Watch This: Jay P. Morgan's Corporate Portrait Primer

Commercial photographer Jay P. Morgan's The Slanted Lens videos (which you may remember from this insane portrait) are consistently good stuff.

Today, he dials it back a notch or three to give a great walk-thru on corporate portraiture. Solid basic info, plus some tips that you may well not have known. Trust me, the flag-for-light-shirts thing alone will save you much needless Photoshopping…

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Should You Consider an IR Remote?

Most people sync with a cord, radio or some version of a proprietary system—i.e., CLS or E-TTL. But infrared (IR) remotes are another, if much less used, option.

They are compact, cheap and wireless so there's a lot to like. But they also have some weaknesses. Today we'll be taking a look at whether an IR remote may be a good choice for you. Read more »

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R.J. Kern, With the Assist from Rembrandt

If you're going to steal from someone, you should have the class to steal from the very best. Which is why photographers so often return to Rembrandt when it comes to nicking someone's light.

Such was the case with Denver wedding photographer R.J. Kern, who we join today for a quick BTS of the portrait above… Read more »

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Sync-hole Opens at Photokina

See that little hole? That's a ⅛" (3.5mm) sync on the just-announced Mitros flash from Phottix. It's starting to happen, people… Read more »

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On Being Photographed

Sara Lando is back with two follow-up posts from her earlier series on photographing people. Today: What it's like being on the other end of the lens.

Photo © Charlie Chipman

By Sara Lando -- When I was living in Los Angeles working on my graphic novel project, I received an e-mail from some guy wanting to take my picture.

On a daily basis, I’d rather be covered in spiders while raccoons gnaw at my feet (just like everybody else), but Los Angeles based photographer Charlie Chipman really seemed a nice person. And after googling his work and making sure he actually wasn’t some GWC with a portfolio full of naked girls biting a finger, I agreed to meet him over cake. I like cake. Read more »

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Nikon D600: Think Twice Before You Jump

UPDATE 9/25/12: Upon testing, the D600 appears to have a pretty sweet sensor -- if the issues noted below are not a concern for you.
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Nikon has just officially announced their long-awaited entry-level full-frame body. Full spec reports are everywhere, as Nikon seeds lots of sites with advance info and embargoes them until the hour of release. So I won't duplicate that content here.

But for lighting photographers, the camera has two issues that are of concern. One is minor and (sadly at this point) expected.

But the other is major and quite unexpected. Read more »

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Friday Night Lights

Happily, I am shooting high school football again this fall. Meaning I have come full circle from where I started nearly thirty years ago, except this time I am not shooting on deadline for a newspaper.

Which means I am free to shoot some of the facets I normally would have had to pass up, and to experiment with different ways of using flash. This past weekend, that meant a single speedlight, an OCF cord and a grid spot… Read more »

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Well That was Fast.

Too cheap to consider the Bounce-Wall, even before they announced the price? (UPDATE: They have since announced the price.)

A mere four days later, there is already a page up on how to roll your own version… Read more »

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Bounce-Wall: The Genius/Insanity Line Goes Commercial

There is a fine line between genius and insanity, and it's a line the DIY readership of this site has proudly straddled at times.

But this time, the genius/insanity line is being straddled by a commercial product. Lemme 'splain… Read more »

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