In 2006 I started a lighting blog while working full-time as a staffer at The Baltimore Sun. By early 2007, it became obvious that I didn't have the personal resources to give 100% to both Strobist and my job at the newspaper. That’s exactly the position I find myself in today. For the past year I have been working on a new project. It is photography-based, and will be as unique to the photo space as Strobist was back in 2006. But, as I found with Strobist in 2007, this project will require all of my focus. So I am shifting Strobist into archive mode to allow myself the time and mental spac ..read more

When lighting with small subjects, a speedlight is generally all you’ll ever need. Further, because of the scale and distances involved, even with a small flash you’ll be working at low power settings. For these photos of some of the resident animals at the Howard County Conservancy, we used a single speedlight generally at one-eighth power, and let the environment of the impromptu studio to the rest of the heavy lifting for light modification. Read more ..read more

Apple’s new AirTags are a straight-up gift for photographers. After testing one for the past couple of weeks, I’ll be hiding an AirTag in my scooter, one in my car and another one in my camera bag. Read more ..read more

The Paul C. Buff Link monobloc studio strobe ($895.95) delivers 800ws of portable power, and deserves consideration from anyone in the United States who is considering a big gun for use on location. Please note: This is not a full review. There have been several thorough examples already published — most notably this one by Mike McGee. There are many others, from the usual suspects, a Google search away. Rather, this is a quick write-up of some first-hand impressions, thoughts and features I have not seen much mention of elsewhere. Read more ..read more

Lighting with flash can give you more than just the ability to control the quality of your light. With the inherent consistency of light from (manual) flash, you can layer in slices of time as well.  But first, you’ll want to lock down two things: the ambient light portion of your exposure, and your camera’s physical position. Read more ..read more

Whew. What a year. But if you're reading this, you made it through! So as we all move into a hopefully much better 2021, here are three things you can do to improve your experience as a photographer for the coming year. Read more ..read more

Quick, guess the lighting: If you said two lights, and use of high-speed sync to get the shallow depth of field, that's a pretty good guess. An even better guess: zero lights, and a high-efficiency rigid reflector. If you are working with an inexperienced assistant — or looking to introduce someone to the world of off-camera lighting — this kind of reflector is a fantastic and inexpensive entry point.  As photographers we (and I include myself in this statement) can easily get hung up in the gear it takes to make a photo. But often, less/simpler is more/better. And never is this ..read more

At first glance: a simple, one-light portrait of activist gardener Janssen Evelyn. Dig deeper: a look at tonal mapping via specular highlights, stretching the range of your modestly powered flash, and how to discover your next project. Read more ..read more

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to lighting. One is to light your subject in a way that is not grounded in reality but merely looks cool. And the other is to use lighting to translate the way your eye sees light into a way that your camera can better understand it.  That latter choice is the option we'll be exploring today in a walk-through of a sunset portrait of artist Wendy Ng for the Howard County Conservancy.  Read more ..read more

Whenever you have control over the time of day in which you'll be shooting a location portrait, always remember that the hour that wraps around sunset will offer you at least five different lighting environments in which to work.  And for today's portrait of birders Jo (left) and Bob Solem, we're going to use three of them. <!-- more --> I photographed the Solems for the Howard County Conservancy as part of a campaign for their 30th anniversary. We did a total of eleven portraits of patrons of the conservancy, all shot outdoors. The project was a great way to spend an otherwise ..read more