Light macro photographs can be tricky. If you are a beginning macro photographer and do not know where to start when it comes to using a speedlight to illuminate your subjects, here is a complete guide to different flash diffusers you can use for macro photos.
In this video, I’ll show you a simple Photoshop compositing technique to remove light stands from your images in less than two minutes. Then, we’ll do a complete rundown of how the image was shot, lit, and processed.
With the huge range of lighting modifiers available–umbrellas, beauty dishes, soft boxes, octaboxes, and on and on and on—it can be hard for a first time buyer to understand the differences and decide how to best spend their money. Photographer Scott Choucino to the rescue.
Earlier this week, high-end lighting brand Profoto released a teaser for a new light that it claimed would "forever change the world of photography." Don't get too excited though: according to the most recent rumors, this "game-changing" product is an expensive LED flash for smartphones.
I have a client who builds amazing luxury apartment complexes all over California, and I’m their pool guy. I know it sounds funny, but they call me whenever they need exterior images and pool images (they call another photog to do the interiors of the model apartments).
Here's a creative technique to add to your bag of tricks. In this 9.5-minute video, we’ll show you from start to finish how we took an ordinary scene and turned it into to go from day to night in one single exposure, in-camera.
Elinchrom has partnered up with Light & Motion to announce the new Elinchrom ELM8: a battery-powered continuous LED light for photo and video shooters that they're calling "the most versatile continuous LED light on the market."
A group of researchers and engineers from UC San Diego and Google have trained a neural network to "relight" portraits after the fact "according to any provided environment map." In other words: their system can take any photo and adjust the lighting at will—including the direction, temperature, and quality of the light.
Yongnuo is teasing that it has a new pocket flash on the way. Called the YN200, the product will look strikingly similar to the popular Godox AD200 (AKA the Flashpoint eVOLV 200).
My name is Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens, and in this 6.5-minute video and article, I'll illustrate the balance of strobes with ambient light. Whether it’s inside or outside, you’re going to have to learn the formula to balance strobes with ambient light. It’s not that hard, so let’s go back to 1930 and learn the formula!
Photon is a new modular mini studio for product photographers that features a powerful system of flexible LED lighting.
Profoto today announced the new B10 Plus, a "slightly bigger brother" to the B10 that doubles the power to 500Ws from 250Ws while only adding about 25% to the price.
Photographing a Porsche is a special experience for me, as I am a racing fan, and Porsche is racing. They are the essence of speed on the curving tracks they have graced around the world, and on a photo shoot, they are just as incredible sitting still. It is for this and many other reasons that I count myself lucky to stand behind the camera while photographing the art pieces that are Porsche racecars.
Shooting professional-quality portraits with artificial lighting doesn't have to weigh heavily on your bank account. Here's a 22-minute video in which photographer Sean Tucker shares how to shoot great portraits using a single speedlight and a cheap modifier.
That title is a mouthful, but I didn’t know how to better describe the style. Over the years, I’ve been refining and perfecting my newborn photo technique to get the specific light and airy high-key look I want. While every home I visit is different, and some are more challenging than others, these strategies have given me the best and most consistent results.
Profoto has just announced the new A1X, a "new and improved sibling" to the A1 round-head flash that was announced back in September 2017.
A little while ago I was teaching one of my lighting workshops and one of the attendees was looking to implement some of the set-ups I was sharing into his workflow. Seems simple enough right? Well, it turns out this photographer was a Formula 1 trackside shooter that needed to get portraits of drivers and crew.
The cheapest watch I could find, that was my mission! I decided I wanted to create a magazine advertising image using a really cheap watch. My goal was to replace the luxurious and expensive aspect of the image with an unknown brand but still maintaining that feel of expense and luxury in the final shot. It was also to focus on the photography and the importance and impact it has on advertising.
Lighting two people can be difficult to do, so I’m going to use 5 portrait lighting positions to breakdown how to best light a couple.
So you have just picked up your first light or you have had one light for a while now, and you are wondering what more you can create with just that one light. Well, you can create loads.
