Lighting How To

In may be a new year, but it's still "Tutorial Tuesday" at Park Cameras—a leading retailer in the UK that posts weekly photography lessons for their customers and the rest of us who want to improve our skills. Today's episode is all about employing exposure bracketing in the conventional way, as well as for other tasks you may not have used it for in the past.

If you’ve never used a hand-held light meter, the difference between incident and reflected exposure readings may be unfamiliar. It’s a very important distinction that helps explain why many photographers invest in a hand-held meter, despite the sophisticated exposure capabilities of today’s advanced digital cameras.

Shutterbug featured the unique work of expert light painter Jason Page back in 2014, and he has a fascinating new tutorial that will help you learn this popular technique. In this video, Page uses the Light Painting Brushes system to create some imaginative effects.

It’s one of those debates photographers will probably have for eternity: is it better to shoot using only natural light or with strobe lighting? Of course, there’s no right answer but it’s always fun to put both types of lighting to the test.

As an avid photographer, paying close attention to Shutterbug’s articles and tutorials, you’ve become pretty confident about using a camera to achieve sharp, properly exposed images. Congratulations: You’re halfway there.

Many portrait photographers employ a portable light to boost ambient illumination and fill in shadows when shooting outdoors. In the four-minute video below you’ll see how simple diffusion panels can modify the quality of light and give you exactly the look you’re after.