Lighting Tips

Executive & Business Portraits In this executive portrait the goal is the same but the approach is more subdued, formal and professional in nature. The look and feel for any portrait? is generally dete...

Michael Corsentino

Portraits were some of the first images to grab my attention and draw me into my lifelong love affair with photography. The portrait work of Richard Avedon, with their stark black and white imagery, many shot o...

Lighting Tips, Reviews

The X-Drop Backdrop System was recently featured on Lighting Rumours. Bruce Foster, photographer out of the UK, reviewed the X-Drop with the Green Screen backdrop. If I had to sum up the X-Drop, I would ca...

Erik Valind, Professional Photographer and Westcott Top Pro, talks about his favorite product—the Westcott Scrim Jim. He walks you through how he uses each of the Scrim Jim panels to diffuse light and alter lig...

The Scrim Jim: Like a Swiss Army Knife When talking about different lighting modifiers I like to point out the basic features and benefits of each. Equally important though, is the outside of the box thinking ...

Gear Guides, Lighting Tips

Photographic umbrellas come in so many sizes nowadays, perhaps even more so than the common rain variety. Let's set aside those and the for a moment and discuss some key differences and techniques, when select...

In this composite of a mountain biker in Boulder, Colorado, Mark S. Johnson's goal was to capture the feeling of hopping off the bike after an epic (and muddy) ride. To accomplish the effect, he employed his st...

João Carlos

Black-and-White Action shot by photographer João Carlos using a The Medium Scrim Jim Kit is a useful photography tool that allows photographers to diffuse, reflect, cut down, or completely block light. Wit...

The Ice Light, , is a new little lighting tool that resembles a light saber in a big way. This makes it a blast to use right out of the gates. It was designed for being mobile and easy to use in event photogr...

Shooting Outdoors Rocks When given the choice between shooting in a studio or shooting outdoors in the world, I'll drag my camera gear and subject out that door any day of the week. The sheer volume of differe...

Bob Davis

For this portrait shoot, Bob Davis had two speedlites in Group B manual mode 1/8th power with the flash heads manually zoomed to 200mm. One camera left and one camera right. The main speedlite was in Group A wi...

Perspective It's good to have a little perspective - to know where you stand and just how big (or small) your world and the things in it are. Most pictures we see include something we recognize - a perso...

F11, 1/500th, ISO 200 Levels Aimed At: Simple lighting setup with a little practice. One light source (Key light), setup. Controlling background exposure to render your creative results. Anything I should k...

Lighting Tips, Reviews

Most photographers love Octabanks. The light quality if amazing! Unfortunately, they are not easy on the wallet or easy to transport either. Usually rather heavy, they require a specific speed-ring to use with ...

Tyler Stableford

Explorer of Light Tyler Stableford takes us to the legendary Snowmass Terrain Park in Snowmass, Colorado, where he utilizes the radio functionality of the Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite system to achieve a perfect ba...

Scott Kelby

A few weeks back, Scott Kelby hosted the first ever Google + Conference for photographers. In a lecture (over an hour long) Scott sheds light on how he believes photographers should work their scenes to find th...

This portrait shoot by photographer Erik Valind is set up with a Westcott 50-inch Apollo as the main light source, and two 12" x 36" Pro Stripbanks acting as rim lights, coming in from the side. The 50″ Mega...

Commercial, portrait, and lifestyle photographer Erik Valind joins Henry's TV host Mark Shannon on the Henry's TV stage at Exposure Spring 2012 to share some tips and tricks on creating better environmental por...

Outdoor Portrait shoot by photographer Erik Valind using a Westcott Large Scrim Jim. The Large Scrim Jim Kit is a useful photography tool that allows photographers to diffuse light, reflect light, cut down l...

Jim Schmelzer