Modern cameras have excellent AE (Automatic Exposure) features, so users can get great shots without thinking much about what’s happening under the hood. The light meter, of course, is built-in and somewhat autocratic—and therein lies the rub.
When Cassandra Hunter, an aspiring model, came to me to commission a variety of location and studio images for her portfolio, it seemed like a good opportunity to review some basic lighting principles...
Flash has come a long way from the old days when photographers were required to make complex calculations to get a good flash exposure. Almost all digital cameras...
Where are alternatives to
on-camera flash. Understanding this is one of the defining moments in
most photographers' progress. Up to a certain point, you just turn on
the flash, or shrug and say, "There isn't enough light." Then, one day--like
a...
Photography is all about capturing the effects of light on people, places, and things. Pro photographers are usually entrusted by their clients to find the beautiful light and capture it, or create that light where needed. For photographers like me...
I'm always amazed when non-photographer friends and neighbors show me their vacation pictures. Endless, bland, front-lit building facades, along with seemingly interminable shots of the kids and relatives squinting into the sun. A hundred...
It should come as no surprise to you to discover that there are few--maybe no--real secrets in photography. Instead, what you find are informed opinions based on experience blended with some stylistic preferences. The recipe for producing...
Flare is one of those nagging photography issues that you always think you have control over, till it bites you on an important shoot. Flare, more properly referred to as veiling glare, is the haze that covers all or part of your image when extraneous...
In most cases when we talk to climbers who photograph or photographers who climb, we start out by asking which came first, the climbing or the photography. About 75 percent answer the former. Then we ask why they climb. The answer is usually some variation of "it's a thrill." And then, why they photograph, which brings a variation of "to capture the...
Well-grounded in the photo biz as one of its premier suppliers of photo gear, New Jersey-based Bogen Imaging Inc. (www.bogenimaging.us), formerly Bogen Photo Corp., lent its support to--and you might...
On-camera flash is convenient and very fast to use, but it’s not a flattering type of light. It’s a flat type of lighting with seemingly no depth, it creates unattractive shadows, and any surface that has sheen to it will reflect the light back into the lens.
If you still think of portraits in terms of main light, fill light, and key light, I think you're missing out on some fresh and exciting techniques. While the classic studio portrait is still practiced by lots of amateurs and practically every...
You can go your entire life using a 35mm SLR and its built-in flash without ever buying an accessory electronic flash unit. If you don't mind compromise. The built-in flash takes fairly long to recycle and may not be ready when you are...
Taking good close-up pictures of most any small subject a foot or less away from the lens is relatively easy these days, what with the macro-focusing capability found on some zoom lenses. That's no problem when you use available light. But what happens when you want or need to add auxiliary light to the scene? The tiny flash built into many current SLR cameras is designed to...