Commercial photographer J.P. Morgan has over two decades of studio experience, as well as a knack for helping others shoot like a pro. In the video below, Morgan uses his unique teaching style to help you better understand lighting by photographing a ball, cube, and cylinder in one properly lit image.
On-camera flash tends to get a bum rap, especially for portrait photography. But if you want to shoot stunning people pictures at night, unencumbered by flash brackets, light modifiers, or other flash attachments, all you have to do is watch the quick tutorial below.
There was a time when lens flare was considered a negative attribute of photos shot outdoors. Often caused by using a lens with inferior coatings (or no coatings at all), flare can also result from failing to use a lens hood when shooting on sunny days (depending on your position relative to the sun).
Shadows are an integral part of light, and that means they are an integral part of photography. Everything casts a shadow, however subtle it may be, in virtually all types of lighting conditions. Even a small insect casts a shadow in diffused light. For example, look at the shadows under the legs of the cicada (#1). This was taken with diffused window light.
In nature, lighting can make the difference between an okay photo and an amazing shot. Light can even become the subject and can affect composition, exposure, color, focus, feel and mood. This is why most nature photographers work around light, letting it determine when and where they work. In this chapter I’ll talk about the importance of shooting at the right time of day, how the direction of light affects subject matter and how weather plays an essential part.
The intriguing thing about lightpainting is you never know exactly what you’re going to get. And whatever you get, you won’t get it again. That’s part of the technique’s appeal: you’re creating a one-of-a-kind photograph.
Simply, a lightpainting photo is an image made with a handheld, constant light source in a dark room or environment. The camera’s sensor captures only what you choose to illuminate. Lightpainting images can range from relatively simple to fairly complicated. Striking photos can be created indoors with nothing more than a still life subject, a tabletop to put it on, and a small LED penlight to light it. Or you can think big: how about a mega-powerful spotlight illuminating prairie land in the Grand Tetons or a mesa in Monument Valley?
I’ve known John Hartman for many years. He is regarded in the industry as not only an outstanding photographer but also one of the hardest working and most successful photographers in the portrait world.
Joe McNally learned the value of supplementing available light with flash early on in his career as a photojournalist. Currently a Nikon Ambassador who works mainly as a commercial/editorial portrait photographer, McNally has become a staunch advocate for the use of Nikon Speedlights on location, often using these small flashes off camera in multiple lighting setups. McNally even mixes his Speedlights with studio strobes on occasion when the situation warrants.
Yesterday we demonstrated how to make better outdoor portraits by balancing ambient light with flash. Today’s lighting tutorial takes a different approach, explaining how to shoot indoor group portraits with a simple on-camera flash technique.
Studio lighting hardware is going through the biggest change—a paradigm shift, really—since the flashbulb was invented in 1929. There are many trends and fads with LED’s popularity seemingly having equal parts of both. LED lighting also appeals to DSLR and mirrorless camera shooters who want to capture stills and video.
Jim Harmer didn’t start out as a travel and nature photographer. He was in law school when the photography bug bit him, and, before he knew it, he was traveling the world, capturing moments in time with his camera.
Profoto B1 lights are the first studio lights to feature built-in TTL. They also have their own battery and controller so you can go on location and just pop up a light and start shooting. As of this writing they are available only for Canon, but by the time you read this the Nikon version should be available as well. To me, this is tailor-made for location shooting, so that’s where I did my tests.
BMX rider Daniel Coriz comes in at speed from the right side, launches himself up 10 feet, touches both tires, pulls the handlebars to pop a wheelie off the wall, then turns the bike for a clean exit. He lands a foot in front of adventure sports photographer Michael Clark, who’s been hand-holding his camera, tracking and firing to capture every turn and twist of the trick.
Yesterday we brought you a timesaving tutorial for streamlining Lightroom so the workspace displays all the tools you use in the order you want, with everything else hidden from view. We have another great trick today, this time it's a simple hack for using the Histogram to achieve perfect White Balance.
Earlier today we posted a tutorial with a foolproof in-camera method for shooting photos with perfect exposure. But what if you want to improve photos you shot in the past that don't quite hit the mark? The lesson below from the FJR YouTube channel demonstrates how easy this is to do with Lightroom's powerful Dodge and Burn tools.