, cavernous black backgrounds, and other unappealing visual characteristics.In this book, acclaimed wedding and portrait photographer Neil van Niekerk shows you how to avoid the pitfalls photographers new to speedlights often encounter so that you can produce professional images using on-camera flash. You’l learn to use simple accessories to manipulate the quality of light from your flash and how to improve a lighting scenario by enhancing rather than overwhelming the existing light. When the available light is too low and too uneven to be combined with flash, he shows you how to override it completely.

Some photographers make portraits that we can’t take our eyes off of. These images create mood, evoke emotion, and pique our curiosity. They have that certain something that other portraits seem to lack. These rare images are memorable—the kind of shots that clients want and photographers strive to emulate. These portraits are technically precise and have style.Neil van Niekerk is a big name in the portrait and wedding photography industry. His masterful photographs get a reaction, and he’s devoted to helping others create compelling portraits for their clients. In this book, van Niekerk shows readers strategies for creating a wide range of portrait looks (romantic, fun, sweet, dramatic, glamorous, or moody) in lackluster, middle-of-nowhere locales, small home studios, big expanses, and even on rooftops. Starting with traditional lighting and posing strategies and moving through “spicier” varieties, he shows readers how integrating specialized lighting (rim lighting, backlighting, flare, and low-key lighting—using natural light and artificial sources) and compositional approaches (shallow depth of field, lens compression, and unorthodox perspectives) into their creative approach can allow them to take full creative control over their portrait-taking process so that they’re able to deliver incredible shots of their clients in any photographic conditions.

Providing readers with a study of learning how to turn poorly lit images into finely crafted, masterfully lit photographs, this guidebook instills photographers with the self-confidence to think on their feet and photograph any portrait subject anywhere. Acclaimed photographer Neil van Niekirk presents seven distinctly different lighting scenarios-available light, exposure metering, a touch of flash, bounced on-camera flash, off-camera flash, video light, and hard sunlight-to show readers how to manipulate the direction and quality of light, the subject's and photographer's position, and numerous other variables so as to turn a bad image into a stunning, professional-level portrait. Packed with dozens of instructional, full-color photos, this work also features 10 sample photo sessions, allowing readers the opportunity to see the seven lighting scenarios put to practice.

With this guidebook, photographers learn how to create stunning, professional images while avoiding the common pitfalls of using an on-camera flash. Techniques for using simple accessories such as bounce cards and diffusers, as well as how to improve a lighting scenario by enhancing it rather than overwhelming it, show photographers how to master this challenging aspect of portraiture.