Lighting

There seems to be a new modifier coming out of China every other week; in this video, I go over the key lighting modifiers I use as a food photographer.

As a photographer, I am not someone with extensive experience in using artificial continuous light. What better way to push yourself forward than to find something you aren’t familiar with and dive in head first? Self-growth for the win!

Getting into off camera flash can be daunting. This video covers a great and cost effective way to get your first set up without having the fear of buying the wrong equipment.

In photography, we are always looking for the best lighting for our subject, but when we don’t have the ability to choose the location or need to create interesting and dramatic lighting on the go, we need to be able to use the light we bring with us. This involves starting at the fundamentals and learning how to balance your flash and the ambient outdoor lighting.

Perhaps one of the key things that an aspiring photographer needs to learn is that the quality of light is one of the most important elements in making a great photo. Often, it's the light that makes or breaks the photo.

Halloween is just around the corner, folks, so it's time to start getting those creepy, creative ideas out of that weird head of yours and into your camera. What better place to start than in the comfort of your own home?

Gonzalo Amat, who’s up for an Emmy for his work on Amazon’s Man in the High Castle, tells us the steps he takes to make a scene stand out in darkness.

Weddings are a nonstop whirlwind of technical and creative challenges, and the more knowledge and tricks you can have for both categories, the better. This awesome video follows a photographer behind the scenes at a wedding and focuses on his use of off camera flash to help you learn how to quickly and effectively turn dull and drab lighting into professional images no matter where you're shooting.

Whether you are a photographer or videographer, more and more content creators are adding constant lights as their go-to lighting setups. Quasar Science recently released their 30-watt T8 bulbs with raving reviews, and today, I explore six useful lighting setups you can build with four lights under $80 each.

Adding some video production offerings to your photography workload has become pretty common for a lot of photographers. Even though a lot of the technology is transferable, not all the skills are, and shooting interviews, both in the setup and getting better dialogue, can be difficult to learn.

If you have a good understanding of how light works, you may find that an expensive studio stuffed full of high-end strobes and funky diffusers is far from important when it comes to creating striking images. In this short video, photographer Irene Rudnyk shows you how to produce something remarkable using little more than a shed.

As photographers and videographers, let's be honest, we never have enough light equipment. But it can quickly become quite expensive! Thanks to DIY Perks, if you own an old TV that you don't use anymore, you won't have to break your bank account to add a new LED panel to your kit.

We've been using the Falcon Eyes BL-30TD for three months now, and we are big fans. For $800, it has an amazing list of features. But, how does it compare to another light that sells for the same price?

One of the most important skills any wedding photographer needs is the ability to quickly and effectively use artificial light in both a practical and creative way, whether it's to supplement or supply the light for a scene. This great video will show you a few techniques, tips, and tricks for using off-camera flash in wedding scenarios.

The beauty of well-lit interior situations is when you can't guess how it was set up or it looks natural, as if the practicals in the room served as light sources. In this lighting tutorial, you will learn how to create a convincing scene of a cozy night interior and a fierce thunderstorm on the outside.

Portrait photographers normally have a go-to light modifier they prefer from the standard array and might work with two or three lights to completely sculpt the light as they see fit. However, this neat video shows the awesome results you can get by using a lesser-known modifier as your only light source.

The portable strobe wars are not over yet. Yongnuo is going after its own China based competition with its new pocket strobe, the YN200.

If you’ve been following my recent articles, you’ll know that I’ve been on an umbrella modifier trend. I just love how portable and easy to set up they are.

Lee Morris recently flew out to LA to compete with Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge in an epic shoot-off to see who is the better photographer. You won't be disappointed by this challenge.

When shooting portraits outdoors, you will hear many photographers saying you will get the best lighting within a few hours before dusk or after dawn. Unfortunately, there are many times when you find yourself shooting at other times of the day. Depending on the skies, the sun could be producing a much harder light than desired.

High-key lighting has a great look to it. It can be very clean and can be fun or elegant or edgy, depending of course on a few other factors of the shoot, such as makeup, hair, clothing, model/client, etc.

Telling a story doesn’t stop at your subject in photography; everything in an image gives the viewer context clues to build a narrative around. One of my favorite ways to facilitate interest and story in photography is incorporating color effect gels into the scene, but what are the best ways to use them and why?

Ever wondered how the filmmakers of probably the best-looking Star Wars movie managed to light Darth Vader's blacker than black costume without seeing the light fixtures in the helmet? The answer to this and a few more nuggets of film history and cinematography tricks are revealed in this short but fascinating interview.

I shot these images for fashion ecommerce store Zilingo when we were doing a recent campaign/catalog shoot. What a fun team to shoot with! They really have a vision for what they want to pull off and are very supportive in terms of getting there.

Besides shooting cars or architecture, light painting can also be useful when you want to achieve creative results without spending lots of money.

I’ve always loved the color red and the emotions it invokes. I suppose that's the fun thing about backgrounds, props, and general settings in that a color theme can evoke so many different thoughts and emotions. Needless to say the power of a model is critical but what you can create around the model can go a long way in conveying the feel you’re aiming for.

