Studio Photography

Shooting good portraits at home can be done with the simplest of setups. 

For many photographic applications natural light is almost always preferable — the only problem is, oftentimes the quality of that natural light is either too harsh or too diffused. This tutorial discusses the conditions for good natural light, and how you can reproduce it using some inexpensive equipment.

If you have ever said to yourself that making a YouTube video looks easy, you aren't wrong. If you want it to look good, though, there are some steps you should take to ensure your video is up to par and pleasing to the viewer.

One of the worst myths in the photography industry is about how high quality gear is required in order to produce high quality results. This mostly nonsense and as you develop your skills within the industry, you'll quickly realize how gear, in general, has little to do with the quality of results you can produce. 

It's rare that any piece of photographic equipment is versatile and affordable enough that I recommend it to everyone, but the GVM-600S Ring Light is one of those rare products. If you shoot photos or videos, you should buy this light. 

Being a good photographer often means knowing where to position your lights to create the desired effect. However, the placement of your lights is only part of the equation; sometimes, it's just as important to set the color of your lights as well. In today's video, I'll show you three different lighting setups that also use color to alter the final images. 

It can be intimidating when you see some behind-the-scenes photos of studio setups, and there are multiple lights everywhere, and you only have one light. While sometimes, it does come in handy to have multiples, there is a lot you can do with only one light. Could you do a high-key portrait with only one light? 

If you've got one light sitting around, I challenge you to find three creative ways to use it. If you need help coming with ideas, that's where this helpful video comes in to play. 

With so many lighting modifiers, understanding how each one works and in what situation you ought to use them can be a little daunting. In this video, Karl Taylor discusses two of the most common and demonstrates their differences.

Storing seamless paper rolls in your home or studio is always a bit of a task, especially once the collection has grown over the years. Although there are off-the-shelf options, I found that this simple $20 build does a great job.

One photography technique I've always been interested in learning is how to photograph ink in water. The resulting images are beautiful on their own, but having a library of ink clouds and paint explosions for use in composite work is also super valuable. In this video tutorial, I'll show you some of the best tips and tricks I've learned capturing ink in my own studio.

Today on our new Fstoppers Live channel, we had the chance to interview Vasyl Nykolyshyn, the owner of Raycrown accessories, about a brand new shoot-through octabox concept he has designed. Not only is this light modifier wind-resistant and easy to build and break down, but it can also be used off-axis as a large soft light and on-axis as a massive ring light. Let us know what you think!

When shooting fitness photography, lighting plays a big part to help capture all details in the subject's appearance. How many lights should you have? What are some of the best placements for strobes during the shoot? 

One of the great things about photography is that you can practice it anywhere. You don't need expensive equipment to get the shot or a massive studio to get the photos you need.

When working on location, softboxes are not always the best choice as they can be quite cumbersome to assemble. Umbrellas tend to be a lot faster to set up. Thanks to Elinchrom and its Snaplux range, you won't have to choose between the light quality of a softbox and the ease of use an umbrella.

If you want a project at home that will improve your small studio photography as well as your Photoshop and compositing skills, look no further. This detailed tutorial takes you through the entire process of shooting Oreos falling into a glass of glue. I mean milk.

How do you get professional results when you're just starting out and you don't have the space or budget for those grand studios?

If you work in fashion or commercial projects, you probably have used or seen a cyclorama before. If you've looked into getting one professionally built for your own space, you know a cyclorama can cost several thousand dollars and doesn't always fit in everyone's budget. If you have decided to build your own, here's some great information to help you start. 

By now, most of the countries around the world are under full lockdown or about to undergo lockdown. At the time of writing, my country (South Africa) would be one of the latest to undergo lockdown. Tensions seem to increase the day before the actual event, as people question what they'll be doing with themselves while locked in a house for three weeks or longer. Luckily, it doesn't need to be as scary as you think, especially if you're a photographer.

You don’t need a big studio, and you don’t need to travel to an exotic location to create incredible photos. All you need is a space to work in, even if it’s a small one.

For those of you with a neglected DSLR camera gathering dust on the shelf this is the perfect time to learn some new techniques, like a few basics of still-life photography. Whether you have a dusty DSLR or just a smartphone, this video has some great tips to help beat the self-isolation blues.

One thing I love the most about my job is to be able to work with hugely talented people in my team. It’s always so inspirational to be around them and never fails to serve as an outstanding learning opportunity.

Have any experience in a studio? Yes? No? Doesn’t matter. You should give 4x5 a try. It’s addictive.

A couple of months ago I was given the opportunity to photograph Korean-American stylist, lifestyle blogger, and digital influencer, Chriselle Lim for the cover of Female Malaysia magazine. It’s always exciting to be able to shoot a cover for a magazine, especially one that is the leading fashion and beauty magazine in Malaysia, and I particularly love photographing strong, successful women. Gotta be around these role models!

