Interview: Dog Photographer Offers Pro Tips for Capturing Stunning Portraits of Your Pooch

By Sara Barnes

You don’t have to be a pet owner to know that photographing dogs can be tricky. It takes time, patience, and skill to snap artful images of canines. Those who are able to capture such images undoubtedly have a gift—with both photography and animals. Anne Geier is one of these incredible individuals taking gorgeous pictures of dogs—both alone and in groups—that highlight their heart and humanity. Their expressive faces, which will make even the most lukewarm dog lovers melt, are made even more enchanting by being set amidst gorgeous natural backdrops.

Geier began photographing canines nearly a decade ago and has refined her techniques to make great shots an inevitability—not just a fluke. It starts with her fundamental viewpoint of pet portrait photography. “You have to show their soulful nature on the photos,” she tells My Modern Met. “The photos should say something about the dog.” In Geier’s work, this is achieved with an intoxicating combination of visuals; through lighting and color, she showcases the innate beauty of the creature, highlighting everything from the patterns in their fur to the piercing color of their eyes. Additionally, she places them in sun-soaked settings that any human would find idyllic. Together, they communicate a faithful companion that will be by your side on your adventures—but also the times you want to snooze in a hammock next to a grand lake.
We spoke to Geier about her work, including some of her favorite dog photography tips. Read our exclusive interview, below.
How did you get into photographing dogs?
The reason why I started to take photos of dogs was my first dog, Cindy. First of all, I just wanted to take photos of Cindy to create memories for eternity but then I developed a passion. The combination of art and dogs is truly fascinating.
You have a penchant for capturing the soulful nature of pups. How do you capture this kind of emotion in your subjects?
Capturing the soulful nature of pups means that you have to get oneself into a dog. Dogs are unpredictable! So you have to be quick enough to capture the spirit of the moment and, at the same time, you have to be patient to wait until this moment arises. You have to shoot at the eye level of the dog or lower– so you will achieve a special perspective from the dog’s point of view. Nowadays most dogs are well trained, which makes it much easier to create nice portraits of them. The most important thing is to show the trademark spirit of the dog.
What are your favorite tips for photographing great portraits of dogs? What do you think all first-time photographers should know?
First of all, try to make the dog model be your friend, because you have to create living photos with a happy and not bored, scared, or tired dog. You have to motivate the dog with treats or its favorite toy. Try to make funny noises to win the dog’s attention. A perfect shot of a dog is much more than only a perfect composition, lighting, and location. You have to show their soulful nature in the photos. The photos should say something about the dog.
Be patient and let the dog explore the location, so you create a relaxed atmosphere, which is very important to get a nice portrait.
Use a big aperture that the first glance is immediately directed to the dog.
Take care that you get a glance into the dog’s eyes. Without a glance, the eyes do often look inanimate.
What gear do you use in your photography? What is your post-production like?
I work with a Nikon D850 and D750 and a large arsenal of different lenses. But my favorite lenses are the 85 1.4 and the 35 1.8. I love the 85mm because you can create an amazing blurry background and use many different perspectives. The big advantage of the 35 1.8 is that you can show the dog in a big part of the environment in a very attractive angle.
My latest gear is an underwater housing. Still, it is a little bit challenging for me but I am working hard to get better.
My pictures live from certain lighting moods, from a slightly dreamy look and breathtaking landscapes. I try to capture the characters of the dogs as good as possible and make the pictures emotionally captivating. I pay attention to get the best out of the photo while taking it. So when I am shooting, I try to create a natural frame and a certain depth through the natural conditions. With editing the photos only a little bit, the final finishing is done. Many of my participants in the workshops and coaching sessions are often very surprised how little is changed within the picture editing.
You’ve photographed gorgeous portraits of pups in so many ways. How do you keep things fresh?
The most powerful source to keep the photos breathtaking is inside each dog and the beauty of nature. Especially the spirit of my own dogs, Cindy, Finn, and Yuri, was and is a lot of inspiration for me. The soulfulness of dogs will always amaze me and uphold my creativity in taking new pictures.

A Beginners Guide to Baby Photography, 10 Baby Portrait tips.

