Lighting

MagMod has quickly become the go to flash modifier for a ton of photographers. Being able to quickly and easily attach grids, gels, and diffusers to your flash via small magnets makes shaping your light super simple. So when MagMod announced the new MagBeam, a lot of people got really excited. So excited that they demolished their $25,000 goal by raising just over $300,000 via their Kickstarter campaign. But does this new modifier live up to the hype?

It's been going on for decades. Film chemicals that coat the film and react with the various colors coming through the lens weren't made to cope with a diverse set of skin tones.

In this video from Aputure, Director of Photography Julia Swain is invited to share her techniques for lighting a dinner table scene, which are common to film productions, but also have applications in the corporate and documentary video world. After the video, check out some of my own personal examples from lighting a similar setup, but instead for a corporate roundtable with an all black background.

I have always preferred simplicity when it comes to lighting portraits. When connecting with a model or subject, especially when working without assistants, I hate having to deal with several lights or various flags, cutters, and bounce cards. This way I can work the camera and move around without having to worry about tripping over my whole setup, and my subject feels more comfortable without obtrusive equipment crowding them. Also, if the model can move around a little, I feel that I can get far more natural poses when they aren't confined by specific lighting. My favorite lighting tool to "keep it simple" with is the Westcott 7-foot Parabolic Umbrella.

It is a common expectation that when clients hire you, it is because they like your style and think you will help project their brand’s identity. But what do you do when, despite previous exchanges, on the shooting day, you realize that your clients have entirely different expectations. Do you just change everything to adapt to their needs or do you say no?

Suicide Squad opened in theaters this month and pulled in a staggering $133 million while managing to barely break a 25% critical score on the much-lauded review site Rotten Tomatoes. What this seems to mean is that when it comes to the comic-book-born heroes and villains of our youth, we'll show up in droves even if we've been warned.

One of the best things a portrait photographer can do is learn how to master a single off-camera light. Most photo shoots don’t allow enough time to set up multiple lights, and when shooting on location, carrying more than one light can be too cumbersome to manage. In this video, we see a very useful way to use one off-camera flash with some simple modifiers to create a dramatic portrait.

One of the best ways to achieve a nice soft light on your subjects is to use a scrim. These scrims can range from large reflectors to giant sheets, but they all perform the same task, and that’s diffusing hard light. The problem with scrims is that while diffusing the light, they also lower the power of that light. This loss in power is dependent on the specific scrim you are using and can range from a quarter stop of light all the way to one and a quarter stop of light. The problem with this is that as you lower the light on your subject, while still getting a proper exposure on them, you are in turn raising the exposure of your background. In this video you can see how Joel Grimes uses a scrim net to help control this added brightness to his background.

As the northern autumn draws closer, bizarre little creatures pop up all over the temperate forest. On the forest floor, underneath hedgerows and on trees, alive or the ones who have fallen. Fungi are the cleaning crew of the forest as they take care of layers of fallen deadwood and provide nutrients back to the forest. Surely they are great subjects for macro photography. Like everyone else, I’m looking to find their reproductive organs: Mushrooms. They let our imagination run wild as these little toadstools hint of fantasy worlds when photographed in a certain way. This is how I recreate my own little fantasy world.

Aputure has released their latest LED panel, and it’s nothing like what they’ve created before. The panel is tiny, cheap, and looks like a very handy gadget to have on set.

“Bloody hell, it’s like having a bonfire in the middle of the room.” Andy Moir, an electrical engineer, recently hooked up a 20,000-watt lightbulb in his house, and 95 amps and 210 volts later, the results are astounding.

We have all seen the amazing and dramatic images that have shafts of light streaming through a window. The look seems really easy to reproduce. You buy a fog machine, fill a room with smoke and create amazing images. But like most thing in life, it’s not that simple. In this video we see some key points in how to really make this look work.

Canon Master Krystle Wright had a pretty neat idea: shooting a kayaker cresting a 60-foot waterfall at night. With some ingenuity, she got her shot.

When I got into wedding photography twelve years ago, I didn't know a single photographer who was shooting macro shots of their clients' rings. Today, these shots have become expected, and hopefully, if you're a wedding photographer, you've got a macro lens in your bag so that you can capture professional-looking shots of the rings.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." It's no secret that many of my clients belong to the LGBTQ community. I've worked hard to build a following in a demographic that should consider me an outsider; there is a real fear of being judged by anyone who doesn't routinely walk in their shoes. However, my client base hasn't always looked like this, and the road to building trust has been interesting to say the least. Why go through trouble? The simple answer is, “Because I love doing it!”

Even though technology has come a long way, you have to have some kind of lighting in order to film. Generally, cinematographers bring in giant ARRI lights to help make a scene look realistic, but for the BBC TV series "Wolf Hall," they opted for a more natural approach. Cooke Optics TV sat down with cinematographer Gavin Finney to talk about how he used candlelight as the only source of light during nighttime scenes.

