Photography

Smriti Khanna reveals ‘no photography and videography’ at Rakul Preet-Jackky Bhagnani’s Goa wedding |

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi stars Smriti Khanna and Gautam Gupta recently attended Bollywood couple Rakul Preet and Jackky Bhagnani’s wedding in Goa. The couple tied the knot on February 21 in Goa and it was an intimate affair.
It was also devoid of cameras as the couple made sure the guests enjoyed the wedding events. Smriti took to her vlog to share a glimpse into it and revealed that there was no photography or videography allowed.
While it was known that the couple is tying the knot, it was only revealed through the wedding pictures post the nuptials.Smriti shared many moments with husband Gautam, their friends and daughter Anayka. Little Anayka says, “Jackky chachu is getting married to Anayka chachi.”
Smriti and Gautam’s room was just below Jackky and hearing the baraat arrive, she says, “The Baarat is just outside our room but I can’t show you because phones are not allowed. The entire Bollywood is outside our room.” She further added, “I can’t dance in this heat. Gautam is dancing outside. The Anand Karaj is happening by the beach side.”

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Later, after getting ready, Smriti shares while going to the venue, “I will show you as much as I can. Videography and photography is not allowed. So I can’t cover much.”
The pheras went on for a bit long and then the wedding took place as per Hindu rituals.

Smriti also show a cute hamper of sweet treats and a pearl purse, which the guests received as wedding favours.
There was an after party, where everyone went wearing sneakers and it began post 11pm. The couple left Goa the next day.
Many Bollywood actors, including Ayushmann Khurrana, Shahid Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Ananya Pandey, and more, graced the occasion with their presence.

Oakes shows photographs at Gibbs Library

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

WASHINGTON — The Gibbs Library presents “Wanderings — Photographs by Rachel Oakes,” which will be on exhibit throughout March and April.

A nature-loving mother of three, Oakes was born and raised in Maine. She is a self-taught artist and maker, working primarily in watercolor, but often branching out into various other mediums, including ink, stone, clay, fiber arts and photography.

Larry bird celtics hi-res stock photography and images – Alamy

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Oakes Shows Photographs at Gibbs Library

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

The Gibbs Library presents “Wanderings — Photographs by Rachel Oakes,” which will be on exhibit throughout March and April.

How Nations Photo Lab Became One of the Country’s Largest Photography Printers

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Arts & Culture

Yes, people still want physical copies of their photos—and the Baltimore County business has made printing them a national phenomenon.

By Michele Wojciechowski | March 2024

Nations Photo Lab president, Harvis Kramer, with his company’s fine framed prints. —Photography by Matt Roth

While just about everyone carries a camera around in their pockets or purses these days thanks to smartphones, and we mostly share our perfectly filtered, red-eye-removed snaps on social media, there’s actually still money to be made in the tangible photo print industry.

Seriously.

Turns out people still want physical prints of their photos—something they can frame and hang on a wall or put on a desk or send to grandma. And they want something of a higher quality than you can make with an at-home printer or pick up at Walmart.

Baltimore County-based Nations Photo Lab tapped into this need early, and despite a serious detour during COVID-19, they’ve taken a small business that relied on a clientele base of sororities and fraternities and turned it into a national phenomenon, with a reputation as one of best photo labs in the country.

Before we get to that, let’s tell the origin story. Nations Photo began in earnest when its president, Harvis Kramer, met its founder and former CEO, Ryan Millman, back in 2002. As is common in Smalltimore, they had known of each other while both were attending Pikesville High School years before, but Millman was a few years ahead of Kramer.

Millman, whom Kramer refers to as a “serial entrepreneur,” had just launched his first business, called GreekYearbook, which takes photos for fraternities and sororities all over the country. (The business is still going strong today, with a network of roughly 200 photographers doing high end portraits, group photos, and event photos for about 500 universities.)

Kramer, a Reisterstown native who was president of his fraternity while attending the University of Maryland, College Park, connected with Millman via GreekYearbook. After graduating in 2002 with a degree in criminal justice with a concentration in business—he originally planned to become a lawyer—Kramer became Millman’s second full-time employee, turning down jobs with Merrill Lynch and other well-known companies.

“My family thought I was insane,” Kramer, 44, says. “But I just really believed in Ryan and what he was doing. Since then, I’ve been a founding member of all the other businesses that we’ve either started or acquired.”