One of the things I have loved about blogging is the opportunity to explore a new found hobby in photography. Unlike our other author Deborah, I don’t classify myself as a professional photographer….yet. But I sure have had a lot of fun over the last few years learning more about taking portraits. So much so that after our little Rose was born I found myself excited to take her baby portraits! They turned out so great that friends were asking me how to do it, so they could take their own kid’s pictures. So I figured I could easily share my tips, a beginners guide to baby photography if you will.

Baby Photography made easy

There are 10 tips that will make baby photography easy and fun. If you follow these 10 baby portraits tips, you should be able to achieve some great shots of your own little ones! And it’s such a great feeling to see the final product. I’ve never had baby portraits of my little ones before little Rose. So this has been such a fun experience for me. And I am really treasuring these photos.

The trick to those amazing newborn portraits is that you can take these photos of baby up to 4 weeks old. Much older than that and baby is too wiggly and alert for the cozy sleepy photos. You can still get some great shots, but like I said, they won’t have that adorable sleepy photo look.

With Miss Rose, we barely made it. She was 4 weeks old when I was feeling well enough to get her photos done. As you will see from our photos, even then she was rather alert.

But here are the top 10 tips to great baby portraits.

1. The Photography Gear – For great baby photography your gear matters. Don’t get me wrong, you will still be able to get some fun shots with a regular camera, But if you want photos that could come close to rival the professional, you need quality gear. I have 2 great DSLR cameras. My starter DSLR was a Canon T3i. And I absolutely loved this camera. It was perfect for starting out learning how to use a DSLR. I still am known for pulling out the T3i now and then for a quick shot since it is slightly lighter. And it has the flip out viewfinder screen that makes taking some types of photos a lot easier, AKA my self portrait fashion shoots.

But I have since upgraded to a Canon 6D. This is truly the star of the show. I much prefer shooting with this camera because I can get richer colors, crisper images, and it is a full frame camera. I much prefer to shoot in full frame versus cropped sensor. I feel like I can get more up close and personal with the subject with a full frame camera.
Now the type of camera is only half the story. The Lens that you use is just as important if not slightly more important when taking photos. For single portraits or single/small subjects to capture I prefer using my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
For a larger subject group like if I am taking photos of multiple people (more than 3) or I need to include a larger area of subject into the photo then I shoot with a Canon EF 50mm f 1.4 lens. It produces amazing clarity and lets me include a larger area in the frame. If you can’t bare the price of the the f1.4 model the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens is still a very good alternative.

Since you’ll likely be shooting indoors, sometimes you can have shadow on your photos. I’m not a big fan of artificial lighting, but sometimes you just need some help to balance out the light coming in through your windows. Or maybe you don’t have a lot of natural light at all. That is OK. There are two pieces of gear that can really help out with this.
First the Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash has been my best friend lately. I get a lot of shadows in our house. Or the color of the walls cast odd lighting onto the subject that I’m shooting. So this lets me use a flash to get more lighting. But you don’t want to point it directly at your subject. I aim it to bounce the light off of a reflector or the ceiling to help eliminate the shadows. 
Next, I also use a reflector for baby photography. I use the LimoStudio 43″ 5 in one photography Disc. It has 5 different reflector options in one. And it folds down for small storage. It has been so great at reflecting light and filtering out sunlight that is too harsh, that I am planning on getting another one so I can use 2 at multiple angles for even better lighting. 
2 Warm Shooting Location– Babies don’t like it cold. No one likes it cold really. But babies are extra sensitive. And if you want the beautiful sleeping shots, you need to have a warm location. This means if it is cooler, then turn on the heat. Or use little portable heaters to simply warm the room where you are shooting to a cozy temperature.
 

  3 Set up the scene. – Before baby even arrives, or you get your own baby ready , you want to set up the scene where you will be shooting the photos. Use natural light as much as possible. This means you will want to set up near windows when at all possible. Use the reflectors I mentioned earlier, this will bounce the natural light back onto the area where baby will be.

Also for the backdrop you want great colors. Since we aren’t going to big expensive photographer setting, then simple things can really set up the scene. Use blankets with great colors and textures. This is where baby will lay. Great ideas include sheepskin rug, minky blanket, or a hand crocheted blanket.
I used a gorgeous blanket that my cousin crocheted for Rose made from Bernat blanket yarn. This yarn is super thick, and gives a plush feel. It is super soft and cozy and warm. And it gives a gorgeous texture for photos.

I also used a nice white ruffled blanket I bought from Etsy.

