Irving Penn was one of the most iconic photographers of the 20th century, best known for his fashion photography, portraiture and still life. Among his best known works is the so-called corner style portraits, where he set his celebrity subjects against a simple grey v-flat. This plain backdrop has many
The last time Randy had a headshot done was about 11 years ago, and he’s been using the same picture ever since. Well, now he’s up for an award recognizing his contributions over a more-than-40-year career and he figures he needs an updated picture — if nothing else, he no
Taking a lesson from my nature photography roots for my studio work, I always try to compose my background first. With wildlife, this is often a split second decision in terms of positioning and adjustment. In the studio, you can be much more proactive and finely tune your background to
I recently was tasked with scheduling two photoshoots with our local public school district, where the photos would be used in the Student Advancement Association’s annual gala (which I also photograph). The goal was simple. Show students, ages 5 to 18, doing things they would normally do throughout the school
I just attended WPPI in Las Vegas along with thousands of other photographers. The great thing about this conference is that it’s focused on portraiture. There are all kinds of classes, but even if you only attend with a free expo pass, you can learn from speaker after speaker about
A quick tip oh how to use a V-flat to Flag light and prevent light spill on the background.
I have used V-flats my entire career as a studio photographer. I’ve always had storage space for the 4-by-8 foot V-flats. But I never, no matter how much I wanted to, took them on location. They were way too big to fit into an SUV. Now I take them everywhere thanks to
When you light a portrait, a good rule of thumb is that your light should be about the same size as your subject. That’s easy for a single individual where any softbox will work, but what about lighting a group of people? A light that big is hard to find.
A set of V-flats is one of the most versatile — but not often talked about — light modifiers a photographer can have in their studio or home studio. Usually constructed of foam core, V-flats can be used to block light (known as flagging), to bounce or absorb light, or
I was recently able to get my hands on one of the hottest items in the photography world… the Portable V-Flat from V-Flat World. Guys, I kid you not, this is a game changer! I can’t be the only one who has wandered the aisles of Home Depot and Lowe’s
When using backlighting in an image, the first thing to decide on the light source. For beauty portraits, I prefer to use natural light, as it has a soft and lovely look to it, but this can easily be accomplished with studio lighting. In this tutorial, images are taken using
V-flats are an essential item to a portrait photographer’s studio. A typical v-flat is two pieces of foam core connected on the long side with gaffer tape, and they are black on one side, white on the other, and have a smooth surface. They can stand on their own when