As for what his family thinks now, more than 20 years later, “They think I might know what I’m doing,” says Kramer with a laugh.

ABOUT 93 PERCENT OF PHOTOS ARE NOW TAKEN WITH A SMARTPHONE, AND PERHAPS AS MANY AS FIVE BILLION PHOTOS ARE TAKEN A DAY.

Millman comes from a long line of entrepreneurs, and while in a fraternity at the University of Arizona, he had the idea to create a website that was like social media in that it allowed Greek members to connect through photos on the site, Kramer explains.

“Today, we do more high-end portraiture, but back then, we were doing more of the event photos. Each fraternity and sorority has weekly events, and we’d send photographers out to photograph them and put them online,” says Kramer.

If this origin story sounds familiar, the similarity isn’t lost on Kramer. “Mark Zuckerberg always says that he got the idea for Facebook from a Greek fraternity photo site, and there were only a few of them out there,” he says. “I actually reached out to him back in like 2003…but he never got back to me.”

Nations Photo Lab came about in 2004. As GreekYearbook grew, Kramer says they had been outsourcing all of their photo printing to other labs. “It got to a point where it made sense to bring in our own printers and really start to control the quality, the turnaround time, and the cost ourselves,” he says.

Millman started with a mini-lab in Owings Mills, because he was familiar with the area, but named it Nations Photo Lab because although they were serving mainly local photographers at the time, he knew they could grow it into something much bigger. That happened quickly, and they began printing photos for wedding photographers, school photographers, sports photographers, and others all over the country. The New York Times said in a July 2023 “Wirecutter” review, “After our latest round of testing, we remain convinced that Nations Photo Lab is the best online photo printing service for most people,” citing their simplicity in ordering online and their color-correction.

What makes their prints different is that most places offer digital printing, which is done with much lower-quality paper and ink. Kramer says that theirs are silver halide prints done with high-quality chemistry and mostly Fuji photo paper. It’s this attention to detail that keeps customers coming back. Megan McLaughlin, director of Football Information for the Baltimore Ravens, has been working with them since Nations was based in Owings Mills (they’re now in Hunt Valley). Nations produces a wide range of items for the team, including action photos, gifts, and more.

“They do many of our immediate printing needs. They’re great to deal with. If I need things on short notice or corrected, they’re always willing to help out,” McLaughlin says. “I like the fact that we’re supporting a local business. I can get them on the phone, and they’re easily accessible.”

For the last seven years, Baltimore wedding and portrait photographer Alicia Wiley has used Nations Photo Lab, not only because they’re local, but because of the products they provide.

“I do a lot of printing there—both professional and personal. I really wholeheartedly believe in shopping small. I also love the quality of their work. If there was ever any issue like a printing or shipping error, they are quick and accommodating to fix it so that it doesn’t affect my own clients’ experience,” she says.

Besides creating prints, Nations Photo Lab also makes unique photo products through its sister company, Artsy Couture, which it acquired in 2010. Artsy Couture became their innovation arm.

“We have more than eight patented products through that brand that we either sell directly to our consumers or we resell to other businesses, such as cruise lines, drug stores, or theme parks,” says Kramer. The standout among their patented items is the canvas click frame, which essentially imposes a photo onto a 3D canvas that can be easily framed, requiring no tools and minimal training. “If you’ve ever purchased and received a canvas product on a cruise ship, at a resort, or in a retail setting, there’s a strong likelihood that it was our canvas click frame.”

Some of the other patented items are wooden photo cubes, cube ornaments, and photo magnets. By expanding this way, they’ve been able to work with clients like Disney, Under Armour, Universal, The White House, luxury resorts, and many more.

Kramer believes that because they launched their business at the dawn of the true age of digital photography—a time when digital cameras became more affordable and smartphones put cameras in almost everyone’s hands—they were able to have a proverbial “leg up.” Lots of preexisting photo labs were scrambling to switch from film to digital processing, Kramer says. But Nations Photo Lab started with digital processing. “I think that really gave us an advantage—the timing of when we came into the industry.”

Capitalizing on that timing has been everything. Kramer says that about 93 percent of photos are now taken with a smartphone, and perhaps as many as five billion photos are taken a day.

“THERE’S AN AUTHENTICITY TO HOLDING A PHOTO IN YOUR HAND.”

