Strobe light

There are a few ways to photograph motocross in action, but one of the best is to use a high powered strobe. For his latest shoot in NamJi, South Korea, Manchul Kim takes a couple of strobes to the track and sees how close he can get to the action. Since motorcycles can be dangerous and all flying by you, it's a good idea to strap on a remote trigger to your camera and step out of the way.

Phlearn.com just released this behind-the-scenes video which shows how to light, shoot, and process a shot in the style of Dan Winters. By reverse-engineering the light and color that Winters uses (and using a little Photoshop magic), you'll be able to replicate one of his most well-known shots of actor Tom Hanks. I don't know about everyone else, but whenever I look through a magazine, I guess at the lighting setups

In a world filled with portable speedlights and 3200 watt power packs, photographers might overlook another critical feature of their studio lights: flash duration. Basically flash duration is the time your strobe light contributes to the exposure of your photograph (flash actually can act as "constant light"). Earlier this year, we posted about Broncolor's flash duration compared to Profoto, but how does a much cheaper strobe like the Einstein compare? The results are pretty remarkable!

Kevin Winzeler, a commercial photographer based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, had an amazing opportunity this summer to travel to New Zealand for one of his advertising shoots for Altra Footwear. He shot both in the studio for the initial product shots, but he also took the shoot outdoors in some amazing New Zealand locations for some actions images, as well.

Sam Kaplan, a New York-based product and still life photographer, was inspired to create a series of photographs of an object that is often enjoyed in the bedroom rather than on a gallery wall. Sam decided to change all of that, and his series 'Insert Here' takes the taboo and transforms it into an exploration of line, form, and color: Dildart, if you will. It goes without saying that you might want to be careful where you open this post.

Northern Virginia Magazine wanted a fun and different approach to an ad for their bargain locator website, Specialicious.com. Jonathan Thorpe, an amazing commercial photographer and a regular on our Fstoppers Facebook group, was assigned the task of shooting the project. The concept, a beauty queen who shopped on the website and is trying a paintball experience for the first time.

In this lighting lesson, Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens offers a very cool DIY effect; how to make smoke lay on water. Achieving smoke and wind in photography are two very difficult tasks that Jay P. made very easy by showing this step by step process. Have you guys ever experienced with smoke and wind? If so, share your images and how you did it in the comments below.

If you've ever had to photograph a large group of people, you probably understand how difficult it can be to capture every single person looking great. Imagine if that group photo was made up of 12 of the worlds richest Billionaires! That's what photographer Michael Prince did when he had to photograph the cover of Forbes Magazine during the 400 Summit on Philanthropy back in June.

Adorama TV has been mixing up their youtube channel lately, and this week features the TTL acrobatics of Joe McNally. Joe walks you through a typical street portrait as he accentuates the natural ambient light with a single speedlight gelled red. The more useful tip Joe gives is how to control the spill of your large softlight with an "egg crate" or softbox grid. I'm still shocked he pulled this shot off using only the Nikon D800 pop up flash acting as commander.

Cat Cora, a well known celebrity from the Food Network show Iron Chef as well as Bravo TV's Around the World in 80 Plates, was arrested for drinking and driving in Santa Barbara, California. It looks like this particular police station has taken a few lighting lessons from Peter Hurley. Anyone care to take a guess at the lighting setup?

In this behind the scenes video, photographer Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens shows us how he shoots zombies through a car using a Kessler shuttle pod. The camera movement is the most crucial part in making this commercial. The Kessler pod has to stay high enough so that when they move through the car, it will not shake the camera.

Jay P Morgan has been getting a lot of press recently for both his creative imagery and his informative behind-the-scenes videos, and for good reason: they're chock-full of great information and Jay shows everything from his lighting setups to post-processing tricks. In this BTS, Jay gives us a look at how he balances constant lights with strobe lights, something that

Have you ever been walking through the mall or flipping through a magazine and found yourself breaking down the lighting of all the advertising images you see (or at least trying to)? I seem to be doing that all the time, sometimes without even realizing that I am doing it. Well one photog's images in particular always leave me guessing.

It's pretty crazy to think just a small change of focal length can drastically distort your subject's face. In this behind the scenes video , Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens goes into detail to show us each change and how it effected the model's appearance. Maybe you're interested in buying a fixed lens or maybe you're interested in gaining tips on portrait and headshot photography - either way this video is definitely worth checking out.