Also you will need something to prop up baby. This is where a boppy pillow is your best friend yet again! I used a boppy pillow to prop up Miss Rose for her 4 week photos. Simply place it under the blanket and you can set up baby to the position you want to shoot.

Also you can use a beanbag chair, or my favorite a fuf chair. A Fuf chair is like a beanbag chair, but the filling is different so it holds it’s shape better than a beanbag chair. And personally I think they are far more comfortable. I love our small fuf chair! I just move it right in front of the window and then I can mold it to prop up baby just right for her photos.

4 Test shoot -Once you have the scene set up you always want to take a few test shots. This is to ensure you have the proper settings before adding baby. Make sure your ISO and aperature are set right for good exposure. Check your white balance. Also check the K setting to see if your warm/cool setting needs to be adjusted. Depending on how much light is reflecting off of our colored walls, sometimes I have to change these settings on my camera to make sure the WHITE in the photo stays white and doesn’t turn yellow or blue after a photo is captured. This will save you a lot of time in photo editing later if you get your white balance and K settings set up properly before you even begin shooting.

5. Feed baby right before beginning – A full baby is a happy baby. Make sure baby gets fed right before you begin. You don’t want a hungry baby while you are shooting or they won’t sleep or position well. Don’t forget to burp. A gassy baby is a wiggly and grumpy baby.

6. Loose clothing, – Be sure to dress baby in loose clothing. If you are going for the traditional newborn photos where baby is not wearing clothes, make sure the clothing is loose so that it is easy to remove without disturbing baby after they fall asleep. Make sure to loosen the diaper so it’s easy to remove after baby is drowsy. But always make sure to remove the diaper last. And only when you are immediately ready to begin shooting. The last thing you want is to have an accident and have to clean up any potty mess before you begin shooting.
If you aren’t going for the traditional newborn look, simply make sure the clothing baby is wearing is comfortable and easy to adjust for photos.

7. Swaddle– most babies love to be swaddled. It comforts them. And also keeps them warm. I swaddled Rose in nothing but her loose diaper while I fed her. Then she was full and mellow. I positioned her then quickly but gently removed the swaddle and diaper and started shooting.

8. Binky for happy baby – if baby gets worn out or starts to fuss, a Binky can be a life saver! Give them the binky while you position the baby. Let it soothe the baby. Get set to take the shot then quickly remove binky and snap the shot. You will be able to capture the photo before baby realizes the binky is gone and starts fussing again.

Yes, I used this trick frequently when I take baby portraits of Miss Rose. And don’t worry about baby being hooked on her binky. We have a great collection of ways you can say bye bye binky when baby is older and you want to get rid of the binky habit the easy way.

9- Props– many people love the props. And yes they are adorable. Just don’t overwhelm the scene with them- the baby should be the star.
You can find amazing baby photography props on Amazon and Etsy. For boys, handmade crochet items are a hit. Or a simple tie and diaper cover. Girls you can always find amazing headbands that are just adorable for these baby portraits. You can also get adorable crochet booties for babies as well.

If you find that the headgear is too big for baby a simple tip is to fold the headband to fit and then secure with a small bobby pin in the back. I had to do this with Miss Rose because even though I ordered a newborn sized headband, her head is still too small. So this helps get the headband to sit right for the pictures.

Also you don’t have to buy a lot of items for a baby portrait session. Use what you have on hand. Make sure you have an outfit for the baby if you are going to use one, have the blanket for under the baby, then just use what is on hand. Like this shot. I used Miss Jade’s petticoat to get the white texture. I simply positioned a few ruffles on top of Rose’s feet and this is the result.

10. Stay calm – Babies don’t like to be stressed. If you’re talking and laughing loudly, they’ll be easily upset. Consider a sound machine to see if that will soothe baby. Along with that, be efficient, but don’t rush.
Take your time with each shot and that will help everyone be calm. Follow your photo position plan. Allow yourself time to position baby gently and calmly. Make sure you aren’t rushed to have another appointment, or need to pick up kids at the bus stop. Or that you don’t have a family waiting on dinner. Make sure you have plenty of time for the photography session so you can take your time.
But be deliberate in each photo. Plan ahead what type of photos you want to take before the session even begins. So you can be deliberate in each moment. Search Pinterest for great newborn portraits for ideas of how you want to position baby. Have a list of ideas. If baby is not cooperating for a position, let it go. Move onto the next position you have planned.