Nations’ focus on innovation has not only enabled them to expand, but to keep the business running during the pandemic. Kramer says that in March 2020, business went down 70-80 percent. So Millman and Kramer, along with some employees, were trying to determine what they could do to keep the company afloat.

“It was a really scary time, and trying to figure out how long [the pandemic] was going to last was impossible,” explains Kramer. “I think we’re just an innovative group. We realized that a lot of our machinery was able to actually produce face shields.”

In fact, Kramer says that, for a time, they had the largest fleet of Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machines in the Mid-Atlantic region. “If you want to cut a piece of wood or glass or plastic, it’s a machine that can do huge six-foot sheets at a time, so that you can cut a bunch of stuff at once,” says Kramer. “We use them to cut our wood to produce some of our products, but we realized we could utilize those machines to cut plastic.”

Remember, this was a time when hospitals, fire and police departments, health care workers, and regular people desperately needed face shields. Millman and one of Nations Photo Lab’s engineers deciphered a way they could produce a face shield that was not only compliant, but made of the best materials available. At first, Kramer says that they were manufacturing face shields to keep their staff employed and to produce something that was helping with the pandemic.

“We were initially donating face shields to businesses, police and fire departments, and hospitals and the like to help out with the pandemic and keep our folks employed,” says Kramer. But then, they became known for their exceptional product. “We weren’t taking shortcuts. We got the best plastic and best elastic out there and made these face shields high-quality, whereas everyone else was getting a very low-quality face shield from China or wherever,” Kramer says.

They were so well done that a doctor at LifeBridge Health referred to Nations as the “Mercedes-Benz of face shields.” As a result, and as the demand for the personal protective equipment (PPE) increased, businesses, health care facilities, and local folks asked if Nations would begin producing them for purchase.

“We wanted to help the community out, and then, for a period of time, it turned into a small way that we could keep the lights on and keep people employed,” says Kramer.

When the face shield business ended, a new opportunity awaited. Remember during the pandemic when nearly everyone was either working from or staying home? People began to see what they liked and didn’t like about their homes. From this came the home décor boom, which inspired plenty of people to spruce up their walls with framed photos.

“We had a huge holiday season that year of people ordering stuff to decorate their homes,” says Kramer. The boom continued into early 2021. Later that year, events resumed, as did photo printing. In addition, Nations says there were an estimated 2.6 million weddings in 2022—the highest number since 1984—as many had been postponed.

It all adds up to a business success story where a lab born out of taking pictures at fraternities has not only kept the lights on, but has grown into one of the largest of its kind in the country. Today, the business has about 220 employees, 180 in Maryland and the rest in York, Pennsylvania, where most of the patented products are made. All of the products are available online.

As for what the next trend will be in photography, no one really knows. But chances are, Nations Photo Lab will be a part of it.

“One of the reasons we’ve been so successful is that we’re always looking ahead and watching trends. We’re thinking, ‘How can we increase this through innovation?’” says Kramer.

They’ve already made it easier to print not only on paper, but on metal, canvas, and wood. By buying do-it-yourself kits from them, photographers can now create party favors like cubes of photos at the end of an event or on a cruise.

“We just keep investing in technology that makes the process of producing a photo product much easier,” says Kramer. “People don’t print as much as they used to because they’re fine with a photo being on their phones. But there’s an authenticity to holding a photograph in your hand. It grounds the memory in reality and makes it feel more tangible and real.”

Photographer Captures Rare “Green Flash” Coming From Venus

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Recently in Sweden, photographer Peter Rosén caught a burst of several colors, especially green, around Venus in a dazzling, rare show. To fully appreciate the significance of this, it’s important to understand how light works. Light passes constantly around us and through our solar system, emanating from sources such as the sun. Sunlight—typically the white light we see illuminating our world—comes to us across millions of miles of space. When rays enter the atmosphere at an angle, they are refracted by the gas and other particles in the air we breathe. Blue light has short waves, so it bounces around even more than other colors in the spectrum—it colors the celestial dome into our blue sky. Blue is, however, just one color of the rainbow that makes up light.

