Strobe light

For anyone who appreciates the use of flash, there comes a point in photography work when you want more power than a standard speedlite can offer. Many strobe options provide more power, but require you to be tied up to power outlets. Few strobes offer a simple portable lighting option. Many would contend the Profoto B1 is currently the best self contained portable strobe on the market. That may be changing with Impact's newly released strobe, the Venture TTL 600.

Benjamin Von Wong is back with another magnificent set from his latest series, ‘Surreal Lava Portraits,’ where he ventures out on the Big Island of Hawaii to photograph some lava flows with his team and models. If this was anyone else, I would jump to the conclusion that this is all composited together to make the final image. But with Von Wong, this is all real.

With Halloween fast approaching, people are either revealing the costumes they've been prepping for the past year since the last Halloween, or they're scrambling to figure out what they're going to be. However for one dad, with a custom hand made leather outfit, some know how, and a team of assistants, this Super Dad gave his 3-year-old daughter a Super Makeover. Inspired by the upcoming Wonder Woman Movie with Gal Gadot, he used some very clever photo manipulation to create the photo series.

If you have photographed a subject with and without a grid modifier, you have probably noticed your power output is much lower with the grid on. This causes a less-exposed subject, forcing you to increase your light power to compensate.

One of the biggest complaints I've heard about Fuji's new medium format camera, the GFX 50S, is that there are no leaf shutter lenses. Leaf shutters have long been a staple in some medium format systems, enabling flash sync at faster shutter speeds than we are used to with focal plane shutters. But, here's the thing: It doesn't make sense for the GFX 50S to support them. Here's my reasoning why.

Unless you’re a well established fashion and beauty photographer with the support of an agent or a plethora of business acumen, you probably aren’t going to make much money when you’re first starting out in the business. This is why it’s important to learn how to be scrappy and work with less gear if you’re working on a budget. In these lighting tutorials, I’ll show you three easy-to-replicate fashion and beauty setups that fit almost every budget.

Last week, the plethora of photography announcements from Photokina was incredible. One product that was introduced, but got barely any attention, was a new strobe from Impact, the Venture TTL-600. It personally stood out to me as something I could possibly add to my own kit immediately if it does what it says it does and more importantly, does it reliably. So right now, it currently sits at the top of my list of new gear to try out.

While camera manufacturers seem to focus on resolution, high ISO, and dynamic range, in the strobe industry the past few months have been all about fast shutter speeds synchronization. However, Broncolor still didn’t have any in-house solution to offer to their client until Photokina and the new RFS 2.2 transceiver.

Yesterday, Profoto announced their Air Remote TTL-S and mentioned an unknown Pro-10 in their press release. It was not long before it was made official as the press release came in today. It’s a 2,400 Ws studio pack, and it’s fast — extremely fast! Not only that, but it’s the first of its kind, as it offers TTL and HSS capabilities.

Three months ago, Elinchrom released the Skyport HS for Sony. Back then, many seemed to complain there was no version for smaller bodies. It’s not the case anymore with the introduction of a new Skyport HS specifically designed for Olympus cameras, making it the fourth version of this pioneering flash trigger.

With the new trend of including features such as TTL, HSS, or Hi-Sync, it’s now become common to see flash manufacturers release multiple versions of a remote. Each of the release being specifically optimized for a different camera brand. Well, today Profoto introduces a Sony version of their TTL trigger, the Air Remote TTL-S.

Often, I get asked how a shot was done underwater due to the objects that are with the client. Recently, I started using GoPros to obtain behind the scenes footage to help better explain positioning and lighting on various sessions. "The Archer" was one image that caused most people to ask: "Did she really shoot the arrow at you?"

I’m a huge advocate of gelling your flash. It’s one of those things that a lot of photographers just discovering off-camera lighting will often fly right past without much thought (I know I did). Even after you get that first stack or plastic bag of gels, knowing how to apply them can be a little intimidating. Enter Michigan-based Photographer Rob Hall’s expert instructions on how you should or could be using your color temperature blue (CTB) gels.

Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens is one of the more energetic and therefore entertaining characters in the photography world. His videos are usually a good mix of oddball antics and solid educational material. In this video, Morgan demonstrates how simply swapping gels on your rim light (with a bit of haze in the air) can really change the feel of your photo. I'm usually not a huge fan of fake smoke or haze machines, as I think they can look a little overdramatic and cheesy. However, I think it works in this instance, because he uses a subtle touch of haze, and it fits with the subject matter.