Now you have everything you need to know to go out and be a beginner in baby photography! The last thing you need is simply practice! You may be discouraged after your first try. That is OK. No one is perfect the first time. Don’t let that stop you. You can only get better with practice. As you do it more you will begin to develop an eye for capturing the shots. You will learn your own style  and can be even more efficient the next time.

Amber

Owner/Influencer at Busy Creating Memories

Besides my quirky obsession with BBC classics, Sci-Fy, Dystopian novels, Fantasy, DR Pepper, Chocolate, and Popcorn; I also have a passion for photography, baking and creating recipes, crafts & crochet, tabletop board games, and camping. My Husband and I have 4 children, 2 girls ages 2 and 8 years. And 2 boys ages 12 and 14.I am the owner & editor of Busy Creating Memories located just north of the greater Salt Lake City, Utah area.

http://www.photography-jobs.net/?hop=darryl54 

Photographer Shoots Finnish Forest Animals Like They’re Professional Models, And We Can’t Stop Looking At Them

Animals, Photography

By​ Greta J.

Helsinki-based artist Joachim Munter invites you to step into the fairytale-like wildlife of Finland through his photos. Viewing his portraits of local forest animals, you instantly feel an intimate connection with the subjects, having to pinch yourself to check if you aren't dreaming.

Munter's work becomes even more astonishing after you realize how short his relationship with the camera is. "I started photographing about 10 months ago," he told Bored Panda. "I was more interested in landscape photography but I slowly started to become more interested in wildlife. I found it more challenging and rewarding."

Upon first glance, these animals look like they were trained. From a curious fox to a hungry squirrel, Munter builds such a strong bond with the creatures, they look perfectly comfortable while in front of his lens. "Wildlife photography is all about gaining the trust of the animals," Munter said. "The most important thing - in my opinion - is not to chase the animals. You just need time and patience; let the animal become comfortable around you."

He usually works around Helsinki. "My sessions vary from just a few hours to a whole day," Munter explained. "That's what I like about wildlife photography; it's so unpredictable, you can never be sure what's going to happen and what animals you'll meet. Sometimes it can go weeks without a good session and sometimes you can get many good shots in just a few hours."

More info: Instagram (h/t sobadsogood, dyt)

#1

#2 

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

The Best Free Online Photography Courses and Tutorials

Gautam Tambay

Given my interest in lifelong learning and skill-development, I often ask people which new skills they’re looking to learn. The most common response? “I want to be a better photographer”.
And for good reason! Few things evoke the instant emotional response a great photo does. It’s what made Instagram worth a billion dollars to Facebook.
For those of you who, like me, are looking to kick their photography skills up a notch, I’m curating a list of the best free online courses and resources I’ve found. So whether you’re a budding photojournalist looking toward a career behind the lens, or just a hobbyist looking to take better shots on your next trip, I’m hoping you’ll find something useful here!
I realize that this is by no means an exhaustive list, rather it’s a work in progress. If you know of other awesome free resources, share them in the comments and I’ll add the best ones to the list.
P.S. Huge thanks to the amazing /r/photography community on Reddit for helping compile this list.

