On Assignment: Trattoria / 360

Having eaten at this restaurant often enough to put these guys' kids through college, I recently photographed brothers Gianni (left) and Carlo Morra at one of their three local Italian trattorias.

It is a simple picture, but there is much more here than meets the eye.

So keeping with last Thursday's talk of photo ecosystems, let's go a little more 360 on this one than just the typical lighting BTS. Read more »

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Thinking Out Loud: Creativity

As a site that explores photography through the lens of lighting, Strobist is necessarily overweighted in technique. But technique as an end to itself is almost certainly doomed to yield boring, meaningless photos.

So today, a short detour to explore the different facets of creativity. Because they are all important, as is recognizing your strengths and weaknesses in each area. Read more »

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Shimada Yohei: Close to Home

Photos ©Shimada Yohei

By Irwin Wong -- Nara, Japan -based commercial photographer Shimada Yohei’s Workman series involves lit, cinematic portraits of everyday tradesmen at the local level. Today, a look at how he creates the images — and the importance of the self-generated project. Read more »

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Control Flare from Sun, Rim Lights with a Shoot-Thru Gobo

Just a quickie today on the whys and whens of using a single, small shoot-thru shade to completely control contrast-killing glare when shooting into backlight. Read more »

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On Assignment: Night Soprano, Pt. 2

Editor's note: This post focuses on the lighting and execution of the night woods photo of Soprano Alexandra Rodrick. The post on developing the concept is here, in Part One.

The lighting diagram for this photo is overlaid on a satellite image of the neighborhood, because the fill light and accent lights are actually two houses away from each other. And one of them is not even outside... Read more »

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Okay, So I'm a Little Addicted to This Thing…

Who's the creepy bald dude with the soulless eyes staring out at you right now? He's a computer rendering that I lit on the web-based Virtual Lighting Studio.

Yeah, he may look a little like a mass murderer. But he's your mass murderer, to light any way you like by playing with knobs and buttons at VLS.

On the one hand, I just blew 20 mins playing with this thing. On the other, pretty sure this guy is gonna kill me in my dreams tonight.

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On Assignment: Night Soprano, Pt. 1

One of my goals over the last year has been to push against the boundaries a little more, both creatively and technically. This portrait of mezzo soprano Alexandra Rodrick is a good example of that, so I thought we'd do a full 360-view with a two-part OA.

Today, we'll pre-think the lighting in theory (as before a shoot). In Part 2, we'll walk through the specifics as it was done. Read more »

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Ryan Brenizer's Panoramic Portraiture

All photos ©Ryan Brenizer. Click on any pic for bigger.

New York City-based wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer has so-perfected the art of stitched portraiture that the technique has become associated with his name. You know, kinda like the Heimlich Maneuver.

Take this image for example, done quickly on the fly at a wedding with a 35mm lens @f/1.8 and a single small light source. It's a technique that is particularly suited to small-flash photography – and to photographers who like to tote a minimal amount of lighting gear. Read more »

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Hard Light and Soft Glass: The Dirty Diana

First, a clarification. That's not Diana above. That's Robin Massie-Jean, a violist I photographed for the Howard County Arts Council.

The Diana in this photo is the lens. And really you can't even call it soft glass, because it's, well, plastic. Read more »

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Home Depot Homebrew of $643 Profoto Globe Saves You Enough to Buy a Paul Buff Einstein to Put it On

For the second time in a week, a Paul Buff mod that is so simple I wonder why I hadn't thought of it earlier. This one is via Houston-based photographer Stephen Hébert.

This Home Depot version of the famed Profoto Globe will set you back all of $10. I have seen people hacking these for Profoto lights using SP-systems mounts and/or gaffer's tape. But the fact that they mount right to an AB or Einstein is, like, poetic justice or something.

If you are really slick (and handy) you might want to try to drill some holes around the base for heat venting. And I am guessing the color temp is, er, "close enough."

But having enough money left over from the savings to buy the actual flash (and an additional $130 in other accessories) is icing on the cake.

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