Lighting How To

Today’s quick tutorial is a throwback to the days before electronic cameras, without autofocus, built-in meters, and other modern conveniences. The Sunny 16 method for determining proper exposure was one of the easiest “rules” back then, and it can bail you out of a jam today when using a full-featured camera.

Photographers who do most of their shooting outdoors know how difficult it can be to consistently nail exposure—especially when shooting expansive landscape vistas. That’s because these types of scenes often contain a broad range of tones from bright highlights to deep shadows.

Lightroom masks are very effective for quickly fixing photos that are improperly exposed, like when some areas in the scene are too dark or too bright, or perhaps even both when shooting in mixed light.

If you’re new to photography welcome aboard, and there’s no way around the simple fact that you’ve got a lot to learn. The quick tutorial below is designed to short-circuit your learning curve by revealing five common mistakes made by beginners and how to avoid them.

Boudoir photography is an increasingly popular genre of portraiture, particularly among those who shoot people pictures with available light outdoors, or others with a home “studio” that doesn’t rely upon complicated artificial illumination—like when using light streaming through a widow to brighten the scene.

We thought we’d start the day with a fun short-and-sweet” technique for embellishing photos with sunstars captured in the camera. So pull up a chair, watch the two-minute video below, and see how it’s done.

Winter is officially over and spring has finally sprung, and that means it’s time to pull out a macro lens and bone up on your skills. The quick video below provides five very helpful tips that are different from those we’ve discussed in the past.