Photography Blogs & Tutorials

"One light for shape, another for detail."

This simple concept, which I learned from photographer Jim Richardson about 25 years ago, forever changed the way that I thought about lighting. It's like a switch was turned on inside of my brain. Read more


If you are workng with one light, you already know that a single light can create many possibilities but also can force compromises. Do you place the light for the best modeling on someone's face? Or do you cheat it a bit to minimize those deep shadows you just created?... more
Welcome to the all-new, completely revised Lighting 102. If you are here, you should already have read through Lighting 101, and have a good understanding of its concepts.
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In lighting 101 you learned the basics of getting your... more
Hey folks,

Things may have appeared rather quiet around here, but there is a lot going on under the hood. You'll remember that in 2014 Strobist transformed from a 2x/week blog to more of a knowledge bank. This was done to create the time and space to develop other projects.

The latter has included things like The Traveling Photographer and the... more

Magic Lantern Is one of the more powerful pieces of software ever released for Canon cameras. MLwas released a good few years ago, but I am still getting quite a bit of mails asking us for more information about it. Good! Because videographerJake Coppinger just released a Magic Lantern for Dummies guide. It only covers [...]

The post Here is how to start with Magic Lantern (Canon steroids... more

Props: are they a blessing or a curse? In photography, props can often make or destroy a photo, and because of this some people try to avoid them, some are afraid to use them, and other people love to use them.

I moved from being afraid to loving props because I found they are amazing tools to unlock creativity.

Freshly squeezed coffee. A different way to prepare a fresh cup of coffee.

Why use props?

Usually, the role of the props in photography is to... more

Ever since wanting to focus on colour in my images I’ve found that often times due to budget or location, that I just quite simply cannot get the colours I’d like right in the camera. This means that I’ll often have to change colours in post and that, of course, in turn requires decent selections! [...]

The post How to get killer selections with Channels and Vivid Light... more

If you hate the way you look in selfies, here’s some good news for you. Firstly you are not alone. Big noses, squashed ears and weak chins make selfies looks less attractive (maybe this is why duck face is so common). Secondly, this may change as researchers atPrinceton University developed an algorithm to convert selfies [...]

The post Software makes selfiels look as if they... more

PhotographerIan Norman was out on shooting some night skies photo inAlabama Hills near Lone Pine, California. The photos are gorgeous (as you can see below), which is pretty usual up till now. But some time into the shoot Ian notices a huge fireball over the Sierra Nevada mountains. While Ian’s“big guns” gear was not setup [...]

The post ... more

If I show you two different portraits, one with a blurred background and one with a sharp background, you will automatically prefer the one with the creamy bokeh. Why? Because thats just how it is. No, the bokeh effect is very flattering because it isolates the main subject by separating it from the background.

If you did not know, bokeh means blur in Japanese, and it is purely aesthetic.

Most portrait photographers blur their backgrounds, and I certainly do it because when I... more

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