studio

If you're taking your light stands outside, then you'll probably be using sandbags to weigh them down. But they're clumsy, take up a lot of space, and can be messy if punctured accidentally. StandDaddy offers a new, innovative way to stop stands from blowing over in a compact, easy-to-use form.

In product photography, using a white background can eliminate distractions and really make the product shine. But what if the product itself is white? In this 4-minute video, you'll learn how to properly expose your shot in this challenging scenario.

I’m always searching for interesting personal projects—ideas that are worth the effort and time it takes to make it visible.

I have a studio. For those of you that know me -- the author of the Studio Anywhere books, which focus on shooting anywhere but a studio -- this statement may sound oxymoronic or even blasphemous. Nonetheless, after years of shooting in my cramped basement, I finally outgrew my space and needed a slightly larger, dedicated space to have for working with clients.

Over in Helsinki, Finland, there's a photo studio called Cahute, named after an old French word meaning "little hut." What's unusual about this studio is that it shoots portraits exclusively on 8x10 direct positive paper, processing the shots with caffenol (a process that traditionally uses coffee and Vitamin C).

Here's a 2-minute video by SFMOMA that offers a tour of photographer Michael Jang's home and studio in San Francisco. Jang, who has had many works acquired for the SFMOMA collection, has an incredible body of work that includes portraits of everyone ranging from the Ramones and Jimi Hendrix to Robin Williams.

Photographer Karl Taylor made this 7-minute walkthrough video after people asked about his lighting setup for a commercial studio portrait he shot and posted to Facebook.

My name is Ty Foster, and I'm currently on a mission of shooting portraits of every single purebred dog breed. The project is called Canine Collective.

I was recently contacted by my cousin because a group was looking for volunteers to photograph 10 cancer survivor children. Without any hesitation, I contacted the person in charge and booked the shoot.

Many moons ago I was enrolled in a class on portraiture by Don Giannatti that studied and sought inspiration from the greats in photographic portraiture. The final artist studied was William Coupon. Coupon is known for his formal painterly backdrop portraits. Being the dutiful student I turned my assignment in post haste, or rather several months late. Either way, I learned that creating a painted backdrop had to be neither difficult nor costly.

Photographer Alexis Cuarezma is a master of doing rapid-fire portrait shoots of famous athletes for Sports Illustrated. When some of his shoots are limited to just 1 minute, Cuarezma uses 2 lighting setups simultaneously and sometimes even 5 setups on 1 set using a burst of exposures.

Inspired by Cuarezma's technique, photographer Daniel Norton of Adorama decided to create this 6.5-minute video tutorial on how you can shoot 3 portraits with 3 different lighting setups in just 1 second.

My name is Nick Fancher and I am a Columbus, Ohio-based commercial and portrait photographer. I specialize in lighting -- specifically with the use of small flash in unconventional locations.

My goal is to show that you can often create high-quality photos without using a conventional studio... and while using minimal, affordable gear. You just need to learn to make the most out of your environment!

I recently shot a series of snowy portraits... inside my studio. This shoot was originally just intended to be for my own Christmas card, The idea was to do something fun, dreamy, and Christmas-related (with a Santa hat and fun poses) that I could send to friends, family and clients. As the year was coming to an end, a fun photo shoot was very welcomed. And, ironically, we didn't have snow at this point in Brussels, which is very unusual.

Here’s a short and sweet 3-minute video tutorial by photographer and retoucher Glyn …

New York City-based editorial and commercial portrait photographer Felix Kunze says that the number one question he gets asked by people is how he makes his V-Flats for studio portraiture. He answers that question in the 8.5-minute video above, a step-by-step walkthrough of his build process.

The first known photograph was captured in 1826 when light reacted with a particular type of asphalt known as Bitumen of Judea. Since that first natural light photo, photographers have introduced artificial flash lighting to photos through all kinds of different ways. In this post, we're taking a look at a brief history of the camera flash -- from its humble beginnings with explosive powder and burning metal up through the latest LED lights -- to see how far it has come.

Elinchom have just announced the Litemotiv, a new extension to their lineup of softboxes. The two new modifiers are made up of sixteen sides and come in two distinct sizes. According to the company, theses monster softboxes help to create “close to perfect catchlights.”

As photographers, we capture the light around us to preserve moments in time. Sometimes, however, we not only want to contain the light, but also control it. So, when Elinchrom asked us if we wanted to test their powerful ELB 400 portable battery pack and Quadra Pro flash heads, we, of course, said yes. Now, let’s see what we can do with 424 watts of portable power.

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 …

Four years ago we were introduced to the olloclip on Kickstarter, and now the company’s series of lenses are some of the most popular lenses available for Apple’s iPhone. And olloclip isn’t just stopping there. Recently, the company announced another Kickstarter campaign for their new studio mobile photography system and they want the help of the community to bring the product to life.

Mossless photo magazine founder and freelance photo editor Romke Hoogwaerts has launched a new video series titled in situ, which offers a casual, behind-the-scenes look at how photographers work and interact.

The first video, shown above, features photographer Jody Rogac at work in her Gowanus, Brooklyn-based studio. Rogac shows us a little of how she organizes, creates, and edits her photos.

Apparently some photography studios advertise their services with this punny message. This particular one was found on the door …

When I was 15 years old, I began saving to become a self-employed photographer who owns her own photography studio. After saving $9,000 through working part-time and having an absolutely miserable first year of university, I decided to bite the bullet and pursue my dream now.

In this post, I will share how I built a photo studio for myself over three months using my savings.

A white seamless background is a staple of photography and video studios. Photographer Zack Arias of DEDPXL has created a fantastic (and lengthy) two-part tutorial on the basics of the setup.

Photographer Dan Vojtěch teamed up with Red Bull wakeskater Zuzana Vráblová for a unique and technologically challenging photo shoot. Vojtěch and his team utilized 3D scanning technology, 3D printing, and studio photography to create some eye-catching images.

If you happen to have an old studio light sitting around, or you've found a set on Craigslist you’d like to pick up, we found a clever DIY hack that you should take a look at. Put together by Instructables user gmjhowe, the hack uses an IKEA lampshade and the bottom of a coffee tin to make a basic, but impressive, reflector.

Philippe Echaroux -- many of whose projects we've shared with you in the past -- is back with an interesting, portable project from this year's Photokina. Teaming up with Elinchrom, the photographer set out to show how even a portable, one-man studio setup can produce impressive results.

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 feel like the pseudo-studio in your spare room is too small for quality results, Siste Skanse may change your perspective a bit. Located in Tromsø, Norway, this small building's claim to fame is that it's the “World's Smallest Instant Photo Studio.”

When trying to perfectly light an object, there’s a method of shooting it inside of an environment called a lightbox -- essentially a 360° softbox that emulates the soft, natural, even lighting you would get on an overcast day.

Lightboxes are fairly small in size, meant for lighting small objects for product photographs and so on. But what if it were possible to create a human-sized lightbox for use with people? It turns out you can, and in the BTS video above, photographer Kevin Lynch shows off his version.

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.