Want a powerful off-camera flash but your camera of choice is a smartphone? LIT Flash is an innovative new handheld wireless Xenon flash that's designed specifically to meet your needs.
I am always looking for new and easy ways to light part of an object or create interesting light in an image, and I think I have found the perfect tool for just that and so much more! Pixapro's Optical Snoot has opened up a more efficient way to be able to do this.
Canon is apparently looking into building continuous LED lights into the pop-up flashes on DSLR cameras, something that could come in handy for certain situations when shooting photo or video.
This article is for all of the new photographers new to lighting and to all who think they are limited by their lack of gear! I will show you how you can create this whiskey image with just one light, in-camera, and with no editing.
Photographer Miguel Quiles made this 7-minute video tutorial on a trick you can use to shoot eye-catching portraits. It's all about paying attention to and manipulating the catchlights in your subject's eyes.
What is the best way to light glass? Glass doesn’t look good when you shine light directly at it. It soaks up the light it doesn’t define it. It just gives you specular highlights little pinpoints that don’t photograph well.
Today we are going to talk about placing a softbox -- not the positions that you would use, like a Rembrandt, a butterfly, or a loop, but how to place it once it’s in position. Let’s talk about how to finesse the look that you want to achieve while using a softbox.
I am a fan of light (honestly what photographer isn’t?). Hard light; reflected light; dappled light; low-key light; colored light -- I love it all. Light makes or breaks not only my images but my mood. I’d venture to say that light is sandwiched between “belonging” and “safety” on my hierarchical pyramid of needs.
My name is Brendan Burkett, and I believe I have created an original device and street photography method. What I have done is attach a softbox to my back for ultimate portability. This allows me to get street portraits with a very unique light.
Here’s a simple breakdown of 7 different lighting techniques you can implement next time you shoot portraits with studio lighting. For these examples, we used continuous lights to better illustrate it, but you can strobes as well, of course.
Once and again, people ask me the question "what is the most important thing in landscape photography?" Of course, this question cannot be answered unequivocally due to the many ingredients of a good picture, but there is no doubt that light is one of the essentials of many good pictures.
Mystified by talk of "guide number" and "flash power"? Gerald Undone made this helpful 10-minute video that explains everything you need to know about the light from strobes and speedlights, from common misconceptions to practical formulas that will help you light your shots.
If you don't have access to a full cyclorama wall or large studio, you're in luck. In this 2-minute video, I'll teach you how to create a pure white background and light the subject using a single light source.
I got my first 3D printer recently, but it sits in a dark corner of my room, so I thought I'd design a light for it. Then I realized I could kill two birds with one stone and design it to be useful for photography as well.
It’s not often I get to shoot very simple, clean white light shots, but in a recent shoot the model asked if she could get some updated ‘Polaroids’. For those of you not familiar with the term when used in reference to a model shoot, it’s actually not the now-obsolete and ludicrously expensive single-shot film, but a request for very basic portraits of the model for their agency.
Sometimes, you’re forced to work with what you’ve got, even if that means just the flashlight on your phone. In this 10-minute video, you’ll learn 5 ways to light portraits using just a phone flashlight.
“Do you have 9 lights?” The account manager at Oakland University asked me. Somewhat inspired by a Queen album cover, he was looking to create an image where 9 award-winning students stood out in a dramatized version of a newly renovated space on campus. While I understood the goal of the session, I immediately knew rigging 9 lights up would be nearly impossible while showing such a vast space. I told him that it may take some time, but I could get it done with just 2 lights.
If you're looking to expand your skill set in shooting portraits with umbrellas, check out this 8-minute video by photographer Miguel Quiles. In it, he introduces different types of umbrellas and then shares 5 different ways he uses them to create stunning portraits.
After recently sharing a portrait on social media, I was asked by a lot of people to write a breakdown on how I achieved the shot.
I’ve been photographing weddings for 10 years now, so I’ve seen and dealt with nearly every lighting scenario possible, from a dark church with no windows, to a wedding ceremony at high noon with not a cloud in sight. But one thing most photographers don’t know is how to photograph in dappled light!