Browsing all posts in "Light".

Studio Backdrops/Backgrounds

When you look at most professional portraits you might think that the photographer had a really nice studio in a room of their home or even a really nice space in an office building or a retail building. The truth is that most photographers have their studios in old warehouses, garages of their home or [...]

Understanding Light in Photography – Beginner Level

The word “photography” comes from the Greek, photos – light – and graphos – writing, delineation, or painting. In other words, photography is light painting. As humans, we don’t see color, we see light. The retina of our eyes contains two types of photoreceptors (light receptors) called rods and cones. The rods are more sensitive [...]

Review – Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Scott Kelby Training seminar called Light It Shoot It Retouch It Live. It was almost eight hours of very interesting, well presented information and demonstration about studio photography. Whether or not you’re interested in studio photography I highly recommend you attend this seminar if you possibly can. [...]

9 Tips for Photographing Sunrises and Sunsets

There are hundreds of articles available on this subject but hopefully I’ll be able to provide a little different perspective on the subject. Also, there are millions of sunrise and sunset photos. Yet, people continue to photograph them so why is that? My belief is just like no two snowflakes are alike, neither are two [...]

Key Learnings from a Client Shoot

A couple of weeks ago I was hired to visit the home of a client and take photos of her teenage daughter and her daughter’s friends. Doing a photo shoot at a private home is significantly different than a shoot in a studio, so I thought I would share a few key learnings from my [...]

Guest Entry – Is a Hand Held Light Meter Really Necessary?

This guest post is kindly provided to us by Steve Russell. You can contact Steve at steve.russell@russellpc.net. ———- Is a Hand Held Light Meter Really Necessary? By: Steve Russell Recently Tiffany Joyce posted an article about determining correct exposure by reading histograms. She opened the article by questioning the need for the use of a [...]

Photography 101 – How to Read a Histogram

I happened to be driving through the “fashionable” part of Arizona a while back (Scottsdale, for those of you familiar with the state), and saw a professional photographer arranging a wedding party in front of a fountain. The photographer was holding up an external, hand-held light meter to judge the exposure settings to be used. [...]

SOOC Challenge

This weekend I challenge you to share your “straight out of camera”, or “SOOC” shots. Sometimes we all need a little motivation to get back down to basics. We sometimes tend to allow our post-processing skills make up for less than perfect shots. We think, “Well, the exposure isn’t quite right, but I’ll fix that [...]

Painting with light!

Hi all! This post is a follow-up to our recent post on ‘Creativity with LEDs’, and is for those who are wondering how to get results like those. Contained in the following paragraphs is the ‘secret recipe’ to becoming a pro light painter!  Man that sounds awesome… “I’m a painter… I paint with light..!” Enough [...]

I can see the light

This past weekend I was at my parents house and they have these huge sliding glass doors and I’m kind of obsessed with them and the light they cast. One morning while Lexi and I were up there I decided to stage a little photoshoot experimenting with the light.  This is Lexi with Chevy – [...]