Broncolor has announced the new Satos power packs that use a unique dual-power system that can be equipped with conventional power supplies for studio use or with high-performance batteries for on-location use -- or a combination of both.
In November, Nikon entered a lighting partnership with Nissin and Profoto, leading many to believe Nikon was exiting the lighting game. Even if that is eventually the case, Nissin's new Nikon flash shows high prices are here to stay.
Profoto has announced the new Clic Softbox Octa, a collapsible and magnetic octagonal softbox that is compatible with the company's A and C-series strobes as well as with any other Clic light-shaping tools.
Nikon recently announced that it is collaborating with Nissin and Profoto on speedlights and studio lights. Is this an admission of the not-so-secret reality that lighting products are actually quite cheap?
In this 18-minute video, photographer Dustin Dolby explains many of the tricks beverage photographers use and shows how anyone can achieve professional-level beer photos with just a few speedlights and some entry-level camera gear.
Natural light is one of the easiest ways to shoot portraits with minimal gear. More often than not natural light is soft and flattering to the face. Yet, a photographer who is able to create natural light in the complete absence of it is valued highly. That is of course with strobes. Here’s how you can easily create natural-looking light with flash.
The purpose of a snoot is to take a light source and focus it down into a more defined point, but The Beyond Photography Show host Andrew explains in this 11-minute video that the physics of snoots makes them terrible at their job.
Lindsay Adler is an accomplished portrait photographer and educator, and in this 11.5-minute video she explains three different, versatile, and easy-to-master lighting setups using a beauty dish as the key light.
Portrait photographer Miguel Quiles is tackling one of the most common beginner questions out there: should I invest in speedlights or strobes? In this video, he covers the pros and cons of both, and which you should go with depending on your needs and shooting style.
DynaLite Inc.—a trusted professional lighting brand that has been around for over 50 years—has shut down. In a statement posted to the company's website, CEO Peter Poremba announced that the company "has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and has closed it doors."
Kevin and Tracy over at Canada's Strobepro Studio Lighting recently put together an lighting shootout where they tested out various continuous LED lights for studio portrait photography. The question they're trying to answer: can continuous lights replace strobes?
‘Flash duration’ isn’t a very glamorous topic, but it’s certainly something that every single photographer that uses flash should be aware of.
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!
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.
It started as a regular booking inquiry from a client. They wanted to book me for an engagement shoot a month before their wedding. The destination was decided (the Port of Jaffa), and the time was set (an hour before sunset).
It’s photographer Jay P. Morgan here. Here's a new 11-minute video in which I compare the pros and cons of strobes vs. continuous light and conduct some indoor and outdoor lighting tests between the two for you to decide which one to use when you are shooting.
In 2016, I made a video comparing the Profoto B1 and Godox AD600. Since then both models have had an updated release and Broncolor has also released the Siros 800 and 400. I decided to put all three models head to head to help people decide which is the best option.
Here's something you might not be able to "unsee" if you've never noticed it before: during an NBA basketball game, whenever there's some exciting action around the rim, there's a good chance you'll also see a bright flash of light illuminate your screen for a split second. These are the powerful strobes installed high overhead by photographers.
There is a progression that takes place in the journey that is our lighting knowledge: ambient light > on-camera flash > bouncing that flash > off-camera strobes > gels.
Paul C. Buff has announced the new DigiBees strobes, a line of powerful, digitally-controlled, self-contained studio flash units. They're the digital counterpart to the company's popular AlienBees flashes.
This is one of the most informative, technical, and (if you're a camera nerd) awesome walkthrough's we've ever stumbled across. In it, photographer Patrick Murphy-Racey shows you, step-by-step, how he lights a whole massive basketball arena with four powerful strobes.
God of Lighting, Lighting Rock Star, the late great Dean Collins has been called many things, and all of them point to the fact that he knew light better than, perhaps, anybody else you've ever studied under.
When photographing Czech aerobatics and fighter pilot Martin Šonka recently, photographer Dan Vojtěch wanted to capture the plane in a different light than other photographers have done in the past. He then decided that he would shoot the plane in motion, but light it like he would a studio photo using flashes firing around it.
Photographer Lindsay Adler is teaching a CreativeLive course this month on the basics …
I’m what I’d call a professional hobbyist when it comes to photography. I try to make it my life, but my passion sometimes overrides my business sense for it.
I’ve usually done photography in phases. There was my fisheye phase, natural light phase, reflector phase, speed light phase and so on. Eventually a friend of mine let me use his Profoto AcuteB system for a random adventure at the Renascence Faire, during which I knew I was hooked onto high-end strobes. Eventually he bought a B1, which I borrowed enough times to just buy one of my own.
German electronics manufacturer Metz has officially filed for insolvency. Known by photographers mostly for its lineup of speedlights and other lighting gear, the primarily television manufacturer says production and support will continue, at least for the time being.
When it comes to the quantity of lights that one needs, opinions are often heavily polarized and a hotly contested debate often rages. There are those that are staunch supporters of one light while others claim that a handful of lights are needed before anything meaningful can be done. Ultimately neither group is right as there is no definable minimum or maximum number of lights that one should use.
If you're new to the world of studio portraiture and you've noticed that the skin tones in your photos are often turning out wrong, it's possible you're getting color contamination from the ambient lights in your studio -- be that a bank of windows or overhead lights.
Lindsay Adler and CreativeLive want to help you clear that up, and so they've published this short snippet of their Skin 101 course to explain how best to avoid this issue.
What you see in the video above is a real sculpture that does, in fact, look as if it is perpetually melting right before your eyes. But while creating the exact sculpture took months of design and engineering work, the photographic technique behind it was invented as long ago as 100 BC.
What you're looking at is a three-dimensional "zoetrope," an animation device that created the illusion of motion using lighting effects or a sequence of still images (in this case, it's a mix of clever sculpting and well-timed strobes).
What you see in this photograph is the most flashes ever used to light a single photograph. Photographer …