Rosén—who according to his bio is a photographer, digital artist, and amateur astronomer based in Stockholm—pointed his camera at the planet Venus on January 8, 2024. “On Monday morning I woke up early to get a beautiful view of Venus and the Moon rising over Stockholm’s skyline,” he told Spaceweather. “Because of the extreme cold that still persists over southern Sweden, I also got an unexpected bonus in the form of a rare green flash on Venus.”

This flash comes from a combination of factors. The light from Venus must have traveled at the exact right angle, allowing the atmosphere of Earth to fully separate the light into its component colors. Known as atmospheric dispersion, the red light rims the bottom and the blue the top of the planet. But the blue light can be heavily scattered by particles in the atmosphere, leaving instead the slightly longer green wavelengths above the planet.

Rosén’s video displays this brilliant green, but other colors are visible as well. The cold of the night made for the perfect conditions for the rare occurrence. Other celestial bodies have green flashes, including the sun.

A photographer in Sweden captured a rare green flash off Venus on a cold night.

h/t: [Live Science]

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Oppo Partners with AlpsenTek to Revolutionize Pet Photography with…

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Imagine trying to capture the perfect moment of your pet in motion, only to be met with a blurry disappointment. This scenario, familiar to many pet owners and photography enthusiasts, is on the brink of becoming a tale of the past. At the recent Mobile World Congress, Oppo, a leading Chinese phone manufacturer, unveiled a groundbreaking collaboration with AlpsenTek, introducing a suite of AI motion features designed to transform photography and videography of fast-moving subjects.

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A Leap into the Future of Mobile Photography

Oppo’s announcement does not merely add another feature to the ever-growing list of smartphone capabilities. Instead, it marks a significant leap forward in the integration of artificial intelligence into our daily lives, particularly in how we capture and cherish moments. The new AI algorithms developed in partnership with AlpsenTek promise to deblur images of moving subjects, ensuring that pet owners can finally snap that perfect shot of their furry friends in action without the frustration of blurriness. Furthermore, this technology is not limited to still photography. It extends to enhancing slow-motion video, utilizing video interpolation to recover fast-moving objects. This means users can now enjoy high-quality slow-motion videos at an astonishing 960 frames per second in either 2K or 4K resolution, bringing every detail of motion to life with unparalleled clarity.

Not Just for Pet Lovers

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While pet photography serves as a relatable and charming application of Oppo’s new AI motion features, the implications of this technology extend far beyond. This advancement is part of a broader trend observed at the Mobile World Congress, where major phone companies, including Google with its Pixel 8 and Samsung with its Galaxy S24 and S23, showcased their latest innovations in AI to enhance photo and video capabilities. Features such as Google’s Best Take feature, which suggests the optimal facial expressions for group shots, and Samsung’s Instant Slow-Mo feature, which previews how videos could look in slow motion, highlight the industry’s focus on leveraging artificial intelligence to enrich the user experience in capturing life’s moments.

A Balanced Perspective on AI in Photography

As we marvel at the possibilities these AI-driven features unlock, it’s crucial to maintain a balanced perspective on their impact. While the ability to capture clear photos of moving subjects and produce high-quality slow-motion videos represents a significant enhancement to our photo and video capturing capabilities, it also raises questions about the authenticity of moments captured. As AI plays a more prominent role in editing and enhancing images and videos, the line between reality and digitally altered content becomes increasingly blurred. This development calls for a thoughtful consideration of how we value and perceive the authenticity of our digital memories.

Nevertheless, the collaboration between Oppo and AlpsenTek signifies a promising direction in the evolution of smartphone technology, merging the power of AI with our desire to capture and preserve life’s fleeting moments. As this technology continues to develop and become more accessible, it will undoubtedly open new horizons for both amateur and professional photographers alike, offering tools that were once thought to be the domain of high-end cameras. The future of photography is here, and it’s clearer, sharper, and more dynamic than ever before.

Inverness Darkroom Shines a Light on Analogue Photography’s Resurg…

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

In the heart of Inverness, within the vibrant corridors of the WASPS Creative Academy, a unique initiative is celebrating a significant milestone. The Inverness Darkroom, established by a trio of photography enthusiasts, marks its fifth anniversary, standing as a testament to the enduring allure of analogue photography. Founders Rachel Fermi, Matt Sillars, and Brian McIntosh have not only created a space for developing film but have also fostered a community of photographers, united by their passion for the tactile, immersive process that digital technology cannot replicate.

