Photographer Matthias Conrad focuses on landscape, architectural, and commercial photography, although an ongoing series, Botanical Studies, bucks the trend a bit and delivers beautiful minimalist black-and-white photographs of a diverse range of flora.
America’s national parks are a true source of pride. Each is unique in what it offers and this is certainly true of one of the more off-the-beaten-track parks.
If you’ve been outside during a nice sunrise or sunset, chances are good you’ve heard the term “golden hour.” It’s one of the best times to do many types of photography and a beautiful time to be outside. This guide will help you understand golden hour, when it happens, and how to make the most of it through various types of photography.
During the dark ages of digital photography, also known as the early 2000s, I was spending an awful lot of time trying to get my Canon 430EX Speedlite to work as an off-camera flash. Speedlites, by design, were clearly never meant to be used that way.
Natural light is one of the easiest ways to shoot portraits with minimal gear. More often than not natural light is soft and flattering to the face. Yet, a photographer who is able to create natural light in the complete absence of it is valued highly. That is of course with strobes. Here’s how you can easily create natural-looking light with flash.
Professional headshot photographer and educator Peter Hurley recently starred in a Back to Basics 22-minute tutorial that covers the natural and continuous lighting he uses during headshot photo sessions.
Shooting in natural light can be quite difficult. In fact, many photographers gravitate towards studio photography to avoid natural light completely. However, natural light can be manipulated in a way that will produce great work.
After shooting cities all around the globe for the past 15 years, I managed to publish seven coffee table books featuring cities like Paris, Venice, Los Angeles, and New York. I learned the hard way when was the best time to shoot and want to save you the time and effort so you can make the best photos of cityscapes possible.
When you're out on an environmental photoshoot, it can sometimes be hard to pick the best locations to maximize your session. Mango Street has published this 8-minute video that covers a host of tips they say will make your images better.
Want to shoot indoor "natural light" photos... at night? All you have to do is build yourself an artificial sun. That sounds wild, but it's actually neither too difficult nor too expensive -- this 24-minute tutorial by DIY Perks will teach you exactly how it can be done.
Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake over at DPReview TV have put together a helpful (and timely) primer that shows you how to take better indoor portraits using only natural light, and without needing to buy any additional photography gear.
Calgary-based portrait photographer and YouTuber Irene Rudnyk recently put together a photo shoot that's getting some well-deserved attention. Using just the shed in her backyard and the natural light pouring in, she was able to capture some gorgeous fashion portraits that imitate a popular in-studio lighting setup.
I’ve been photographing weddings for 10 years now, so I’ve seen and dealt with nearly every lighting scenario possible, from a dark church with no windows, to a wedding ceremony at high noon with not a cloud in sight. But one thing most photographers don’t know is how to photograph in dappled light!
It started as a regular booking inquiry from a client. They wanted to book me for an engagement shoot a month before their wedding. The destination was decided (the Port of Jaffa), and the time was set (an hour before sunset).
Portrait photographers Manny Ortiz and Jessica Kobeissi just did a shootout that pitted flash against natural light. The two each shot portraits of the same model in a studio, except Ortiz used an off-camera flash as his main light while Kobeissi only used the sunlight bouncing around in the space.
If you're not sure how to photograph a landscape, one primary factor you should consider is the current position of the sun in the sky. Here's a fantastic 3.5-minute video by CreativeLive in which National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting shares tips on harnessing different kinds of sunlight.
If you'd like to shoot studio portraits but don't have access to an actual studio or pricey equipment, you can achieve beautiful results with a minimalist setup in a small room that's bathed in natural window light. Here's a 5-minute video by photographer Irene Rudnyk that shows this type of setup for a recent shoot.
Here's an inspiring 5-minute behind-the-scenes video by photographer Irene Rudnyk, who shot a series of gorgeous portraits in a bedroom using only natural light and a reflector. This video shows what if you don't have pricey lighting equipment, you can still do quite a bit with just window light and some creativity.
