Studio

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to walk into almost any photographic situation armed with a whole vocabulary of lighting techniques and be able to quickly select exactly the type of lighting you want for the main light of your photo? By understanding six key qualities of light you can create your own vocabulary of lighting to draw upon and apply for your desired effect in fashion photos, formal, and lifestyle portraits and beyond. Angle, Size, Distance, Shape, Duration, and Color are each qualities of light that photographers can combine and manipulate these qualities in setting the look of their photograph for impact beyond just illumination.

If you’ve ever wanted to see how the pros light amazing studio shots, look no further. My wife and I recently moved into a new place that offers quite a bit of new space for studio style photography. Being a tad rusty I was excited about the plethora of shooting opportunities a controlled lighting space would offer, but found myself lacking motivation. Until I discovered Broncolor’s “How To” section on their website.

I'm a new(ish) parent who wishes they had a studio to photograph my little human. Surely you would only need a small studio for a small person, right? Preferably one you wouldn’t have to pay rent for. That’s where your living room and some creativity comes in handy.

The inverse square law is one of the most important yet misunderstood concepts in photography. On the surface, it basically says that the intensity of a light source will decrease as you move the light away from your subject, but how does that apply to the highlights and shadows in a portrait? In this small excerpt from the "Illuminating the Face" tutorial, Peter Hurley breaks down both the math and the practical application of the inverse square law.

If you’re stuck on ideas for creative portrait sessions, have you ever tried incorporating water? This short video by Adorama TV features studio lighting guru Gavin Hoey taking us through an introduction to wet portraits in the studio.

Technology has been responsible for some of the greatest advancements in human history, but is it poised to take your job? If you photograph fashion for catalogs or online retailers, the new robotic studio launched by StyleShoots might do just that.

Grids are probably amongst the best pieces of equipment a photographer using flash can own. Alas, they are often either underrated or misunderstood. On one of my recent shoots, I decided to create a lighting setup with grids on every single strobe. My goal was to create a somewhat complex setup, that once broken down step by step would be easy to recreate by any photographer starting out in studio photography.

While it certainly wasn't my first time using one, a recent shoot I did for TEDx at the Ohio State University made me realize how much easier life is with a light meter. For almost all the time I've spent behind cameras, I've been creating portraits. And for most of that time, I've been using flash. Starting out, I would just shoot and tweak power settings and my aperture and the light placement until I got what I wanted. As an amateur, it worked. But once I decided that photography was a career for me and as I began picking up client work, this method became quite ineffective, forcing me to get the one tool I never realized I needed.

For the majority of my life, I was a soldier in the United States Army. As a part of military life, I learned how valuable it was to be prepared for all the things that could go wrong. Many soldiers will build a bug-out bag, also known as a go-bag. A bug-out bag is essentially a bag full of items one might need when in a pinch. Now as a photographer, my bug-out bag is full of all the little items I often am asked if I have or things that can make any shoot go easier. These things have often meant the difference between success and failure on a shoot. Here is the list of stuff I put in my bag.

Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens continues his video tutorial series of photographing simple three dimensional objects with this short tutorial on lighting a cylinder. The video demonstrates how to specifically alter the amount of light falling on the curved surface and flat face of the cylinder to achieve the desired effect.

If you're not a professional photographer, chances are that you may be under the impression that they do little more than take pictures all day, every day. While we definitely know that's not the case — I'm probably only actually shooting for around 20 percent of my work week, and running a business for the other 80 percent — that's not what I wanted to portray when I got asked to be "job shadowed" by an eighth grade girl a while back. I decided to make the day at least a little more interesting.

I am a photographer who started shooting with daylight only, and I moved to discover new possibilities of lighting only after mastering daylight and craving more tools to create the desired images in my head. I don't believe the idea that you have to have all the possible equipment to be a good photographer or that the equipment makes you the photographer. My credo was always to master what you have available and only afterwards move to a new tool. This way, you can have all the understanding of your tools and avoid a bulk of unnecessary equipment.

Fstoppers is happy to announce the next round of Critique the Community. We invite everyone to submit your best editorial and fashion images to be critiqued by Clay Cook. Please follow the guidelines for submissions below to ensure eligibility for your image to be chosen. We will be accepting submissions through Friday night, November 18 and will be offering feedback to a total of 20 pictures.

Yesterday (1st November) saw the release of the first episode of Nigel Barker’s new show in conjunction with Adorama – entitled Top Photographer. Released as a web series through Adorama’s YouTube channel, this is the first, 25-minute episode, and you can watch it right here!

Here's the truth. Until recently, I thought professionals using mirrorless cameras were a joke. I grew up in the days of film. Got my hands dirty in the darkroom. Had a Canon A1 and F1 in my camera collection, plus learned on others like a Pentax 35mm as well. Feeling the weight of the camera in my hands and hearing the sound of the mirror slap was part of the joy of photography for me. Pun entirely intended.