Lighting Reviews

There are few things in digital photography more frustrating than problems with color fidelity. One of the most commonly heard complaints is “my prints don’t match my display.” While color accuracy is improved with LCD displays, it isn’t perfect by any means, and if you’re serious about your photography it’s important to calibrate your monitor. And, if you do your own printing, you’ll often find that you can improve the quality of your prints with profiles built specifically for your printer and paper selection.

One of the biggest advancements in recent years in flash photography has been the ability to use your camera-compatible flash off-camera and wirelessly. Canon, Nikon, and others have developed their own systems where you can control multiple units that not only fire at the same time but also can be put into groups with their own settings.

Photography is all about light and photographers are always looking at ways to modify it. Visit any studio of a working pro and you’re bound to see softboxes, umbrellas, cones, snoots, grids, beauty dishes, parabolic reflectors, etc. Each has their purpose in changing the shape and/or character of the light. Using the same light source, you can modify it from a sharp, harsh, point light source with distinct shadows to a soft, even light source with very little or no shadows. With that in mind I decided to give one of these modifiers a test, the Paul C. Buff PLM v.2.

I prefer to shoot macros and close-ups handheld, so, when I need to augment the existing light or replace it entirely, I look for a compact solution. And for me, that often means a ringlight. It’s a simple and undemanding yet effective tool. For my really tight close-ups at or near life-size, I set focus manually in advance so there’s no worry about the AF sensor trying to lock on...

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are a highly efficient way to provide additional illumination to your shot. Not only are they small and portable, but LEDs consume far less power than tungsten units, can last over 100,000 hours, and give off little or no heat. If you are looking for studio lights that are easily metered (because they can stay on all day), cool to the touch, color temperature...

As studio lights have gotten bigger and shoe-mount flashes more sophisticated, on-location photographers increasingly have reached for speedlights to solve lighting problems.

Wow! That’s all I need to say about the new Nissin Di866 shoe-mount flash. This baby has to be experienced to be believed. I was impressed with the other flash units Nissin first sent me, but this new flash sets new standards in technology and user-friendliness. For starters, the Di866 features wireless TTL that lets me take advantage of the latest camera/flash exposure advances. Second, it...