Learning how to properly light the human face can be a challenge for many beginner and intermediate level photographers. Sure, you can grab a single light source, your significant other, and turn a Sunday afternoon into an experimental test shoot, but what happens when you want to start playing around with multiple lights? Figuring out where exactly to place your lights can be a daunting task, but luckily there are dozens of common lighting setups available for critique right on your television!

"I can't take a shot like that. My camera isn't good enough. Oh sure, you can talk all you want, but you have thousands of dollars in expensive equipment! Yeah, I know it's the photographer, not the camera, but let's get real: my beginner gear can't do that!" Excuses, excuses, excuses. A lot of people, especially those just starting out, use their lack of pro gear as a tether, holding them back from getting the shots they are capable of. Here are some reasons to push past your budget concerns and make the most of what you have.

Portrait photography is very diverse. While some enjoy the comfort of studio portraits and the flexibility it brings, others prefer the variety of backdrops the outdoors provides. While it is totally realistic to create all kinds of weather moods in the studio, it often involves a bigger budget, whereas one can achieve similar results for free by relying on the weather forecast and proper equipment choices.

Light painting is one of the rights of passage photographers have to try at some juncture. I enjoyed playing around with it in the early days, but what surprised me is I have used the techniques commercially on several occasions; from creating better backgrounds to my portraits in dark locations to capturing English Heritage sites. The importance of knowing how to light paint isn't necessary per se, but it does help you understand how light works and how your camera exposes a scene.

I have a lot of respect for photographers who solely focus on beauty imagery. It’s definitely a skillset that I’ve been honing over the past few years, but ultimately one that I’ve come to develop an appreciation for. However, beauty photography does not have to be terribly difficult. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create beautiful beauty lighting with a single studio strobe and a reflector.

There are plenty of sources that will give you photogenic hard light. The sun comes to mind, obviously. Even a bare bulb strobe. But there’s something magic about the light that pours out of a traditional style tungsten Fresnel.

For many portrait and wedding photographers, high-speed sync is a savior, but for those new to lighting, it can be a bit of a strange bird. Chicago-based Photographer Manuel Ortiz has created a great video that demonstrates why HSS is a desirable thing to have.

Over the years as a boudoir photographer, I have noticed a theme when it comes to new shooters about the "restrictions" they come across. Countless times I hear or read, "I wish I could upgrade my gear," "I just do not have a commercial space," or my favorite, "I just cannot afford to have all those set ups." Well quite frankly, that is a load of bull.

The humble beauty dish is a studio favorite but it is not often the first modifier most reach for when heading outdoors. Most beauty dishes are not all that portable and can add significant weight to your kit. With a few collapsible beauty dishes currently on the market you can now easily take that gorgeous light with you anywhere. Joel Grimes shows you how to make the most out of using a beauty dish in an outdoor setting.

Continuous strip lights have become quite popular for portrait and video work in recent years. Nonetheless, they can be very expensive. In this video, Joe Edelman walks us through his process in creating a full studio kit of strip lights for a fraction of the price.

Understanding the basic concepts of studio lighting is equally important to the seasoned professional as it is to the aspiring new photographer. In this episode of a series on lighting, photographer Mark Wallace explains how the size and position of your light can change the quality of light. What's nice about this video and others from Mark is that it is easy to follow as he illustrates exactly what he's talking about.

Today Phottix has announced it is shipping its highly anticipated Odin II transceiver for Sony to their partners worldwide. The new Odin will allow Sony users with the Multi-Interface Shoe (found on the Sony a7x/a6x bodies) the ability to have TTL and HSS functionality using the Phottix Indra and Mitros+ line of flashes.

Multimedia projectors have become so affordable in recent years that it is quite likely that you either own one or know someone who does. This is good news for filmmakers and photographers who are interested in achieving a unique range of eye-catching lighting effects in-camera.

Recently I bought a new Vizsla puppy named Leo. I decided to take a few portraits of Leo in the studio and I put them on Facebook. They became my most liked images of all time. Yesterday I went back to the studio to create a video on how I did it.

Light painting is a rite of passage in photography these days, like landscapes, macro, or starting a shoot with your lens cap on. In fact, it has become such a trend in the photography world that it has already become jaded and stale to a large extent. That's not to say there aren't still fantastic light painted images, but rather that it has become so easy to do that there's an abundance of very similar results. A natural consequence of this is people trying to forge a derivation that's fresh and unique, which is exactly what FilmSpektakel has done.

Four years ago I purchased my first set of studio strobes in an attempt to learn how to shoot portraits like the ones I saw in my favorite print magazines. Having shot most of my portraits using available light at f/2 and under, I thought this would translate over easily when I switched to shooting with strobes. As I snapped my first frame and realized that even at the lowest power setting on the strobe the image was overexposed, I set out to find a way to be able to accomplish the effect. The answer was high-speed sync.

Oh, what's that? I'm using flashes to take a portrait? Well let's turn those bad boys up to 11 and make that subject pop! When you're first learning to light with flashes, the temptation can be overpowering to drown out all the ambient light in your scene to make your subject stand out. I'd argue that, at least for environmental portraiture, sometimes subtlety with flash is a more compelling way to go.

