Lighting How To

You enter a room bustling with activity. You see models posing in front of photographers on two different sets, other models patiently sitting getting their makeup and hair done, lights and modifiers everywhere, while one petite woman seems to be in charge of this organized chaos. Welcome to a workshop with one of the premier glamour and fashion shooters of our day, Lou Freeman.

Previously I discussed photographing bubble solution stretched across a frame. You can get the same swirling pearlescent colors in the spherical surface of a bubble as it’s sitting on glass. When I was experimenting with this a few years ago, I discovered that you could even blow a bubble inside a bubble and then another one inside of that. Image (#1) is a picture of a bubble in a bubble in a bubble in a bubble.

Everyone loves to shoot outdoor portraits with natural light, but sometimes the sun and clouds simply don’t cooperate. For those of you who can’t afford expensive lighting gear to save the day, there’s a cheap and effective solution that works wonders in a variety of situations.

New Yorker Chris Gampat calls himself a “Headshot Photographer,” although his 10 years in the business also includes photojournalism, fashion and wedding photography in addition to portraiture. He’s also a creative, funny guy as you can see in these images from his series ‘The Secret Order of the Slice.”

Shooting in the rain is a great way to capture some very impactful images, but without the right equipment it’s also a great way to ruin your expensive gear. In this instructional video from Matt Granger, however, you’ll learn how to get dynamic “rain” portraits on the cheap—without getting yourself or your equipment wet.

It’s a good thing that early photographers didn’t have to pass through airport security with their flash equipment. The pyrotechnics they used to light a scene would surely have merited more than a pat down. Many years ago, long before the flash tube or flashbulb, a century or so before the Flashcube, cameramen used a flash powder called thermite.