Build a DIY Portable North Light Photo Studio

Six years ago, I wrote on Strobist about how to build a $10 macro studio. Since then over a million photographers have seen how they could easily take control of light—any light—to easily produce professional quality product photos.

Four years later while brainstorming with my friend Mohamed Somji about how to light an upcoming photo project, I started thinking about how to reproduce this type of studio on a human-sized scale.

Turns out, it's not so hard. Read more »

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Nadav Kander on Portraiture

Settle in for an outstanding 13 mins on the philosophy of portraiture from one of the most interesting portraitists working today. (If you are not familiar with the work of Nadav Kander, you may want to take a look at his website [some NSFW] first.)

Produced by the National Portrait Gallery as a tie-in to the 2012 Olympics, this is by far the most detailed look I have yet seen into how Kander works. As a bonus, there are several still BTS shots showing his portrait sets.

(Via APE)

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On Assignment: Mathieu Young - Harvest

Often, photographers will learn a new lighting technique or other photographic trick and look for a subject on which to try it out. Generally, this is a misguided approach.

Lighting (or any photographic technique, really) is a specific form of expression. And in an ideal world, form follows function.

In the example above, photojournalist Mathieu Young's lighting is dictated by a need to both add texture to the scene and to protect the anonimity of the worker. Rather than a pre-conception, the lighting style is the last in a conscious series of steps and decisions.

Step one: Gain full access—with your cameras and lighting gear—to an illegal cannabis farm… Read more »

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Two Worlds Collide: Zack Arias on Digital Rev

Wasn't planning on doing a post today, but this "cheap camera challenge" from DigitalRev combines two things of which I am a very big fan:

1. DigitalRev's Kai Wong, and
2. Watching Zack Arias sweat.

Normally we have to wait until Gulf Photo Plus to watch Zack sweat out an improv shoot like this. And we still wouldn't get Kai and DigitalRev in the bargain.

The main problem (other than the POS P&S) is that Zack's Cantonese is about as good as his subjects' English. Which is to say, not very. (Dude, at least learn how to say please and thank you in the local language.) Fortunately, Alamby was there to pick up the linguistic pieces.

Fun to watch, but I am noticing a disturbing trend with DigitalRev and visiting photographers. Getting a little worried about my trip to Hong Kong next winter…

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BTS: Martin Schoeller Photographs Ryan Lochte

Photo ©Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller is one of my favorite photographers, and it so cool to see a BTS video of the Time cover above with a few nice layers of technical info included.

Video and links after the jump. Read more »

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Blogger Hangout: Building a Successful Photo Blog

On Tuesday I did a G+ hangout on air with the community manager from Blogger at Google in Mountain View. At the last minute we were joined by photographer Patrick Smith, who brought the perspective of a more traditional photo blogger.

It's a wide-ranging discussion (video after the jump) and we answered a variety of viewer questions. If you have any related Q's of your own, feel free to drop them in the comments afterwards. Read more »

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On Assignment: Greg Funnell Photographs Joe Wright

You have a typical hotel room, which you will gain access to an hour before the shoot. You will have a total of 20 minutes with your celebrity subject, who will arrive in God only knows what mood and/or disposition. Go.

That's pretty much the setup for London photographer Greg Funnell's shoot of movie director Joe Wright. Think about what you would do for a moment, and then continue reading to see how Greg handled this exact assignment for Time Out London. Read more »

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John Jackson Photographs his Love of Cars

"Just when you think, you know, you should be jaded and everything, somebody builds something new and really cool."

Indeed.

You want a textbook case of how to use a camera and a few lights to channel your passion? Just watch this video.

Oh, and to John Jackson, if you are reading this, the beers are on me next time you swing down through the Baltimore/DC area.
__________

Check out John's portfolio, here.

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Begun, the Expensive Light Mod War has…

BronImaging has introduced a $489.00 bracket that will allow you to mount your Profoto head on a $2,317.00 Para 88 reflector.

Meanwhile, on a remote planet all the way back into your price range, a $10 Home Depot lamp globe will mount directly onto your Einstein and/or AlienBees flash, right out of the box…

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Deciding What to Photograph: Keeping an Idea List

Pretty essential question, right? Nothing you do with lighting, shutter speed, lens choice, etc., will nave nearly so much impact on your photos as deciding what to shoot.

Right out of college I landed in the excellent Patuxent Publishing Co. photo department, which was run by a guy named Tenney Mason. One of his many mandates was to ensure each of us maintained an idea list, which was a 50,000-foot view of what we wanted to explore with our camera.

Nearly 25 years later, I am still doing it. Here is my current list as a window into how I develop subjects. I hope it encourages you to start and develop your own. Read more »

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Q&A Antonio Beverly: Light Direction, Freezing Motion and Duotones

Lots of good discussion in the comments and on Twitter about the Antonio Beverly shoot from earlier this week.

In particular, three questions involving light, motion blur and post processing: Read more »

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On Assignment: Antonio Beverly

I have posted a couple of the headshots from this job, but the main purpose of the shoot was to photograph Antonio in action as a dancer for the HCAC.

The combination shoot is appropriate, IMO, as what I have learned over the past few years shooting static portraits has really started to inform my more kinetic photos, too. Read more »

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Who Are You People, Again?

After over 2,000 responses (thank you!) the results from the first question are in:

Readership is ~89% male, 11% female. Sigh.

Today's question is about your relationship to your photography. Is is all about love or money?

Thanks again for your help. (You will need to have Google Plus activated to participate.)

Summer Survey Question #2: Love or Money?

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It's DIY Thursday

Fancy yourself a bit of a … modder?

You're not the only one. In fact, of the ~10,000 people who arrive at Strobist via a Google search on a given day, many of them are looking for a specific DIY solution.

Today, the top ten searched for DIY projects on Strobist—and how practical it is to attempt each of them... Read more »

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Who Are You People, Anyway?

This summer I am trying to get a better grip on just who visits this site, and how you use it.

So I will drop in the occasional two-click, one-question poll. I am using Google "Plus 1's" because you can't game The Google.

This week, an update of an earlier survey which revealed us to be, depressingly, 94% male. Please, let it be more balanced this time. (UPDATE: It's not looking good.)

Click here to stand up and be counted for your gender.

Many thanks,
DH

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On Assignment: On Camera, On Axis, On Budget

Ever notice that the on-camera flash shots from your point-and-shoot camera can actually look … kinda good?

That's because those cameras are so small that an onboard flash acts more like a ring light than a DSLR-style on-camera flash. Here is how to get that look with your DSLR, some gaff and an OCF cord. Read more »

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