Backlighting for indoor portraits

One type of light I am always looking for when photographing brides is a nice source of backlight. Normally if they are getting ready in a hotel there is always a nice big window in the room that I can use for some really beautiful bridal images. Why do I love backlit [...]

Lighting – Keep it simple

Sometimes I think people can get way too caught up with the gear of photography. When you start getting into lighting you can really start getting gear crazy, you want multiple lights, radio slaves, light modifiers, etc…. Sometimes though keeping your lighting ultra simple can be your best bet and still allow you [...]

High speed sync

Shooting a lot of wedding and portraits on location I am constantly battling the full day sun and trying to get creative with lighting during some of these harsh shooting conditions. One bummer about flash is that you normally end up shooting with a aperture that is f/8 or higher because of the shutter [...]

Hollywood lighting

Ruth Wylie- Hollywood lighting., originally uploaded by FlyWheel Photography.

I know some photographers who think that some of the classic photography from years past is dated and boring. Photographers today want that ultra sexy, hot and contemporary shot that just knocks everyone’s socks off. But just like with anything we can always learn a [...]

Off camera lighting for weddings

Sometimes I love shooting a bride and groom at night. When you get to use all artificial light, you can get get so creative and really have some fun with the shoot. Sometimes when photographing a wedding you always don’t have a lot of time set aside to shoot images of the bride [...]

Using video lights for creative photography

I mentioned awhile back how the first dance and some of the dancing at a wedding as one of my favorite times to shoot (creative wedding reception lighting article here). The reason is with a nice dark dance floor is the the perfect opportunity to get creative with lighting. One thing that I [...]

Awesome example of light painting and portrait

The couple, originally uploaded by AndWhyNot.

This is such a great portrait that I came across on Flickr awhile back. I think its a great example of a really unique portrait that combines a lot of perfect lighting skills. This was taken with a camera mounted on the cars hood as the car was [...]

Photo of the week 12-21-09

The photo of the week this week is another off camera lighting example. So many times when shooting weddings you don’t have the time to get all of the shots you would like of the bride and groom during the day. At night there can be so many really creative things you can [...]

Creative lighting for first dance photos

One part of the wedding day that I really love to photograph (actually I love it all, but for the sake of this article one part I really love) is the first dance and father/daughter, mother/son dance. Normally these are in the reception venue where the lights come down, creating a nice dark room. [...]

Vivitar 285 HV Flash

Sometimes people think with off camera lighting you need expensive, big gear to slug around all day with you. They get scared of off camera lighting because they think it is too difficult to learn or for wedding photographers that it will slow them down too much. Today we are going to review [...]

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