Photography Lighting

Light is the raw material of photography — and learning to see it, shape it, and control it is the single most transferable skill you can develop. This section covers photography lighting in depth: the physics of how light behaves, the gear that controls it, and the practical setups that professional photographers use across every genre. Whether you're starting with a single speedlight or building out a full studio, this is where lighting knowledge lives on Fstoppers.

How to Easily Shoot Tricky Photos of Glassware

Glassware can one of the trickiest products to shoot, but when you nail the shot, you'll find the results were well worth the effort. This quick and helpful video will show you how to eliminate pesky reflections and get a clean, well-defined shot of glassware.

One of the Lesser Known Uses of a Five-in-One Reflector

The five-in-one reflector is one of the first accessories any photographer should own, and it's something you'll likely hang on to throughout your career, as it proves itself endlessly useful and versatile. This great video shows the wide range of different looks you can achieve using a single light and reflector.

Experimenting With Light to Discover New and Exciting Shots

Lighting isn't just about following tried and true recipes to get standard shots; it's about experimenting to create something unique. This great video shows how experimentation can lead to shots you never anticipated.

One of the Most Fundamental and Important Principles of Lighting

When you're new to lighting, the veritable plethora of principles, terms, and techniques can be a bit overwhelming, but there are a few fundamental principles that you should absolutely learn to ensure your understanding is secure. This great video talks about one of those principles. 

How to Use Negative Fill to Shape the Light in Your Photos

We spend a lot of time learning about lighting scenes — where to add it, how much to use, how to modify it, etc. And as important as it is to learn how to add light to a scene, it's equally important to know how to remove it, and this quick, helpful video will show you why and how.

Dramatic Portraits Lit Using Only a Mobile Phone Flashlight

If you've ever found yourself in an impromptu situation where you knew you could get a really cool shot if you just had a little bit of extra light, the techniques in this video might knock your socks off with their simplicity and creativity.

Fstoppers Reviews Selens GE-500 3-Light LED Kit

Lighting is everything. As a photo professional, I know this. I've dealt with lights for stills photography for about 15 years now, and although I'm always learning, I'm pretty confident around lighting. Video is an entirely different beast altogether. Although I love my AD600, it does me very little good trying to capture anything in video. Selens as come up with a "low-cost" 3-light kit that may appeal to those looking to hone their video lighting skills. Let's see how it did!

Lume Cube: Now Available for Mavic 2

A few years back, Lume Cube hit the market with a very small, bright LED light that is close to the size of a GoPro Hero 5 Session. These little lights have built a name for themselves over time and are now available for the Mavic 2.

How to Shoot and Edit Rings for Jewelry Photography

Glue guns and poster board. Who would have thought these basic craft items would be useful for photographing jewelry? This in depth tutorial by New Amsterdam Photo Video covers the entire gamut of shooting rings from set up and lighting, to focus stacking and retouching, and everything in between.

Improve Your Lighting by Learning How to Break Down Light

When you're new to artificial lighting, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to put together successful images using strobes. This helpful video will teach you how to break down light so you can successfully create the images you'd like when you're using flash.

Finally, You Can Buy Foldable V-Flats for Your Photo Studio

You've probably read how you can make your own foldable v-flats, but finding high-quality foam can be difficult and you're lazy, so you're never going to get around to it anyway. Luckily, you can buy them prebuilt and have them shipped right to your door. 

Lighting and Style Choices for Shooting Athletic Wear

One of the most rewarding parts of photography is choosing the right type of light for an assignment. The light that will best help convey what we’ve been hired to shoot. Nowhere is that more true than in shooting athletic wear.

Eight Crazy Lighting Deals

If you're trying to add to your lighting kit or get started with lighting for the first time, these are the deals for you.

How to Eliminate Background Shadows When Working With Strobes

When you're shooting with strobes onto a plain backdrop, one of the most common problems you're likely to encounter is a shadow from your subject on the background. This helpful video will show you how to deal with this situation.

The Usefulness of V-Flats in Photography

One of the most useful pieces of lighting gear a studio photographer can have doesn't actually have a light in it. Check out how v-flats can help you shape your light in this great video.

Unique Holiday Gift Idea: Photograph Your Own Pet Calendar

The holidays months can bring extra leisure time, and there's nothing more rewarding than spending that free time on a challenging photography project. During last year's fall holidays I decided to turn my available energy into something creative and fun: a pet calendar for 2018.

Use the Histogram on Your Camera to Your Advantage

We all know how a histogram has to be read, or at least we should know. It is a handy tool to check if the exposure of the image is correct, or as correct as possible. If the image is not exposed correctly we can read the luminance histogram on our camera LCD screen and know exactly how much the exposure needs to be corrected. Well, perhaps not exactly, but enough to prevent us from guessing.

Mastering the Rain Shot: Lighting

Rain during a couple’s portrait session can be hugely annoying for a wedding photographer. A dramatic rain shot can be the silver lining, but only if you’re fully prepared, especially on the lighting front.

Profoto B10 Versus Godox AD400Pro: The Best Strobes Compared

A few months ago, we released our first impressions of the new Profoto B10 portable flash unit, and many of our readers claimed that we didn't give it an honest review because it was wildly overpriced. Today, we are giving the critics what they asked for: we are going to compare it to the Godox AD400Pro.

Incredible Photo of Bats Hunting Uses Ground-Breaking Infrared Lighting Rig

Photographer Paul Colley spent 14 months creating an ingenious infrared lighting system in order to capture bats hunting at night without disturbing them. After winning first prize in the British Wildlife Photography Awards, he talked to Fstoppers to explain how he created this totally unique image.

Shooting Beauty Portraits With One Light

When you're first starting with artificial lighting, it can be easy to overcomplicate things by thinking you need lots of lights performing all sorts of specific functions to achieve great shots. This excellent video will show you how to create interesting portraits using a very basic setup.

Up Your Lighting Game by Trying Out Volumetric Lighting

When it comes to lighting, you likely think about it in terms of how it's shaping your subject or whatever object you're illuminating. Now, it's time to think about not only that, but how the light looks as it moves through the space.

Winner of the Flashlight Photo Challenge

At the beginning of October, I challenged photographers to make amazing photographs using only a flashlight, and the winning image is a testament to the creativity of the Fstoppers community.

Five Steps to Photography Greatness

A chilly September morning. The crispness in the air added weight to the solemn moment. My composition was all figured out. I patiently waited for the final elements to come into place.

Sometimes, It's Not About Adding Light to a Scene, but Removing It

We talk all the time about how to properly add light to a scene, from where to place it, what power to set it at, how to modify it, and more. But just as important as the presence of light is the absence of it, and this great and quick video will give you an introduction to that concept.

A Comprehensive Look at Creating an Off-Camera Flash Shot

Off-camera flash can be a bit daunting when you first start out, especially when you're trying to balance it with ambient light. This great and informative video takes an in-depth look at building such a shot from the beginning.

Creating Studio Portraits Using Just Speedlights

If you're new to strobes, buying a couple of speedlights and modifiers can be a cheap but effective way to learn the ins and outs of artificial lighting. This awesome video will show you how to create classic studio portraits using just speedlights.

The Lighting Breakdown: Just a Flashlight

Who knew you could get beautifully lit images with nothing but a flashlight? In this week's lighting breakdown, I'm going to show you how I created this series with nothing but a flashlight and a bit of crafting know-how.