When you are new to artificial lighting, the veritable plethora of terms, modifiers, prices, and more can be a bit overwhelming and paralyzing when you are attempting to put together your first kit. This helpful video will give you all the guidance you need to put together your first lighting kit and be up and shooting in no time.

Understanding how to use light is one of the most important lessons a photographer needs to learn. Master this easy yet effective setup before your next shoot.

Sometimes you look at a photo or scene in a T.V show and think "that looks rubbish." For me, 9 out of 10 of those cases are the result of flat lighting. Let Vanity Fair's Reverse Film School series show you exactly how much of a difference it makes.

Being new to strobe lighting can be a bit overwhelming, but learning some fundamental techniques and manners of working can have you on your way. This helpful video tutorial will show you one of the most important techniques: balancing strobe light with ambient light.

I get emails almost weekly, asking me about certain light setups. So I decided to start doing a weekly light series on YouTube. I thought, "what's the best light setup to start it with then with one of my favorite lighting set-ups?" Hard Light! I will be rolling out a new lighting setup once a week. They will range from basic to a bit more advanced. I am very excited and happy to do this and teach some of my fellow photographers.

The wonderful thing about the internet is how incredibly easy it is to instantly access a veritable plethora of masterful photographs to inspire you. But do you ever attempt to recreate those photos yourself? This great video shows the challenges and benefits of trying to recreate other people's photos.

When Canon and Olympus were experimenting with live view on their cameras in the mid-2000s, it seems almost comical now that they didn’t think to record video with the feature that already existed on their cameras. History is repeating itself, but this time with the lowly pop-up flash.

The Profoto A1 was supposed to be a revolution in speedlights (though the company refers to it as the "world's smallest studio light"), though it carried with it the typical Profoto price tag. The Godox V1 is a very similar light with a much more affordable price. How well does it work in practice? This great video review discusses just that.

When you are new to artificial lighting, it can be a bit of a tough world to navigate. This great explores one of the most fundamental concepts behind working with artificial light and why it's so useful for photographers.

ACDSee recently asked to sponsor a video where I use their new Photo Studio Professional software. I thought it would be fun to do an entire portrait session from start to finish.

One you have started to get the hang of the basics of how light works and you feel comfortable with portraits setups using a single strobe, the next step is to move up to two-light setups, of course. This awesome video will show you how such a photo was lit, shot, and edited.

In pursuit of showing off the beautiful set design, this gorgeous photo ended up using a total of six lights, as well as a haze machine. Go behind the scenes with this awesome video to see how this complex and intricate setup all came together to produce the final result.

Are you thinking of trying out portrait photography and want to get some insight as to exactly what you need to create beautiful portraits without a lot of trial and error? Read on for some tried and true suggestions that will get you started without all the hit-and-miss experimentation.

Photographer Jason D Page was invited by Wango Tango festival 2019 to create a series of light painting portraits with some of the acts playing over the weekend, including Halsey, CNCO, and The Jonas Brothers. The photos were shot in a single take, with a team creating the surreal effects using light-painting brushes.

A couple weeks ago, I did a quick photo session with my Jiu Jitsu coach, Rafael Moreno, and I filmed the process from start to finish.

Profoto has just launched the B10 Plus, a 500w/s on-location strobe that outmatches the recently released B10 while retaining most of the previous strobe’s design cues. With a well developed back panel display, a svelte body design, and a more powerful light output, is there any room for the B1X in Profoto’s lineup?

What happens when you fly half way across the world to shoot portraits of a model on an exotic beach, but then realize the light is not as soft or usable as you thought? In this video, learn how you can sculpt the natural light the way you want to create the most flattering results.

Photographers love soft light and the “wrap around” quality that large modifiers can deliver. We contemplate the large parabolic softbox we need to purchase or the huge umbrella that will help us make window light anywhere. For impactful portraits that are just as compelling maybe it’s time you took a look at hard lighting.

When you are new to working with artificial light, one of the toughest parts is learning where to actually place the light for proper images. This helpful video will show you several fundamental lighting positions that can help jumpstart your work with strobes.

When you're new to artificial lighting, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to understand how different modifiers and attachments can change how your subject looks. This great video will show you how several common modifiers and attachments make your subject look so you can choose the appropriate equipment for your shoot.

Half the fun of working with studio strobes is that you are not constrained to the available light and can experiment with all sorts of things, like the position of the lights, the relative powers, the modifiers, and even the colors. This fun video will show you how working with color gels can produce unique and interesting results.

If there is any basic accessory almost every photographer should own, it's a 5-in-1 reflector. Versatile, portable, and cheap, I have one in my bag at all times. This excellent video will show you the many different uses for a 5-in-1 reflector and how you can employ one to improve your shots.

If you are a wedding photographer, then at some point in your career you will be faced with the challenge of making great images with conditions that are less then ideal. These tips can help you make the best of any situation.

There is certainly quite a lot that you can accomplish with natural light, but you're at the mercy of the weather outside, and sometimes, adding a bit of flash can go a long way to augment the light at hand or to even reshape it entirely. This great video will show you some different ways to use a flash to create a variety of looks when you're shooting portraits outdoors.