Search results for: photography lighting basic lighting techniques for photographers
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by Mathew Malwitz · Posted
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
by Todd Vorenkamp · Posted
Photographing holiday lights and candles is one of the most fun holiday adventures any photographer can have and a great way to explore and enjoy the festive lights in your neighborhood and home.
Here are some tips on how to make the most of your captures of holiday lights while you wait to receive gifts from your B&H wish list!
1. Use Low-Light / Night Photography Techniques
The best time to view holiday lights is when the lights go down (indoors and outside). Therefore, you will benefit from the tried-and-true practices of
by Todd Vorenkamp · Posted
When the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, those on Earth are treated to one of nature’s greatest spectacles—a total solar eclipse. It is a phenomenon that almost every observer would like to capture in a photograph.
Due to the rarity of the event, the short duration in which to capture it, and the dynamic nature of the subject, it is one of those photographic opportunities that requires the proper gear, setup, planning, and practice.
Eclipse and solar
by M. Brett Smith · Posted
Portrait photography, or portraiture, remains one of the most popular genres of photography today—and for good reason. Portraits are compelling; they are evocative. Portraits tell a story; they elicit an emotion. Shot correctly, a portrait can reveal the true essence of a person, who they are and what they feel. According to Godard, portraiture is tantamount to capturing the soul. About what other medium or form of expression could you say such a thing?
As with most genres of photography, portraiture is not beholden to any one specific
by Lindsay Finnegan · Posted
Are you new to food photography or looking to advance your lighting techniques? This article takes you through how to use existing light to your benefit as well as how to create it yourself. Both approaches will yield similar results, but each has its own unique advantages. It’s up to you which path to take.
Natural: Work with Window Light
The simplest way to photograph food is to shape light that already exists
by Todd Vorenkamp · Posted
Texture is one of those multi-sensory things that we can feel with our sense of touch and “feel” visually with our eyes. Because texture transcends the senses, we must account for it when we create photographs. Sometimes the goal is to accentuate a specific texture. Sometimes we wish to “smooth” the texture visually. How you light your subject has a lot to do with how you reveal, or hide, texture.
Photographs ©Todd Vorenkamp
by Jill Waterman · Posted
The In-Sight Photography Project has provided photographic instruction and camera gear to rural youth in and around Brattleboro, Vermont, since well before the dawn of digital, making it the Grande Dame of Youth Photography not-for-profits. The organization’s pay-what-you-can motto, paired with its four-tier payment system, encourages community support while also insuring that no student is turned away.
For this fourth story in our series, we spoke with In-Sight’s executive director, Victoria Heisler, and program director A. Hanus, about the
by Jill Waterman · Posted
Clay Bolt is a firm believer that our connection to nature begins at home. The natural history and conservation photographer has been fascinated with the world’s smaller creatures inhabiting his native South Carolina since youth. In 2009, his passion for local wildlife became the driving force behind the international photo project, Meet Your Neighbours. Together with Scottish photographer Niall Benvie, he embarked on a mission to engage a global community in discovering and photographing the often underappreciated and overlooked common
by Jill Waterman · Posted
Welcome to the world of Steve Giralt, where speeding matter, splashing fluids, and powerful lights converge under millisecond timelines to crystallize as iconic advertising campaigns. In his remarkable transition from advertising photographer to visual engineer, Giralt has concocted a secret sauce that fuses elaborate technical feats with an irresistible element of play. That, and his constant passion for bigger challenges ahead, leads us to welcome him as our next B&H Creator of the Week.
By means of introduction, we recently asked
by Jill Waterman · Posted
What better motivation can one give a fledgling photo student than a gift of their very own camera at the end of an introductory workshop? It’s this very gesture that sets FreshLens Chicago apart from the pack. Founded in 2017 by Shirley Nannini as Executive Director, with Denise Orlin as Assistant Director, FreshLens is a youth photography not-for-profit dedicated to serving under-resourced Chicago youth through a mix of intensive photographic instruction, confidence building self-assessments, and inspiring role models who demonstrate what
by Jill Waterman · Posted
There is no better example of the inspirational saying, “If you can see it, you can be it,” than in the grassroots efforts of the community-based arts program Newburgh Community Photo Project (NCPP). Founded in 2017 by photographer, educator, and community activist Vincent Cianni, NCPP teaches photography and related media to an underserved population of Newburgh youth, with a goal to explore critical social justice issues directly related to participants’ lives and community.
In our second story on notable youth photo programs, Cianni
by Cory Rice · Posted
Collecting studio lights can become an addictive vice for the adventurous portrait photographer. Once you realize all that can be done with one light, you will soon want to add another, and another, and another. With each additional light come new techniques and creative possibilities. For portrait photographers, one of the most commonly used multi-light setups is three-point lighting. This tried-and-true approach to
by Jill Waterman · Posted
Calling up the hashtag #macro on Instagram currently reveals more than 18 million posts, with #macrophotography coming in a close second at more than 10 million. Numbers like that make finding individual feeds that stand out from the pack somewhat akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. There is certainly no shortage of talent, but more often than not, individual feeds include a smattering of macro views, along with the rest of the kitchen sink.
To assemble this current selection, we sought out consistency of subject matter that included
by M. Brett Smith · Posted
Since 2007, the B&H Photo Video YouTube channel has been home to helpful tutorials, honest reviews, and the best head of hair on the Internet. Now, thirteen years and over a quarter of a billion views later, the B&H YouTube channel continues to put out binge-worthy content that’s informative, educational, and entertaining. Here are some of our current favorites.
Product Photography at Home
Jake Estes and
by Jill Waterman · Posted
People gravitate to photography for a wide range of reasons—for some it’s primarily a vehicle for artistic expression, while others are drawn to photography as a science and are engrossed by its technical aspects. One increasingly popular photographic discipline that requires a careful mix of both artistic inspiration and scientific precision is night and low-light photography. While this was once a tenuous undertaking with little guarantee of predictable results, the powerful sensors, advanced low-light capabilities, and immediate feedback of