Photographers Francisco Hernandez and Vanessa Tellez recently did an experiment: photographing the same model, Hernandez used an off camera flash and Tellez used natural light to see how their styles and results differ. You can watch the shootout in the 5-minute video above.
Same setting, same model, three different lighting scenarios. In this demo, Toronto wedding photographer Derrel Ho-Shing shows you the difference between shooting with natural light, regular strobe, and high speed sync.
Moving from using only natural light to flash photography is a big step for an outdoor photographer, but before you ditch ambient light entirely, give this video a look. As photographer Francisco Hernandez explains, you'll often get more pleasing results by pulling some ambient light back in.
Flash is a complicated beast, let’s put it that way.
Say you’ve spent the last few years of your photography journey perfecting natural light, and you know the exposure triangle by heart. Flash comes in to the picture and ruins that perfect triangle, making it more of an exposure square.
Faced with a massive bank of windows in a new studio space, YouTube's Koldunov Brothers came up with a creative and customizable "daylight control system" that lets them alter the amount and shape of the light they let in.
Even a single off-camera flash can make a massive difference in an outdoor portrait shoot, giving you a look that is simply impossible to capture with natural light alone. Photographer Manuel Ortiz demonstrates this beautifully in a quick, eye-opening comparison video.
You may swear by natural light, but sometimes available light just doesn't cooperate. So for those times when you're faced with an overcast sky but need a sunset, or the ambient light is harsh and direct, these tips from photographer Adam Angelides will help you capture natural looking images by combining ambient light with flash.
Environmental portraits typically portray a person in their natural environment. Different from traditional portraits shot in a studio, locational portraits capture the character of the subject and give insight into their daily life making for a more personal image, generally telling some kind of story about who the subject is.
The Revenant is an upcoming western thriller film that's inspired by the crazy life of explorer and fur trapper Hugh Glass. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, the rugged and violent movie has one quality that may be of interest to photographers: it was shot nearly 100% with natural light.
The sun can be a photographer’s best friend: it is a constant source of light that lasts all day and doesn’t require any power from your end to keep it up and running. However, knowing how exactly to work with a source of lighting that changes over time can be a bit difficult. In the 6-minute video above, director of photography Jon Salmon and his team show us how to use the sun during various times of the day to obtain the ideal lighting during a shoot.
My name is Jeremy Lebled, and I'm a fashion photographer. I recently just did a shoot to demo Leica's S Camera. My specialty is using just the sun to get a high-end studio look to photographs instead of using dozens of strobes.
With a little ingenuity, you can use everyday objects to craft a beautiful photoshoot of professional proportions. In her latest video on Vimeo, photographer Jenny Woodward showcases how to use natural light and household objects to photograph different bits of food, from cookies to a salad. Most captivating is how she utilizes each household object to manipulate the light around her subject.
Indian photographer Kunal Daswani created this short and sweet beginner's tutorial on how you can easily shoot a product photo using natural window light and a few sheets of white printer paper.
Lisa Holloway might be a super-human. Until we get her near some kryptonite, we can't be sure, but the self-taught photographer somehow manages to take care of 10 children while simultaneously running a successful photography business.
All the while, she's stacking her portfolio full of gorgeous natural light portraits of newborns, babies, children, seniors and families.
Try to remember the most difficult model/subject you've ever had... what were their demands? Did they not like any of the photos? Complained incessantly? Took directions poorly? Whatever they did, it probably wouldn't have been as frustrating as what pop star Ariana Grande allegedly pulled recently in Australia.
Twenty-seven year old Alessio Albi captures incredible, emotionally charged portraits using nothing more than natural light and the environment around his home city of Perugia, Italy.
A nutritionist by profession, photographer by passion, Albi’s work often features female subjects, whose contemplative glares, combined with natural, but cinematic light create beautiful, but at times unsettling portraits.
That pop-up flash on top of your camera can come in very handy, but if you're a beginner, try giving these alternatives a shot to produce more creative, atmospheric images.
Russian photographer Elena Shumilova only got into photography in early 2012, when she acquired her first camera. But if you were to look through her Flickr and 500px profiles, you would swear she had been doing it for much, much longer.