Photography Blogs & Tutorials
You can't exactly put this stuff in your pocket. And what you get to carry it around will be largely driven by, well, what you care carrying around.
Most of you will end up using two small lights with stands and mods and a modest bag of camera gear. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You can do a ton of cool stuff with two speedlights. I have gone far past that level of gear in the past, and often to my regret.
If that's you, grab the shoulder-slung camera... more
We tend to start out using soft light at a 45-degree angle because it is an easy fix, and it's hard to go seriously wrong doing that.
But there are all kinds of light mods, and often choices other than default soft three-quarter light can be more interesting. My favorites are snoots, grids and ring adapters.
Snoots are like little tunnels you attach to your flash to block part of the... more
Editor's note: In 2011 I wrote a full post on my four favorite soft modifiers. No changes since then. These are still my go-to's, for reasons explained below. So I am adapting/enlarging this walk-thru in the gear selection module. -DH
With the gazillion or so soft light mods out there, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the... more
Light stands are designed to oppose gravity. Pretty simple. And the designs are, for the most part, pretty similar. I think of light stands as being in three categories: normal stands, compact stands (seen just above) and specialty stands such as C-stands.
For light stands I like LumoPro for many of the same reasons I like the LumoPro LP180 speedlight. Their stands are well-built,... more
This is pretty simple and straightforward advice. First, start with a wire. Yep, a simple sync cable.
It is cheap and reliable, and a great backup to have for when your wireless triggers decide to go all hinky on you. Which they sometimes will. Because, radio.
If you chose your flash wisely, you'll not be locked into expensive, proprietary PC-based cords. I live in a one-eighth-inch sync... more
Because big lights and small lights each bring a different set of considerations to the party, I am splitting my recommendations into speedlights and "studio lights." (Although I hate that term.)
For speedlights, you have to decide if you wanna drive stick or automaticAKA manual or TTL. I live in manual mode, which means I sacrifice some convenience for reliability and repeatability. It also means I can pay about a third as much for each of my flashes.
If you live by TTL... more
If you date your cameras, you marry your lenses. That's because, unlike digital cameras, a well-chosen lens can serve you for a very long time.
I still have one lens that I bought thirty two years ago. And I bought it used. I doubt that will be the case with any of my digital cameras, ever.
In the past, I was a lens speed freak... more
There is no perfect camera. So get that idea out of your head right now. Far better to think of any camera as a set of compromises. Size, speed, image quality, low-light performance, price, etc., can all be featuresand they can all be liabilities.
You want image quality? Get an 11x14" film camera. Great for detail and tonal range. But sucks for... more
If you have never done it before, lighting a group shot outdoors in full sun can be daunting. After all, sun is pretty bright. And your subject is pretty big and thus harder to light at a high level.
But with a leaf-shutter camera and a couple of battery powered monoblocs, you can easily own the sun and just about anything you can put under it.... more
My last head shot had been getting a little long in the tooth. So on a whim the other day, I redid it.
Gotta keep things fresh, I always say. So I try to redo my head shot every seven years, whether it needs it or not.
As photographers, we only get to see one side of the equationand that does not involve looking down the barrel of the gun, either. So being on the receiving... more
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