Elinchrom has always been known for its superb light modifiers. But the strobes designed by the Swiss flash manufacturer are just as good. Now marks a new direction for the brand with the introduction of the ELC 125 and ELC 500.

This series of photographs was initially intended to celebrate the beautiful diversity of black women in honor of Black History Month, but by the end of the shoot, it had become so much more than that. I’m going to attempt to explain the powerful effect this shoot had on me, though I have to admit I may not have the words to properly elucidate why.

I was recently in America doing more photography work and did a total of 11 photoshoots in the one month I was there. It was an incredibly long flight from Singapore, gotta make my time there worth it! 

Portrait photography requires studio strobes, softboxes, along with grip equipment like light stands, and C-stands, not to mention lots of money to acquire all the required equipment. Without this equipment, your images are going to look like your local police department’s Saturday night mugshots. Do you really need to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get good portrait shots?

The past several years we’ve seen an amazing amount of new and portable lighting options in the photographic industry with breakout performers like Godox taking on the giants of the lighting world like Broncolor and Profoto. One of the biggest names in North America for lighting has been ominously silent but Paul C. Buff has finally responded and just released a new mid-tier performer that is sure to make many of Buff’s lighting fans excited for what’s coming next.

When you are working your way up the professional ranks of photography, you might start wondering if you should move into your own studio at some point. This great video examines the idea of whether you really need a studio or if you can continue to work on location.

In this video, Mark Wallace explains how to take high-contrast images. He also explains some key terms that you should think about when you shoot this type of portraits. 

A white backdrop is an incredibly versatile piece of equipment, and a must have for any studio photographer. But if you want to mix things up a bit, and you don't want to fork out for another background — like one of these beautiful hand-painted ones — or you just want to have some creative fun, making a gobo is a fantastically adaptable alternative.

I love going through Pinterest and looking at all of the beautiful photography studios. Broncolor lights, clean lines, tripods that could support a small car, but in this video I go through the realities of making your own studio space.

Continuous LED lighting has come a long way in recent years, and while there are pros and cons to shooting with strobes or continuous lights, LED technology has definitely shifted the balance a little. How useful is continuous lighting for a studio portrait shoot? This video aims to find out.

Elinchrom is well known for its superb range of softboxes. The Swiss flash manufacturer just announced today the introduction of grids for their Rotalux line.

Traditionally, studio photographers tend to shoot with narrower apertures, though there are certainly situations in which it might be a better choice to shoot at a wider aperture. This informative video examines when different apertures are optimal in studio as well as some of the issues associated with using artificial lights at wider apertures.

For most studio owners, outbuildings end up full of all sorts of junk, but there will be those key bits of kit that are just used day in and day out, and it's probably where you really want to invest your money.

V-flats are one of the most useful lighting items a studio photographer can have. In fact, they can allow you to create much more complex lighting setups just by shaping a single light. This great video will show you how you can create three different lighting setups using just a single strobe and some v-flats.

I just finished shooting my first video for Levi’s and it was a learning curve of note.

The Masters of Photography courses are aimed at offering instruction from those who have mastered their genre, to those who are entering it. The Albert Watson course covers his whole career, working in portraiture and commercial advertising as well as shooting landscapes and personal projects. Here’s what I thought after giving it a go.

Today, Westcott announced their new FJ400 battery-powered strobe. I've had an early review unit for a few days now, and Westcott seems to have done the impossible: they've overtaken the Godox AD400 Pro in its segment. 

You don’t need a fancy studio to take fancy photographs. Sometimes, all you need is a garage.

As a photographer, I am not someone with extensive experience in using artificial continuous light. What better way to push yourself forward than to find something you aren’t familiar with and dive in head first? Self-growth for the win!

Halloween is just around the corner, folks, so it's time to start getting those creepy, creative ideas out of that weird head of yours and into your camera. What better place to start than in the comfort of your own home?

Robert Ascroft is known worldwide for his celebrity, sports, and fashion photographs. His client list includes Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Showtime, A&E, Puma, Vanity Fair, and Rolex. So, basically his client list includes some of the biggest names in his industries of focus! Not bad, right? Go big or go home I guess! 

Today, I’ll take you for an in-depth look at a new extensive project I shot with the Fujifilm GFX 100. It will be a longer essay meant to give you a hands on experience to help decide if the camera is right for you.

If you have a good understanding of how light works, you may find that an expensive studio stuffed full of high-end strobes and funky diffusers is far from important when it comes to creating striking images. In this short video, photographer Irene Rudnyk shows you how to produce something remarkable using little more than a shed.

Every now and then a video seems to explode over YouTube. More recently this has been the food styling hacks tutorials. Here are some myth busting facts.

We would all love to have large, sprawling studios in which we can have the freedom to experiment and tackle any sort of job with ease, but the reality is that that simply is not the case for most of us. This helpful video will show you how to set up a working, versatile studio in a small space without spending a lot of money in the process.

As a photographer, personal projects are important to always keep trying out new things and practicing one’s craft while helping to maintain the passion in the art.