Browsing all posts in flash.

Christmas Wish List 2011 – Prepare for Black Friday – Part II

Black Friday is this week. As a complement to Tiffany’s article on November 11, I thought I would put together a Christmas Wish List for the advanced photographer in your life or if that photographer is you, a list you can give to someone else as a hint. As Tiffany suggested, get a cup of [...]

Your Weekend Project – Drip Drip Drop!

I just had way too much fun taking pictures of drops of water. This is a GREAT rainy-day (or cold winter day) photography project. It’s also a great teaching method if you have children or teens interested in photography! Here’s what you need: – A camera (naturally!) – A tripod – An external flash – [...]

An Inexpensive Speedlight Studio

One of the most often-asked questions we get is, “What do I buy to get my Speedlight off of my camera and start taking great pictures in a small home studio?” I have a Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash (which I LOVE, by the way), and recently picked up a few things to make its [...]

Intermediate Tips for Better Photography

Continuing where the first article, Beginner Tips for Better Photography, left off, now we’re on to Intermediate tips! For this article Steve and I will be combining our knowledge to give you a broader spectrum of advice. ———- Now that you’ve mastered the basics of photography and have gained a good amount of experience, you [...]

Lighting – Where To Begin

One of the most intimidating things to venture into in photography is studio lighting. At one point or another we all feel a bit limited by using only ambient light or light from our pop-up or external flash, and we begin to entertain the thought of getting a few lights. So we start to research, [...]

Balancing Ambient Light with a Speedlite

Sometimes it is necessary to compensate for a background that is over-exposed, especially when shooting in bright light (as in outdoor photography). When using a speedlite as a fill flash, this is very easy to do. Different camera brands achieve this in different ways, so here is how to balance ambient light with light from [...]

Back to Basics: Five Tips to Freeze Action and Motion

Freezing action or motion in a photograph results in an image in which the subject and the background are “frozen”, sharp and in-focus. This is accomplished by using a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action, while using an aperture that is both tight enough to keep the entire scene in focus, but wide [...]

Back to Basics: Fill Light Two Ways

Fill light is used when the subject of the photograph is darker than the background. It is intended to lighten shadows and reveal detail. When you observe a photographer using a flash in the outdoors, during the daytime, often they are using the flash as a fill light. There is also a way to increase [...]

Build a Home Photo Studio for Under $800

I have plans to turn one of the spare rooms in my home into a photo studio. I abruptly got frustrated with the surfaces and common areas of my home, and the lack of light in those areas. Living in Arizona as we do, we constructed our home to be energy efficient and let in [...]

Sometimes It’s Just About Having Fun

We each use our photography equipment in our own way.  We have different cameras, different lenses and different flash equipment.  More importantly are the different ways in which we approach the same or similar subject.  A few minutes browsing a site like Flickr.com can really bring that home.  Wouldn’t photography be boring if all that wasn’t [...]