The green screen effect (also known as "chroma keying") is highly useful and pretty cool. Lighting a green screen is a royal pain in the neck, however. Luckily, B&H has released a video to help you navigate the process and pull off convincing shots.

For a very short time, you've got a chance to get some of the best off camera flash products on the market at a hugely discounted rate. Get almost 50% off FlexTT5 Transceivers and MiniTT1 Raadio Slave Transmitters, for both Nikon and Canon. A wide variety of other PocketWizard products are also discounted until tomorrow May, 12th.

SLR Lounge founding partner, photographer, and retoucher, Pye Jirsa, walks us through a quick Lightroom tutorial on how to adjust a photo that has mixed light. How many times have you taken a group shot only to find one or two of your subjects were poorly lit because they were too far from the source light, hidden behind another subject, or from using multiple ambient light sources?

Paris-based French Photographer Dani Olivier has spent eight years refining a process for creating incredibly mesmerizing images by projecting intricate patterns of light onto nude models.

Strap yourself in, and get ready for a really dorky article on lighting. I promise to get only slightly technical and hopefully open your eyes to the amazing differences you get from the various options available to both motion and still photography.

Softpanels LED lights claimed three awards at NAB 2016, and it’s easy to see why, with innovative features such as auto skin tone enhancement and auto balance feature for matching color temperatures.

Matt Workman is a cinematographer and the founder and host of the Cinematography Database Show. On this particular episode he offers an in-depth analysis of the cinematography of Quentin Tarantino’s "The Hateful Eight," shot by Director of Photography Robert Richardson.

As a headshot and portrait photographer, I'm always looking to streamline my process and create consistent results for my clients. With that in mind I want to share with you my "bread and butter," super-simple setup I've been using for the last two years.

For years, Elinchrom users have been complaining about the aging Skyport. A few months ago, the Swiss flash manufacturer finally released the brand new Skyport HS, and it is a great product. However, not everyone needs its advanced features. Some photographers couldn’t care less about technical stuff and only want their transmitter to do the job it is designed for: triggering the flash remotely. Well, that’s why the Skyport Plus was recently released.

Westcott is known for their amazing lighting products. Not only do they have great lighting modifiers and lights, but they are also constantly coming up with new technologies and products that make life as a photographer easier. Their new line of flex lights promises to do just that, but how do they perform in the real world?

The umbrella. The quintessential light modifier, right? Wrong! Over the years, I've developed a rather severe umbrella aversion. Umbrellas are an enemy that never find a spot in my camera bag, and I'm about to tell you why!

Yes I said it. I can hear the outraged shrieks of equipment addicted photographers, but hear me out. In February, I went to Capetown for a month to please my trigger finger and shot eight stories in the same location using just natural light. South Africa is a renowned location for occidental productions. When it is snowing in Europe and in the States, it is summer season there. During that time the only weather complication can arise from wind with the upside being constant blue skies. During my stay, I got unpredictable rain and clouds. When I was done throwing tantrums at the black skies and banging my head against a wall questioning my decision of spending hard earned bucks to fly to the southern tip of Africa, I capitulated and went with the flow. And learned a lot in the process. Getting out of my comfort zone reminded me about the core of photography: my vision.

Getting color consistency from your eye, to your camera, to your computer can be a real pain in the butt. Especially if you still haven't settled into a reliable, regular workflow. Color calibrating your monitor once a month and taking reference images with a gray card are invaluable when it comes to getting consistent color. If you are still struggling with getting your image colors to look right, then Freelance Photographer Gavin Hoey has the video for you. Watch as Gavin walks through a step-by-step process on how to achieve consistent color.

Photographer Erik Christian, based in Hudson Valley, NY, created athletic portraits using continuous lights and strobes. He recently shot a series of mixed light portraits for a local newspaper that annually features their local high school basketball all-stars. He decided to shoot the team much more creatively than past portrait sessions.

Continuous light sources used to be preferred by videographers more than photographers. However, in the last few years, it has become common to replace strobes with LED, HMI, or tungsten equipment. Unlike flash, with continuous lighting, what you see is what you get. It makes it much easier to set up and thus a great alternative for fast-paced work environments. Even more useful is that no recharging time is needed between each shot. The only issue remaining is often either the lack of power or the portability. Find out how to overcome both with this DIY powerful dimmable LED light.

Swimwear Photography with Joey Wright Behind The Scenes continues today with Episode 2. In last weeks episode you were able to see our journey from the US down to Curacao. In this episode we finally begin filming lessons with Joey for this swimwear photography tutorial.

Los Angeles-based photographer Zach Sutton has spent a long time doing on-location photoshoots for his business. These kinds of shoots usually involve the typical off-camera strobes on light stands and maybe an assistant to help mule equipment or adjust lighting for the photographer. However, when Sutton moved to L.A. last July, he quickly learned that this sort of on-location shoot is not allowed in the city without a proper commercial shoot permit — even if it’s ultimately for personal use. His solution for getting by light stand free looks somewhat crazy, but the end results speak for themselves.