PocketWizard
Lighting is one of the most important tools a photographer can have, which is why lighting accessories can make excellent gifts for photographers of all skill levels. But if you’re a new photographer or giving a gift to one, knowing what to get can be difficult. We have assembled a list of lighting gifts we'd recommend, especially for newbies, so you can hone your lighting skills with some of our favorite introductory accessories.
The Intro 2-Light Kit
Lighting kits are a great choice for new photographers because they include everything you
Growing up in the small town of Brainerd, Minnesota, Elsa Garrison didn’t have an inkling that her ninth-grade photography class would become her ticket to the high-octane world of professional sports photography. “The class was an art elective, and I thought it could be kind of interesting,” she says. “After that semester, I ended up working on the yearbook, pretty much through the rest of high school. I was definitely your classic yearbook dork—but we all are, I think,” she reflects.
Photographs © Elsa Garrison unless otherwise
Over the past few years, pixel-shift image capture has transformed from a luxury reserved for deep-pocketed specialists to an increasingly common feature on new, resolution-oriented cameras. Today, in addition to Hasselblad’s behemoth Hasselblad H6D-400c, Olympus, Pentax, Sony, and Panasonic offer versions of the technology at much more accessible prices.
While it is advertised under several names (High Resolution Mode,
If you haven’t started using radio triggers when you shoot weddings, you should do so right now. There have never been more high-quality radio systems on the market than right now, and many brands are equipping their lights with built-in receivers that make it so that you don’t even need to carry a bag of PocketWizards around. Considering that the equipment is affordable and effective, and it can eliminate the need for wires or unreliable optical systems, you need to get a move-on and upgrade your lighting kit.
A good example for a modern
By now you have probably heard a lot about the Nikon D850 DSLR. This new camera has been lauded by Nikon fans (and critics) and you’ll get no argument from me. As a colleague phrased it, “Nikon gave us everything we asked for with this camera,” and certainly, it is blessed with Nikon’s best features and latest technologies, including a 45.7MP sensor, native ISO to 25600, 153-point autofocus, a tilting, touchscreen LCD, and 4K UHD video. We took
Compatibility is the key for the FlexTT6 from PocketWizard, because this iteration of the popular remote trigger has been improved to support the latest Canon E-TTL / E-TTL II protocols from the 5D Mark IV, 1D X Mark II—and even future releases, through firmware updates. The FlexTT6 also provides outstanding support for existing PocketWizard radios, since it works with nearly every unit that operates on the 340-354 MHz
by Dan Wagner, as told to Jill Waterman ·Posted
Picking the right gear for a location shoot is seldom easy. You need to ensure you have what you’ll need, while realizing that bringing too much will only slow you down. Choosing the right gear not only helps you make the most of each shooting situation, it also lets you handle a variety of lighting scenarios. The challenge is to distinguish what is essential from what isn’t, and not regret specific items you left behind when the shoot is over.
Another consideration is the need to look professional in front of the client and crew. From
If you use a speed light on your camera, chances are that at some point you will move that flash off your camera and, when you do, a whole new world opens up before your eyes. You’ll start to have dreams of umbrellas, softboxes, reflectors, light stands, beauty dishes, and other light modifiers that can turn a boring snapshot of a person into a well-lit portrait. And when you do move that flash off camera (and you will), you’ll need some way to trigger it.
As photographers, we are faced with a wide array of lighting conditions, ranging from bright sunlight to dimly lit interiors. Using ambient light as your main source is often preferable; however, in a situation such as an event or portrait where time is of the essence, you will need to know how to properly expose all these varying scenes using both natural and artificial light sources.
Being resourceful with your lighting setups lends greater efficiency, and having a lighting system you can easily move from one situation to the next quickly is
Wedding photography has become an extremely popular and lucrative specialty. First and foremost, a wedding is a grand, unrepeatable, emotionally charged event at which expectations run high, and second best won’t do. Being a wedding photographer requires dedication and talent, but having the right equipment is crucial if you expect to achieve sharp, well-composed, well-lit images that depict people at their best. Here’s a basic rundown of what you’ll need to take your wedding photography to new dimensions, or to fill in the gaps in your
As a working photographer, the center of the universe is your camera bag and its contents. Your cameras and lenses are the tools of your trade. As you may have noted, both are mentioned in plural because just as you wouldn’t jump out of an airplane without a backup parachute, you shouldn’t attempt to photograph an emotionally spiked, non-repeatable event armed with only one camera. The same applies to lenses, too. The many aspects that comprise shooting weddings—portraits, the ceremony, dimly lit environs, tight, crowded quarters and bright