Photography Tutorials — Lighting

Studio lighting is an essential addition to most photographers’ arsenal. It allows us to create natural lighting effects in a variety of situations, and is far more controllable than a flashgun. And, with so many options available nowadays, it doesn’t have to be confined to a studio.

You don’t need a huge studio lighting setup to get professional results. Joseph W. Carey proves that all you need is a speed light to get started with flash.

Lighting effects in Photoshop can be very powerful. In this video tutorial, you will learn how to adjust light, create your own lighting, manipulate the atmosphere and ambiance of a scene and create unique and striking images using Adobe Photoshop.

Have you ever looked at some of the amazing portraiture on the cover of Rolling Stone or Vanity Fair and wondered how it was done? You may not have heard of Mark Seliger, but you’ve certainly seen some of his work.

The above album shows the movement of a kayaker’s paddle through the water. Orlando’s calls these types of images “motion exposure.”

The light in this is a little too harsh for the photographer’s taste. Shaden recruits a fancy diffuser—a sheet of paper, in this case, which reduces the harsh light of the lamp. You can also use tissue paper or a pillowcase to diffuse the light.

We see a stunning portrait—maybe hanging on a wall somewhere—and we think, “Wow! My work doesn’t look like THAT!” Then we run out and spend thousands of dollars buying the latest equipment, books on photography lighting techniques, and so on.

Light painting combines the fundamentals of shooting images in the dark with the creative twist of using artificial light that almost raises to the level of painting. Needless to say, in order to understand light painting you first need to understand how to shoot in the dark.

Photography is an art. Art is subjective. The one most important factor necessary in photography is light—quality light. Without light, there are no photographs. So, if you photograph your subject—whatever your subject may be: person, place, or thing—in quality light, you are likely to create art that people will subjectively view as “beautiful.”

Almost anyone can be a photographer, but not everyone goes out of their way to capture powerful and moving images. For those who do, the journeys they find themselves on can lead to many out-of-the-way places.