Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
It’s been a busy couple months around here, and while I’ve taken the time out to post some tutorials, there’s some stuff going on outside of this blog that I should link to.
Some people just prefer to be in the water. For the third year in a row (I think I’m onto something here), Julie Cole invited me to come photograph her wonderful family of 8. For the second year in a row, they chose to do it in their bathing suits. Julie and I realized the […]
Ghetto-Flo Intro I was introduced to the “Ghetto-Flo” lights after reading the excellent blog of New York-based photographer Brad Trent. He had mounted 4 standard workshop flourescent light fixtures into light-stand mountable strip lights. “Ghetto-Flo” because they’re similar in use to the much more expensive Kino-Flo lights, though there are advantages to the later (variable […]
A product photo for my review of the Canon 40mm ƒ/2.8 “Pancake” lens for Canonrumors.com. It was a fun thing to do, honestly, 90% of my product photography is against a white backdrop. It makes sense, most websites have white backgrounds, white sits well as an image into them highlighting the product but it just […]
I’m proud to announce that I’ve partnered up with the much lauded website “Canon Rumors” in an ongoing series of reviews on Canon lenses, some bodies, and maybe other things as they come along. In some cases I’m reviewing lenses I already own, and have used for a while, others are new to me and […]
I was on twitter a few days ago, and caught a tweet by someone that asked why a photographer hadn’t shot the twitter egg (the default avatar for new users) as a real egg? And seeing this as an opportunity to actually produce this I said he was right – and I would. Simple objects […]
Tristan his son Phoenix are currently fundraising for “Ride the Rideau” in support of Cancer Research. You can donate to them here & look for their article in an upcoming issue of Kitchissippi Times. Lighting it There are plenty of natural light photographers, the good ones can work in any conditions, but even they are […]
Strip lights are one of those light mods you don’t need at first. You get by with an umbrella or soft box because, really, you’re just lighting your subjects face or other important foreground details. Then you think “hey, their back is kind of dark” or “how do I light the entire length of their […]
Home remedies for kids with colds – Quinn’s sick – though once I put him in front of the camera he sprung to life. Go figure. Setup was pretty straighforward, I mention my setup info on my flickr page. A friend of mine once asked “What are all these .XMP files, and why do I […]
I like the adventure, the thrill, the danger that it brings. I leave myself exposed and open – that’s right – I don’t use a UV filter to protect my lens glass. This is a controversial subject among “#phodo gear-heads, and I’ve read as many good reasons as bad as to the use of a […]
Before the new year, I wrote about my favourite portable softboxes to use with speedlights, and promised a follow-up post on my favourite flash-triggers. This is not that post. What I will talk about is ONE trigger that I’ve been using with increased frequency: FlashZebra’s 16 foot TTL cord. This thing gives me a 8x […]
There are few things you can purchase that will improve your photography. Indeed, the only way I’ve seen people get better is through practice (or riduculous intuition and artistic ability – but we don’t like those people). 10,000 photos, or 10,000 hours; either way, it’s gonna take you time, trial, and error. But if there’s […]
I’ve had a lot of people ask me “what softbox should I get?” It’s a loaded question, how should I know? And while the variety of softboxes out there will likely mirror the hundreds of potential uses for them, I do believe there is a solid group of entry-level softboxes available to anyone interested in […]