Photography for Beginners

1. Introduction to Photography and Related Media: Video lectures from a semester-long undergraduate-level course at MIT. Covers the fundamentals of analog and digital SLR, film exposure and development, darkroom techniques, digital imaging, and studio lighting.
Level: Beginner | Duration: Self-paced | Always Available
2. Basics of Photography: The Complete Guide: A comprehensive resource for beginning photographers, compiled by the friendly folks at Lifehacker. Starts by explaining how a digital camera works and goes on to explain image composition, technique, and editing. Mostly in text format, interspersed with a few explanatory videos.
Level: Beginner | Duration: Self-paced | Always Available
3. Free Beginner Nikon Digital SLR Photography: This highly-rated course teaches you how to use all the buttons and dials on your camera (e.g. exposure, aperture, shutter speed and the mode dial) by doing rather than memorizing.
Update: This course has since been changed to a $11+ paid course.
Level: Beginner | Duration: 2.5 hours | Always Available
4. Photography: Ditch Auto – Start Shooting in Manual: As the name suggests, a course for amateur photographers who have been using their DSLR or fancy Point-and-shoot camera in “auto” mode, but want to learn to unlock to it’s full potential.
Level: Beginner | Duration: 4.5 hours | Always Available
5. Karl Taylor’s FREE Photography Course: Among the most popular courses on Udemy (almost 50,000 students enrolled, hundreds of rave reviews). Instructor Karl teaches using a mix of videos and PDF fact sheets. In his words, all you need is “a camera and some enthusiasm”.
Level: Beginner | Duration: 2.5 hours | Always Available
6. A Complete Introduction to Photography (aka Reddit Photoclass): Reddit never ceases to amaze me! Alexandre Buisse taught this 30-part class to 7,000 Redditors a few years ago. Now archived on his website, this gem covers everything from gear to post processing. Great for those who prefer reading to watching videos.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate | Duration: Self-paced | Always Available
7. Strobist: Perhaps the most popular resource for beginners to learn how to use light and their flashes, especially their Lighting 101 course that many photographers swear by.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate | Duration: Self-paced | Always Available
8. Cambridge in Colour: A great site for beginners to browse tutorials and have their questions answered by a community of learners. And no, that extra “u” in “Colour” is not a typo — this is Cambridge, UK we’re talking about!
Level: Beginner | Duration: Self-paced | Always Available

Post-production and Specific Techniques

9. Using a Photographic Light Meter: A course for photographers who have just started using a hand-held light meter to determine exposure.
Level: Beginner | Duration: 2 hours | Always Available
10. Pixels After Dark: Shooting the Night: An outstanding talk by three-time Olympic photographer Jeff Cable on shooting images at night.
Level: Intermediate | Duration: 1.5 hours | Always Available
11. Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5: A detailed series of video-lectures from Adobe on how to effectively use their Lightroom software to do everything from importing images to adding special effects and printing. The Adobe TV website has plenty of more great “how-to” resources for photographers.
Level: Beginner | Duration: 3.5 hours | Always Available
12. Photoshop & Lightroom for Photographers: You’ve learned to use your camera and compose great pictures. Now make them look better! This highly-rated course teaches the two most popular software tools used by photographers to process and touch up images.
Level: Intermediate | Duration: 6.5 hours | Always Available
13. Create a Gorgeous Photography Site with SmugMug in 90 mins: Now that you have some great-looking pictures, use this course to set up a website to showcase them!
Level: Beginner | Duration: 1.5 hours | Always Available
14. Computational Photography: This Georgia Tech course talks about how computation affects various aspects of photography — from photo-editing to sharing. Knowledge of college-level mathematics, general physics and basic computer programming are recommended for this course.

http://www.photography-jobs.net/?hop=darryl54  

Your Free Online Photography Lessons. With the  lessons on Best Photo Lessons you can begin to take better photos of any subject and get more enjoyment from your photography. AND, all 12 of the basic lessons plus lots of other tips and techniques are free on BestPhotoLessons. You'll find this is a great online photography school to make better use of your camera, whether it is a dSLR or pocket camera or even your smart phone camera.

• 
  

  These lessons are based on both the formal instruction and practical experience gained over 40 years of professional photography by author Neil Speers.

FREE Online Photography Lessons

The five lessons in the Camera Basics and 12 specific subject lessons  go together to create a photography course that will take you from newbie to skilled. The lessons are arranged in an order that will systematically build your skills with your camera – but once you've done the course, don't be afraid to skip around and review specific lessons, you may have some skills already or you may have a camera which doesn't do the specific settings needed for a few of these lessons. Don't worry, do what you can and shoot lots.
And what could be better than a complete photography school curriculum for free?
There are also some paid resources such as  eBooks and recommended reading from Amazon.com  - check them both out.
We'd love your feedback on these free online photography lessons, so please leave comments .
And don't forget, one of the absolute best ways to improve your photography is get out there and shoot. The more photography you do, and the more you critically look at your photography, the better you'll become - and soon you'll be getting "wows" from all your friends and family.
Get an introduction to how cameras work or jump right into Lesson 1 here.

