When thinking outside the box, it’s important to look beyond the basics of lighting, posing and composition, and extend one’s frugal-thinking mind to any other factor that could influence the final look of your images.  Let’s take a look at just a few options we have for backgrounds, one aspect of shooting that’s frequently overlooked.  After all, you probably have a roll of white, gray and black seamless, maybe even a painted muslin or two.  What else could you need?

Last month we took a look at using your lighting to help the composition of your photographs. This month I want to continue the general theme of the artistic and creative aspects of lighting by discussing the use of light to help tell your story. The mood of your image is largely determined by the lighting and the your story changes as you alter the mood of the photograph.

With the coming wedding season I’m looking forward to trying a few new lighting tools and I wanted to share these with you.  In order to keep things fresh, I’ll often try new tools or even impose restrictions (like using a single lens, for exmaple)

No, not heat. Strobes. Small ones. They are economical both from a cost and size/weight approach. And they can be quite a bit of fun. While I do not ascribe to any style of shooting that is based on gear, I do like to experiment with my light. And keeping the light simple means an easier trip, and an easier setup. (Ease is not my first priority. I will carry 6 Profoto Compacts, and a Dynalite pack/head combo if it is what I need.)

Portrait Lighting for Digital Photographers: The Basics and Beyond takes a detailed look at how and why light works from the technical end of the spectrum. The book does cover many creative aspects of lighting too, but the emphasis is on showing you what certain lights do with certain modifiers under different circumstances and how to control those variables

Last month, I had a great time creating a beautiful portrait with really cheap lighting.  Using just one 500 watt quartz halogen worklight and the Inverse Square Law, the final portrait showed great skin tone as well as wonderful depth to the light. This month, I wanted to adapt a couple of my favorite strobe lighting scenarios to the cheap worklights and knew I’d need more than one, so I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up another $12.97 unit.

By Gill TaylorI need to preface this article by saying that I use whatever light is available to me in order to make an image and therefore have no objection to artificial lighting ... however, I do have a penchant for  finding “natural” light for my lifestyle portraits, pre wedding sessions and even during a wedding, so this is the focus of this month’s article.

Workshops abound these days. Seems like there are so many shooters doing everything from Saturday morning short courses, to multi-week treks off to distant lands. There are lots of places to find great workshops.

Join us for a behind the scenes look at the creation of an outdoor beauty portrait. We'll look at the location, the lighting considerations, the gear and a step by step breakdown of how the images were created.

During my much needed vacation last month I got to thinking about new directions for my columns here at ProPhotoResource.  You all know how much I enjoy working with my Profoto studio strobes – they’re easy to use and so dependable that working with them has become second nature.  They’re also pricey, a tagalong by-product of ease and dependability.

The art of painting with light, or camera painting as it is also known, is not a new technique, but I got to wondering how many of us would consider doing it with our wedding clients?   I had the perfect opportunity at a recent winter wedding, the conditions were great, a little bit of snow, pitch dark, not too much ambient light from the venue windows, and as my friend and fellow photographer Chris Meyer was visiting from the US, there were 2 of us shooting !  Very handy, as this technique is so much easier with 2 of you around.

Reviewed by Steve Dantzig My good friend Chris Grey has done it again. His Studio Lighting Techniques For Photography: Tricks of the Trade for Professional Digital Photographers is nothing short of spectacular. My favorite quote from the book found on page 5 sets the tone for the book: “Failure is a wonderful reference.” Don’t be afraid to play and learn.