Advanced Photography Techniques

January 25, 2021

Lightroom Pro Tip: How to Use Range Masks to Make Targeted Edits on Photos

Speed up your Lightroom workflow with this great tool for making refined localized adjustments

By Dan Havlik

Adobe Lightroom is an incredibly deep image processing and organizing program full of more editing tools than most of us have the working hours to test out. But what if there was one Lightroom feature that could transform your photos in minutes without compromising their professional quality? If you’re not aware of it already, that tool is called... Read more

January 14, 2021

LED Continuous Lights vs Strobe Flashes: Which Is Better for Studio Photography?

LED and strobes have their pro and cons but there's one clear winner when it comes to serious studio shoots

By Dan Havlik

Strobes have long been the primary lighting choice for studio photographers but that’s changing with the advent of better and more powerful LED continuous lighting systems. Thanks to their improved color accuracy, the ability to easily adjust color temperature and brightness on the fly, and their overall ease of use, LED lighting has gotten more... Read more

September 22, 2020

Modern Lighting Solutions

New technology has opened up portrait lighting possibilities

Text & Photography By Tom Bol

For this portrait, I used an ELB 500 in TTL mode with a 53-inch Rotalux Octabox. The flash was set for high-speed sync for 1/800 shutter speed. Nikon Z 7, 35mm F1.8 lens. Exposure 1/800 sec., ƒ/1.8, ISO 100. The photography industry has been rapidly transforming in recent years, and the major focus has been on camera systems. Every year, there are... Read more

July 31, 2019

Travel Portrait Techniques

Follow these valuable tips when traveling abroad

Text & Photography By Brian Matiash

Because I was prepared for some resistance to taking photos while visiting Morocco, I altered my approach and utilized a variety of compositional hacks to get some unique photos. I’ll just come out and say it: I love to travel with photography as my primary agenda. Everything from the decision-making process of where to visit to deciding which... Read more

June 19, 2019

Adobe Lightroom CC Mobile For Portraits And Candids

Make the most of the mobile version of Lightroom, connect with your subjects and make your potential clients see results in real time

Text & Photography By Brian Matiash

I’ve never been the most prolific practitioner of portrait photography. But I’ve admired those photographers who are as skilled at interacting with their subjects as they are interacting with their camera. So, if I’m working on shooting portraits or candids, as I often am when my wife and I visit family in Nebraska, especially my four adorable... Read more

November 28, 2018

Add Motion To Strobe-Lit Portraits By Dragging The Shutter

This slow-shutter-speed-with-flash technique adds a hint of motion and a lot of interest to portraits and fashion photographs

William Sawalich

Dragging the shutter works particularly well in settings with a bright background. In this case, the window light creates a silhouetted subject ready to be illuminated by a strobe—here softened by a large silk diffusion panel. That soft key light can sometimes look flat and plain, but the blur from dragging the shutter while handholding (visible particularly... Read more

October 31, 2018

Portrait Lighting With LEDs

Tips for using constant LED lighting in studio as well as mixing it with natural light (indoors and out)

By William Sawalich

With an Astra Bi-Color LED light as the key, I shifted the light’s output to tungsten while maintaining a daylight white balance in the camera. The result is a warm, glowing sunset look—and it was as easy as turning a dial. One of the biggest changes to occur in lighting technology in recent years has been the introduction—and rapid technological... Read more

October 1, 2018

Lighting Separation Anxiety

Keep the reproduction of your images in mind when shooting stock—or any images—for successful sales

Text & Photography By Mark Edward Harris

I collaborated with photographer Daihezi Ji on a lighting test to show movement yet freeze her in the same frame. I set my camera to rear sync to fire my Profoto B1s at the end of the ½-second exposure with the backdrop/hair light positioned camera right in a silver collapsible beauty dish to provide separation. The keylight, also in a collapsible... Read more

August 27, 2018

As Numerous As The Stars

Take your astrophotography to the next level with these techniques

Text & Photography By Adam Woodworth

With today’s cameras and lenses, it has never been easier to capture the stars and the Milky Way and get sharp, clean results. All it takes is some technical knowledge, patience and a good amount of practice. Before we start, I think it’s important to note that most of these images are the result of blending multiple exposures together in... Read more

August 7, 2018

Mission: Monochrome

Think and shoot in black-and-white to add depth and beauty to your black-and-white photography

Text & Photography By Anthony Thurston

Using natural sunlight coming in through a window, and the texture of the wall behind the subject, it’s possible to create a range of tonality and shape, perfect for monochrome photography. In the bright and vibrant digital world, we all find ourselves in today, it can sometimes be an exciting change of pace to choose to explore the world of black-and-white... Read more

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