Be sure to join our Facebook group 

A sample of depth of field explained

 

Free Lessons

• Get the most out of each lesson
• Camera Basics
• Meters and Light
• Digital Camera Histograms & Exposure
• Colour and White Balance
• Focal length, depth of field and sensor size
• Lesson 1 – Intent
• Lesson 2 – Exposure (Basic)
• Lesson 3 – Exposure: High Key
• Lesson 4 – Exposure: Low Key
• Lesson 5 – Depth of Field
• Lesson 6 – Shutter Effects
• Lesson 7 – Rule of Thirds
• Lesson 8 – Diagonal Lines
• Lesson 9 – ‘S’ Curves
• Lesson 10 – Balance
• Lesson 11 – Negative Space
• Lesson 12 – Pick A Subject                                                                                               

Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials for Beginners

 Digital Photography School

A large proportion of the readers of Digital Photography School classify themselves as beginners – so we thought it might be helpful to have a page set up that collates some of our Digital Photography Tips for Beginners.
Before you check out the links below – do check out our range of eBooks and workbooks and our brand new course – most of which were written with the Beginner Photographer in mind.

Free Downloadable Photography Guides for Beginners

Also check out two of our free downloadable ultimate guides for beginners:

• Ultimate FREE Guide to Photography for Beginners
  
• The dPS Ultimate Guide to Photography Terms

Below is just a selection of some of our digital photography tips and tutorials aimed more at the beginner photographer. We’re always writing new beginner photography tips – so subscribe to DPS today to get all of our updates.

The Basics of Exposure

• Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle
• Introduction to ISO in Digital Photography
• Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography
• Introduction to Aperture in Digital Photography
• Understanding Exposure – Book Review

Learning to Use Digital Camera Settings and Features

• How to Control Aperture and Shutter Speed on an Entry Level Point and Shoot Digital Camera
• Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes
• Introduction to White Balance
• Introduction to Digital Camera Modes
• Understanding Histograms
• Prefocus to Combat Shutter Lag
• Introduction to EXIF Data
• Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

Handling and Caring for a Digital Camera

• How to Hold a Digital Camera
• Shutter Release Technique
• How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Image Sensor
• How to Clean a DSLR Lens
• 7 Digital Camera Predators and How to Keep them at Bay

Other Beginner Photography Tutorials and Tips

• 100 Things I’ve Learned About Photography
• 10 Questions to Ask When Taking a Digital Photo
• 11 Tips for Beginner Photographers
• Using Fill Flash
• How to Get Better Photos in Low Light Without Using a Flash
• How to Take Sharp Digital Images
• How to Use Focal Lock
• Shooting with an In Camera Flash
• 13 Lessons to Teach Your Child about Photography

Common Digital Photography Problems and Questions Answered

• 7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out
• Macro Photography Tips for Point and Shoot Compact Digital Cameras
• How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Digital Photos
• Crop Factor Explained
• Complete Digital Photography – Book Review
• The Digital Photography Book – Book Review

These Beginner Tips just scratch the Surface of our archives. Subscribe to Digital Photography School for more great tips today.

Updated: 10 More Photography Tutorials for Beginners

• Understanding Depth of Field for Beginners
• A Beginners Guide to Seascape Photography
• Nature and Wildlife Photography Tips for Beginners
• Bird Photography Tips for Beginners
• Beginners Tips for Night Sky and Star Photography
• A Beginners Introduction to Using Layers
• 5 Easy Photoshop Tips for Beginners
• For Beginners – Learning to See
• Flash Photography Tips for Beginners
• DSLR Camera Focusing Tips for Beginners

http://www.photography-jobs.net/?hop=darryl54    

Intro to Studio Photography — By a Beginner for Beginners

Hugo Ahlberg

✌🏾Visual Interaction Designer / Prototyper @Airbnb. Previously @IDEO, @HyperIsland. Photographer 📷→ http://melanchology.com

Recently I purchased an off-camera flash and started experimenting with studio lighting. I have shot natural light for a couple of years and like many others I was quite intimidated to try off-camera flash photography but I decided to take the leap. It’s so much fun, and I couldn't not believe how easy it was! I wish I had tried it sooner. It might be cliché but the concept of going from “taking a photo” to “making a photo” is really something different. Working with studio lights where you are able to fully control the light and therefore the image, is truly incredible — I almost feel like I’m falling in love with photography all over again.

