Lighting How To

Hand-held light meters seems to have fallen out of favor as most photographers have made the switch from film to digital. But these powerful tools can be just as important today, as they were with our 35mm cameras.

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.

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?

The flash vs natural light debate is almost as old as photography itself. (Or at least as old as flash photography itself.) Photographer Craig Beckta recently jumped into the fray with the below video, which is titled “7 Reasons Why Flash Is Better for Portraits Than Natural Light.”

Pro photographer Anita Sadowska has been photographing professional models for much of her career, so, naturally, she has a thing or two to say about how it’s done. In the below video, Sadowska offers her tips, tricks and advice on how to capture gorgeous shots of professional fashion models.

Shooting portraits on location with a wide aperture can result in some great images, but if, like me, you want to underexpose the ambient light for a more dramatic effect, you’ll quickly realize there’s a problem with shutter speed and off camera flash.

Daniel Norton is a NY-based photographer known for his striking portrait and fashion images, and in this quick tutorial he demonstrates one of his favorite techniques—backlighting a subject for a dramatic effect.