For me, anything beyond one light and a small modifier starts to fall into the complex category. Additional lights mean more stands, more sandbags, more triggers, more grip equipment, more assistants, extra time to set up, additional transportation logistics and permits. I opt for simple, especially on location.
I love finding cool locations to shoot in. I’m always driving around scouting, jotting down street addresses, snapping iPhone pics, making mental notes for future shoots. Every town, no matter how large or small, has cool locations. I found the location for this night portrait shoot, a flat-fix garage, by just driving around one night.
Use your best James Cagney impersonation while reading the following: “Mmm, those dirty rats! They’ve hoodwinked us, see? They made us believe glamour was only for the bedroom. Well, I’m sick of carrying cameras and shooting naked women!”
Second to the world of modeling, the world of beauty pageants takes the cake for all its glitz and glamour. Photos of contestants need to be a step above a regular portrait. When pageant girls step into my studio, they’re looking for a final image that represents who they are in the most fiercely confident and over-the-top, gorgeous way possible.
When you work as part of a team focused on a common goal, the results are almost always far better than those produced working alone.
This month I show you how I choose lenses, light and modifiers in a challenging real-world shoot to overcome obstacles and create the images I want for my clients.
Whether you’re in a studio, office or on location, space is always an issue. A large studio with plenty of room is wonderful, but space is at a severe premium. What do you do?
Lighting challenges are present in almost all aspects of the wedding day, but seldom do photographers face more problems than when they light receptions.
Ah, the age-old question. Should I invest in speedlights or strobes? As we lighting geeks are fond of saying, light is light.
If you have a studio portrait business, you’ve probably had potential clients who wanted to do business with you but couldn’t make it to your studio. I decided to maximize my sales opportunities by creating our Studio-to-You package: I literally take my studio to them.