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Reviving a Lost Art

The Inverness Darkroom, now among Scotland’s largest facilities dedicated to analogue photography, offers a haven for both seasoned photographers and novices alike. Its growth from a modest venture to a hub with approximately 50 active members underscores the rising interest in traditional photographic methods. Workshops, ranging from basic introductions to more specialized techniques, equip participants with the skills to explore the creative potential of film photography. The founders’ mission extends beyond mere nostalgia; they aim to ensure that the art of developing film remains a vibrant and accessible craft.

A Community United by Passion

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What sets the Inverness Darkroom apart is not just its facilities but the community it has nurtured. From professionals to hobbyists, its membership spans a broad spectrum, reflecting the universal appeal of analogue photography. This diversity has been especially poignant during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the darkroom provided a sanctuary for individuals seeking solace and connection through creative expression. The founders’ vision of creating a space that transcends mere photographic development has been realized; it has become a locus of support, learning, and inspiration.

Looking Toward the Future

As the Inverness Darkroom celebrates its fifth anniversary, the founders are already eyeing the future with ambitious plans. Achieving charitable status is a key goal, one that would enable the initiative to secure funding and expand its offerings. This step would not only ensure the darkroom’s sustainability but also strengthen its role as a cultural and educational pillar in the community. The potential for growth is immense, fueled by a resurgence of interest in analogue photography and a deep-seated desire for tangible, meaningful connections in a digital age.

The story of the Inverness Darkroom is more than just a celebration of photography. It is a narrative of resilience, community, and the enduring power of art to bring people together. As it embarks on its next chapter, the darkroom stands as a beacon for those who find joy in the slow, deliberate process of film photography, and a reminder of the beauty that can emerge when we pause to look closer at the world around us.

Through the ‘Windows’ and ‘Mirrors’: Young Photographers Reflect o…

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

La Galerie, Alliance Française de Dhaka, is currently the canvas for the ‘Contemplation’ group photography exhibition. Fifteen budding photographers, under the guidance of respected photographer Abir Abdullah, are using this platform to address contemporary societal issues through their lens. The exhibition, which opened last Friday, will continue until Wednesday.

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A Diverse Palette of Themes

The exhibition’s body of work encompasses a multitude of themes: from marginalized communities’ narratives to self-reflection, from environmental concerns to human emotions. Each photographer paints a story through a series of ten photographs, exploring both the familiar and the discomforting. The exhibition’s underlying concept revolves around the metaphorical ‘windows’ and ‘mirrors’, allowing the photographers to delve into both external observations and self-introspection.

Notable inclusions in the exhibition are Asfaque Ahmed’s ‘The River Flows in You’, Asif Iqbal Swopneel’s ‘Reminiscence of A Mother and Child: A Son’s Tribute’, Asif Musaddeque’s ‘Gone in A Breath: A Visual Ode to Unnoticed Dance Devotion’, and ‘The Mighty Brahmaputra: Life, Change and Hope in its Flow’ by Iqbal Hossain. These works are a testament to the diverse storytelling capabilities of the participating photographers.

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The Role of Mentorship and the Power of Photography

Under the mentorship of revered photographer Abir Abdullah, the participants have been encouraged to utilize photography as a powerful medium to voice social concerns and reflect on personal experiences. Abdullah’s guidance has been instrumental in shaping the narrative of the exhibition, allowing the photographers to tap into their creativity and express their perspectives.

In the wider context, the significance of this exhibition extends beyond the gallery’s walls. As documented by The Financial Express, photography in Bangladesh has come a long way in documenting social and political issues, tracing its evolution from the country’s struggle for independence in 1971 to the current digital era. It provides a stark reminder of how photography has morphed into an influential tool in shaping societal narratives.

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Aspiring Photographers: A Platform to Reflect and Inspire

The ‘Contemplation’ group photography exhibition aims to provide a platform for young visual storytellers, encouraging them to present their reflections on a variety of topics. The exhibition serves as an open invitation to society to engage in dialogue, to question, and to reflect. In the process, it has created a space for aspiring photographers to inspire and be inspired.

As the exhibition draws to a close this Wednesday, it leaves behind a legacy of thought-provoking narratives and a testament to the power of visual storytelling. It serves as a reminder of the potential of photography to connect, reflect, and inspire change.