This is the first post in a series where I’ll document my learning process to not only accelerate my own learning, but to invite others to follow along and hopefully learn something as well. I got started by learning from so many other photographers* openly sharing their knowledge online, so I’m thinking this as a way to give back to the community. These posts will contain behind the scenes kind of stuff like the lighting setups, post-processing before and after, camera settings, my learnings, etc. My goal is to be as transparent as possible with all my mistakes as I learn. Since you are reading an article about studio photography, I’m going to assume you already have some experience with photography and know your way around your camera and concepts like shutter speed, aperture and so on.

Again, this is a learning process so bare with me. If you have any feedback or tips, please do share in the comments or on Twitter.

A note about style — My photography is very much inspired by master cinematographers like Jeff Cronenweth, Darius Khondji et al. whose styles are very dark and moody. So don’t expect to see many of the trendy California-sun-drenched-happiness photos in this series!

Ok, enough introduction.

---

Getting started: the gear you’ll need for starting with studio photography

In short, all you need is a flash speedlight and an umbrella. After doing some (too much) research online I bought a cheap but decent umbrella and a Godox speedlight with a flash transmitter to go with my Sony a7rII camera. (If you are shooting with Canon/Nikon/Fuji etc you need to find a flash that works with your camera).

Minimal viable studio setup

• Umbrella: Godox 47"/120cm ($30)
• Flash: Godox TTL Flash Speedlite with Wireless Flash Trigger ($165)
• Lightstand: Manfrotto 5001B 74-Inch Nano Stand ($57)

The total for this, not including the actual camera, is $250 (even cheaper if you buy second hand), and it’s more than capable for a getting started kit. In fact an umbrella like this—being the cheapest light modifier you can get—it’s actually super versatile once you learn how to control it.

A study of light: the first hundreds of crappy shots

I had read up enough already to know that I needed to set my camera and flash to (M) manual so I could learn how this all worked in practice. For me it doesn’t matter how much theory I read until I actually try it myself.

Yep. Lots of lousy photos. It’s ok. Process!

I asked my girlfriend Megan if she could take a seat on a chair, and then I just started shooting. Changing the camera settings, the flash power, moving the light around her, tweaking the angles and so on. I took hundreds of images — I wasn’t trying to take a great picture but rather just study how the light behaved. Having said that, I was lucky to get a few good shots, one which I’ll now go into how it came to be.

---

The light and camera setup

The setup was rather simple. The flash was mounted onto the light stand pointing into the umbrella, causing the light to bounce and become diffused (making it softer). I had the umbrella on a stand with the flash positioned slightly above her head and slightly behind her to get this sort of “appearing from the darkness” effect. The flash was not pointed directly at her, but angled just in front of her. This is called feathering and it is a powerful and fundamental technique to control how light lands on your subject. (Read more about feathering in this article by Brian McNamara).

Illustration by Megan Crabtree

My camera settings
Shooting with my Sony a7rii and a 55mm prime lens, the shutter speed was 1/500s at f/8, ISO 400 (yep, someone already told me I made a mistake —I should have shot at ISO 100 to reduce noise and save flash power. Such a newbie mistake!). Note however, these settings will completely vary depending on your lightning situation, so don’t try to copy these. Instead, just play around and experiment with various settings and see how the picture changes.

And to finish it off with some very light post-processing

I can sit for hours to tweak colours and what not, but here I kept it super simple. The umbrella was visible in the top left, so I just painted it out with the mask brush in Capture One which I just picked up (It’s a raw-photo editor similar to Lightroom, but faster and better suited for studio shoots— more on that in an upcoming post). Then I tweaked the exposure a bit and added some colour grading to make it look more cinematic and in the style of the cinematographers I mentioned in the intro. Later in this series I’ll get more into post-processing. Stay tuned.

Top: Straight out of camera — Center: Masked out the umbrella — Bottom: Colour graded final image.

Takeaways

My biggest takeaway from this initial stab at studio lightning was that it’s not at all as scary or hard to get started as it seemed, in fact it’s quite the opposite — I only regret not trying it sooner. One thing I would do differently (besides using the right ISO setting) would be to try to reduce some of the light reflections in the glasses using a few tips I got from by Joe Edelman.

I encourage you to buy a speedlight and an umbrella and try out studio lighting for yourself. I hope I this article has shown it’s not hard to get started, especially if you go about it with a more trail and error approach rather than trying to figure out the exact settings. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback in the comments.

 http://www.photography-jobs.net/?hop=darryl54