I took the best photo of my life today. I came down from the mountain and loaded it up on my computer. When I brought the photos up on my screen, they were just trees. Bummer. But it felt so good; looked so good on my camera’s LCD. What’s the deal with that? This is why processing is the key to a great image. This is why revision is the key to great writing....
If there’s one debate that never seems to end when it comes to cameras, it’s “colour science”. Of course, these days, if you’re shooting raw and own a ColorChecker Passport, the debate is kind of irrelevant. But back in the film days, where your look was pretty much set depending on the stock you used, it was a big deal! When Kodak released its Portra line of films in 1998, they sent out a promotional video to photographers and studios....
Flash modifier comparisons can be extremely useful things. Without having to get up out of the comfort of our chair, we can very quickly and easily see how different shapes and sizes of modifier affect how light falls on our subject. Here’s one we discovered by photographer Michael Quack and the team at Visual Pursuit comparing a very wide array of Hensel modifiers. Hensel modifiers aren’t exactly inexpensive, but if you want the best quality, you generally have to pay the highest prices....
If you’re new to portrait photography, basic lighting patterns are a very useful thing to master. But if you want to use them efficiently, it’s not just about knowing how to create them, but also why. In this video from Adorama, Pye Jirsa explains primary key light patterns: how to create them, but also the purpose behind each of them. They work for studio light as well as natural light, so I believe many of you will find this video useful....
“Phoneography” seems to be gaining in popularity when it comes to magazine covers. After Billboard, Sports Illustrated and Elle, TIME Magazine also went down this road. But, they went a bit further than just issuing one cover shot with a smartphone. They hired a talented Brazilian photographer Luisa Dörr to shoot 46 portraits and 12 magazine covers with an iPhone, using nothing but natural light and a reflector. The portraits and covers are a part of TIME’s “Firsts” project, featuring 46 women who are changing the world....
