There was an era long before my time when a pro photographer shot with big, heavy, hot tungsten lighting. In the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, hot lights were the state of the art. Giant 1k, 2k, and 5k tungsten fixtures from Hollywood suppliers flooded the...
In the February 1999 story "Pro Tips For Platinum Printing," I mentioned there were two possible Ultraviolet (UV) light sources that could be used for platinum and other alternative contact printing processes. In that issue, landscape photographer...
The modern automatic electronic flash system can be a mind trap. You focus, aim the flash at the ceiling or directly at the subject, press the shutter release, and it's virtually a cinch that you'll get reasonably well lit images--with no...
Today’s modern digital cameras offer insanely high ISO options, and conventional wisdom is to avoid them and go no higher than at least two settings below the maximum. But according to one top pro, there are times when is OK to use the highest ISO setting available.
Kevin Kubota is an internationally recognized speaker who has presented programs for every major photographic convention in the US. His Kubota Image Tools have won numerous “Hot One” awards and his Digital Photography Bootcamp workshops, and book by the same name, have been recognized as high energy creative environments in which photographers come away inspired and educated about the great creative potential of their work. In his new book, Kevin Kubota’s Lighting Notebook (2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN: 978-1-118-03510-8), Kubota shares creative lighting techniques that help create mood, define the subject, and give unique dimension to your images. In this excerpt we show but two of the 101 teaching lessons in this handsomely done and fully illustrated 298-page book.—Editor
When portrait photographers get together, they talk about light, lighting, and lighting equipment. Right after money and cameras, it's a major topic. Especially the "big four," because most photographers use a four light setup in their studio. Let...
LEDGO has introduced a new line of professional LED light panels (models LG-600S, LG-600CS, LG-1200S and LG-1200CS) that feature a >95 CRI rating, an all metal housing and removable metal barn doors—in single and bi-color models—and Sony V-Lock battery adapter plates. Prices range from $439 to $799.
As any portrait photographer knows, taking pictures of children can be a lot of fun, but also very difficult. Usually, most kids don't want to smile or sit still for the camera, particularly in front of people they don't know. Capturing a genuine...
Our objective for this shot was to illustrate how to shoot with a large softbox for the Photoflex product catalog. In this photo shoot we used an inexperienced local model.
As photography continues to merge with computers, it has become easier to make great pictures. Advances in technology have made it possible for consumers to own high quality digital cameras, to make excellent prints using ink jet printers, and post and...
The basics of
portrait photography could fill many large books. We have decided to concentrate
on one application with a few variations on the theme for this lesson.
The amount of money required for a single day in a commercial car photo shoot is staggering. It is a major production that requires a good location, very large light sources, and a large team of skilled people.
Of the many factors that go into making a great studio photograph (subject matter, lighting, props, composition, camera lenses/settings, etc.), choices of color are often overlooked by photographers. Determining what colors to...
Most studio photographers would agree that lighting and photographing highly reflective objects can be extremely challenging, particularly curved objects like this turtle that mirror everything in the room. Since your lights will show...
One of the biggest challenges in taking architectural photographs is being able to control the perspective of the shot. Rendering an image so that the vertical lines of a building are parallel to the crop of...