Portrait lighting takes a good eye for nuance, and as such, it can be easy to overlook smaller details that detract from the overall quality of the image. If you would like to improve your portrait lighting, check out this helpful video tutorial that demonstrates a common mistakes and how you can fix it to improve the quality of your portraits.
YouTube and photography blogs seem to be all stocked up with quick BTS videos these days. We see photographers swinging lights around and talking about post, but I don’t think we see enough of their thought processes. Here, with Nathan Elson, we get a little bit of everything.
Guest Writer, Paul Monaghan is a self taught photographer based just out side of Glasgow in Scotland who has has been shooting for the better part of six years. When he first started, he would shoot everything around him from landscapes, people and concerts. Eventually, he found his way to birds.
Good lighting can do more than just properly illuminate your subject for a good exposure; it can help you tell a story. This super informative video will show you four lighting setups for cinematic silhouettes.
We often talk about how to kill the ambient light in a shot so you can fully control the lighting with flash, but sometimes, you actually want to use both natural and artificial light in a shot. This great video will show you how to balance both flash and ambient light for a balanced result.
Photographing glass or any kind of object that is semi or fully transparent can present some serious challenges.
Everyone loves a nice silhouette shot. You can create them outdoors during the dusk and dawn hours. But what if you can create such shots inside your studio space with a single light anytime, any day? This video shows you how to get started.
With so many lighting modifiers, understanding how each one works and in what situation you ought to use them can be a little daunting. In this video, Karl Taylor discusses two of the most common and demonstrates their differences.
Miguel Quiles is one of my favorite photographers for studio portraits because of his command of light and the effortless ways he interacts with his models to get beautiful and powerful portraits. In this video, he walks through some simple and inexpensive tips on creating great off-camera flash portraits.
Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that has seen a spike in exposure in the United States the past few years making it a perfect subject for a photoshoot. Follow Jay P. from The Slanted Lens as he takes you behind the scenes of his latest shoot featuring a model dressed up as a Calavera (sugar skull) posing in an eerie cemetery backdrop.
There are many combinations and properties of light, all of which have different consequences and effects on both the technical and creative aspects of your images. One of the most fundamental properties every photographer needs to know is the hardness of light, and this excellent video tutorial will show you both when and how to use soft and hard light for portraiture.
When it comes to light painting, the tool you use to paint with is just as important as the camera you use to shoot with. Different tools give different textures of light, color, and intensities. The main issue here is that most tools are handmade and there isn't always a lot of information online about how to build everything. So when someone comes out with a well-made tool that you can use right out of the box, it’s time to take notice. That’s what we have here with The Ball of Light Tool from the master light painter himself, Denis Smith.
Every year for the past few years, I’ve donated photo work to a local organization that puts on a half marathon in coordination with the local firefighters union chapter to raise money for local charities. Last year, I ended up doing a relatively simple shoot with just some firefighters and a ring light. This year, I wanted something different. And so, quickly and repeatedly, the question became, “Can we use real fire?”
Want to know a secret? You know those images that look like they’re all natural light? Well, lots of the images are produced using some sort of flash or second light source. The flash isn’t used to replace the natural light, but rather to complement the natural light and fill in where that natural light just can’t pull its weight.
Just earlier this week, I was writing about going over x-sync speed with your flashes. This ability is a true game changer for any photographer who relies on artificial lighting. Between February 1st and April 30th, Profoto is running a sale that can make that step up a bit lighter on your wallet.
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.
Portrait lighting is about more than creating a technically correct exposure; it is your chance to add your creative touch to your images and create a memorable style. Once you are comfortable with a single light, multiple lights will open an entirely new world of possibilities for your work. This excellent video tutorial will show you an effective two-light setup for creating compelling portraits.
Photographers who do not specialize in portraiture or other genres involving working with people may not own dedicated professional lighting equipment suitable for the task. But almost every photographer owns a speedlight, and you might be surprised by how versatile they can be for lighting portraits. This great video tutorial will show you how to take effective portraits using a single speedlight.
Understanding and effectively utilizing light is fundamental to creating compelling and impactful portraits. This is where the concept of three-point lighting comes into play, offering a versatile and powerful technique for achieving professional-looking results.
When Aputure released the LS 600d Pro, it took the market by storm and signaled an era of high-power LED coming. But when the LS 600X Pro came out, it took the D version and made it greater. I’ve been using the 600X Pro for the past month, and here are some of my thoughts on it.
Overcast skies create soft, diffused light that’s great for portraits but often lacks contrast. To overcome this, a smart mix of lighting techniques and gear choices can transform your shots.
There are myriad ways you can light your subject in portraiture, and whether you're jaded by your go-to setup, or overwhelmed as to where to start, this video can help you add some more styles to your arsenal.
The beauty of artificial lighting is that you can create shots in just about any situation no matter the ambient light, and you can create a wide variety of looks in one location simply by varying parameters like the position of the light or its distance to the subject. This excellent video shows a photographer discussing how he got three different shots in one location with the help of artificial lighting.
One thing that often discourages photographers from beginning to learn how to work with artificial light is the mistaken idea that it takes complex multi-light setups to create great portraits. In actuality, you can create professional-level portraits with even only a single light, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do just that using a holiday theme as an example.
Caleb Pike puts the GH5S to the test by lighting a scene with the smallest LED lights he owns.
One of the funnest ways you can spice up a standard portrait is to add gels to your lights. This video will show you how to use them to create color portraits that help your subject really pop.
With modern cameras having incredible resolution and dynamic range, we all obsess over sharpness and the tonality of our images and how flexible the raw files are. But when broken down, what really makes a good portrait? Is it the perfect focus on the eye or a subtle transition of highlight to shadow from a massive softbox? As with all things, what defines a good portrait can go out of style. This was an interesting wake up call when a friend asked me to create an early 20th century style portrait of him.
The Stella Pro Refkex S is a hybrid light that can be both a powerful constant light as well as a strobe-style flash. And with this new update, the Reflex S just got better than ever.
Feathering a light source is one of the most fundamental techniques any photographer working with artificial light should know, as it is highly useful and versatile. This excellent video will show you how to use feathering to create better lighting for your portraiture work.
Strobes are at the core of any serious studio photographer's kit, mainly because they're cheap and powerful. However, as you can see from this video, constant LED lights are catching up fast and are now a real option for anyone looking to try something different with their portrait work.
