Lighting

YouTube filmmaking has become more common and easier nowadays, but can you make your videos stand out by making them more “cinematic?”

Automotive photography is attractive to us petrol-heads, but it's not the easiest genre to get into. Here are ten tips for taking better pictures of cars and motorbikes.

Though many shots are properly exposed from corner to corner, there are times where you want a darker scene, particularly if you're simulating nighttime. Here are five techniques for doing just that.

When it comes to portraits, one of the most important decisions you can make is the choice of modifier. This great video will show you three common modifiers (softbox, parabolic umbrella, and umbrella) along with a lot of helpful example photos to show you how they will render your subject.

Flashguns and strobe lights aren't just for capturing perfectly exposed subjects, they can be valuable as creative assets too.

If you study the work of professional portrait photographers, you will probably notice a lot of them use rather complex multi-light setups, but you will also find plenty of fantastic images created with only a single light. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to create eye-catching portraits using no more than a single light.

Lights and modifiers for them can quickly add up in cost, but one of the most useful lighting tools a studio can have is surprisingly cheap and low-tech. This excellent video tutorial will show you why v-flats are so useful and how to incorporate them into your own work.

Creating great work on every shoot you arrange is a tall order and the hallmark of an established and experienced photographer. But what areas have the most impact on the shoot's outcome?

I recently filmed a quick dance music video with famous dancer Marquese Scott. Here's how I pulled it off.

When you look at the work of professional portrait photographers, you might notice that it often employs two- or three-light setups. And while those certainly have their place, you might be surprised by just how versatile a single light and a bit of know-how can be. This fantastic video tutorial will show you five useful single-light setups for portraiture work.

Godox’s line of flashes, including the incredibly popular AD200 and V1, have become a mainstay of the on and off-camera lighting market. They’ve become so popular, in part, thanks to the surprising value and feature set offered at each price point. As a result, the AD100Pro, a new addition to the line, has quite the legacy to live up to. Has it earned a place in photographer’s bags?

A lot of photographers like to use a shallow depth of field for portraiture; however, if you are lighting your subject with flash, you will be limited by the flash sync speed of your camera. There are ways around this, however: high-speed sync and ND filters. Both come with their own pros and cons, and this excellent video discusses which is better for your work.

Nathan Elson is back with another installment of his How I Got the Shot. As always, it's the little details he shares about his process that makes tuning in so valuable.

A lot of the time, you will see professionals use two- or three-light setups for portraiture, but you might be surprised by the professional results you can get from just a single light. This fantastic video tutorial will show you how to master both the technical and creative aspects of a single-light setup for portraiture.

What happens when you take a shot and you just love the expression of your subject, but the light lets you down? You take it into Lightroom and sprinkle some magic dust all over it, and in this tutorial, I'll show you exactly how I do that.

Good communication with your subject, posing, and post-processing are all crucial skills as a headshot photographer, but you also need to have a strong grasp of lighting to make great images. This comprehensive video tutorial will show you how to create lighting setups for portraits and headshots.

Broncolor makes some of the best lights and modifiers out there, and the Siros L adds a battery-powered design, allowing you to take them on the go. This awesome video review takes a long-term look at the Siros L and how they hold up after a lot of usage.

With so many lighting setups, it can be difficult to narrow down which ones to use. One of my personal favorites is described right here, in-depth, in this behind-the-scenes video: clamshell lighting.

Sometimes photos are called high key or low key. I never thought much about it and just made the photos I liked, regardless of what it could be called. But when is it correct to name a photo high key or low key? Let’s find out.

Black and white photography will creep into every photographer's gallery at some point and it can be a powerful tool. Here are some concise tips for getting the most out of monochrome.

Portraits that combine flash with natural light are a highly popular look and a technique that will do a lot to help you gain more confidence and versatility when working with artificial light. However, when you start shooting at night, the technique becomes a little trickier. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to shoot portraits at night when using a flash.

Learning how to use artificial lighting for portraits can free you from the constraints of natural light and enable new creative opportunities that simply would not be possible otherwise. Nonetheless, it can feel very foreign when you are first starting and also trying to manage directing your subject. This great video tutorial will give you five helpful tips for better flash portraits.

When it comes to artificial lighting, your choice of modifier is one of the most fundamental and crucial creative and technical decisions in the entire process. If you are new to working with artificial lights, this excellent video tutorial will give you the sort of practical knowledge you need to know which modifier is right for each photo you wish to make, along with a variety of illustrative examples.

Using a very shallow depth of field is highly popular for portrait photography, but when you combine that with flash, you can run into a tricky situation when you bump into your flash sync speed. There are two ways around this: high speed sync and ND filters. Which is right for your work? This excellent video tutorial will explain the differences as well as the pros and cons of each.

Creating even, realistic, and balanced lighting when shooting interiors for real estate can be tough. One route is to light an interior with flash and balance it against the ambient light outside. Another option is to use HDR to blend a number of bracketed images together. Which gives better results?

There is always more you can do with photography in your own home, and I have some incredible results, but this use of a projector is up there with the best.

Nail white balance in Lightroom every time with these simple steps and techniques you can use on any photograph.

Music videos have been some of the most condensed displays of cinematic creativity for decades now, and there is a lot that can be learned. Here is a breakdown of some excellent lighting used in a music video.

Aputure has been growing and improving the lighting sector in photography for some time now, and they show no signs of slowing down. Announced today are the Light Storm (LS) 60d and 60x, two 60 watts adjustable focusing LED lights.

When you are working with artificial light, you often have to think about not only controlling the flash, but the ambient light as well. That can be a bit of a mystery for a lot of us when we first start working with artificial light, but this excellent video tutorial will demystify the relationship between ambient and artificial light and show you how to take control of both for better images.