The other day, I found myself in Monument Valley photographing a bunch of dancers. Of course, I was there at sunrise, which lasted for two hours and bathed the entire valley in beautiful light so I could leisurely make artful pictures to my heart’s content. Psych! We actually arrived on
Making marketing pictures at schools is one of my favorites activities. There’s endless variety in subjects and every classroom offers unique challenges in lighting. Last week I was making pictures in Oregon for a longtime client, the schools foundation. They raise money to hire teachers for science, art, music, etc.
Dread: That’s the feeling that happens when you know you’re in over your head but you have to perform anyway. Dread started weighing on me and pulling my stomach into my shoes when I arrived for this photoshoot. I was on assignment with my assistant to several places in rural
If you give a boy a hammer, everything looks like a nail and he will pound it. If you give a photographer a flash, everything looks like it needs to be lit. That means that you’re doing the right job for the tool instead of using the right tool for
The other day a fellow contacted me about a picture I made nearly ten years ago. He was an assistant to the master woodcarver and I spent a few minutes making pictures with them. The event was Baby Animal Days at the Western Heritage Center in Logan, UT, and the
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.
The new Lume Cube AIR is even more compact than the original and with a longer battery life. It has a powerful magnet on the back for mounting to any ferrous surface and it includes two diffusions domes (one white and one for tungsten lights (CTO)). You can control all
Work made with 3 speed lights Here’s the equipment used to create this photograph: Nikon D810 Nikon 105mm Macro lens 3 Nissin Di700A speedlights Nissan Carbon Fiber Light Stand Nissan Air 1 transmitter Rogue XL2 Flashbender Rogue large Flashbender Rogue Grid set Rogue Gel set Click Props “Factory Floor” backdrop
When people see your picture, they should say, “Wow, that’s a great photograph,” not, “Wow, that’s a well-lit photograph.” Once you start using flashes, it’s like having a hammer in your hand: everything looks like a nail that needs to be lit. That’s ok, and it’s fun. The trap is feeling
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a photo I selected for Photographer of the Day. It was of a skateboarder at a skate park, doing some tricks. Needless to say, I was inspired. I really had never tried to capture skateboarding in action, but I knew that with a
The very first lighting tool I ever bought was a Manfrotto Justin Clamp because Joe McNally highly recommended it in his books. I loved it and I’ve used it all around the world. It’s small and light and can place a flash just about anywhere. However, it had some flaws–the
Making great light is essential to making great portraits. And I mean that: you’ve got to make great light. You can find a good source of available light, but I’ve rarely seen any available light that couldn’t be made better, either with reflectors and flags or by adding light somewhere