In this behind the scenes lighting lesson, Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens does something we might not often think to do: he uses the natural sunlight and turns it into moonlight-like light for this 1920's "speakeasy-themed" shoot. Believe it or not, he was able to achieve moonlight all in the camera - no post processing involved. So with a couple of tungsten lights, gels and sunlight, Jay P. has shown us a great idea that can easily be mimicked in your own shoot.

Remember Justin Wojtczak? If not, make sure you watch this video of Patrick surprising him with the news that he won the Fstoppers 2011 BTS Contest. Well Justin is back with his latest behind the scenes video. In this BTSV Justin takes a bride into a creek in the woods of Georgia and shows us how to shoot on a budget.

If you're a sports fan, or even if you just like toned and tan bodies, you're going to want to pick up the next issue of ESPN (hits newsstands Friday). It's filled with some pretty sexy images of the United States' favorite athletes in nothing but their birthday suits.

Robert Gallagher knows his way around commercial photography. On this assignment, he puts Matt Kemp, a baseball player for the Dodgers, in front of the camera to shoot the cover of Forbes Magazine. As can be seen in the video, the studio set up includes 4 different lights. With a few assistants, Robert also manages to snag a one-light shot in the tunnel heading out to the field.

If you've ever wondered how you can begin transitioning from part time photographer to completely supporting yourself in your business, then you have probably considered shooting senior portraits. Sal Cincotta is an excellent photographer, and he is an even better businessman. This weekend Sal is sharing his knowledge behind building a successful Senior Portrait business on creativeLIVE (July 6-8). As always, the live broadcast is free to stream as it happens live.

Pepsi Australia recently teamed up with Kelly Racing to produce the Pepsi Max super car. Photographer Chris Benny was hired to shoot the new car and lucky for us, he filmed a quick BTSV of the production. As with many shoots, the weather became a problem but Chris had a backup plan. With a little post work Chris made the outside shots pop and then moved the car inside to finish the shoot.

If you are into studio lighting at all you have probably heard about the D1 Monolight by Profoto. These lights are known for their size, flash consistency, and of course the wireless Air Remote system. In this video I'll take you through each of my favorite and least favorite features of this flash. If you are on the fence you may want to try renting these lights first.

Days of preparation, hundreds of people, and 57 Profoto strobes culminated in just five minutes and forty-two seconds of fast-paced shooting. In photographer Art Streiber’s own words, “it was pretty huge, and a little out of control.” I’ll say. In an Fstoppers exclusive, we go behind the scenes of one of the largest and most sensitive group photo shoots ever undertaken with 116 of Hollywood’s greatest stars on one stage at one time to celebrate Paramount Studio’s 100th anniversary.

Check out this amazing photoshoot by Dina Goldstein she titled "In The Dollhouse." Dina spared no expense as her team built set after set to complete this real-life Barbie and Ken series. Just like the last Barbie series we posted, this one is also a little twisted. Apparently you can't go wrong with Barbie series because these images have already gone viral around the web.

We've featured Tyler Stableford multiple times before on Fstoppers, as he seems to be one of the first to get his hands on all of the new gear before it hits the shelves. This time, he's at it again: working with action sports athletes high in the mountains of Colorado. However...the results left me scratching my head a bit. Read

South Carolina photographer Clay Bolt is a professional nature photographer who has taken his love for the environment in an interesting direction. Clay started a program called Meet Your Neighbours which has inspired photographers all around the world to shoot small local animals on a mobile seamless white background. You probably don't have to travel far to take amazing nature photography.

You might remember Coco Rocha from her past ELLE controversy that we recently posted. She's definitely one of the industry's top models. This time, we take a look at the making of a cover for Target Style. How many shots does it take to get 'the' cover shot when you have a supermodel as your subject? Take a look and find out.

If you’re a regular user of small flashes, you know how overwhelming it can be when it comes time to purchase modifiers for your lights. One of the more popular systems is David Honl’s line of accessories, based around his Speed Strap concept. I’ve reviewed and tested every piece in the line, and I’ve got all the info you could possibly want.

Fashion photographer Melissa Rodwell has become a good friend of ours over the years. The New York based photographer lives and breathes fashion photography, and as you can see with her images it really shows. The self proclaimed "photographer who does not own a digital camera" teamed up with Kurv magazine to produce some very exotic fashion images. As with most fashion images, the retouching is pretty important with interesting