Photography Masterclass

This tutorial is based on one photograph taken at different aperture settings. It allowed to demonstrate how Depth of Field really works.

In order to practice with depth of field try finding something in line to photograph. It can be tennis or golf balls, concrete paving, a fence or anything similar.

The equipment that was used to take these photos is: a tripod (see how to use a tripod) and a cable release because longer shutter speeds were involved; and a Canon 250d camera. The ISO was set to 100.

A series of photos of the same fence, shot at different aperture [...] Continue Reading…

Actually in order to make a nice portrait you don’t need many lights. If you have just one light source, it is enough, providing you use several reflectors to utilize and redirect the available light.

The main light may come from a softbox, at 45 degrees angle to your subject (from above). Then you need to place a quite large reflector below the model’s face to bounce the light to the face.

Secondly, you need a fill light. You can set a simple white panel on the model’s side that will reflect the light from the main source back to the [...] Continue Reading…

This tutorial shows how to use natural light coming from windows for creating quality portraits indoors.

In order to manipulate the natural light you can use reflectors, diffusers and large panels. They do not require any power and never overkill the main light source.

Also if whalls are white, they reflect light well by themselves. A gold reflector can imitate a sun beam on your model’s face and create a soft glow effect.

In order to make a panorama you do not need a fancy camera and expensive tripods. You can use your point&shoot camera that you normally use.

All you have to do is making a series of photos. Start from the left.

Hold your camera steady and at the same level horizontally. Shoot one image and turn a little bit to the right overlapping the previous photo.

Make five to seven photos.

You can use a program called ArcSoft Panorama to actually build your panorama from the images you have taken. Just start the program, select the folder where your images are located and [...] Continue Reading…

In this tutorial Michael explains why you need to use a flash (even built in your camera) when shooting in the day light.

When your subject or model is positioned against the light source, for example the sun is behind your subject, you need to compensate the back light. Otherwise your model will be underexposed, i.e. dark, compare to the sky. It happens because the camera metering system tries to expose the sky which is a lot brighter that your subject.

If you are a beginner, set your camera to the “P” mode and have your flash open. Try shooting and [...] Continue Reading…

Evaluate the Lighting Situation

Sun, Shade, Incandesent, Halogen?
Look around: highlights, shadows, spotlights.
Put your subject in good light.
Look for reflection/catchlight in the eyes.
Use lamps, spotlights, etc.

Shoot in Low Light/Available Light

Increase your ISO
Increase your Aperture (F-stop)
Decrease your Shutter Speed.
Focus manually if autofocus fails.
Brace on Thinks (tripod, gear bags).
Try manual settings/metering.

Learn Your Camera

Isolate the variables (depth of field, shutter speed, ISO, aperture, etc.)
Play, tweek, shoot lots, share your photos, get feedback, change it up.
Share gear - find someone you can test out lenses, flashes, etc. with.
Set the white balance.

Rule of [...] Continue Reading…

This tutorial is for studio photography. You may have wondered what a lighting ratio means.

The lighting ratio is simply a ration of the key and fill lights used to light a subject. For example:

1:1 ratio - produces soft, even lighting when the key and fill lights are exactly the same.
2:1 ratio - gives lighting usually used for shooting portraits. The key light is twice as bright as the fill light, 1 stop difference.
4:1 ratio - more contrast result. There is a 2 stops difference between the key and fill lights.
8:1 ratio - very contrast lighting. It is a 3 [...] Continue Reading…

In order to take full advantage of shooting with a dSLR camera, you need to learn how it focusses.

You will see in the viewfinder 9 points with one in the center and 8 over the perimeter. These are focussing points. Most often people set the central focussing point active and use it all the time. However you can switch between these points according to your needs. Just press a special button (refer to your camera manual) and you will see that one of the points becomes red. By rotating the primary selection wheel or moving the joystick you can [...] Continue Reading…

First of all turn the body of your model in 45 degrees. Turn in the shoulders. Have her drop her back (from you) shoulder a bit to achieve basic composition.

These is what you should be thinking: pose, light, lift and refine.

To get beatiful shadows you need to place your light source a bit higher. You can adjust the light by asking the model to turn her head. That way you can control the shadows and you can always move your camera to choose the right position.

Your camera level should be just above the model’s eyes. An adjustable posing stool [...] Continue Reading…

Bert Stephani reveals secrets about how you can get better images with an external flash on top of your camera. We all know that professionals do not recommend this and there are obvious reasons for that. It is However if you a few methods, you still can use it on your camera and produce quality photographs.

If you set your camera in “P” mode, it will make the flash to light everything, including your subject and the background. You want a complete control of exposure and that is why you set the mode to “M”. In Manual mode you can [...] Continue Reading…