Lighting How To

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Barry Tanenbaum  |  Jun 21, 2016

David X. Tejada’s assignment was a lighting demo for a how-to video and end-use images. The location was a private home where he was asked to create the effect of artificial sunlight. The weather cooperated by providing rain.

Joe Farace  |  Apr 03, 2015

The studio lighting genie is not going back into the bottle anytime soon and LED light sources are finding their place in more and more camera rooms. Clever and versatile lighting systems such as Rotolight’s new Anova V2 and their compact RL48-B battery-powered portable lights are part of the reason why.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 25, 2023

When most of us got started in photography we were told to “always shoot with the sun at your back.” That advice was reasonable for beginners interested in capturing simple images with a “Kodak Moment” look.

Ron Leach  |  Jun 10, 2025

The art of capturing sunset images with the WOW factor is a key goal of most landscape photographers—pros and beginners alike. This tutorial from the Photos on the Bay YouTube channel provides several in-camera techniques for taking advantage of what many say is the perfect time to shoot.

Dan Havlik  |  Apr 16, 2018

As part of his “Good Light: Learning to Write with Light and Shadow” series, photographer Sean Tucker has released this gem of a tutorial. In the short video below, Tucker shows you how to find good natural light to help you shoot stunning portraits.

Ron Leach  |  Aug 23, 2023

We've all come upon a beautiful scene only to discover that our images look flat and lifeless. Sometimes that's because the light wasn't quite right, while other times the culprit was operator failure, i.e. we used the wrong camera settings or techniques.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 10, 2024

Landscape photography can be difficult depending upon ambient light and the position of the sun. Earlier this week we featured a powerful Lightroom tutorial for "relighting" dull and lifeless images, and today we have another one that addresses a different challenge.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 24, 2023

There are a number of reasons that landscape and other outdoor photos may be underexposed. Perhaps you neglected to add the necessary EV compensation, or an overly bright sky biased the exposure.

Dan Havlik  |  Nov 18, 2019

To get professional image quality you need a pricey new professional camera, right? Wrong. You can get an inexpensive camera to produce pro-level photos and video if you just know a few "tricks."

Shutterbug Staff  |  Nov 27, 2018

If you’ve ever shot portraits in front of a seamless white background or a cyclorama, you’ve probably had to deal with pesky background shadows. They’re fine if you’re going for a dramatic look in your portraits, but what if you wanted something cleaner as your background to draw attention to your subject?

Dan Havlik  |  Apr 16, 2018

Photographers can’t seem to get enough of natural lighting tips and we can’t get enough of photographer Julia Trotti’s great portrait photography tutorials. 

Shutterbug Staff  |  Dec 05, 2019

Beginner portrait photographers should check out the below tutorial from Bach Photography.  Titled "How to Instantly Improve Your Natural Light Portrait Photography," it's a great starting point for anyone wanting to shoot beautiful portraits using only natural light.

Henry Anderson  |  Apr 20, 2022

If you want to spice things up on a boudoir shoot – and who doesn't? – one location that's fun to try is a hotel room setting. There are a few things to consider though if you plan to photograph a boudoir client in a hotel, particularly lighting, which can be dodgy at best in a hotel room.

Cynthia Boylan  |  Jan 08, 2016

The fun video below from The Slanted Lens -- with support from Tamron, Dynalite, and Roscoe—features host Jay P. Morgan and actress Jodie Sweetin of Full House fame, as they set up for a crazy photo shoot.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 08, 2020

Boudoir photography is really popular these days, but if you’ve ever tried this type of work, you know that sometimes images don’t look as enticing on the computer as they did through the viewfinder. The goal of this humorous-but-helpful tutorial is to keep you from saying, “Oh my goodness, this is embarrassing” when you review your results.

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