When faced with the dilemma of not being able to hold his camera and his off-camera flash, Jesse Rosten used a little bit of ingenuity to devise what he jokingly calls the Strobist Jetpack. (Once you see the contraption, the name will make a lot more sense!) He used a frame pack that he picked up at […]
In recent years the boundaries between cinematography and photography have become increasingly blurred. In this incredible video from Variable Productions, we can see how closely aligned they are: Taken at the unique Hindi festival of Holi, the film was shot on the Phantom Flex, a camera that can capture up to 2,570 frames a second […]
It’s no secret that without proper lighting, getting the perfect shot is near impossible. Lighting expert Joey Quintero has taken the time to conduct a masterclass on studio lighting. The course covers everything you need to know to confidently light your subject, starting with the basics and continuing right into some more advanced techniques. As […]
In this short video we follow photographer Zak Hendrik as he shots a group of athletes for an Indiana University poster. Some of the key points of Zak’s photo shoot are: Using four lights, two frontal lights including a ring light and lights to either side of the subjects to add some rim lighting. Using […]
Professional photographer Jay P. Morgan delivers a pair of information packed video tutorials, this time showing viewers the in’s and out’s of using light reflectors, then combining the reflectors with strobe lights and natural lighting to deliver perfectly lit scenes. In the first tutorial, Morgan discusses white, gold, soft gold, and silver reflectors and explains in which scenarios each color should be used in. The importance of using the sun as a rim light and reflectors as key lights are also stressed in this tutorial. Take a look at the first video and we’ll recap the key points.
Portrait lighting tips article coming soon.
Professional snowmobiler and X-Games Gold Medalist, Justin Hoyer, teamed up with photographer Andy Kawa to create a freestyle snowmobile action sequence using high speed strobes and a Nikon D300. Take a tour of the shoot here. Using only two strobes, Kawa fixed one lamp on Hoyer’s take-off ramp and had an assistant man the second lamp to manually track Hoyer as he flew through the air on his snowmobile.
Commercial photography can be a tedious process. Oftentimes, a single finished image can be comprised of over 30 photographs. The process of blending all these photographs together ensures that every part of the product is lit perfectly. This is especially useful when photographing objects as large as a Volvo semi-truck. Commercial photographer Tim Bjorn has done just this. Bjorn emphasizes the importance of not moving the camera during photo-shoots of such large scale. This is done, Bjorn says, by finding the perfect angle. “That is the key, no camera motion.”
Not everyone can afford—or needs—the most expensive kit when it comes to lighting. As a matter of fact, small and portable lighting kits make a photographer’s work more efficient. Here’s a selection of tools to help you assemble your lighting kit even with the smallest of budgets. Speedlights Speedlights are portable alternatives to heavy and […]
Lighting is one of the most important aspects of any photograph. This is especially true for wedding photography, where lighting can often be difficult to control. In a church ceremony, for example, flash photography is usually prohibited, and the wedding photographer will have to rely upon fast lenses and high ISO speeds to get the […]
