lighting for boudoir photo sessions
lighting for boudoir photo sessions
The one type of photo session where I work the most at getting my lighting just right, is with a boudoir session. These intimate photo sessions can be quite a challenge since you have to get a variety of looks in a short time. For this you have to not only concentrate on posing and angles, but also concentrate on the lighting. On top of that, you have to make sure your model or client is comfortable and relaxed at all times. The session has to be fun and really show her off at her best. I bring a variety of lighting equipment to these shoots - Read more inside...flash & low ambient light – adapting during an outdoor wedding ceremony
wedding photography: flash and low ambient light - adapting during the shoot
I'm often asked what I would do when I encounter a situation where you need to use flash, but there is no easy way to bounce flash. My flippant answer is ... you're screwed! Well, not really. My advice is that you have to improvise and in some way of finesse your use of light. In tough situations, you still want to try and shy away from using direct on-camera flash whenever possible. Direct on-camera flash as the main source of light is rarely aesthetically the best choice. Read more inside...combining flash and ambient light
combining flash and ambient light
Going by the emails that I receive, one of the areas that many photographers struggle with is that of combining ambient exposure and flash exposure. This question is also expressed in other ways. It can be a frustrated, "where do we even start?" I also often see it expressed as an involved step-by-step deconstruction of technique, making the entire process more complex than it is. In reply to that, and many other emails I've received in the past few months, I'd like to offer an analysis of a few images from a recent shoot. One of my Read more inside...Photoshop tips – making your images pop (2) – Topaz Adjust
Photoshop tips – making your images pop - Topaz Adjust
I'd like to present another in the ongoing series on giving your images more 'snap' in Photoshop. This time, I'd like to specifically look at Topaz Adjust- a neat plug-in for Photoshop. What I like about Topaz, is its simplicity of use - but if you want to, you can delve much deeper into it. The possibilities are wide open. (Also nice is that it is relatively inexpensive as software goes.) There are hundreds of ways you could use this program, because you can blend the different effects in different ways on a single Read more inside...lighting the wedding formals (part 3)
lighting the wedding formals
In the first of two postings on how I light the wedding formals, I showed how I use a single flashgun when photographing smaller formal groups indoors. The equipment is relatively simple then - a single flashgun (Q-flash) and a large 60" umbrella to give me good lighting. The flashgun that I use for these, is a Q-flash. Specifically the older T2 model since I only use them in manual mode here. When I have a larger group I use two of these flashguns - each with an umbrella. But more about that in a follow-up article coming up soon. What I wanted to Read more inside...Wedding photography – Retouching & style
Wedding photography - Retouching & style
My style in wedding photography veers towards the more straight-forward image - uncluttered and without much Photoshop work done. I really believe that the more you fudge with a photograph, the more likely it would not be as timeless as you might want it to be. Retouching styles become dated. So I tend towards the more straight-forward rendition of a photograph. That said, you can most definitely enhance the original photograph to make it really pop. Here is an example - a favorite image from a sequence taken during the romantic Read more inside...using two video lights
using two video lights for photography
Video lights as a way of lighting still photography portraits is something that I've mentioned more often on this blog of late. When the subject and setting is such that a more dramatic way of lighting would work, then I quite often use video lights. This image is from the recent workshop in Philadelphia, and someone held a single video light to the right and above me. The angle that the light should be held at, is guided by how I want the shadow under her nose to appear. I prefer the shadow to appear as loop lighting or as butterfly Read more inside...here’s why I love off-camera lighting ..
why I love off-camera flash
There are a few reasons why I love off-camera lighting, and I want to show some images from a recent photo session with one of my couples, Jill & Mike, as an example. The main reason for me, is that you can have perfect lighting on your subject's face with much more freedom than if you just relied on the available light. I am usually quite particular about the backgrounds to my photos, where it is in my control. The backgrounds need to be complementary, or add something to the image. I have a preference for an out-of-focus background. The defocused Read more inside...lighting the wedding formals (part 1)
lighting and photographing the wedding formals
With this, the first in a loose series on lighting and photographing the family formals at weddings, I would like to show that with a simple approach it is possible to get clean results that work every time. In lighting the formals, I don't try to get all Rembrandt, but prefer a fairly flat way of lighting everyone. I keep the lighting static for all the images, whether I am photographing one person or twenty. With time usually being a real constraint during the wedding day, there simply isn't the opportunity to play around too much Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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