Software To Replace Photographers [The Ones That Deserve It]
Photographer Mark Meyers just wrote up a nice enough story aimed at driving awareness fear in professional photographers … fear about the future of their career, their well-being, their jobs. Depicted in that article this image at left, which was completely generated by the author of the post using an emerging 3d modeling software...
Learning Speedlights – The First Step in Expanding Your Photography with Lighting
Beginner or emerging photographer? Well, once you know what’s happening with your camera and all those dials, it’s time to take on lighting and flash photography. In taking that next step – learning to light – you can do almost anything, and nothing opens up this opportunity more effectively and affordably than working with Speedlights,...
The FlashPipe: A Lightweight, Easy-To-Use Flash Diffuser
Flash diffusers come in all shapes and sizes, from DIY Home Depot versions to more expensive professional grade equipment. None of these solutions seemed adequate for 30 year photography veteran Les Tirmenstein, however, and that’s why he designed the FlashPipe. The diffuser, which he is currently trying to fund on Kickstarter, consists of a simple...
Use A Shoot-Through Shade to Eliminate Flare from Rim Lights and the Sun
When working with rim lights, or shooting into a significant backlight, glare becomes a serious issue. The typical solution to this problem is setting up flags on either side of your subject, but who needs flags when you have a spare piece of Coroplast sitting around your studio? Instead of using flags, Strobist suggests clamping...
Virtual Lighting Studio: An Online Studio Lighting Simulator
Virtual Lighting Studio is an awesome new free studio lighting simulator that doesn’t require any installation — you use it directly in your browser. It offers a large number of options for customizing your setup (e.g. number of lights, light type, gel, positioning) and the result is updated in real-time on the virtual model’s head....
How to Visualize Photography Lighting Setups in Blender
Not too long ago I finally got around to picking up a decent manual flash for exploring lighting and speedlight techniques. I picked up a Yongnuo YN-560 Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon, and my friend Sean was kind enough to send me his old radio triggers to play with. I was mostly all set...
Add a Tripod Screw to a Hand Clamp for a Versatile DIY Flash Mount
Photographer Allen Mowery has a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a useful DIY flash mounting accessory using a ratcheting hand clamp and standard 1/4-inch threaded screw. It’s a cheap DIY version of the Super Clamp or Nasty Clamp, and can help you place your flash in places that are inaccessible to light stands or...
DIY Lightbox for Lighting Macro Photos
Photography enthusiast Kris Robinson used to handhold a flash above his subjects for macro photographs, but then he got tired of doing that and ran out of hands. He then came up with the brilliant idea of making a do-it-yourself contraption that attaches to his flash when it’s mounted to the hotshoe. The light travels...
Tricks for Avoiding the Police When Shooting in Public Locations
David Hobby has written up a great post over at Strobist on how he avoids shoot-ruining confrontations with police officers when shooting in public locations (we shared an example of a confrontation yesterday). His tricks include calling the police ahead of time and leaving notes on the doors of houses nearby: Before I shoot (a...
George Holz Discusses His Strategy for Lighting a Beyonce Photo Shoot
For those of you who are interested in the fine art of studio lighting, here’s a video in which American celebrity photographer George Holz talks about how he went about photographing Beyonce for the cover of Spin magazine.
(via Profoto via ISO ...
Make a DIY Snoot Using a Coke Bottle
You can make yourself a quick and simple snoot by cutting off the upper portion of a soda bottle and covering it with gaffer tape. While it’s definitely not the most elegant solution, it’s a cheap way to isolate your subject when shooting with a flash unit. How To Make A Snoot From A Coca-Cola...
Turn a Pringles Can into a DIY Snoot
If you have a potato chip tube lying around, you can convert the tube into a super simple DIY snoot. All you need to do is cut an opening in the closed end that’s the size of your flash head (tip: use some duct tape to prevent it from scratching your flash). To take it...