What Is a Briese and Why Do Pro Photographers Love It So Much? |

Feb 26, 2024 By Admin in Photography

Probably, most of us have at some point encountered a behind-the-scenes photo where there is a parabolic reflector with the name Briese written on the side in yellow letters. Yet, very few photographers have actually worked with it or know what makes it so special. Recently, I got a chance to try out Briese reflectors and generators in Hamburg. Read on to find out why I fell in love from the first sight.

I’ve Seen It All, Yet Briese Was Something Else

It is rare that I am so impressed by a product, mostly because I have been a user of high-end equipment almost from the get-go and got used to everything working once I turn it on. Profoto spoiled me with their quality. Moreover, when I was 19, I got to shoot in the Profoto studio in Stockholm, so it is fair to say I was hard to impress afterward. The experience of being able to create virtually any light possible was a game-changer in how I approached photography. I went on to hone my skills, shoot with some of the most expensive kit in the world, and at some point thought to myself that I’ve tested most light shaping tools and I am comfortable with creating any light needed given the right tools.

Yet, having had access to pretty much any light shaping tool, I always had this thought in the back of my head: what the heck is Briese? Seriously, what is it? I kept on seeing the greats such as Rankin, Steven Klein, Testino, and so on, use it. Yet, when I went to check out them, I was slightly thrown off because it just seemed like another parabolic modifier. Sure, a very good one, but at its core a parabolic.

Not a Parabolic Reflector, In Fact

Boy, was I wrong about Briese. As it turned out, their modifiers are not even parabolic. They’re reflectors. Upon arriving in Hamburg and stepping into Briese studios, the rabbit hole went deeper. I was blown away.

Turns out, Briese reflectors are just that: reflectors. The founder is very fond of the term reflector, as opposed to modifier. His inventions don’t modify light; rather, they reflect it. The unique way Briese reflect light is exactly what makes them such a desired light shaping tool in high-end photo and video productions.

Hans Werner Briese, or Harvey Briese was the first to invent such a shape and patent the design of the reflector. Everything from the yellow lines to the material, to the way the flash tube sits in the reflector. Once they became increasingly popular for the incredibly soft yet crisp look, some lighting companies stole the design and sold it as their own. This went on to set a trend for “parabolic” modifiers. Everything from umbrellas to softboxes to direct rip-offs of Briese design. Briese reflectors are not a “scaled up” parabola. Each reflector has its own unique light curve. As such, the 180 is a harder light than a 50. Herr Briese broke the laws of lighting with his design.

What makes the light special? I had the pleasure of shooting with Briese reflectors in Hamburg. Everything from the tiny 50 to the huge 330, which is the largest one in the world. What I noticed was a light of truly unique quality, a 3D effect that you simply can’t get from any other modifier. Circling back to my experience with almost every light shaping tool, I was blown away by how crisp yet soft the light coming from a Briese reflector was. What is more, the focusing was simply unparalleled. No other reflector of similar shape and size can go from practically hard Fresnel-like light to full soft flood light.

To be more specific, there are two types of Briese reflectors: the Focus.2 and the H-S, which is a totally new patent. The Focus.2 is a fairly classical well-known reflector shape. It creates a wonderful flood and a great spot light. However, the most recent development in Briese reflectors is the Hard-Soft series of reflectors. They have been designed to give two, and in some cases three, distinct light curves. This is achieved by making the reflector interior from a variety of materials, some more specular than others. As such, you can be sure to create a hard focused spot of light in the zoomed-in position, as the material the light is bouncing from is incredibly reflective, similar to that of a hard metal reflector. Zoom out a little, and you start reflecting light from a still metallic, but a slightly less reflective material. It is not as smooth as the innermost material; hence, the light becomes a little more diffused. Mind you, this is a sliding scale, and it’s quite hard to pinpoint what category of light it will be exactly. The closest I can bring it to is a sliding scale between a hard Fresnel to a diffused specular. Mind you, Briese light is Briese light.

Having used a number of different Briese reflectors, I made a few observations to help you pick.

Pick Your Briese

Briese Focus.2 330

The biggest one out there. Perfect for creating ultra-soft crisp light. It is probably too much for your home studio but will come in really handy with lighting large groups and objects. Think of the new Vogue UK cover with over 50 women.

