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.
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.
Not all photography how-tos have to come from photography websites or YouTube photography channels. This video that addresses basic light-painting of a car comes to us from an automobile YouTube channel. If you are new to light-painting or want to give it a try, this video provides an excellent introduction.
Creating cinematic images is usually associated with using a single light setup, but you can also use three lights to pop your subject and add more depth.
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.
Famed celebrity stylist and creative director Jason Bolden and his team approached photographer Nathalie Gordon with an idea to shoot a campaign for their newly launched sunglasses brand JSN.
A few quick things to consider when making the shift from still photography to cinematography.
Intellytech’s RGBW LED panel is something I’ve dreamed of for years. It’s finally here, but do we even need RGB lights?
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.
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.
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.
Lens manufacturers go out of their way to design a lens that will eliminate lens flare. So why would you want to cause lens flare purposely and how would you go about it?
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!
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.
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.
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.
Photographer Randal Ford has photographed over 100 animals up close and in person and has no plans on stopping. Why would he? These are some fascinating creatures that we share this planet with and so anytime we can interact with them, its probably a good thing. They are also super cute!
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.
In this behind the scenes article, see how I set up my studio in the athletics office of my school and shot a series of intense portraits of my college football team.
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.
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.
If a picture tells a thousand words, these photographs of Baja 1000 race vehicles created after the race tell tales of blood, sweat, tears, and the epic battles that ensue every year as racers battle it out in Mexico.
Photographer Ole Martin Halvorsen recently did a photoshoot that was was part of a larger social media and advertorial campaign for H&M Norway, in collaboration with Spray for their magazine Portia.
It's always refreshing to me to get behind the scenes and see how some cool images are made. Then, to realize that the only light source was a cell phone LED along with a few props, I realized that my studio needs a shopping trip.
It’s a gray flat sky day, and you need to get something interesting, but the sky isn’t helping. It's time to think of something different. Of course, time to go blue.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Earlier this year, I released an in-depth tutorial on product photography with Fstoppers called "The Hero Shot: How to Light and Composite Product Photography." As I started publishing images from this tutorial on Instagram, I found it extremely interesting that the most liked image was the cordless drill.
Shooting with natural light or strobes doesn't have to be a one or the other proposition: you can easily mix them in the same shot to create interesting outdoor images. This great video shows you that there are quite a few ways to do that.
If you're looking for a bit of inspiration, try out this technique of mixing all sorts of different lights, colors, and patterns to create fun and unique photos.
Commercial photographer Geoff Ang was approached by one of the top CGI companies in Singapore “CUM Creative” to create an entire series of images for Razer’s newest line of gaming headphones.
When you're new to lighting, one of the most difficult aspects can be learning to control where the light falls and where it doesn't. Grids are a great way to do this, and this helpful video will give you a quick introduction to how they work.
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.
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.
Photography can become ridiculously expensive with gear and props and all the other necessities. So when there is a chance to save, I save!
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.
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.
Explore in this lighting tutorial three ways of stepping up your headshot photography game.
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.
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.
It doesn’t always take expensive equipment to make big changes to the mood of a shot. Here are a couple ways I found to improve my portraits with a tool I didn’t so much buy as I found laying in the trash.
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.
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.
Light stands are not a glamorous piece of gear, but they remain a staple in most photographers' work. So while having a bad light stand can cause stress and frustration, having a good light stand can free your mind to work.
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.
A few words of wisdom from one the best cinematographers working in Hollywood today.
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.