As an outdoor photographer, I love the beautiful, sometimes subtle, often bold hues of natural light. After all, there is nothing so magical, wonderful, serene, dramatic, calming, forceful, edgy and peaceful as the diverse illumination that comes from our Sun. The different angles and qualities of light that our setting sun, our rising sun, our partially hidden sun, our totally blocked sun, our mid day sun and our invisible sun give us make for unlimited diversity of photographic opportunities. Our sun provides us with a lifetime of shooting possibilities.

My photography is changing and my lighting style is changing with it.  I am enjoying the new technologies in the latest hybrid photo+video cameras that allow me to make images - both still and moving - so quickly with rather stunning quality.  But I cannot change my lighting too much from years past because my clients still want that quality "look" to the images I make for them and they really don't care how I create it.  In order to work faster and stay as flexible as possible, I've been using smaller, battery powered flashes in rather creative ways to make the light take the shape I need for the shoots. So what are the big changes?  Well, using more wireless TTL is one, adapting small lights into large light modifiers is another, and still relying on pure horsepower when it's the smart move too.  Here's what I mean...  

Flashing in the street became quite popular over the years, and I'm not talking about the kinky kind utilizing a beige trenchcoat...

The Three-Dimensional Illusion Lighting, when we are referring to photography, helps in the translation process from a three-dimensional subject to a two-dimensional image. For example, the job of the portrait, fashion, or editorial photographer is to reveal the contours of the human face—to use highlights and shadows to create the illusion of roundness. A good photographer, through accurate control of lighting, can reliably produce a sense of depth in the two-dimensional medium of photography.

Here is a very simple, yet effective portrait lighting scheme that anyone can use whether you are on a tight budget or in a tight space.We were wrapping up a studio shoot with Rayna and we wanted one more quick “look.” We shot my version of a beauty headshot, so we had a strobe in a “large” (30X40) Photoflex softbox and two strobes in Small Stripdomes set up.

There are many ways with which to use your dedicated TTL flash unit (I use the Canon 580 EXII) but my first choice is to use that flash bounced and especially bounced on a wall behind me to create a large source of illumination that is soft and flattering.

It’s all the rage now.  You just can’t take a photograph outdoors without using some sort of electronic flash to fill sunlit scenes, or create a lighting design with a mainlight that overpowers the sun.  Art directors love the look.  Clients demand it and we photographers have devised a number of methods to deliver the goods.

You all know that I’m a Canon guy and, as such, much of what I write is biased toward that gear.  Still, I know that other manufacturers make darn good stuff.  While I’m not familiar with all of it, I’m pretty certain that most of the things I can accomplish with my Canon equipment can be done with other gear as well.  I guess what this means for you is that, if I describe something that doesn’t jibe with what you work with, you’ll have to check your instruction manuals, or go into MacGyver M ode, to figure out how to make it work for you.

Learning how to use bounce flash effectively was a bit tougher in the “old days” of still photography, using the venerable Vivitar 283 flash, coupled with using film, external light meters (and no histogram!!).