Briese Harvey 180

A smaller reflector that is suited for large sets with up to five or so subjects. The light is harder when compared to the 330; but not the hardest. That said, a 50 will be softer compared to the 180 because of the unique 3D light curve of the 180. It wraps around the subject in the most spectacular way.

Briese Harvey 50

Super portable beauty and portrait light. This will give you quite a hard light, but the hardness will be compensated by the crispness of it. The shadows will be very prominent.

Briese Focus.2 H-S 115

This has to be my favorite reflector. Part of the new generation, this reflector can go from ultra-hard to incredibly soft – almost breaking the laws of physics. In the flood position, it creates a beautiful, even light with barely any difference from center to edge; however, in the focused position, it makes a truly hard Fresnel-like light perfect for lighting people.

Briese Downlight

I had to try the hard reflectors Briese makes. Their shape is quite unique and somehow retro. The downlight gives a really cool hard shadow, which I haven’t really seen any other hard reflector do. It is zoomable, of course, but the difference between zooms is not as dramatic as with the soft reflectors.

Let’s talk about something that deserves even more attention than Briese reflectors. Briese Neos. The Briese Neos is in a category of its own, to be frank. This is not just a flash generator; it is undoubtedly the best, the ultimate, the one and only generator. The Neos is a studio generator, of course. It is very retro in size and shape, but probably the most modern generator on the inside. To be frank, I did love that I had a white cabinet with tons of power I could wheel around. It almost felt like one of those old generators. On the inside, the NEOS is truly magnificent, if not magical. First of all, two flash outputs. These can be used symmetrically or asymmetrically. The Briese heads are either single heads or twin heads. The single head is 2,400W, the Twin is double that. If you are lighting a huge space and you want to keep ISO 100, f/11, and want to use a Focus.2 330, trust me, you will need all the power you can get, with some left at the top.

The freezing ability of the NEOS is unmatched by any other generator on the market. To test this out, I took two images of a studio fan spinning at a notoriously high RPM. To the right is an image of the fan stationary, and to the left is the fan spinning at full power. Or is it the other way around? I can’t tell, because the fan looks still in both of the shots.

Alright, it’s a powerful flash generator, what else? Well. Now in many productions, there is a need for stills and video. Briese Neos can do both. It can give flash power, at the same time as giving you HMI (or daylight). Simply take your camera for video and film away with the same setup you had for flash. The accuracy is similar to that of Arri lights.

Another cool tool for your creativity is the E-focus. Sure, if you are shooting with Briese you are likely to have an assistant on set who will go climb any height to adjust your focusing by half an interval. But, why spend all that time? E-focus allows you to control tilt, focus, and swing of the modifier from a distance. It’s an assistant that does not need to be paid or talked to. E-focus is a very convenient and easy-to-use invention, especially if your lights are far up in the sky.

There is a lot more I can say about the Briese Neos, as a full review will be coming soon. For now, I leave off with a taste and introduction into the Briese system.

So, Why Use Briese Over Other Light Modifiers?

Briese reflectors are a unique light-shaping tool that allows you to capture unparalleled levels of detail, with control never seen before. With portrait photography, they are perfect for lighting people with dimensions. Such a dimension is only possible with Briese. Trust me, I tried getting it with a softbox. It’s impossible. The closest one can get to Briese is by using a softbox with a zoom reflector in the middle, but that will still be really really far.

The other benefit of Briese is the versatility that you can get from such a light. Being able to use it as a spot and as a flood, with everything in between as an option means that you are never left wanting for more reflectors. The reflectors ship with a set of diffusers, but you can also add a grid to increase the versatility of your reflector.

If you are an e-commerce studio, getting a Briese is the cheapest and most effective way of stepping up your production value. The unique quality of Briese light means that every texture, every color, and every little detail is visible. Also, having a Briese means that you only need one light, which saves cost. Investing in the NEOS means that you can streamline photo and video production, and earn a lot more by spending a lot less on equipment, training, and staff.

If I had to use a single light for the rest of my career, it would be a Briese 115 with a Neos pack. However, you might be wondering, what about Profoto? Well, I am a huge fan, and I will be investing in a Briese reflector that runs off a Profoto pack. At some point, maybe a decade down the road, I will probably be using Briese reflectors with a Briese Neos pack. Fortunately, Briese reflectors are available with an adapter for Profoto, Broncolor, and Hensel, so you’re never limited in terms of the system you use.