Improve your portrait photography: Lighting with bounce flash
Improve your portrait photography: Lighting with bounce flash
For a straight-forward but effective portrait like this, there are just a few things that have to come together ... all within your control as the photographer: Framing / Composition This is mostly as simple as looking at the edges of the frame in your camera's viewfinder, and then deciding how much head-room or breathing room you want to allow. Also look at the background, and exclude what doesn't add to your photograph. In this example, it was easy enough, working in my studio which has a grey wall. So often Read more inside...Photo shoot: On-location lighting problem solving
Photo shoot: On-location lighting problem solving (with Profoto)
When I photograph on location, many of my decisions on the technical stuff like camera settings and lighting, are based on common sense algorithms. Max flash sync speed, choice of aperture, and direction of light. That forms the basis of decisions, but just as often we, as photographers, have to adapt and go into problem-solving mode. Here's an example during a photo shoot where I had to come up with a different way of using my off-camera lights. It was a big deal for me when I was asked by the management of Home Read more inside...Photographing the wedding formal groups
Photographing the wedding formal groups
Photographing the family groups and the formal photos at weddings doesn't really strike fear in my heart any more. I have the experience to work efficiently, and also work around any challenges that come up. I can take things in my stride, and I'm not often ruffled. I keep things motoring along. With that, I just had to share this amusing photo from a recent wedding - the bride and groom with the 3 nephews. Count them! And that's about the best shot we got with all three of the kiddos in the frame. So even with all the experience and Read more inside...book review: Picture Perfect Lighting, by Roberto Valenzuela
book review: Picture Perfect Lighting, by Roberto Valenzuela
I strongly believe that there's a pivotal moment that happens (or will happen) for most photographers as they progress and become better at this thing we do with a camera - a moment of clarity when we realize that much of photography really hinges on the understanding of light and how it behaves. This was the theme of my one book, Direction & Quality of Light where I explained in the introduction that once we understand those principles, then we can pretty much use any light source, whether on-camera flash or off-camera Read more inside...Lighting an on-location Fashion shoot
Lighting an on-location Fashion shoot
Bringing just the necessary photo gear and lighting gear to an on-location shoot, is balanced by the need to bring enough to cover any eventuality and possibility. A tough balance between risking not having the right gear, and being laden down with too much gear. I had the interesting opportunity to work with my friend Daniel Featherstone, and collaborate him with him on the lighting during his photo shoot for New York Fashion designer, SR1990. (The day-long photo shoot was at Opus 40, where I shot also some B&W infrared images during Read more inside...B&W infrared landscapes – Opus 40
B&W infrared landscapes - Opus 40
Opus 40, near Saugerties, NY, is a large open-air environmental art-piece that took 37 years to construct. Sculptor Harvey Fite (1903-1976) created this epically huge sculpture, which is a sprawling series of ramps and platforms, with a central monolith. Helping with a Fashion photo shoot on the site, I took a few minutes between sets to take photographs of this place, using my infra-red B&W camera - a Canon 5D mark II that has been converted for infra-red by Life Pixel, with an 830nm deep B&W IR filter. The stark beauty of the place Read more inside...Photography: Using light fall-off to illuminate your subject
Photography: Using light fall-off to illuminate your subject
John collects vintage … oh, everything. His entire house filled with collectibles – it is like stepping out of a time-machine into a different era. I joked with him that the only two things in his house from the 21st century is his fridge and his dog! Most impressive in a way, is John’s workshop where he maintains his two vintage era motorbikes and a Model A Ford. The tools in his workshop are all authentic to the era and are hand tools - no electric tools - and they work. The way John describes it, it actually makes sense Read more inside...review: Best Canon 50mm lenses – lens sharpness
review: Best Canon 50mm lenses - lens sharpness
Continuing on from the review of the bokeh of Canon 50mm lenses, let's have a look at image sharpness. Clearly, there is more to deciding on a lens than just sharpness, and we discussed one of those aspects in that article on bokeh. Often it comes down to a balance between your budget, and what you expect from the lens - but usually, image sharpness is the key factor. It could be argued that 50mm is a less thrilling focal length - not wide enough for scenic views, nor long enough to compress perspective. Still, a 50mm lens is often Read more inside...Studio portraits of children – Lighting and textures
Studio portraits of children - Lighting and textures
Going towards the brighter, less moody way of lighting children's portraits, as shown here - dramatic portraits of kids - I went with the parents' request with how they wanted this 3 year old's portraits to look like. I therefore lit it differently, but still with (mostly) just a single light source. For my own portfolio, I added a texture to the background. More about the lighting and post-processing in a moment ... The family stopped by the studio on their way to Chuck E Cheese's for this kid's 3rd birthday party. So there was Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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