Newsletter

Quick Tips: A Little Flash Will Do Ya’

Use On-Camera Fill For A Taste Of Light

by George Schaub

The small, built-in flash on your camera is not meant to be a powerhouse that will enable you to capture large groups indoors or throw light any significant distance outdoors when trying to conquer the contrast problemsof...

Adam Block: Astrophotographer

Shooting For The Stars

by Lorraine A. DarConte

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,” said Oscar Wilde, who, in his wildest dreams could not have imagined how truly spectacular the universe is. Thanks to “visionaries” like AdamBlock—...

Industry Perspective

Bright News For Camera Shipments

by Ron Leach

Total shipments of digital cameras set an all-time record in 2010 at 121.5 million units, according to Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, President of the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA). Since CIPA began tracking this data in 1999 when the digital camerama...

Emerging Beauty

Time Lapse Techniques Capture Miracles

by David FitzSimmons

My wife, Olivia, is a naturalist. In one of her educational programs, she teaches children about the life-cycle of monarch butterflies. To show their four stages of life, she begins by collecting eggs from milkweed plants. Olivia keeps leaves from...

April 2011

On The Cover
This month we are providing a reality check on the state of the photo stock market as pros reveal the winners and losers, and how to smartly play the game. We hope their thought-provoking ideas will help you evaluate your own situation when contemplating joining the stock fray. And if you are considering turning pro, be...

When fighting with the sun, your flash might not be powerful enough to fill in the deep shadows created by that large key light in the sky. Luckily, we have help in the form of reflectors which send almost all of the reflected light onto the subject. I will be referring to two types of reflectors here: the Flexfill (and its variations) and reflective (silver-sided) foam core.

Lighting portrait subjects with different hair and skin color can be a challenge, especially when you are using a dark background. With a little time spent adjusting the color temperature and placement of your lights, you won’t have to rely on color correcting the images later. No lighting challenge is too extreme if you break it down into a few simple steps. Do you want hair lighter or darker; do you want to complement or contrast the skin tone; and what is the overall “look” you desire—warm or cold? By answering these questions, you will be able to determine which color temperature of light you need to create the mood for the image. Again, don’t just set the camera on auto white balance. Set your daylight or tungsten balance lights accordingly and manually adjust the camera’s color temperature—you’ll be glad you did.