Lighting331 articles

Outdoor Maternity Photography Lighting Techniques

Outdoor Maternity Photography Lighting Techniques

The sun is one of our most vital elements when shooting natural outdoor shots, but it doesn’t always cooperate. Sometimes our timing is off or the elements are just not working out, but either way there’s a great on-location work around which wedding photographer Pyre Jirsa explains in this video tutorial: As the video demonstrates, we need […]

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How to Use Open Shade to Make the Most of Natural Lighting

How to Use Open Shade to Make the Most of Natural Lighting

Taking pictures in natural light can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re taking portraits. Too much strong light can cast harsh shadows and lead to areas of overexposure where the sun is shining directly. To avoid these issues, making use of open shade is the best option when taking portraits outdoors. Mark Wallace shares […]

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Alternative Beauty Lighting Techniques for Portrait Photographers

Alternative Beauty Lighting Techniques for Portrait Photographers

Lighting is an important aspect for creating the perfect image. Whether you’re taking photos for commercial, advertising, or even personal images, the intricacy of your lighting options are up to you. However, most photographers typically work with the “less is more” theory. To show how you can create the ideal lighting options for your photo […]

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Using an Egg to Understand Portrait Photography Lighting

Using an Egg to Understand Portrait Photography Lighting

So, how exactly does an egg teach you about lighting? Well, it’s actually pretty simple. As Joe Edelman outlines in the following video, by standing an egg upright and moving a light in a 360-degree rotation around it and over the the top from front to back, you will be able to see exactly what […]

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How to Use DIY Gobos for Great Lighting in a Home Portrait Studio

How to Use DIY Gobos for Great Lighting in a Home Portrait Studio

Tired of shooting the same ol’ portrait style over and over again but unsure of what you can do in studio without investing in more equipment? Consider this DIY technique from photographer Gavin Hoey that allows you to create amazing shadows using simple things you can find around the house: There are a number of […]

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Indoor and Outdoor Portrait Lighting Tips

Indoor and Outdoor Portrait Lighting Tips

If you’re into portrait photography you know that shooting indoors and outdoors requires slightly different approaches. If you’ve been shooting indoors mostly, you may have struggled initially when making the transition to an outdoor setup. The trick is in knowing what to expose for, using the ambient lighting to good effect, and using an external light to complement […]

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How to Extend Your Sunset Shooting With Strobe Lighting

How to Extend Your Sunset Shooting With Strobe Lighting

Most of us know that the golden hour is one of the best times for outdoor photography, but what happens when the light fades just a little too much? Do we call it a day? Not according to Jay P. Morgan. Just bring along a Speedlite or two and a Pocket Wizard, and you’ll find your window […]

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The Challenge of Working with Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Photography Lighting

The Challenge of Working with Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Photography Lighting

When shooting without flash, you try to use the light in your environment that works best. When shooting with flash, you often shoot inside and focus on altering the lights pointed at your subject. But often we forget that you can use the environment to help create a natural look with artificial light. In this […]

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DIY Portable Headshot Lighting Setup Project

DIY Portable Headshot Lighting Setup Project

Whether you’re trying to save a few dollars or just enjoy building your own equipment, you may like the following video, which shows us how professional portrait photographer Tristan Penner (tristanshea dot com) built his own portable portrait studio with supplies that can be found at most hardware stores. The setup consists of three panels, […]

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Lighting Setup for a Kitchen Portrait Session

Lighting Setup for a Kitchen Portrait Session

Complex photo shoots call for complex lighting. That’s why Jay P. Morgan shows us exactly how he sets up his seven different lights for this shoot, which features Jodie Sweetin (of Full House fame) posing as a beauty queen in a disaster kitchen. Here’s how he does it: The idea for this photo shoot began with Sweetin, who […]

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